Peeta's Story

Chapter Seven

   During the next few days, we go around from station to station, either freshening up our skills or trying new ones. My personal favorite is camouflage. Katniss is a whiz at the edible plants test. The Careers have noticed me and I hope that they think that I could be in their group. That way, I can have an advantage over anyone in the arena. I can't stay with them the entire time, so I would have to break off at some point. I hope my plan works. 

   We have most of our meals with Effie and Haymitch, except lunch. All the tributes eat in a lunch room in the training center. The Careers always eat in a sort of huddle in the middle of the room. Everyone else pretty much eats alone. Katniss and I eat together, Haymitch's instructions. We try to keep up a fake conversation, but I can tell that's not Katniss' strong suit. 

   After three days of training, we all meet privately with the Gamemakers. District twelve goes last, as they do every year. I head in, leaving Katniss behind. The Gamemakers turn their heads to me walking in. Most of them look either drunk or bored. I don't think I'll be getting much attention today. I head over to the heaviest weights and throw it across the room. Some look in my direction and there's some small applause. Then they just turn back to their food and keep talking. I decide to also paint a little. I head over to the camouflage station, and it looks fairly untouched. I guess nobody likes, or even cares, about painting. I paint some very life like grass and present it to the Gamemakers. Some nod in approval, some don't even look. 

   "You are dismissed," says Seneca Crane, the head Gamemaker.

   I set down my supplies and go to the elevator. I hit the level twelve button and zoom up to the top floor. I meet Effie and Haymitch in the living room. They acknowledge me and I head to my room and clean up. In a few minutes Katniss is back from her session. I leave my room and find her running to her room, her cheeks tear stained. She rushes in and locks the door. Effie and Haymitch quietly knock on her door, trying to get her out to talk about what happened. She obviously wants some time alone, so they walk back to the living room, somewhat concerned about her state. It's dinner time so I enter the dining room and take my place. Haymitch comes in, looking forlorn. He's probably wondering about Katniss. Effie walks in with her Capitol gait and takes her spot. Finally, after what seems like forever, Katniss arrives in the dining room. She still look somewhat angry and sad, but I just try to ignore it. We start eating our meal which consists of pheasant with a tangy orange sauce with green beans and rolls on the side. I also have hot chocolate and lemonade. I have never tasted lemonade before today. It is sort of sour, but I like it. Haymitch decides to ask the question.

   "So how bad was it?" he asks. I look over at Katniss and see she really doesn't want to talk about it. So I try to cover for her.

   "I didn't get much attention. I threw some heavy objects around and then was dismissed," I say. She looks at me with a grateful smile. 

   "How about you, sweetheart?" Haymitch asks. 

   "I shot an arrow at the Gamemakers," she says. "Well, not at the Gamemakers, but at their roast pig." Everyone. is shocked. Effie looks as if she might faint, Haymitch is slightly worried, but he tries hard to cover it up, and the stylists show no emotion. 

   "Why would you do that? They will have to give you a low score now!" Effie is clearly in distress. She excuses herself and trots out of the room. 

   "Will they punish me? Will they hurt my family?" Katniss asks.

   "It would be hard to replace you at this stage," he responds.

   "Let's just go see the results," offers Cinna. We all head to the living room. Effie follows shortly after, and you can see she has been crying. Her eyes are red and puffy, and her cheeks are tear stained. We take a seat on the couch, and turn on the TV. Caeser Flickerman starts out with a few jokes, and then gets right into it. They always start with District one, and go up from there. I can see Katniss is nervous about her score. They seem to drag it out as long as possible. Finally, they get to District twelve. I get a score of eight, which is pretty good for someone of my strength. Katniss ends up getting an eleven. A score of eleven! That's better than any of the Careers. Everyone is happy for her and congratulates her.

   "Why did they give me an eleven?" she asks.

   "They probably want someone with a little bit of spunk for the arena," says Haymitch. Caeser releases the crowd and the TV goes blank. Katniss and I get congratulated before we head to bed. Tomorrow is the final training for the interviews. I don't quite know why it will take a whole day to practice for, but whatever Haymitch and Effie say. Will we train separately for the interviews? Will we have the choice of training together? They never said anything about that in the past Hunger Games. I guess we can figure that out tomorrow. I wonder if I could say something about how I feel for Katniss. That would probably be a bad idea. She would hate me forever and never forgive me. I'll have to sort it out in the morning. I lay awake for a while thinking about how I will present myself in the interviews. Smart? Humble? Likable? I fall asleep and dream of a million different ways my interview goes completely wrong.