Chapter 13

"You okay?" Cato asked in a low whisper.

I glanced down at my shaking hands. "Yeah, perfectly fine." I answered, as I steadied myself. Today was our individual training session. Today we would show our best skills to the Gamemakers and receive scores. Those scores would then help us get sponsors, not that I needed them. The score would also prove to everyone else that I was the best. So, this training session was very important.

"You'll be fine, you're the best thrower here."

"Thanks but, I'm not nervous." I said, irritated. I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. We were in a small room off of the gymnasium, waiting to be called to our session. I sat wedged between Marvel and Cato and thankfully, since I was from Disrict 2, I wouldn't have to wait long.

"Glimmer Carner," The speaker blarred. Glimmer sprang out of her seat beside Marvel. Hopefully her arrows didn't wind up in one of the Gamemakers. About ten minutes later, Marvel was called. He walked calmly toward the door, a smile plastered on his face. He looked ready. I hoped when my time came I'd look the same.

"Clove Sevina." It was time.

"Don't miss," Cato said, smiling.

"I won't." I smoothed back my hair, lifted my chin, and walked into the gymnasium. As soon as I walked through the doors, I felt the Gamemakers eyes glued to me. I walked closer to where they sat, surrounded by a table of exotic foods and bubbling drinks.

"Clove Sevina, District 2." I announced. A few nodded, allowing me to begin. I walked to the knife station, eager to get my hands on the weapons. I grabbed the first few knives on the rack and glanced around the gym, looking for my first target. I jogged over to where I had been throwing the previous days, a group of human shaped targets lining the walls. I glanced over to make sure the Gamemakers were watching, and got ready to throw. The knives flew out of my hand perfectly, each one landing in the heart of the target. I ran back to the knives and grabbed a few more before sending them into the nearby dummies. They hadn't told me to stop yet so, I grabbed a few more and stepped back a few yards. The knives landed exactly where I wanted them.

"That will do." Seneca Crane said, as he pointed to the door. I nodded in response and made my way towards the elevator.

I did good. I didn't miss once. I did good.

A smile tugged at my lips, as the elevator doors closed behind me.

About ten minutes later, I was up in the sitting room, waiting for Cato. I was satisfied with my performance, and told myself I didn't need to worry. There was no reason my score wouldn't be high. I knew Cato would do even better than I did. It wasn't long before the elevator doors opened.

"Cato! How did it go?" I asked, joining him in the entryway.

"Good, I think. They seemed impressed. How did yours go?"

"Great, I didn't miss once."

"Of course you didn't," he said with a laugh. "Now come on, you hungry?"

"Starving," I answered. I followed him to the dining room, where the avoxes were just putting out the meal. It smelled delicious. I pulled out a chair and sat down, grabbing myself a plate. Cato joined me and did the same.

I had barely made a dent when Spart entered the room, a frown on her face. "Hey, hey, hey! We were all going to eat together!" She threw her hands in the air, her dangling jewelry jingling. "Now where are your mentors?" We both shrugged. "Enobaria! Julius! These two decided that we were having dinner now!"

"Why do we need to all eat together?" I asked, annoyed.

She rolled her eyes. "Because It's nice mannors!" I still didn't see the point. Enobaria and Julius arrived a few minutes later, apparently when dinner offically started.

"So, how did your training session go, Clove?" Enobaria asked, taking a sip of her wine.

"I just threw my knives. They hit the center everytime, so that's good. I threw some from pretty far away, at least 30 yards." She was nodding. "That's it. I hope it was actually better than I made it sound."

"I'm sure your score will be great." She smiled, her sharpened teeth exposed.

"Now, how about you Cato?" Julius asked.

Cato set down his pork chop, that was halfway to his mouth. "I just used my sword, like you said I should and sliced off some dummies heads." He whipped out his arms, acting it out. "Then I used it on the punching bags, and chopped them down. So, then after that, I threw the sword right into one of the targets. Then they let me leave. I think I did really well to be honest."

"Well, we'll have to see when your scores are up." Julius glanced at the clock. "Which, will be in about ten minutes. We all abandoned our plates and sat around the television to watch the scores announced. Caesar Flickerman lit up the screen. I glanced over at Spart who was practically jumping up and down.

"As you know the tributes were rated on a scale of one to tweleve. After three days of careful evaluation, the Gamemakers would like to present you with these scores." Caesars voice filled the room. I watched as Marvel's face appeared on the screen. He got a nine. He must have shown them his spear throwing. He was quite good.

Next was Glimmer. Her perfect blonde curls, and green eyes covered the screen, making me gag. A 7 flashed beside her face. I had to bite my lip to quiet my laughing. Cato just looked annoyed.

"She's embarassing us." he groaned. I could only agree.

The room went silent as Cato's face popped up on the screen. The picture was from the first day of training. He hadn't had time to fix up his hair, so the blonde was ruffled and stuck up every where. Of course it managed to look good. His face was captured in a smirk. His brown eyes were gorgeous. Why hadn't I noticed them before? I couldn't stop starring. If it wasn't for the loud cheering, I would have missed his score. He got a ten

Spart jumped up from her seat, and clapped her hands together.

"Nice job, kid." Julius said with a smile.

"Congrats! That's an amazing score," I cheered. I felt proud of him, proud of my best friend. It was a weird feeling. I normally just felt jealousy.

"Thanks Clove," he replied, returning my smile. He didn't seem that excited but, I guess a ten was expected. It was still a good score.

Next my face covered our screen. I dug my nails into my arm, hoping for the best. I had no reason to be worried. Why was I worried?

"Clove Sevina with a score of..." I sucked in my breath. "10." The same cheering that was given to Cato was given to me. I had gotten a good score. I was doing good so far. I could do this.

"You are both going to have people lining up for miles to sponsor you," Enobaria said, excitedly.

"Both of my tributes are so talented!" Spart squaled as she jumped up and down.

I turned to Cato, and we both smiled. Then he leaned in and kissed my cheek. Kissed my cheek. Spart giggled beside us, as my face burned.

Why did he do that!? That didn't just happen, did it?

He smiled at my shocked expression. "Congratulations." He then turned back to the screen with a grin on his face.

"I'm going to grab some drinks!" Spart announced as she skipped over to the dining room. She called to the avoxes, and returned with 5 bubbling glasses. She handed me a drink but, my stomach was already bubbling enough.

"Peeta Mellark with a score of 8," Caesar announced. I had to admit, it was better than I thought but, nothing exceptional. Now all we needed was a low score from Katniss. Unfortunetly that's not what we got.

"Katniss Everdeen, with a score of 11."

"What!" I screamed, anger flowing through my voice. Cato closed his eyes and swore under his breath. "How the hell did she get an 11! This isn't fair! I've been training my entire life for this and she still beats me!" Enobaria and Julius were silent. Cato was shaking with anger. I glanced at the eleven that was still hovering beside her face. "I swear I will kill her!" I shouted before throwing my drink at the wall. I stormed off to my room as the glass shattered to the ground.

I climbed under the covers and turned off the lights. My head was spinning and I knew I wouldn't sleep. It was only a few minutes later, when I heard Cato come in.

"I don't really feel like talking," I grumbled.

"I don't care." He climbed under the covers.

It was silent, until I finally spoke up. "I just can't believe it. It's not fair.

"The scores don't really matter." he whispered.

"Yes, they do."

"I hate her as much as you do but, just because he score is good, it doesn't mean we won't be able to kill her.

He was right. I had to forget the scores. I leaned in closer to him. "Promise I get to kill her?"

I felt him laugh. "Sure. You can kill her."

I smiled to myself. "I look forward to it."