Chapter 4: Training

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The next morning I wake up earlier than I would have liked. I look at the alarm clock next to me which says 6.30 am. I grumble to myself as I sit up, knowing it would be pointless trying to go back to sleep. I crawl out of bed and grab my training attire and laying it out on upon my messy bed before going to the bathroom. I splash some warm water on my face to make me seem more awake, but I doubt it will actually help.

I strip and step into the shower and do my new normal routine. I step out and dry myself off. I secure my towel before walking over to the sink. I brush my teeth and use some mouthwash. I comb my finger through my hair attempting to detangle it. My hair now reaches midway down my back. It feels weird to have hair that isn't past my waist. It feels lighter and easier to manage, but weird none the less.

I exit the bath room and pull on my clothes. I grab a black jacket because my arms are cold before heading out. I bump into Effie on the way to the dining room.

"You're up?"

"Yeah, I woke up early so I just got up. Is breakfast on yet?"

"Of course darling," she says before scurrying off to wake Peeta.

I see Haymitch sitting there with food piled on his plate and a glass of clear liquid in his hand. I want to assume its water, but I know it's probably some form of alcohol. I'm tempted to ask why he drinks, but I don't want to be seen as rude.

I help myself to some fruit and some bread before pouring myself a glass of juice. I take small bites so I won't up upset my stomach. Nerves have settled in well and truly as I try and mentally prepare for my first day of training. Effie walks into the room and takes a seat next to Haymitch. She pours herself a cup of dark brown liquid which smells foul.

"Effie, what is that you're drinking?"

"It's coffee. Do you want some?"

"No thanks, it doesn't smell too nice from here."

I can see her mouth open as if she wants to say something, but she doesn't say anything. Peeta comes in not long after and plonks himself into the seat next to me. He stifles a yawn and I can see Effie looking unimpressed and ready to scold.

"Did you have a good sleep?"

"Me? No. I was too nervous about training." Peeta says as he helps himself to the eggs and bacon.

"Speaking of training, Haymitch do you have any advice for us?"

He looks up and stares at me with a blank look on his face. "What are you two good at?" He finally asks.

"Not much," Peeta replies.

"That is not true. I've seen him lift 100kg sacks of flour."

"And, what good will that do," Peeta snarls.

"You'd be good at combat and you can lift weights which will be helpful in the games." Haymitch says.

Peeta grunts before speaking up. "Fianna here can throw knives and use a bow and arrow. I also have a feeling she'll be good at other stuff too, like hand to hand combat."

Haymitch raises an eyebrow, "interesting. I gathered you'd be good with knives considering you almost stabbed my hand the other day on the train."

We all laugh apart from Effie who I can hear her muttering about mahogany wood.

"Okay, so in training I want you to stay away from the things you're good at. So Fianna stay away from archery and knives. Peeta stay away from the weights. Throw an axe or spear, learn how to light a fire or learn plant types. Save the stuff you're good at for the assessments."

We nod and finish the rest of our breakfast in silence.

Peeta and I make our way to the basement where the training centre is. Although it's not even 9 o'clock we are still the last to arrive. Everyone stares at us as we walk in the room.

"I love being fashionably late," I say to Peeta who chuckles. I hear a couple of other chuckles from the tributes who are close enough to hear me.

We join the circle and I find myself standing next to Marvel. He looks down before grinning at me and I grin back. I look around the room and I find the boy from district two staring at me with a deadly smirk. I roll my eyes at his apparent cockiness and arrogance before turning my attention to Atala; who speaks to us about the training. As she lists the names of all the stations my eyes resume looking around the room at all the other tributes.

My heart plummets to the ground when I see that all the guys are at least twice my size and all the girls are bigger than me. My heart falls even further if that is possible, when I realise that I'm the smallest in the room. I internally groan, I'm even smaller than the twelve year old from district eleven.

I try to stand taller with my head held upwards to show that all though I may be small I am not someone to mess with.

Atala then dismisses us and I watch as Marvel joins the tribute of district two in the weaponry area.

"Where do you wanna start?" Peeta asks.

I look around before my eyes land on the empty knot tying station.

"Do you know how to tie a knot?" I ask sarcastically as I walk over.

The trainer is pleased to see us come over to learn. His beaming smile enlarges when he realizes that I can tie up many snares. We then spend the next hour or so learning how to make a trap that will leave someone hanging from one leg in the air. We practice until we are perfect, but I am tempted to see if it works.

"How do we know it will work? I mainly wanna see it in action. Wanna try it out Peeta?"

Peeta's face holds shock as he stares at me, "what?"

Both the trainer and I laugh.

"Well if you could grab one of those target dummies from the sword arena I can show you what happen, unless you want to demonstrate for us Peeta."

Peeta shakes his head furiously and I laugh even harder.

"Okay, I'll be back with a large target dummy." I say with a smirk.

I walk off to the sword training area and walk up to the trainer. "You wouldn't mind if we borrow a dummy to use to see if our trap works."

He gives me a funny look which I ignore before showing me to a dummy. He opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. I stoop down low and wrap my arms around the legs, just above the knees. I stand up and I'm not surprised that it weighs so much. I stagger at first until I readjust my grip.

I smile at the trainer and tell him thanks. My eyes land upon the career tributes all with shocked faces. I smile to Glimmer and Marvel; who is trying hard not to laugh. The boy from district two whose name I need to learn is bewildered but when he sees me looking he smirks. I roll my eyes again before walking across the arena floor carrying a six foot practice dummy.

I reach the knot tying station and set it down on the ground. The trainers the purposefully places a foot into the trap and steps back just in time. The dummy goes flying upwards until it is hanging upside down suspended only by its foot. I give a laugh as does the trainer and Peeta.

We leave and walk over to the camouflage station. Peeta seems to enjoy this station as he swirls the paints and what else there is on his arm. He looks up to see me staring.

"I do the cakes in the bakery," he admits sheepishly.

I close my eyes as I picture myself walking through the square with Katniss and Prim. Prim would always drag us over to look at the beautifully decorated cakes at the bakery. We would all ooh and aah over them before continuing on our way. I open my eyes and smile at Peeta.

"Well I'm useless at this, so I might go learn how to throw or hold an axe."

"Do you want me to come?"

I smile and study his face. I can see that he doesn't really want to go and would much rather stay and paint. "It's all right. It's lunch in an hour so we'll meet up then and go from there."

Peeta agrees and I stride off towards the axe station. The instructor teaches me the body stance and how to hold an axe before someone else walks over. I look up to see Marvel standing there.

"Hello."

I smile and greet him back.

"Are you having fun?"

"Ahh... yes, I'm having so much fun learning how to weld an axe." I say sarcastically.

Marvel stands back as the instructor finishes teaching me how to throw an axe. He steps away and stands next to Marvel so I can practice. I throw it using the technique he taught me. The axe falls short of the dummy and I grunt and grab another axe. Someone else comes to the station so the instructor moves away to help them.

I roll my neck and aim again.

"Here." Marvel says as he reaches over. He raises my elbow up a bit more before stepping back. I throw it again and it hits the target right in the middle of the chest. I smile and look over to Marvel. He does his best to hide his shock but I can see it in his eyes that he wasn't expecting me to do so well.

"Thanks so much Marvel."

He smiles and grabs an axe himself. We practice throwing axes together whilst sharing jokes. We have a small competition who can hit the target the most. Strangely enough I win hitting the target almost every time, while Marvel only missed three throws.

A bell sounds signalling that it is lunch time. We put away the axes and both head towards the eating area.

"Good job by the way Fianna. Do you want to sit with us for lunch?"

I can feel my heart starting to race in panic. What should I say? Should I, but what about Peeta? Could this be an alliance? I look up at him his face placid, but I can see he is waiting for an answer.

"I would love to, but I'm going to sit with Peeta. I'll see if I can sit with you tomorrow. Ummm... You're welcome to sit with us though." I say, trying to be careful not to offend him.

He smiles and politely declines. We walk off; him towards the other careers and me towards Peeta. Peeta and I sit at an empty table and eat quietly. I can see he wants to question me about Marvel, but decides against it.

"Where do you want to go after this?" I ask before taking a bite of bread.

Peeta looks up from his plate and shrugs, "edible foods."

I nod and look back down. We finish the rest of our meal in silence and part of me wonders if I should've accepted the invite to sit with Marvel and the other careers. I look over to see them gathered rowdily at a table, as if to show that they are better than everyone else. I turn back to my plate feeling somewhat deflated.

The rest of the day goes by quickly enough. We spend an hour at the edible foods, which I pass without blinking an eye. Peeta struggles a little, but I help until he is more confident in telling the difference between edible and inedible. We then move on to hammock building. Throughout the entire two hour or so I could feel the gaze of district two never leaving me. At first it made me uncomfortable, but then I begin to ignore it, thinking that I'm more interesting than his stations if he keeps staring.

The hammock station is easy enough as I secure a hammock quite quickly. Peeta struggles and takes his time trying to secure it. Whilst he continues with this I excuse myself to go to the bathroom.

Just as I was leaving the restroom I see two walking over. I walk past but my shoulder accidently bumps into him.

"Watch it." I grumble under my breath.

"What was that?" He says grabbing my arm and pulling me around to look at him.

"I said watch it." I snarl, ripping my arm out of his grasp.

He smirks, "someone is feisty."

I roll my eyes at him, "and your point is?"

"I like it, but don't roll your eyes at me princess."

I step back shocked. Did he just call me princess? "I am not your princess." I exclaim.

He continues to smirk at my frustration. "Are you sure your not your princess... I mean I am your prince in shining armour."

I scoff. "Look whatever the hell your name is. I'm not your princess and you are not my prince. So why don't you run along to your friends and go suck up to one of them. I'm sure they'll be interested."

His eyes darken and I mentally scold myself for saying that to him. He could snap my neck in a heartbeat with those big muscles. He leans down towards me ear and I tense up. "The name is Cato princess." He whispers huskily before continuing to the bathroom.

I'm left standing there completely stunned at what has just happened. What did just happen?

~~~ Cato's POV ~~~

Clove and I were the first tributes to arrive to the training centre. We were earlier than need be. Personally I was just eager to get my hands on the weapons. And that was my focus; weapons, I mean sure I should pay attention to survival, but I'm going to kill everyone and win.

Slowly people start trickling into the room and I find myself mingling with the tributes from district one. I get along well with Marvel who is quite likable, but I find it hard not to rip Glimmers head off.

Soon everyone was standing in a circle, with some training lady in the middle. It was silent, but that soon vanished after we heard the elevator ding. I look to the large clock on the wall; it wasn't even 9 o'clock. I look to the elevator to see the tributes of district twelve entering the room. I know everyone is staring at them.

"I love being fashionably late?" I hear her say to Peeta who chuckles in response. I frown at them as they join the circle because she ends up standing next to Marvel. They smile at each other briefly and I feel an explainable surge of anger towards Marvel. How dare he smile at my girl?

The lady; whose name I think is Atala, starts talking, but I don't listen to a word she says. I stare at Fianna with a large smirk as she looks around the room. Her eyes land on me and my smirk get bigger and I see her roll her eyes before turning to the woman. I frown; why would she roll her at me? I watch as she continues looking around the room completely avoiding my stare.

I use this time to take in her appearance. She was short, so unbelievably short. Her hair was midway down her back and was secured in a high ponytail. Her eyes are a bright blue that sparkle with interest. Her hands are clasped in front of her and she is gently rocking back and forth. Her movement are so small that they are almost hardly noticeable, but I see it all. I see the way she tries to stand taller, the way she subtly lifts her head to show that she is tough. I see her beauty crystal clear.

Atala releases us and I head straight in the direction of the weaponry mainly for the swords. All focus on Fianna as my hand grips a large sword. I start my training, using the tips given by the instructor. After a while I hear a soft voice speak up that catches my attention.

"You wouldn't mind if we borrow a dummy to use to see if our trap works."

I watch as the instructor gives Fianna a funny look before taking her to a dummy that no one is using. She bends down and wraps her small arms around the legs and lifts it up. I expect her to fall over from the weight and size but she doesn't. She staggers at first before readjusting her grip and walks off. She looks around and her eyes land on us. She smiles at Glimmer and Marvel who is trying not to laugh at the five foot girl carrying a more than six foot target dummy. Her eyes flicker to me and I quickly smirk. She rolls her eyes again and I can't help but feel angry at her actions.

The rest of the day I watch her as she moves from station to station. She goes to the axe station where she is being taught to throw. I want to go over and talk, but I see Marvel walking over. The talk briefly before he and the instructor steps back. She throws the axe which falls short of the target. She frowns and tries again, but just before she throws it I can see Marvel walk over. He adjusts her position and she throws it again. The axe lands straight into the middle of the targets chest.

They spend an hour throwing axes together and I can't help but feel jealous and angered at the same time. She was my girl. Not his. Mine.

When the bell sounds for lunch I am beyond hungry. I feel as if I could eat two horses. I sit at a table in the corner with the career tributes. We muck around as we gather rowdily.

"Oi, I want Fianna in our alliance. She is unbelievably good at axe throwing so she's most likely good at other stuff. And she's funny and good looking. If you know what I mean?"

Glimmer hits his arm and scolds him for speaking like that about her and for the first time I am thankful for her presence. We talk about if Fianna should join our alliance and we agree to wait until tomorrow to see what else she could possibly bring.

The rest of the day goes by quick enough and I continue to watch Fianna. I watch as she secures her hammock before walking off to the bathroom. This is my chance. I wait a minute before heading after her. To my luck I catch her on the way out. I purposefully walk so that I'll bump her a bit.

"Watch it." I hear her grumble more so to herself than to me. But her comment enrages me yet excites me at the same time.

"What was that?" I say as I grab her arm. I spin her around so that I can look at her.

She's quite for a second before snarling, "I said watch it." She rips her hand out of my grasp and stares at me coldly.

HI smirks, "someone is feisty."

"And your point is?" she says whilst rolling her eyes. Can she please stop rolling her eyes?

"I like it, but don't roll your eyes at me princess."

She steps back her face full of shock and surprise. "I am not your princess," she exclaim.

I smirk at her frustration. "Are you sure you're not your princess... I mean I am your prince in shining armour." I say referring to yesterdays chariot costume.

She scoffs. "Look whatever the hell your name is. I'm not your princess and you are not my prince. So why don't you run along to your friends and go suck up to one of them. I'm sure they'll be interested."

What? What did she just say to me? Her comment pisses me off but at the same time turns me on. Most people would be on the ground by now beaten to a bloody pulp, but her. She keeps me a trance like no other.

I lean down to her ear and whisper in my best seductive voice. "The name is Cato princess."

I try to ignore the fact that she tensed up, but I can't. Was she scared of me? I then continue to the bathroom knowing I've left her in shock. I look down to see a bulge forming and I quickly try to right myself.

As I wash my hands I begin to wonder about what I've become. I'm Cato and I don't fall for girls, especially in the games and when they are from district twelve. But that girl has got me under her spell and I need to break away, but I find myself being lured in more and more.


Word Count: 3557

A/N: Weeoww! What a long chapter and I didn't even finish the training days. Yikes. But do you like their first interaction. I also apologise if I made anyone uncomfortable, this is a PG sort of fan-fiction - meaning that there will be bad words and some 'weird' scenes, but if anything becomes intense I will warn you in advanced. Anyway enjoy the story. Don't forget to hear, comment, follow and share. ❤

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