Chapter-10

Chapter 10

Our floor is amazing. There's a living room area, a dining area, a kitchen, and a hallway for bedrooms. We're District 12, so we're on the highest floor of the building. There's a staircase that goes up to the roof.

Peeta and I release our hands and look around. He's mesmerized by the kitchen, saying they don't have ovens this fancy in the bakery. If he had the money to own an oven like that, I can't imagine he'd be a baker anyway.

I'm hovering by the dining room, where there's snacks and such. Cookies, brownies, and any type of fruit you can think of are set on the table precisely, to appease the eye. It's appeasing my stomach more than my eye.

I have no clue where Haymitch and Effie went. Haymitch is probably on a date with a bottle of booze. I make my way back over to the kitchen.

"Haymitch said today's a free day. He said we did well in the Tribute Parade, and to get some rest. He'll see us for dinner," Peeta says.

"Peeta?" I ask.

"Yeah?" He calls out from the kitchen. I walk in and see he's already kneading some dough. He's clearly excited about the ovens.

"It's been a while since you taught me how to bake. Can I help you?" I ask shyly. I know his answer will be yes, but it still embarasses me to ask.

"Of course," he says with a smile. "Here, you can have the dough I'm working on, it's already started. Do you remember how?"

We bake bread side by side together, enjoying each other's company. Peeta's bread is perfect, as always, but I burnt mine. But I don't mind, it reminds me of the night Peeta threw me the bread. I rip a small chunk out of mine and toss it in the air for Peeta to catch in his mouth.

It feels weird laughing and having fun, knowing that at the end of this month, either one of us will be dead, or we'll both be.

Dinner comes around, we eat, make small talk, go over our schedule for the thousandth time. Effie is very excited, even after I yelled at her on the train.

"Effie we know, training for three days starting tomorrow, on the fourth day, we show our skills to the Gamemakers. We get prepped for our interviews on the fifth day, interview training the sixth day, and interviews the seventh. We get one free day after, and then we go into the arena. Sound right Effie?" Peeta asks. He's getting annoyed with her too, but he's still polite with her. I would have worded my response differently than him.

"I'm sorry dear, I'm just overly excited! There's only one Hunger Games a year, and you guys are a part of it! You should feel honored!"

"Honored?" I ask angrily. "They ripped us from our family, are parading us around the city like we're celebrities, and are going to force us to kill each other in an arena for your entertainment! What's exciting about that? Where's the honor?" I'm yelling now. She deserves every word if she honestly thinks the Hunger Games are a good thing.

"I'm not hungry anymore," I say as I push my plate away. I stand up, moving my chair back noisily, and walk to my room.

"I'm not hungry either," Peeta says as he stands up. "Katniss, wait up." He starts chasing me, but I want nothing to do with him. How can I be his friend now and have to kill him in a week?

"Peeta, I can't do this. Just leave me alone, please," I ask. The hurt in his eyes show for just a second.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Peeta, we can't go in as friends. Not as "Star-Crossed Lovers, not as anything. We're enemies when we get in there, don't you see? There's no friends in the arena Peeta! One of us will die, or both of us will die!" I scream at him and cry. I cry for my sister, for Gale, for Hazelle, for Rory, for Vick, for Posy, for my mother, for Delly, for Madge. I cry for Peeta.

"I promised you, I promised you'd go home, didn't I? I'm not breaking that promise Katniss," he says as he sits next to me. "Come on, let's get you to bed."

I don't get up with him though. I just stare at the ground and cry for all the people I won't see again, for all the people preparing themselves to watch me die.

"Do I need to carry you to your bed Katniss?" he asks. I smile for a second.

He picks me up bridal style and carries me to my room. I lean my head into his chest and wrap my arms around his neck. He drops me off on my bed, and turns to leave.

"Peeta, will you stay here tonight?"

"Effie is going to lose her mind, but sure," he replies warmly. "I'll go get my blanket."

"I have a blanket already, Peeta. Just lay next to me," I whisper. He smiles slightly and walks to the other side of the bed, and I raise the blanket so he can slip under. "Thank you," I quietly whisper as I fall asleep. I don't know if he heard me, but we're both asleep in minutes.

Peeta wasn't lying. The look on Effie's face when she knocks on my door for breakfast, and Peeta answers, is priceless. Peeta and I can't stop laughing. She looks genuinely disgusted, which is how I feel when she tells us how exciting the Games are. I don't feel bad at all.

"Children! You can't sleep together, not unless you're married! It's improper!" Effie says.

"Well, we'll be dead in a week anyway," I say coldly. I might treat Effie a little worse than I should, but it's like I said, I won't be alive in a couple days, so I think I'm justified.

We all walk out of my room, and receive a 5 minute lecture about acting "lady-like" and proper etiquette. Sounds like too much work for me, but if it'll get Effie to leave us alone, I'll try to be more lady-like.

We eat breakfast, and go over today's plan. Training starts today, we'll get to size up the other tributes. We saw them during the Tribute Parade, but if Haymitch is right, the stronger ones will show off their skills to intimidate us. This will play as an advantage, as they'll know nothing about Peeta and I, while we know their weapon of choice, accuracy, and reaction time.

Before Effie takes us to training, Haymitch calls me over. "Alright sweetheart, continue the love act. Stay with each other the whole time, don't show off strengths, and pay attention to the other tributes. This is about more than just practicing weaknesses. It's assessing your enemy's weaknesses too."

Effie takes us to the training floor, and it's incredible. There's stations for everything you could imagine. Spear training, bow training, trident training, knife training, axe training, traps station, edible plant station, rope tying station, and a fire starting station.

I can't practice with a bow, a knife, or traps. Gale taught me all kinds of traps and snares. We use knives to skin our kills, and sometimes need to finish off animals that we've injured.

"What stations should we avoid for you Peeta?" I ask.

"Camouflage and strength training," he says.

"Camouflage? Where'd you learn that?" I ask.

"I ice the cakes and I paint sometimes, it's exactly like that but messier," he says with a smile.

We do the fire starting station first. I have basic knowledge in this, but I want to teach Peeta how to start fires too. He gets the hang of it, and I find out quickly that Peeta is a pretty fast learner.

We try all the weapons. I'm no good with any of them, but Peeta throws spears like he's done it his whole life.

Training is over for the day, so we head to the cafeteria floor. The food in the cafeteria is almost as good as it was on the train. Peeta and I sit together, while most of the other tributes sit alone. The only other group is the careers, all sitting together and laughing.

We get to go back to our floors after training, so Peeta and I take the elevator up. The elevator is glass, allowing us to see outside into the city. There's parties and celebrations everywhere.

Peeta and I go back to his room for a nap. We realized that it's much easier to sleep together than seperate. Neither of us wake from nightmares, or have trouble falling asleep.

Effie wakes us up, knocking on the door loudly for dinner.

"Peeta! Dinner! Have you seen Katniss?" She yells through the door. I quietly giggle into the blanket, getting a laugh out of Peeta too.

"Coming Effie!" He yells. "Um, stay here for a few minutes before leaving so Effie doesn't get mad again."

"Maybe I want to make her mad again," I say with a grin.

We walk out together, and as we turn the corner to go into the dining room, Effie shrieks.

"Katniss! I told you, sleeping with a man before marriage is unacceptable!"

"Settle down Effie, it's harmless," Peeta says with a laugh. Even Haymitch joins in on the laughter. We go over how training went, how the careers acted, and what we'll do tomorrow.

"We found out quickly that the careers are overconfident. Everything they do is done with speed and precision. District 2's female tribute is perfect with knives, while District 1's male is good with a spear," I say to Haymitch. Peeta nods. The careers are scary, but not at the same time. I have a secret they don't know. My bow.

There's three issues with the bow and arrow in the arena. If there isn't a bow at all, I'll have to make one. If there is one, it will be in the center or the pile. If I run out of arrows, I'd have to make some, but there's a chance there's no birds or chickens to use it's feathers. Without a bow and arrow, my odds diminish.

I follow Peeta into his room, and get changed in the bathroom while he gets changed in the bedroom. I shower before getting changed, Peeta does the same after. We brush our teeth side by side, and slip into bed. We have no nightmares.

Effie retrieves us again, but doesn't comment on us in the same room. It was definitely the highlight of my morning. Haymitch must've talked to her about it.

We eat a large breakfast, and lounge around on the couch relaxing. We have two more days of training before we show off to the Gamemakers. I'm nervous about this. If they see me shoot, will they purposely leave a bow off the list of weapons in the pile?

"You guys know who the careers are. 1, 2, and 4 are your biggest competition. Today in training, I want you to learn skills you'll need in the arena. Learn the edible plants, learn knife throwing, learn anything you think will be needed in there. Knives are your best friend, they're the most common weapon in the Games," Haymitch says.

Effie walks us down to the elevator, and wishes us luck today. Haymitch told her yesterday not to go into the training room with us, because having our escort with us will make us look weak. It will make us look like we need a babysitter in there.

"Peeta, let's do the edible plants. We might be able to learn what type of arena this'll be too, knowing the plants there," I say.

"Alright, let's do it," he says following me.

We sit with the instructor there for an hour, not that we need it. He taught Peeta quickly, and both of us passed the edible plants test easily. I recognized most of the plants in the station. I think the arena is in the woods.

We decide to do some balance training. There's a tightrope in the far corner of the room, with a net under it to catch us if we fall. They don't want the tributes to get hurt before the Games begin.

I'm good at this, mainly from being in the woods for years. You learn your feet and legs without even thinking about them. It's almost easy to walk across the rope. For Peeta though, it's harder. He falls often and has to restart. He never gets mad though, he just keeps trying. When he falls for the 20th time, I go over to him.

"Peeta, throw those things over there," I whisper.

"I can't. That'll show off my secret. Haymitch said not to, remember?" He asks.

"I don't care what Haymitch says. Throw them, the Careers are looking at you like you're an easy kill."

He walks over slowly, and grabs one of the balls of weight. It has a handle for him to grab, but it must weigh 100 pounds. Perfect for Peeta, it's just like a bag of flour at the market. He picks it up, every muscle in his arm visible through his shirt,

but his face shows no struggle.

I look over at the careers to see them laughing, like they don't think he can throw it. This is nothing for Peeta. He swings the ball backwards, and then with all his strength, flings the ball over towards a rack of spears. It knocks the rack over and makes a bunch of noise. Everyone looks over at Peeta, impressed with his strength. Even the careers are impressed, but the leader, District 2's boy, looks angry. Maybe Haymitch was right, we shouldn't have done that.

A/N: I'm a little stuck here to be honest. I don't want to have too much filler, but I don't want to rush it either. I'm trying to balance it out for you guys.