Are The Odds In Our Favor? ~Cato~

5. Training Day One

Oh. My. God.

Who is this from?And how did that person even get into my room? I doubt it's from anyone on this floor. They'd just tell me and not write a mysterious note. I'm starting to freak out. Was he or she in here when I was asleep? What is going on? Should I tell someone? Maybe Clariss? No, she would have a fit if she found out. Then Beetee, or Rade? No, this is a thing I should keep to myself. I guess I'll just have to find out who it is when I go there.

I get up and go to the bathroom. I brush my teeth and take a quick shower before putting on some clothes. I'm quite nervous for training today. It's going to be the first time when I can see all the tributes together, and not in extravagant costumes.

When I arrive in the dinning room, everyone is already there. I quietly sit down on a chair and an Avox puts my breakfast down in front of me. I thank her and she scurries away without a word.

"So, today is your first training, so I'm going to give you some tips," Beetee says. "Go to the survival stations. As much as you think combat is important, you can easily die from dehydration, food poisoning or freezing to death. Don't do things you're really good at, because then the other tributes will know your strengths and weaknesses. Don't spend all day at one station trying to learn a completely new skill, because that's just a waste of time and you won't be a master at it in a day either. Do you understand everything?"

"Yes," me and Rade both say in unison.

"Good. Now go change into your training outfit, training starts in 30 minutes," Clariss says, while finishing her breakfast. I stand up and head to my room. When I walk in, I notice the jumpsuit neatly folded on my bed. I put it on and braid my hair into two french braids.

I watch TV for about 15 minutes and then decide to go to the training area. I walk down the hallway to the elevator and see Rade waiting for it to come. I go and stand next to him and wait too.

"Are you nervous?" he asks me shakily.

"A bit, you?" I answer.

"Yeah, I kind of am. I just hope the Careers won't be staring at me the whole time," he says, flexing his fingers nervously.

"They won't be. They'll be too busy with themselves," I say, kind of hoping that will come true. Cato would probably have his eyes glued on me the whole time.

The elevator doors open in front of us, packed with people. We silently slide in. I can see that girl from district 12 talking to a blond boy, who I think is from 12 too.

When we reach the training area, I'm amazed at how big it is. There are stations everywhere, things you can climb up or down, life size dummies with targets on their chests scattered all around the place, weapons in every corner of the room.

I immediately see Cato and the other Careers at the blades station. He hasn't seen me yet, so I hope I'll have a few minutes of peace. I barely even finish that thought when he looks at me, sticking that stupid smirk on his face again. I glare at him, and he lifts his eyebrows innocently. I can't help but think how hot he looks in that outfit. I blush at the thought and turn away from him.

Okay, let's go pick a station. Knot tying, snares, edible plants, fishhooks, fire starting... I end up choosing edible plants. I shouldn't waste my sponsors on food so this could be useful. I spend about an hour there, nearly getting poisoned twice, and then decide I should go somewhere else. Maybe some combat for a change.

Let's try archery. We once practiced it in school, but with suction cups on the tips of the arrows, so maybe that doesn't count as a completely new skill, does it? I walk up to the station and pick a bow and some arrows. I get it ready and aim at the center of the target, focus, and let go. I stare in shock when I see the arrow exactly in the middle. I'm amazed. For the first try? Wow.

I shoot a few more shots. Well, at least now I know that I can use a bow, if there is one in the arena. I decide it could be a good idea to try out my dagger skills, if I remember them correctly from when I was ten. I walk to the blades station and see Cato slashing a dummy with a sword. I swear he's been going at it all day. I won't be surprised if he dies of food poisoning.

He doesn't look up, thank god, as I pick up a dagger. It's heavier than what I used at home, but I'll cope with it. I go to a dummy start training. I find out I remember everything, but surprisingly, I'm worse than with the bow.

After few more hours of stabbing and cutting, a trainer announces, that it's the end of training. We all walk to the elevator. It takes two trips to get us all onto our floors, luckily Cato went before me. When I get to my room, I immediately go have a shower, washing of all the sweat off of my body. I put on some comfortable clothes and lie on the bed for a while, when Clariss comes knocking on my door, telling me to go have dinner.

I get up and go into the dinning room. I sit down and start eating. "So, how was your first training?" Clariss asks.

"Well, I found out that I'm really good at archery," I answer. "What about you, Rade?"

He hesitates before answering. "I learned how to start a fire and also hand to hand combat."

"Well, that is actually very useful, when you find yourself without any weapons," says Clariss.

We finish eating in silence. I can't stop thinking that, in a few hours, I will meet the mysterious person on the roof. I know someone would think I'm crazy going there, but I'm genuinely interested who it is.

"Well, you two should head of to bed, tomorrow is a big day as well," says Clariss. She bids us goodnight and leaves the room.

I stand up from the table, say goodnight to Rade and Beetee, and go to my room. It's only eight o'clock, so I still have four hours untill I need to go. I watch TV and the hours pass by swiftly. I look at the digital clock on my bedside table and it says 23:50, so I decide I should go up to the roof.

I leave my room quietly, so to not wake anyone up, and tip toe to the stairs. I would take the elevator, but that definitely has security cameras. I sneak up the stairs all the way to the 13th floor and open the door. The roof is really big. There are flowers in pots everywhere and a seating area in the middle.

I go to the railing and look up. The moon is shining brightly and there are stars scattered all over the night sky. You can't see them well though, because of the lights shining from the whole Capitol.

"I'm glad you could make it."