Star girl | 1

• Training Scores •

As I make my way out of my room and head towards the elevator to take me to the training room, I pull on my hair to tighten my ponytail.

I've gotten used to the routine by now, not that it matters, this is my last time going through the damn thing.

I make sure not to walk too fast so that Cyrus can keep up. I walk down the hallway, glancing over at him and my face frowns more so than how it was before when I see how nervous he looks.

"Hey, chin up bud." I say, playfully pushing his shoulder as he looks over, the smallest trace of a smile on his face. "You have to show them that you're worth betting on, Cy. Aka, be yourself sunshine."

He giggles and I wrap an arm around his shoulder as we walk into the elevator and I press the button to take us to the training center.

I didn't get much sleep last night. They had already been talking with Cyrus on what he could do to show the judges today for a while now, but I put off talking about me.

I go over everything we talked about. Hopefully, it's enough to get me a high enough score that the careers won't immediately kill me off in the arena for overestimating my abilities.

I look up as the elevator opens and move my arm from around Cyrus' shoulder, instead grabbing his hand and squeezing it before we enter the room.

As we enter, he separates from me to go sit with Rye and Jewel while I go to sit with the careers.

They laugh loudly, obnoxiously, as if they're not even the slightest bit worried for what's about to come or about getting a low score. Actually, they probably aren't.

The careers have trained for this moment their entire lives, all I have is my knife throwing, and that I just know because of a stupid hobby I picked up a bit back.

I sit next to them and try my best to engage in the conversation, laughing and nodding along with them enough to make it seem like I'm paying attention and actually absorbing what they say but I keep going over and over the plan.

They start calling out the tributes one by one.

First is Scar, then Blue follows after him. Zenon, Cerulean, the district 3's who I hadn't bothered to talk to or ask their names.

Lachlan, and then little Pearl, the female from district 4.

I stop paying attention as the tributes from 5 and 6 go, but look up and smile as I watch the boy from 7 walk into the room, waving softly at me. I believe his name is Birch.

The girl from 7 goes, as well as the boy from 8, and then it's Jewel.

I grab her wrist as she goes to walk by, spinning her so she faces me, her eyes wide and confused.

"Good luck, Jewel. Not like you need it." I say, my voice quiet and my smile faint.

She smiled back, nodding.

"Of course, Capella." She says, freeing her wrist from my grasp and walking into the room by herself.

The district 9 boy goes, and then the girl, whose name is Odette I think. She's one of the youngest in the games, being 13, that's why I remember her. Not younger than Rye and Cyrus, but still.

Then it's Cyrus. He's running over to me and wrapping his arms around me and burying his face into my shirt as I run a hand through my hair but he has to go. He has to go in there and he has to do his best and get him sponsors or my plan in the games won't work. It has to work. Cyrus has to be the one to walk out of the games alive.

I smile, my everything is fine smile, the one I use when comforting him and Callisto that I'm fine. That no matter what happened or what will happen, that I'm gonna be there for them and that's all that matters right now so focus on me.