TWO

Chapter One

"Fight."

The short blonde haired girl puts her fists up, ready to defend my punch. Lea, the girl, seems confident, but her eyes register as fear. I smirk at how quick my feet are already knocking her to the ground and in a swift moment, she's pinned. Before my forearm could lodge into her windpipe a strong force shoves me off and straightens me up. The look on my face gets a look in return from my trainer before his eyes cast off in the direction of the entrance where a herd of boys lurk their way in.

"Nixon" my trainer says, his lips in a firm tight line.

"Atticus," the tall broad-shouldered man returns in a small nod, eyes scanning my trainer up and down as he approaches us. He has a tight black shirt on with matching tight joggers. His bald head glistens, so I can tell they've already started training.

"What brings you here?" Atticus, my trainer questions. Nixon looks from me to him and chuckles.

"Haven't you heard the news? We're starting co-ed training. With four months till the games we figured it would be best if we compiled all of our athletes together." Nixon walks closer to us, arms still crossed. He looks eager, ready to pounce on anything that gets in his way.

"Co-ed training?" Atticus sneers, his eyes avert to me then back to Nixon. "I suggest you meet my best in class then."

With my arms still crossed I peel my eyes away from the loud bald man and look at the very muscular blonde boy standing a few steps behind him. His eyes are trained on the girl, Paris, using a bow and arrow; lips in a tight smirk.

"Clove Rivers," Nixon answers before Atticus can speak and I turn my attention back to him. He gives me a look and I know exactly what he's thinking; "How the hell could this small girl be anything but the best?"

Deliberately I smirk and roll my eyes, Nixon notices and huffs.

"She's top in class?" Nixon asks, and Atticus chuckles almost as if he's thinking the same thing as him.

"Yes, she-"

Nixon raises a hand cutting off his speech, eyes resting on me again, "Let her speak for herself."

"How about I just prove it to you?" I taunt. Nixon nods, following me towards the knives. My fingers glaze over the handles of the knives I've grown familiar of. You can hear the striking sounds of arrow's hitting the dummies from across the room, although faint. I glance over at Paris who sets her bow down, tensing up when she most likely notices the blonde boy staring at her.

Finally, my attention is at the targets ahead of me. I narrow my eyes and wait for the first dummy to glow and once it does I waste no time skillfully lodging my blades into the hearts and skulls of the plastic targets. The echo of the noise makes my ears perk up and eventually I find myself getting lost in my actions. I throw two at a time before putting my hands at my hips, observing my work. A cocky grin grows across my face when I look at the bewildered Nixon; the boy next to him with blonde hair is glaring at me, jaw tense.

"How was that?" I boast sweetly, the boys behind him and the blonde all stare at me in awe.

"That was good." is all Nixon can say before turning to face the tall blonde once again, "Cato."

Cato looks at Nixon and nods like he's read his mind. Slowly, the blonde walks over the swords, shoulders back, chest out like he owns the place. I can't help but roll my eyes when he reaches the swords. Cato picks one of the heaviest swords up and glances at me for a bit before turning his attention at the mannequins. Swiftly, the sword glides through the air, completely cutting a head off. Next he raises his arm and kicks another dummy down and spears the sword through the heart of another. He's moving so fast I can hardly watch his form, but I know that it's near perfect.