The Game Plan (a Hunger Games Fanfic)

Chapter 11.

I woke up to the smell of fire. I sat up quickly and saw Josh, tending to a fire. I smiled as he looked at me and had to look down so he didn't see my cherry red face.

"Morning." He said. I smiled and said it back. I got to my feet and took my hair out of my braid.

"You should leave your hair down." Josh said behind me. I turned to him and put my hands down to my side.

"I mean, you look pretty no matter what you do with your hair." He said, the tips of his ears turning red. "Especially with that killer headband." He added, pointing the the wrapping around my forehead.

"At the interview, you said you liked someone from 7?" I asked, putting my hair in a ponytail. He nodded and smiled.

"Yeah. I like you." He said. My face turned red because I liked him too.

"I like you, too, Josh!" I said. Actually, now that I think of it, I kinda yelled it. I was too excited to hold in my emotions. My yell woke the others up. Aylor sat straight up and grabbed a sword.

"Sorry guys." I said. The rest of them sat up and gathered around the fire.

"We should go hunting." Neia said, smiling at Rue and I. Lethan nodded and Aylor stood to his feet.

"I agree-" he started to say, but Neia interrupted him.

"It's a girls hunting party, silly." she said.

"I wanna come, too. If Alycer's going, I am too." Aylor said, glaring at Neia. I don't think he trusted Neia quite yet. I rolled my eyes.

"Aylor, you're not a girl-" he cut me off and grabbed me by my shoulders.

"I don't care. You're my little sister, and I have to protect you." He said, pulling me close to him and hugging me. I felt embarrassed at first, but then I hugged him back, being thankful that I wasn't in this arena alone, without my best friend. Finally, I smiled and agreed, letting go of him. Rue looked at Lethan and Josh.

"Josh, Rue, and I can stay here and make camp." Lethan said.

"We need a signal." Rue said. "In case anything goes wrong. My aunt and Katniss did it in the 75th Games." We all nodded in agreement.

"It should be the same one they used." I said.

"Okay." Neia said. Then she whistled the four note tune. Katniss's song.

"I can't whistle." I pointed out, along with all the other boys. We all laughed.

"We'll back for lunch." Neia said. She walked over to Josh, hugged him, then to Ethan and kissed him. The feeling came again. She even walked over to Rue and hugged her. "Be safe. All of you."

"That goes for you too." Ethan said with a smile.

And with that, we were off. Me, Aylor and Neia. We ended up catching 2 rabbits, 1 doe, and 3 squirrels.

"We better start heading back. It's almost been-" I was cut off by the sound of a twig breaking from behind me. I spun around and looked into the trees. I couldn't see anything.

"Ali? What're you doing?" I heard Alyor ask. I slowly turned back around and saw Neia and Aylor, close behind me, staring at me.

"I thought I heard something." I whispered, my eyes darting around me. I looked into Neia's eyes and gulped. "Never mind. I don't hear anything now."

"Okay, well, let's get back. This place is givin' me the heeby-jeebies." Aylor said, shaking his head. I nodded and we all headed back towards camp.

We got back and found Rue talking to Josh and Lethan, who were setting out the sleeping bags around the small fire pit.

"Hey. Look what we got!" Aylor said in a high octave voice while waving a rabbit out in front of him. The three of them smiled at our small victory.

After we finished eating, us girls decided to take a nap. There was nothing else better to do, and the boy's were busy throwing rocks at each other. We all laid down beside each other, our shoulders touching.

"Wanna play Truth or dare?" Rue asked after a few silent moments. I said 'sure' and Neia said 'why not'.

"Okay. I'll go first." Rue said, turning her head to face Neia.

"Neia. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to do a cartwheel." Neia let out a small laugh before muttering 'oh no.' She slowly got to her feet and Rue and I sat up. We watched as she did a horrible cartwheel. All three of us started laughing as she stumbled on her feet and landed on her face on the ground. She crawled back over to us, still laughing.

After around an hour of playing truth or dare, we finally stopped. In that hour, I had managed to sprain my finger, roll my ankle, and fall on my face. Twice. But it was fun.

"Alrighty, you two," Aylor finally said, stepping into view. "It's supper time and I'm starving. Let's go hunting again."

I rolled my eyes. I really didn't want to but I was kinda hungry, even though we did only eat a few hours ago.

"Okay, come on, Ali." Neia said, yanking me to my feet. I groaned as I stood up and Rue laughed at me.

"See you for supper," I whispered down to Rue, who smiled and nodded while giving me a thumbs up. Aylor, Neia, and I trudged off into the woods.