The 74th Hunger Games.

Training, day 3.

A throwing knife clatters to the ground. The knife lands near eight more similar to it on the floor. The district One male, Damian Leeper, stands at the front of the line, one last knife in hand. He throws it, and it just barley holds onto the outer ring. He shrugs and steps out of the way to stand beside his horrid district partner who's already gone: Celeste. She gives him an annoyed glance, disgusted at having been embarrassed by her district partner.

She did okay, not nearly as bad as Damian, but also not as good as I know some of the others will do. She got five out of ten to actually hit the target, three of which were bulls-eyes. I guess both have talents elsewhere.

Knife Throwing. One of the four group activities. We all stand in a long line, sort of spread out to the side so others can see how well the people ahead of them did, but still in our spots, ordered from highest to lowest districts, girls ahead of the male of the same district.

The distirct Two female, Emily, as I recall, steps up boldly. As the targets light up for which one she needs to hit, each little silver blade hits dead center with blinding speed and accuracy.

I notice Celeste watching with eyes narrowed. Though both women are Careers, Celeste and Emily seem to have a dislike of the other. Even though the Careers could benefit from the other having a skill the other doesn't in the arena. I guess Celeste can't stand the thought of someone being better at something than her. Even though it's not too hard, since she only got half.

The next steps up: Jace White. He gets seven, the others range from good to okay to go home, looser. More often than not, they get anywhere from four to eight. Nobody else gets all ten like Emily.

Finally, it's my turn. Bored and tired from standing still for so long, I eagerly take my ten knives. The targets have been cleared of the two the district Eleven male, Cole got.

I breathe evenly and bounce on the balls of my feet. The first target lights up and I hurl the knife at it. Center.

The second and third I hit within one second of the light going on; center.

The fourth through seventh are a little slower, but still centered.

Eight, nine, center.

I wait for the last light to come on, the knife balanced and ready to fly form my palm. One more, and I have them all, same as Emily.

The light goes on, just to my left. I pull my arm back, and as I throw, my palm sweats and the knife slips slightly. But there's no stopping the knife, restarting the throw so it does not slip and will hit the middle. It is already flying and I can't tell where it will land. Everyone else has seen it slip, everyone else knows that it will not hit center, I will not do as well as Emily.

The sound of the knife hitting the target has a ring of finality. It has hit, but not where I expected: the center.

Everyone gasps and I look at it, happy but surprised. I go stand on the side, careful to avoid Celeste and Emily, for I fear that they would dismember me, Emily because I did as well as her and Celeste just for the fun of it.

Chase does well, he gets six. He nods happily. Atala then lets us go back to whatever we want. Chase comes up to me.

"Hey. That was amazing!"

"Thanks," I say, smiling up at him. "You didn't do so bad yourself," I add.

"Better then I thought," he shrugs.

"Well, I'm gonna go back to training," I say.

"Yeah, good job again," he says, waving as he leaves, going back to Swords.

I head over to Hammock Tying. Someone comes up to the station as well, but I don't bother looking. The hair on the back of my neck isn't standing up and my skin isn't crawling, so it's not Celeste.

"Hey. Good job at knives," says a warm female voice. I look over. Emily sits beside me, also trying a hammock.

"Hey. Yeah, you too. Sorry I didn't come over to you sooner. I was afraid you were going to dismember me," I admit. She laughs a pretty laugh.

"What, for doing well in training? Nah, I'm not Celeste."

"She's terrible, isn't she?" I agree.

"Believe me. At least you don't have to suffer through an alliance with her. She's enough to make me not want to be a Career," she explains with an eye roll.

I laugh, deciding Emily Reed isn't so bad after all. And it's good to know that even someone in a tight alliance with the snake also dislikes her.

We sit and talk as we make hammocks, and when we finish, we both go to the Knife Throwing station together. We spend the rest of the day together, and I almost don't notice the frosty glares Celeste is throwing us form across the room at Edible Plants And Insects. I watch her while her back is turned, and she is clearly struggling. Obviously, she had made a random guess yesterday.

I walk over and do the same thing. I had gotten better with these, and I knew immediately which was which.

"Struggling there One?" I ask in a mocking tone.

"You wish," she fires back.

I pretend to think about it for a minute so it doesn't look like I am making a random guess, before I point to the correct one.

"This one is poisonous. You can tell by how many indents are in it's shell," I say. I notice Celeste is looking at mine out of the corner of her eye.

"Correct," the trainer says.

"I was just about to say this one," she says snarkily, throwing her loose hair off her shoulder.

"That's correct as well, Celeste. Good job," the trainor gives Celeste a huge grin. He obviously favors her.

She turns her nose up at me.

"Hm. Next time, try not looking at what the people beside you are doing," I retort, letting her know that her cheating has not gone unnoticed.

She just makes a diva-like noise, followed by a hiss, before she turns on her heel and walks back to her partner.

Emily appears from the side of the station, giggling.

"It worked?" she asks, looking at Celeste's retreating form.

"Yup," I say happily. We high-five and go back to showing off at knife throwing.