Just a Game

Chapter Three

"You took my knife!"

I start off training by screaming at a scrawny, meek-looking kid. I lost my knife, and have no idea who took it. I let my anger take over and targeted the first kid I see. A couple Peacekeepers had to pull me away from the tribute.

The kid looks at me, wide-eyed. He says nothing.

"I'll kill you," I threaten. "You'll be the first one I kill."

With that, I stalk off, with the other district tributes staring after me. I can see Glimmer and Marvel smirking. They are the District 1 tributes and are the only ones who don't seem intimidated by me. Back home, every time the district's tributes are drawn, my parents commented that some of their kids seemed pretty stuck-up, considering their names. I mean, honestly, Marvel? The way they waved excited and grinned their perfect teeth only reinforced their image.

"What was that back there?" Clove runs up to me and smacks me on the head.

I rub my scalp, scowling. "He took my knife."

"He didn't, you idiot."

"How do you know?"

She sighs impatiently and points at a tiny girl. She can't be any older than twelve. Her dark eyes gleam with mischief, and in her hand is my knife.

"Whatever, Clover."

She rolls her eyes and stalks over to a weapons rack.

I decide to practice with the target dummies. I pick up a sword and weigh it in my hands. It is heavier than the ones I usually practice with at home. Gripping the hilt tightly, I stand, waiting for the dummies to appear. One by one, they popped up and I spin around like a whirlwind, stabbing and slashing at them. Just as I did just two days ago with Emil.

The trainer nearby nods approvingly. I put down the sword, and get a spear from the racks. Standing about fifteen yards from the target dummy, I throw the spear. It goes straight through the heart. While glancing around to see if anyone watched my show, I see the District 12 tributes painting themselves at the camouflage station. The girl is watching me with a hard glint in her eyes. I flash a smirk in her direction and she turns her back to me.

**********

"And then, the kid was like, 'No! I swear I didn't take it from you!'" Glimmer is mimicking the kid who I threatened earlier. It's lunctime, and all the District 1,2 and 4 tributes are sitting together. The food is pretty good compared to our lunches at school in District 2.

Marvel and I stuffed our plates with huge piles of food, When Clove gives our platters a look, Marvel says, "We might die soon anyway." But since his mouth is full of food, it sounds more like, "Wheemighdiehoonanyway."

I notice that most of the other District tributes are sitting alone, and not talking. If I knew any of them better, I might've felt bad for them. But my dad warned me not to get distracted by other tributes, and just to pay attention to surviving.

I look at Clove, and think, 'I'm screwed."

"Stop staring at me, Kate," Clove says.

I shake my head. "What makes you think I'm staring at you?" I'm trying my hardest to seem cool, but right now, I feel really stupid.

She just rolls her eyes and keeps eating her lunch. I study her face when I'm positive that she's not looking. I couldn't decide what color her eyes were. They seemed to change with her mood. Right now, she is laughing at a joke that Glimmer told, and her eyes look bright green.

Marvel nudges me. "You like her, don't you?" He tips his head in Clove's direction.

"Oh, shut up," I snap. I don't want her to hear. "It doesn't matter, anyway. At least one of us are gonna die."