Panem's Secret - The Hunger Games Fan Fiction

Chapter 9: Training Scores

I stumble into the elevator and press the top number. The elevator shoots up. I was meant to wait for Haymitch, Effie and Peeta but I don't want to face them. I don't want to tell them what happened in that assessment room. Ping! The elevator doors slide open. I run out with my head in my hands; heading for my room. My body collides with something solid and I fall backwards.

"Ouch!" I wimper.

I look up. Cinna's towering over me; arms folded. I burst into tears again. I'm so pathetic, but I don't care. I don't care anymore. Cinna hauls me up and puts his hands on my shoulders.

"You need to calm down Prim. What's happened?" His expression is hard.

"My individual assessment..." I say through tears.

"I couldn't have been that bad."

"It was, Cinna. They didn't even pay attention to me."

"Well, no one can say anything until they release the scores. Come on, come into the sitting room and we'll find them out." He urges me towards the door of our penthouse.

I agree and open the door and make my way to the sitting room with him. I fall on the cushion sofa and curl up into a ball.

A few minutes pass. Cinna and I both jump when the door swings open. Effie marches in with Peeta and Haymitch and starts shouting at me:

"Where have you been Prim?! We have been waiting for you for ages! How dare you not tells us you were coming back here! I am-" Cinna cuts her off.

"Okay, Effie. You've made your point." He puts his hand up to gesture for her to stop talking.

"Rude!" She says in a high pitched voice and places herself on the other sofa; facing away from us.

Haymitch sighs and sits next to me. Peeta stays standing. Cinna flicks on the TV and Caesar Flickerman appears. He's about to announce our training scores.

They go through the scores District by District, as they do in everything else. In District 1 and 2, both tributes get a score of 10. The girl from 5 who looks like a fox only gets a score of 5. I don't think she has a specific skill other than memory and slyness. The boy from 11, Thresh, gets 10 and Rue gets 7. She didn't get that low surprisingly. Peeta is next. The room goes quiet as we anxiously wait for Caesar to tell us his score. 8. Effie squeals. I look at Peeta and see that his face has lightened up.

"Congratulations Peeta." Haymitch says uninterested.

We turn back to the TV. It's my turn.

"Now, last but not least, Primrose Everdeen, District 12, with a score of,"Caesar frowns, "4."

My heart sinks. 4? I knew I'd get low, but not that low. My stomach churns as I look at the disappointed faces around me. No one says anything. Haymitch after a while, just gets up and leaves.