Capitol Pawns

Johanna and I haven’t talked much since our stand-off yesterday morning. I know it’s not good to fight with your mentor and all, because they’re the one responsible for getting you sponsors and sending you gifts in the arena, but I don’t particularly want her on my team anymore.

I asked to speak to Remus before training yesterday, and after a long debate with Mercury Twinklevoss, he agreed. Remus is the only person I can have a real conversation with without having to prove my worth. He understands the delicate demeanor one needs to have in order to get through to me right now.

Remus is my best friend at this point. He held me when I cried yesterday morning. He listened to me vent about my aunt and the tape Johanna never wanted me to see. He whispered encouraging words as I shook violently and reassured me my personality would win everybody over. I think I love him. Not in love with him, but I love him like a much older big brother. He told me the only way to win over Johanna was to train hard and receive a high scoring today when I have my private session with the Game Makers. So I did.

Yesterday during training, I put my all into everything I tried. I avoided the slingshots, axes, and climbing courses like Johanna told me, and instead focused all my attention on new things. Things I hadn’t gotten to the first day of training.

I worked on my spear throwing, sword and trident wielding, and dagger handling. At one point, Colby nudged me in the ribs and motioned for me to look around us, and when I did, I noticed almost everyone’s eyes in the room fixed on me and my sword work.

“They’re all looking at me,” I was nervous, to say the least. Some tributes had smiles on their faces like they just won the lottery while others glared at me like I was a new enemy to look out for. “Why are they looking at me, Colby?”

His eyebrows raised and a smile spread across his face. “I guess they see your talent.”

So I did it. I did what Johanna wanted me to. I found something I was good at and got the other tributes talking about me. At this point I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not, but when I head down for training, a number of kids from the other districts swarm me.

“Nice job at training yesterday, 7,” The girl from 3 sneers. “Better look out in the arena.”

“You know, I was thinking of taking a nice nap when I get catapulted into the arena,” I counter. “You know, and just let the chaos around me ensue.”

“You’ll eat your words.”

The girl from 8 enters the conversation, but the boy from 6 backs me up. His blonde hair is tousled slightly and his blue eyes gleam with both hatred and a comforting nature.

“Why don’t you just walk away, 8? What did she do to you?” He steps forward and towers over her, his muscular arms crossing over his chest in a protective way. “Huh? I figure you better get back to training now or you’ll be the one who eats their words.”

The conversation has gained the attention from both the boy from 12 and Atala who comes over and separates us.

“Get going. Today’s your last day to train.”

“Thanks,” I turn to the boy, but his back is to me.

“Don’t mention it,” He says, walking away to find an empty station.

Since Johanna and I hadn’t talked much since yesterday morning, Blight instructed Colby and me to part ways today to try and meet as many other tributes as possible and befriend them.

I’m about to just stick to myself when I see the other 12 year old girl from District 9 looking at me. She motions me over silently and I point to myself, confused, but she only nods.

I slip out of view from the other tributes and see she’s not alone. She’s surrounded by a number of other small tributes. The one’s I’ve written off in my mind. Her district partner, the boy from 8, the siblings from 10, and the boy and girl from 5 all eye me like I’m some grand prize.

“I’m Freya,” The girl says, and turns to face the crowd. “That’s Oakley, Nash, Violet, Reed, Rose, and Grady.”

I still don’t know what’s going on.

“I’m-”

“Scout,” She interrupts. “We all know.”

They’re all still staring intently at me. “So, what’s going on?”

“Look, Scout,” She begins. “We’re all small, the underdogs, if you will. We just want to know if you’ll join our alliance? Look out for each other, you know.”

“Me?”

All at once, they nod. It’s unreal the attention they’re bestowing upon me.

“Why?”

The boy from 8, Nash, steps forward. “Because you’re one to look out for. All the older, bigger kids are going to kill us like it’s nothing if we don’t band together and get numbers on them.” He explains.

I weigh my options, but realize there’s nothing good about saying no. So I agree to join them and look out for each other when we get into the arena. I hate to make friends, just to see them die, but I guess I have to if I have my own survival in mind.

Over the next three hours, we train hard. I show the others how to use a sword and they watch intently as I do my own work. It’s bizarre and I hate it, but the attention I’m receiving from them only gains more hateful stares from the others.

By lunch I’m exhausted and starving. Colby and I regroup and it turns out he hasn’t had quite the same luck I have with making allies. I tell him it’s okay because I’ve made quite a few.

“Who?” He asks through a mouthful of sandwich.

I look over my shoulder and point to the group of kids a few tables away who still stare at me. The only one who doesn’t is Freya, who is too engrossed in a booklet on the table to notice me looking.

“Wow,” Colby whispers. “They’re looking at you like they want to eat you.”

We giggle for a while and then Atala comes in to announce private sessions will be starting. She starts with the boy from 1, then moves on to his district partner. Each person receives about 15 minutes of private time with the Game Makers before Atala comes to fetch the next person.

“What are you going to do?” Colby asks suddenly. They girl from 6 has just been escorted back into the training center and Colby is next.

I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know. Things I’m good at. What about you?”

“I don’t know,” He answers. “I don’t know what I’m good at.”

“You’re good at plenty of things, remember? Two days ago you made a great snare. Yesterday you camouflaged yourself to look like a tree. You know your way around an axe. The possibilities are endless, Colby.”

He nods, but he looks plagued knowing he isn’t cut out for a great score. Sure, he’s good at a lot of things, but not much the Game Makers will deem high score worthy. Colby doesn’t say much for the next 15 minutes, but when he gets called, I give him a thumbs up.

I didn’t notice it before, but I’m nervous. It’s understandable, really, because this score will sway sponsors one way or another. You do well until the scores are revealed, but then you get a five? Screwed. You do awful before then and get an eight? The sponsors start to look. I’m determined to do well, but my hands are shaking so bad, I don’t know if I’ll be able to.

“Scout, District 7,” Atala says, motioning for me to follow. I crack my knuckles and try and train my hands to stop shaking, but it’s no use. They’re shaking and they don’t plan on stopping.

She announces my presence to the Game Makers, who are sitting in a screening area higher up. They take notice and shift around in their seats. Some don’t bother watching, rather stand at a table and pile food higher onto their plates.

I don’t know where to start, so I go to the thing that I’m most confident with: a slingshot. I take it off the rack and feel it in my hands. It’s nicely crafted, better quality than the one back home on my shelf, and feels uncomfortable in my hand. I take a few rocks from the rack and load it into the slingshot.

When I pull back, it doesn’t feel right, so I lessen the tension and resettle it in my hand.

Breathe, Scout. I tell myself. Take a deep breath. You’re good. You know how to do this; you’ve done it a million times before.

I take aim at a dummy with a target on its abdomen and breathe in deeply, slowly pulling the string back. I can do it. I know I can.

Without thinking, I let go and the rock goes hurtling towards the dummy and hitting it square in the forehead.

The Game Makers make a ruckus, and I can hear them talking back and forth about my aim. So I do it again, and again, each time hitting it in exactly the same spot as before. They have smiles plastered to their overly made faces and I know I’m making an impression.

After I’m satisfied with my slingshot work, I take an axe in my hand and throw it square at the dummy, slicing right through the neck. And it goes from there. I don’t know what’s gotten in to me, but I find myself breezing through an obstacle course while hitting dummies left and right with throwing knives and spears. Honestly, I feel like a superhero at this point, but it’s nothing compared to the feeling I get when my hands hit a cargo net and I climb it with no effort.

It just continues like that until the head Game Maker clears his throat and announces, “Thank you, Scout. You are excused.”

I’m on a high when I exit the elevator on the seventh floor. Mercury, Blight, and Colby surround me, but Johanna is nowhere in sight. I think Blight notices my observation.

“Just give her some time to come around, little girl,” He says and winks.

It’s bad that I feel like Colby’s mentor looks out for me more than my own. At one point, Johanna and I had made so much progress and I felt like I could talk to her, but that’s a thing of the past. Blight now shows more interest in me than she does and it kind of worries me. He has taken to calling me "little girl" which I can only imagine is to emotionally distance himself from me, but getting caught up in my Johanna drama sure labels him as "emotionally involved."

They give me the afternoon to do whatever I like, but when they call me out for dinner, there is a noticeable tension in the room. It’s so tense I could cut it with a knife.

Johanna sits on one end of the table and eyes me as I take my seat next to Colby at the opposite end. She eyes me throughout the main course and throughout dessert until Blight ends it.

“Okay, Johanna,” He says. “We know you have a stick up your butt, but it’s time to pull it out and help your tribute. You’re leaving her hanging. Grow up, okay?”

It takes some balls to stand up to Johanna like that, but it doesn’t seem to give her a change of heart. It only causes her to split her glaring time at me in half, sharing it with Blight as well. At least she doesn’t say anything to me. Yet.

That luck only lasts so long because after dinner, the scores are revealed on TV. Everyone migrates to the living room and finds a comfortable spot on the couch. I snuggle into the crook and cover my legs with a blanket while Johanna sits as far away as possible. It’s okay because Colby sits next to me and lifts my legs to lay them on top of his own.

This is starting to feel like a family. A dysfunctional one with a bad outlook, but a family nonetheless.

Caesar Flickerman appears on the screen and explains how the tributes attain their scores and finally begins.

The boy from 1, Gannon, receives an 8 while the girl, Amity, a 9.

The boy from 2, Rogue, receives an 11, while Saskia gets a 9.

From 3, Hunter gets a 5 and Victory, a 7.

Chaos, from 4, receives a 10, while his district partner, Hera, receives an 8.

The boy from 5, Grady, is awarded a 4 while his partner, Rose, is given a 5.

Caspar, from 6, gets a 10, while Equinox receives a 6.

Then it’s me and Colby. We all sit on the edge of our seats until Caesar finally speaks.

“From District 7,” He says. “Colby is awarded a 6, and Scout a,” I take a deep breath and hope for something high. “A ten.”

I look around the room and looks of disbelief are seen on everyone’s faces. I think I even look shocked because Colby pats my back and congratulates me.

“Good job!”

Mercury goes back to his giddy, clapping, smiling self and has a hard time controlling himself. I notice Johanna wears a small smile and is nodding slightly. I don’t know what it means, but I hope it means she’s on my side again, because I sure need her help.

We return our attention to Caesar who has moved on.

The girl from 8, Waverly, is given a 7 while Nash is given a 6.

Both Freya and Oakley from 9 are given 5’s.

Violet, the older sister from 10, is awarded a 6 while her younger brother, Reed, is given a 4.

The dark skinned boy from 11, Quake, has received an 11 from the Game Makers, and his partner, Nettie, gets a 6.

And finally, Caesar announces the District 12 scores. Booker has gotten himself a 9, and Caraway earned herself an 8.

It doesn’t take long for the attention to turn from the screen to me and Colby. Both of us are applauded and praised for our scores by everyone in the room with the exception of Johanna. She’s the kind to confront people in a more private manner, so I know I can wait for anything she has to say to me.

Mercury slaps my back, a little harder than he means to, and sends me lots of praise.

“Oh, Scout. I knew you could do it! I always had a good feeling about you!”

His kind words mean nothing to me right now, though. All I want is to know what Johanna has to say about it. I want to see her face when she asks how.

After a while, everyone gets bored and heads to bed. Johanna and I are the only two left in the living room and we’re left with an awkward silence.

“So,” She says, flicking something off her finger.

“So,” I repeat.

There seems to be a change of heart in Johanna because suddenly the tension is gone and she’s looking at me with awe and amazement.

“You did it, Scout,” She says. “You proved me wrong. You showed me you have fight.”

I don’t know what to say, so I cry.

“Whoa, don’t do that.”

“I don’t know why I’m crying!” I say, only making myself cry even harder.

I guess it’s just been an emotional rollercoaster these past couple of days. It makes me think about my family back home in 7, causing me to cry more.

These past five days have been more than I ever bargained for, but Johanna does something I never expected her to do. She wraps her arms around me and comforts me.

Yup. New dysfunctional family.