75th - part 4
johanna’s pov
When Blight and I walk into the training center, I immediately think we must have made a mistake. Because there’s no one here, except Brutus, Enobaria, Cole, and Katniss.
“Where is everyone?” Blight asks.
“How should I know?” I snap. He recoils a bit and I feel a pang of regret; it’s not his fault that I’m already pissed off, and I don’t want to take it out on him. Whatever. I march over to the side of the room, away from the others, and start stretching. Of course, Blight follows me.
“So what’s the plan for today?”
I shrug, pulling an arm across my chest. “Work on your strengths, I guess.”
“Should we talk to people?”
“Blight, I can’t be your babysitter. Do whatever the fuck you want.”
He scoffs, scowling at me. “What’s your problem?”
“Just leave me alone,” I sigh, dropping to the ground to stretch my legs. Of course, I accidentally make eye contact with Katniss, who’s watching me and Blight argue with a slight look of concern. Fuck her for watching me. Fuck her for…fuck her.
The woman in charge of training makes us all circle up for her speech, even though we obviously know the rules already. Enobaria actually rolls her eyes, then snarls when she catches me looking at her. God, she’s crazy. I’m not fighting her if I can help it. Someone else can just kill her for me.
Once the training woman stops talking, I ditch Blight and head for the ax throwing station. Honestly, I don’t really need to practice, since I usually throw axes at home when I’m bored. But I have to start somewhere, and I need to show that bitch Enobaria that I’m not some easy target. So I throw axes for a while until someone comes up behind me.
“Johanna?” It’s Cole, Katniss’s kid, the guy that my tributes should’ve killed when they had the chance. I have no intention of talking to this kid. Although he’s bold as hell for approaching me when I have an ax in my hand, so I guess I’ll give him that. “Hi, uh, I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Cole, from District 12. I heard you helped keep me alive last year.”
“Yeah, so you better not try to kill me.”
“Oh, yeah,” he says, looking a little taken aback. “Yeah, of course.” He stands there for a moment, glancing at the axes.
I can’t help but roll my eyes at his awkwardness. “Anything else?”
“Oh no, no, I just wanted to say thanks. For helping me.”
“I didn’t help you, dumbass,” I spit. Pushing past him, I abandon the ax station and decide to move on to something else. Maybe I should brush up on some survival skills, but Mags is at knot tying, Nuts and Volts are at firestarting, and Woof’s at edible plants. I guess I could go to knot tying, but I don’t wanna bother Mags. The poor woman already has it hard enough without dealing with me. Then again, it’s not like I have a lot of other options.
I glance back around the room and spot Katniss at the firestarting station. You know what, fuck it. I’d rather mess with the three of them than waste time elsewhere, so I walk over and stand behind Katniss.
“—but I guess we’re interesting enough,” Katniss says as I near the station. She doesn’t notice me at first, but Nuts and Volts immediately look up, confused, then glance at each other. Katniss turns around to see what’s happening, frowning slightly at the sight of me.
“What? I couldn’t pass up the chance to learn firestarting from the Girl on Fire, could I?” I smirk. “Is there space in this class, or should I reserve a time?”
“If you’re serious about your interest, we wouldn’t mind your company,” Volts replies cordially. I’m starting to regret coming over here, because I forgot just how much he irritates me, but whatever.
“Sure,” I say with a shrug. Katniss looks uncomfortable, but I sit down across from her anyway and pick up a couple of sticks. “So what were we talking about?”
“I was discussing my latest invention, then Katniss mentioned that her prep team was unable to get ahold of it due to the production backups in District 3,” Volts summarizes. He eyes the sticks in my hand and continues, “Surely you’ve heard of the backups?”
“I don’t really pay attention to Capitol News,” I grunt. But he’s right, I know about the backups because of Blight, who’s been watching the news closely ever since last year’s Games.
“Well, anyways,” sighs Volts. “I don’t believe you’ve had any in District 7?“
“Not that I know of.”
“Hmm,” says Nuts. I wait for her to add something else, but she just nods slightly to herself. Of course.
Rolling my eyes, I start to rub the sticks together over a pile of dry leaves. When I was a kid, my dad made sure that I learned how to start a fire in the fireplace, but I’m a little out of practice nowadays. Plus, the sticks and leaves we have here are nothing compared to what I’m used to using, so they take a lot more effort. A wisp of smoke rises from the leaves, but I can’t seem to actually get it to light.
“You should push your hands down more,” Katniss mutters.
I try, but it doesn’t help much. Another bit of smoke forms without a flame. Then, finally, I see it: the tiniest flicker starts to spread over the leaves as the smoke hits my face. Grinning, I look up and meet Katniss’s eyes.
We’re happy. Just for a second, we smile at each other because I successfully lit a fire. I think about the fact that I love it when she smiles, and then I wonder where the hell that came from, and then we’re not smiling anymore. Because happiness can’t last very long when you’re a tribute.
“Well, I guess there’s a reason you’re always wearing flames,” I say, snuffing out my fire with a nearby rock.
I’m the first one to notice Katniss and Mags approaching the archery station. Naturally, everyone’s curious about Katniss’s shooting skills, so I’m not the only one who stops training to watch. But I’m the first, which means I’m pressed against the one-way glass with Blight and Volts muttering behind me.
“Do you think she’s really as good as Haymitch says?” Brutus grunts to Enobaria.
Cole chuckles. “Yeah, she is.”
“I guess we’ll find out,” replies Finnick, effectively shutting up the chatter.
Katniss takes her place in the center of the simulator, and the machine boots up, spawning several digital enemies. It’s instinctual, the way she senses them around her and takes them down without hesitation, slinging arrow after arrow. She doesn’t miss, not once. Only one enemy makes it within 5 feet of her, and they’re killed immediately afterward.
When the simulator stops, Katniss doesn’t look affected. Like it was nothing. I thought she’d at least be panting a little, but she looks perfectly calm.
Next to me, Nuts breaks out into a round of applause. I don’t blame her; that was incredible. I mean, I knew Katniss could shoot, but that…that wasn’t human. I wish I could watch Katniss shoot for hours. Honestly, she’d probably still make it look effortless.
The glass reveals us gathered around the door, and Katniss turns, blushing slightly. Is she seriously embarrassed? She glances at Nuts first, then toward me, her gray eyes searching for my reaction. I can’t help it: I smile at her.