Pieces in the game. (The Hunger Games)

Chapter 7: Training

Lilly's POV.
I wake just before dawn and stretch myself out. Getting up, I halfheartedly make the bed knowing that it will probably be remade by the time I get out of the shower. I press the button for lukewarm water and a oat scented shampoo and conditioner, afterwards I am covered in and apple and cinnamon body wash. It smells good. After washing the body wash off I step out on the mat and get dried off, then dry my hair. I throw my hair up into its usual ponytail and then moisturise myself. Walking back into the main part of my bedroom I see that the bed has been made properly, and that an outfit has been left out for me on the front of the wardrobe. A red, grey and black top with long tight black trousers with a red stripe running up the side of them and black lace up boots that come up to just under my knee.

I would have thought they'd be very restrictive, but the leather is soft and it bends easily. I have a sneaking suspicion that they aren't supposed to come so far up my leg though. I walk over to the mirror and despite the uniform, this is the first time I've felt like myself since the morning of the reaping. No fancy hair and clothes, no flaming capes. Just me, looking like I am headed out to my tree, just outside the fence in the woods, to just stay there, all day. It sort of calms me, helps me prepare for the tough times ahead. Haymitch didn't give us an exact time to meet for breakfast and no one has contacted me this morning. Haymitch and I worked it out last night so that it would seem he gave us this possible play and I was going against it. It was the only way a Peeta wouldn't get suspicious. I'm too hungry to wait any longer so I decide to head down to the dining room, hoping there will be food. I'm not disappointed. While the table is empty, a long board off to the side has been laid with at least twenty dishes. A young man, an Avox, stands to attention beside the spread. When I ask if I can serve myself, he nods assent. I load a plate with eggs, sausages, two rolls and fill a bowl with apple slices and various berries. I eat my hot food as I sit, watching the sunrise over the Capitol. Katniss comes in as I start to eat my bowl of fruit and she serves herself then sits down beside me to eat. She gets up for seconds and I hand her my bowl, giving her my best 'please' face and she laughs softly. She comes back with a second plate of food, a beef stew, and hands me my bowl which is overflowing with fruit and I smile. I've always loved my fruit! I slowly eat my second bowl of fruit and then Katniss gets up and comes back with a plateful of rolls and two cups of hot chocolate. I nibble on one as I sip the hot chocolate. Neither of us say anything but we know how uneasy we both feel.

My mind wanders to mum and Prim. They must be up by now. Mum making the usual breakfast of mush. Prim milking her goat before school. Just two mornings ago, I was home. Can that be right? Yes, just two. I wonder what they thought about our entrance last night. Did it give them hope or simply add to their terror when they saw the reality of forty- eight tributes circled together, knowing only two could live? "Kat, we need to fight before Peeta comes in. I need to make this look believable. I'm sorry in advance for what I'm going to say!" I whisper to her before I give her a quick hug. Gale is the next to come in and Katniss tells him the new development in the plan and he agrees too but he looks unhappy. Haymitch comes in next and Katniss and Gale get up and move around the table, facing me. He raises and eyebrow but says nothing. Then we hear the footsteps and Katniss, Gale and I take a deep breath. "Could you just stop? You're suffocating me! Both of you!" I shout at them. "Well excuse us for wanting to keep you alive!" Katniss shouts back. "Ha, that's rich! Come on, we both know you would kill me the first chance you get if it means the difference between losing a sister or losing your husband!" I yell back. "Lilly, stand down. We don't need to be upsetting people before going down and facing our opponents," Gale shouts back. I start laughing at him. I can tell Peeta is in the doorway because Haymitch is holding his hand out in a 'do not move' gesture. "You can't tell me what to do Gale. Where do you get off thinking that you can? You are not my father, he's dead! Buried! Alongside yours, so don't act like something you don't have," I scream back at him and mouth "I'm sorry" straight away. He grabs Katniss who has gone to launch herself over the table at me. That bit was fake! But it looked real enough.