There's Nothing More Important than Family, chapter 7

I follow Breah around until lunch. I ask her to sit with me and the rest of my alliance and, thank goodness, she agrees. Everyone introduces themselves on cue, but I know this is pointless since Breah remembers them from the Reaping reruns. She seems curious about the fact that we are all friends. “How?” she keeps asking.

Finally, Nathan answers her. “We’ve made an alliance for when we’re in the arena.”

Breah smiles. “And you want me to join you, don’t you.”

“Yes.” I say. “We could use a fighter like you.”

She takes a monstrous bite of a cookie. “Okay.” She then says quietly.

“Okay, what?” asks Addalie, since she wasn’t really listening.

“I’ll join you.” Answers Breah. “But you know we can’t all survive, don’t you?”

“We know.” Mark says solemnly. “But we’ll have-“

“-A better chance of winning while in an alliance.” Finishes Breah. “I agree. And I already know that if I don’t win, I’d rather one of you did.”

“Great!” says Nathan. “What about the boy from your district?”

“No, Harvey won’t want to join an alliance. He’s too proud and arrogant. He thinks he’ll win in a landslide, but I’ve seen him working in the orchards. He’s weak.”

As it turns out, Breah knows a lot about the other tributes, just by watching them. She tells us the Careers are already acquainted, and have spent the morning trying to intimidate the other tributes with their skills.

“District 1’s tributes are named Satin and Mahogany. Satin’s stronger than Mahogany is, but he is better with weaponry. He spent most of the morning throwing javelins.” Breah explains. “Vella, the girl from 2, is the youngest Career I think. I’m not sure how old the others are. The boy from 2’s name is Dane. His weapon is a sword; he hasn’t put it down all morning.” I glance over to the Career table, and see that Breah is right. The boy with blunt features and electric blue eyes from two is sitting with a cruel sword lying on the table beside him. Breah continues, “The boy from 4, Jason, doesn’t seem to like the other Careers. He kept to himself this morning. And the girl from 4 is their leader. Her name is Kelly. She isn’t the biggest or the strongest, but she’s definitely the smartest. She’s cunning. I think she’d be the biggest threat of them all. Oh, and she can throw knives more accurately than I’ve ever seen.”

“Yikes.” Says Mark. “She sounds like a real piece of work.”

Breah gives him a knowing look. “She is. The other two tributes who might be competition are Payla and Xavier. Payla’s from District 6, she’s the one who volunteered. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was a Career. I believe they tried to recruit her, but she declined. The spear instructor wasn’t here this morning, so she bullied the hand-to-hand combat instructor into fighting her. She kicked his butt with her spear. Xavier is from District 7, so that explains why he’s so good with a hatchet; 7 is the lumber district. All he does is argue with Sahra, the girl from his district. I don’t think they really liked each other all that much before the Reaping.” Breah stops, and looks at me. “Is there any other tributes you’re wondering about?”

I answer her, “How about the tributes from District 8?”

“Georgie and Carter.” Breah says automatically. “You are thinking of having the join us?”

“Yes, we were thinking about it.” Says Nathan. “Do you know much about them?”

“I know the girl, Georgie, is good with a sword. She’s almost as good as Dane is. Carter is quite clumsy. He was trying to throw a few knives and he nearly dropped a couple of them on his foot.” I laugh.

Hassan tells us that lunch is over, so we leave the cafeteria and go back for more training. We decide that Addalie and I would follow Georgie, and Nathan and Mark would follow Carter; so we can try to convince them to join us. Addalie spots Georgie over with the swords again, and we follow her to that station. Addalie had already been to this station, but I have no idea how to use a sword. I swing it around bunglingly, and I can hear Dane jeering at me from across the station.

“It’s okay.” I hear someone whisper, and I jump. “Your grip is just wrong.” I see Georgie beside me. She’s eyeing Dane angrily. “He’s been heckling me all morning.” She explains. “But I don’t care. When I’m done practicing, I’ll be just as good as he is. Anyway, just relax your hands a little. Not too much, just a little.” She demonstrates, and I try it. I can automatically see a difference and my swings are much more fluid.

“Thanks!” I tell her.

“I know you’ve made an alliance.” Georgie says quietly. “The others will find out soon enough with you five spending all your time together, but I heard you talking to the tributes from District 10 at the Tribute Parade. I know you want to be allied with me.”

I look deep into her intense grey eyes. “Will you? Will you help us?”

“I’m two years older than you.” She confides. “My family is the poorest in our district. I have so many siblings. My name was in the Reaping sixty-five times. My father knew chances were good I’d get chosen. He trained me and my sisters. I’m practically a Career. I have a great chance of winning this. But I want you to win this.” I gasp, and she continues. “It’s so unfair when twelve-year-olds get Reaped, they never stand a chance. It’s even worse that your brother got Reaped, but he actually does have a chance at winning. You don’t.” Her words hurt, but she smiles at me sympathetically. “I’m joining your alliance, but not to help the others. I want to be your personal bodyguard. That’ll show the sick people in the Capitol, when a twelve-year-old wins!”

I grin. “Addalie, come here!” I call, and I formally introduce the two.

Georgie spends the rest of the day teaching me how to use a wide array of weapons. I can’t use any of them very well, but at the end of the day, I know that I’ll be able to handle any weapon in the Cornucopia, where they store all the weapons during the Games.

I don’t wait for Nathan when it’s time to leave. Addalie and I ride the elevator with Georgie and Breah. Georgie gets off first, but not before she gives me a hug. “See you all tomorrow!” she cries happily, and she skips out of the elevator.

I’m next. When the elevator reaches my floor, I turn and smile at the other two. “Goodnight!” I say.

“’Night Zania!” calls Addalie, and I step out and into the District 9 apartment. Olivia and Palana are waiting for me at the table.

“How was your first day of training?” Olivia asks me.

“Where’s Nathan?” Palana demands.

“Its okay, Nathan’s coming.” I say. “Where’s Sean?”

“Sleeping.” Replies Olivia.

“Too bad. I’m sure he’d love to know that we convinced the girls from 8 and 11 to join the alliance!” I laugh.

“Did you really?” says Olivia. She looks stunned.

“Yes we did!” I exclaim proudly. “Breah and Georgie are now part of the alliance!”

“Great job!” smiles Olivia. “I’ll be sure to tell Sean when he wakes up.”

Palana grins broadly. “You should go clean up. Dinner will be at any moment.” I go to the bathroom Nathan and I share, and I scrub every trace of makeup from my face. The foundation, primer, mascara, lipstick, eyebrow pencil, eye shadow and glitter trickle down the drain. I look a billion times better already. When I finally leave the bedroom, I’m in my pajamas. The only part of Kerany’s work I save3d was the hair, because it looked really cool.

When I come back to the dining room, everyone is seated at the table, but the Capitol people haven’t served the food yet. I slide into the chair beside my brother.

“Any luck with Georgie?” Nathan asks me.

“Yeah, she decided to come along with us.” I tell him. “What about Carter?”

“He told us we’re stupid, and that we’ll all kill each other on the first day.” Laughs Nathan. “He seems pretty paranoid.”

“You’ve still got a pretty strong treaty.” Commends Sean. “Just remember; once in the arena, watch them carefully. They may decide to betray you at any moment.”

“We’ll watch for that.” Nathan promises him.

Olivia speaks tentatively. “What till you two do if you make it to the final two? Only one of you can come home.” Instantly, she knows that was the wrong thing to say. I burst into tears, and Nathan glares angrily at her. I don’t eat, but go hide in my room. I collapse into a ball on the floor.

Nathan comes in a while later, after he’s done eating. “Olivia says she’s sorry.” He grumbles. I sniff and nod my head slightly. Nathan picks me up, and gently places me on the bed. He changes in the bathroom and then slips under the sheets of the bed.

“What if that does happen, Nathan?” I grieve. “What happens if we are the final two?”

He looks at me, his expression stony. “You’re going home, Zania. No matter what. I will personally hack down every single tribute in that arena to keep you safe. If it comes down to the two of us, I will kill myself so you can go home.”

I start to cry again. “But you can’t!”

“Zania, I wouldn’t make you watch! I’d send you to hide somewhere or something.”

“That’s not it!” I howl. “You’re my brother! You can’t die!”

“Be real.” Nathan argues. “We’re in the Hunger Games now. You have to face the fact that one of us is definitely going to die and I’m going to do all I can to make sure it isn’t you.”

“Nathan, I’m scared.”

He squeezes me into a hug. “I know, I know. But I’ll protect you, I promise.”

I feel secure in my brother’s arms. I feel like nothing, or no one, can hurt me, but I know I won’t feel this way for long. Now I have two bodyguards, and I know this should make me feel safe, but it doesn’t. I just feel more vulnerable than ever.