I leave the room after my assessment is concluded. I make sure to leave with as much dignity as I can possibly muster in front of LeRoy before balling my fists and stomping out of the academy. As soon as I'm outside, it's like a squall just hit outside our academy, because the raging gusts of wind fights against me, slapping me with its chilliness and ruining my perfectly combed hair as it furiously blows in all directions. I grit my teeth, hugging myself as tightly as I can to give myself warmth in this intolerable weather; I'm so mad, that my face stings as cold comes against the heat of my cheeks, but I can't seem to find any warmth inside of me.

I failed.

I failed.

I failed.

And it's all because of Augustus! My stupid, stupid, brother! I don't even want to see my brother perform his test— I hope he fails for his own foolishness! I kick leaves around, as well as sharp twigs that prick painfully at the heel of my foot. I scream in frustration, but I know very well no one will care to go outside and check on me— they are all probably too busy assessing other academy trainees who probably have a higher chance to get into the Hunger Games because of their punctuality. Perhaps one of them will do better in the practical test than I did, though I tell myself this can't be so. I'm their best warrior out of all the sixteen year olds, aren't I? I deserve to be in the Games! But, apparently, LeRoy and the rest of the trainers do not think so.

   "Miss Madrigal Celi, while you did pass the the practical and theoretical part, I'm afraid your tardiness and the disrespect you showed Miles earlier today hurt your performance and deemed you a skilled, fearless, but an unreliable, snappy tribute for your male counterpart to have," LeRoy had told her immediately after she answered the last question.

  "Unreliable? Snappy? How outrageous!" I snapped back, not realizing until a second too late that I'm proving his point.

  "Yes. You definitely have the looks to charm your viewers, as well as the strength, prowess in your weapon of choice, and the skill to fight, but your immediate hostility once things do not go your way as planned and your carelessness towards the events that happen around you due to the fact that it's not occurring to you is what made me decide that you cannot be trusted to represent our district. You have to be reliable and alert to everything around you."

  "But that doesn't make any sense!" I retorted. "Why would I want to pay attention to what's happening around me if it's not happening to me? I've got more important things to worry about than the other tributes around me," I snapped back, too exasperated and disappointed in his words to care about how I delivered my argument.

  "Because what if your district partner, or whoever else is going to be in your team, notices something strange outside of your borders? Anything can mean anything in the world of the Hunger Games, and if it signifies a dangerous tribute or a threat being placed in the arena, you will be very unfortunate to miss it," he cut me off, offering an eyebrow raise.

  "Well, I will be leading the pack, so unless anything comes directly to me and my allies, I'd say we are in the clear. Besides, I'm going to break apart from them later on; why should I be so worried about them?" I was so sick of this argument; I wish he had just let me leave at that point.

  And it was evident that LeRoy had enough of me too, because all patience got sucked down the drain and he hit the table with his big fist, causing me to jump back a bit.

  "This is your problem, Celi! You think too far ahead of yourself, and you think too little of your teammates! You are not prepared! You didn't show that this afternoon, and you certainly don't show it now! If you are not going to win, then perhaps you can offer help to your district partner, who may be wiser and more open enough to take the victory home to us this year. But you can't do that when you're being a selfish, close-minded, superior brat who thinks that nothing else is important than her and her ambitions," he ended with a scowl, his fury clouding his dark eyes. In a way, this frightens me, but I'm too shocked to react.

  In a calmer tone (yet it is still firm) he says, "Look. I know you and your family have a good reputation that is held in your name. Do not ruin it now for the sake of the Hunger Games. Just accept this and go home, and please, think about what I said. I am only trying to help you, Madrigal."

  I cross my arms and lower my gaze. "The Hunger Games means a lot to me. It's like... my everything," I slowly tell him. "I've heard stories of the Hunger Games from my parents, and they have encouraged me to do this ever since I was young. I want to fight, I want to honor Panem, I want to bring honor and fame. I want to have that honor and fame. Everything I've done leads up to this point— why do you think I've enrolled myself here since very young??" I let out, desperation pouring out of my mouth.

  "I see you everyday, Celi. I know what you want, and I know you're disappointment. Tell you what, try out next year and I'll try to put in a good word for you if you improve. And if next year doesn't happen, you will have a higher chance when you are 18 years. If you still don't get in, then teach your children so they have a chance to serve district 4. But as if right now, I'm not going to pass you," he told me before getting up to leave me in my mess of emotions.

  "B-But—"

  "You still have hope, Miss Madrigal. If your other trainers and Miles decide to put in a good word, it'll override mine and you may still have a chance in the spotlight. But don't ponder on that so much. Good day," and with that, he opened the door and beckoned Madrigal out.

   Now here she is, standing alone in the freezing cold, debating on coming straight home or waiting for her brother.

  Ring! Ring!

  In a total of three seconds, all the fourteen to five year olds rush out to the cold courtyard and scatter around to go to their favorite spots to play their favorite games. As a familiar crowd of thirteen year old boys come out laughing from the training academy, I step closer to find my brother, who is in the middle of his group of friends.

  "Yo, Ginger, where do you think your sister is?"

  "Yeah, I think I saw her storm out a couple minutes ago. She looked pretty mad," responded another ginger haired guy whose arm was draped over Augustus' shoulder.

  "I don't know. I'm going to find her. Mind playing without me?" He asked his friends. I decide to move out of their view and take my spot behind a thick tree that stands a couple meters from the entrance to the academy.

  "No problem, mate! We'll see ya near the box arena!" Replied another friend of Augustus before all of them disperse and leave my little brother to search for me.

  "Madrigal? Dri, where are you??" He calls out, turning this way, than that way, hoping to catch even the slightest glimpse of me.

  I narrow my eyes at him— of course, he doesn't see— and after seeing he has turned his head in the opposite direction, I take large strides towards him and tap his shoulder once he is within my reach. Before he can fully turn around, I did what would be considered a violation to the rules of the training academy.

  I slapped him hard across the face, sending him spinning to the ground, grunting in both the shock and pain. I brusquely take him by his feet and, driven by the anger I stored up, I drag him across the hard, rocky ground beneath him, receiving screeching and and wriggling, but to no avail. I slam his feet down to the ground and lean over him, casting a familiar shadow over him.

  "M-Madrigal? What are you—" my brother begins to ask, but he is cut off by the strong tugging of his shoulder that makes him grunt aloud once more. I am too angry and way too low in patience to listen to the pleas of my brother. I haul him up and smack him against a tree, forcing his scared, confused hazel eyes to stare into my narrowed, piercing amber eyes that are boring into his soul.

"Dri! What are you doing? What the heck is going on with you?!" He cries out, struggling to set his breathing on sync.

"Shut up! You don't deserve to speak after humiliating me today," I say in the most hostile voice I can make just to frighten Augustus.

"Humiliating you?! W-What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb! I know you remember trying to coax me in a game with you right before the assessment! Were you trying to make me FAIL?!" I roared in his face. He shrinks, his eyes showing more fear than I've ever seen from him.

"No! No! Of course I wasn't... why would I do that?" He wails. Tears start to fall, which makes me stumble back a bit. I have not seen him cry in a while, and now I'm asking myself if I'm being too harsh.

But, of course, I'm too stubborn to care for another second.

"Because you know how much the Hunger Games mean to me! You know how much I have always wanted to be in the Games! And you're smart enough to know that a slip up like that can ruin my reputation, my CHANCES!" I scream at him.

  I narrow down at him, expecting him to squirm under the pressure I'm inflicting upon him, or a shaky, feeble apology in hopes that I'll let go of him. But I receive something else entirely unexpected.

  "I didn't know my game would cost us so much time, I really didn't! But... why are you being such a brat about it? I mean, you could have just told me that the assessment was coming up. Maybe none of this wouldn't have ever happened then!"

  I glared. "Are you talking back to me?" I sneered at him.

  He also offered me a glare and pushed himself up upwards to face my burning face. "Yes. Yes I am, because you are hurting your brother over something that's affected you. In front of the entire Academy," he snapped before tilting his head to the side.

  I slowly turn around, and then I see it. Every single person of the Academy is watching me beat and bruise my brother right now. Some are whispering, some are pointing, and others are calling for administrators to come over.

  No, no, no!

  This can not be happening!

  First I get a bad word from LeRoy, I get a complaint from Miles, and now I could possibly get a suspension because I tried to beat my brother up over something entirely my fault?

  Augustus raises his eyebrows at me— an act of intimidation. God, I hate it when he does that, especially when I'm doing something bad. I huff, letting go of him and stepping back. Boos and gasps and cursing spark from the crowd of angry trainees. I try to talk over them, try to tell them that I was only trying to take out my anger on something for something unfair that has happened, but I knew very well that I wasn't telling the entire truth.

  I feel something hard connect with my jaw, and I found myself struggling to stay balanced as my two feet stumble around to find a firm place. The kids start to laugh and jeer at me at my fazed expression. My cheeks turn as red as a tomato, angered at this humiliation, when my mind makes another connection.

  This is how humiliated Augustus must have felt when you smacked him against that tree out of anger.

  I guess what comes around, goes around. Of course, I hate it, and I want to defend myself so badly. I want to punch him back for disrespecting me, when I realize I'd be hypocritical; I disrespected him unjustly when my failing didn't have anything to do with him. I was just selfish and petty enough to to try and put the blame on him so I could justify my failure and not have to think it was my fault like LeRoy and Miles proved to me today. And sadly, it didn't work.

  I did this to myself. Ugh, how I hate admitting my mistakes! I feel like a loser.

  I just want to run, disappear somewhere so I don't have to deal with the confrontation of the administers. But it's way too late for that.

  "Miss Madrigal Celi! Come inside right now!"

  Augustus turns around and shakes his head at me. "Go on, Madrigal. Perhaps you could get me in trouble as well. Isn't that what you were planning on doing?" He challenges me, which makes me squirm uncomfortably because it was true. And I regret everything leading up to this point.

________________________________

  "Miss Madrigal Celi, your actions violated Rule 20 in the Code of Conduct of this training academy. You picked a fight with another trainee, and what's worse, it was with your OWN sibling!" Miles exclaimed with such anger Madrigal has never seen come out of him before. She knew she deserved it, but it still didn't feel any good on her.

Yet, for once, she kept silence and let the inevitable take over her.

"I'm sorry, Madrigal, we have no chance but..." Miles began, before closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath. I waited, hands folded on the table, my fingers interlocking tightly to embrace what was going to happen to me. I would probably get a letter sent home to my mother, and then I would have to suffer at home, listening as my mother killed my eardrums by screaming in my ear the consequences of having hurt my brother in public as well as dooming myself with chores.

"Remus, Lin, and the other administrators and I have decided to fail you immediately without another thought or consideration in mind. You obviously can't seem to handle instructors reprimanding you and shoving your flaws in your face without lashing out on someone, so what's to expect in the arena? After the reaping, you'll be trained privately and strictly by one of us to be away from the other trainees, and you'll have to do extra warm ups and exercises before a lesson," Miles continued with a calm, yet a very disappointed expression plastered on his face.

I widen my eyes. "You're... failing me this year?"

"Yes. Perhaps if your behavior gets better and I don't see you threatening nor hurting your brother— OR ANYONE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER— you may be allowed to try again for the female role in the Hunger Games next year," Remus, a huge, brawny tanned man with the gray suit speaks.

"Next year is ages away..." I grumbled with utter discontent.

Lin, a guy two chairs away from Remus, raises his eyebrow. "Is that a complaint? Because we were originally going to have the punishment extend until after next year's Hunger Games, but if you're not satisfied with this change—"

I jump up from my seat and wave at them frantically. "No, no! I wasn't complaining. I...I will comply with the punishment, sir," I confirm before slumping down on my chair again.

Now Miles stands up. "Wonderful. Now, we will be sending a letter home to your mother about your behavior, as you might already know. As for your brother, Augustus, we had him sent home with a junior trainer, so you'll most likely find him in your house once you arrive."

I nod without saying a word. What would Augustus think about me now? What would he say to mother and Zyaire? They'll know that I've turned into a monster before the letter even arrives! I can only be grateful that I don't get beatings where I live.

I get ready to leave the room when a question suddenly sparks in my head. I turn around and look directly at Miles; it feels very uncomfortable, considering me and him are not in a good place right now, but I just have to ask...

"Why did you guys modify my punishment? Why didn't you simply decide to let it go all the way until next years reaping?"

Miles stares at me with those hard, brown eyes for what seems like infinity before sighing and replying, "Let's just say it's good that you only came in tardy to training once."

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Despite the unmerciful gusts of wind and the unusual loneliness I felt during my journey, I found myself in front of the back door. I was hesitant to go in, because I didn't want to face the angry faces of my mother, nor Augustus. But I'm a warrior, and if I can't prove that to Miles and the other administrators, I can at least prove it to my own family.

I twisted the doorknob as hard as I could, seeing it was frozen. Once it opened, I walked in and took a look around the house. I hear the clothes washing in the distance, and the birds that chirp their tune perched outside. No sign of mother or Augustus. I frown; I just want to get this over with.

  I run up the stairs to my room, planning on changing my top to something tight and fitting, which is when I hear sobbing. Light sobbing. I slow down to a stop to hear who it was coming from. I swing my head over the door and my eyes catch sight of a curled up Augustus clutching on to both of his arms. Little purple bruises have already begun to form, and I know they will grow if left untreated properly.

  Oh, how I've hurt him...

I entered his room, almost afraid of what his reaction was going to be once he sees me. However, he simply looks at me and frowns. He looks down again and doesn't bother looking back up at my face again, as if trying to ignore my presence. Ouch.

"Little Ginger? Can we talk?..." I started out softly.

"Don't call me that again. You don't deserve to," he grumbles back without looking at me.

Double ouch.

I sit down a couple feet from him and ponder on how I am going to start this conversation off easily. I can't afford to anger Augustus any more. After much thinking and consideration, I decide to immediately apologize to him for all the mess I've caused him today.

"L... Augustus, I am so, so sorry about what happened today. You don't deserve to be in great physical and mental pain as you are in right now— you never did. I messed up today, big time. And I know now that it's all my fault, not anyone else's. Could you... forgive me?" I finally ask in the tiniest voice I've ever made. As much as I hate to sound desperate and miserable, my friendship— my bond— with Augustus is so much more important than any title or honor.

Augustus slowly lifts his head and faces me, his hazel eyes twinkling from the tears that had poured from them, but also...perhaps... the tiny spark of happiness or hope that has come from my apology.

"I know you were happy before because of the assessments; I know getting into the Hunger Games and winning is a big deal for you, Dri. But these past few days have felt lonely. I thought that you were forgetting about us... about me, and if I lost you in those Hunger Games, I would never be the same again," he started off, and then he swiped his nose softly with a couple fingers before saying, "Sometimes, I feel like you care about the Hunger Games than you care about me. And today sort of proved it."

Now, that stung. Who knew that by not paying close attention to him these past couple of days, I could miss out on some huge, important feelings that matter, that need looking after? I know I didn't, and it is such a shame.

My mind flashes back to all those hours I've extracted from my free time with weapons, and I'd leave Augustus and Zyaire behind with my mother to go to a nearby river and practice fighting imaginary opponents, as well as working on my hunting skills, and crafting different types of nets like Mags does to store water without it seeping through any holes. I never once thought about how hurt or confused or lonely they'd all feel without me, and if I did, I certainly didn't seem to care much.

My mind also flashes back to a short memory of father going away for another trip. I remember when I would cry after he'd go on a train because of how lonely and bored I felt without my dad by my side. He was the one who was always next to me, ready to talk, ready to play, ready to do adventurous things with me every single day. He was my hero, my role model, my favorite person in the entire world...

And now I finally understand that this is how Augustus must feel about me. I'm his hero, his role model. He looks up to me just as much as I looked up to my father when he was alive. He trains because I train; he acts certain ways because he got those actions from me. He feels, because he knows I must feel too. Now with my father gone from this world and my mother constantly busy on a daily basis, he has to use me as his support.

He needs me to be his best friend.

Even if its only for a couple more years, so that one day, Zyaire can look up to him and make the same connections like he and I just did.

I pull him close and make him face my tears. Tears that are streaming down my face at the memories, from my sadness that I realized I still had a bit of stored in my heart.

"I'm so sorry you had to feel that, Gussy. But you're not alone. I felt the same way when dad died that year. Heartbroken, lonely, shocked, forgotten. It never goes away, as much as I want it to. And it pains me to know that it never will. But as much as dad loved his job, he loved us more, and to this day I feel his never ending love in my heart. That's how I know he was the perfect human being to have ever walked this planet, and I'm going to try and be that perfect human being for you too," I promise him. "Please know that whatever happens, I'm always going to have your back, and I'm always going to treasure you in my thoughts."

We found ourselves clinging to each other, sobbing uncontrollably as we talk about our father, about ourselves. We talk and cry and hold each other in each other's arms, and right then, is when I feel what I felt with dad. Our two hearts beating in sync, beating as one big heart that's has connected between us. I feel our love growing, strengthening, and the best thing is knowing that Augustus is finally feeling it for the first time in a while.

"Dri... can I ask you something?" He says after sniffing and blowing his nose.

I nod. "Yes, yes you can Ginger."

"Will you still be one of those volunteers for the Hunger Games?" He asks, his eyes wide, but no fear is hidden inside them this time.

I chuckled. "No, they took me out of it completely as punishment. So I suppose I'll be stuck here for another year or so," I say with a wink.

Augustus smirks. "Doesn't sound like a punishment to me."

I laugh before I get on top of him, play wrestling with him until my wrists are sore from his tough finger bones twisting and turning them around.

  Little did we know, Zyaire sneaks up from behind and crashes on top of us. We all play fight each other, creating our own mini Hunger Games until we all died of exhaustion and low energy levels. I'm surprised mother hasn't stomped her way here and yelled at us for being so noisy. I'll still have to explain to her the mess I got myself into when she does come here to kill the fun we are creating.

  But I'm too happy and busy to care.

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and that's chapter 3 for you! what are your thoughts on this so far? c:

Word Count: 4,256