9. Disobedient

"Do you even have a game plan, either of you?" Ross asked Bane and me the next morning.

I felt a little more awake than I had yesterday, so that was a step in the right direction. My mind was still waking up though, and honestly, I hadn't even thought about what I was going to do tomorrow for the Gamemakers. An extra day of training I wouldn't have minded, it'd give me more time to make up my mind. Thinking of a game plan today seemed like so little time.

Breakfast was done, and Bane and I were already in our training outfits. I was tucking in my ponytail and making sure my pants weren't riding up my ass like I felt they were. Demi really wanted to show off my figure with this outfit. I leaned against the couch.

"I don't have the slightest idea," I sighed, fiddling with the poof I had from my tucked-in ponytail. "Two days isn't enough to think of something!"

"It should be," Ross retorted.

"Fine, then two days isn't enough to train up!"

"Did you feel good in anything yesterday?" he probed.

"I did okay with knives, but I definitely climb well," I listed. "I suppose I could try doing hand-to-hand combat, you know, all the physical stuff. My dad trained me up with wrestling and all."

"That's what you're doing for tomorrow."

"I guess I can." I shrugged.

"I'll think of something," Bane said, scratching one of his muscled arms. "We're Careers, after all. Nothing should be too difficult for us, right?" His green eyes bore into my blue eyes.

"If you say so," I complied.

"That should turn into a 'yes' by the end of today's training," Ross told me. "Now, one last thing before you two go—this is more for you, Bane, than Crystal."

"All right," Bane said, focusing on Ross.

"Focus on nothing but training and bonding with the pack. I don't want you to go after anybody when it's unnecessary. I'm sure a lot of tributes are intimidated by you already. You save that energy for the arena. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Crystal, keep him in check, will you?"

"If you want me to that badly, I'll give it a shot," I assured Ross, though my voice sounded uneasy. Trying to control Bane would be difficult. Remember what Demi's theory was, though. If he is in love with you, he'll probably listen to you. Somehow Demi's theory always seemed to walk back into my brain.

Ross dismissed us from the apartment. Bane and I once again walked and went down in the elevator in silence. Since Ross suggested being physical was the best way to go for me, I figured I might as well go with his opinion. He was the expert, after all. I was surprised I didn't think of that sooner.

We were in the middle of the tributes that arrived into the Training Center. Garret was by the doorway when we walked in. He didn't call us together since we knew the rules from yesterday. He let us get to training right off the bat.

The first station I sauntered over to was the Hand-to-Hand Combat. An assistant looked eager to take me on; I could see his body twitch with excitement. I bet nobody went to this station often. I offered him an innocent smile.

While other tributes were working at their stations, I focused on my opponent. He shifted constantly, trying to make me fidget. I remembered what my dad always told me: let them make the first move and don't flinch when they fake an attack—that opens up a chance for them to get at me.

I danced a step forward and back, now messing with my assistant. His eyebrows rose, he could tell I would be a challenge. I had no doubt he'd be a challenge for me with as much energy as I saw in his eyes.

With almost blinding speed, he lunged for me. I twisted out of the way to kick him in the back. He staggered forward, whirling around to go for me again. He was going in for a punch but I grabbed his fist, my nails digging into his hand. I kicked him in the gut, pushing him back. I crouched and he went for me again.

This guy definitely wanted to get me, but he was tiring himself out. Whether he realized it or not, I wasn't sure. He tried high blows at my head, each time I ducked. I almost nicked his face with my nails, but he dodged just in time. He faked a move and caught me off balance, tackling me to the ground. My head hit the mat hard, and he tried to pin my arms at my sides. I kneed him in the gut. He let out a sharp breath, and I threw him on his back, pressing my arm into his throat. I panted lightly, sweat trickling towards my brow.

"Not bad," he gasped.

I released his windpipe and sat up, feeling satisfied.

Bad idea.

He flipped me on my back, catching me way off guard. I hissed, eyes full of evil.

"But you forgot the most important thing," he crooned. I wriggled under him, he didn't slack off. "You don't get cocky, and you don't let up until you know they're down and out."

"That's two things," I sputtered, inhaling deeply to get my normal breathing back.

"Do you want to go again?"

"Yes," I said almost immediately.

My assistant let me up. He took his spot at the opposite end of the mat, beckoning me to go after him. I tossed my head furiously; I was not going to lose this match. If I do, I'll just move onto wrestling or something. Feeling a little anxious, I charged, throwing a right hook, but he grabbed my wrist and twisted my arm behind my back. I yowled, throwing my other arm back to hit a part of him. I was unsuccessful, of course.

I twisted my body so that my left leg could sink into his side. He caved, and I repeated the same action again. Two times was all it took. I rammed into his chest, sandwiching him between my body and the mat. He grabbed for my neck, but I grabbed his arms. It was a power struggle, trying to get his arms restrained. He was stronger than me; I had barely any muscle in my arms. I could see a vein in his forehead pulsing in concentration. My arms were beginning to tire. No, don't fail on me now.

But they did. My assistant smirked, slamming me on the mat again. I snarled in outrage as he smiled triumphantly down at me.

"No fair," I gasped, feeling embarrassed. I hoped nobody was watching.

"You've got to fight much harder if you want to win," he murmured.

"This isn't really fair. You're better than me," I hissed.

"You sound like a child," he sneered.

"Let me up, I'm done."

My assistant reluctantly let me up. I could feel strands of hair tickle the nape of my neck. My tucked-in ponytail was coming apart already.

As I stomped away from the mats of the Hand-to-Hand Combat station, I passed District 12's boy yet again. I shifted away from him a little, not wanting to brush up on him. For all I knew, Bane could be watching him, just dying to find something to call the boy out on. He didn't look that bad up close, though. His shaggy blond hair made him look younger than he probably was; his gray eyes had a fire in them, like mine would always have when training and when in the arena.

I went to the Wrestling station next, where I found success. I soon realized that Dad's training was more of wrestling than hand-to-hand combat. I realized there was a difference between the two. But really, in the arena, it wouldn't matter what I did as long as I won.

The assistant I faced in Wrestling was female, but she looked lethal. Wrestling was more of a waiting game than hand-to-hand combat was. It was all about low blows, mainly taking your opponent out by the waist or the legs whenever a chance presented itself. Speed was a key factor in here, too, because the chance would go away quickly if you didn't grab it the moment it became available.

My legs were wobbling after the third round I went with her. When we were about ready to engage in a fourth go, lunch was called. My legs sang with relief, but I still had to walk to the cafeteria. The assistant and I shook hands—it was apparently a pleasure for her to fight me, that I was a better opponent than most she'd faced in her past. That boosted my confidence just a little bit.

The pack sat at the same table it did just like yesterday. This time, I was squished between Bane and Ben. Aubrey, Jenna, and Victor were across from me.

"I saw you getting physical out there, Crystal," Aubrey sang. "Nice work."

"Thanks," I confessed.

"You didn't do so well in hand-to-hand combat."

Pointing out my flaws now? "Oh. You saw that?"

"I did," Ben piped.

I groaned.

"But it wasn't like you didn't give it your best shot," Bane said, trying to cheer me up. "Nobody's perfect."

"I thought that was my specialty, though." I pouted, scratching the tray with my plastic fork.

"You'll get better."

"In a day?" I retorted.

"Maybe, if you learn quickly."

"Anyway," Jenna said quickly, "you guys figure out what you're doing for tomorrow?" She looked at each of us eagerly.

"I'll probably just fight people," I said, shrugging. "I've got nothing else."

"You can throw a few knives," Aubrey piped. "You're not bad at that."

"Yeah, but the only time I hit one was by throwing it blindly out of rage. If I have no control as to where I aim, it's not worth it."

"I'm probably going to impress the Gamemakers with my knot tying skills," Ben said.

"I'm just going to see how much weight I can throw across a room and hope for the best," Victor voiced.

"Really?" Aubrey asked her partner. "That's all you can do?"

"There's got to be something else," Bane agreed with Aubrey. "We're all getting high scores to show that we're threats."

"Speaking of threats," Jenna whispered. She looked over her shoulder at the other tributes. "Which do you think we'll have the least trouble picking off?"

"Definitely the little ones," Victor said.

"Unless they can get away before we find them," I said. The thought of killing the littler tributes repulsed me, but oh well. Besides, the chances of a small kid winning and outlasting older tributes was very slim. I would let somebody else kill the little kids though; I'd only have the heart to injure them. "See any big threats?"

"Obviously we have to look after Twelve," Bane muttered immediately. I sighed quietly. I should have expected Bane to say that. "Maybe the girl from Seven, too. She looks pretty lethal."

"Everybody should be to us."

"We're Careers, Crystal," Ben reminded me. "Nobody should be lethal to us but each other."

"Should we consider recruiting outsiders?" Aubrey probed.

Jenna gave her an odd stare, like Aubrey had three eyes or something. Ben looked frightened by the idea, Bane stiffened next to me. I just stared at Aubrey. Recruit a non-Career tribute?

"Why?" I dared to ask.

"Well, if they're good enough, why not?" she retorted. "Some could surprise us."

"Aubrey," Jenna said evenly, "recruiting them would be a bad idea if they're skilled. They could pick us off."

"No, they wouldn't," Victor backed Aubrey up. "If they tried to, the others would tear them apart in an instant." Ben nodded in agreement, smirking at the idea.

"I see no reason to recruit an outsider if we're only going to gang up on them later on," I voiced, shrugging.

I felt Bane go rigid near me. I tried to look where his narrowed green eyes were. Naturally, they were on District 12's tributes. I had no doubt he was staring at the boy, who was talking in hushed tones with his district partner. They seemed to be sticking together. I wondered how long that would last. Alliances in the Hunger Games always fell apart, whether in the beginning or in the very end.

Bane was trying to not look like he was focusing on 12's tributes, but he was bad at concealing where he was looking. He thought I wasn't watching him. I nudged his arm, snapping him out of his intense stare across the room.

"What did Ross tell you?" I hissed out of the corner of my mouth.

"You'd be wary, too, if you had him staring at us," he growled under his breath.

"...be no match for all of us," Victor was boasting. "This year's Games will belong to a Career!"

Aubrey and Jenna whooped an agreement. I smiled, knowing that what Victor said would definitely come true. A Career would win these Games all right, because that Career was going to be me. Not Victor, not Ben, or Aubrey, or Jenna, or even Bane. I was going to be crowned victor of the 107th Hunger Games.

I kept myself quiet while the rest of the pack loudly boasted about how good they were at setting snares or how fast they could whip a spear or a knife into a dummy's heart area. I looked at 12's boy. I tried to stare at something around him so it didn't look so conspicuous that I was looking at him.

I managed to stare at the boy for only a few minutes, because we were sent back to training. Aubrey pulled me along to practice throwing knives once again since she felt it wouldn't hurt to add throwing a weapon to my skill list. Jenna and Ben wandered over to the Edible Plants and Insects areas. I hoped they had a good photographic memory, because I doubt Garret would approve if he caught them both jotting down notes on a hidden notepad or on their hands or something.

Bane joined Victor at the Weightlifting station, which left me alone after I slipped away from Aubrey. I went to the Fire Making station. I knew the pack probably wouldn't need to learn the old fashion way on how to make a fire, but still, it could come in handy.

I put together twigs, leaves, and a piece of cloth, smacking together two rocks to try and produce a flame. I bit my lip in concentration as I smacked the rocks harder. It was like the harder I tried, the more difficult it was. Come on already.

I seethed when I couldn't get it after fifteen uneventful minutes.

"You're never going to get a fire started like that," said a voice.

I expected it to be an assistant, trying to help me out, but instead it was the boy from District 12. He bent down to my level, examining what I had so far. Bane better not be watching.

"I've never made a fire from scratch before," I confessed.

"I can tell. You need to hit the rocks at the proper angle. Here." I flinched when he covered my hands with his. With a force that nearly made me fall back on my butt, he helped me slam the rocks, producing sparks. A few caught my pile. "See? All it takes is a lot of force and the right angle."

"You seem to know a lot about fire," I noticed. I looked around warily. Thankfully, Bane had his back turned from us. The boy was safe. But why was he helping me out? Wasn't that an assistant's job?

"I've made a few fires in my time," he said smoothly. "I'm Shane."

"Crystal," I said. "You shouldn't be talking to me."

"Because of your body guard district partner over there?" Shane looked over at Bane. "I'm not worried about him."

"You should be."

"Why? He can't do anything to me here. I'm safe."

"Yeah, here. If you think you're safe from him in the arena—"

"I don't think that. I know he's going to gun for me." His eyes bored into mine.

Shoo him away. I rose. "I was just going to finish up here."

"Oh, I wasn't going to stick around. I was at the Archery station. I saw you were struggling, and I figured I might help." He shrugged.

I saw that his district partner was shooting him—or me, or both of us—a dirty look from across the room. I wasn't intimidated by her.

Awkwardly, I moved away from Shane and headed to the Slingshots station. I glanced to see Jenna giving me a questionable look. Just hope she doesn't tell Bane.

I was better off throwing knives than using a slingshot. I always got close to my target but missed. But I was determined to get at least one hit before moving onto another station, if there was still time to.

As I focused on my last shot, something hit me in the back of my leg. I yipped, jumping a foot in the air, ready to attack whatever hit me. I looked to see it was a small weight. Naturally, when I screamed, I got unwanted attention brought on me. I should have just taken it and not have screamed. I would have done that had the weight not hit me unexpectedly.

I looked at the Weightlifting station to see Shane looking horrified. All his attention went away from me, because Bane was at the same station, and he saw what happened. Oh no. Bane was going to lose his temper and start something.

Panicking, I chucked the slingshot on the ground, ignoring the weight near my feet and ran to the Weightlifting station where Bane looked about ready to rip Shane's head off. Their conversation was so loud I didn't know how the entire building didn't hear them.

"It was just an accident," Shane said.

"I highly doubt it," Bane spat, his hands clenched into fists. "You think you're sneaky, don't you?"

"The weight slipped—"

Bane lunged for Shane. I was just there in time to shove myself between them. Bane pushed me aside, but I grabbed one of his arms. Victor was nearby to help me restrain Bane while Shane's district partner slowly pulled him away.

"He's not worth it," Victor told Bane.

Shane shot me an apologetic look, but that soon vanished when he caught Bane's eye. He turned and walked away, his district partner shooting a nasty look again at me. What did I do? All I did was yelp because something spooked me! Who could be mad at me for that?

"Are you in control?" Victor asked after Bane seemed to calm down.

"Yes," Bane said through gritted teeth.

I could feel Bane's pulse racing under my fingers. "Don't believe him, Victor," I said. "He's not calm."

Just our luck, training was over with not a minute later. Garret informed us that we were all to wait in the cafeteria early tomorrow so that we could be called in one by one for the Gamemakers tomorrow. He then dismissed us.

Ben, Aubrey, and Jenna joined us in trying to sooth Bane. Shane was lucky he wasn't within ear shot, because some things that Bane muttered under his breath would have scared him to death.

"He's going to be the first to die," Bane hissed as we six piled ourselves into the elevator. "Nobody touches him except for me."

"That's it, just let it out," Aubrey crooned.

"He'll wish he'd never been born when I'm through with him. What way to kill him though? I guess that'll depend on what I can get my hands on in the Cornucopia..."

I was glad Shane knew Bane was going after him, he at least knew what was going to come for him in the arena.

"You won't have to wait much longer to have your chance, Bane," Ben squeaked.

"I feel like I've been waiting too long," Bane snarled.

"I've never seen anybody look so enraged in all my life," Aubrey whispered to me. "How have you dealt with him?"

"More like how have we dealt with each other?" I mumbled out of the corner of my mouth. "He'll calm down eventually. He did last night."

"I think when we're in the arena we'll have to watch out for him. If he's got that quick of a temper..."

"I know, Aubrey. I thought the same thing."

**[tisks] Bane certainly has a temper, doesn't he?

What do you think of Shane, y'all?**