Chapter Twenty-Seven

The sun was scorching.

The ground was hot.

My back was hurting badly.

With my body drenched in sweat, I tried rounding up my third set of sit-ups. It was my last set. To my surprise, I had underestimated the difficulty of the exercise. Canary had suggested I do sit-ups alongside Sophia and the tall, beautiful, lady I'd seen with them earlier. Her name was Katniss. She was my biggest cheerleader as I attempted to do my third set of sit-ups. With each sit-up, my back throbbed with an agonizing pain, yet I persisted.

By the time I was done, I fell with my back to the floor, gasping for air. There was a loud cheer around, which made me sit up straight, ignoring the spasms shooting at my back. I was wrong, Katniss wasn't even my biggest cheerleader. Apparently, all the female warriors were rooting for me.

Katniss, a towering figure of resolute strength and beauty, approached me. She was huge, robust, bigger than an average female warrior. She had an oblong face and her platinum blonde