Watch Yourself {Gaby}

You thought you were standing beside me
You were only in my way

As I awaited a response from the girl, a cool breeze swept through the area where we were standing. I didn't shiver, as I was getting used to the cold air, but I could still feel its chill on my face. Then, the girl spoke up, looking me directly in the eyes. I sensed at that point that it was likely she was a career. After all, non-careers would be more likely to back down from a guy like me.

She told me, her voice calm, that she saw "many things" and a guy she didn't know. Clearly, the guy she was referring to was me. Okay, so she was being a bit of a smart-ass. Fair enough. I did that sometimes. What she said next, however, got on my nerves a bit. Apparently, the girl thought that is would be a smart idea to say that it wasn't any of my concern as to what she had seen. I clenched my fist at what she told me, and I looked her in the eyes like she had with me.

"Excuse me? I don't think a pretty, little girl like you should be the one to decide what is and isn't any of my business, whether you happen to be a career or not. I know you saw what happened, and if anyone else finds out about it, I'll know that you're the one who told them, since there's no one else around right now, and it won't go over well for you if that ends up being the case. Do you understand me?" I told her. My fist was still clenched with anger toward the female.

I always hated when people thought that they were smarter or more capable than me. That meant that I certainly wasn't happy with what this particular, sassy, obnoxious girl had decided to say. I didn't drop my eyes from the gaze I was giving her, straight into her eyes. I needed to continue to appear intimidating, since she apparently didn't think that my strong build was enough to make me seem like a threat. With my arms crossed, I awaited her response. Wondering if she was going to try to act like the stronger, more intelligent person, even though she wasn't, I was curious as to what she was about to say next.

People like this weren't uncommon. I dealt with them all of the time. It wasn't unusual to find someone being this way, but it still annoyed me. In that moment, I knew that if she said something else that I didn't like, I would feel the desire to punch her, although I likely wouldn't do it. The only reason I wouldn't do it, I think, would be because I knew people wouldn't be happy with me hitting a girl just to protect myself from embarrassment. That would make me seem even more pathetic than just having someone find out that I had done something embarrassing. Therefore, I knew I had to keep myself calm. I stood there, arms still crossed and fist still clenched, waiting for what she would say.

You thought you were standing beside me
You were only in my way

I shouldn't have called her pretty, was my first thought. By doing that, I opened the opportunity for her to use it to her advantage in our little argument. I needed to watch what I said, now. A smirk showed up on my face, and I noticed that the girl really seemed to know what she was saying at this point. She said she didn't take orders from me, and I knew that I was starting to enjoy our little disagreement. I liked to have an occasional tiff like this once in a while. It was a good way for me to have a conversation with someone that I actually would end up enjoying, seeing as I was never good at the more civil conversations that most people had.

"You know, you're lucky you're a girl. I'd probably have hit you a few times by now if that weren't the case, but we're not in the training center, so I don't want to mess up my reputation. Had we been sparring... well, that'd be a different story. You'd probably be on the ground in pain by now." I said to her. I was a confident person, as I always have been. I wasn't afraid of what she thought of my cockiness, even if she decided to make fun of it. I liked being able to tease someone once in a while.

The smirk that had crossed my face earlier on was still there, but my fist was no longer clenched, as I was actually beginning to enjoy what was going on between the girl and I. She was clearly angry, and yes, I had been at first, but now this was actually fun. Why not keep it all going while I could? It just made it all that much better for me, and probably would just anger her more. Would she take a swing at me? Perhaps, but that would mean that I would be allowed to do so in return, as it would be self defense, right? I hoped that was how it worked. I wasn't just going to let her hit me if that was what she planned on doing.

Career girls were always way too cocky. Yes, sometimes they may have been rightfully confident in themselves, because they may actually be good at what they do, but that wasn't always the case. I'd sparred plenty of girls in the training center over time to know that not all of them were as good as they thought they were. I wondered if the same went for this particular girl. I decided to speak to her again.

"So, maybe you're a career and you think you're smart. You're all cocky, but that probably won't get you far if you can't back it up. Just remember that. I'm cocky with good reason. I can actually prove my skills."

You thought you were standing beside me
You were only in my way

The girl, whatever her name was, seemed almost as frustrated as I was right then. I wanted to hit her, but I wouldn't. Did she want to do that same to me? It was quite possible. I had to hold myself back with what she had said next. My temper was close to getting the best of me. She stated that she was a Career, and proud of it. She also decided to say that she was smart, and knew that she was. Telling me that I was standing in her way and 'talking crap', she also decided to say that I had low intelligence, and that I was an idiot.

Since when am I the idiot in this situation? She's the one that's way too confident in herself. Do I keep going, and let her get worked up, or do I just walk away? I had a lot of thoughts running through my head just then. I wasn't quite sure how to respond to her, but my heart was racing. Maybe if I was able to put my finger on just who she was, I'd have something to use against her...

That was when I had what I would consider my own personal stroke of brilliance. Lumiere! That's why she looked familiar! She's a Lumiere! She's got to be! Didn't one of her relatives or whatever go into the Games? Maybe that's what I need to bring up. I spoke up, deciding to put my thoughts to use.

"Haha, well, nice to see you can stand up for yourself. You're a Lumiere, right? I'm not sure why I didn't realize that before." I grinned.

"Anyway, as far as I know, you've got a relative in these Games. It would have been fun to see you fight alongside him, or perhaps even against him, don't you think? That would really be the way to prove yourself." I told her. I was really trying to get under her skin at this point. Wondering how she would respond to that, I stood there with my arms crossed, waiting for her to say something. Little Miss Lumiere was clearly frustrated at me, so perhaps she would be more so when she realized that I at least knew her last name.

There was no way, however, that the girl had any clue who I was. It wasn't like I had a large family, or had a well-known name. After all, I didn't even compete in the Panem Olympics, despite the fact that I know I would have done well. I guess I just didn't want to show off my skills too much. It was best to save my energy for more important things, like training for the Games, anyway. I remember watching the Olympics, however, seeing this girl make her attempts at different events, among other competitors. She hadn't done terribly, but I thought it would have been much more interesting to see how she would do in a life or death situation; somewhere that she could lose her life, rather than just her pride. Would she crack under that kind of pressure?