-Katniss-
As the crowd was mesmerized by the display of fireworks, including Peeta, I glanced back with subtlety at President Snow. He caught my glance and nodded. Not an overly exaggerated nod, not even a regular nod, but just a small one. Just enough so that if someone was specifically waiting for some type of sign, they'd notice that nod. I kept my firm glance on him for just a second longer, then turned to the fireworks, my heart pounding and my hands sweating. The anxiety must show on my face, because Peeta notices it enough to ask.
"What's wrong?" He whispers.
"Nothing, I..." I say back quietly, but stop, not liking what I'm about to say. "I think we convinced him."
"Who?" Peeta asks, still in a hushed voice. He turns his head back quickly to look at Snow and then back at me. "Snow?" I nod stiffly and I hear him breath out a sigh of relief. "Well that's good," he says, and I can hear the smile on his voice. Out of the corner of my eye, I see his head turn to face me and I see him frown. "That is good, right?"
"I think so," I answer, not really knowing what to make of the situation. I should be happy, right? My family was safe, my friends were safe. The Capitol and Districts were going to go back to being peaceful. Everything was back to normal. So why wasn't I happier? Maybe it was the fact that now Snow knew I was his, and I was going to be another one of his little Victor puppets.
Yeah, that wasn't a very happy thought.
A sound of tapping glass came from behind the crowd and we all turned back to the President's mansion and saw that he was the one clinking his glass from his balcony.
"Time for dinner!" He cheered with a laugh and the rest of the crowd cheered and clapped as well.
"Dinner?" I asked Peeta. "I'm still stuffed from all the food from before!"
"Same, but we should probably still go," he said with reluctance. "We wouldn't want to be rude."
"Oh of course not," I said with a dry tone. "Wouldn't want the President to think that we don't want to be here whatsoever."
Peeta smiled a little and stuck out his arm. I wrapped my arms around his arm and we walked into the mansion together. An Avox guided us over to a table with multiple namecards in front of seats. Peeta pulled out my seat for me and then sat next to me, in his assigned seat. I looked around the table and saw three other people sitting, two guys and one girl. The first guy sitting next to Peeta had a light black bear with a sleaked back black hair that only one from the Capitol would have. The second man next to him had longer dark brown hair with a scar across his eyebrow. The next seat was empty and next to the empty seat was a woman, about 20 or so, with orange long hair. Not Capitol orange, but a natural color of orange. Then was the seat in between her and I, which was also empty. I looked once again at the others sitting at our table and finally realized who they were. Next to Peeta was Xander Firkins, winner of the 73rd Hunger Games, from District 2. Next to him was Mac Spiwak, from the 72nd Games, and from District 9. Then there was the empty seat, presumably the winner of the 71st Hunger Games, but I couldn't remember who it was. It was a girl, from District...8? Or 7? After the first empty seat was Annie Cresta of District 4 and winner of the 70th Hunger Games. Just as I got to the last seat, a scent of an unfamiliar cologne filled my space and a man sat in the seat next to me. I spotted his name plate and saw that it was Hudson Rutkowski of District 10, who won the 69th Hunger Games. The smell of his cologne settled nicely and once the heaviness of it died down, I enjoyed the smell. I quickly looked over at him for just a moment and realized how truly handsome he is, especially in person. He had neatly styled brown hair that was short, but not too short. A light beard, even lighter than Xander's, coated his sharp jaw. He had light blue eyes, and I've never seen eyes so light. I remembered his Games, everyone does. He was so handsome, it was hard not to watch. Not to mention he was a beloved underdog, due to the fact that he was from District 10 and managed to get a 10 on his training score. Needless to say, he was undoubtedly the most handsome Victor. The only other possibility being Finnick Odair, who was seated at a different table.
"Good evening, everyone," he said with a smile, revealing his perfectly-white teeth. He looked to me and Peeta and nodded. "Welcome, two new Victors," he said with an emphasis on 'two'.
"How is it that two people from District 12 actually won the Games?" Xander scoffed, taking a sip of water before he continued on. "That is just insane."
"You sound angry, X," Hudson laughed and Xander shook his head, raising his eyebrows.
"Not angry. Kinda impressed, actually," he said and looked to me and Peeta. "I'd better be invited to the wedding. It'll be the party of the century."
"This is the party of the century," Mac said with a snip of sarcasm.
"Agreed," Hudson said, a little louder and with the same amount of dry humor. "I just love the parties that President Snow throws."
Just then, multiple Avoxs started walking around, carrying multiple plates at a time. One single Avox set out plates for our whole table, which there was some kind of elegant meat and vegetables on the plates that she set down. She quickly walked away, going back to the kitchen, as did all the other Avoxs carrying plates. I looked up from my plate of food and over to the empty seat for the Victor of the 71st Hunger Games.
"Who's missing?" I asked, still staring at the seat.
"Johanna Mason," Hudson said, his mouth full of food. He swallowed quickly and turned to me. "She didn't wanna come."
"We can choose not to come?" I asked with awe, kneoing for sure that the following years I would definitely not attend.
"No," Hudson laughed, almost in a pitiful way towards me. "She didn't come because she has no-" Hudson stopped shortly and looked around, and then lowered his voice a little. "She has no family. So, really, Snow can't make her do anything."
The thought hit me hard and I pondered. The only reason I was here, pretending to be in love with Peeta, was because of my family. Johanna Mason, apparently, had no family left.
"But why doesn't Snow just kill her?" I asked, feeling bad about how morbid of a question it was. But I was curious.
"If Snow killed a Victor, especially one so adored like Johanna," Mac said and tilted his head. "There'd be uprisings in the Capitol. No one likes to see a Victor like her be killed. Especially those in the Capitol."
Well now I almost envied Johanna. No family meant no weakness. However, no family also meant no love or support system.
That I could not live without.
"So," Hudson said, pushing his half-empty plate forward, indicating he was done with it. "Does Snow believe this whole thing?"
"What 'whole thing?'" Peeta asked from beside me.
"Y'know," Hudson added, pointing from Peeta to me. "Your love thing."
"We convinced him," I admitted, knowing there was no use in lying to Hudson or any of the Victors about our false love. They probably were familiar with all types of tricks and deceptions by now.
"That sucks," Hudson sighed. "That means people in the Districts are probably convinced. And that means that rebellion is out the window."
Katniss felt a ping of guilt come across her, knowing that Hudson was right. Their stunt with the berries was not a rebellious act, but instead one of 'true love'. Snow believed it and so did the citizens of Panem. Instead of being fueled by our act of defiance, they're now mesmerized by our false relationship.
"Oh my God," Hudson said quietly, almost as if he was talking to himself. He was looking just to the side of me and he stood up eagerly. I looked to where he was looking and saw a young woman, around the same age as Hudson, in a gorgeous white dress. She had blonde hair and was truly beautiful herself. That's when I also recognized her. Adaline Beatty of the 67th Hunger Games from District 5. She won when she was 15, making her the youngest female Victor. She was beautiful during her Games, which of course won her many sponsors.
"You get more beautiful every time I look at you," Hudson smiled, talking to Adaline.
"Thank you," she said and smirked a little. "You don't look half bad yourself, Huds."
I figured the two must be in a relationship, considering the face she said he doesn't look 'half bad' when he clearly looks amazing. Only two in a relationship would joke like that.
"Whaddya say we take it to the dance floor?" Hudson asked, taking Adaline's hand. She didn't answer and instead nodded, following Hudson's lead through the crowd and out of our sight.
"You two should go dance!" A cheery voice said from our table. I looked back and saw that it was Annie who spoke up, and she was looking at me and Peeta. "It'd be so cute!"
"You wanna go for another dance?" Peeta asked and I nodded, standing up with him and heading to the dance floor.