A/N: For storytelling purposes, this will switch to first-person POV. This chapter is a bit more exposition, but it's completely necessary. I don't have a strict outline for this story, so I'm not sure how quickly this story will develop. But it shouldn't be too long.
Mallory doesn't say anything when I show her the paper. "Come on Mallory, I know you don't like the Capitol. But you have to admit, this is pretty cool!" My words don't seem to register with her at first but eventually she looks up. "I'm happy for you, I guess…" she manages.
Despite the less than enthusiastic tone she used, I pulled her into a hug. "I knew you'd be happy for me!" I shout. She smiles a little, "What are best friends for?"
I release her shorter frame and she takes a step back. "This doesn't mean I'm suddenly okay with the Capitol," she insists, "I'm just happy you got a job that you like. Even the job is for something that's completely evil." She adds the last part under her breath.
I smile widely at her, partly from my own excitement and partly because I have Mallory's approval. "What exactly are you going to be doing anyway?" Mallory asks, pointing to the paper I still held in my hand, "That thing doesn't have a job description on it; it just says that you've managed to get one."
"Who knows," I reply, brushing the question aside, "But I got a government job!" My excitement is clouding my judgment and Mallory raises an eyebrow, skepticism displayed across her face. "Yeah, but what if it's something like a janitorial position? Would you feel so special then?" My smile drops off of my face completely and I quickly scan the paper again looking for any sign that my new job might somehow be as Mallory's prediction.
"They wouldn't do that, would they?" I ask, more to myself than to Mallory. But I brush the thought aside as I see the fancy Capitol seal at the bottom of the paper. "Of course they wouldn't!" I reassure myself, "This paper's to fancy to be given to a janitor! My position's probably at least a little more important than that! Besides, they have Avoxes for that kind of stuff!"
"Av-what's?" Mallory asks, confused. I'm pretty sure I've told her about them before, but there's a lot to see in the Capitol and I might've forgotten about them when relaying details from my few trips there to her. "Avoxes," I repeat, "Have I not told you about Avoxes?"
She shakes her head, so I explain to her what Avoxes are and what they do. Mallory's face contorts in disgust. "That's awful!" she shouts when I'm finished, "They cut out their tongues!"
"Hey, they deserve it," I defend. "How could anyone deserve having their tongues get cut out and being thrown into slavery?" she asks, stupefied, "And I thought the Capitol was horrible before I knew about this!"
"The Capitol is what keeps us united! Without them, we'd all suffer!" I counter, "And if those people hadn't been inciting strife that hurt the Capitol, I'm sure they could still be leading happy normal lives!" Mallory sighs in frustration and rolls her eyes.
We got into little arguments like these all the time, but we'd usually stop and move on once each one of had said our piece. But Mallory seems a little more frustrated than usual.
"What exactly do you mean by normal?" she asks coldly.
I struggle to think of a good answer and before I can come up with one Mallory changes the subject. "So when will you find out what exactly it is you'll be doing?" she asks, regarding my new job.
"I don't know," I reply, shrugging my shoulders, "I asked my dad's Capitol secretary, but she was incredibly vague. I believe her exact words were: 'you'll when they tell you!'" Mallory laughs as I do a bad imitation of my dad's secretary's voice.
My dad is the mayor of District Eight, and he has two secretaries: one to regulate business from within the district, and one to regulate business from outside the district. The secretary in charge of business within the district is a sweet old lady named Barbra. She's seventy and has wavy gray hair that when let down will fall to the bottom of her neck. She usually keeps it up in a loose bun, though. She's about my height and is relatively slim. She's been the secretary nearly fifty years.
The other secretary comes from the Capitol. Her name is Brilla and she's a rather bitter young woman. I usually like most people that I meet and even I can't stand her most times. She seems dissatisfied that she's been assigned to a secretary post out in district and makes her frustration and bitterness pretty frank. She has golden skin and turquoise hair that she claims is the "hippest hair in Panem." Mallory and I both think it just looks plain silly. On the left side of head, her hair is weaved into cornrows. Along the center of her head, her hair sits in tight curls. And on the right side of her head, her hair is spiked upward dramatically. It creates a really puzzling look where each section of her hair is slightly higher than the other. She wears incredibly strange clothing and speaks with a horribly shrill voice, too.
That seemed to be the one thing that Mallory and I agree upon when it comes to the Capitol. They dress like idiots. But while I believe think that it adds an air of luxury and awe to the place, Mallory thinks that the way they dress simply reinforces the idea that they're all crazy.
"Do you want to come over to my house and watch Brilla argue with some Peacekeepers?" I ask her. "How do you know that they'll be arguing when we get there?" she asks in response. "If they aren't already, they will be," I say with a devilish smirk. Mallory understands what I'm getting and she follows me to my house.
Mallory and I usually go to my house when we hang out. It's at the center of the district, which is convenient, and it's the mayor's house, which means it's pretty nice. Mallory's house is standard for houses in District Eight, and she'll sometimes complain about the living or working conditions in our district. I usually just ignore her though. If that's the price some people have to pay so they we can maintain political unity and stability, I'll take it.
We get to the large complex that doubles as an office and my house and I use my security card to open the door before putting the key back in my pocket. The Capitol had decided that some districts needed extra security for their government buildings after a small riot in District Eleven. District Eleven, District Seven, and my district were the ones that were singled out as one's requiring security. I've never been really sure why we needed it, and my dad had tried to explain it to me. Something about the location of the building and the factories and that in a worst case scenario, yadda, yadda, yadda…I didn't care that much.
But every Peacekeeper, government worker, and office resident (that's me!) has to carry around a small little white card to access the building. Keys are specialized for each person too, so someone like me can't just randomly get into the Peacekeeper armory. But carrying around the cards everywhere is annoying and not everybody likes taking the risk of losing their card. So what people started doing was just leaving the front door open in the morning so people could get in. They'll leave the cards in a special holder by the door when they leave and when they came back the next morning, they just grab their card and use it to access whatever they need to access for the day.
Of course, this system relies heavily on trust and honesty and there have been a few cases in the past where people would arrive in the morning and accidentally grab the wrong card. Fortunately, these incidents had been resolved but not without plenty of frustration and agitation.
"Andrea, what are you planning?" Mallory asks, suspicious when she sees the mischievous look on my face. At the end of the main hallway are the doors to my dad's office; and in front of those doors are two desks belonging to Barbra and Brilla. Brilla must be on a coffee break or something because her desk is vacated. Barbra is typing something up on her computer.
Mallory ducks into another hallway as I calmly walk towards the two desks. I spot Brilla's white card sitting on her desk and my mischievous smile widens, but I force myself to neuter my expression a bit so I don't look suspicious.
"Hey Barbra, is my dad here?" I ask, leaning on Brilla's desk. "Why yes he is," she says, looking up at me but continuing to move her fingers, "You can go in and see him if you'd like, he doesn't have any appointments or meetings today."
As Barbra talks, I deftly move my hand until it's landed on Brilla's card. "Oh, no, I don't need to see him. I was just curious as to where he was," I reply. As I leave, I quickly scoop up Brilla's card and stuff both hands into my pockets. Barbra shoots me an odd glance, and at first I think I'm caught.
I smile brightly at her, trying to waiver off suspicion and it seems to work. She turns her attention back to the keyboard.
When I get back to Mallory, she breathes a sigh of relief. "I thought she caught you for a second," she says. "I think she might have," I say, "But if she did she doesn't care. She hates Brilla about as much as we do, maybe even more. "
"I'm beginning to regret this," Mallory says, "Maybe you should just put that back before you get in trouble."
"And miss out on the chance to see Brilla angry? Not a chance."
"But there could be consequences! Don't you ever think things through?" She's slightly frustrated.
"Nope,"
Mallory sighs heavily but follows me anyway when I begin walking down the hallway. My lack of thinking was one thing that Mallory thought I could improve on. I've always been the impulsive one. I like to have fun and experience adrenaline. Sometimes my actions get me into trouble but it's usually nothing too bad. Mallory's the level-headed one. She keeps me grounded, and it's one of the reasons why we're such a good match. Mallory always manages to keep cool and always thinks things over before acting. She's gotten me out of plenty sticky situations in the past. She always says I should try thinking a little more, but as of now I still haven't listened.
"Hey, Liam!" I call out to the Peacekeeper in charge of guarding the residential side of the building. "Good afternoon Miss Paylor," he says formally. "Cut that out, Liam," I snap at his formality, "I thought we were on a first name basis."
Liam is the youngest Peacekeeper in our district at the age of 20. He's a few inches taller than me and has short sandy brown hair. He's pretty built and would probably be good looking out of his Peacekeeper uniform. No one looks good in that.
"Stricter regulations," said Liam, with a stern look on his face. "But I guess since no one else is around I can ease up a bit," he chuckles, his face relaxing. He had just been kidding around with the formality. "I heard you got a job with the Capitol! Congratulations!" he says, hugging me. I hug back, beaming.
"And how are you this fine day, Mallory?" asks Liam. "I'm fine," she replies, "You?"
"Can't complain," he says.
"Do you have any idea where Crocket is?" I ask. "Crocket? Why would you want to spend time with him?" asks Liam with a smirk, "Especially when you could be spending time with me."
I roll my eyes and pull Brilla's card out of my pocket. "See this," I say, "It's Brilla's. We're going to switch it with Crocket's."
Liam's eyes lit up. "Sounds like it could be good for a few laughs later, he's in that room down the hall," Liam points down the hall and Mallory and I begin to walk towards it. "Thanks Liam!" I call back. "Don't mention it!" he shouts in reply.
Mallory and I creep up to the room Liam directed us too and I cautiously peek inside. Crocket and two other Peacekeepers are intently watching a television screen in the corner of the room. I recognize the other two Peacekeepers as Dillon and Alistair. Dillon was a pretty cool guy, but Alistair was always stern. He took the regulations and formalities way too seriously. If I didn't already have a target in mind, I might've decided to swap Brilla's card with Alistair's.
But Crocket is a much better target. Crocket is probably the grouchiest, strictest man on the planet. While I dislike Alistair because he's boring, I dislike Crocket because he's mean. And I dislike Crocket a lot more than Alistair.
Their faces transfixed on the screen in front of them, I quickly scan the room. My eyes fell on a small desk where all three of their keys lay. This is too easy. Since Crocket is the Chief Peacekeeper in our district, his key is marked with a golden stripe. Quietly, I slipped into the room and nabbed Crocket's key, replacing it with the one in my pocket.
When I slipped back out, Mallory quietly closed the door behind me. Running back to the main hallway, I give Crocket's key to Mallory and tell her what she has to do. She's reluctant, but she agrees. Fortunately, Brilla's still on a break, so her job isn't too hard.
I crouch behind the corner and wait.
"Hey Barbra," I hear Mallory say nervously, "Did Andrea stop by here earlier?"
"Why yes she did," I can barely hear Barbra's response, "She asked if her dad was here and then went around that corner."
"Oh, okay, thank you!" says Mallory. I hear footsteps and eventually Mallory appears around the corner. I look up at her expectantly.
"I did it," she says rather proudly. She seems to catch the tone she uses and continues, "But I didn't enjoy it!"
I roll my eyes at her and pull her with me down the hallway. I pull her into a storage closet across from the room Crocket's in, Liam giving us a weird look as we brush pass him.
"And now we wait," I say.
And we don't have to wait long.
"That incompetent grunt!" we can both hear Brilla yell across the building.
"Can I help you, miss?" we hear Liam ask. This is followed by a loud smack and an "Ow!" from Liam.
"She just smacked him!" Mallory gasps in disbelief. I'm already chuckling and a smile is beginning to form on Mallory's face as she realize what kind of fireworks are in store when she finally confronts Crocket.
"Crocket!" Brilla yells, bursting into the room across from us. We can't see much of what's going on, but the sound of things, Brilla and Crocket are in an all-out screaming match. Mallory and I are both dying with laughter at the sound of Crocket's gruff voice going up against the shrillness of Brilla's.
They're both just screaming insults at each other, blaming each other for the confusion. But after a few minutes, the argument ends with Brilla smacking Crocket across the face before exiting the room with a huff. Crocket slams the door closed once she's left.
Mallory and I emerge from our hiding spot chuckling, and we see Liam chuckling a little too.
"At first, I was angry at you two when she slapped me because I knew you caused that," he explains. "But then that happened," says Liam, referring to the shouting match, "And now you two are both forgiven."
I'm still chuckling. "Were you laughing when she came out?" I ask.
"Yeah," replies Liam, "She shot me daggers, but at least she didn't slap me." He puts a hand on his cheek for dramatic effect.
We all calm down, and Mallory and I both head to my room. "I'll admit, that was pretty funny," says Mallory, "But you're just lucky that nothing went wrong."
I roll my eyes at her, "Were you expecting me to mess up?"
"Yeah," she admits as we reach my door. I reach into my pocket to grab my key.
"Well, I didn't so HA!" I say, sticking my tongue out at her. I get the key out of my pocket and put it in the door, but for some reason, it doesn't open.
"Uh oh," I say.
"What?" asks Mallory.
"I switched the wrong key. This one is Brilla's."
A/N: Please review!
