I've never been angry at her like his before. I suddenly know that her parents didn't say that it might have something to do with what Finnick had to go through, she knew it herself. She's been lying to me for 3 months.
I break into a run. I keep running until I'm in the forest. I run to the lake and sit down in the house there. I know that running away on the day of the Victory Tour isn't the brightest idea, but what else could I do? I can't talk to Chelsea. I have no idea what else she lied about. One thing that I do know is that I never want to see her again. That isn't exactly plausible because even if I do move out, I'll still live next door to her. But I can avoid her from now on. I hear a twig snap under someone's feet. Someone curses quietly and knows that they've been caught. I don't have to wonder who it is. It'll be Chelsea here to tell me that she was sorry. I don't give a crap if she's sorry though. I've had enough of her lies.
I climb out the window of the house and run for the woods silently. I run back to the fence and go straight into the house. I go up to the bedroom and pack some of my clothes. I leave the house and go next door to the house that belongs to me. I go inside before I realize that with the Victory Tour coming up, I can't try to move as well. I decide that I'm going to go back to her house. After the Victory Tour is over, I will move into my own house. If anyone asks why, I'll tell them that there isn't enough room and that I need some room to spread out without Chelsea around.
I walk back into the house and see Chelsea sitting on the couch. "For a second I thought you were leaving me, Atticus."
"I am, but there's no time before the Victory Tour. Give me the ring."
"No thanks, I like it," she sounds almost amused.
"You would have volunteered if you weren't chosen."
"What made you think that? Was it the fact that I'm an expert with weapons, or was it that I got pissed off when you used up almost all my training time?"
"Actually, it was today, when I realized that you lied to me. It would have been easy for you to pretend to be shocked." She glares at me.
"What did you think I was going to do? I wasn't going to go up to my parents and say 'hey, I love the thought of the Games and I want to kill everyone in there myself.' Sorry, I have some sense of self-preservation." I bite my lip. Even I was wrong about everything else, I know that I'll never change her opinion on the Hunger Games.
There is a knock on the door. I hear the babbling outside and know that Cinna and Portia arrived with the prep teams.
"We'll finish this later," she hissed.
"There's nothing to finish." I walk over to answer the door.
After of two hours of the jabbering of my prep team, Portia finally comes in. She's holding a bag that has my outfit in it for the departure.
She takes it out and see that it's a tux with smoke designs on it. Any movement looks like billows of smoke. I put it on and we walk down to the living room where everyone else is waiting. "About time!" Chelsea exclaims. I glare at her. We walk outside. There is a car waiting to take us to the train station. I get in and wait for us to go. Chelsea is next to me and I can tell that she's worried. If I decide to tell the Capitol that she is really a self-centered bitch, she might lose popularity that is important to her.
The ride to the train station is short. However, it feels like hours because everyone refuses to talk. Effie tries continuously to start a conversation, but the others don't feel like talking. Apparently, Chelsea told them what happened. Apparently, she wants everyone to know about it. Fine by me. I couldn't care less. When we get to the train station, we go on without a word to each other. There are cameras there, but we don't pay any attention to them. We act as if they don't exist.
I know that my anger at Chelsea is a little extreme, but I know that she can lie better than she can tell the truth. I think that what happened between us was just fate telling me that she isn't the one. I think that I'm going to tell the Capitol what's going on between us. That way, I can break up with her publicly, and ruin her reputation.
I walk to my room and lye on my bed. What if something happens to us because of what I want to say? If I stay with her, there's a chance that the Capitol will force us to get married. I can't marry that thing. It's ironic how a couple hours ago, I liked her, but now I can't even consider her human. Then again, I really never considered the careers human. I know that some of them are nice, but the stereotypical is just like Chelsea. I'm sure that some are nice. However, I'm not sure if they could me my friends. I don't know. I'll meet all of them on the Victory Tour. Then, I'll get to know them all.
I hear a knock on my door and it opens. I see my mother and Victoria walk into the room. Victoria comes to sit by the foot of my bed while my mother sits in the middle.
"What happened?" my mother asks.
"I left Chelsea because she's been lying. You know what happened with Snow?" they both nod so I continue "She said that her parents said that it was probably because Snow wanted to put us through what Finnick went through. She wouldn't tell me what that was. Today I find out, and I realize that her parents didn't tell her, she already knew. I also realized that she loves the Hunger Games." Victoria stares at me in shock. "She said that she knows what her parents went through but she doesn't agree with them. She says the Hunger Games are fun and that she would have volunteered anyway." My mother gasps.
"Are you sure, Atticus?" she asks.
"Yes, so I am going to publicly ruin her. I will tell everyone what I just told you and I know that she will hate it. She wants to be popular if I can take that away-"
"Atticus," Victoria says "Are you sure that you want to do that? If you do, you could get both of you in serious trouble."
My mother turns into mentor mode and says "I suggest that you lie and say that you realized that you don't have that much in common. I mean that you could say that when you're in the arena and in the Capitol beforehand, you just want to find love before you die. That way, you aren't saying that you didn't feel that way at the time; you just were rushing things that shouldn't be rushed." I think about it before I nod. My mother kisses me on the forehead and says "Try to get some sleep." Victoria says goodnight and they both walk out of the room. I lay on the bed until sleep engulfs me.
I know that I have slept too long because the light coming in from the window tells me that it's almost 10-o-clock. I get up and find that there is a note on the table. It says:
There is no work to be done today. All you need to do is change into the outfit on the hook by the door. Then, go to breakfast and get something to eat before we arrive.
-Portia.
Great, I get the morning off. I walk over to the hook and take the outfit off. It's an orange shirt with leaf designs on it. It looks like an autumn day. The pants are just a pair of jeans.
When the train stops, we get out and are immediately brought over to the stage. We say our scripted speech that the Capitol told us to say. We don't have anything to say about their tributes because we weren't in an alliance with them. In fact, I killed one of their tributes. I try not to think about that. After, the ceremony, we are taken to the Justice Building where the feast will be held. The only people that are allowed to go are the victors, their families, and the most important people of the district.
At the feast, I meet some nice people. They are all victors or children of victors. There is Seeder, an old woman who won the 33rd Hunger Games almost sixty years ago. There was also Chaff, a drunken man who won the 45th Hunger Games. Finally, there was Demeter, a girl that won the 88th Hunger Games. They seem nice enough, but they are also bitter because their tributes died while I survived. I don't talk much with the other victors. There are the children of the victors that I like more. Seeder has a young daughter named Camilla. She seems a lot like her mother. There's also a son of Rowan, the victor of the 61st Hunger Games, that seems nice.
Other than meeting everyone, the evening was uneventful. So, we head straight for the train after the feast.
The other districts were a lot like that. There was Diaspro, Clay, and Lola from 10, Marie, Denis, Cara, and Louise from 9. However, 8 was one of the worst districts. We said our required speeches. Then, we each gave our own statements about Wade and Carmen. Chelsea went up and said something about how they were great allies and even greater friends. At that point, I wanted to slap her. How could she come to the district full of their grieving family members and say that they were her friends? I got up and said "Wade and Carmen were two of the best people I knew. Carmen was someone that I would trust with my life. Sometimes I wish that she and Wade had won. They were really great. You know, the reason that I chose them as allies was because she and Carter from six helped us out before the Games. As a matter of fact, the careers were attacking me and Chelsea when they stepped in to help. I immediately knew that Carmen would be a good ally because I could trust her. She was one of those people that didn't even care for herself. She actually told me that she didn't plan on winning. She wanted as many children to come home as possible. That meant either me and Chelsea, or Celine and Carter. I respected her for that. I don't think that there is anyone else in the world that is willing to die for other people that they don't even know to survive. Wade on the other hand wasn't a very good friend of mine. I took him on as an ally because Carmen said that he would be loyal. Actually, I kept thinking that it was my fault that he died. I felt that if I had told him to wait where he was, he wouldn't have been killed. Maybe he and Carmen would be standing here right now if I had told him to wait. I can't imagine what it's like to lose someone you love. I have my whole family. But I want you all to know that if I could have brought them both home, I would have." I look at the families. Carmen's mother looks as if she is somewhere in between hollowness and grief. Her father just looks angry. She has no siblings. Then there is Wade's Mother. She is grief-stricken.
At that point, we are ushered off the stage to the banquet. While I'm there, I see some other victors. It turns out that Woof died about a week after the Games ended. Apparently, he wasn't important enough for the Capitol to report as dead. It makes me sick how they treat us. The other victors are nice enough. There is Cecelia of course. Then there is Morgana, victor of the 42nd Hunger Games Kayla, victor of the 56th Hunger Games, Pike, victor of the 79th Hunger Games, and Luis, victor of the 82nd Hunger Games. We eat together before we have to leave.
District 7 is boring. I go through the routines like I did with the other districts. Then, at the feast, people pretty much isolate me. There is Johanna, who won the 69th Hunger Games. She isn't exactly nice but she doesn't isolate me. None else really talks to me.
District 6 was most definitely the hardest of them all. I was close friends with both Carter and Celine. I say pretty much the same speech that I did in 8. There isn't really anything else to say. The real problems are at the feast. I know that the feast is televised but I can't help myself from slapping Chelsea when she says that she was sorry to have to watch Celine die to her parents. Here's what happened.
I heard Chelsea talking to Celine's family. I heard her say "I'm really going to miss her. She was a good friend." I can't help myself. I turn around and I slap her.
"What'd you do that for?" she exclaims.
"You lying son of a bitch. You didn't care about Celine! You actually told me that you were about to kill her yourself if I didn't break off the alliance when I did. You said the same about Carter and Carmen! You didn't care about anyone in our alliance except yourself. If it wasn't expected of us both to come home, you would have killed me too! Face it, you are a witch!"
"You ass hole," she said to me icily.
"Maybe, but at least I'm an honorable ass hole. You can't go five minutes without saying a lie."
"Did you ever think that I was trying to keep us both alive?"
"Actually, I did. Then you told me that you were hoping that I would die in the arena."
With that, she turns and runs away.
The rest of the evening goes by without anything special happening. The only thing that I notice it that I talk to Titus, victor of the 71st Hunger Games who reverted to cannibalism in the arena and won even though the gamemakers tried to kill him, seemed nice enough to me. He didn't seem like a psychopath that everyone describes him as.
Then, we go to 5. I meet the victors there. There are only 2 of them. Their names are Corin, victor of the 66th Hunger Games, and Midas, victor of the 85th Huger Games.
District 4 seems okay. There is Finnick Odair, victor of the 65th Hunger Games, who I say thank you to under my breath. He nods in response. There is also the slightly insane Annie Cresta, victor of the 70th Hunger Games who went insane after watching her district partner get decapitated. She only won because the dam in the arena broke and flooded the arena. Everyone else died and she was the best swimmer. I learn that she isn't insane. It's more like she's slightly unstable. However, no matter which way you spin it, she is really nice. I remember Haymich telling me that there was once a victor in this district named Mags, she won the 12th Hunger Games. She was said to be one of the nicest victors. Sadly, she died about a decade ago.
District 3 is okay. There is a woman there named Wiress, who won the 57th Hunger Games, that seemed nice enough, but she has a tendency to trail off in the middle of her sentences.
District 2, however, was the most surprising of all. The victors there are names Brutus, victor of the 51st Hunger Games, Lyme, victor of the 49th Hunger Games, Enobaria, victor of the 62nd Hunger Games, and Vikus, victor of the 73rd Hunger Games, all seemed really nice. I was surprised that I could like someone that volunteered for the Games, but they really don't seem that bad. It just goes to show you 'you can't judge a book by its cover.'
In District 1, I mostly talk to the victors Cashmere, victor of the 67th Hunger Games, and her brother Gloss, victor of the 68th Hunger Games. I realize that the victory tour isn't so bad. I get to meet a bunch of fellow victors that I will get to meet at the Games. Now, the only thing left to do is go through the Capitol and I'll be done.