Chapter 2:
The doors of the elevator open at the door assigned to me, floor 6, and I step out. I only walk a few steps before I'm attacked in a hug from Carlos. "What are we going to do Kendall?"
I look at all three of my best friends standing there, a mixture of emotions on their faces: Carlos looks panicked, James looks sad, and Logan looks like he's already given up.
"Guys, we can get through this."
"Really? You think so?" Logan asks aggravated as he looks up at me. "You heard what Griffin said. We're all going to fight to the death. There's 24 of us, but only 1 comes out."
"This can't be legal," James says as he gets up from the couch and starts pacing around the room, messing up his hair he always tries so hard to keep perfect. "Someone can stop this from happening. I'm too pretty to die!"
"James, there's nothing we can do. Griffin's the ruler of the world now. Who's going to stop him?" James looks down at the ground and frowns at what I just said, knowing I'm right. "The only thing we can do now is just stick together to the end."
The doors of the elevator open and we all scream lightly as we turn to face the door. Out walks the marketing team and stylists that we've had since we first moved out to LA a couple years ago.
"Boys we're here to prepare you for everything before the games, and help you with getting sponsors to receive items. Tonight, the stylists will prepare you for the opening ceremony where you'll be going on a chariot ride through the city."
"What exactly does that involve?" Carlos asks curiously.
Instead of answering, the four stylists grab onto us and drag us into different rooms to start getting us ready.
~Happy Hunger Games!~
"That was the most painful thing I've ever had to go through!" I say as I walk out of my room back to the living room. Sitting on the couch already is Logan.
He glances up when he sees me and we both scream at each other's appearance. "What did they do to you?!"
"The same to you!" I say as I walk up to him and look closer at him. The stylists did something to make his skin much darker than its normal pale color. His hair dyed to a more copper color. Red pants and a red tank top. A cape and crown that looks like they're made of fire. But the creepiest part of Logan's appearance are his now red looking eyes.
He sees my shocked face and runs over to the bathroom and I walk right behind him. When he sees his reflection, his eyes go wide in shock. "What did they do?" he asks quietly as he grabs onto his face.
I glance at myself in the mirror and notice the stylists made the same changes to me as they did to Logan: tan skin, copper color hair, and red eyes. I turn away from the freaky site as Carlos walks in. "What are you guys looking at?" he asks before seeing his own reflection.
As he starts panicking about what he looks like I turn to walk out of the bathroom but bump into James. "Why are you three standing in the bathroom? It's a bit weird."
"Have you seen what we look like?" I ask him while gesturing to my outfit.
"Yeah of course. I think we look good," James responds while doing the face.
"Boys you need to go down to the lobby now," the female from the marketing team says as they walk into the room.
I walk over to them and the others leave the bathroom and follow me. We step onto the elevator and start heading down. "So is everyone else going to look like us?"
"No. Your team was assigned fire for your look. Everyone else was given a different look, such as water or air."
The doors open and as we step out into the lobby I realize exactly what they meant. I glance around at the other people waiting. Jo, Camille, and Lucy, who are all wearing long, flowing yellow dresses, must have been given air for their group. Guitar Dude, Buddha Bob, and Tyler have blue suits on, surely to represent water. Jett, Dak, Jenny, and Wally have green outfits with flowers scattered on it. They're definitely earth.
I'm suddenly pushed aside by the Jennifers as they walk past us. They're all wearing matching ice blue dresses, a crown and cape of icicles, and their hair is pale blonde. "Ice sure fits their personalities," I mutter to myself.
"Kendall," I hear a familiar voice call. I turn to see my mom standing across the lobby with Katie, Kelly, and Gustavo.
I run over and hug her tightly. "Are you alright?"
"I will be, knowing you and Katie are alright," she says as she smiles at me. It turns to a frown as she takes in my appearance. "I don't like what they did to your hair."
I shrug my shoulders. "Neither do I. But we don't really have much choice in the matter, do we?" I glance over at Katie and look at the white outfits they're wearing, with wings attached to the back. "So what we you given to be dressed as?"
"We're supposed to be light," Katie says grumpily. "I wish we could have been fire. That's way cooler."
"Tough luck, baby sister," I say and ruffle her hair lightly. I hear my name being called and I turn around to see James waving for me to come over. "I'll see you later mom. Love you."
As I walk over to the guys, I pass Mercedes, Bitters, and Hawk and they all glare at me. They're dressed in all black, so I figure they must have to dress as darkness for their outfit.
The marketing team leads us through a door at the back of the lobby and as I enter, I see chariots waiting for us. We walk over to the second chariot in line and get on.
"Alright, boys, this is the time to start to win over sponsors! Make sure you smile!"
We nod to them as the doors open and the first chariot with Dak, Jett, Jenny, and Wally leaves. As our chariot starts moving, I look over at the guys and smile reassuringly at them. "This won't be too bad. It's just like dealing with paparazzi. We've got this."
They smile back at me, James confidently, Logan a bit uncertain, and Carlos excitedly. I turn towards the door, hearing the roaring crowd, and put a smile on my face.