Chapter Two
A thin woman named Flora holds the most recent waxing sheet delicately between her fingertips, making a disgusted face at all of my leg hair that's stuck on it. She drops it into the trash and crinkles her eyebrows, whose hairs have been replaced with electric blue rhinestones. Thankfully my stylist has told my prep team to make no major alterations, so my eyebrows have been spared from jeweling. At this point, I'd rather that Morgana, the woman with lilac skin who is fixing my brows, just shave them off. Every inch of my skin stings, and Lucas is tugging at my hair so hard that I'm surprised he hasn't pulled it out yet.
"Finally!" Flora exclaims, yanking off one last strip of wax. "You're done?" I ask, relieved. "Of course not, silly! We haven't even started on your arms!" She spreads warm wax on my right arm and pats the sheet down on top of it. With one aquamarine hand, she pulls the skin taught, and with the other, she yanks out the hairs. I yelp in pain. "Hold still!" says Morgana. "You'll make me mess up your arch!"
As Flora continues ridding my body of hair and Morgana perfects my eyebrows, Lucas grabs a jar from one of the many shelves behind him and removes the lid. Inside is a thick mixture that he rubs on my hair, making it feel heavy on my scalp. As that dries, he takes a large brush and begins to scrub my legs with oil that smells like lavender and makes my skin burn.
I've been laying here, completely naked, for two hours. Before that I had to take at least a dozen different baths that seemed to make no difference to my appearance. When my prep team is finally done "fixing" me, I'll be at the mercy of my stylist, who, so far, seems to want me as normal as possible, but maybe once she sees me in person, she'll probably want me to go to the Opening Ceremony nearly naked, like many tributes before me.
Lucas finishes scrubbing my legs and begins working on my torso. His hair is bright red and sticks out in spikes all around his head. Green tattoos swirl down his otherwise normal arms and around his fingers, making him look like he's laced in a vine of some sort. His lips are thin and long, and coated with powder blue lipstick. I wonder how long it takes him to get ready each morning.
"All finished," Flora announces, stepping back to admire her work. Morgana, who's been busy rinsing out the paste that Lucas put in my hair, stands up and joins her. "You missed a few hairs on her left elbow," she points out. Flora reaches into the pouch around her waist and produces a pair of tweezers. She yanks out the hairs and then rejoins Morgana. "Now I'm done," says Flora, shooting Morgana a dirty look.
"Let's throw her in the tub again," says Lucas. The three of them help me up from the table and hand me a white bathrobe. I yank it on immediately, only to find that I have to remove it again once we enter the bathroom across the hall. Morgana fills the tub with warm water and instructs me to get in. I feel like a child as she and Flora scrub me down with two bars of soap. When they're finished washing me, I stand up and Flora pushes a button that makes water pour from the shower head. Once I'm rinsed off, I step onto the mat in front of the tub and heaters turn on and dry my body. "Much better," says Flora, tossing my robe at my chest.
I pull on my robe and my prep team leads me back into the main room and sits me down on a rotating chair. "Let's go get Symone!" Morgana trills. The moment they leave the room, I dart for the small cart where my clothing lay. I pick up my seashell barrette and clasp it firmly in my hand. When I close my eyes and think of home, I can almost hear my mother's laugh, see my father's smile, feel the warm breeze on my skin.
My eyes snap open when a short, plump woman who must be Symone walks in. Her skin is the same warm tan color as mine, but if the light hits it just right, you can see that it's actually coated with a thin layer of pink glitter. Her eyebrows are just like Flora's, hairs exchanged for rhinestones, but the color scheme on hers is mainly composed of pinks and purples. On her lips is a rich fuchsia colored lipstick. Her strapless dress is pink at the top and fades out to a dark purple towards the bottom. The fabric hugs her curvy body at all the right places, making her look very healthy and beautiful, whereas most of the other Capitol citizens are so overly styled it's almost disgusting.
Her pink pumps click on the tile floor as she walks over to me. "Good morning, Annie. I'm Symone," she says in a thick Capitol accent. She twirls my hair in her fingers. "You have beautiful hair," she remarks. "Thank you," I say. She circles my body, and I'm thankful that she doesn't make me take my robe off.
Symone crosses her arms over her chest and taps her foot. "What's that you have in your hand?" she asks. I uncurl my fingers and hold out the barrette for her to see. She plucks it from my palm and examines it. "This is your token, correct?" I nod in confirmation. Symone hands it back to me. "Come with me," she says.
I follow her out into the hall and into another room. Inside are four black armchairs, and the walls are covered in doors. Symone strides over to one of the doors and opens it. Inside is a closet, filled with costumes that I remember seeing on previous District 4 tributes. I catch a glimpse of the outfits I recognize from two years ago, where the tributes were dressed as merpeople. They looked so dazzling, up until they got in an argument over a package of crackers and ended up killing each other.
Symone shakes her head and has to open three more of the closets before she finds the one she's looking for. She reaches inside and pulls out my costume for the Opening Ceremony.
It's a simple tank top that looks like it was soaked in glue, then coated in sand and a few tiny seashells. Along with it is a pair of denim cutoffs, and a ridiculous fishing hat with all sorts of charms on it that looks three sizes too big for me. Symone sets the outfit on one of the chairs, and pulls out a set of underclothes from the closet. "Put that on, and tuck in the shirt," she says, turning around to give me some privacy.
I do as she says and when I put on the hat, it falls down past my eyes. "Done," I say, trying not to sound too disappointed. Symone turns around and walks back over to me. She tilts the hat so that I can see, but it still fits very loosely. I give her a weak smile and she nods her head in satisfaction. Then she goes back to the closet and pulls out what at first I think is a thin sheet of plastic, but has water sloshing around at the bottom.
I give Symone a questioning look. She smirks and slips the plastic over my head. Attached to it is a battery pack that I didn't notice before. "Turn it on," she says. Curiously, I shift the switch to on and a strange tickling sensation goes through my torso. I look down and see that the water is trapped between two pieces of plastic, and with the battery pack going, it moves around the shirt like ocean currents. You can still see the sand and shells beneath the water, and it has such a fun, nautical feel to it that I can't help but smile.
"Do you like it?" Symone asks. I run my fingers over the plastic, wondering how she got this to work. "It's amazing," I say. She smiles at me, clearly satisfied. "Oh, one more thing," says Symone. She reaches into the closet once more and hands me a fishing pole complete with a cheesy fake fish on the hook. I laugh at how utterly silly it is. "This is wonderful," I remark. "Here, look in the mirror," says Symone. She opens the door a little wider and reveals a full-length mirror.
My reflection no longer holds a girl who knows that she could be dead in just a few days. Instead, it shows a young woman who radiates confidence and has found light in the dark place that she's in. "Perfect," Symone says quietly from behind me.
She turns off the battery back and brings me into another room where she begins on my hair. It takes her hours to curl it all, and I almost feel bad for having so much of it. It's always been very thick, and it reaches past my chest. After Symone finishes curling my hair, she threads in some shining blue material. A few pieces of hair are braided back so you can see my face better. Finally she sprays my hair with something from a canister that makes it sparkle like a thousand diamonds.
When Symone's finished with my hair, she starts working on my face. She rims my eyes with a thin layer of glitter liner, and keeps the rest of my face matte. My cheeks are tinted pink to give the impression that I've been out in the sun too long. Symone adds a thick, clear gloss to my lips that makes them glisten in the light.
When she's finished, the prep team walks in and they all squeal in delight. Lucas compliments Symone on her curling technique, and Flora and Morgana are cooing over how adorable I look.
After they finish obsessing over me, they set to work on some fine details. Morgana adds a clear coat of nail polish to my fingernails, while Lucas paints my toenails the same sea green shade of my eyes. I wonder what Keld Bramson's prep team is doing to him. I smirk at the thought of his hair being sprayed with glitter.
Flora glues miniscule seashells to my fingernails while Morgana and Lucas argue over where my barrette should be placed. Symone steps in and reminds them that with my hat, you won't be able to see it. She simply stitches the clip in place on the brim of the hat and assures me that she'll cut it loose after the Opening Ceremony.
By the time they're all finished with me, I still have a few hours to kill before it's time for the ceremony. Mags, Roni, and Finnick deem this a good time to coach me and Keld on our public appearance, so Roni pokes her head in and tells me to meet them in the costume room.
I thank Symone and my prep team and then make my way to the costume room. Before I go inside, I turn on the battery pack so they can get the full effect of my outfit.
I walk in and Roni claps happily. "See? I told you she looked fantastic!" Keld is in a similar outfit, only his shorts are khaki and have lots of pockets, and he doesn't have any glitter. "You look nice," he remarks. "You're not so bad yourself," I say with a small smile. I realize that this is the first time we've actually spoken to one another.
"So, I'm guessing your angle is to be a delicate little flower," says Mags. I shrug. "If it'll get me sponsors, then sure." Mags stands up to get a closer look at me. She makes a full circle around me, making little hmmm noises as she does so. "Give her the fishing pole, Odair," says Mags. Finnick retrieves it from one of the closets and hands it to me. His hand lingers on mine for a moment, and then he stands beside Mags to examine me.
"Do something frilly," he commands. I roll my eyes and grin widely, wave the fishing pole around, and twirl my fingers in my hair. Finnick snickers and I make a mental note to kick him or something later.
"Keld, go stand by Annie. Good. Now Finnick and I will stand over here, and you two walk towards us and pretend that you're on the chariot and we are very wealthy people who could be your potential sponsors," says Mags.
Keld and I walk towards them. He has a mischievous smirk plastered on his face, and he waves at our artificial crowd, even winks at Mags. I blow kisses to Finnick and he pretends to catch them and holds them to his heart as if they're the most precious thing to exist. I laugh at his dreamy expression. "That's good! You need to giggle a lot, act like you're having the time of your life," Mags instructs.
We practice walking around the room until it's time to get loaded onto the chariot. We're taken to the bottom level of the Remake Center where our chariot awaits us. Some tributes are being fussed over by their prep teams, others are admiring the majestic white horses that lead the chariots. Symone helps me up, and a man with blue skin that must be Keld's stylist is helping him tuck the battery pack into his pocket. "Don't turn these on until the last minute," Symone reminds us.
"Ready?" Keld asks. I laugh. "No, but I guess I have to be." I look down at Finnick, and he points to the corners of his mouth. "Smile, Annie!" he reminds me. I flash him a wide smile and he gives me the thumbs-up.
Music blares and the District 1 chariot exits the Remake Center. The District 3 tributes in front of us are dressed in body suits covered with wires. Their chariot wheels out, and Keld and I turn on our battery packs. "Just act like Roni Salinas and you'll be fine," says Keld, and our chariot enters the city.
The crowds are shouting wildly, cheering at the top of their lungs. They go completely insane when they see Keld. People throw him flowers, chant his name. I blow kisses to the crowd, and that's when they notice our outfits. "Look at the water!" they say. "Annie! Annie!" someone shouts. I smile in their direction and wave like a giddy child. I remember Mags telling me to have fun, so I think of Finnick catching my kisses and begin to giggle.
My hat slips down and covers my eyes. I laugh and Keld snatches it off my head and dangles it just out of my reach, and I jump to try and retrieve it. The crowd loses their minds at this point. He finally sets it back down on my head, straightens it out, and pokes my nose as if I'm the cutest darn thing he ever did see.
I remember how his brother killed Elena, and I wonder if Keld is planning to do the same to me.
Before I can let the smile fade from my face, I dismiss the thought and play along. I poke him in the side with my fishing pole, which makes the crowd roar with laughter. He lightly hits me in the head and I smack him back. We keep hitting each other playfully with our fishing poles, laughing the entire time, until we get to the City Circle, where we resume waving at the crowd and smiling so widely that I think my face is going to fall off.
The chariot stops not too far away from President Snow's mansion. The music ends and he steps out onto a balcony and welcomes all the tributes. Once or twice I catch him looking directly at me.
The anthem plays and I can see the cameras flashing through each one of the tributes. When the camera shows Keld and me, we look almost comical, but at the same time stunning in our wearable oceans.
The chariots make one more circle and the crowd cheers for us. By now they all know who I am. I'm not just the girl from District 4; I'm Annie, the silly, loveable, girl from the shores of District 4.
The doors to the Training Center open and our chariot wheels inside. Mags is babbling about how amazing we were, patting us on the back, helping us down from the chariot. Symone helps me out of my ocean shirt and I think I see the pair from District 6 giving me a death stare.
All of the tributes know that we're the District that the Capitol will be talking about tonight. I'm sure that a few of them are even plotting my death right now.
"You were great out there," says Keld, beaming at me. "So were you," I comment.
Again, I think of Rolf's axe sticking out of Elena's chest. The way he played her. Made her think that he was someone she could trust, and then killed her in cold blood. I look at Keld, who could kill me in a heartbeat if he felt like it.
As we walk into the elevator of the Training Center, I decide that from now on, I will be staying as far away as possible from Keld Bramson.
