I follow Lania to the train and see that Jayson is sitting in the dining car having a chat with famous Finnick Odair and Annie Cresta, our mentors, when our eyes meet. Their conversation falls silent and Jayson stands and walks towards me, outstretching his arms. I push my arm out into his chest, holding him back.
"You're mad." He says.
"Mad, Jayson try pissed. Why did you volunteer?" I glare up about 6 inches square into his eyes.
"It was an instinct ok, every instinct I have points to protecting the people I love. May, I volunteered to protect you."
"Jayson there can only be one Victor, ONE."
"I know, just don't be mad at me, please."
I coil my arms underneath his shoulders and he in turn circles his around my neck. I hug him as if my life depends on it; he pulls away, tickles his lips against mine, then places his forehead against mine and he looks deep into my eyes, "I love you."
"I love you too." I ensnare my fingers in his wavy hair, praying this moment could last forever. He squeezes me once more before I notice Finnick, Annie, and Lania staring at us.
"You guys are adorable, the Capitol citizens love that love stuff." Finnick begins.
"And you don't?" Annie giggles.
I can't do anything but smile when Finnick reaches down and kisses her softly, sweetly, and passionately then continues, "If I didn't, then how would it be possible to fall in love with you."
"Aw, this room is filled with love. I love it!" Lania injected in her squeaky Capitol accent.
Jayson takes my hand in his and leads me to the table where an array of food is already waiting; short-grained rice, beans, fish, chicken spaghetti, chicken sandwiches, and fish sandwiches; I scarf down a chicken sandwich and Jayson and I take turns feeding each other spaghetti.
After dinner we watch the recap of the Reapings.
District 1's tributes, Glimmer and Marvel, look overly ostentatious, of course, but I make a mental note to watch out for them since they are Careers.
District 2, WOW! The boy, Cato, is surprisingly attractive, he has piercing blue eyes, light blonde hair, not to mention he has muscle on top of muscle on top of muscle and the girl, Clove, has an even more sadistic smile than my father, which I never thought was even possible, both added to the list.
The District 5 girl, Janely, looks sneaky, sly, and she had the face of a fox.
District 7 the girl, Ashleigh, looks as if she will do anything to win, she is also added.
In District 8 there is a slight disturbance in the crowd once a 15-year-old girl, Harlow, is chosen. But she ignores it and walks to the stage as if it never happened.
During District 11's reaping I almost start crying. A little girl named Rue, who is 12 years old, is chosen as a tribute. It brings tears to my eyes, she should be running around playing and frolicking with her friends, she shouldn't be being sent to fight for her life. And no one volunteers for her and the boy, Thresh, is about is about the same size as the guy from 2.
District 12 is very dramatic. A little girl named Primrose, she is most likely the same age as the girl from 11, has been chosen and almost instantly a girl in the audience volunteers. The girl in the audience was Primrose's older sister, Katniss. She is on the brink of tears when a guy carries of Primrose but when she walks up to the stage her face is completely emotionless.
When the recaps finish Lania basically orders us off to bed since we'll be arriving in the Capitol tomorrow morning. I give Jayson a quick kiss before I go to my room and fall into my subconscious.
I am drenched in blood and standing in the middle of a circle of dead tributes, but these aren't just tributes, in the traces of wild lifeless eyes I spot the ever so beautiful hazel eyes of Celia, the mother I never had, and next to her are the green-hazel eyes that reflect light blue in the setting sun, Kylee, and I begin to cry. But the next set of eyes make me fall to my knees, the luminous green-hazel eyes that have saved my life more times than I can count, the amazing green-hazel eyes that I hold onto when I'm in need, the fluorescent green-hazel eyes that I have fallen in love with.
"Jayson." I whisper, and at my voice a spark of life revives in his eyes.
"It's not your fault." He whispers before exhaling and closing his eyes.
"Jayson wake up. Please, please wake up. I love you, please wake up. Please. JAYSON!" I shake his shoulders hoping it will bring him back. I place my head onto his chest and soak it with my tears. I get up and see another pair of eyes. Big, brown, comatose eyes that struck the most fear in my heart.
I scream waking from my nightmare and in no time Jayson runs into my room, wearing only pajama pants, "What's wrong? What happened? Are you ok?" he says as he sits on my bed and places my shaking body on his lap.
"I'm fine, it was just a nightmare." I whisper.
"Just a nightmare, come on, tell me about it."
I tell him every detail of the dream; but I leave out the last pair of eyes, I don't want him to ask questions that I can't answer. He holds me tightly while we sit in silence my head on his chest and his chin on the top of my head.
"Jayson, please stay, so I know you're safe. Please" I whisper into his bare chest. He nods and we slip underneath the blankets, my head still on his chest his steady heartbeat acting as the ultimate lullaby, his arm around my body, his hand placed on my waist, me snuggling up to him, he kisses the top of my head. "I love you." He whispers.
"I love you too." I return as I fall unconscious.
"Maen-oh!" Lania says as she barges into my room and finds Jayson shirtless in my bed. My eyes sleepily blink open and up to find an already awake Jayson staring at me with his beautiful smile and electrifying eyes. "Morning." He says to me then again to Lania.
"Hey." I say listening again to his beating heart. His heart will be the one that's still beating when the Games are over. No matter what happens, he WILL be the victor of the 74th Hunger Games, even though that means my heart will be silent forever. I think to myself.
Lania commands us to get out of bed and we obey, Jayson goes back to his room but not before grabbing my neck and pressing his lips against mine, "See, I'm perfectly fine. But more importantly, you're perfectly fine with me."
I smile as he leaves. I can't stop smiling; I take a shower and put on denim shorts and a black tank top then head to breakfast, still smiling. I'm last to arrive to breakfast and I'm wedged between Lania and Annie, across from Finnick and Jayson.
"We're almost at the Capitol so once we get there you two will be handed straight to your stylists," Annie says, "And you probably won't like what your prep team does to you but don't be rude, ok? Trust me they can make the pain much more intense." Annie wears an expression as if she can still feel the pain of her former prep team.
Soon after we finish breakfast we arrive to the Capitol. The instant the train stops we are encircled by Capitol citizens; we exit the train into the rainbow sea of people. I squeeze Jayson's hand as I smile and wave to the cameras as they beg for pictures. Soon we enter a building and are sent to be prepped.
My screams fill the white room as they extract every strand of hair from my body, detangle and highlight my hair red, paint my nails, and do my make-up. Soon when they are done with the torture the colorful people leave and a man walks into the room. He looks really simple, black hair, black shirt, and black pants, he walks up to me and I notice his eyelids are also shadowed black, "Hello, I'm Alexander and I will be your stylist." he says, "So let's get you ready for the parade shall we."
Shimmering green, sparkling blue, and shining purple fish scales are painted on my arms, neck, and stomach, one blue fin is glued to each of my forearms, and two seashells made into a bra surround my breasts, and Celia's necklace is still bordered around my neck. I put on a pair of denim shorts after Alexander tells me that he'll put on the last piece of my costume once we arrive to the chariots since I won't be able to walk once I put it on. We walk backstage and Alexander hands me the final piece, a sea green tail. I sit on the top of the chariot as Alexander slips the tail onto my legs.
Then I see him.
A puffy, white, buttoned down sailor shirt, blue jeans, and his beautiful brown hair is combed back. He smiles the second he sees me and I do the same, when he reaches the chariot he plants a sweet kiss on my lips and I place my hand on his cheek and smile even more. He wraps his arms around my waist securing me to the top of the ocean blue and sea green chariot.
I thank Alexander and the parade begins.
The District 1 tributes are extremely extravagant in there pink feathers, glitter, and jewels.
District 2, in there Roman gladiator garb, glare into the crowd striking fear into my mind.
When it's our turn Jayson kisses my side reassuring me that he is still there, hanging onto my body like it is the only thing keeping him sane. We ride out into an arena overflowing in people they cheer and holler and I can do nothing but smile and wave, Jayson releases one hand and does the same, flowers are being thrown at us and the audience goes wild. Once we come to a halt at the cul-de-sac I continue to watch the other tributes arrive. The crowd loves every second of it, but the big finally sends the crowd into frenzy.
KATNISS AND PEETA ARE ON FIRE! WOW! I am in awe first by their fully black suits and AWESOME hairstyle, but fire that sets the bar higher than ever. I look out of the corner of my eye and see Cato glaring at them, hatred flaming in his eyes. When President Snow is done with his speech we go into the Training Center, where we will stay until the Games, after being praised by our team Finnick says we should head up to our room. I notice Katniss and Peeta talking to their team from across the walk way.
"Wait; just give me second, please." I ask as I step out of the mermaid tail. Finnick nods and I make my way towards them. They are talking to their mentor, Haymitch Abernathy; he is the first to make eye contact with me.
"Hey, sweetheart, I loved your tail."
I smile, "Thank you. I loved you guy's costumes, the fire was AMAZING."
"Thank you." Their stylists say simultaneously.
"Um, oh, I'm sorry. I'm Maena from District 4."
"I'm Peeta, and this is Katniss." The boy, Peeta, injects.
I look at Katniss and smile, "Hi, I just wanted to tell you that I really respected what you did for your little sister," I continue, not giving her a chance to respond, "So yeah. Great costumes and I'll see you at training tomorrow, maybe we could train together." I walk back to my group as they smile and nod, as I walk I can feel every eye on me but I don't mind, I kinda like it.
Once we step out of the elevator and onto our floor I am astonished at what I see, fluffy blue carpets made to imitate the ocean. Green sofas in the living room, and purple chairs in the dining room, and best of all and indoor pool, I start to the pool, but Finnick pulls me back, "Whoa, before you guys go into the pool you might want to take a shower, we don't want your make-up floating around when we're swimming." I sigh but obey.
I go into the shower where there is an array of buttons, I turn on the water and wash my body and hair with soap the scent of the ocean breeze, I am reminded of the day of the Reaping when Jayson and I were on the beach and I told him I loved him, that was the very first time I have ever said those words to anyone and I'm glad I said it to him.
The paint scrubs away almost instantly, I tug on the fins after the glue fairly washes away and they come right off, and I wipe every inch of make-up off. I finally feel clean after I wash my body once again with the same scent as my life's favorite moment.
I get out of the shower and get dressed into the swimsuit laid out for me on my bed, the top is pink with black polka dots and the bottom matches. I put it on and pull pale blue jean shorts on as well. I walk to the pool and find I am the only one not swimming; I jump in and I'm met by an attack of splashes and dunks.
After a while of swimming and playing Finnick turns on the pool's TV and we sit on the perimeter with our feet in the water to watch the recaps of the Tribute Parade. When it is finished Finnick, who is sitting right next to me, begins the conversation, "So Maena, why did you go over the District 12 tributes?" he raises a single eyebrow for emphasis.
"I just wanted to tell them that I really liked their outfits and that I respected Katniss for volunteering for her sister. Oh, and their names are Katniss and Peeta, not District 12." I smile, attempting to raise my eyebrow but it won't move without its twin. Finnick chuckles at my epic fail and continues
"Ok," I notice him staring at my body but before I can ask why he says, "What happened to you? What's with all these cuts and bruises?"
My smile quickly disappears. Finnick's eyes are trained to locate fish, even in murky lake water so that must be why he was the only one who could see my fading scars, that and he was right next to me, I was surprised that my prep team didn't see them even though they did see me naked. Their eyes are probably damaged from looking and wearing such bright colors.
"My dad, he um, he hits me. Most of the time he's drunk and sometimes it's for no reason or the dumbest reasons. On the day of the Reaping he beat me because I didn't want to wear the outfit he picked out. And he came to the Justice Building happy because no matter the outcome of the games he wins either way, if I die he never has to see me again, and if I win he moves into Victor's Village. He said the odds were in his favor this year."
The looks on their faces when I look up from my truth are making me want to break down and cry.
"That's why, Jayson, if it comes down to the two of us, I want you to win." I say letting a single tear spill out of my big brown eye. He looks as if he is about to object, but I cut him off, "Don't even try to change my mind, and don't try to be a hero if it comes down to that. I already promised your mom that I'd do any and everything in my power to bring you back to her and you know I don't make promises I don't intend to keep. And plus I'll be perfectly fine knowing that I died trying to protect you. With that at least I'll be able to die happily."
"But I don't want to live if I can't love you." he injects.
"You're going to have to, for your family. Jayson they need you, especially Kylee she's going to need you to protect her, be her big brother." was my objection.
And with that I suggest we should all get some rest.
After tossing and turning I finally went to sleep, waiting for the first day of training.
A/N: Thank you for reading and just so you know TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY and i would love to have reviews as presents that would make my birthday even more awesome. I hope you enjoyed and if you didn't please tell me anything to make this story better, and i didn't forget about my promise, your just gonna have to wait for the next chapter. ttyl