Wooohooo! Thank you so much for the reviews. I know the previous chapter was quite similar to one of the scenes from 'The Last Songs' film. As I said, the story is based on the film so there will be some scenes that may be similar to it. But the next chapters will originally come from my idea. Anyhow, have fun reading the third chapter.
It's already quite dark the moment we arrive at the carnival, and fancy music fills my ears right when we step on the sand. This place kind of reminds me New York due to the colourful lights illuminate from the hanging lightings. Neon lights in various shapes like a surfboard, a fish, a shape of a guy wearing a swim shorts. They also have lightings in letters; the most obvious one is the large neon-blue accent lighting that makes up the word 'Welcome to Wrightsville Beach Carnival'. The carnival is also filled with the smell of food and cigarette.
This place is completely packed; I think everyone in the city comes here. The crowd consists of every kind of people; middle-aged men with their unkempt moustache, wearing Aloha shirt filled with flowers and three-quartered shorts, kids begging their parents to let them take a ride on a hurricane ride, or the Ferris wheel, mothers scolding their children for spilling their drinks while running, guys wearing loose tank tops flirting with girls who are wearing large unbuttoned flannel shirts that expose their bikinis and shorts. Jesus, I even notice a couple passionately making out at the back of the bumper car's stand. I avert my eyes before I see them ripping each other's clothes.
"Where do you want to go first?" Delly has to shout out in the crowd.
"I don't know! Where do you suggest?" I shout back.
"How about the animal act show?" I'm not really sure what kind of show it is, but I give her a nod anyway.
She leads to me deeper into a huge tent. I then hear a roaring sound. We manage to pass through the pack. It didn't take a long time because the viewers are keeping a safe distance from the performers. I find it reasonable because what we're watching is a lion act by some dark-haired guy and a blonde-haired girl.
"That's Gale Hawthorne and Madge Undersee," Delly whispers into my ear.
"Are they a couple?" I ask.
"You can see it too, right? They've been together for 2 years now and I hear they first met when they were working at the zoo as a summer job three years ago," she explains, though I'm not really interested.
Gale is giving orders to the lion while holding a whip in his right hand, while Madge is waiting near a large cage for the lion. He gestures his hand upwards and the lion immediately stands with its two hind legs and its forefeet close to its chest like a dog begging to its owner to feed it. He lowers his hand and the lion gets back onto its original position. He then points to a large cone and it leaps onto it and then to another one. It does this repeatedly until its trainer stops it, and it roars with pride. Some people jerk back, including Delly who clutches my arm to the point where it will get swollen. Gale then lashes his whip to the ground and the lion jumps down from the cone and walks over to its trainer and nuzzles its nose to him. Madge walks over to them and ruffles the lion's mane.
People start clapping and cheering and toss some coins into a basket. Amazed, I find myself clapping as well. Gale and Madge take a bow, ending the show and Madge takes the lion into the cage while her boyfriend keeps on bowing. People are still cheering when Delly runs over to him.
"That was awesome, Gale!" She enthusiastically says.
"Thanks Delly. Did you get scared again?" He mocks her.
"No," she lies and he stares at her for a while until she admits, "Okay, maybe a little. Oh, I want you to introduce to you my new friend."
And that's when my part takes place. I march towards them and say, "Hey, great show."
"Thanks. I'm Gale," he says, offering his hand and I take it.
"Katniss," I reply.
"Nice to meet you, Katniss."
Suddenly Madge hugs him from the back and squeals, "Hey, babe!" She then sees me and loosens her hold on him a little. "And who is this?" She doesn't make it sound rude, just curious.
"Hey, babe. This is Delly's new friend Katniss," he kisses her on the forehead and wraps his arm around her shoulders before telling her.
"Hi," I say.
"Hi there," she says back, surprisingly giving me a bear hug. I don't hug her back due to the awkwardness since I'm not really a hugger. "I'm sure we're gonna be great friends," she continues, releasing me.
"Yeah, I'm sure we will," I say with a hidden sarcasm and an awkward smile.
Delly whispers in my ear, "She's a bit too friendly." I look at her with a look saying 'You don't say?'.
"Hey, Madge and I are going to the diner to eat dinner, you guys coming?" Gale asks.
"That'll be nice," Delly agrees. "How about you, Katniss?"
Feeling a bit uncomfortable for not getting used to have friends around me, I decline. "Nah, I'll pass. You know what? I think I'll just walk around and see whatever entertainments we have here. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay. Bye," she says with a low, disappointed voice, Gale and Madge waving at me behind her. I wave back.
I push my way through the crowd again, not knowing where to go this time. That's when I notice a familiar guy with blonde hair. Peeta Mellark. He's wearing a red flannel shirt, purposely unbuttoned to expose his chest, and a pair of three-quarter shorts. He still wears the leather necklace I saw this morning. There's a girl in front of him, trying her best to flirt with him. He gives not much respond, just replying whatever she's saying to be polite. He then looks at the crowd and our eyes meet for a short time. He excuses himself and walks over to the crowd while I try to hide among the pack. I don't know why I'm avoiding him but I just do. "Sorry" "Excuse me" are the words that I spill out whenever I accidentally step on someone's foot. Finally I loose myself from them and turn around. He's not there. I sigh in relief and face forward and surprisingly he's right there in front of me.
"How did you get here so fast?" I say, bewildered.
He smirks. "Living in this city for 17 years has turned me into a pro sliding through the crowds. Were you trying to avoid me?"
"No, I was just leaving."
"No, you definitely tried to avoid me."
I sigh in aggravation. "Fine. I was avoiding you. Satisfied?" I said, crossing my arms.
"Why is that?"
"Because I have nothing to say to you."
Saved by the moment, I hear someone call my name from the crowd. "Katniss! Over here!"
I look over his shoulders and realize it's actually Prim. Never in my life have I feel so grateful to have my younger sister around. I look at Peeta. "Sorry, gotta go," I say as I walk past his shoulder, softly grazing the fabric of his shirt with my shoulder.
"You're coming to the surfing competition tomorrow, right?" He asks.
"No, probably not," I tell him. I'm pretty sure I see a little sign of disappointment on his face before I turn on my heels towards Prim. "Hey, when did you get here?" I ask her.
"A couple minutes ago. Uncle Haymitch suggests coming here since I've never been here before," she explains.
I look around. "Where is he? Don't tell me he just dropped you off like that." If he did, he's dead for leaving my 12 year old sister alone in a place where she's not accustomed to.
She pointed to a cotton candy booth on her right. And I see him ordering for a cotton candy. "He's getting me a cotton candy. Don't worry; he wouldn't leave me all by myself."
"He better be." I take her hand and guide us into the booth.
"Thank you," I hear the seller say politely to him.
He turns around and surprised to see me with Prim. "Oh, hey sweetheart. Finally we found you," he says with a large pink cotton candy in his hand.
"More like I found you first," I say coldly.
He chuckles. "Come on. Turn that frown upside down. We're in a carnival, we should have some fun," he says, trying to cheer me up and shoves the sweet stuff on my face.
I laugh. He has a good point. Since I got onto this place, I never try to lighten my mood. Prim squeezes my hand as a comforting gesture. "You're right," I say, taking a piece of the candy and put in my mouth.
Then they take a piece each and into their mouth. We then walk towards the Ferris wheel and have a ride twice. Prim was too scared during the first ride thinking that the metal on the wheel would snap and we'll fall onto the ground and she closed her eyes the whole time. I convince her that it'll be fine so she decides to have a second ride. Afterwards, we play at the archery game and I learn that Haymitch sucks in this game. He tries to shoot at the bullseyes, but often misses by a mere 5 centimeters gap. I take over and with my perfect eyesight, I hit every target and I win a purple teddy bear for Prim. We stop for a while at a restaurant for dinner and by 10, I hear her yawn.
"Should we get back home?" I ask Haymitch.
"So soon? But we haven't got into the best part yet."
"Prim's already tired."
"She'll stay awake when she sees the final show."
"What show?" Prim asks, curious.
"You'll see. Come on, let's find a spot at the beach," he says, pulling us to the beach. I notice he has a blanket in his other hand.
By the time we arrive at the beach, people already surround the whole place. Still, he manages to find an empty spot and spread the blanket on the sand. We sit next to each other and wait as we stare at the dark sky.
"What are we waiting for, Haymitch?" I ask, getting impatient.
"It's starting," he answers.
Then there's a high-pitched sound and a flash of red light. I look ahead and see a firework that has a peony effect. People's cheers start to echo, making whooping sounds, filling the night sky along with other fireworks. More fireworks shoot into the sky, replacing the previous ones with different effects like the palm, spider, and the most beautiful is the red and orange crossette. Various colours display from the fireworks, blue, purple, red, orange and even my favourite: forest-green.
Looking at other locations, I spot Gale and Madge sitting next to each other and Gale has his arm around her. Delly is seen a few meters away from them, sitting with I believe to be her family. I look on my right and realize one of the standing people is Peeta, looking up at the fireworks with his arms crossed. I almost think he's alone until I notice that he is accompanied with his bronze-haired teammate.
The show ends with a huge firework that has a rainbow colour, shaping the letters W and B, meaning Wrightsville Beach. People begin to clap when the firework disappear into nothing. Prim, Haymitch and I do the same. Afterwards, Haymitch folds the blanket away and we make our way home with a smile formed on our faces.
Boom boom boom! I just love fireworks, that's why I added them into the story. I hope you liked how I introduced Gale and Madge working as a lion tamer. And how cold Katniss is to Peeta. Stay patient and you'll see more Peeniss/Everlark action in the next chapters. Reviews make me smile.