Disclaimer: The Hunger Games belongs to Suzanne Collins :D
Third chapter! I'm more or less following the same layout of chapters like the actual Hunger Games book. Also the Tribute Parade is part of this chapter. I'm just doing the costume that they had in the movies. I hope that's alright with you guys!
I have three women crowding over me. One's giggling, the other's completely silent and the last one will not shut up with her gossip.
'So, like, I heard that her daughter totally failed at whatever she was trying to do. Well, she was such a dumb girl anyway. She got it from her mother. Remember how we tried to tell her to become part of the prep team with us? Oh no, she tried doing complicated stuff and now she's like totally struggling!'
Tilly begins to giggling and Melina still hasn't said a word as she continues making me look 'presentable.'
They all look extremely weird. They don't even look human. The gossiper, Makayla, has hot pink hair and matching powder smeared across the body and face. The giggler is called Tilly and her hair a sky blue and she has matching lips and green powder dusted on her. The silent one named Melina is a lot more sensible. Melina has dyed red hair and her lips match her hair. She has thick black eye liner but it makes her look rather nice. I think I like best out of these three, despite the fact that she has not made a sound to me.
I'm being prepared for the Tribute Parade that is held tonight. We are assigned to one stylist and a group consisting of three is our prep team, who have me scrubbed, washed, waxed and moisturised. My nails, which were once bitten and dirty, are now cleaned and neatened. Because I had bitten them so low down they had to attach fake nails with white tips over my own nails. I don't like it. It's too long and keeps getting in the way, but I hold my tongue and leave them by my side.
My prep team moves onto my hair. First they rinse it, and then apply something gooey that turns into foam when it is massaged into my hair. My hair is black, curly and also very poofy. I don't get to wash it often, so when my prep team does, it feels like my head is a lot less heavier. I reach up at touch my hair. It feels silky and not a knot in place.
'We should totally straighten it,' Makayla says. 'Like, it's so poofy and gets in the way.'
I'm sorry? How dare her!
Tilly giggles and the urge to punch both of them comes to me. I try and calm down. 'Nah, we should ask Broonee first.' Tilly says.
'Let's call her. Broonee!' Makayla calls out.
The door opens and a woman enters. Having been around this lot, I'm not surprised to see that Broonee, my stylist, has fluoro green hair, yellow eye liner, orange lipstick and rainbow powder all over her. She walk toward me, her feet making tapping noises and I see she is wearing shoes with the highest and thinnest heels I have ever seen. And she walks perfectly, not even staggering.
Once she is at the table, she carefully examines me from head to toe. Then she touches my hair. The tips of her sharp nails scratch my scalp very slightly. I wince a little.
'Yeah, um we were thinking if her hair should be straightened?' Makyla asks.
'No,' Broonee replies. 'Her poofy hair makes her look cuter. That might get someone's heart.'
Well. At least she's trying to help me.
'Ok, Rue. Sit up.' Broonee says to me. I do so and the other takes seats around me.
'We're meant to dress you up as something that represents your district. So for you, crops.' Broonee says. I nod. I know this. Every year, I watch two kids from my district dress to imitate the crops we grow. You see those kids in outfits of fruits, vegetables and sometimes just a thin stick with bunches of material protruding from the sides to represent wheat. I wonder what it is this year.
'We won't do the crops anymore. Instead, we'll do the lovely people who grow them – farmers! And from what I know, you are one, aren't you?'
I nod as memories of harvesting food with friends and family come into my mind.
'Well, brilliant! You can tell us if the costume has any flaws, ok?' Broonee asks and I nod again.
A while later, I'm wearing a poofy blue top and navy overalls. My hair is left the way it usually is and on top of it is a headpiece that looks like wheat. Thresh is standing next to me, silent as usual. He's wearing the same as me, only he has a white shirt.
'Ok, so I need you to smile and wave. Rue, look extra cute. Melt their hearts. Thresh; look strong, bold and mighty. Let them admire you. Can you do that?' Broonee asks us.
We nod. Broonee shows us the horses that will take us to the City Circle. I sit and watch the other tributes as there final touches are added.
One pair catches my eye. They are both wearing a black unitard and matching boots that was laced up to their knees. But what was the most amazing thing about that costume was a cape that is yellow, orange and red and a matching headpiece. I stare at them in awe, then shake my head slightly and look around. I realise I'm not the only one gawping at them. Almost everyone in the room looks at the pair in either awe or jealously. Coal mining. What an amazing job their stylists have done!
I look down at my own costume. Compared to district 12's, mine looked plain and boring. Will I stay on people's mind? Will they think that our costume is too boring and forget about us entirely? All I can do now is sit quietly now and put on my best performance out there and hope I at least capture one person's eye permanently.
The gate's open and District 1 is rolled out into the crowd. The screaming begins instantly. The ride is twenty minutes to reach the City Circle. District 2 rolls out…then 3…4, 5, 6…until finally eleven.
'Good luck!' someone hisses into our ears. I turn and see Broonee nodding at us. I have time to smile quickly before the horses move, and I'm out in front of a crowd, where I can hear the crowd screaming and the music playing. I remember Broonee's advice and begin to smile in the cutest way possible and wave. Thresh looks strong as he looks at the crowd with a face that seems blank but his eyes were full of deadly power. I'm happy, because I'm glad that this hasn't turned into a total failure.
But just before we reach the City Circle, the screams become much louder and I can tell it is not aimed for us. I take a quick glance at a large screen hanging in the air. It is no longer showing Thresh and me. It's showing the two tributes from District 12.
Now, these are the people I thought looked amazing back in the room where the final touches were added. But now, those capes were on fire and they were lighting up the whole sky. They looked so amazing that I drop my hand and gawk at them until the horses stop in front of President Snow's mansion. The people are screaming the District 12's tributes. The girl tribute is going brilliant – I can hear the audience screaming, 'Katniss! Katniss!' – But the boy is also doing a great job, though I don't know his name. They reach the City Circle as well, after about twenty minutes. The music ends and the yells cease. A small, thin man with white man steps up to the balcony. President Snow. He gives us an official welcome to us and I look around. The camera is trying to resist the temptation on focusing itself on District 12's chariot. The capes are still on fire and as the sky goes darker, they become more and more looked upon. After one more parade around the Circle, we are all marched back into the Training.
Broonee and the prep team rushes over to us and begin to gush at our performance. Thresh merely grunts and I weakly smile. My attention is fixed upon Katniss and the boy tribute from District 12. Their stylists go over to them, remove the capes and the woman stylist extinguishes it with some sort of spray from a can. I'm so focused on them that I don't hear Broonee call me, until she has prodded me sharply in the arm.
'Rue!' she says.
'Huh?' I whip my head back to her. 'Sorry, what?'
'I was saying that you two did a brilliant job. Got the crowd's attention pretty well…until they showed up.' Broonee hisses the last sentence, nodding her head at Katniss and the boy.
'So?' I say. Broonee, the prep team and Thresh looks at me. 'So what? They're doing their job. They have a method to survive in the arena and they are doing it. There's no need to be bitter towards them for that.'
Broonee narrows her eyes and looks at me for a while. I don't break my eye contact with her, either. Because I don't like how she is being nasty towards District 12. They're the poorest city, they deserve sympathy and kindness. They are trying their best to survive, and it's just horrible that people go around trying to ruin that!
'Well, whatever, then.' Broonee says. She takes the headpiece off us and guides us back into our rooms.
I pass Katniss and the boy on the way back. I look at her, and something flares up inside me. Something which told me that if Thresh or I didn't win, I want one of them to do so.
Right, yeah, that's another chapter, and I realise that it is not very good.
Nevertheless, please review!