This chapter is a little darker than the others. It might be a little confusing so if you have questions either pm me or ask in review. This should clear up the relationship thing with Mallorin and Amelia. :)
Why does she hit me? I wake up to Amelia slapping the crap out of me. I grab her by the shoulders and sit her up as she starts thrashing. I grit my teeth against the pain as her nails dig into my chest and neck.
"Ami! Amelia! Please wake up! Wake up!" I shake her a few times, not brutally, just a good shake. She opens her eyes then they come into focus, "Hey, hey, are you alright?" I whisper as the sun raises outside.
"I am so sorry." She looks down and runs her fingers lightly over the cuts. I hiss then smile.
"It's fine, you're fine." I laugh and she smiles and nods, then she frowns and shakes her head and backs off the bed and turns to leave, "Wait! J-just wait." I know she doesn't want us to be friends or allies or really anything, but I am a seventeen year old male. She is confusing the hell out of me.
"I don't want to wait!" She yells. She turns to leave and I leap from the bed and run to the door and slam my hand into the door, my left shoulder slamming into it painfully in the momentum.
"I don't care what you want! I want answers!" I yell at her. She shies away from me. I know I am probably scareing her to death, she needs a wake up call. This is not the game she is trying to play with me, "Tell me what happened to us! I just need to know where we stand before we go in there!" I shout, almost desperate.
"I can't do this right now." She tries to pull the door open and I back up and plant my hands on each side of her, leaning over her. She turns around and I back her up to the door, our noses touching.
"Tell me what happened to us." I grit my teeth, my lips curling back. My hair falls into our faces and she timidly brushes it behind my ear.
"You stopped being interesting. Nobody cared anymore. I wanted popular, mysterious, sexy not, well, you." She shrugs.
"What!" I snarl at her and close my eyes, chewing my cheek, "You used me to get popular?"
"Why else? Other than a little bit of comfort before I kill you in the arena." I slam my hand on the wall behind her and press myself up to her, pushing her closer to the door.
"You have just made the worst enemy you ever could have!" I grab the door knob and fling the door open, running down the hallway. I should have known all along. I am a moron. I storm through three compartments and burst into the fourth one, slamming the door behind me. How could I be so stupid? She has done this before! I sit in one of the sofas and stare at the ceiling as tears well up in my eyes. This is all so stupid. I wipe my eyes furiously and growl to nothing, my lips curling past my k-9's.
The door opens and my lips become a thin line of anger. Amelia sits next to me, straight up, her hands in her lap. She looks down and grins then looks at me. She runs her hand through my hair and I jerk my head away and snarl, growling in my chest.
"Get out!" I yell, death glaring her. She just smiles.
"Not in your life time." She flips over and straddles me. My eyes widen and I try to get out from under her but she grabs my wrists and pins them above my head and grabs my hair and yanks it roughly to make me look up. The only reason I haven't tossed her across the room is because attacking other tributes before the arena is a major offense.
"Ge' 'eroff me!" I growl through my teeth and she yanks my hair again, leaning down to put her face in mine, grinning evilly.
"You listen to me, you are going to help me get some sponsors by being just good enough to accent me on the chariot, and to make me memorable in the interviews. When we are put in that wretched arena you are to ally with me and whoever I choose and you will fight with us until I decide to get rid of you. I tried to be nice, be the whole mixed up lover girl you seem to want. You had to go and ruin it. We could have done this very differently." I could feel her nails digging in my scalp, I want to launch her through the window, but I value my life too much for that.
"Done what very differently?" I sigh in relief, "You two are playing nice, right?" Vincent asks. Amelia sits up and smiles.
"Not too nice." She snarles. I hiss at her as she gets off me and leaves, her walk completely different from earlier. Vincent closes the door and sits next to me. I sit up and run my hands through my hair, doubling over and trying to calm my breathing.
"Tell me what that was about." Vincent chuckles. I look up at his with exasperation and lay back again.
"When we were younger, my parents had both died in the resistance. I was new to the district, even though I was born there. I had never lived there because my parents moved around so much. I started school and she chased me like a crazy woman. I tried to ignore her but fell more and more for her. Finally I asked her out. Then she started to tease me. She practically made me her slave. I didn't notice until she broke it off. I thought I would die. I didn't. Now she was acting like she had changed. Like she was a scared tribute like the rest of us. She wanted me to think she was afraid of me becoming more then she would have to kill someone she loved. That, obviously, was an act." I sigh and net my fingers together over my eyes, resting my elbows on the pillows around me.
"So, she attacked you?" Vincent asked, completely serious now.
"No! She was having a nightmare. To set me on edge she tried to leave after the nightmare. Make me think she was having second thoughts. I yelled at her and left. She attacked me in here. I didn't hurt her because it's against the rules." I sound so pathetic right now.
"I really hope you are telling the truth and you didn't just get wooped by a girl." He smacks my leg and stands up, "Come on. The aids can bandage you up." He leads me to the first aid room and I sit while my whole chest and neck are bandaged. I look in the mirror and then storm off to my room. Worst night ever. I dress in a white shirt and loose fitting black leather jacket from one of the broken drawers.
When the train stops, it's off to my stylists to start the work for the chariot ride. They say the protocol for the Hunger Games is just in the making. We are the test run. Much will change in the next year or so. The sad thing is only one of the twenty four tributes will get to see that change.
Thank you to editinggenious for your super special review and criticism. I loved it.
Thank you to Why Fireflies Flash and Dreamer's Avenue for your encourageing and wonderful reviews.
Review and Tell me what you think!
