DISCLAIMER: I do not own the hunger games. Suzanne collins does.

Chapter 4

My body hurt. My skin was aching and raw. I felt awful.

I decided I hate being taken care of.

My prep team took care of my body, my hair and my nails, trying to smooth my skin, organize my nails and make my hair look great, wavy and full.

All they did was make me look red and hurt.

They put me in a bathtub and scrubbed off any dirt that was still on me. I never thought I was that dirty, I was most of the time at sea after all, but apparently I was. Very dirty. My prep team was consisted of three women, and they all gasped when they saw the condition of my skin for the first time.

"Oh, my poor eyes!" One of them shrieked.

"Awful. Horrendous!" The other one agreed.

"I'm so sorry for you, dear girl," the third one said, tears in her eyes as she saw the state of my skin.

I wanted to slap them. But I didn't, and just smiled the fakest smile I ever put on my face.

"That's right, we'll take care of you!" The first one shrieked again and immediately took my shirt off.

Waxing was the worst treatment I ever got. I didn't scream though, not even once, because I was supposed to be a career, and I didn't want my prep team to hate me. Gaiden told me to try my best to make them like me.

They declared I was "good enough" two hours later, and practically ran out of the room to call my stylist. I put my robe on quickly, hating the feeling of being so exposed.

A man with dark skin and green hair that resembled me of a tree came into the room five minutes later. He only looked at me for a second before shaking his head disapprovingly.

"Take off your robe."

I did as he said, trying not to let him see how uncomfortable this made me feel. He probably noticed my discomfort though, because he said, "How can you go out there and be sexy if you're so uncomfortable being naked in front of your stylist?"

He was right, of course, and so I took a deep breath and let him survey my body.

"You have a nice posture," he murmured, inspecting my body. "Your skin tone is nice… hair is alright… a little bit of makeup will do wonders to your face… I can work with that. But you need to embrace your costume, look comfortable in it."

I nodded my head to show him I understood, and he immediately took a paint brush in his hand and light-blue pain in his other hand.

He started painting on me twirled lines, which started from my legs and ended on both sides of my face. He added some silver and blue glitters on my temples and on several parts of my body, next to the twirled lines.

He put me in the smallest dress I've ever seen, a dress that was actually built with strips of blue, light blue and green fabrics. It was strapless and was just long enough to not reveal my ass. Though this, apparently, didn't matter too much, because whenever I moved the strips of the fabric, which were connected only in their tops, shifted around me and showed my underwear.

"They'll love it," my stylist, Rasein, promised. I believed him, though this didn't make me feel any better.

I understood what he wanted to do here; the dress looked like the sea, the twirled lines and glitters looked like waves, and my hair, that he left loose, just added to the idea of sea.

I loved and hated it at the same time.

"It's beautiful," I said, which was the truth. It didn't make me love the dress though.

"I'm glad you like it."

"It's really short."

"You'll get more sponsors that way. Trust me."

And I did. So I smiled at him a small smile that wasn't fake and let him lead me to a big room. Most of the tributes were already there, looking ridiculous with their big costumes and strange hairs. Some of them looked amazing. Most of them didn't.

Rasein left me next to my District's chariot, gave me a hug and walked out of the room. I didn't see Shane near the chariot and so I turned to look at the other chariots.

The tributes from District Seven looked ridiculous, with branches in their hairs and mud on their faces. The tributes from District Three were even worse, looking like freaks with wires covering their bodies. District Twelve were naked, which was, for me, hard to see. After all, the girl was only twelve years old.

I suddenly spotted Shane, talking to the other career girls. Their district partners weren't there yet. I didn't know if I should join them, but before I decided what to do Ruby, the girl from One, noticed me and waved at me, gesturing for me to come and join their conversation.

"You look so pretty!" she said the minute I got to them. It was nice, to hear the pretty girl complementing me, and so I smiled at her.

"Not as pretty as you." That was true. I was pretty because of my stylist's best efforts. She was naturally beautiful, and the stylist only made her look even more beautiful. She was covered with diamonds and rubies, which made me smile. Her name, Ruby Sparks, suited her costume perfectly.

Cassiopeia was pretty, too, and she was dressed as a statue. She didn't say anything; she wasn't a chatty person.

Shane was wearing tiny underwear, the same material as my dress. That was the only thing he wore. He, too, had blue lines that twirled on his body. He looked annoyed by that.

"We're practically naked," Shane stated.

"At least we're not completely naked," I said and turned to look at the District Twelve tributes.

"I think a bit of nakedness never hurt anyone," Ruby said.

Both Shane and I shrugged our shoulders and looked away. This was, apparently, the only thing we agreed on – that we didn't want to be almost naked in front of a big crowd.

Diamond, the male tribute from District One, and Dora, the male tribute from District Two, both got into the room and walked towards us. Diamond wore a costume similar to Ruby's costume, while Dora wore a costume similar to Cassiopeia's costume.

"Good; you all look representable." Diamond nodded his head in approval. Shane growled but didn't say anything.

"Look at that girl," Dora snorted and pointed at the girl from three, who was pretty close to us. It looked like she was about to cry.

"Pathetic," Cassiopeia agreed and shook her head with disgust. "She'd be an easy prey."

Prey… this word made my blood freeze.

"I would've liked to have a bit more competition in the games," Dora agreed with her.

Diamond merely raised an eyebrow at their words but didn't say anything. He ran a hand through his unorganized (it was probably organized to look that unorganized) hair, and I saw a strip of blue, simple fabric on his wrist. I didn't understand why he had this fabric, how it benefited his costume or even if it was a part of his costume. I guessed it wasn't since his district partner, Ruby, didn't have any fabric on her wrist.

"All the tributes have to go to their district's chariot!" A voice boomed in the room, and Shane and I walked towards our chariot.

"Want to go first?" Shane asked. He smirked, and I immediately understood why.

"So you can see my underwear?"

Shane's smirk turned into a real smile. "It's not like it's that hard of a task to see your underwear. All you need to do to show them is breath."

That was true. "At least I have strips of fabric to cover my underwear."

"They're not doing a really good job, now are they?"

I looked at him for a moment before I turned around and climbed on the chariot. Once I was on it, I turned to look at Shane. He had a smug look on his face.

"You looked at my underwear."

"Well, they were right there!"

He got onto the chariot as well and stood next to me.

"Why are you suddenly nice to me?" I asked.

"Who said I was being nice to you?"

"You are being nice to me. What, the sight of my panties changed your mind about me?"

He blushed, and I immediately understood the answer to my question was yes. I smirked and turned to look at the District One's chariot. Their chariot was starting to move. Our turn will be soon.

When our chariot started to move, I took a deep breath and tried to look as comfortable as possible. This was a hard task, mostly because it wasn't too hot outside and I was nervous, but I did what I could.

The crowd cheered when our chariot made its way out of the room. Some of the guys in the crowd whistled, which made me blush. I took another deep breath and smiled a fake smile that seemed sincere nonetheless. I blew kisses at the crowd, waved at them, smiled at them. They cheered even louder, loving me. I felt more and more comfortable by the second, seeing that they loved me. My fake smile turned into a real one.

The chariot ride was soon over, and all the tributes walked into a big building divided into floors. Shane and I got to the fourth floor and walked into the living room, where Jojo and Gaiden and Rasein and another woman, who was probably Shane's stylist, were sitting.

Jojo clapped his hands when he saw us walking into the room. "You were marvelous! The crowd loved you!"

Our stylists complemented us and even Gaiden smiled. We were probably doing a nice job out there, even though the only thing we actually did was smile. We really didn't do much.

We watched the chariot rides again on TV. District One was the district that, apparently, left the biggest impression on the crowd, what with all the sparkles and the glitters and the way they shone when the light hit them. They truly looked like jewelries.

We were nice too, though not as beautiful. We were memorable enough, and this was good.

"You should go to sleep; training tomorrow, you know. You have to be as awake as possible!" Jojo said eventually, and gestured for us to go to sleep. After all, there was a big, big day ahead of us.

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BTW... who do you think Mags should be with? Just curious here. I already know who I want to pair her up with, I just want to know your thoughts.