Rain fell hard on my umbrella as I walked to Chace's house. I had to jump over puddles that formed in the road. I knocked on the door of Chace's house. The door opened and his mother stood in the doorway, wiping her hands on her brown apron.
"Oh, hello Damera." She smiled. "You are early."
'Yeah. Sorry, I just didn't know how long it would take me to get here in this rain."
"Oh. Yes it looks like it's going to be a bad storm. Chace is out back, fixing his boat, if you want to go see him."
"Thanks Mrs. Lorteen." I smile and walk around their house. A shed sits on the left side of the big, beautiful backyard. Unlike my dad's, this shed is big and made of metal. The metal door is open, so I walk over and peek in.
"Chace?"
"Over here." I hear him say off to my right. I look around the dimly lit shed. It's about the size of the whole bottom floor of my house. There are a few old boats lying around and other junk. I set my umbrella down and walk over to where I heard his voice. Chace is leaning over a red boat a little bigger than Jaxe's.
"Come here. I need your help."
"With what?" I ask as I stand beside him.
"Hold this down while it screw it." Chace says.
I do as he says and Chace picks up a metal pencil-like object. He clicks the end and a light turns on the other side. He put it in his mouth, holding it in-between his teeth and starts screwing a part of the motor down.
After a minute he finishes and sets the tools down. I find myself staring into his light brown eyes. He steps closer and before I know it, his arms around my waist. I feel drawn to him. I don't want to feel lonely anymore. I look up at grease and dirt-smeared face. His brown eyes shining like bronze.
Our faces are only a few inches away, when Chace's mother yells from the house, "The interviews start in five minutes."
Reality clicks in my brain and I pull away. I don't love Chace. I love Jaxe. Jaxe is about to be on TV and I had to see him. I walk to the door and grab my umbrella, opening it quickly and running out into the rain. I let a few tears of confusion, loneliness, and regret fall down my cheeks. As I reach the back door, I wipe them away and put my umbrella down; the warm air rushes over me as I enter, I shudder.
The Lorteen family and I are all in sitting in the same places as we were on the night of score results. Big golden letters spell out The 44th Annual Hunger Games" then it fades and we see Caesar on stage. The color this year is yellow, making him look like a sunflower. His hair is dyed a bright yellow, his lips are a pale yellow and his eyelids are neon yellow. He warms the audience with some jokes then announces, "Our first tribute, Bella Cutter!" The girl with the light hair walks on stage. She was wearing a short gold dress and purple high heels. She flirts with the audience. She was beautiful.
Next the boy from District One comes out in a sparkling gold and sliver tuxedo. He acts cocky and loves to laugh. My hands start to shake a little as I think about what is coming next- District Two. I felt Chace put his hands over mine. I froze, not sure what to do. I stared at our hands as I heard Caesar say, "Mett Lanson, The boy tribute from District Two!"
The muscular boy with the spiky blonde hair sits in the chair. My heart starts beating faster. Jett doesn't talk much. He answers Caesar's questions with as fewest words as possible. He looks ready to kill anyone who gets too close to him. I feel my hands shake again and Chace squeezes them gently.
"It's okay." He whispers, "Remember Jaxe is just as good as him."
I nod and close my eyes; I picture Jaxe smiling at me. I pull my hands away from Chace's and bury them in Jaxe's jacket that is lying over my lap. When my heart finally slows down to normal, I open my eyes. Kira is talking to Caesar about District Four. Her long blue dress lies all around her, making it look like she is in water. The buzzer goes off and Caesar stands up.
"Kira Melun, the girl tribute from District Four!"
My heart beats faster. Jaxe is next. I watch as Kira finds her seat then Caesar says, "Now for the boy who has been the on everyone's gossip list this week. Jaxe Odair!" I watch as Jaxe walks up to Caesar and shakes his hand. He is wearing a light turquoise jacket, a tight white shirt and black pants. The crowd cheers and Jaxe smiles waving at them. Caesar and Jaxe sit down.
"So lets get right down to it. Jaxe please tell us you're single." Caesar looks out at the crowd and flashes a smile, as everyone falls quiet. It feels like the whole world is leaning in, waiting for his response.
Jaxe chuckles and says, "No Caesar I am not."
A wave of disappointed sighs washes over the T.V. audience and I feel my cheeks get warm.
Both Caesar and Jaxe laugh. Every woman in the Capitol loves Jaxe. Everyone is jealous of me? I watch Jaxe laugh. He seems to be enjoying himself.
"And who is this lucky girl?" Caesar asks once they stop laughing.
"Her name is Damera." Jaxe says and smiles. My cheeks warm. Jaxe is telling the whole world about me.
"She is beautiful." He says almost whispering, as he looks straight into the camera, straight at me. I can read what he is trying to tell me. "I will come home again. I will win for you. I love you."
"How did you meet her?" Caesar asks.
"Now that is a long story." Jaxe smiles.
"Try the shortened version." Caesar laughs.
"Well-" Jaxe pauses trying to think of how to explain it. "I saved her from some bullies who were trying to steal this." He holds up my trident necklace with his thumb. Caesar leans and looks at it. The camera zooms in on it. I feel lonely. I don't have Jaxe with me, and I don't have to necklace with me.
"She gave it to me as my District token." Jaxe continues. "For good luck."
"Very nice!" Caesar exclaims, and the cameras zoom out again. Everyone claps.
After the clapping dies down, Caesar asks, "Now lets talk about your score! How did you manage to get a ten? You must have shown them something very impressive."
Jaxe laughed. "I tried my best."
"Can you give us a hint of what you did?"
"All I can say is that fishing in District Four paid off."
Fishing? He fished for the Gamemakers? There had to be something else. The Gamemakers wouldn't give him a ten for just fishing.
Caesar looked as puzzled as everyone else, but a glance off stage made him drop the subject.
"Well before you leave us, I think everyone wants to see that shirt off."
Jaxe laughed and stood up. "I knew you'd ask that."
I watched as Jaxe took of his jacket. Emotions stirred in me; anger, confusion, and sadness. All the Capitol cared about was image. They wanted Jaxe's body. Jaxe ripped off the white shirt and the audience went crazy when they saw his abs. My hands curled up into fists. Jaxe was much more then this. He was not some model that girls went crazy over.
I heard Chace whisper, "He's just using an angle to get sponsors. He knows he needs it in order to survive." His words made me realize the truth. This wasn't the real Jaxe, just the Jaxe that took advice in order to survive- in order to come home to me.
I didn't pay much attention to the rest of the interviews. The District Six tributes were small and shy. The boy from District Seven was big, but not big enough to be a problem for Jaxe or the other Careers. Districts Eight and Nine were young. The tributes from District Ten were medium built and loved to talk. Districts Eleven and Twelve looked underfeed and terrifed. The Capitol's anthem plays and all of the tributes disappear backstage.
Chace stands up and looks out the window. "It's still raining. I'll walk you home Damera."
I stand up and put Jaxe's jacket on. "I'm fine Chace. It's just rain. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Lorteen for letting me come over." I smile at them, trying to show I am fine, when everyone knows I'm not.
"It was our pleasure. Come back anytime." Chace's mother says. I grab my umbrella and walk out the door. Chace closes it after me.
The rain pours down on my umbrella as I walk through Town Square and down the street to my house. A few minutes later I get inside. It's late, my dad and brother are probably sleeping. I take my shoes off at the door and set my umbrella down, then walk up to my room. I quietly change into my pajamas and get in bed.
The next morning I sit in the chair on the back porch. Reality finally seeps into my brain. Today the Hunger Games are going to start. Today is when Jaxe gets forced into an arena and could die any day in the next few weeks. I might never see him again.
I remember everything that happened last night- Chace and I almost kissing in the shed, the way I felt drawn to him. Then the interviews, Jaxe had told the world he loved me, but everyone still loved him. They probably even wanted him in their beds. The thought made me shiver. I blinked and realized I was running, running on the beach. Wet sand sank under my bare feet as the tide lapped at the beach. I was running toward the abandoned beach cabin. I stopped as I reached the cabin. I leaned against its wall. Jaxe and I had fixed it up and even painted it navy blue, just like his jacket, before he left. We spent a lot of time here. I ran my hand over the cold blue wall. Hot tears fell down my cheeks, but I did nothing to make them stop. My hand found the door opening it and walked inside.
Jaxe and I even brought some old furniture here. A wooden table and two chairs sat at the back and a rug lay on the floor. I walked over to a small bookshelf that sat next to the door; on the shelves were blankets, a few books, a jug of water and shells. I ran my fingers over the soft thick material of the top blanket and closed my eyes. Images swirled on my eyelids, I tried to concentrate and the images became vivid. It was like watching an old film. Jaxe and I were running down Misty Pier, we were laughing. We were happy. We stopped and I realized it wasn't us, at least the teenage us. We looked older, like in our mid twenties. Jaxe had shorter hair and wore a white button down shirt and jeans. My hair was straightened and I was in a knee length polka dotted dress and heels. Happiness showed on our faces, like we could live in this moment forever.
I hear a knock and then someone familiar calling my name. I take a sharp breath and open my eyes. I am sitting on the floor hugging my knees, the blanket on my lap. I was daydreaming. I look up and see Chace in the doorway.
"Damera? Are you okay?"
I wipe fresh tears from my eyes and nod. He walks over and sits beside me, rubbing my back. I feel tears build up. I miss Jaxe so much. I just saw a future I want, and I might never be able to have it.
"I just wanted to say," He whispers. "I'm sorry about last night. I don't know what came over me. I guess-" He pauses and stares at the ground. "You and Lily are so similar, I guess that's why I was attracted to you. I'm sorry."
I look at Chace and realized that's what happened to me too. I was lonely and Chace reminded me of Jaxe, that's why I was drawn to him.
"It's okay. I'm sorry too. We are just going through a hard time and we didn't know how to show it." I whisper, running my thumb across the seam of the blanket.
We sit in silence for a moment, and then I remember the memory box. "Here." I stand up. "I want to show you something." I walk over to the hiding spot and pull up the board. I take out the small box and cradle it in my arms as I walk back over to Chace and sit down.
"This holds all my memories of Lily." I open the lid. I show him the pictures of Lily and I. The crafts we made for each other in school, and the shells we collected. It made us both happy. We both got to sit together remembering Lily, by telling each other stories and what she meant to us. We finally felt ready to let her go, but she would be in our hearts forever.
