We wander through to the dining car, and join our mentors. Flourish is beaming, those odd green eyes bugging almost out of her skull. It just shows how clueless she really is. What's to be happy about? This was meant to be my time. My time to be in the spotlight, to meet the Capitol, to win. How can I possibly do that when Jinx is stalking my moods?
We sit down. Where, I don't know. My entire mind is at that moment consumed by what was sitting on the table in front of me. The food. It's incredible. I become completely absorbed in what I'm eating – most of which I cannot name. Gardenia names some for me – ravioli and soufflé and caviar (although after gulping down a spoonful of that last one I rather wish she hadn't pointed it out). As the rich food warms me from the inside out, I begin to realise that of course, Jinx didn't know. He didn't know I was volunteering any more than I knew he was. How could he? The volunteers are kept strictly secret before the reaping, and once you've been selected, there's no backing out. The board at the Academy did this to us, had the two of us reaped together. For what? As I chew away at my steak, I can think of only one reason: entertainment. It sickens me, but really, I've always known that's the purpose of the Games. And I signed up for this. And now I'm going to the Capitol. I can't complain.
We eat until we're sick to the stomach – or I do anyway. Jinx seems remarkably agile for the amount of food he's inhaled, but that's Jinx for you. I struggle to make it back to my room, where I flop down on the bed and try to keep from groaning as I watch the wilderness whizz by my window. I must doze off, because next thing I know I'm flying through the air. I land on the (surprisingly soft) carpet with a thud and turn to see Jinx gaping at me from my bed. His shock turns into sniggering as he tries to contain his laughter.
"You threw me. Off my bed." I glare up at him. Which apparently only makes the situation funnier. Go figure.
"No," he chokes out as he tries in vain to breath between snorts, "I just sat down. The bed threw you off the bed."
"What are you doing in here anyway?" I swallow as the nausea creeps up on me – my little nap did nothing to settle my stomach.
"I came to see if you wanted to hang."
"Hang what?"
Ok, so I've never been the most up to date girl around. Abbreviations mess with me and I find it much more appropriate to say 'hello' than 'sup'. That never stopped Jinx though.
"Hang out. You know, spend time together?" I decided not to mention that since we're stuck together for the next week – on the train, in the Remake Centre, at the Opening Ceremony, in the Training Centre etc. etc. – we don't really have a choice but to spend time together. So we go for a walk down to the last car of the train – Jinx tells me it's called a caboose- and watched, well, trees, go by. The fresh air soothes my growling tummy. There isn't much out here in the middle of nowhere. It makes me wonder, what's so scary about all the wilderness stuff they keep warning us about? I decide then and there that if I get home, I'll go and find out. I keep this to myself, remembering that if I come back, Jinx wouldn't. I think he's pondering the same thing, because he's taken on that sad expression I saw at the reaping, and when he looks at me, it deepens.