Chapter 9

My speech for District Six, is the epitome of bitchy.

"First off, I'd like to thank you the people of District Six for supplying the tributes that I killed so that I could win the Hunger Games- who the fuck wrote this?" I shout as my prep team silently attends to my hair.

Tigris clucks sadly. "I don't know."

"I sound like a bitch!" I shout. "I'm not going to read this. I'll fake the whole thing, because I'm not reading it."

They try to convince me to read it. They don't know me. I'm extremely stubborn. Only a stubborn girl will sit outside a bathroom door for nine hours just to beat up her sister for calling her mean.

I walk out there in my usual leather jacket and revealing clothing.

"I'd like to give my condolences, to those that gave up their children to the Games. Because they died for no reason. Why did they have to die just to put bread on my family's table? It's unfair, and I'd like to thank you for not assassinating me on the spot."

I'm dragged off the balcony by the guards. Did I just challenge the Capitol again? Oops my bad. Make sure to send my apologies to the President.

Yeah, I really don't care. I wait around, waiting for the party to start.

"Johanna," Tessa says walking into the room. "You have a phone call, the girl was kinda hysteric, so don't be insensitive."

I scrunch my eyebrows together and run to the phone. "Hello?"

"Johanna!" Scarlett shouts on the other end of the line. "It's Xavier, we-we woke up a-and he was in the pool a-and h-he's not m-moving!"

"What? H-how d-" I stop talking. "H-he's dead isn't he?"

Tessa freezes and turns around looking at me with wide eyes.

"Yes," Scarlett says wailing.

"Scarlett, I can't come home until the Victory Tour is over. Take good care of him."

"We're b-burying him by Mom."

"Mom would like that. She would like to be buried next to her son. Although I'm sure she'd prefer if it weren't so soon." I say sadly. "Scar, I've got to go to a party, I can't skip out I'm sorry."

I hang up the phone and lean the back of my head against the wall.

"Johanna?"

"My little brother drowned this morning." I say standing up straighter.

"I-"

"Don't act like you care Tessa." I snap. "You live in the Capitol, carefree, nothing-is-wrong-anywhere-else-in-the-world. I live in District Seven. Where people die nearly every day from something. So don't give me your condolences, because they mean nothing, you know nothing about pain."

I turn from the room and slam the door loudly. I shove a guard out of the way as I walk into the kitchen. I look at an Avox and my mood softens slightly.

"Teach me how to cook an egg." I say to her, tilting my head.

She nods and gets an egg from the fridge. She shows me what temperature to set the oven and how to cook the egg. When to flip it and season it. She serves me the egg over easy on top of toast.

I nod quietly. "Thank you."

She touches my arm as she walks back to her post. I meander through the crowds of the party, and think about my little brother.

Xavier was just so young. I know it wasn't an accident. I'm pretty sure it was me that caused his death. If I had just read the speech he would have woken up in his bed smiling and happy. We wouldn't be burying him.

But, I didn't.

I want to hit someone, and that shows as I meander talking to the important people. They give me quite a bit of space.

Finally the party closes up and I go back to the train to be shipped off to District Five. My speech didn't suck, so I read it out and nothing new happened on the home front. When I call, Lincoln picks up assuring me that everything is fine and that Xavier is in the ground.

"How's Ed taking it?"

"Pretty badly. He's been complaining about how if he had just let Xavier sleep with him that night, then Xavier wouldn't have drowned."

"It was my fault Link."

"How could it possibly be your fault?"

"I didn't read the speech they gave me. It was real bitchy, so I just made it up and I said the Games were unfair. Didn't you watch?"

"Yeah but I don't think they'd," He lowers his voice. "kill a little boy over it."

"They've killed people over lesser crimes."

"Okay, Jo, just don't take it too hard. I'll be here for the rest of your Victory Tour to help out with Max for Ed, call anytime and I should be here."

I smile even though he can't see me. "Okay Link."

"Bye Brainless."

"Talk to you later Nosebleed."

I hang up the phone and sigh. It's going to be a long Tour.

We arrive at District Four the same day. I'm a bit excited because Finnick said he'd be at the party. District Four is gorgeous. You could see the sea from basically any window on any building. The buildings are close together and covered in colors.

Reds and oranges and yellows brighten up the life here. People bustle in the streets selling things. They're very neighbor orientated. Like, they help each other out. Something, back in District Seven, that would only happen amongst families.

I'm shocked and I love it.

I sit out on the balcony, watching the streets happily. It's a change from home where everyone keeps their heads down and hoods up. Somebody recognizes me from the ground and waves at me. I tilt my head and wave back hesitantly.

She laughs and goes back to her business.

What have these people been smoking? Honestly, okay so maybe I didn't personally kill their tributes, but I didn't help them out. I did, kinda kill the person who did though. So that's going in my favor. But other than that, there's no reason for these people to be genuinely friendly to me.

I shake my head and go back inside to change into my clothes. It's getting boring ya know?

Ripped jeans, leather jacket, revealing shirt, and boots of some sort. Boring!

This time though, the ripped jeans are shorts that barely cover anything.

But hey, they complement me. My training for absolutely nothing has put me into shape, and I have to say a lot of people have complemented me on my body.

So, I have abs, and I'm a bit toned. So what?

If everyone worked out like I did they'd look like this too. But, my body is just a positive outcome.

I only work out to help myself forget, and sleep. But now all of my shirts show off my navel and my clothes are a sad attempt at getting people to pay attention to my body.

I roll my eyes as I look in the mirror. My hair is a bit longer covering my eye, but still short at the sides. My leather jacket has too many buckles to count, and has the sleeves rolled up to my elbows.

My white tank top has a trident going across my chest, and then it's cut off right at my solar plexus where my waist is skinniest.

I try not to ruffle my hair in frustration. Ruffling my hair and flicking my switch blade have become habits of mine. I walk out onto the balcony to make my speech.

"People of District Four, I'd like to thank you for your warm welcome. I won the Games so that I could meet people like you."

I continue on my compliments, seeing as I didn't kill or ally with their tributes. They see right through them, although they are still genuinely friendly. Why?

The party is rather fun and it somewhat helps me forget about Xavier for a bit.

"Johanna!" Someone says behind me.

I turn around to see Finnick. "Hey Finnick."

He has a brunette girl with sea green eyes just like his tucked under his arm. She has a bright, warming smile.

"This is Annie. Annie, this is Johanna."

"Hi," She says brightly shaking my hand. "I've heard a bit about you."

"Oh," I say glaring at Finnick. "Better be nice things, Odair. You may be twice my size but I can still kick your ass."

Annie laughs brightly. "They were." She assures me.

I quirk an eyebrow as I small smile dances on my lips. "You got saved this time Finnick, next time you might not be so lucky."

He laughs loudly. "I'll leave you two to it then."

"Finnick!" We say at the same time. But, he's gone.

"Sometimes," Annie says shaking her head.

"Jerk." I mumble.

"So, eh," Annie says awkwardly.

"Right," I say biting my lip.

"What's District Seven like?" Annie says brightly. "I've always wondered, but Finnick barely remembers."

"It's relatively boring." I say grateful for the question. "Trees, rain, more trees. Not much there. It's a lot different from here. I mean, I noticed that everyone is so, helpful to their neighbors, and in District Seven the people are not as friendly."

Annie laughs. "Is that so? We can be relatively friendly. Our philosophy is, love your neighbor like your brother. Sometimes it can be difficult though."

I smile. "Yeah, we tend to be more like, oh you need bread? Ask someone else we need it too. Not friendly at all. What's your family like?"

"Just me and Mom." She says smiling brightly. She seems to like talking about her family. "She's sick though. But we think she's going to get better soon."

"I hope so." I say. "You seem like a nice person, she had to raise you right then."

She nods. "Thank you. What about you?"

I guess I should've seen that coming. "Well, I have," I count on my fingers. "Five siblings. Well four now. Ed, Scarlett, Renee, Max, and Xavier, who recently died. Going from oldest to youngest."

Why did I tell her that? "Oh I'm sorry about your brother!" She says genuinely. "How did he die? If you don't mind me asking."

"He drowned yesterday. He was three years old." I say giving her a sad smile.

I still don't know why I'm saying all of this.

"That's a shame. What was he like?" She asks as we sit down at a table.

"A lot like me." I say with a smile. "Little punk who needed a nice beating. I've yet to get mine."

She laughs. "At three years old?"

"Well, us Masons, can be eh, outgoing."

"It seems."

"Yeah, just a little bit though. We're ruder than anything else."

"I don't think so." She says smiling. "You're funny."

"So I've been told." I say smirking.

"I saw that picture of you and Finnick."

"Oh here we go, my sisters won't stop teasing me about it. I had to climb into my sister's window to beat her up."

She laughs. "I thought it was cute. Finnick rushed to explain it to me like he was all scared I was going to be mad."

"My friend Lincoln got all jealous and protective." I say rolling my eyes. "Right then I was telling him that he looked like a horse."

Annie bursts into laughter. "Because of the sugar cubes?"

"Yeah,"

"He takes pounds of them home with him and he tries to get me to eat them with him, and personally I think it's gross."

"I love grapes." I say smiling. "And so does everyone else in my family. Unlike Finnick, I don't share well."

She laughs. "Oddly enough, I didn't have you pinned down as the sharing type."

"You had me pinned well then." I say smirking.

She laughs again. She just has an infectious smile. I find myself feeling less and less depressed about Xavier.

We somehow get talking about Finnick and Lincoln. "Yeah Lincoln got really jealous. It didn't help when I defended Finnick."

"So you really thought he was tool?" She asks laughing with a cute little blush on her cheeks from laughter.

"Well yeah, when you think about it, no one knows the behind the scenes until you're going through it yourself." I say smirking.

"So who is Lincoln exactly?" She asks wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"He's my best friend." I say shrugging.

"Oh yeah? He sounds like a lot more."

"You're just like Scarlett." I say sending her a short lived scowl. "I don't know what we are."

She rolls her eyes. "I'd bet you're a cute couple."

"We're not a couple." I say exasperated.

"How'd you two meet? I'd bet it'd be quite the romance."

"Well, we were in kindergarten."

"Always a great way to start a romance."

I roll my eyes. "And I broke his nose."

She stops her goofy smiling. "Oh," She laughs loudly. "I can see that! That's always a great romance."

I shrug. "It's not meant to be a romance, you asked how we met, that's how we met, he's carried a tissue in his back pocket ever since."

"Aw, a sign of real love." She says batting her eyelashes at me.

"No!"

"It totally is!" She says giggling.

"Hello ladies, talking about me?"

"Yep," I say smirking. "Some of things I've learned have been rather, eh, shocking."

"No we haven't." Annie says rolling her eyes. "She's just trying to change the subject."

"Yes, because it's ridiculous. Just because I broke his nose, does not mean, he loves me."

"Yeah that's really far off Annie, should we get your head examined?" He says taking a seat.

She rolls her eyes. "She's got a boyfriend."

"Oh?"

"I told you, no I don't." I say exasperated.

Finnick laughs. "I knew you two would get along just fine. Now if you two don't mind, I'm going to dance with my Annie."

"No," Annie whines. "I wanna stay here and talk to Jo."

"What?" He says shocked.

"We can dance anytime, but I won't be able to see Jo very often."

I smirk at Finnick. "Are you stealing my Annie?" He asks stunned.

"What can I say? Arrogant doesn't look good on you."

"You're more arrogant than I am!"

"But it looks good on me." I say like it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Annie laughs.

"I hate it when you do that." Finnick says narrowing his eyes at me and sitting down.

"Do what?"

"Come up with a comeback off the top of your head that's impossible to respond to."

I laugh. "That's the point of a comeback Finnick."

The rest of the night, is hilarious and fun. Annie, is freaking awesome. I can see why Finnick loves her. Why she loves Finnick is a bit vague. But that might just be me.

Finnick was right, Annie and I definitely got along very well. Finnick smirked, saying that he'll call me later. Annie then assured me that it'll probably be her, breaking into Finnick's house to call me in the middle of night just to irritate me.

I told her that it'll take a lot more than that to get a reaction outta me.

I sit on the train thinking. It's strange how simple things that are just too good to be true, can outweigh the bad things that are too bad to believe. I sigh. Annie really is cool. Finnick's an arrogant toe rag that's just too loveable to hate.

The Victory Tour goes by one District at a time. They blur together, the starving , pathetic, faces of Twelve, to the angry, and frightening faces of Two.

It's rough, but I deal with it. I finally reach Seven, where Chance's family stares up at me with hope, and my family stares at me with sad and empathetic faces.

Ed has the least emotion. Max has the most.

It's rough, but I have to deal with it. The party is a mixture of sadness and hope. Maybe, I'll bring about a change, make District Seven have a chance at the Games. Because what everyone is thinking, is that there are only six months before two more kids are gonna be leaving for the Games. It'll be up to me to try and get one of them back.

Scarlett hugs me, even though I have a strict no hugging rule, I let her.

That night, I go home and fall into a sleep filled with terrors. Max doesn't wake me up for his own nightmares, so I suffer alone.