Chapter 9 - The Lights Of The Stadium
The noise in the stadium was deafening again. Thousands had assembled to watch the interviews in the centre of the Capitol – thousands more would be forced to watch on their TVs at home. I pictured Mother, Stevie and Stacey sat around the flickering TV set in our next-door neighbour Bobby Price's front room. Maybe they had the pick of the TVs now, along with Tina's family. Maybe they were together. I still hadn't had much chance to talk to my district partner about her interview – I was gathering she would go for the scared girl look, or perhaps even the girl that was hiding something underneath her vulnerable exterior. I knew Effie would have come up with something – whether Tina could actually go through it however was another matter. When we convened in the stylist corridor she looked breathtaking – I was sure District 12 had been assigned the best designers of them all. I smiled and complimented her but she didn't say anything back, just slipped her hand into mine as we were lead off towards the stadium.
All the tributes were required to wait in a waiting room just off the main stage of the stadium. We would be sent out in district order – girls first – and be given three minutes to be quizzed. It was the first time since training that we were all together again, and the small screen in the darkened room allowed us to watch our opponents at work.
When we entered everyone turned to look at us again. As the last district on stage, there hadn't been much of a rush to get our costumes prepared, so we were late again. I expected somebody to make a comment rather like the one we'd received upon entry at training, but surprisingly nothing came. The Careers all looked stunning in their costumes, and I couldn't help but notice the glares they shot me as I stepped inside.
"Ah! Sam and Tina!" A small man that I had never seen before rushed over to us and immediately began babbling about the schedule. Behind him on the TV screen Caesar Flickerman - the radically dressed and blue haired front man for the interviews – made jokes and whipped the crowd into a frenzy. From previous interviews I had seen on the TV it seemed that Caesar was on the side of the tributes – if they got stuck he would word his responses in a way that made them favoured again. Realising that the small man had finished and glancing over at Tina to confirm he had told us nothing we didn't already know, we were lead over to a small bench and told to sit down. It seemed strange for people of our 'status' to be given such a poor seat, especially with our extravagant costumes, but then again, this was behind the scenes. Many of the other tributes had immediately chosen to stand however, obviously also viewing this as an insult.
When Tina and I were left in peace I saw she still hadn't let go of my hand. I was about to engage her in conversation when I saw the smirking face of District 4 boy and scowled.
"Hey baby." He said to Tina. His words weren't meant in an affectionate manner and I bristled. "What do you plan on doing for the cameras tonight?" He asked. "Crying?"
"Back off." I hissed, not getting to my feet but straightening up slightly and fixing the boy with the meanest glare I could imagine. Amazingly for a brief second his eyes turned fearful, looking towards me in a way that could only suggest he had seen my ten as much as the other tributes had. Then it was quickly replaced by malice again.
"Oh, I forgot." He said with a sneer. "You have your little Prince Charming to wipe up your tears for you." I knew he was trying to coax me into another fight, but I ignored the prospect and eventually he got bored and wandered back to his station. Caesar had finished his opening speech so the introductions were made and the doors opened to allow Rachel out onto the stage.
I suddenly realised that this was District 1 – that these, along with District 2, would probably be my biggest competition in the tournament. I could tell Tina wanted to talk to me but suddenly found me eyes fixed to the screen.
Rachel looked elegant but deadly in her outfit. Her stylist had obviously wanted to highlight her slender curves, but she had been dressed only in black and red – perhaps symbolizing her heart. I wondered if any of the cruel vindictive girl that had tricked the District 11 girl in training would come out, but she was amazingly sweet and sexy. She obviously had this act down to a tee – something that couldn't simply have been coached in one day. Every question Caesar threw at her was met with a cool response and it wasn't long before the three minutes rang out and a buzzer sounded. Rachel rose from her seat, making sure to show off her dress, and then moved to sit down in one of the 24 much grander chairs that had been lined out on the stage.
"Next we have the male tribute from District 1 – Blaine Anderson!" Suddenly I realised who was up next. Flashing my head over I realised in horror that he had been staring at me – his eyes fixed on me with a look I couldn't understand, but was now being ushered onto stage. When he met the stadium lights the crowd went wild – like they were actually looking at a superstar, and Blaine waved to the cameras like a king. I felt my fists clench together uncontrollably and realised I needed to watch every second of this interview, to work out the potential weaknesses of the boy I wanted to kill.
"Blaine, come and sit down." Caesar said with a beaming smile. Blaine walked over and went to shake his hand, but instead did some strange hi five combination that I could only guess had been worked out beforehand, or Caesar was extremely quick to copy. As he positioned himself on the interview chair their was an air of smugness that made my blood boil.
"Sam…" Tina suddenly said, resting the back of her hand on my forehead. "You're burning up." I batted her away, not wanting her fawning at this moment and trained my eyes on the screen.
"So Blaine…" Caesar began, straightening the collar of his shirt. "It must have been rough getting picked in the same reaping as your cousin." So I guessed they were going with the cousin thing. They must be using this angle to their advantage as otherwise Caesar wouldn't have mentioned it, so I was intrigued as to what would be said.
"Yes." Blaine replied, already exuding confidence. "The odds definitely were not in our favour that day." A couple of crowd members awwed and I wanted to be sick. "But there's nobody better for the job than Rachel." A glance back at his partner saw her touch her chest in a sentimental way. Bleurgh.
"How do you think you will feel having to come up against her?"
"Well, I can't say it won't be difficult, but Rachel and I have had our fair share of tussles in the back yard of our estate." Some of the audience laughed again. I couldn't get over the word 'estate' and how casually it had been used when some of us were starving.
"And who won those fights?" Caesar asked, nodding his head and smiling. Blaine pretended to look around to see if anyone was listening (which they obviously were) leant forward and whispered loudly in his ear.
"I did." Rachel immediately pretended to look shocked – Blaine shrugged his shoulders and the crowd went wild. I couldn't believe they were lapping up this rubbish. Blaine and Rachel would probably band together with the other Careers, callously murder 10 or so tributes and then no doubt turn on themselves when the numbers got low enough. This idea that they were friends was despicable.
"And with a ten in training you must have some special skills up your sleeve." Caesar continued, obviously loving this interview. "Tell me – what is your secret weapon?"
"Oh, I couldn't possibly give that away." Blaine replied, even waving his hand in the air as he spoke. "But if you give me your support, I'm sure I will surprise you." That was the hook. Blaine would have to insult every Capitol member's mother not to get sponsors now. They loved to see power and they loved to be surprised. He had them hook, line and sinker.
The rest of Blaine's interview was agony to watch simply because he was a master at it. Suddenly I began to feel less confident about my own training, before I remembered that this was the boy I was supposed to hate. He was trying to intimidate me and it was working. Realising watching the screen wasn't doing me any good I turned to Tina and saw her also transfixed.
"What a jerk off." I said, mainly more to myself than her. A couple of the other tributes looked in my direction but I obviously looked so pissed off they decided not to try anything.
The other interviews went by swiftly. Puck and Quinn played their romance to the crowd – everybody lapped it up like it was ice cream. The District 2 boy talked about the struggles of seeing the person he loved at risk and it made me think of what I would do if it were Stacey fighting against me. Not fake some tears and use the bottom of my tight fitting shirt to wipe my face and show off my amazing six pack in the process.
The District 3 boy, Artie, was a little strange. He was obviously extremely intelligent, but his personality didn't exude much and as a result he came off rather blankly to the cameras. I knew he was still a threat though, and didn't write him off as many of the other competitors seemed to. When Sebastian left for the District 4 interviews I was glad, he had been shooting me looks all evening. His partner was equally as snide – a girl called Sugar who lived up to her name on camera but was anything but off it. As the boy from District 5 watched his partner talk about the complexities of training I suddenly saw him turn to me and fix me with a pointed stare. For a second I wondered if I was doing anything unusual, but I had only been watching her interview with half interest.
"Is there a problem?" I asked after a while, frustrated by the concentrate look in his eyes. The boy titled his head to the side slightly, held it for a few seconds and then replied.
"I'm just working out how to kill you." Before I had time to answer, the buzzer sounded and he was ushered onto the stage, but the exchange left me feeling cold inside.
The only other tributes I had identified as ones to watch were Finn, his partner Santana and Jake and Sunshine. Joe had come off as easy going but not really a vicious killer and the two tributes from District 11 – I still couldn't get over how young they were. The bright stadium lights practically blinded the poor girl and all I could think of was Stacey, Stacey, Stacey.
When it was Tina's turn I found her clutching my hand tighter than she had all evening.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine." I whispered to her. We both walked up to the mouth of the stadium together and then I gave her one final squeeze before she was released and lead out to the sound of her own name. She immediately raised her hand to block out the blaring stage lights upon her entry – a bad move – but then somehow managed to turn this into a wave. Maybe she would be ok.
"Tina, Tina, Tina…" Caesar began. My friend seemed a little confused over his tone, but tried not to show it. "We all saw your reaping." Immediately the crowd began to aww and sob. "The pain of being torn apart from the ones you love." Why was he doing this? Caesar had obviously been given instructions by Haymitch on what to talk about, but this was a bad route to go down. Reminding Tina of her reaping would do nothing but distress her. I could see my friend struggling to keep it together – immediately I wanted to rush onto the stage and protect her but realised she had to do this on her own.
"Yes." She replied, her voice a little shaky so she had to cough to settle it down. "It was hard."
"I hear you have a boyfriend back home?" Caesar asked, his tone now a little more gentle as he realised her struggle.
"I do." Tina replied. "His name is Mike. Joe said some nice things to me in the training arena but I would never leave my Mike." The crowd awwed as Joe pretended to look embarrassed and I realised what was happening. Tina was doing it.
"Ah, unrequited love." Caesar joked, looking over at our dreadlocked friend. "I know how it feels. But it's lovely that you have someone to fight for. Someone to come home to." Tina nodded, a fixed smile still on her face. I found myself gripping the side of the wall I was standing by, willing her to pull through.
"Yes. When Mike and I said our final goodbyes at the station he told me that…" Suddenly Tina's expression wavered. A single tear dripped down her face and onto her dress.
"He told me that…" The audience were beginning to respond, awws ringing out and hands being clutched to chests. But I knew something was wrong. This wasn't acting,
"What did he tell you Tina?"
"He told me that I had to stay alive. No matter what. That if I had to kill someone…I would." The tears were beginning to fall thick and fast now and even Caesar was beginning to notice. My foot inched forward, almost moving into the light, ready to leap out if I was needed.
"Wise words from Mike there. Sad, but true words."
"But I can't kill someone!" Tina suddenly shouted. I realised then that all hope of keeping to the script had gone. "I can't just take away a life! It's not natural to me!" The producers were beginning to panic. Tina couldn't be stopped now, the conversation couldn't be brought back. There was still a minute left on her clock.
"You can't choose people randomly from a bowl and expect them to turn into murderers! It's not ethical! I can't fight!" The audience were beginning to murmur, some of them gasp. I could see the faces of the Gamemakers tense and their hands grip tightly onto their canes.
"No Tina." I breathed, trying not to let my voice get too loud but trying also to communicate the message to her telepathically. "No, stop this. You'll ruin it…"
"I want to survive, I want to survive for Mike but I won't do it! I won't kill an innocent person!"
Suddenly the buzzer sounded. A look up at the clock saw we still had 40 seconds left. But Tina had been cut off. Abruptly Capitol guards pushed past me, as they stormed over to Tina I lurched forward but another set held me back, their grip tight. I wondered in horror if they were about to kill her there and then, but confusingly they just put something under her nose, blocking her from view to the audience, and then caught her as she collapsed onto the floor.
"Oh my goodness!" Caesar exclaimed, his face working to keep the strain and confusion out of his expression. He looked like he was being fed information from another person. "I've just been told that Tina was experiencing a seizure. Capitol doctors have come onto the stage and-!" The soldiers moved away to reveal a slumped Tina and the audience gasped. No way. There was no way they believed this. The soldiers looked nothing like doctors – they were dressed in black! No doctor handled a patient the way they did. But as Tina was hauled over to her chair, unconscious yet again, the audience truly believed she had collapsed. They could even attribute her last words to the seizure. Even the other tributes seemed shocked over the obvious deception.
Suddenly a man I had never seen before rushed into the waiting room and tapped me on the shoulder. When I turned round he had an urgent look on his face.
"Message from Haymitch. You need to salvage this else the whole game goes up in smoke. And Tina is dead." Without even a chance for me to ask questions, have anything explained, a hand pressed into my back and shoved me forward.
