At lunch, I can barely eat a thing after all those pancakes, obviously Haymitch thought about this and is why he only ate a few. Effie and Katniss seem annoyed at each other, me and Haymitch have no idea why so we try to lighten the mood with a few jokes and Effie talks to us like nothing happened but when we try and bring Katniss into the conversation she just answers with a yes or no and then brushes us off. I hate to see Katniss upset, it's like seeing a stranded puppy on the street in the rain, you just want to go over and give it a big hug and look after it, but I know this could never happen no matter who Katniss is with in the end she likes to think herself as the big dog who can survive without an owner and protect it's pups, but I think she hates the fact that occasionally she needs help.
After I've had a small bowl of soup and some bread rolls, it's time for my hour with Effie, so we go to my room and she puts me in a really stiff suit and some tight shoes when I complain about she just says, "it hurts to be fashionable, now walk." I walk up and down my room, with Effie every so often adjusting what I wear or how I walk.
When she seems pleased with herself we move on to table manners, which she's glad to see I'm great at, "I'm so happy, I have at least one polite tribute this year, now next we must inspect your speech writing." This comment angers me, it's not my fault I was brought up in the town whilst Katniss was brought up in the Seam, merchants generally grow up with perfect manners whereas the Seam's only mission in life is to survive which I admire them for, the families in the Seam at least have there priorities straight.
The Seam is what all of District twelve call the poorer part of the district, there families are usually the most common to die of starvation, but it's still quite common for merchants to die of starvation too. My family live on stale/ burnt leftovers and if we don't have anyone buy anything from us we'll have a bunch to eat all at once before quickly running out of money and if we become bankrupt we can't survive like the people from the Seam can because they grow up never knowing when they'll next have a crumb of food on the table. I'm probably one of the only merchants who admire them because when there at school they act like nothing in the world is bothering them, when actually everything in the world is bothering them. We continue over the next 2 and a half hours on speech writing because Effie has done everything she can do to teach me.
By the time it's dinnertime Effie is happy with my work, thankfully my pancakes have finally gone down so I have room for dinner. About 5 minutes after me, Effie, Cinna and Portia have sat down at the dinner table Katniss comes storming in the room closely followed by Haymitch, she seems if possible angrier than what she was at lunch. The starter is a smooth pink soup which is topped with raspberries, you'd think it was a dessert but after tasting it, you can tell why it's a starter but it tastes delicious. The main, comes in and it's lamb stew with plums, I've never tried it before but it looks tempting, I can see the look on Katniss's face who sits across from me she certainly wants to dig in. We both get a bowl full not knowing what to expect, I wait for the others to get there's before eating, but Katniss doesn't care she just digs in and just as I'm about to start she asks for seconds,
"Maybe you should pace yourself after all you still have dessert!" Effie replies to Katniss's begs.
"I'll skip dessert and I'll just have this forever," she says eagerly. "Please!"
"We have a special dessert for you though!" Effie states and she glances at Haymitch, "but I guess one more bowl couldn't hurt."
Without further negotiation, Katniss fills her bowl to the very brim with the stew, I take a spoonful and my mouth explodes with flavour, it's like a party in my mouth. I continue to eat it barely giving myself time to breathe, but I'm snapped back to reality when I see fire in the corner of the room. It's a cake, obviously for Katniss because of her training score, "Katniss this is for you, our girl on fire!" Effie exclaims and then Katniss does the stupidest thing in the world, "Does it have alcohol in it?" She must be absolutely stupid you never talk to an Avox, unless it's to demand something, but she continues to talk, "oh, I know you!"
"Katniss, you can't possibly know her, she's an avox," Effie explains.
"No I do know her though," she continues, she's so stubborn why can't she just shut up "what is an avox, by the way?"
"An avox, Katniss is a traitor of the Capitol," Haymitch explains further. "Only talk to them if you demand anything."
"I know who she looks like!" I burst out, "Delly Cartwright! It's the hair, I was thinking exactly the same."
"Yes, your right," Katniss replies, but she mouthed thank you towards me.
"Well, if that's all it is then! And yes it does contain alcohol but it's been burned off." Effie says, glad that Katniss doesn't know a traitor, it's a complete lie of course. This avox looks nothing like Delly, Delly is an old friend who I've known forever, she's kind and caring but I'm determined to find out who this avox is or looks like to Katniss, but I'll leave it until after the interviews for now.
Getting ready for the interviews seems to race by, because all I can think about is what I'm going to say, will it have the right reaction? Or will I get all the sponsors instead of Katniss? It all depends on what the sponsors are looking for. My prep team have done my hair Keller to the side and I have minimal make-up, thank God, they then hand me over to Portia who dresses me up in a dark suit with a red shirt underneath the jacket, I look good but I still seem to look like myself.
"Are you nervous?" Portia asked, "Haymitch told me about the plan."
"I am a little but I'm determined to get it right," I replied. "For Katniss's sake, not for my sake."
"It's time you went otherwise Effie will explode," laughs Portia. "Promise me though, that you won't sell yourself short."
"I promise," and with that I give Portia a quick hug and walk out of the room towards the lift, I hope I get this right.
Not a very dramatic chapter, next chapter is the interview, I know I put the bit about Delly in the wrong bit but I forgot about it.
Thanks for reading
Love you all
xxx