Drucilla was nervous upon reaching her floor, knowing that Enobaria, her father, her escort, and Elda would all be there to scold her.
She entered. "Well." Elda said. "I had no idea you had a boyfriend. Who is he?"
"His name is Carson. His parents are stone miners. I never told you because I didn't think you'd approve."
"Of course I don't, but I'm not going to stop you. It's your life, Drucilla. It's none of my concern unless it worries me."
"That's a lie and you know it, Elda." Drucilla replied, looking her older sister in the eyes. "None of you cared what I thought. I didn't even want to volunteer."
"Then you should have told us. Now, I want to talk about the incident with the girl from One. That was the best thing I've seen you do all week!"
"Really."
"Yes. Back when I came up to the Capitol for Games with Dad, that thing's mother was always hanging around. I hated her. Give that Ruby chick what's coming to her, promise me that much, will you?"
"I don't want to harm anyone."
"It's kill or be killed, Drucilla. It doesn't work like that." Elda looked up, as if she thought peacekeepers were going to run in at any second. "You should watch what you say around here. It's even worse here than it is in the District."
Drucilla could hardly believe that, but figured Elda knew better than her.
Elda walked out, and Drucilla let out her breath in relief. She hadn't even realized that she'd been holding it.
Elda did accept her and her choices, and it was nice to know, even if it was a bit late.
Drucilla couldn't sleep. She wondered if this was what Amber and Onyx had felt on the eve of their reaping. Drucilla had never felt this feeling before. Dread for the next day's events that was so bad that she'd was terrified of going to sleep because she knew that she'd have to get up in the morning.
The next morning, her stylist was shocked to see her still up, darkness around her hazel eyes. "I've heard about this unwillingness to sleep before the big day from other stylists, but I've never had to deal with it. Nervous?"
Drucilla rolled her eyes and turned to face him. He had blue eyes and spiky pink hair highlighted gold. It looked awful. "Why the hell wouldn't I be?"
The stylist, named Drusus, just looked confused. "Because you're going to win, obviously."
"I'm not planning to, so don't bet on me."
"Not allowed to anyway."
Drucilla stepped into her tube, trying to convince herself that she was ready to face what was up there. She rubbed at her arm where the lady had injected her tracker. It still hurt like hell.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," she heard Claudius Templesmith announce. "May the 72nd Hunger Games begin!"
As the fifteen-year-old took in the arena, she was in shock. This was the arena? It was kind of like the ancient ruins arena that Chaff Lowell from District Eleven had won in back during the 45th games.
It worried the teenager though. How was she to hide from the Careers and shield Amber and Onyx in this mess?
She scanned her surroundings warily as she waited on her pedestal for the gong to go off. Amber had to be on the other side of the cornucopia. She was blocked from Drucilla's view, and the District Two tribute was worried for her friend. She needed to make sure that Amber—and her twin brother— would make it through the day alive. It was all Drucilla wanted.
As she eyed the moat, she smirked, glad that she could swim fairly well, though not as well as Ocean or Marina probably could, and while Drucilla didn't see Marina as a threat Ocean worried her, and the lack of Ruby made Drucilla anxious. Ruby was probably near the twins, and the thought terrified her more that Ocean and Marina both being in clear view of Drucilla.
Drucilla readied herself to run towards the moat, pushing down her fears and qualms about the games and attempted to just focus her mind on living through the bloodbath so she could find the twins and get the hell out of there before the Careers even get near her or them.
How long had it been since time had started? Surely it had been more than a minute, the fifteen-year-old thought. Or maybe that was just her anxiety. Either way, it felt like she'd been standing on that damn pedestal for hours.
The gong went off just then, shaking the girl from her thoughts. She ran, only thinking of trying to protect Amber and Onyx from Ruby. Drucilla knew that Ruby had it out for them, especially after Drucilla had made her look like such a fool during the interviews.
And that's what it came down to, right? Ruby wanted Drucilla to break, to feel anguish knowing that the twin's died because of Drucilla's mistake of allying with them instead of the Career Pack, and her decision to make fun of Ruby the day before, in front of the whole of the nation.
If Ruby wanted to hurt Drucilla, then the girl knew she should probably be worried. Obviously, Ruby wasn't so much of a dolt as Drucilla had originally thought.
Drucilla knew it was true, and she hated herself for being so weak.