AN: Please don't hurt me… I'm soooooooooooo sorry I have not updated! I know I left it for about a month and it seemed like I abandoned the story, but I promise you that I do not intend to.

Chapter 10

Once again, I'm lying on the sliver table in the dull white room, having my body manufactured to be perfect for the interviews that were to happen this very night. The whole of yesterday, Effie was teaching me and Annabeth how to sit, walk, talk and many other things that would make us look respectable during the interviews. I remember stifling my laughter as Effie made Annabeth walk around in impossibly high stilettos while wearing a long dress. I'm sure Annabeth had never worn a dress or stiletto shoes in her life and she was wobbling around like crazy, the hem of her skirt snagging on her heels.

I move my eyes only as I watched myself get painted and decorated. Luigi was styling my hair so it had tiny strips of red, yellow, gold and orange running through it. I also reluctantly let him make my black hair shimmer by mixing in some strange gold shampoo into my hair not too long ago. Sirena was making my whole body also shine faintly gold, giving me a weird tinge. Prissy was giving me a strange tattoo on the back of my left hand which had a bird in flight on fire.

"Don't worry Percy; this can easily come off in the shower! In case you were wondering, this bird is a Phoenix, obviously! Everyone knows that they are the fire birds!" Prissy was squealing at me while she was applying the Phoenix tattoo. I was rather disappointed when the stylists were saying that we would go down this whole fire theme. As being the son of Poseidon, the Greek God of the sea, it seemed a bit bothering that we had gone with the opposite element.

Once I had been painted, Dorella came in and helped me dress into a very posh, shiny, black suit that had flames running up the sleeves. The lapels of the jacket were a bright red, along with the silk inside. Underneath, I wore an incredibly bright white shirt with a shiny black bow tie at the top. The trousers and the shoes I wore were also made of the same shiny black material that the jacket was made from. It was simple, but also smart and effective. I liked it a lot.

It seemed like time had flown by the time I was grouped up with the other tributes in the Training Centre. All of the costumes were very flamboyant and outrageous, but none of them seemed to have the simple effectiveness that my suit had. However, despite saying this, everybody looked very smart and suitable for being interviewed.

When Annabeth came down, I couldn't talk. Her hair had been washed until it shone, and once again, every knot had been removed. Her body was also a shimmering gold colour, but it was a lot more noticeable than mine. Her shoes were lower than the ones she had been wearing earlier and the bottom of the dress was higher up, so she didn't have to lift up her skirt. Speaking of the dress…I was in awe. It was a beautiful fiery red, with red gemstones around the neckline. They were all bunched together at the top, and then they would gradually spread further apart down the dress. In the bottom right hand corner of her skirt, a large tongue of sparkling red and gold fire, made out of more gemstones rose up diagonally. On the tips of the flames, hints of blue stones added extra detail.

Annabeth smiled sheepishly when she saw my dumbstruck face, hiding behind her blonde hair. She walked over effortlessly to me, giggling slightly at my face; my jaw had refused to remove from the floor. I seemed to be in a dream; Annabeth glided over like she was flying, her eyelashes flickered and she stood in front of me, holding her hands together in front of me and actually looking like one of the rare few Aphrodite girls who wasn't coated in makeup.

"You okay?" Annabeth smirked. I shook my head to clear myself of the daydream and closed my mouth. I was determined to actually say something rather than some sort of mumble.

"Uh…yeah I'm fine. You look gorgeous by the way" I said, grinning down at her.

"Aww, I know you're lying. I look a lot better in jeans and the orange T-shirt" Annabeth mumbled, turning away and waving a hand.

"What are you talking about? You have never looked any more beautiful and you admit that okay?" I said, the last part in laugher as she tried to pull away from me turning her head so she faced me.

"Stop lying!" She giggled and gasped as I took her hand and spun her into an embrace. We looked into each other's eyes for a second, before sharing a kiss.

A stage had been set up outside the Training Centre that was surrounded by bright flashing lights and screens. People were packed into the seats in front of the stage and all of the stylists were in the front row. I was glad that the stylists were at the front because I could look at Dorella when my nerves get the better of me.

Me and Annabeth break from the kiss to turn to one of the screens that were dotted around the place to see a man with metallic blue hair springs onto the stage. The announcer shouts in an enthusiastic voice "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the stage your host, Caesar Flickerman!" Everybody claps and cheers. Caesar seems to be the most normal person I have seen so far in the Capitol, apart from Dorella. He was wearing a dark metallic blue suit that shone n the lights around the stage. I noticed that his teeth, gleaming white, also shone in the light as he grinned over everyone, his arms wide.

Bouncing into the chair furthest away from the side entrance of the stage, he starts talking to the audience about stuff that any old TV host would say. Things like "well what a wonderful evening it is tonight" and "are you all having a good time?" Caesar also told a few jokes that were actually quite funny.

When the tributes are mentioned, I felt like it was the time of the private session with the Gamemakers all over again. The butterflies appeared in my stomach and wouldn't go away. Annabeth saw this, took hold of my hand and gave it a squeeze, smiling kindly up at me.

Time seems to last forever. The tributes are called up one by one, starting with the boy from District 1, then the girl from 1 and so on and so on. Tributes disappear from the Training Centre for their three minute interview before coming back in to watch the rest of the interviews. I guess they stayed so they knew who they were up against. The four people from Districts 1 and 2 all seemed very confident, the girl from 5 looked a bit like a fox and she looked like as though she knew what she was doing.

I don't really pay attention anymore until the girl from 11 sits down in the chair next to Caesar and at first she looked sweet and childish, until she started talking. Rue, was her name, and she seemed to be a confident character.

Rue came back into the Training Centre smiling confidently as my name was called by Caesar. "Now, we welcome the young man who managed to get himself an 11! Such a rare score! So from District 12, give a huge welcome, to Percy Jackson!" I put on a brave face, grin at Annabeth, who gives me the thumbs up, straighten my suit and tie, and I grin at the cheering audience as I walk up onto the stage.