A/N: SPECIAL THANKS TO SONOFHELL666 AND IFWEBURNYOUBURNWITHUS FOR REVIEWING! This chapter is interviews, Finnick and Korey enter the arena in the next chapter! Still on the phone/iPad, sorry about crazy typos and slowness.

DISCLAIMER: ANYTHING YOUR RECOGNIZE BELONGS TO SUZANNE COLLINS AND HER PUBLISHER! THAT INCLUDES BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO FINNICK ODAIR, CAESAR FLICKERMAN, MAGS, AND THE CONCEPT OF THE HUNGER GAMES.

IN THIS CHAPTER: STRONG Adult Language (6 f-bombs; Sorry guys!), Moderate Sexual Themes, Mentions of death and violence

CHAPTER 9

Glamour throws her axe, but this time it's me in the arena instead of my sister. I watch as my blood saturates the ground, and then a wave of ice cold water comes over me.

Wait, what?

I bolt upright to see Korey smirking at me with an empty bucket in her hand.

"Morning Finnick!" she squeals, mimicking Elesah's voice.

"Morning Korey!" I say matching her tone. "Now what the h*ll was that for and what time is it?"

"9:45, Mags asked me to wake you up."

"Why didn't Elesah wake me up?"

"'Cause she's still on strike. Now get your lazy *ss out of bed and go take a shower. We're waiting."

I flip her off but get up and head to the bathroom.

She just rolls here eyes at me before leaving my room.

When I enter the dining room breakfast is already over and Elesah is seated at the end of the table glaring at her plate.

"Slacking on your duties today Elesah. I didn't get my personal wake up call."

She looks up at me. "F*** you Finnick."

I flip my hair and give a tantalizing smile. "You know you want to."

She glares at me again. "Can you shut your mouth so we can get on with things?"

She asked for it. "That's what she said!"1

Korey and Odalys burst out laughing and even Mags chuckles a bit.

Elesah's face turns bright red and her hands clench into fists. "Finnick if you don't shut the f*** up I swear I'm gonna kick you oh so sensual *ss from here to next month!"

I raise an eyebrow. "You think my *ss is sexy ?"

I guess she's starting to wise up because she doesn't respond, just shoots me a dirty look.

Finnick - 4, Elseah - 0. I win.

"So, the interviews are tonight. Each of you will spend four hours with me and Odalys working on content and four hours with Elesah for stage presence," Mags says. "Finnick you'll be in content first, Korey you'll be in stage."

Poor Korey. Not that I'd switch with her. As she follows Elesah out of the dining room I meet her eyes and mouth "Good Luck". She nods and mouths, "You too".

After she's gone, Mags says, "We are planning on you and Korey having the same angles, Sexy, Clever, and Overconfident."

I smile. This'll be easy, all of those are completely natural.

"We really want you to play up sexy, you've got the body, use it, but make sure it's evident that you have a brain," Odalys adds.

I nod.

"I'm going to ask questions. Answer them using those angles."

I nod and she begins.

"So Finnick, what do you think of the Capitol?"

Easy. "The food's great, the rooms are pretty nice, but what I'm most surprised about is that there are a whole bunch of ladies who look almost as good as me," I say winking at the table where the audience would be.

Mags and Odalys look impressed. "Perfect answer, just try to say it sexier."

I raise an eyebrow and repeat the answer, but this time it's more of a purr.

"Awesome. Next question. Both you and Korey looked amazing at the Opening Ceremonies? Any comments?"

"I think I made people happy, and I'm glad."

Mags nods. "Good. How was training?"

"Awesome. I got to see my competition in action for the first time, and learn some new weapons."

"Like?"

"Not saying. All will be revealed in the arena."

"I suppose that means you won't tell us how you got an eleven in training either?"

I cross my arms and shake my head.

"Nope."

Mags huffs in a very childish way and I bite my lip to keep from laughing. "Fine. Next question. What mistakes did your sister make in the arena that your not going to make in order to win?"

I give her in an incredulous look. What the h*ll?

"He'll definitely say something about Lecia and you need to be prepared to answer it."

I glare at her but answer the stupid question. "I'm going to use the element of surprise to my advantage instead of calling out for a fair fight. Life isn't fair."

She nods. Good.

"The ladies would kill me if I didn't ask. is there a special someone at home?"

"Yes. I've been with my wonderful girlfriend Irlissa Vandyerlin for six months and I love her."

She continues to ask questions, most of them personal since I struggle with those the most, until an angry Korey walks into the room saying it's time for lunch.

"Roll your feet Finnick, roll your feet! You walk like a freakin' elephant!" Elesah screams at me.2

She has me in a tuxedo practicing walking. Back home I was always either barefoot or in sandals, and either way you don't roll your feet nearly as much as you are supposed to in these shoes. It's been almost thirty minutes and I'm still doing it "completely and totally wrong".

"Okay forget the walking technique just walk over to this chair and try to look sexy," she says exasperated by my lack of talent in the walking department.

I saunter over to the chair and sit.

Giving an arrogant smirk when I look up at her.

"Good. Now for sitting. Your chair in the actual interview is going to be very similar to this one. Lean back."

I do.

"More."

As I apply my weight the chair moves back with me.

"Okay you can stop now. Cross your arms and give me a bored look."

"Am I still being sexy?"

"Finnick you're being sexy from the moment that Caesar Flickerman welcomes the audience to the 65th interviews until you get back in the Training Center."

I nod, and then get into the pose she mentioned.

"Good, very good."

"Now body language and hand gestures. I'm going to ask you a 'sensitive' question and I want to see if you can answer it staying in character."

Oh boy.

"Your very own sister died in the Games. What are you doing to make sure you don't end up with the same fate?"

"What's up with that f*****g question? Mags asked the same thing like it's really necessary to bring up my dead sister! Did you guys plan this?"

She raises an eyebrow. "That's what you'd tell Caesar if he asked you that question?"

"No."

"Then let's try again. Your very own sister died in the Games. What are you doing to make sure you don't end up with the same fate?"

"I'm not going to tell you that because if the other tributes knew it wouldn't work would it?"

She nods. "Much better. Now for your facial expressions."

We spend another hour practicing looking sexy, walking sexy, sitting sexy, and talking sexy. I can't help but think of what my mother would say to see this.

"Okay Finnick. Also, tomorrow night after the recaps betting parties will start all over the Capitol. You want people to put their money on you, because those same people will sponsor you for the sake of not losing a bet."

No freaking comment.

"So your interview needs to be good, most importantly your final remark. Think of something striking that will sum up your angle, goals, and expectations in one sentence."

"Okay."

"Time for dinner," she says and I follow her out wordlessly, lost in my own thought. She seemed pretty content considering the way I p*ssed her off this morning. Weird.

"Morning Finnick," Jayde says I walk into the prep room the next day. Her and Ira are standing by the sink mixing chemicals. Fantastic, I thought I got that over with before Opening Ceremonies.

"Aliss and Cayne had an umm...'accident' so to speak last night so it'll just be me and Ira."

Ira mutters something under his breath rather loudly but I tune him out because whatever happened I don't want to know.

Jayde shushes him and hands me a robe. "Change into this you can leave your underwear on."

Hal-le-lu-jah. I oblige and sit down in a chair where Ira is waiting to wash my hair. After he finishes, he adds a thick paste and tells me it has to sit for an hour before walking out.. Meanwhile Jayde shows me the design she created last night. And it involves large amounts of makeup.

"Really?"

She ignores my lack of enthusiasm and says, "I really thought this would look good on you."

She has used gray eyeliner and eyeshadow to create sinister looking shadows across my eyelids and make my eyes look even brighter than normal.3 When I look up at her I see something unexpected in here eyes fear. I would understand hope, want, maybe even anger because I just dissed her design. But no. Fear. And then it clicks.

"You didn't come up with this design and you don't even want to use it."

Her eyes widen slightly. "No, no, it was-"

"Jayde you can cut the bullish*t now, it's too late. If I have to wear the good*mn makeup anyway I should at least know who's fault it is."

She sighs running her hands through her long black bangs. "Cayne."

What? Cayne's not effin' here, who gives a sh*t what she wants?

I voice these thoughts.

Her face pales and she looks away from me, out the window. "Finnick, she's going to watch the recaps. And if your not wearing it, I'm going to pay."

"Oh boo hoo Jayde! Your putting this sh*t on me just because your afraid of getting yelled at by your boss?"

She whirls on me and rage quickly replaces the pity in her blood red eyes.

"You. Don't. Know. Cayne. I'm sorry if you don't feel comfortable in makeup but I have no choice! You looked great in Opening Ceremonies because of Cayne and I plan to do the same tonight, but right now you need to f*****g get over yourself!" she yells before storming away to the window.

I don't know what to say, but just then Ira walks in. He blinks once when he sees Jayde fuming at the window, but doesn't say anything about it. "Come on over to the sink Finnick."

I walk across the room wordlessly and take a seat. Ira washes my hair, applies "volumizing mousse" (whatever the h*ll that is), styles it, and then seals the look with hairspray and styling wax, leaving me with a "messy on purpose" look.

"Your set Finnick. Good luck tonight," he says and leaves. Jayde doesn't look like she's planning on coming to me, so I walk over there. "What now?"

She is still staring out the window as she speaks.

"You need to eat before I put makeup on you. Order something over there, they'll make you whatever you want."

I order clam chowder. It's not that good, the clam is overcooked and rubbery. That's what I get for trying to get Four food in the Capitol. Jayde doesn't speak and neither do I, so I end up eating in total silence.

After I finish I walk over to the window and stand next to Jayde, looking out at the city. Color is overused in the Capitol. Especially pink. Here pink is the new black. Even the streets are pink.

"Jayde."

She ignores me.

"Jayde."

Ignored. Grr.

"Jayde, please."

She turns slowly and for the first time I notice the ruined makeup and red rimmed eyes. She's been crying. And that's when I first realize how young she is. She couldn't be more than eighteen. "Jayde, I-"

She glares at me. "I don't want the pity Finnick. You don't want to do this, I don't want to do this, so let's just do it and get it over with!"

"That's-" I stop myself. Now is not the time for sex jokes.

"What?"

"Nothing. Look I'm sorry, okay? You're right, I have no right to judge because I don't know Cayne. So tell me. Why? Will you at least tell me why?"

She sighs. "Fine but I need to start on you now, we're running out of time. Be right back."

I nod as she walks out the door.

She returns with several black boxes and a bunch of brushes. Oh Lord.

She starts to tell her story as she applies foundation and concealer. "In order for you to get the whole Cayne story I need to tell you a bit about my personal life. Two years ago, when I was 16, my dad kicked me out. I had a change of clothes, my cell phone and iPod, and a hundred dollars."

My mouth drops open.

"A hundred dollars? I've never see that much money together in my entire life. And what's a cell phone. And an iPod?"

"Here in the Capitol a hundred dollars would last you about a week. And that's if you ate cheap food. A cell phone is like a regular telephone except it fits in your pocket and you can take it anywhere."

Woah.

"And an iPod is another device and you use it to play music."

"So it's like an instrument?"

"No." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a little square the size of my thumbnail and a cord. "You put these in your ears and then you talk to it and you can choose any song."

Again, woah.

"So anyway moving on with the story, I was on the street and I desperately needed a job and they were hiring Hunger Games stylists. I was going to school for cosmetology-"

"Wha?"

"Makeup."

"Ah."

"Yeah. So I figured I could become a makeup artist. The only spots left were Districts Four and Twelve. Of course I choose Four. But the Games weren't for three months and I needed money. So I talked to Cayne and she loaned me the money quite happily. But you know that saying, 'There's no such thing as free lunch'? I think it was Greek. But anyway, she gave me the money but when the Games came around she basically made me do her job. I picked out all the outfits, went to all the events with the tributes, I did everything. Every year I hit a dead zone that same time period because my small salary from the Victory Tour is over and the Games haven't started yet. So every year she loans me money and ever year I act as her servant during the Games. And she has me do some other stuff too," she says biting her lower lip.

"Like?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

That kind of other stuff.

"Makeup's done," she says halfheartedly.

I look in the mirror and I'm surprised to see it doesn't look quite as scary as I expected.

"I went heavy on the eyeshadow and light on the eyeliner since I new you weren't comfortable with the obvious stuff."

I would never choose to wear it, but it's definitely not as bad as I expected. And it definitely makes my green eyes look really really bright. And kinda sexy.3

"Okay let's get you in your outfit. Be right back."

When she returns with a bunch of hangers in some kind of fabric protector and a pair of black and teal running shoes. Huh

"I'm really having you dress down." She lines up the outfit on the table. A pair of LunarGlides4 with teal accents, bootcut black denim jeans, and a dark blue flannel worn open.

"With nothing under it?"

"Yeah we need sexyness, remember?"

"Right."

"Go ahead and put this stuff on, I'm gonna go get the tattoo paint."

Tattoo paint? I don't have any skin showing. I'm sure Jayde knows what she's doing though. I pull on the pants and shoes, and then put on the flannel, looking at myself in the full length mirror. Huh, not bad.

Jayde walks back in with several thin paint brushes and a large box of paints.

"I'm gonna do the scene on your chest first because that'll take the longest to dry."

Scene on my chest?

"I'm going to need you flat so take the shirt off and come lie down over here," she says gesturing towards a long metal table with a foam cover on top. I lie down and she opens the paints, mixing them on a piece of plastic before she begins to paint on my stomach. Somehow I manage to fall asleep...

"Finnick!"

I sit up quickly and look around. Oh right the prep room, interviews.

"I'm done, go put your shirt on and take a look in the full length."

I slip on the shirt and walk across the room to the full length mirror.

Woah.

Anywhere my skin shows is covered in a simple pattern that resembles waves except my chest and a portion of my face around my right eye. On my chest and stomach she has beautifully painted a scene of the beach at sunset. On the right part of my face is a patch of glitter the exact same color as my eyes, and somehow it doesn't mess up the makeup I'm already wearing.5 I'm definitely not too thrilled about the glitter, but all in all it looks good. Really good.

Jayde points at a chair across the room and says, "I want you to walk over to the chair, sit down, and look up at me, being as sexy as possible."

I saunter to the chair, sit, and look up at her.

She whistles long and low. "Woah. Too bad your four years younger than me."

I smirk at her and she laughs. "Let's go meet Korey and Flicka in the lobby."

"Flicka?" I ask.

"Korey's stylist."

"Ah."

When we get to the lobby, Korey, Flicka, Mags, Odalys, and Elesah are already waiting, but my eyes automatically zero in on Korey, and I only have one thought.

D*mn.

She has the same makeup and tattoos as I do, but she is wearing a short silver dress and wedges that look like they're made of crystal and glass.

She walks over to me and says, "Holy sh*t Finnick. A fourteen year old should not be capable of looking that sexy."

I smirk and watch as she bends over to fix her shoe. Nice view there. At this point I'm thinking things I guy with a girlfriend should not be thinking, but I manage to keep those things in my head and say something appropriate.

"You look amazing, Flicka did an awesome job."

She smiles.

Elesah strides over us smiling. "You guys look hot. They're starting to line you guys up. You'll be awesome! You've got the looks, and the skills, not let's show 'em the personality! Good luck and go kill it!" She smiles one last time and walks away. Huh.

We begin to file onto the stage and take our seats. I am number eight because for the interviews girls go first.

"Welcome to the 65th Interviews!" Caesar Flickerman shouts into a mic. And sexy starts now.

Caesar, who is a strange shade of lime green this year, tells a couple of lame jokes before calling up the girl from District 1, Diamond Lazeon. Her angle seems to be a cross between brutal and impulsive, the kind of person who would put a knife through your heart just for looking at her wrong. When Caesar asks about her low training score, she says, "If I showed the Gamemakers what I could really do they would've p*ssed in their pants." I am not looking forward to spending time with her tomorrow.

Her district partner, Obsidian, is strong. He's huge, at least 6'2" and muscled, and he is trying to make himself seem scarier than he actually is. Instead he just looks like a complete ignoramus. Pathetic.

Next is Granite from D2; hostile, but nothing interesting.

Alexander's angle is charming, which is weird for District 2 but he does it and does it well. He's the first tribute to actually have a decent conversation with Caesar.

The girl from District 3 is going for smart. She seems smart, but also forgettable and boring.

The boy from District 3 was supposed to be funny, but it was a total fail. I'm not sure if he's actually funny in real life and the pressure got to him or if his mentor was desperate, but if I wasn't on hyperdrive because I'm anxious for my own interview I would of fallen asleep.

"Korey Kassidy, District Four."

Deep breaths.

Caesar asks her about everything, about her stylist, her training score, her mentors, her family, even me. She ends up telling the story of how we met and manages to get the whole crowd laughing. She has prepared a well constructed web of lies about her friends and family that includes a loving mother, hardworking father, caring older sister, and boyfriend who's "almost as hot as me, but not quite." I'm impressed, she's as good of a liar as me. That'll come in handy tomorrow.

"Finnick Odair, District Four."

This is it. Sexy time.

I saunter to the chair, and get into the pose that I practiced with Elesah.

Caesar whistles, just like Jayde did in the Prep Room. "Another amazing looking tribute from District Four! Is there something else going on there besides fishing that we don't know about?"

The crowd screams, especially the ladies.

I smirk. "I know you love the view and all but this body is ta-ken. Got a beautiful girlfriend at home, love you Irlissa!" I say blowing kisses at the nearest camera.

A whole bunch of women in the crowd complain.

"Darn. What do you like most about the Capitol?"

I use the same answer as I did yesterday in content, but add some to it. "The food's great, the rooms are pretty nice, but what I'm most surprised about is that there are a whole bunch of ladies who look almost as good as me," I say winking at the audience. "If I didn't have a girlfriend I'd being having some fun here."

Caesar laughs. "Ah I remember when I was your age...We were all blown away by Cayne and Flicka's work for the Opening Ceremonies. What did you think of working with Cayne and your prep team?"

"Well," I say turning to the audience. "Did you like what you saw?"

I hear cheers, encouraging words, and even one lady yelling out, "Will you f*** me tonight?"

I turn back to Caesar. "The prep team was awesome and I'm glad they liked the view."

"In training you scored an eleven, the highest score in the last twenty years. Any hints on how that came about?"

"Nope. All will be revealed in the arena."

He pouts. "Please?"

I shake my head. "Nope," I repeat, popping the "p". That wasn't sexy, but it's a nervous habit and I couldn't stop it in time.

He huffs. "Fine. Who did the makeup and tattoos today?"

"Jayde, the makeup artist on my prep team."

"You look like the ocean incarnate! Jayde are you out there? Let's give her a round of applause for this amazing work!"

The cameras focus on Jayde as she waves shyly.

"What is the first thought that entered your mind when your name was called at the reaping?"

Oh my God this can't be happening. But I'm not gonna say that. "So much for volunteering."

"You were going to volunteer?"

"Mhmm." That's not technically a lie. I was going to volunteer, just not this year.

"Who's waiting at home?"

"My mom, my girlfriend, and my best friend." Closed off answer, but I really don't want to talk about home. It's hard to be sexy when you're talking about your mother.

"Tell me a bit about each of them."

Sh*t. "Well my mom and I got pretty close after my dad died in a fishing accident, and even closer after Lecia. The entire nation knows about Carmal Odair so I don't bother to explain; it was only months later that Lecia was on this same stage.

"Speaking of Lecia, how does it feel to be on this same stage that she was on her very last night outside of the arena?"

It feels like sh*t because she f*****g died 'cause of this and I might too. But I don't say that. "Interesting. But I plan on the outcome being different."

He smiles and asks me more questions about Four, which I answer to the best of my ability, although I lie quite a bit.

"So Finnick, what will be your greatest strength in the arena?"

"I'm not what I seem. Everyone sees an incompetent pretty boy, but I got an eleven in training for a reason. And people won't figure out what I really am until it's too late."

"That's definitely a good skill to posses. Any last remarks before we have to move on to the next tribute."

"I am a strong tribute. I'll kill you just like everyone else. The difference between me and everyone else is that I'll do it when your least expecting it and not looking."

The buzzer goes off.

"Good luck in the arena Finnick. Finnick Odair of District Four!"

The crowd roars as I saunter back to my seat.

I don't even remember what the kids from District 5 did. The District 6 girl tried to be sexy but after seeing Korey the crowd was completely unimpressed. Seeing how badly sexy worked for her, the boy decides to just go for overconfident instead and it's slightly better, but incomparable to me. Kiss my *ss District 6. Seven, Eight, and Nine tremble in their seats and try not to cry. The guy from ten goes for brutal and it actually works, I wouldn't be surprised to see him tomorrow in the Career alliance. Eleven is boring. And then Alessandra from Twelve goes on. They give her some kind of typing thing, what's it called, a keyboard, where she can enter things and then this "keyboard" will speak out loud for her. Because of the extra time it takes her to type, she gets four minutes for the interview instead of the usual three. Her angle is sweet and innocent, and it work beautifully. Every person in the crowd is crying by the time she finishes. And her brother, Alejandro, does the same angle, and just as well. He talks about how worried he is about his sister, and how he's not that strong, and how he can't compete with people like me and Alexander, and how he's just trying to enjoy his last day here with his sister. At this point tears are dripping down several of the tributes faces. Not I. I don't cry. I haven't cried yet, and I'm not going to because of a speech in the Interviews. It will make my life h*ll if I have to kill one of them though. Caesar closes the Interviews and we head back to the Center. Dinner is a somber event, Mags, Odalys, and Elesah all give us last minute tips and we head to bed early because tomorrow we'll be up early to go to the Hunger Games.

FOOTNOTES

1. If you don't get this go to Google and search "That's what she said Yahoo Answers" and click on the first results. If you read ALL the answers (NOT just the most voted but ALL the answers) it will explain it.

2. Before I got my new Nike LunarGlide+ 2's (They ROCK) my gym teacher would tell me this when I ran.

3. If you need a visual of this go to Google Images and type in "John Cooper Skillet MTV" and click on the third image. I was looking at this when I described it, so if I did a bad job, sorry :(

4. The awesome shoes I talked about in Footnote #2

5. There is a REALLY REALLY REALLY obvious pop culture reference here. First person to correctly name who I am thinking of here will get a sneak preview of the arena and help me make some final decisions about it!

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope this is starting to get to. If you skip the footnotes (shame on you!) the make sure you at least read #5 because if you answer correctly I'll give you a sneak peek of the arena and you'll get to help me make some final decisions on it. It may be some time before I get the next chapter up because I'm going to try to get some prewritten chapters (I have zero right now). Thanks so much for supporting me! Finnick will enter the arena in the next chapter! PLEASE R&R.

-cindella204