So, chapter ten. We've been introduced to the glitz and glamour of the capitol, and Phoenix is still trying to figure out her strategy. This chapter will focus on the relationship between Grace and Phoenix a little more, just so you get to know how sneaky and devious Grace really is! Thanks for the reviews again!
Chapter Ten - Glowing
After the disturbing message I recived on my tablet, I decide that I should put it down before anything else potentially life threatening happens. Though, the Capitol must know about that message by now, they have their ways. So, yet again, I find myself sitting there, bored, while my stylists make me look what they call "beautiful". My definiton of beauty is a naturally pretty face, but theirs is a face that cannot be seen underneath glitter apparently. That makes me wonder where Treasure is, and what she is doing. I hope she is doing something that gets us sponsors after all that effort.
Grace must be enjoying looking nice, and having her makeup and hair done, being treated like a god. I still don't trust her, I can see that she is planning. Even though we can get out as a team, I can tell she would kill me if she had to. The way she looks at people with her blue-green eyes, like a cat, waiting to pounce on it's prey. She reminds me a lot of a cat actually. Loves to be pampered, but can't be trusted, and could claw you in a second if you did something even slightly to annoy it, even if it isn't on purpouse. A landmine, waiting to be stepped on.
Today is also the first time we get to see the tributes in person, we get to make an impression on them, and they get to make an impression on us. I go through diffrent types of personalities in my head, and what kind of reactions would happen as a result. I decide on being the Capitol's "Friend" to try to gain sponsors, but come across as agressive and stuck up to the other tributes. That will work to my adavntage, I think.
The Felicity instructs me to open my eyes, as she needs to put contacts in my eyes, but not to look in the mirror, as it is a surprise. I hate surprises, but I don't look, I have to get on their good side.
I try not to flinch as she puts the wet, filmy lenes onto my eyes, but when she does, I jerk back in my chair, feeling them slide into place. I want to poke them into place, but I have been instructed to keep my hands down, as Marvel is painting my nails.
My eyes are open for the rest of the time, but the keep focusing on the slight imperfections on the circle lenses. I find myself blinking repeatedly, trying to get them out of my eyes. I finally give up.
I wonder if Ryan is getting his nails painted right now. A lovely pink colour, like the colour of Tresure's dress. Gosh, even my thoughts are sarchastic.
I feel them pouring a hot liquid over stencils onto my face, and resist the temptation to pick it away as it sets.
How long have I even been sitting here, in silence for? It seems like days, but really, it has only been a few hours. I don't have days left.
They finally help me into a dress which has a cover on it, so I can't see it, but the material feels strange, nothing I have ever felt before. Unlike my clothes back home, the bodice fits my body like a glove. It also feels very, very heavy, and I'm not even attempting to walk in it yet, but thats okay, as we will be standing still on the chariots. At least, I hope so.
Felicty, Stella and Marvel still insist that I can't see my outfit until my shoes are on, so reluctantly, I step into the highest pair of heels I have ever seen, which are white, but seem to have a sparkle in them. I struggle for balance as I tower above my stylist, who used to tower above me. I hold onto the nearest desk for support and breathe out a sigh of relief. I haven't fallen over, this is a good start. Now I need to learn how to walk all over again.
They help me walk up to the largest mirror, making me close my eyes and guiding me through the room, supporting me every time I stumble in the heels. I don't feel safe, and fight the urge to open my eyes. Jsut before I am about to, we stop, and I feel relativley steady again. I still sway backwards and forwards, like a tree about to fall onto the forest floor.
"Okay, you can open your eyes now!" sings Stella. I can literally feel the waves of excitement and anticipation coming off of them. Awaiting my approval, which I will be sure to give, even if I am not at all impressed by the outfit, which is most likely.
I step forward, and yet again, I see that different girl in the mirror. Her face is covered in intricate tattoos, which shimmer brightly, covered in glitter. They are the same colour as her large, pale blue eyes, which seem to be more angular, with long, long lashes. Her high cheekbones are accentuated greatly, she looks almost alien like. But resembles a goddess. The dress she wears amazes me. It seems to be made entirely of the sea. It reminds me of home. I don't exactly know how to describe it. The dress seems to have many layers, that change every time the alien girl in the mirror moves. The end of each layer, has beautifully placed bubbles and foam, like the edge of a wave as it hits the shore. The same with the top of the bodice, as it ends in a sweetheart shape. The many, many, ever chanhing shades of ocean blue look exactly like the ocean at home. Her hair is tousled, with two plaits around the side, and is pushed behind her shoulders, like she has just been swimming in her own dress. The long train behind her also looks like the beautiful waves at home, except slighgly more plasticy.
I turn around to my stylist, knowing that the alien in the mirror is me. My stylists have not dressed me like someone from the Capitol, they have made me proud to wear this ridiculous, but amazing outfit.
"Have you ever been to district four?" I ask them quietly. Each one of them shakes their heads, as expected.
"Well, you might want to see it now. You've made me proud to wear this outfit. You've made my district proud. Thank you." I smile.
I know they're not insensitive, but they have no idea how much I want to thank them for not putting me in a typical capitol style outfit, and actually representing my district well.
"Oh, darling, no need to thank us. We would do almost anything for you." smiles Marvel. Stella and Felicity nod in agreement, and clasp their hands together tightly as they admire their work.
My eyebrows push together before I can stop them. He said almost anything. Where is the boundry line for them. They wouldn't ever take my place in the games, they wouldn't even think of helping me get out of this place, I don't think they'd even come to four. Oh well, they've missed out on a real life in my opinion.
After a little more chat, they let me go doen to the stables. Now when I imagine stables, I imagine ones full of hay, that smell like horses and are full of equipment constantly, like Angela's at home. She sells the manure to farmers, and makes a reasonable amount of money.
In the capitol however, the horses are lined up with carridges on the other side of a glass wall, and we are kept away from them in a pristine waiting area, stylists and mentors on hand in case of any disasters, not to mention the guards. The guards, I have figured out, are like a toned down version of peacekeepers. They are there to protect us, I know that, but it seems I have a problem or two with authority, as every time I see one of them, I will try to get as far away as possible.
I am the first person down in the waiting room, and my stylists follow me closely, making adjustments here and there telling me not to sit down, as I will mess it all up. They tell me to pull a little cord on my side as soon as I get outside too. Yet another one of their surprises. I'm not really looking forwards to it to be honest, but after they pulled off this outfit, they have gained just a little bit of trust and respect.
The next person down is Grace, and it is awkward, just the two of us, standing alone in the silence. Of course, there are the crowds outside, but I have quickly learned how to block them out.
She is wearing a variation of my dress, even though I know she has no connection with the sea whatsover except living near it. I practically live in it. Know how to use it, tell weather petterns, how to find food in it.
Her dress hugs her figure all the way down to the bottom of it, where it flares out in the same waves. Her stylists call it a mermaid dress. It should be called a siren dress. I could easily see Grace in the arena, luring people in with her beauty then killing them. She certainly knows how to use her beauty to her advantage alright.
"Ah, it is a shame that all the other tributes don't have dresses like us..." she stage whispers to me, then giggles, like the mean girls used to do in school whenever I walked by. I would ignore them, but I can't ignore Grace.
"How do you know what their outfits are like?" I ask carefully, remebering to think of her like a cat, or a field full of randomly placed landmines. Tread carefully, watch your back.
"I snuck around. Thats why you got here first." she smiles, sweetly. "Darling, we have the best!"
I realise that she is trying to mimick the Capitol accent, another little trick she has learned. I decide I don't trust her at all. She is actually trying to become one of them. I may be putting on an act, but I can tell you for sure, she's not.
The door opens and the tributes from three walk through. Three mean looking guys, who I remeber are about nineteen, but only the little girl's name comes to my mind. Sahara, that was it. An unusual name for a seemingly unusual girl. She unnerves me withher slightly insane looking stare, but I stare coldly back at her. Show no weakness.
I have to admit Grace has been right about the outfits so far, but I still hate her. Once I have made up my mind about someone, I don't tend to change it. While the other tributes file out of the elevator, I spot a girl from Eight. She reminds me a lot of myself really. Her name is Hunter, and she is a few months younger than me. I took a lot of notes on her, because from what I've seen so far, if I need an ally to join our team incase I kill off Grace, which I probably will, then she would be mynfirst choice right now. Her straight, brown hair falls down to her waist, and all sorts of animal prints are on her clothing, which she doesn't seem very happy with, especially her shoes. She seems to be able to balance fine, but I can tell that she was already tall, and hates being different from everyone else. I can tell a lot from a person's body langauge, especially if they are like me.
Raven and Ryan are last to come out of the elevator, and I feel myself gently hugging her, so as not to ruin her outfit. She seems to be one of the only people I can trust right now.
Her dress is a cuter version of mine and Grace's. It has a knee length skirt that gets longer at the back, with long sleeves. It suits her small frame more.
She brushes my hug off, being a tough girl again, and laughs nervously.
Ryan full on bear hugs me, in his suit variation of our dresses. My stylists go absolutely insane, and pull him off. I try to balance myself on my heels again, and laugh as Ryan is pulled away.
"Over affectionate? " I ask, still laughing, directed towards the guards, who have stepped forward to protect me fro my own brother. They don't make eye contact, pretending I'm not there again.
"Fine, give me the silent treatment. See if I care." I taunt, trying to keep my face straight. I spot Grace rolling her eyes in the corner, and my anger builds up again. Raven shakes her head slightly, telling me it's not worth it.
There are still a few minutes until we have to be lined up, so we wander off to go and meet other tributes. I instinctively walk over to Hunter.
"Your dress is beautiful" she smiles as I shake her hand. "I wish I could say the same about mine."
"Thanks. And just let your personality do the talking." I smile, talking to her like she was my friend, and not a person I will potentially have to kill in just a few days.
"Im not sure thats a good idea. Im not exactly bright and bubbly." she sighs.
"Me neither." I chuckle.
Donna runs up behind me, interuppting our chat. She is all dressed up capitol style too.
"Come on, come on! Time to go!" she says, a pleasant tone in her voice.
"See you at training?" I ask over my shoulder.
"Yeah, that would be good." Hunter says.
Donna directs me to the door, where we have to line up. I look around the stables, and see Donna going to fetch Raven too. She is over with the district five people. Chatting to a boy, about her age. Oh my god, no. She is not flirting with him.
The boy, who I remeber from the videos, a volunteer, Pike, comes across as a liar and deciver to me. Donna has to drag Raven away from him.
I decide to leave the situation for now, and let her be happy for the parade, but pull her over tonight. I hear the crowd's roars outside get louder as the anthem starts, and a shot of outside is broadcast onto the TVs that seem to be in every corner on every wall. The doors to the stable open, and all the lights are turned off, so that we are surrounded in utter darkness, like nights at home. I had lost track of time, and I realise that it is dark outside.
My stylists help me up into the carriag, and make sure I am standing right. The carriges have been made bigger so that four people can fit in them, two at the front, and two at the back, slightly higher up. They make Grace and I stand at the front, and Ryan and Raven at the back. It does mean I have something to hold on to to prevent me from falling, but I would much rather fall than be next to Grace. I bet she will push me over anyway.
She looks at me, almost smirking, confident, and then looks forward, completley and utterly focused. I try to do the same, but my mind is filled with so many random thoughts, it is so hard to focus on one. I see the large doors open in front of us, and beams of light stream through the darkness, from spotlights on the pathway. The district one carrige goes out, blindingly pink and perfect from what I can tell. The crowd roars. Even though there are no longer careers, they are still almost always favourites.
District two go out, and our carriges move forward. The only thing I can do is watch the screen which shows the countdown. District three go out, and as soon as we move forward, waiting for the countown to end, I pull the cord on my side, and so does everyone else. My dress suddenly starts to glow like a swimming pool with lights in it. It looks absolutely stunning, and certainly grabs attention with its pale blue colour.
I jolt backwards as we begin to move out of the shelter of the building, and plaster that fake smile onto my face. The crowd actually begins to scream as we go out, and I fight the instinct to scrunch my face up each time the spotlights focus on us. Grace is doing her whole, very well practiced routine, getting the crowd all wound up. I decide it is time she knew what it was like to have the attention taken off of her. I smile radiently, and copy each one of the poses I saw her do, making sure my ring sparkles in the spotlights as I wave to the crowd. They go wild. Grace turns to me for a split second, and her brow furrows, showing me that she certainly does not approve of this. I just smile towards her, turning my head to the side a little, taunting her. If she does anything, she will lose the crowd's favour.
So, she just smiles through it. Annoyed. I can tell.
All the focus is on us now. We go past President Watson's mansion, where he stands on the balcony, as if surveying his kingdom. I wave politely as all of the other tributes in front of him have, I really, really wanted to do a few offensive hand getsures instead, but I restrained myself. Just.
We ride back to the training centre, and back into the stables. I can still hear the crowds cheering as the doors close behind us.
Tresure helps us down from our carrige, and smiles exditedly at all of us.
"The sponsors are lining up already! You did brillianlty, and so did your stylists!" she smiles, and starts babbling on about unimportant things. All I want to do is eat, then go to sleep.
We make our way up to our floor. It is even more luxurious than the train, absolutely breathtaking. It seems to have a district four kind of theme to it, as there are canvases showing paintings of beaches, and , the main colour scheme is shades of blues.
I make my way inside, straight towards the buffet, eating everything I can get my hands on.
"Don't Phoenix, you'll put on weight." warns Treasure, snatching my plate out of my hand. I slowly chew my mouthfull of food, my hands still positioned as if I am holding the plate. I watch her as she takes it away and tells one of the avoxes to put it in the bin. I raise my eyebrows and sit back down at the table, as we discuss what will happen over the next few days. Training starts tomorrow and last for two days. Then, the individual evaluations and interviews the day after that.
Then, comes the inevitable time that we are put into the arena. I sigh as Treasure mentions that. I knew it was coming, but I don't want to face my fate. The past few days seem to have gone so very fast.
I step out of the shower, with a towel wrapped around my still slight frame thanks to Treasure taking my food, and change into a simple pair of pajamas. It feels nice to have all of that makeup off, and to be standing on the ground, insted of floating on heels. I feel like myself again, for once.
I fight to keep my eyes open when my head hits my pillow, my wet hair spread around me like a crown.
I decide I will talk to Raven tomorrow morning about Pike. She'll be asleep already.
Soemthing I do know is that I'm missing Will. His presence beside me at night alone made me so calm, the stress just seemed to fade away when he was there.
I promise myself that I will see him again. In life, or in death. Even if I have to wait years on end.
I can feel my world startingnto crumble beneath my feet.
So that was chapter ten! Thank you for 200 views by the way, I appreciate it. Next chapter will be training, so I'm sure the tension will be building between Phoenix and the enimies She seems to have made already. She is very opinionated.