A/N: Happy Fourth of July! You guys get a present! A new chapter! Yay! How'd you like that little fight in the last chapter? That was my first fight that I wrote. I don't own The Hunger Games!
Chapter 11: The Capitol:
Katniss' POV
When I woke up, I already knew this day was going to be bad. We will be arriving at the Capitol and the opening ceremonies will be held tonight. I walk out of my room and down to the dining room. Like always I am the last one up; Peeta, Gale, Delly, Cinna, Portia and Effie are all sitting around the table. I sit down in the empty chair next to Peeta. I look over at Gale and see that he is glaring at someone. I follow his gaze and see that his target is Peeta. Peeta's arms have a few bruises on them. I look back at Gale and see he also has some bruises on his arms and on his face as well.
What happened last night after I went to bed? Knowing Gale it wasn't good.
"So, how did everyone sleep?" Effie asks trying to break the ice.
"I slept well." I answer her, if someone didn't answer her question soon she would get offended.
"I somehow did too." Delly says. Peeta and Gale remain quiet. I hear an echo and look out a window and see stone walls. We must be entering the train station at the capitol.
"We're here? That is not good, we are off schedule, and I did not plan for this to happen." Effie starts mumbling to herself. "Okay, everyone go get ready! There will be camera's so hurry!"
"Katniss, Portia and I laid out clothes for you and Peeta." Cinna says.
"Okay, thank you." I say and go off to my room to change.
Cinna has laid out black jeans, a yellow shirt with orange primroses on it and orange toms. I get dressed and meet Peeta by the doors. He is wearing black jeans, an orange V-neck shirt and orange boat shoes. Great, just like last year they want us to match.
"They're making us match again." I say to Peeta.
"Probably because they liked our fire related clothes last year." He says. "I like it, orange is my favorite color."
"Really? I never knew that; mine's green." I can tell that he's about to say something but he stops and looks behind me. I turn around and see Gale and Delly walking towards us. They're not wearing matching clothes yet since they haven't met their stylists and prep teams.
"They made you two match too?" Delly asks.
"Yeah, Cinna and Portia like us to stick with flames." I tell her.
"Are we going to be set ablaze like you last year?" Gale asks me.
"Yeah, probably; the Capitol really liked our costumes last year so they'll probably do something similar to that for now on." I say.
"Both of you should look out the windows and wave, it looks good." Gale shrugs and walks over to the window followed by Delly and they start to wave.
"You just said that because it looked good when you were waving last year." I tell Peeta.
"Yeah probably." Effie comes over and motions for Gale and Delly to come over to us by the door.
"Come on now, it's time to meet your stylists and prep teams. Katniss and Peeta, you two follow Cinna and Portia up to your pent house." Effie says. The doors open and Gale and Delly are grabbed by two peacekeepers and are taken to where they will be prepped. Cinna, Portia, Peeta and I walk to the elevator and go up to our pent house.
"How do you think they'll take the prepping?" Peeta asks.
"They're going to hate it." I answer him.
"Yeah, probably; Gale won't hate it as much as Delly will."
"Delly is going to hate it so much, I know I did." I say.
"Why did you hate it?" Cinna asks me. I hated it for many reasons, but one reason really stuck out to me.
"Getting waxed, that was horrible."
"Sorry to tell you this, but you'll have to get waxed, come with me." Cinna says. I groan and follow him into my room. I sit down on a chair and my prep team comes in.
"Katniss! We've missed you so much!" Venia says.
"Please keep the conversation to a minimum; we need Katniss ready before her tributes." Cinna says then walks out, leaving me with hearing all about Capitol news for the next hour.
Delly's POV
I have just been waxed and washed and am exhausted. I'm sitting in a room that looks a lot like the nurse's office at school back in District 12. This man walks in he is wearing a suit and has bright pink hair with a matching tie.
"Hello Delly, I'm your stylist, Matokye." He introduces himself.
"Hello."
"Don't be so shy, we'll see each other a lot these next couple of days. Would you like to see what you are wearing?" He asks.
"Please tell me it's not a coal miner outfit." I tell him. He laughs.
"Don't worry. We'll be taking a different approach on last year's costumes." He says.
"So I'll be in fire?"
"You won't be on fire, you'll be fire. This year the look will be more elaborate and it will look like fire is embedded in the material. What do you think about that?"
"I think we'll steal the show." I say and smile. He hands me my costume.
"Let's get you dressed and out to your chariot."
Gale's POV
I feel like a girl. I have never been pampered this way before and I feel like a girl from the Capitol. I'm sitting on this cold, white table when someone walks in.
"Who are you" I ask.
"That wasn't very polite; clearly Effie hasn't gotten to you yet. I'm Lalena, your stylist." I relax a little; I've been paranoid since I got here. I hate the Capitol and all these people are monsters that want to watch me fight to the death and watched Katniss fight to the death.
"Sorry, so what are we wearing this year?" I ask.
"Fire again, but it's different. Matokye, Delly's stylist and I spent a lot of time watching fire, this year it will look a lot more real." She answers.
"Sweet." I reply to her. She hands me a stack of black clothing.
"Better get changed so you can meet Delly at your chariot."
Peeta's POV
I knock on Katniss' door. She's been in there about an hour with her prep team. I got prepped too, but it only took about 20 minutes.
"Katniss, Effie wants us down by the chariots before Delly and Gale takes off."
"We're almost done Peeta!" Octavia says through the door. I'm wearing the same thing that I was earlier, so I'm assuming Katniss is too. I few minutes later Katniss walks out, looking exhausted.
"You were in there for an hour, what did they do besides your makeup?" I ask her, I feel bad for her. She hates this kind of stuff and to have to be sitting in there doing nothing while they prep her must kill her. She doesn't say anything, she grabs my hand runs it across her arm. Smooth, they waxed her, just like she said she hated. No wonder she looks like she wants to shoot someone with an arrow.
"Oh, let's get down to the chariots." We go down the elevator, Katniss still holding my hand and we walk down to where the chariots are waiting to leave. Delly and Gale are at the back of the line. They are wearing black jumpsuits similar to what we wore last year. When we reach them District 1's chariot is just about to leave so we don't have much time to talk.
"Good luck guys, don't forget to smile and wave, the crowd loves it." Katniss tells them.
"Hold hands too, they do crazy if you do that." I add in. We fast walk to where the mentors sit, in a balcony to the left of where the tributes come out. We sat down right as the District 4 chariot was rolling out. When 12's chariot came out, the crowd went crazy. I'm pretty sure it was louder last year though. The looked like the coals inside a fire. Like Katniss and I, when they stopped, so did their fire.
"Welcome tributes! To the 75th annual hunger games, the 3rd quarter quell. We appreciate your courage and sacrifice. And wish you the best of luck. Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!" After President Snow said that, the chariots rolled away. I hate President Snow; he locked me in his basement, and kept me away from my family and Katniss.
"I'll kill him someday." I hear Katniss mutter.
"I'm fine with that, please, it will be the best for the whole country." I tell her.
"I can't wait for the day I can pierce and arrow through his cold heart." She says.
"President Snow doesn't have a heart. He's inhumane, he forces kids to fight to the death on TV for entertainment and locked me in his basement." All the other mentors are gone so they can't hear us talking bad about the President, if they were here Katniss and I would be in big trouble.
"Come on, we need to get to Delly and Gale or Effie will get mad about our tardiness." Katniss and I walk to where the chariots are being kept; we find Delly and Gale talking to Effie.
"Ah, there are your late mentors." Effie says and emphasizes the word late.
"Sorry Effie, we were talking." I tell her.
"Come on; let's go up to the pent house."
We walk past the other tributes, they are all staring and Katniss and I, probably because of our performance last year also that we are the newest mentors. I hear them whispering things about, fire, star-crossed lovers, me being found in wreckage. Effie, Katniss, Delly, Gale and I go up an all glass elevator to the pent house. Delly and Gale are in aw the whole way up and when we get there.
"We'll see you guys at dinner; let's go to the roof Katniss." I say and take Katniss' hand and we head up to the roof.
A/N: Please review! They made it easier. Now you just have to type down in that box :)