Chapter Thirteen
"Hey Peeta, Katniss!" a voice calls out from behind us. I turn to see a small girl with blond hair and brown eyes. She must be Cesar's daughter. I smile at her and she continues. "I'm Cesar's daughter. I just wanted to say congratulations." She says smiling. Katniss bends down and gives her a hug. Cesar's daughter waves at me and I pat her head lightly. Katniss smiles as she walks away. Effie comes and tells us it's time for the ceremony. I look at her confused. This wasn't part of the plan. But we go along with it anyway and start to go up on stage. Cinna stops us right before we step up. He instructs us to put on 'these', and hands us rings. We shrug and slip them on our left hand ring finger. We step up stage and sure enough, Snow examines our official looking rings. They congratulate us and everyone cheers. Snow asks us questions.
"What will be the first thing you'll do when you finish up here?" Snow asks us.
"Go home." We say simultaneously. Everyone laughs happily at us.
"Ah, we must not forget to rent out a new home in the Victors' Village." Snow says.
"What do you mean?" I ask him.
"Well, now that you guys are officially married, you will be given your own home. And you'll move out of your families' houses. You'll live together now." Snow explains. Beside me Katniss gives a little squeak, but fortunately no one else hears. Everyone congratulates us and we are instructed to go to the dance floor to, well, dance. I try to object that I'm a bad dancer, but they don't care. That only makes them put on a slow song and we dance, embracing each other.
She rests her forehead on mine and whispers. "You know, we told everyone this stuff wasn't just for the cameras anymore." I nod understandingly. I can't help but notice her eyes are sparkling with happiness. We dance like this until the song is over, than walk over to find the cake. I eat a piece and instantly my mouth waters like a river. It's a rich chocolate with a creamy white icing. Katniss closes her eyes dramatically. I stare at her and she laughs. Her red dress glitters in the silver lights hanging over our heads. The roof is transparent and the moon reflects in her hair making it look shiny. I'm thinking of something to say, when she says. "I wonder what our house will look like." I look at her and shrug. I had completely forgotten about the house. I was now forced to move in with a woman that isn't even my girlfriend. I sigh and she looks away. I think we both agree this is the longest party we've ever been to. At around midnight we were escorted back to our floor in the trading center. Immediately we collapse onto the bed and fall asleep. We wake up to the sound of a terrible storm out our window. Katniss falls back asleep, but I think for a while. I think of how the storm reminds me of the restless one that poured out of our cave in the last games. I then think about the song. One of the lines was
Don't you dare look out your window,
Darlin' everything's on fire,
The war outside our door keeps ragin' on,
When I wrote it I didn't think of how well this connected to that storm. I just remember that all I could think about was surviving, and protecting Katniss. I think about our first experience with the games and I get chills. I curl up under the blanket with Katniss sleeping soundly next to me. I fall asleep to the clap of thunder and the patter of rain on the roof. I don't wake until late morning. When I do, Katniss is tracing her finger around my facial features. Her finger is warm and comforting. We get up in silence and go down into the dining hall. We eat, also in silence, while Haymitch and Effie argue over the schedule for the train after the photo shoot. Yet again, today would be another big, big, big, day. After we finish eating we are herded to our rooms and the prep team does everything to get us ready. I'm put into simple clothes and they inform me that I will change when I get there. I nod in agreement, and they whisk me away to the elevator. I'm alone, besides my prep team and Portia my stylist. "How did you sleep last night?" she asked in a calm voice.
"Good enough for today's plans." I say rubbing my hand through my hair. I feel a shot of pain go through my arm, and see that one of my prep team members had slapped me. "What was that for?" I mumble.
"Don't mess up your hair!" she snaps and runs her boney fingers through my heir fixing it. I roll my eyes and she slaps my cheek this time. I do the first thing I think of and shove her hardly, into the wall. She falls and gets back up snarling. I put my hands up in defense.
"I'm just trying to protect myself! What was that for?" I snap back at her.
"Don't sass me, boy. Haven't you heard of respect, and manners?" she says.
"Haven't you heard of un-cruel punishments?" I snap back. Portia stands in front of me as the doors open. The prep team storms out and thrusts the door to the photographer's studio open. I walk in to see two dressing rooms and a backdrop for the picture. They push an outfit into my arms and I go into the dressing room. I'm about to pull my shirt over my head when I hear a familiar scream. Katniss was screaming from across the hall. I dash out of the room and try to go in hers, but it's locked. Despite the thought of her being naked, I don't hesitate to kick the door down. It crashes with a loud bang, and I run in. Katniss is in her outfit, but she's standing in front of the mirror. I run to her and see that her eyes are tightly shut. "Katniss what happened?" I yell.
"Peeta! Peeta is that you?" screams Katniss.
"Yes. What happened?" I ask her again.
"There's something in my makeup! I don't know what, but it burns!" she yelps. I grab the makeup bottle that's knocked over, and I read the labels. Right away the access makeup on the bottle burns my hand and my chest. I wipe it all off and read the label aloud.
"Shea butter, coloring, bleach…" I'm cut off with Katniss' screeching.
"They put a fake label on! I read the other one and it didn't say it had bleach! They added it to the makeup to burn me!" she yells. I turn the cool water on and wash her eyes out. She makes a terrible whimpering sound as it runs down her face. I keep rinsing it until there isn't any on her face or eyes. All this time I'm only thinking of one thought. The capitol really asked for it this time. I see her eyes open and she starts to cry. "Thank you. I could have been blinded." She sobs. Her tears run down my chest and back and I wipe them off. Her hands are freezing against my shoulder blade, but I embrace her anyway. Portia and Cinna are standing where the door used to block us from the hall. Portia shakes her head and Cinna folds his arms. I put my lips to Katniss' ear and whisper.
"We are in deep, deep trouble." She looks up at Cinna and Portia and back at me. She nods slightly. We're herded out to the back drop for our first picture, but I remember my shirt is in my dressing room and slip away when no one's looking. I have a brown shirt with khaki pants and brown boots. I return, slip it on, and prepare to do what they tell me to do. The photographer starts off gently.
"Hello, I'm Jenna. So for the first shot I was thinking a stronger, and sort of a survival look. So stand back to back for me, and fold your arms." Jenna explains. We do what she tells us and after a series of 'arms down' and 'chin up a little' she snaps the photo. We get a new outfit, a white t-shirt and blue jeans, and put it on in our dressing rooms. We return and see a white background. "Okay, for this shot we'll need a little more cooperation from you guys. I need you, Katniss to lie down on the ground, back facing down, and Peeta, I need you to lie with her, resting your head on her stomach. Katniss act like you're stroking his hair." She says with slight giddiness in her voice.
"What is this shot for?" asks Katniss.
"It's for a clothing line that I'm working on. It sows simple fabrics that are comfortable, but stylish." Jenna explains. I nod my head agreeing that her cloths are comfortable and stylish. We take a few pictures and they give us another outfit. This one is a white suit jacket and slacks, with a turquoise tie. I change and return to see Katniss in a turquoise dress with a white ribbon in her hair. "Alright, now Peeta, all you have to do is put your arm around Katniss' shoulder and Katniss you give Peeta a hug. This is for a capitol magazine about you guys' life. One of your interviews with Cesar will be in there." She says smiling. We take five of the same picture, and go change back into our original clothes. When we return Ryan is taking his turn in front of the camera. He's wearing a lime green suit with a black tie, his hair brushing across his forehead. We are whisked out of the room and back to our hotel.
I'm packing my shirts when Katniss says. "I'm going to miss this place…I know I shouldn't, but I will. I like the condition we were kept in…never starving, always clean…" her voice trails off.
"But now we'll have our own house, that's better than the ones we are living in now." I reassure her. She smiles and nods, than remains packing. Once we are finished we head down to the car that'll take us to the train station. Only one hour until we are leaving for home…only one day until I start my life again, but this time with Katniss.