Catching secrets

Chapter thirteen: To look stunning is to win them over

Gabriella lay in her bed tossing and turning, but unable to sleep. Thoughts of what is to follow as well as what had happened that night swarmed her mind with worry and questions. Finnick… The interviews… The arena… The games… Alliances… There were just too many things to think of and to pay attention to at the moment. So she decided to concentrate on one, she thought it was the easiest. Finnick! She had no idea where that kiss came from. One second she is having a panic attack and the next the two are kissing. The worst part, at least in her mind, was that she enjoyed it. She didn't know what to make of it. Her head swarmed with emotions, but she also knew who Finnick was, and what exactly he did in the Capitol. That is what made her wonder whether this was just another tactic to gain her trust, was it a mistake? What did he think of it? Maybe they just misinterpreted the moment, maybe it didn't mean anything, maybe it shouldn't have even happened.

However, her thoughts had to stop there as Effie rushed into the room without even bothering to knock. She began yelling out demands, shower, wash, eat, dress, impress… the series of commands was given to her in one breath before she was already out of the room and saying the same thing to Xavier. Gabriella sighed before pulling the covers off herself and moving to the bathroom door. She got no sleep this night and if Effie noticed even for one moment, she would be dead before the games even began. She entered the cold shower hoping it would help wake her up before she had to go to breakfast. Once she was done, and the shower was almost no help to her tiredness, she made her way to the dining room where she found Effie and Peeta.

"Morning." She greeted the two as she took a seat at the table.

"Morning Gabby." Peeta smiled at her as he greeted her with using the nickname he seemed to have been using for the past couple of days. His excuse when she gave him a questioning look upon first using it, was something about her name being too long or whatnot.

"Eat up, eat up!" Effie ushered them as Katniss too entered the room. "You have to meet your stylists at ten which is in half an hour, be lucky you were able to sleep in this long." She commented making Katniss sigh as she got slightly bored of Effie's constant instructions. However, they all silently ate their breakfast before Haymitch entered the room catching everyone's attention.

"Well good morning lovely people!" He greeted sarcastically noticing everyone was looking at him as he made a bee line for the liquor cabinet. It seemed to be his usual morning routine, drinking since dawn to dusk, and nobody bothered telling him anything about it. After all, they knew it was pointless as all it would accomplish is to get him angry.

"Morning Haymitch…" Effie said with obvious distaste in her tone, but the man seemed to pay no attention to it.

"So interviews huh? How ya'll feeling about that?" He asked with a sort of twisted smile playing at his lips. If Gabriella was to be honest she sometimes thought that Haymitch might actually enjoy the games, or at least some of their aspects and parts.

"How do you think we feel?" Katniss harshly asked him with an eye roll as she looked his way. Haymitch raised his hands into the air in a sign of mock defence before he laughed.

"Now I've got some mentor advice for all of you…" He suddenly got serious making Gabriella suspect that this man was bipolar or something. Seriously, how he managed to change moods and subjects so quickly was beyond her. "You two will definitely be showing off and displaying defiance to the Capitol, the games and whatnot, that much is obvious if you ask me. Xavier; you got a pretty low score last night meaning you have to make the Capitolians like you through your personality, making them like you means getting sponsors!" He instructed. "And as for you, girlie, now you can do what you want for hell's sake, you've already got half the Capitol in the palm of your hand with the score you've gotten. There are many, many, many ways you can act, Sweet; to make them wonder further how you've gained that impressive score. Ruthless; to make it seem like people should fear you and that you will entertain the viewers well. Or you can act as you always do, nothing fazes you and you're against the games which might go both ways, making them dislike you or make them like you even more." He finished his long speech leaving Gabriella confused out of her mind. Great, she had so many options as he had put it, and no idea what to actually do.

"What in God's name are you talking about, of course she will be sweet and kind to the people of Capitol!" Effie exclaimed as if it was common knowledge. However, she was mostly ignored.

"So which one will it be?" Haymitch asked with a glint in his eyes.

"I'll have to consider all of them…" She gave a short answer making it known she was still unsure. After all, this wasn't just her now that she had to think about. One wrong move could lead to the people of Capitol hating her, which would most likely be the best case scenario. However, she can also make the game makers hate her more than they already do and that would mean they would want to make her time in the arena a living hell which wouldn't just have a bad effect on her, but also her allies.

"Well don't leave it for the last minute." He warned before downing his drink with a groan as it burned his throat.

Gabriella sat surrounded by hear team of stylists after being prodded, poked and ready for her interview as they had concluded. They were gushing over things such as how pretty she would look and even asking about the games, training and of course her score. However, she said nothing and didn't reveal anything. 'A magician never reveals his secrets.' The answer she was giving anyone but her team and Finnick… And after the name popped into her head she was caught once again thinking of him. She hasn't seen him yet today and suspected she wouldn't up until the time was for the interviews to start. What would it be like? She hoped it wouldn't be awkward… To be honest, she didn't know how it was after a kiss that was her first after all. However, there was no chance of Finnick knowing that. Although, the thing she worried about most was if this would change anything in their plan for the games. She knew she was most likely overthinking it and overreacting, but a part of her knew that she worried for a good reason. She wouldn't survive the arena even if she had a ton of sponsors and managed to get a hold of daggers and throwing knives. But knowing they were Gloss' specialty, she doubted she will even get them in the first place.

Her thought were interrupted as her main stylist, or whatever they call them here in the Capitol, entered the room, dismissing the rest of her prep team as she moved through the room. Tyana Blossom was a usual sight amongst the people of the Capitol. Every time Gabriella had seen her she had hair in a different colour and her dresses were always as fluffy as possible and all over the place. This time her hair was a weird shade of green along with a purple dress. She seemed a thousand inches taller and that was due to the enormous heels which Gabriella hoped she would never have to walk in.

"Alrighty young lady!" She exclaimed sounding excited as if she was some kind of a child. "Here is your dress!" She pushed a black bag into her arms before pushing her behind the changing panel ushering her to change as soon as possible. Gabriella sighed before she put down the bag and took off the robe which she was given by the team until the dress was ready. She unzipped the bag and looked over the white fabric feeling its softness. After another yell coming from Tyana, Gabriella quickly pulled the dress on not wanting to hear any more of the woman's high pitched yells. She walked out from behind the screen looked at Tyana who seemed to have a look of amazement on her face as she watched her emerge.

"Oh my…" She said sounding flabbergasted. "I'm just that good!" She exclaimed making Gabriella amazed at how some of the people of Capitol can be self-centred. She ignored it however, barely stopping herself from rolling her eyes at the woman. Soon she moved quickly across the room, grabbing something she had left by the door and returning with it. "Put these on, put them on!" She exclaimed handing her a pair of sky blue shoes which Gabriella took from her. They were heels… Of course they had to be heels! Although, she was lucky they weren't that tall compared to what most of the women in the city wore. "And for the final touch…" Tyana mumbled, more to herself than Gabriella, as she clasped a necklace around the young tribute's neck. The stylist motioned for her to walk over to the mirror and Gabriella did as she was told taking a look at the reflection which she never would've guessed was hers. The dress was made of white material looking as if it was angel feathers with a sky blue belt around the torso which was meant to match with the shoes and the small necklace at her collarbone which had the symbol of a bluejay on it. The blue elements helped bring out her eyes which were coated in light makeup which was barely noticeable while the white dress contrasted her dark hair which fell down in soft curls framing her face. She had to admit it… Tyana was just that good!

"It's beautiful, thank you." She smiled at the Capitolian woman, putting aside her dislikes of her for a moment.

"Oh don't thank me yet, maybe when you have a dozen of sponsors… Maybe then!" Tyana commented before speaking again. "Now move on! We cannot be late!" She exclaimed pushing her out of the room and down the hall. Although, Gabriella doubted they would be late due to the fact she is almost the last person to be interviewed. But no matter that, Tyana quickly pushed her into the area where the tributes waited for their turn just as Cesar was starting the show. Well this woman seemed to like precision…

"Amaze them and preferably comment on how beautiful the dress is and mention my name while you're at it!" Tyana instructed before speeding off to sit somewhere in the crowd. With a sigh, Gabriella turned to look at the screen just as Cashmere and Gloss came up on stage. Realizing how many tributes there are before her, she gave out another sigh of despair before sitting down in one of the chairs before the heels kill her. This will be one long night…