In the back room I wait with the twenty two other tributes. Mara's already onstage, as I can see through a TV in the room. She's wearing stripes of silver and gold over a simple white blouse. Her flaming red hair is like an ugly spot against the glamor of her dress.
She's not doing too hot. Where she excels at weapons and intimidation, she falters at charm and likeability. Caesar asks her a question about her mindset and she looks hesitant and unsure.
Finally, something where I know I can beat her.
Around me, most of the other tributes are pacing nervously. They've never trained for this. I place myself in their shoes: being in front of the entire country and being asked questions they would much rather not talk about. Weaklings.
Mara, finishes mumbling something about bows, and leaves the stage. Caesar tries to put some good spin on it like he always does. Then Sheen comes on.
The tributes go on and on, each trying to woo the crowds in their own way. Sheen comes across as tough and menacing, a good strategy considering his huge body. Sasha is shy and quiet, maybe going for a mysterious angle? Thorn plays up his intelligence and Caesar tests him out with some puzzles. The crowd goes wild for that.
Then comes District Three. Jasmine actually handles herself pretty well for a non-Career. She answers his questions with no hesitation and even cracks a few jokes. Dominic looks frightened up on the stage and practically wets him-self when Caesar mentions his score of 2. His interview continues slowly.
I stop looking at the TV as I realize I'm next. A Capitol worker comes in and nods at my direction. Toren wishes me luck as I exit the room.
I hurry along the backstage, following the crew worker. Extra mics and stage equipment lay around and I sidestep them. It's not easy with my long dress train.
Finally I see a door with a sign above it that says "On air". The words are green. There's no need for it though; the roar of the crowd is proof enough. Caesar is dismissing Dominic now. "And now we'll hear from the first tribute from District Four! I present...Annie Creeeeestaaaaa!" His words triumphantly drag out my name.
I push through the door.
The waving crowds burst in at me from all directions. They're chanting my name as they rise to their feet. I flash back to the tribute parade. This feels different though; more intimate.
I walk the short distance to Caesar as I try to guess how many people are here. Probably a few thousand.
I stand next to Caesar and offer him my hand. A huge grin lights up my face as I wave my hand daintily at the crowd. There's a sort of switch in my brain that turns me from normal Annie into charming Annie. I couldn't care less about these brainless people. But I care about their money and what it could buy me.
Caesar kisses my hand and offers me a seat in the interview chair. He's dressed in green this year. His hair is tied back in a ponytail. His face stretches into a smile as he sits. I mean, literally stretches. He may have had one plastic surgery too many.
"Annie. Annie Annie Annie," Caesar bubbles enthusiastically, "You look ab-so-lute-ly stunning."
I force myself to blush. "Well I can't take all the credit." I say modestly. I laugh with the Capitol audience.
"But seriously, doesn't this look amazing?!" I gesture at my dress to the delight of the audience.. " I need to thank my stylist Alexis. She's very good."
Caesar nods, "I think that's an understatement." He says with a guffaw.
Once the audience settles down he goes to the meat of the interview. "So Annie. Are. You. Ready?" One of his eyebrows raises [R1] quizzically.
"Oh, Caesar. Believe me, I'm about as ready as I can get." I say. "Let me go in right now; I'll do it." I modify that aggressive statement with a laugh. The audience likes that. Score.
"Oh I believe you Annie. What types of skills do you have that make you so ready?" Caesar muses.
"Let's just say I'm very...accurate." I say mysteriously.
"But seriously, I'm small for a Ca- a volunteer from Four." I almost say the word 'Career' but stop myself, because training is technically against the rules. Everyone knows I do it, but announcing it live won't help me. I continue, "But where I'm small, I'm fast. Where I'm slight, I make up for in skill."
"I can see that. I know for sure you could outrun me!" Caesar laughs with the audience. I turn away from him and roll my eyes at them.
"Any thoughts on the arena Annie?" Caesar says after the funny moment has passed.
"Hmmm..." I think out loud. "I haven't really thought about it. Obviously I don't know for sure. I'm hoping for some water. It would be nice for a beach. I love the water."
"I bet you do. You're from District Four; they're great at swimming." Caesar says.
"I mean, most of us are. Toren and I both are very good. I-"
"So who's better?" Caesar interjects playfully.
"At swimming? Gosh..." I muse it over. "Sorry Toren, but I gotta go with me." I stare right into the camera on that last part.
"Really?" Caesar asks.
"Really. Just..." I cover my mouth with my hand. "No one tell him that; he doesn't need to know."
Caesar zips his lips and eats the key with a bemused expression on his face. The crowd loves that. We all start laughing together. The interview continues without anything unusual. We talk a bit about my strategy, how I would fare in the bloodbath and such. The whole interview is only about a minute longer. It passes by so quickly, but I'm pretty confident in how I did. They laughed at all my jokes and at all the right moments. I could feel that they were on my side. I could feel it.
Caesar rises as I stand to conclude the interview. He kisses my hand and then holds it triumphantly in the air. "Ladies and gentlemen...the lovely Annie Cresta!"
My face bursts into a huge smile as I look around the audience, who has mostly risen to their feet in spontaneous applause. I got them right where I want them. They love me.
Back in the backstage room with the other tributes I watch the TV. Toren is on right now. "So, Caesar, got anything you want to share?" Toren asks.
Caesar looks at the audience and motions that his lips are sealed.
I blush. I hadn't thought of how my interview could have hurt Toren's. But the more I watch the more I see that it's fine. He simply shrugs off what I said about his swimming and dives straight into the interview. He comes across as charismatic and funny. The audience falls for him, just like with me.
I settle down in a couch after Toren comes back. We watch the rest of the interviews together. A great weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Now there is nothing more to do until the Games start. No more crowds to please. No more alliances to create. It's nice.
The interviews pass slowly. Only a few stand out in my mind. Titus tries to act tough and mean, but his smaller frame doesn't make it believable. And the fact that he is constantly twitching and shifting his position makes it hard to listen to what he's saying. Holly from 11 looks defiant and doesn't seem to care about what Caesar is saying. Her eyes lazily drift around the audience, unfocused on anything.
The interviews go downhill from there. The poorer districts, the ones with no chance of winning, have highly unprepared tributes. Once Caesar hits 8 or 9, the kids have no idea what to do. District 12 has only one mentor and he's a raging alcoholic from what I've heard. Those tributes are unsure of themselves and don't really come across as anything but scared kids.
Finally the interviews wrap up. Toren and I say goodbye to the rest of the Careers. "See you guys tomorrow!" Toren says with a wink.
"Bye!" says everyone. We're not going to see them until we're killing the other tributes.
Thorn mentions our strategy again. "Remember, Mara and Annie take the outside with their long-range weapons and the rest of us go for the kills in the middle."
I nod my acknowledgement at him and then turn away. Toren and I go to the Training Center together. "Nice job." He says.
"Thanks, you too." I say
"I think we both improved our rankings. " He murmurs. I hope we do. Honestly, both of us had the best Career interviews.
Scylla and Jet greet us at the door to our rooms. "Excellent!" Jet says, raising his hand for a high five. We both slap it eagerly. Even Scylla doesn't have anything bad to say.
"Tomorrow the Games begin, are you ready with your strategy?" Scylla asks.
Toren and I look at each other. "Yeah, I think so." we both agree.
"Good. I will give you some more advice tomorrow, but right now, you need food and sleep the most. Go to the dining room to get filled up." Scylla says.
Jet says, "Get really full! You know you deserve it!" He smiles at us as we leave.
Toren and I go straight for the desert. We know we won't have any of it for several weeks. As I stuff my face with some apple pie, Toren grabs for some sweet tarts and dollops some whipped cream on them. We both grin as we reach for the ice cream at the same time. "Mmmm...try it with some chocolate sauce." Toren says as he hands me the bottle.
I take it gratefully. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" I ask as I look for some more. Regardless of what he says, I'm probably going to continue.
"Of course," he mumbles through some ice cream. "We'll burn off any fat we get as soon as we start to lose food."
Just then, Scylla and Jet walk in. Jet grins broadly as he sees smears of chocolate on both of our faces. He tosses us a napkin.
Even Scylla can't suppress a small smirk.
We gorge until we're stuffed. My stomach seems to have filled out quite a bit. I think this is the happiest I've been since I volunteered. My happiness elongates when Scylla says that sponsors are starting to line up by the doors for us.
"Toren, you are the tribute who has the highest chance of winning according to Capitol betting pools." Scylla announces.
"Woohoo!" I pound his back with my fist to signify my congrats.
She continues, "Annie, you're third, right behind Mara."
Toren flashes me a happy smile. This is good. Third is good. The interviews must have come off very well. As I knew they would.
Scylla says, "I think you will have the opportunity for many sponsor gifts."
Toren and I are delighted by this news. Our chances of winning are very good right now. We have solid alliances, a bounty of sponsors, and no real threats that are very powerful.
Jet tells us, "We're going to have to wake you up early tomorrow, so get to sleep right away."
Toren and I begin packing up. Scylla stops us by holding out her hand. On it are two white circles. "These are sleeping pills. I've had cases in which tributes are too nervous to get any sleep the night before. Now, I have no idea if you are, but you can't. A bad night's sleep could be deadly. Take it, and a few seconds later you will be sleeping soundly."
We both take the pills in our hands and get ready for bed. "See you tomorrow." Toren says as I enter my room. He envelopes me in a hug, I hug him back gratefully.
"Hey," I say, "we're both going to be fine."
He nods. "Yeah, I know."
"Good night," I say.
Inside the bedroom, I start brushing my teeth. I take a long luxurious shower, knowing it will be the last one until I get out of the arena. With my hair in a towel, I begin preparing for bed. I'm changing into pajamas when I hear voices.
They're muted, as if they are trying to be discreet. I press my ear against the door to listen.
A female voice says very faintly, "...stronger than her. Her training score wasn't as high as yours was. She's not as big of a competitor."
A male voice protests, "But she has just as many sponsors as me!"
Another voice, louder this time. I recognize it as Jet. "That won't matter in the arena. She's still weaker than you."
With a start I realize what's going on. It's Scylla, Toren, and Jet. The "she" they're talking about is...me.
"What are you trying to say?" The voice I known realize is Toren's says.
"Only one can win, Toren. Only one." says Scylla.
"I know that!"
"Shh!" Jet warns, "What she means is that you will need to break off with your alliance to Annie at some point. The two of you will likely go far, but in the end, you have to face the facts that you will have to beat her in order to win."
They're telling him to break off our alliance? To betray me at some point? Toren wouldn't do that, he just wouldn't.
But he doesn't raise any protest to what they are saying.
Scylla notices his silence and says, "We can only bring one of you home at best. We have both agreed...you are more likely to be the victor. And if that means betraying your alliance, so be it. I had to do it, and I won."
"Okay. I see what you mean." Toren said.
Tears blur my eyesight. Toren has accepted his eventual betrayal of me. He didn't even try to convince them otherwise. My friend, my ally, my teammate. The person I trusted most of all.
There's really no one I can trust.
I don't know what will happen tomorrow; whether Toren will be on my side or not, whether I can depend on him. I hope so. Both of my mentors are apparently rooting against me at this point. They've chosen Toren to win, and not me.
With a large sigh I lunge on the bed and shove the pill straight into my mouth. I swallow.
The sweet bliss of sleep overrides my body. Tomorrow the Games begin. Tomorrow the games begin. Tomorrow I will fight, I will do what I've been training for. Tomorrow I will prove them wrong.
The last thing I do before drifting off into peaceful slumber is wipe the single teardrop off of my cheek. There is no room for weakness in the Games.