14: Day 7; Family and Friend's Interviews
Gale
The night passes uneventfully; none of the tributes even wake up during the night. Since the interviews will be aired tonight there will be less time for the Games review this evening, so the Gamemaker's probably won't throw anything at the tributes today. This is particularly good news for Katniss as it gives her another day to recover.
When I wake up, I'm pleased to see that Katniss is already awake and seems a lot more lucid than she did last night. She still doesn't remember the careers' attack at all, which worries me, but she's sitting up, eating breakfast and chatting with Rue and Steffi. Well, mostly Rue – Steffi is still not himself.
My Mum comes into the living room and informs me that I am supposed to go to the Everdeens' house at ten for my interview. It's only seven now, so I decide to spend some time in the woods and check the snares I set on Saturday. In this hot weather, anything that's been caught needs to be collected as soon as possible so that it doesn't spoil.
An hour and a half later, I have relieved the snares of four rabbits. Not as much as I was hoping for, but sufficient.
At home, I decide to have a bath. I'm sure the snobs in the Capitol have hot running water and can have a bath every day, but here in District Twelve, we have to heat up our own water, so I set a pot of water on the stove. After my bath, I shave and change into the smartest clothes I own before heading over to Katniss' house. I take two of the rabbits from this morning with me, feeling a bit guilty that I didn't have time to skin and clean them for Mrs Everdeen.
I knock on the door and am startled when it flies open, revealing a woman in a garish lime-green trouser suit and a huge puffy yellow wig. Presumably, this woman will be interviewing us.
"And this must be Mr Hawthorne!" she exclaims in her awful Capitol accent. "Come in young man!"
I find it rather strange that this woman who doesn't actually live hereis inviting me inside, and it's rather patronising to call me "young man" when she can't be more than three years older than me. I follow her anyway, quickly stashing my (illegally hunted) rabbits behind the armchair as I go past.
Prim and Mrs Everdeen are sat side by side on their little settee; a camera, manned by an unattractive blue-skinned man, is trained on them. Prim is wearing the same dress she wore for the Reaping and has her hair in two braids. Mrs Everdeen looks very uncomfortable at the presence of these strange creatures from the Capitol invading their home – can't say I blame her.
"So, lets get started!" the interviewer screeches, clapping her hands in mock excitement. "Primrose, darling, why don't you go first?"
Prim
When Mum got the message yesterday that we would be interviewed, she sat me down and explained that I have to be careful what I say. I'm not allowed to say anything bad about the Games or the Capitol or the President, and I definitely shouldn't mention that Katniss and Gale hunt illegally in the woods outside the District.
The interviewer, Junia, and cameraman, Lazarus, arrived early this morning to "prepare" us for the interview, which meant setting up the camera and generally invading our privacy. She made me change out of my normal clothes into the dress I wore for the Reaping last week.
When Gale knocks on the door, Mum gets up to answer it but before she can, Junia is already there, greeting Gale and inviting him inside. I can feel the anger radiating from Mum at this woman, so I am glad when Junia wants to talk to me first instead of her.
Junia sits in the armchair, making it look even more drab and old compared to her bright clothing and perfectly straight, white teeth. Lazarus counts down from five and then starts the camera rolling.
"Hello Panem! I'm Junia Goldsmith and I'm here in the lovely District Twelve to interview the family and friends of everyone's favourite Girl on Fire, Katniss Everdeen!" She grins in mock excitement and turns to me.
"So, Primrose. As we all know, you're Katniss' little sister and aren't you just adorable! How does it feel to know that your sister is in the final Eight tributes?" Junia asks.
"I'm proud of her, I guess. For surviving,"
"Of course you are, darling," she says in a patronising voice, patting my on the shoulder, "You certainly should be proud that your sister is such a strong contender! Now, your name was actually drawn at the Reaping, wasn't it? How did you feel when your sister volunteered? Were you jealous that she stole all the glory?"
"What? Of course not..." I say, without thinking. Why would I be jealousthat my sister took my place in the Hunger Games?
Then I realise that, for the Capitol, entering the Games is a great honour that everyone should aspire to, so I change my answer. "I mean... I'm glad she volunteered because she's much stronger than I am and... she has a much better chance of winning than I would have."
In truth, I was devastated when Katniss took my place, I felt so guilty and I miss her terribly. But I can't say that, because that's not what the Capitol wants to hear. It is true that she has a much better chance than I ever would have.
"Of course, sweetie. So, if you could send a message to your sister right now, what would you say?"
"I'd say that I love her and that I want her to come home soon" I say, truthfully this time.
Junia grins her scary, white-toothed grin at me and then turns her attention to my Mum. She asks some questions about what Katniss was like as a child and asks then the same question she asked me: "What message would you give to Katniss?"
"I'd tell her that I'm proud she really is her Father's daughter," Mum says, enigmatically. Junia looks like she wants to ask a follow-up question, but evidently doesn't have the time, so she looks to Gale, who is staring at her with thinly-veiled hostility.
Gale
I can tell that Prim and Mrs Everdeen were censoring their answers for the Capitol audience. I don't want to have to do that; I want to scream and shout and tell everyone about how awful and unfair and evil the Hunger Games are; how cruel it is that nice kids like Steffi can be forced to become murders at the age of thirteen; how despicable it is to act as though it's honourable and desirable to be a tribute. But, I don't want anything to happen to Katniss because of me, so I try to hold back my disgust at this yellow-haired woman.
"This is Gale Hawthorne, Katniss' best friend," she explains to the camera before turning to me, "Gale, how did you meet Katniss?"
"We go to the same school and we live in the same neighbourhood. Also, my brother is friends with her sister" I say, which is technically true but ommits one major aspect of our friendship; I can't tell her that we hunt together, because it's illegal.
"Wonderful! And how did you feel when she volunteered for her sister?"
"How do you think I felt?" I reply, glaring at her, unable to hold back – I can't tell her that I was proud or excited, because I wasn't. The only emotions I felt were anger and fear. Junia swiftly moves on to the next question.
"What do you think of Katniss' lucky escape yesterday?"
I think about it for a minute, replaying yesterdays events in my head. "I'm just so glad she's okay," is all I can say. Junia looks unimpressed with my short answers, so she changes the subject again.
"Well, Katniss is a very beautiful and strong young woman, do you think she has any admirers here in District Twelve?" she asks, waggling her eyebrows at the camera.
"I'm sure she does," I say. I really don't want to admit my feelings about her on national television, only an idiot would do that.
"Ooh, anyone in particular spring to mind?" Junia presses
"I think there are some guys from school who like her," I reply, trying to dodge the question.
Again, Junia looks annoyed that I'm not giving her the answer she wants. "Nobody... closer to home?"
"Not that I can think of," I say firmly. The woman frowns at me, clearly realising that she's not getting anything else from me. Finally, she asks me the same question she asked Prim and Mrs Everdeen – presumably the question they ask to everyone.
"If you could send a message to Katniss right now, what would you say?"
"I would tell her to remember all the people she's fighting to get home to. I would tell her that I believe in her and that I (love her) miss her."
"Lovely!" she exclaims again, turning to look directly into the camera now, "I'm sure we're all rooting for Katniss, the Girl on Fire! This is Junia Goldsmith, signing off from District Twelve!"
Peeta
The compulsory viewing starts earlier tonight than usual, to make time for the interviews which come afterwards, so I don't have time to go to the bakery after school. Instead, I have a rushed dinner at home and head straight to the square. For the first time, Gale is there before I am, and I go to stand beside him.
"How was the interview?" I ask him.
"I'll tell you after I've seen it," he replies, sounding quite tense.
The Games coverage is quite slow. The careers decided to rest for the day, to regroup after the loss of Cato and to come up with a new plan. Thankfully, they decide not to go after Katniss again for now – they want to go after Thresh while they're still together.
Rue spent the day collecting food for her, Katniss and Steffi, while the former rested and the latter sorted through their supplies. Thresh and the girl from district 5 – Vivra, I learned her name was, not Foxface, as Katniss calls her – continued doing what they've been doing all along: keeping themselves to themselves.
After the short update came the interviews, which lasted about fifteen minutes for each tribute.
As always, the parents of the career tributes were as arrogant as their children and boasted about the honour which would be brought to their district when – not if – their children win. I find it strange that the parents of all three careers are so confident, when only one can win. I was a little surprised to learn that the boy from One, Marvel, has a girlfriend back home; I always thought that careers just trained for the Games and didn't have time for anything else.
Vivra's family all look very much alike: foxy faces with clever eyes and red hair. Her older sister was interviewed first; she explained that her sister has always been intelligent and sly and seemed really impressed that she's managed to steal food from the careers for so long without them noticing. Indeed, the girl has even learnt how to dodge the landmines set up by the boy from Three.
Thresh's family consists of two people: his Grandmother and his sister, both of whom are as stoic and reluctant to talk as Thresh was during his own interview. Although they don't go as far as to only answer in single words, they certainly aren't talkative, and their interviews are much shorter than the others'.
Rue has five younger brothers and sisters, but they only interview one of them because the rest are too young to know what's going on, really. The girl is nine years old and looks just like Rue; she talks about how happy she is that Rue has got friends in the arena: Katniss and Steffi. She says that she hopes Rue comes home soon because she misses hearing her sing.
Steffi's Mother looks on the brink of tears throughout the interview. His Father, a coal miner from the Seam, holds her hand and tells the interviewer about what a happy boy Steffi isand that they can't wait for him to come home. The way he speaks tells me that he's already given up hope of their happy son returning home. Even if Steffi survives, he won't be the same.
Prim and Mrs Everdeen are interviewed about Katniss. It's nice to hear Mrs Everdeen talk about Katniss' childhood, but I notice that they miss out any reference to her hunting, which is ridiculous because that's what makes her, her. Gale comes across as quite dark and brooding, which I think the folks in the Capitol will love. I can tell that the interviewer is trying to push him into talking about Katniss' love life. He doesn't give any straight answers, but the editing of the interview certainly gives the impression that Gale and Katniss are in a relationship. I don't really know how to feel about it – if the Capitol wants Gale and Katniss to appear to be in a relationship, maybe I really don't have a chance with her after all.
A/N: I know I say it every time, but again, sorry for the delay! I haven't had internet for a few days and also I was a bit side-tracked by a oneshot I was writing and have now posted. Hope you liked the interviews :) sorry there was no Games in this chapter!