For the 14th time... I own no rights to the hunger games, that belongs to Suzanne Collins... blablablablabliblibla have fun
We all met up after training sessions in my room. I was sitting on the bed with fil, tom and Rick when Quincy came in. "Hey Caro? Can I talk to you?" "Sure what is it?", I replied. "Alone?" He said. I got up. "Ill be back in a sec." He led me to the roof, in the garden, sat me down on the bench. "I'll be right back" he said, and with that, he was off into the deepest part of the garden, the very place I hear moaning come out of nearly every time I come up here. Gosh, I get it that these people are going to die soon, but a little discretion wont kill them! After a few minutes, I followed him in, because it was getting dark, you see, and I'm scared of the dark, unless I'm with someone I trust. Anyway, once I had finally wrestled through the sunflowers, vines, trellises and rosebushes (ow), I realized why its such a popular place to be alone... The center of the garden was a mini paradise. There was a shallow pool in the middle, a bench, and the softest grass I've ever touched. The place itself was just like my cove back at home. It was a cocoon of flowers of all sorts, illuminated by tiny twinkling lights in the ceiling of the place. It smelled amazing: like every pleasant scent I've ever smelled and more. It was comfortable; warm, but with a fresh crispness to it, like fall air. Just how I like it.
Quincy was sitting on a blanket in the grass and looking through a picnic basket. Ohmygosh a picnic! This is sooo adorable! I walk up behind him and sit down, with the hugest smile on my face. "OH MY GOD! You did all this for me? You shouldn't have!" He spun around. "Oh um this... isnt... um..." My face went blank. "Oh. So you mean that... oh. Sorry..." He smiled. "Its alright, you thought... never mind." I got up. "Then what's all this?" He grinned. "There were a couple of guards here with their basket, and I doubted they were there on a date, considering the "lady" was a badly disguised guy... Anyway I listened in on their conversation and they were talking about the arena, then they left without the basket, so I figured, why not check it out?" I nodded, and Quincy pulled out a huge gold notebook with many pages ripped out, scribbles in the margins, and more dog-eared pages than I could count, so, needless to say, the blueprint for the arena was amazing...ly complicated. I couldn't decipher what the hell it all meant, and neither could Quincy, so we decided to bring it back to the others.
Fil was exactly where we left him; sitting on the corner of my bed, and Tom and Rick were trying to do... something with my pillowcase. As soon as I walked in, Tom and Fil both gave me funny looks. my response to that was try to attack them with a duvet... and I failed on many levels. First of all, Tom dodged my duvet last-second and it ended up hitting Rick, making him lose his balance and fall on Quincy, who then fell and landed on the door, making a really loud bang. My follow-through, aimed at Fil was not much better. Seeing my blanket coming towards him, he grabbed the corner and pulled, sending me flying into Tom, then we both went careening into the door, and before I knew it, I was tangled up in my own duvet with Tom, Rick and Quincy, and to make matters worse, Fil was pulling on his corner of the duvet, further entangling us and making it impossible to get unstuck. Great. Just perfect. Just then, the door opened, and Clay walked in.
Oh crap! She noticed the pile of humanity on the floor, and asked us if she was *cough* interrupting anything, which made Fil all but die of laughter. "Oh no its okay I was just showing the kids here how to do that awesomeness that won me the games" Clay looked back at me, Rick, Quincy and Tom, all tangled up in my duvet and on the brink of suffocation, and laughed. "Oh yeah I remember that! So how are the students doing?" He looked at us, then back to Clay. "They're doomed" He said, laughing. Clay was off laughing, harder this time, anf we all just lied there unable to move while her and Fil laughed. We were finally freed from our cotton prison after a few minutes.
When I got up, I was surprised to notice that my hair was perfect, not a single strand out of place, and despite being all squished up in a duvet, my dress was unwrinkled. None the less, I smoothed out my dress, flipped my hair, and sat down on my bed, in an attempt to look dignified. Clay started cracking up. "ok well I guess you guys aren't up to anything, I was just checking, anyway I have stuff to do so bye don't get in trouble" She walked out, just as Fil exploded in laughter, Quincy gave him a weird look, and laughed too, soon, Tom cracked up, and before long, Rick fell on the floor laughing. We chatted and hung out in my room for an hour or so, when Fil brought up the fact that the games were coming up. "...So if there's anything anyones always wanted to do, do it now." We all just sat there for a minute, unable to move, unable to speak. Numb. I look around the room. My eyes first fall on rick remembering how I'd always wanted to make out with him, then Quincy, imagining myself in his arms, safe and sound and warm, like I've always dreamed. Fil, wishing I could be in his strong, hard embrace, then finally Tom. The sight of him brought on a wave of emotion. I still can't bear to imagine the last time I'll be able to look at him, see his evil smile and that gleam in his eyes that always tells me he's up to something, but now when I see him I see the one thing that'll never change: how I feel about him. He's my best friend, and I love him. I'm gonna miss having him there for me no matter what. I'm gonna miss his constant teasing about my clumsiness, and how he could always make me smile, even on my worst days. Basically, he's become almost a part of me, and losing him would be like losing an arm; going on without him's possible, but it'll be extremely difficult. He's grown to be my brother, and I can't let him go now. I tear up. Before I know it, I'm talking, telling him how I wish It wasn't like this and I never wana lose him because he's my brother now and I'm gonna miss him so much. We hug, and I start sobbing. Tom lets go and turns to Rick, saying something like "This is it, man," then Quincy sits down beside me.
He leans in for a kiss, but I pull away. "Quincy..." I look around the room, suddenly self-conscience. Rick, Tom and Fil were all full-out staring at us, open-mouthed and all. Rick was the first to talk. "what just happened?" Quincy just went back to his old self. "I-I just had to do that... You know, before I go to die..." He sounds like a 5-year old child, getting caught stealing a cookie. "Stop. Right now. Stop it! You don't know that your gonna die, you just might win!" Tom and Rick both look at me, and Quincy just stares at me sadly. I look from face to face, slowly piecing together what they're trying to say. "No. No! no. No no no no and NO! I'm not gonna let you guys scarifice yourselves for me. Nope. Not gonna happen. We're all in this together, meaning we all help each other out. No protecting any one person. And either way, I don't want special treatment. I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself. That's what my mom did, and since I'm the new mockingbird, I'm gonna have to do that too. Got it?"
Tom nodded, but Quincy and Rick just gaped at me wide-mouthed and stammered "Wait..." "Hold on a second here..." "...Time out..." "Rewind." "did you just say you're the new mockingbird?" "what?" I sighed. "Tom, explain." He did, kinda. All Quincy did was blink, and look at me as if I was about to sprout wings and fly away, and Rick started to stammer incomprehensibly. The clearest thing he could say was "B-b-b-b-b-b-but but but... but how?" Me and Tom laughed, then explained the whole story, or almost... Okay we told them nothing, just that my parents are Katniss Everdeen (aka the mockingjay, you know, the one that almost caused a riot big enough to bring the capitol to it's knees, but then she mysteriously dissappreared) and Gale Hawthorn (kaniss' childhood best friend. They ran away together after the 74th games)
They blinked, nodded, then said "So now we really have to protect you." I sigh, exasperated. "NO! I can take care of myself." They finally understood, I think. Tom got up. "Yeah but don't expect us to leave you somewhere to die just because you hurt your ankle or whatever and people are coming to kill us..." Rick and Quincy nod. I look from face to face, and notice they're serious. This makes me laugh. "Okay then, but don't expect me to be your damsel in distress. I'm just as capable of surviving on my own as you three combined."
Fil cracks up, then gives me a bear hug. "Im gonna miss you ya know that?" I smile, and hug him back. "Yeah. I'm gonna miss you too, so that's why I'm gonna make sure I come back" I pause. "well, that and the fact that, as the new mockingjay I kinda have to save Panem from the capitols evilness..." He laughs, still hugging me. Ahhhhh I could get used to this... I heared that aw crap. I forgot Tom was a telepath, or watever we are... Hopefully Fil didn't hear... Oh no I heard damn. that was Fil. #$%$#! It's okay I could get used to this too. That was Fil again. I am overjoyed, I don't know why, I just am. Then I remember Quincy. He's sitting there, watching me. I feel a pang of guilt. Why didn't I kiss him? Well obviously you dont have strong feelings for him Tom should really stop playing dr Phil... But he has a point... Ah well, I AM going to fight for my life VERY soon, so might as well... right?
I pull out of Fil's warm, comfortable hug, and turn to Rick. "Come here you!" and I give him an epicly big hug, unable to ignore how right, and how wrong it feels to be in his arms. It felt like a guilty pleasure, because here I was, in Ricks arms, on his lap, with Quincy, the shy guy that trusted me, in the same room, watching as I go and probably break his heart. I start weeping again. Rick started trying to comfort me. "shhhhh It's okay. I got you. Im not gonna let anyone touch you. Just relax." I knew Rick was a player, and could tell you anything to get something from you, but this time, I was pretty confident he was telling the truth.
Just then, a bell rang, followed b a voice on the intercom. "All tributes please report to the stations. All tributes please report to the stations. Thank you" We all got up. I turn to Fil. Come with us? He smiled. Couldn't be happier to.
We all walked down a long hall, and ended up at our changing stations. Our Games outfits were bathing suites, ours were blue, and the girls' version was a bandeau bikini with a purple 4 in the middle, and swirls surrounding it, with fish in the center of the swirls, and a golden fishnet skirt over the bikini bottom. There was also a belt, made out of this weird purple fabric, that felt almost like gel, or a goo, but when I looked closer, I discovered it was a very fine-woven fabric. It's called kevlon, a voice in my head said, It's really strong, except at one specific spot. It's usually a bit lighter, and it'll rip easily. There's a ton of survival stuff in there if you can get it open, by the way..." I thank the voice, and go over to my platform, mockingjay pin securely attached to my bathing suit top. I closed my eyes and held my breath as the roof opened, and my platform lifted me up into the hole.
I opened my eyes, and got my first glimpse of the arena.