C H A P T E R T H I R T E E N
I like to be around you
When your not trying to be somebody
And i like to hang with you
Talk about whatever we talk about.
Don't care who we see
what they say, you and me we'll be ok
if we dont get caught by scrutiny
You dont have to be cool
Don't have to be smart
Don't need to know anything all the time
Its alright if your a little bit out of it
I dont care i just wanna be your friend
- Friend, Kaitlyn
I stood by the chariot, my arms folded tightly across my chest. To say I was fuming was an understatement.
"I'm not going out there," I growled brattily.
"You have no choice," my annoying stylist Rohm smirked. I had known the man for five hours and I was already wishing his slow and painful death.
"It's perverted!" I shouted, moving my arms for a second to gesture to my costume, or lack of. Excluding a pair of black panties, body dust and a mining helmet, I was naked. A few surrounding tributes began to stare at the scene I was causing. It took everything in me not to flip them off. Lack of sleep, Capitol idiots and me were not a good mix.
"What's all the commotion about?" a silky smooth voice said from beside us. Even the sight of Finnick Odair couldn't cheer me up. I turned to glare at him.
"I'm naked."
"I can see that," he smirked. I pushed him away roughly.
"If your going to be annoying guy, you can leave me alone."
He straightened up immediately, sensing I was not in the mood to be teased. "I was naked in my chariot."
"Yes, but you could pull it off." I blushed, realising what I had just said, but thanks to the black paint, it wouldn't be seen.
Finnick gave me a rue smile before snapping his fingers. "I've got it, I'll be back in a jiffy." He ran away in the direction of the backstage area.
"What? Finnick!" I called, but he had already disappeared behind a door. I muttered curses under my breath as Rohm ushered me on to the chariot next to Thor.
"Now try to look at least the tiniest bit happy," he said. "If that's even possible." He strolled away to the stands without another word.
How I loathed that man. Even my idiot stylists were nicer than him. They had praised me on my attempt of keeping my eyebrows tidy. But all I got out of Rohm was how he hated working for an outline district and that there was nothing he could do for them.
The good news though was that he was being promoted to five next year. I would be the last person to suffer his condescending words and vile outfits.
Thor and I stood in an awkward silence as the final finishing touches we're made to the other tributes. We were shunned by our prep teams, left to our own devices.
I looked around constantly for Finnick's return but he was no where in sight. I began to get a little nervous as the chariots lined up, realising that I would have to parade around the Capitol, the whole country watching, naked.
I sighed and wiggled myself around, trying to prep myself up as District One went out to the crowds.
"Emery!" Finnick called. I turned around and saw him sprinting towards us with two trowels and some rope in his hands. By the time he had reached us, he was panting and district two had already gone out.
"Quickly, hands up." I obeyed immediately. "Hold these in place for me?" he told Thor cupping the trowels to my chest. Finnick expertly tied knots around me, creating a bra with the gardening tools. I couldn't help the stupid smile that overcame me.
He tapped the 'cups' several times to make sure they would stay in place before doing it again and again, a cheeky grin on his face.
"Finnick," I scolded but I could help but laugh, a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. "How did you-"
"Stole them from the caretaker." District Eleven left. "You can thank me for my amazingness later. Now go. And put a smile on your face for once."
I didn't even have to fake it though. I was so relieved that I didn't have to go out naked.
As the chariot pulled out we were blinded by flashes. Despite the fact that I could not see, I smiled sweetly and waved to the crowds. Next to me, Thor stood unmoving, but that was his loss. I needed to get noticed. I made my smile even bigger, hoping that it would somehow be seen on my dark face. It was a wonder I didn't blend into the night.
The crowd cheered us madly. They jumped up and down, threw flowers on the road, one idiot teen was crying with excitement. I waved to her all the same though. If they were willing to buy, sometime selling out was the best option.
When we neared the circle, I looked up to the boxes to see if I could recognise someone. I was pretty sure Cashmere was sitting somewhere in the middle but it was near impossible to tell. As the chariots began to slow my eyes fell on the embodiment of evil: Snow.
The hate bubbled inside my stomach as he stood up, waving happily to the thousands of adoring fans. I wonder how'd they react if they found out he'd fixed the reaping... They probably wouldn't even care as long as they got a good show.
Snow began his speech after our chariot came to a stop. He gave us the same old cock and bull speech as every year, so I tuned him out and focus on the other tributes. This was the first time we had all been together and I needed to assess the damage.
My eyes fell to the tributes from one and two, the districts whose reaping I'd missed. You could tell they weren't related, they looking nothing alike. Yet they all held the same strange look in their eyes that I couldn't place. It was a mix of superiority, determination, hunter and a million other scary things which made them look lethal, which was saying something since one were dressed in pink feathers and diamonds.
Both from two looked like they could have troll blood in them, they were huge and had faces like they had been punched so much, healing wasn't an option.
Despite them being huge, I knew one was the big competition. Both looked fit and lethal, and were quite good looking. Sponsors would be lining up to throw money at them.
I raised my chin a little higher and tried to put on my best pretty/innocent face but thanks to the body paint, I soon learnt that it was unnoticeable. I slumped down and listened to the rest of Snows dull speech before we were pulled back to the garage.
I hated this, how we were shunned for being an outline. We got rubbish costumes, ass bag stylists and no attention. They over looked us. But the joke was on them. I couldn't wait to show what I could do in training.
Effie, Haymitch, Rohm and Thor's stylist Silvan waited by our space, the latter two looking furious.
As soon as we pulled up they were on me. "You ruined my costume!" Rohm shouted. He looked murderous.
"I didn't ruin it. He did," I said, pointing to Finnick who walked passed.
"Thanks Em, thanks a lot," he mumbled before going over to his own tributes.
"But I do admit I asked him too. I told you I wasn't comfortable going out their naked. And I thought Finnick was creative. It looks better," I continued. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I cringed. As did Thor, Haymitch and Effie when Rohm started shouted.
"Listen you little bitch-"
"Hey, hey, hey," Haymitch cut in, waggling his dirty finger in Rohm's face. "That's my daughter you're talking to." I felt a swell of pride when he said daughter. "She told you she was uncomfortable, so really you only have yourself to blame."
"Yes but I am Stylist. My word is final."
"Stylist, not God," Haymitch pointed out smugly. Effie, Thor and I watched the exchange with wide eyes, too curious to but in.
I looked around and saw that a few of the tributes and mentors were looking our way. "I think it's best if we carry this on upstairs," I mumbled.
Effie frantically looked around and put her hand on mine and Thor's back, guiding us to the elevators. "Yes, yes. We don't want to cause a scene on the first day, do we?" she let out an annoying giggle.
The three of us, plus Haymitch squeezed into an elevator with the District One tributes. They seemed pretty annoyed about sharing air with us, but it was only for one floor.
"Emery?" a voice called. I turned and saw Cashmere leaning up against the glass. "Sorry, I didn't recognise you with all that stuff on your face."
I gave her a weak smile that turned into a pained grimace. "Hi, how are you doing?"
"Fine thanks. Do you... Have anything for me?" she asked. What? I screwed up my face in confusion but then it hit me.
"Shit," I mumbled, covering my mouth. Effie scolded me but I ignored her. I had left Darius' letter in my reaping dress pocket, which was on the train.
"I'm so sorry," I apologised. "It's in my dress on the train."
"No worries," she said, though I could see she was a little miffed. "I need to learn to cope without you. I'm going to miss you if you die."
"I'm going to miss me too," I mumbled. Cashmere was alright, but she was still a career. A brutal, uncaring career.
Her beautiful tributes stated at us in confusion, obviously confused about how we knew each other. But there wasn't long to ponder as the doors opened on the first floor. Cashmere gave us a small wave before getting off with her tributes.
As soon as the doors shut I groaned. "Oh Darius is going to kill me."
"What was it?" Haymitch asked.
"He gave me a letter to give to Cashmere, which I left on the train." My stomach churned as a horrible thought dawned on me. "What if he doesn't send my message because of this." Surely he would still said my message off Gale, if he could worm it out of him.
The three of them looked at me as though I had gone mad. "You know there's not a part of that sentence I don't need explaining," Thor said.
"I'm with you there son," Haymitch said, clapping him on the back.
The elevator slowed before opening up on our floor. Effie strolled out and showed us around. I had been here before so again, it was nothing new. Just an over the top display of the Capitol's wealth.
"There's many advantages being from twelve and one of them is that you get the penthouse." Effie told us.
"Another being that we're all super skinny due to the lack of food," Thor said mockingly, in a fake Capitol accent. Effie and I stated at him in shock while Haymitch laughed again.
"You know kid, you're alright."
I froze, my insides bubbling. "I'm going to get ready for bed," I announced before taking off to my room.
Thor couldn't be 'alright'. I didn't want Haymitch thinking he was bad, just... Tolerable enough to help him. I could see them bonding in my mind and tomorrow it would be Emery who?
I know, I was a selfish bitch, but Thor didn't even want to win. He would die and then we'd all be heart broken because we got attached to him.
I wouldn't lie. Thor did seem alright. He reminded me of my brother Rhys: cool, calm and quick witted. But I knew the stakes, and there was no way I could be friends with him. And the sooner Haymitch learnt that, the better.
:-:
I woke up early the next morning with splotches of body paint still stained on my skin. No matter how much I showered and scrubbed, my body still had a grey tinge to it. It was impossible and my skin was hurting from rubbing so hard.
I put on a pair of fresh pyjamas, feeling too lazy to dress properly, and trudged to the living area. Everyone was awake when I arrived, including Rohm. I ignored him and sat down next to Haymitch.
"It's about time. Training starts in half and hour. Now it's important that you stick to schedule," Effie began. "Your stylists will dress you after breakfast and these outfits are not optional." She glared at me pointedly. "I will then escort you down where you will spend the rest of the day for three days. On the third day you will have private tuition."
I nodded but I was really eyeing up the stack of pancakes that an Avox brought over. I had heard this a thousand times before. Everyone in Panam knew how this worked.
"Don't go to mad in group training," Haymitch said, looking surprisingly sober. "Keep to yourselves, learn something you haven't done before and then whip out the big guns in your private session."
"But I'll need to practice my fighting. I already know all the survival skills," I whispered to him.
"That's fools talk. No one knows everything. If you want to live, do as I say," he scolded.
I nodded and looked down, feeling a bit like a cocky idiot. Only one thing could cheer me up now: pancakes. I took my plate to the serving table and took three. I was a growing girl and needed my strength for a hard day of training. No, correction, a hard day of sitting on my butt and pretending to be helpless.
Haymitch noticed my surly mood and turned to Effie. "Do you have the-"
"Oh yes." She walked over to the couch handed me a bag. "I got this especially collected."
I looked inside and found my reaping dress. I gave her a genuine grateful smile. "Thanks Effie." At least Darius may be able to get his happy ending now.
I pulled out the crumbled letter from the pocket and handed it to Haymitch. "Could you give this to Cashmere for me please?"
He took it off me and inspected it. "Why is there stew on it?" he asked, pointing to the large stain on the back.
"Because I put it in the trash," I mumbled, taking a big spoonful of my pancakes. I still felt guilty for that.
Haymitch tucked it into his pocket. "Whose it from?" he asked nosily.
"You know who it's from," I said, not really wanting to bring it up in front of a table of strangers. He looked at me blankly. He should know. That was, if he wasn't so out of it at the victors tour. "It's from Darius." I sighed in defeat.
Haymitch perked up and began digging through his other pockets. "Speaking of Darius. This came for you this morning."
He handed me a telegram. My stomach churned as a small smile crept onto my face. This was it, it was the note off Gale. I wasn't sure how I felt about it though. I had probably built my hopes up too high and all the telegram contained was a mocking note. I turned it in my hands before ripping it open, the suspense killing me.
"I'll tell you when you come home..."
That was it. After our big goodbye that's all he could say. But then my heart swelled. He wanted me to come home, he believed it. I was completely over thinking it but I didn't care. It was my fuel to keep me going. A stupid grin crept across my face.
"See we read it and couldn't make head or tail out of it," Haymitch said, gesturing to him and Thor.
"You read it?" my eyes darkened. Why was he bonding with Thor, why? And why did he read my letter. "That was private."
"It was addressed to me," he said smugly. I rolled my eyes but said no more, he had a point. "So whose it from?"
My cheeks tinted pink. I didn't really want to say. If I told him the truth he would think that there was something going on. Haymitch was already super suspicious about how I spent my free time. He tried to have 'the talk' with me when there were rumours that I was dating Peeta.
"It's time to get ready," Effie clapped, pushing her plates toward an avox. Whether she did it intentionally or not, she saved my neck. I shot her a grateful glance before going back to my room with Rohm on my heels.
He shut the door behind us, a pained expression on his face. "We got off on to the... Wrong start yesterday and I was wondering if you wanted to start anew."
I could tell from his tone that was the least thing he wanted. Effie or Haymitch had put him up to it. But I could hardly say no, could I. "Sure, why not," I said giving him a weak smile. His brash exterior returned immediately.
"Good, good. Now this is your training outfit," he said, thrusting a large blue jumpsuit into my hands. "You have to wear this, now go try it on."
I got dressed in front of him, all self respect and privacy went out of the window yesterday. The jumpsuit was huge, at least two sizes too big for me. It sagged on my body and the arms fell way passed my wrists.
"Why is it so huge?" I asked Rohm.
"So you can move more. You need to practise moving with baggage..." he stopped suddenly as though he had said too much. So I needed layers for the arena. So it must be cold, or very hot and baggy layers may be needed to protect us from the sun rays.
I rolled up the sleeves and pretended I didn't notice his slip up. The suit drowned me and I looked even tinier than before.
"Is there any way we can -"
"No!" Rohm cut in angrily. He recovered himself and gave me a fake smile. "Sorry, its the rules. Now what shall we do with your hair." He pulled it out of my band and ruffled it up.
"I normally wear it in a bun or topknot," I told him, edging away. I'd rather have mean Rohm than fake kindness Rohm. At least I knew where I stood with him.
"We'll go for that. You'll be able to recreate it in the arena if you get that far."
He tied my hair to the top of my head and ruffled it up so a few cascading curls fell around my face. "There," he said. "Now that's your signature."
As he applied my simple make-up my mind slipped home and to Gale. I wanted to speak to him so bad, why did the stupid peacekeepers have to interrupt us? What he had to say was obviously private and personal, but was it just in the heat of the moment. It was the type of thing you say to someone you'd never see again. I feared that even if there was a miracle and I made it home, I'd never find out what he really meant.
"Ok, we are all done," Rohm said, pushing me towards a mirror. With my light mascara and pink lipgloss I looked like a sweet teenage girl; it was perfect.
Effie was already waiting with Thor at the lifts when we got outside. "Please hurry, we are two minutes behind schedule," she chipped. I mumbled an apology before following them into the lift. My stomach lurched as it jolted down into the training area.
As usual Thor looked bored. I was annoyed to see that he looked fine in his jumpsuit. It was a little loose around his middle, but at least you could see his hands.
Effie straightened out our suits, stopping on me when she got to my wrist.
"What's all this?" she asked, tugging on my brackets.
I yanked my arm away protectively. "Its my district token."
"That should have undergone investigation. Can I -"
"No," I said, a little too harshly. "I'm sorry. I know it sounds stupid, but I can't do without them. How about I give them to you before the arena."
She looked a little miffed but she nodded then turned to Thor. "What's your district token?"
"Don't have one," he shrugged before turning his attention back out of the window. We were underground now and the lift was slowing down.
We stopped with a jolt before the doors opened into a long corridor. The place was lined with peacekeepers; it made me feel queazy that all these people were watching, guarding us.
We followed Effie down the hall, she chatting admirably as usual. When we got to the far door she stopped.
"Ok, this is the training room. We're a little on the late side so go in quickly. They'll explain what to do." She seemed pretty miffed that I had made us late but I didn't care. It's not like I would be missing out anyway. She gave us a curt nod before tottering away back to the elevator.
Thor gave me an awkward reassuring smile before opening to doors. The room was huge but I didn't have any time to admire it as my eyes immediately landed on the group of impatient tributes in the middle.
"Nice of you to join us twelve," a woman in the middle called. We looked down and kept quiet as the other tributes giggled or glared at us. I don't know which was worse.
The woman, who turned out to be Atala, gave us a long and boring speech about what would be going on over the next few days. They moaned about us being late, but this was just a complete waste of time, I had already heard this twice off Effie.
"Now you may go to which ever station you wish," Atala concluded.
The kids with 1, 2 and 4 ran to the station with the dangerous looking weapons while the rest of us held back, debating where to go.
I decided to screw Haymitch and at least get a feel of the fancy Capitol weapons. I moved toward the smaller weapons station with the knives but Thor grabbed my arm.
"What are you doing? You heard what Haymitch said," he hissed.
I rolled my eyes. "Do you really trust Haymitch's tac-tics? How many kids has he brought home?" it was harsh, but I knew what was best for me.
It was Thor's turn to sneer. "Didn't he say to you, not half hour ago, that it was stupid to go around acting like you know everything."
"Do you listen to everything he says." Thor remained silent. We stared each other down for a few seconds until he turned away and walked to the starting a fire workshop. I glanced wistfully at the weapons before reluctantly following him. He shot me a smug smile, which I ignored. Fighting with my district partner would get me no where.
For me, the station was a waste of time, but Thor knew nothing about nature. I spent the day shadowing him, helping him out when the instructors wouldn't. As time went on, I grew more snappy but I still never left his side.
We never spoke apart from the occasional tip or fact. I was still angry at him for earlier. Plus he was annoying me with his bondage with Haymitch.
Haymitch had barely spoken to me since the reaping but he and Thor were getting on like a house of fire. Yes, I was jealous, but there was no way I would admit that aloud.
As I knew all of the basic survival skills, I took my time scoping out the competition. The boy from one was handy with a sword, the girl seemed to favour knives. Two's boy was nifty with a spear while the girl seemed to be good with a bow. Not perfect, she missed the target a couple of times, but she was better than I was. The boy from three could throw a good punch but the girl was learning survival skills like us.
I learnt that fours tributes were Ethos and Hydra. Ethos seemed pretty useless to be honest and his title of 'career' seemed to be his only weapon. The girl, Hydra though seemed a pretty average all rounder though, like me. She caught me looking at her a few times, an evil condescending smirk appearing on her face when she did.
I decided to ignore the careers from then on, though that was a little hard to do at lunch. The six of them gathered around the food cart, talking and laughing boisterously, trying to intimidate the rest of us.
"It's like high school all over again," Thor muttered from beside me.
I looked at him surprised. "Don't you go to school?"
He shook his head. "No, it's the mine life for me. I almost nineteen."
"Oh." it was all I could say. It must have been hard for Thor, to escape the reapings all these years only to fall at the last hurdle.
A silence fell between us. "I hate lunch at school," I said simply.
"Did the 'cool merchants' sit in the middle too?" he asked.
"Uh huh," I nodded. "Then the smart people next to them."
"Then the nicer kids from the seem who we're all for equality," he continued with a small grin. "I sat on the outskirts."
"Me too." He looked at me curiously. "What?" I asked.
"Nothing, I just would have thought you would have sat with the merchants," he said simply.
"Why because my dads the richest man in town? No, everyone hates me. I thought you knew that?"
"Not everyone hates you," he said quietly.
I let out a humourless laugh. "Ok, excluding about five people, the entire district hates me."
"It's because they don't know you. You're quite bratty from a far. Quite bratty in general today actually."
I looked down guiltily. Thor hadn't done anything wrong, all he had done was talk to Haymitch. And who was Haymitch to ignore him, especially after my rant. I was no one special. Thor had just as much right to win as I did, and at least I had training. He would need all the help he could get. I felt quite rude and selfish about the whole thing.
I thought about all the times that Gale had called me a brat, even Peeta slipped it out once or twice. I always joked and blew it off, but they were right.
"I'm sorry," I mumbled.
Thor shrugged. "Doesn't matter. You have helped me a lot today."
It seemed like he wanted to say more, but the booming laugh of the careers interrupted us. He looked down to his plate with an annoyed crinkle on his forehead.
"Those guys are really beginning to piss me off," he said quietly.
"Ditto to that district brother."
The corners of his lips turned up when he heard his new nickname.
I looked over to the careers and for the first time, saw uncertainty in their eyes. I always believed that they were cool hard born killers but to them this was just a game of tactics like it was for me. A wicked smile appeared on my face as I turned to Thor.
"Just start laughing on the count of three," I whispered.
"What?"
"One, two three," I laughed loudly but Thor didn't join in. The room turned to stare at me like I had gone mad.
Thor was silently laughing beside me. I hit him hard on the arm. "You suck!" I said with an embarrassed grin.
He held his hands up in defence. "Ok, we'll try again."
Out the corner of my eye I could see the district seven girl and the boy from three looking at us curiously. "Join in," I whispered. "One two three. Ha, Ha, Ha." I cried, doing the best stage laugh I could muster. To my surprise they joined in with us.
It was so staged and so awful that I couldn't help but give out a genuine laugh. As did Thor and the people around who had caught on to what we were doing.
The careers looked furious about having their thunder taken but there was little they could do. All eyes were on the geeks in the outskirts. Screw staying under the radar. This was more fun.
The afternoon was a lot more pleasant. The tension between Thor and I had now gone. We still weren't bosom buddies but we didn't work in a strained awkward silence anymore.
But for me, the day was not almost productive enough, but yet still tiring. As soon as we were dismissed I raced straight to the first elevator open. The district four tributes were in there, but I needed the toilet and couldn't care less.
I turned my back to them though and looked out the window, jiggling my leg.
"What's with the dance?" Finnick said from behind me. I spun around and saw him standing behind his tributes. I didn't even notice he was in here.
"Will you stop sneaking up on me?" I asked him a smirk. "I know I'm so fun to be around but there's really no reason to stalk me."
He let out a mocking laugh. "Don't flatter yourself Abernathy. And anyway, you owe me a thank you and an apology."
"For what?" I cried.
"For dropping me in it with your stylist."
"I apologise. But he would have skinned me alive."
"You blamed poor Finnick for something you did?" Hydra butt in. "That's so mean." She tried to seductively stroke his arm, but he shrugged her off. I tried very hard not to laugh.
When the doors opened on the forth level, Finnick stayed put. "I'm going to see Haymitch." he told them quickly before shutting the doors and pressing the button to my floor.
I laughed on the dumbfound expression on Hydra's face. "Looks like you have an admirer."
He groaned. "I know, she's my tribute and I have to help her but she's driving me around the twist. She came into my room on the train wearing nothing but a flimsy nightie and pretended to cry and get in to bed with me."
I cringed. "Slut," I said simply. I would never in dream about throwing myself at my mentor. But then again my mentor was my pretend dad. Ew, thats really gross.
As soon as we reached the twelfth floor. I pushed Finnick toward the living area and raced to my bathroom. The annoying thing about jumpsuits was that toilet access was impossible, I hadn't been all day. After I was done I threw on some track suit bottoms and went back out.
Thor had arrived up and was talking admirably with Finnick on the couch. He gave me a small smile.
"I'm going to take a shower. It was nice meeting you Finnick." I sat down in Thor's place as he went to his room.
"Are you not showering?" Finnick asked.
"Is that I hint?" I asked in feign hurt.
He nodded seriously. "Yes you stink. I don't know how I'm conscious right now."
I grinning wickedly and stretched out my arms, holding them up in the air.
Finnick rolled his eyes but then pulled out a small rectangle with a white circle on from his pocket. "How'd you like the songs."
I rested my arms and gave him a thumbs us. "They were fab."
He connected a small wire with three ends to the rectangle and threw me a strange bud thing.
"Put that in your ear." I complied but then took it out as music blared down my ear. He laughed. "It's an MP6 player. It plays music."
I eyed him curiously before putting it back in. To my surprise Super Bass by Nicki Minaj flooded my head.
I began to sing a long with Finnick joining me. We listened to music and joked around for the rest of the evening until an avox came and handed Finnick a weird note. He left in a hurry but left the MP6 in my hands.
After all of the stress, it was nice to just chill and relax because who knew what the next few days would bring.
I know a lot of people may get a little annoyed about the way Emery acted but I thought she would be jealous. She's had Haymich to herself for years but now a boys come along and is getting more attention than her. She's a really complecated character and has a bit of a messed up head, something I'll be exploring in the next few chapters.
Ive also planned this tale out properly. Instead on one long story, I've decided to divide it into three, three parts in each. And i know i said the games will be next chapter, but they'll be the one after that, this chapter was getting a little too long.
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed SuzziQ, Liveh, Kaitaru Seras Viktoria Hatake, La-Lucy, smilin steph, lolamellark123, melody magic (Hope i answered your question) heatherstone, TheGirlWhoWasOnFire21, Ravenclaw Slytherin, crazy-forever, Lorelei Eve, and Talah
Sorry for any typos
thanks for reading, let me know what you think : )