The next day we prepare to arrive to the Capitol. As the train pulls in there are crowds lining up along the rails with giant pictures of me and Katniss. They are besides themselves that we are back. Right now, they don't seem to care that we are back to potentially die, but they are nuts over our undying love for each other, at least that's what the signs say. Katniss joins me in the dining room and runs into my arms again.
"Did you see that insanity out there?" She asks angrily.
"Yes." I say. "You're going to have to hide that scowl." I point out to her.
"Fuck them, Peeta. I don't care anymore." She says.
"I do, we need sponsors." When I say this she rolls her eyes. She looks at me and sighs. "Listen it's not like last time. This time you know I'm on your side. You're not alone." I say to her as I rub her back.
"Neither are you." She tells me seriously. The train comes to a complete stop and the only thing separating us from the maddening fans is the train window. They can see us and they can't wait to get their hands on us. Regardless of the deafening screams outside, I'm consumed by the way Katniss is looking at me. "You're not going in that Arena alone this time either." She tells me. I feel my blood grow cold because I'm suddenly afraid that she doesn't want to win this game, but wants me to win instead. Now it all makes sense why she put herself through months of torturous training when I knew very well that there was no way in hell she wanted to do it. She did it for me, to make sure I was in top shape.
"Katniss…" I start to reproach her but she silences me with a hard kiss. She holds my face with her hands. I see flash after flash and the crowd goes wild. I pull away and I glare at her.
"smile for the cameras." She tells me with a huge smile plastered on her face. She turns to look at the crowd and waves through the window. But I don't, I walk away instead.
We are surrounded by security as people try to grab us, kiss us, pull us, cry over us, it's crazier than when we came for the Victory Tour. I embrace Katniss protectively. I know she must be hating this. We finally arrive to the Training Center. We are welcomed in the lobby but we know this is going to be quick since the opening ceremony is today. As Katniss and I walk in, all eyes are on us. I'm looking at room full of Victors ready to kill us because we all know, that we are all back here because Snow wants to teach Katniss a lesson.
"I'm feeling the love." Katniss whispers to me. I put my arm around her and kiss her head.
The day is moving fast, before I know it we are all asked to return to our floors to get ready for the Opening Ceremony. My prep team is waiting for me and I see Mic with tears running down his face. I embrace him. Finally I see something that resembles what I'm feeling. The rest of my team prepare me. They can't get over how muscular I've become. I look at myself in the mirror and I see it too. I laugh because I worked really hard for this but I never once looked in the mirror. I suddenly think back to one of the nights I had with Ivy, she literally wowed as she ripped my shirt off. But then I feel a pang in my chest at the thought of Ivy. Mic points out that my blonde hair is getting darker and that I've also gotten taller. I'm far from the tallest guy in the competition but I have grown about three inches this year. In fact a few months ago, I needed a new prosthetic. I stare at myself in the mirror and I'm looking more like a man, I don't have that fresh face I had a year ago. Suddenly I hear Portia enter.
"Of course he's grown Mic. He's seventeen years old, this is the time children grow." Her voice cracks and I look at her. She is also on the verge of tears. I put on a robe and run to her and hold her. Now I really feel the difference. Last year, I was barely eye to eye with Portia this year she comfortably rests her head on my shoulder. She composes herself and pulls away from me.
"My beautiful boy." She says with a smile on her face.
I wipe her tears. "Portia – I'm not a boy anymore. I stopped being a boy a long time ago, long before the games Portia." I say truthfully. She cries again and composes herself again.
"We prepared something amazing for the two of you again." She smiles changing the subject. Once I'm in my outfit it's obvious that we are continuing the theme from last year. Why not, it was a huge success last year. Portia turns on the suite and it takes my breath away. We no longer have burning flames radiating. The suite makes me look like a hot ember with sparks flaking off as it glows and dims, just the way coal does.
"I love it." I say to her. She tells me I should head down with the rest to the Opening Ceremony. I get on the elevator alone and I end up picking up a few victors on my way down. They all seem very happy to meet me, which surprises me. They ask about my family and I ask about theirs. I can't help but laugh as I compare this group to last year's. We stop at Floor 4 and the woman Mags gets on board. She sees me and she flashes a large toothless smile, I am touched by her genuine greeting. She walks over to me, pulls my face down to her and kisses me on the cheek. Then she says something intelligible and smiles and turns away from me. I smile not knowing what to say to her. I stand up and realize that everyone in the elevator is looking at me. It makes me feel uncomfortable.
When we finally arrive at the ground level I am eager to find Katniss. I step out and see others looking at me and I decide to relax and be myself so I smile at them. I find it funny that this catches them off guard. Just then, I see Johanna Mason standing with a scowl that really reminds me of Katniss. She clearly doesn't want to put on a show for everyone. I see her district outfit, it's a deep green with bits of fabric that lay loosely on her tight fitting dress. Just then her stylist approaches her with what appears to be a headdress with branches. She looks disgustedly at her stylist.
"Absolutely not!" She rips the headdress from her stylist's hands and throws it on the ground. I chuckle. She turns to look at her partner and as I see her spin I see just how that dress fits her, clearly the stylist is trying to present her as sexy. I have to admit it suits her. Suddenly I realize that Johanna has been looking at me as I was observing her. And I guess I was admiring her. I smile at her and she gives me a grin that can only be described as devilish. She winks at me then turns to her stylist to berate her some more.
I turn around and I'm started to see Finnick in too close proximity to Katniss. I mean he's practically nose to nose with her. I start to walk towards them and I see that he spots me so he straightens up and steps away from Katniss. He steps away from her and walks past me but greeting me politely. I nod at him. I look at Katniss and she looks flushed, I look back at Finnick and laugh because he's wearing a net and that's about it. Katniss must have loved having him hanging around her the way he was.
"What did he want?" I ask her.
"I'll tell you when my skin stops crawling." She tells me with a shudder. I laugh.
"Seriously – what did he want?" I insist.
She laughs. "He wanted to know all my secrets" She leans into me practically speaking into my lips.
I laugh at the thought. "Your secrets?" I say.
"Yeah, he went on and on about how secrets are the most valuable things to him, more important than jewels or money that he gets from people here." She tells me, I suddenly feel tightness in my chest. Once again, I think of Madge, I can see her clearly sitting naked in my bed telling me how secrets are the most important thing in this world. Suddenly I feel Katniss shaking me.
"Sorry." I say. I compose myself. Then I realize how she was saying something about me having been lost to the Capitol because I have a weakness for beautiful things.
"Not their idea of beauty Katniss." I say to her. "I have a weakness for your kind of beauty." I grab her hand and pull her towards the chariot. She seems speechless. "Ready?" I ask her.
"Yes." She says. I step up and stand beside her. "Do we hold hands?" She asks. The chariot starts moving and we are approaching the entrance. I'm still facing her and she notices. She turns to face me too, her hands still in mine. She looks deeply into my eyes. "We're suppose to be above all of them, to not look at the audience." She tells me.
"Perfect. I'd rather look at you." As soon as we cross the entrance we switch on our suites and just like that we turn to burning hot coal – glowing with the heat that is fuming inside of us. The crowd goes crazy, their screams are deafening. She lets go of one hand and stares ahead at nothing because if she does she may destroy it. I however can't help but fix my eyes on Snow. I know his eyes are on us, well no, her.