AN: So, short chapter is better than no chapter. Sorry for taking forever with this one. You have no idea how bad my writer's block has been lately (for the past six months or so). Every time I would try to write this, I would come up blank or it would feel to forced and contrived, and you guys deserve better than forced or contrived. As always, I edit these the best that I can, but I am bad at editing, so if you catch anything please let me know. Read on and enjoy!

Rambling Beauty

Chapter Twenty

Colletta stared at the note in her hand, her heart pumping hard. They were giving her a second chance. They were fucking giving her a second chance! She closed her eyes and tried to quell the excitement building in her. It wouldn't do for her to show that she had something to be excited about, she reasoned. She had to put on like nothing was out of the ordinary. She allowed herself a small smile before turning to Charlotte, who had watched the entire reaction with a bemused expression. Colletta shrugged her inquiries off.

"It's from Finnick." She lied. "Nothing important."

"Sure." Charlotte drawled. "And what does Mister Odaire say?"

"Just that he misses hanging out with me." That might have been true, but it wasn't what the note said. What it did say was a lot more classified than that. She was in. She just had to get to the meeting place again and prove that she wasn't bugged or spying on them for her grandfather. Which she totally wasn't. If anything, she was about to start doing to opposite. The note had made it very clear that she was only valuable to them in her connection to her Grandfather. If she messed this up again, she was out and they would find someone else to take her place. It was a good thing she wasn't going to mess up this time. No mental breakdowns, no freaking out. She had to be cool and collected; she had to be a Snow.

Time seemed to take forever as she waited for the appointed day and time to arrive. Everything blurred in slow motion. Everything except for her time with Finnick. He was going to be too busy for time with her soon and then he would be whisked away to District Four once the Games were over. She milked every second she could spend with him for what it was up until the Games started. At the party her family held to watch the opening of the Games, she put in a show and made herself watch the bloodbath stoically; if anything it would give her practice for the meeting with the Revolutionaries that was taking place that night to not freak out when she was screaming on the inside. From across the room, Heavensbee gave her a wink, and she felt mildly reassured. Everything would be fine, she told herself. This was nothing new; look, the Tribute she was backing was still alive!

She wasn't sure how she managed to get through the airing of the Games, but when she was finally relieved from her duties as a Snow and hostess, she was surprised to find that she was still in one piece. Colletta padded to her room in a daze, running through everything that she had to do in her head. Security would be easier to get passed to night, what with the party and all- the Peace Keepers were more concerned with keeping people out than in. And without Charlotte, she would be able to get ready easier. She dressed herself head to toe in black and stuffed her long brown hair under a black cloche hat. She felt like a burglar as she got ready, from her black tight pants to her snug black sweater and the knee-high boots she wore. No one would suspect her of being the President's Granddaughter, not with how conspicuously she was dressed. Just to be sure no one got a glimpse of her face, she smears black kohl all around her eyes. If Charlotte asked what the fuck happened to her make-up, she could always claim to have been experimenting with new looks, she reasoned. When she was reasonably satisfied, she slipped out of her window and into the night, being careful to land less painfully than before.

"So then," Colletta drawled as she leaned back in her seat, "let me get this right. You want me to spy on my Grandfather for you?"

She had been rather proud of herself this time around. The meeting was being held in the same place as before, sans wild party in the foyer. Apparently these people also couldn't stand the senseless death of the Games also. It filled her with a sense of hope to know that she wasn't alone in that mindset. Maybe, she thought, I can trust these people. The woman with the faux-hawk gave her a raised eyebrow that was heavily pierced.

"Is that too much for you, Princess?" She asked, her tone challenging.

Colletta shook her head. Her hair was free from its confines in the cloche and fell in her face. She wondered how she must look to these people, with black shit around her eyes and her monotone outfit. "Its just a little obvious, isn't it?"

"Which is why it will work so well. So far as out sources know, the government doesn't even know about us yet. No one will suspect the President's doting granddaughter of being a spy. Are you in or not?"

Colletta gave them a sly grin. Oh, she was so in.

Reviews are love. Hopefully now that I have this monster written I can get back in the groove of things and it won't take me another year to update.