Chapter 8

The bright sunlight pouring into my room was the first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes. The second was Cassia's smiling face. I jolted up and felt my heart start to pound, not expecting to see someone standing in my room. I had forgotten that we were supposed to prepare for the interviews tomorrow night. I felt my stomach lurch. I wasn't ready for the Games to start. The days were going too fast. After tomorrow we would be in the arena and whatever happened would happen. All of the preparations would mean nothing if I died in the bloodbath.

"Up, up!" Cassia trilled. "We have a lot to do this morning!"

"I'm up," I groaned as I flopped back onto my pillows and closed my eyes again.

"Annie, up," Cassia said firmly. "I'll be back in five minutes."

I looked towards her as she turned and went to the door. How could she be so perky this early in the morning? And how did she look so put together? Was it some sort of Capitol thing that they woke up completely ready for the day? It took me at least twenty minutes to get myself together in the morning. I felt tired and sluggish and the last thing that I wanted was to get out of bed. I only had two more nights before the Games started and I thought that I should be allowed to sleep as much as I wanted.

My mind drifted to Finnick. I wondered how he was feeling this morning. He was probably still asleep. I was just hoping that he would be put together by the time that we were supposed to plan for tomorrow night. If he was a mess like he was last night he was going to be zero help. I still didn't know what to think about last night. Why did he want me to stay? What was going on? Where was he? But I pushed that thought out of my mind and pushed out of bed.

I went over to the dresser and pulled out a plain t-shirt and some pants and went into the bathroom to get dressed and wash my face. The cold water made me feel slightly more alert. I dragged a brush through my hair a few times and decided that that was the extent of me getting ready this morning. I had never been one to take a long time getting ready in the morning, I didn't see the point. I wasn't like my mom, who even now, spent what seemed like hours to get ready.

When I came out of the bathroom I saw that Cassia was already back in my room, waiting. I bit down on my lip, nervous and unsure of what to expect from this training. I was sure that it would be torture. Cassia was smiling and looked excited.

"Let's get started!"

"What are we starting with exactly?"

"We have four hours to turn you into a proper lady."

"Oh," I replied, wondering if I should feel offended.

Cassia immediately threw herself into our preparations. She had me walk in these high heels that would be similar to what I would wear tomorrow. She was shocked when she saw that I could already walk in heels.

"My mom has a pair," I explained, feeling a wave of homesickness.

"Really? All the way back in District Four?"

"Yes. My dad was um, a captain. He bought her some for special parties and stuff."

"A captain? I didn't know your dad was a captain!"

"He was. Before his, um, accident."

I saw the look on Cassia's face. The one that I was so familiar with the, I'm so sorry look that people got when they learned what had happened to my dad. Or when they learned that something had happened. "Oh, I'm so sorry," Cassia said sympathetically. But there was something different about it when Cassia said it, it was like she was…actually sorry for me.

"Thank you," I said softly. I looked away from Cassia and I thought about my dad. Would I ever get to see him again? Or even my mom? I missed them both so much it was a constant ache in my chest.

The moment had passed and Cassia threw herself back into work. She made me walk a little bit more in the heels and then she pulled out a dress and had me put it on and walk in the dress some more. I thought that it was a complete and utter waste of time, but I didn't argue with her. She kept reminding me to smile and kept sharing different phrases that she thought that I should say during the interview, which I thought was positively ridiculous, but I just smiled and nodded my head. I didn't want to argue with her.

"You know, Annie, I don't think that you have anything to worry about. The people in the Capitol will remember you for your gorgeous hair, you can walk in those shoes and I think that people will like you. Between you and me, you and Hudson are the most civilized. That boy from District One seems like a savage. The stories that his escort has been telling me," she shook her head and made a tutting sound.

As if walking in shoes would mean that I survived. All of the things that she was talking about were so superficial, but I knew that the Capitol people were superficial. But if they liked me then they would sponsor me and Finnick could potentially keep me alive if I made it out of the bloodbath and put distance between myself and all of the other tributes. I thought that Cassia was generally useless, but she knew the people of the Capitol and if she thought that there was a chance that they would like me then maybe it wasn't all lost.

"Well, good work this morning, Annie. Go have some lunch and then you will work with Finnick," Cassia said with a smile before flouncing out of the room.

I walked out of my room and into the common room. Hudson and Mags were standing there, deep in conversation. I bit my lip, wondering if I should go back into my room to give them more time but when Mags saw me, she smiled.

"Hello Annie," she greeted.

"Hi," I replied. Hudson nodded his head.

"How was your morning?"

"Exhausting," I said as I went over to the table and took a plate. I glanced around to make sure that Cassia wasn't there; I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

Mags smiled sympathetically. "Today is almost over."

"Thankfully," I agreed. "How was your morning, Hudson?"

"Good," he said, sharing a glance with Mags.

It made my stomach turn. "That's good," I replied, hoping that they couldn't hear how unsettled I was. Even though they weren't talking Games strategy, Hudson already had a huge advantage over me in terms of scores.

I put some food onto my plate and excused myself, wanting a bit of a break from everyone before I had to work with Finnick all afternoon. I sat down at the table in my room and ate my lunch, glad for the silence after this morning of talking. I wanted to just get back into bed and sleep for a few more hours. I was starting to feel myself crash and I knew that this afternoon would be rough. I just hoped that it would go by quickly and then tonight I would have to get some decent sleep.

When I finished my lunch I brought my plate out to get cleaned and went back into my room and curled up in the chair, waiting for Finnick. He was supposed to be in in a few minutes but I hadn't seen him yet today and I wondered if he had even woken up yet. I doubted that Mags would let him sleep all day, especially when he had something to do today, but as I glanced at the clock and saw that it was getting past the time that had been set for our session, I started to worry. Should I go and find him? Maybe he hadn't woken up yet or he had forgotten about it?

I was about to get up and go find him when the door opened.

"You look rough," I commented as I leaned back in my chair. Finnick had just walked into the room, his eyes rimmed with red and exhaustion on his face. How was it possible that he looked worse now than he had last night? Before last night I had never seen him look like this before, he always looked put together and like he had no problems. But last night changed that. He had clearly been dealing with some things. I could still hear him say that he couldn't tell me whatever was wrong. And the way that he had asked me to stay…it had been so sad. "You're also late."

Finnick collapsed into the chair across from me and ran his hand over his face. "I'm sorry, Annie," he said, opening his eyes to look at me.

"For what?" I asked. He had plenty of things to apologize for today after last night and now just being late.

"I was a mess last night. You shouldn't have had to deal with that last night."

"It's okay," I murmured. "Are you okay, Finnick?"

"I'm fine," he said with an easy laugh, sitting up straighter. He looked down at his hands, fidgeting, but when he looked up it was like he had transformed himself. He still looked a mess with his red-rimmed eyes and the exhaustion on his face, he was looking more like himself than he had when he walked in the room. "Let's get down to work, I heard from Cassia that you did great this morning. So that's good. But now let's talk our strategy for tomorrow night."

"Yeah, she had me walking in shoes for hours," I explained.

"Sounds like Cassia," he agreed. "Look, I'm going to be honest with you, Annie. I don't think you have anything to worry about tomorrow. You're likable and sweet, and the people are going to see that; especially after they see the tributes that come before you. They're all monsters, the lot of them. They're going to show up tomorrow and they're going to show that they're the bloodthirsty tributes that they are. You're going to be a breath of fresh air to them."

"If you're so sure that they're going to like me then what's the point of all of this?"

"We've been wrong before," Finnick shrugged. "It's just part of the Games, Annie. We have things that we have to do. And besides, practice will help you prepare for the questions that Ceasar is going to ask. Look, I know it's dumb. You're going to do fine. But we all have our roles to play and there are just some things that we all have to do."

Somehow, practicing for the actual interview was worse than working with Cassia this morning. Finnick kept trying up different angles that I could play and none of them felt natural in the slightest. I wasn't witty or flirty or arrogant. I was just me. And if Finnick wanted me to go out there and play one of these different angles than the Capitol would see through it in a minute and they would see that I was a fake.

"You said that they would like me, Finnick. Why are you trying to change who I am for them? Why can't I just be me?"

My question seemed to stump him. I just felt so frustrated. Why did things have to be like this? Why couldn't I just be myself?

"It helps to have an angle. It's usually what they do," He finally explained.

"My angle is that I want to survive and I'm going to do the best that I can. Why isn't that enough?"

"Because they're just Games to them, Annie! All of this is a big game and they don't care who wins. Not really. As long as they get a show. If they get a show than they're happy, and then President Snow is happy. Just do what you have to do. Please, just listen to me. I'm looking out for you here. I'm trying my best. Just…just cooperate, okay? I know what I'm doing."

I stared at him and saw the honesty on his face. He looked so desperate, and something in me made me want to listen to him.

"Okay," I whispered after an awkward pause. "Tell me what to do."

Author's Note: Thank you all for reading, I hope that you enjoyed! The next chapter will be the interviews and the following chapter will be the start of the Games. As always, I would love to hear what you guys think.