Here's chapter 2! Please reread chapter 1 because I've made some major edits to it.
Your reviews will definitely motivate me, but I'll update even if you don't review.
After waking up on the floor, (I must've rolled off the couch during the night) still in my clothes from yesterday, I go to the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee. When I walk into the kitchen, I see a note from Kris on the table.
Corney,
Help yourself to whatever's in the fridge. Thanks for bringing me home last night. I have to go to work, but I'll see you later.
-Kris
P.S How was the floor?
I roll my eyes with a small smile. I don't stay long after finishing my coffee. It's already nine o'clock, so I'll be home at about a quarter to ten. Finnick should be gone by then. Hopefully.
I have no such luck, however, when I arrive home and enter the kitchen to see a shirtless Finnick Odair hunched over his own cup of coffee, a tired, miserable look on his attractive face. As soon as he sees me though, he sits up and puts on a charming smile.
"Hope you don't mind." he says, raising up his mug.
I shrug. "Not at all. And you can drop the act."
Immediately, he frowns. After a few minutes of tense silence, he speaks up again.
"How did you know?" he asks. How did you know I was acting? How did you know this isn't my choice?
I shrug again, taking a seat next to him at the kitchen island.
"I've been to enough meetings with President Snow to learn a few things." I start. "I'm constantly getting into trouble for knowing too much, and then I'm taken to a place that just allows me to figure out more about the secrets of Panem.
Finnick looks back down at his coffee, a look of deep thought on his face. After seeing the many pictures and interviews of Finnick Odair with a flirtatious grin, it's weird to see him frowning.
"If it means anything, I really am sorry."
"You are the strangest Capitolite that I've ever met." he says suddenly. "You don't dress like them, except I guess for your piercings. And from what I've seen so far, you don't think or act like them either. It's kind of strange." he pauses. I can tell he doesn't trust me, and I don't blame him. The women of the city have screwed him over a thousand times.
"The people in this city are mindless sheep." I say bluntly. "I personally like to think for myself. Besides, I'd rather not look like a ridiculous freak."
Finnick cracks a smile. "You're not so bad, Conrey." he teases.
I smirk. "You're pretty decent yourself, Odair."
A thought suddenly came to mind. "If you don't mind my asking," I say, "how did Livi even get the chance to… be with you?"
Finnick sighs. "Apparently she has this reporter friend who is in contact with a lot of important people. So, she was able to get your sister a night with me."
"I hate her." I spit. "She's just like everyone else here. Shallow, vain, inconsiderate, spoiled. Though I guess I'm spoiled as well, but at least I have enough brains to know how wrong everything is. I mean, I know that the most important people of the Capitol, like the Gamemakers and some of the sponsors, they know what goes on and they know that you're forced into this along with some others, but they just don't care. So long as you are under their control and they make money, it doesn't matter what happens to others. It's sick."
"You feel really strongly about this." Finnick states.
I shrug. "Forgive me if I don't think that killing children and prostituting Victors is entertaining."
"I'm doing you no good by talking to you about this. It's treasonous. They more than likely have this place bugged. I could get you into serious trouble."
"What about you? I'm sure you could get into just as much trouble and they've pretty much done all that they can to me." Finnick says.
"The worst Snow could do to me is torture me to death, which he hasn't done yet, so I'm probably fine. I'll more than likely just get another week of "detention" as if I'm some troubled teenager."
We're silent for a while before Finnick begins to get up.
"I should probably leave now. You're sister's still sleeping so I'd rather be gone before she wakes up."
I nod and we stand there in silence.
"I'm going to go get my shirt. Thanks for the coffee."
"Yup." I say, and he leaves the room.
Well, that was awkward.
A minute later and he's out the door, not even bothering to say goodbye, which is just fine.
I march up to Liviana's room, not caring if she's still sleeping and naked. I throw the door open as hard as I can and drag her off the bed.
"Ow, Conrey! What was that for?" she whines, now awake.
I slap her upside the head. "If you ever do something like that again I will throw you out a window, you hear? Screw the consequences!"
"But why? He was perfectly willing. Didn't resist or anything. He seemed eager." She pouted.
"That's because-" I stop myself. I was about to say that that's because he doesn't have a choice, but I can't say that, no matter how true it is.
"Has he left already?" Livi says after a moment of silence.
"Yes," I say, "A few minutes ago. I'll be back later. Go do whatever."
I leave the house a minute later, still having not changed out of yesterday's clothes. Oh well.
I walk through the streets of the Capitol just like I had last night. I believe that tonight is the recaps of this year's Games, not that I feel like watching it. I'll probably get a phone call from Snow within the next day or two to discuss my brain to mouth filter and how I must learn to keep certain thoughts to myself. I don't really care though. President Snow can shove his stupid and slightly creepy speeches right up his-
I'm suddenly flat on my back with the wind knocked out of me.
"Oh goodness! I am so sorry! I was not watching where I was going. Here, let me help you." A small high pitched voice speaks, though I can't see the owner except for a small, perfectly manicured hand hovering over my face. Rolling my eyes, I snatch the hand into my own and let the person help me up. Once I'm back on my own two feet they begin to frantically wipe the non-existent dirt from my clothes. I bat their hands away and that's when I get my first look at them.
A girl who looks about my age- though you never can tell here- stands before me on tall silver wedges. Her translucent skin shines in the morning sun and her silver hair is in elegant ringlets with pale pink strips running through it. Her eyes are sapphire blue and her lips a pale pink. She's wearing a short, lacey pale blue dress with what looks like a silver breastplate over it.
"I am so sorry." She says again.
"It's fine," I bark, and she backs away slightly.
"My name is Darling Prince." She introduces, holding out her hand to me again.
After a moment I huff and take her hand. "Conrey Lance."
"Pleasure to meet you." she says.
I begin to walk away but she follows me.
"I'm Johanna Mason's stylist. I'm on my way to the Training Center to get her ready for tonight's recaps. She's going to look stunning, that is, if she doesn't kill me while I'm doing her makeup." She mutters the last part and I scoff.
"No offense, but I don't really care. And aren't you a bit young to be a stylist?" I ask.
"Well, yes, I suppose I am younger than most, but Mr. Flickerman and Mr. Templesmith liked my designs this year so they let me have the job. I was too scared to put Johanna in anything but a tree for the Tribute Parade though, it being my first year. I was afraid to try something new, but next year, if I'm still with District 7 that is, I might be able to come up with something stunning that will absolutely wow the crowd, don't you think?"
I had stopped listening to her by now but I still answer. "Yeah, sure, whatever."
She squeals with delight.
"Well, I better run now. It was lovely chatting with you Miss Conrey."
"Uh-huh, you too."
She beams at me. "Bye now!" And then she runs off to the Training Center.
And that, dear friends, is how most conversations with Capitolites go for me.
I continue walking, not really knowing where I'm going. Soon, a notification dings on my portable device. It's from Liviana.
Conrey dear, you and I will be attending the recaps live tonight! Isn't that exciting?
I groan, knowing that there's no way out of it. And here I was hoping to avoid watching the recaps altogether.
Looking at the time, I see that it's around lunch. I head into a diner nearby and order a cheeseburger. I've been craving one lately.
As soon as I finish my lunch, I decide to head back to the apartment. Liviana will have my head if I'm not there to help her get ready for tonight. Knowing her, she's going to end up looking absolutely ridiculous, not that that's any different from usual.
When I finally stomp back into the apartment, Livi is rushing around frantically.
"Conrey!" she squeals, "Thank goodness you're here! I can't find my chrome platform stilettos! You know, the ones with the big bow on the ankles?"
Unfortunately, I knew exactly which ones they are, and I also know where they are.
"They're in the living room under the couch facing the window." I sigh.
"Thank you!" She chirps before darting into the living room.
Rolling my eyes, I make my way up the stairs and into my room. After taking a quick shower, (I consider any shower that's done in under half an hour quick) I go through my closet, looking for something to wear tonight.
I decide to go with a short leather skirt, a baggy sweater and my combat boots, leaving my hair down.
I lay down on the couch, waiting for Liviana to finish getting ready so that we can go to this miserable event. We've never gone any other year, so I don't know why this year is any different.
About an hour or so later Liviana comes skipping down the stairs, waking me from my nap.
"What do you thi- NO!" she shouts.
"What now?" I groan.
"You can't wear that!" she screeches.
"And why not? I look fine." I argue, although I know it's not going to help anything. She'll continue to complain until I change, but I really don't see what's wrong with what I'm wearing.
"We are going to a Live. Hunger Games. Recap. Where all of the important people of Panem will be. Even the President will be there!"
I scoff. "Please, I've seen enough of President Snow to last me a billion life times."
"Conrey! You can't just say that about our President." she scolds in a fearful tone.
"Relax Livi, the President and I have a mutual understanding of our feelings towards one another. And he thinks you are just the perfect citizen, so don't worry about him punishing you for my insubordinate mouth, okay?" I try to calm her down, knowing that she's afraid of disappointing our beloved President. She's just as brainwashed as the rest of the Capitol's citizens.
She nods before fixing me with a glare. "Change. Now."
"Into what? The most formal thing that I own is that frilly purple dress from when I was eight."
She waves her hand. "Then borrow something of mine."
"Nothing will fit me. Not only are you at least five inches taller than me, but you're also a lot thinner."
Livi rolls her eyes and drags me off the couch. "Come on."
Another hour later and we are still digging through Livi's closet searching for something I can wear. Everything is either too long or won't fit over my hips.
After another ten minutes we finally stop.
"Honestly Livi, what I was wearing before was fine."
She glares at me. "Fine, but we're going shopping tomorrow to get you some nice clothes."
I roll my eyes as we go back downstairs and leave for the recaps.
When we arrive, most of the seats have already been taken up, but Livi says that there are seats reserved for us somewhere in the middle. Mentors and stylists take the front row while everyone else sits behind them. The most important people have seats on the higher levels.
Not too long after we sit down the show begins and Caesar Flickerman walks out onto the stage, waving and smiling at the crowd. He opens everything before the prep team walks out. They chirp and squeal and smile and generally make a fool of themselves. The next person to walk out is Darling, and while she isn't quite as obnoxious as her prep team, it's obvious that she enjoys the attention. It's her first year as a stylist and her tribute one. See, I was listening. Partially.
When Darling catches my eye a huge grin spreads over her face.
"Hello Conrey!" she calls and I groan, burying my face in my hands.
Beside me Livi laughs while continuing to cheer. I can feel someone's eyes burning into me so I look up and see none other than Finnick Odair turned around in his seat and laughing at me. When I glare at him he just smirks and throws me a wink before facing the stage again. Several women must've thought that he was winking at them because I see a few of them faint.
Rolling my eyes, (I do that a lot) I look back up at the stage just as Blight, Mason's mentor, walks onto the stage to deafening applause, but it's nothing compared to when Johanna Mason takes the stage, the Capitol's newest Victor.
She's definitely a lot different from what we saw before she went into her Games. Before she was a pathetic, whimpering girl and now she's strutting onto the stage in a short green dress with a victorious smirk on her face.
Everyone finally settles as the recaps begin.
It mostly focuses on Mason, occasionally switching over to the other tributes if there's a major fight going on somewhere. I cringe and close my eyes whenever a death is particularly horrible. These poor kids. Most of them aren't much younger than I am yet they have to go through all of this. I'm thankful for my life, for once, since I never have to fear the Hunger Games. Doesn't make it any better for the people who do.
Finally the moment comes when Mason reveals her true self, not the cowering girl that we've seen up till now. She played her part really well, actually. Just goes to show that you should never underestimate people. She takes out the rest of the competition in two days and victory is hers.
When the recaps end the crowd goes wild, showering Johanna Mason with flowers and cheers as Caesar rises her fist. They continue to cheer as President Snow places the crown on her head, saying something to her that I can't hear. After congratulating her one last time, Mason walks off the stage and we all leave.
"Well, wasn't that just exciting!" Liviana continues to gush about the Games and Mason's outfit the entire trip back home and I tune it out, tired of listening to her annoying voice for the day.
As soon as we get home I crash on the couch, not bothering to change my clothes or even go up to my room, and as I sleep, I dream of Johanna Mason driving her ax through my chest.