Chapter 5

I feel nervous as I approach the chariot. For the Tribute's Parade, I am wearing a long sleeveless dress that's covered in streaks of metallic and matte gold. Each streak resembles strands of grain to represent my district's industry, along with a golden grain tiara on my head. There are also golden streaks woven into my hair, which is done in a half up half down style.

Each tribute is required to wear a costume pretaining to their district's industry. I look at the other tributes, and while some of them actually look really good, some costumes lack inspiration.

The District 1 tributes are dressed in big fancy white outfits, which makes sense as their industry is luxury. The District 2 tributes look like warriors to fit their industry of masonry.

The District 4 tributes are wearing a fish net inspired ensemble to represent their industry of fishing, while the District 5 tributes are dressed as powerlines to represent power.

District 6 is dressed up as trains to represent transportation, and the District 7 kids look really embarassed in their tree costumes.

Out of all of them, the one who takes the cake for the worst would have to be the District 12 kids, who are dressed in crappy coal miner costumes.

As I approach the District 9 chariot, I see that Farley and his stylist, Ruben, are already there waiting for us. Farley is basically wearing the same thing as me, only his grain costume is a shirt and pants instead of a dress.

Mulvain, Hestia, and Alaster then head over to us to check out our costumes. "Oh my goodness! You guys look like runway models!" Alaster exclaims as he reaches to touch the fabric of my dress.

"Definitely not the worst we've had, we can work with this" Mulvain evaluates. He isn't wrong. Last year they had Clark and Lili dressed up as giant loaves of bread. No wonder they ordered new stylists.

Mulvain then turns to me. "Do you remember what we talked about?" He asks me.

"Yeah, smile, wave, and be friendly" I respond. I feel much better after my talk with Eviana down in makeup, and am ready to wave and smile until my face hurts.

"Good. These costumes will definitely give you a bit of an edge. All of the gold will draw their eyes to you, so make sure you keep their attention" He tells me.

We are then signaled to step into our chariots. Farley has to help me up as I'm too short for the step. As the doors open and the horses start to pull the chariots forward, District 1 leads the way out towards the Avenue of Tributes.

The audience members on either side are all screaming their heads off. To be honest, it's kind of scary seeing so many people screaming at you all at once, but I put on my happy face anyway and wave to them all as I pass by.

I see a bunch of people pointing Farley and I out, so I decide to wink at them and see how they react. They absolutely love it, and throw roses and gifts my way. I'm pretty good at this whole attracting sponsors thing. I look over at Farley, who is currently blowing a kiss at a group of girls in the front row. They lose their minds and start shouting something at him that I can't quite make out.

As we make our way to the end of the avenue, I can't help but clutch the side of my face, as I actually smiled so much that I made my face hurt. After the District 12 chariot joins us at the end, President Snow takes his position at the podium on the stage above us. I've only ever seen the man on TV, but he is way more terrifying in real life. He has a pitch black suit on that majorly constrasts his white hair. His face is a lot thinner than it is on TV, and his eyes resemble those of a snake's.

Everyone goes silent as he is about to speak. "Welcome! Welcome! Tributes, we welcome you. And we wish you, happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favour!"

His voice booms through the microphone as the crowd erupts in cheers. He pretty much says the same thing every year. The chariots are then pulled away back to the start where we are rejoined with our teams.

Our mentors and stylists along with Alaster join us as Farley and I step off our chariot. "That was absolutely perfect! The people love you, and I am sure sponsors are going to be lining up after seeing you two in your gold!" Alaster cheers.

"See, that wasn't so bad right?" Mulvain asks me, and I shake my head in reply.

"You two look exhausted! Let's get you to where you'll be staying" Ruben suggests, and we all head towards the main floor of the Tribute Center.

We're taken up to the ninth floor and shown to the apartment that houses the District 9 tributes. It is a huge and elegant living space with a giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The dining table and living room come together to form one giant room, and the wallpaper is royal blue layered with a pretty gray pattern. This could almost be considered a penthouse.

"If you follow me I will show you where you two will be staying" Alaster tells us, and leads us down a giant hallway behind the dining table.

When I get to my room I am immediately overwhelmed by how much space I now have. This room is way bigger than the one on the train, and I even get my own closet and bathroom complete with a shower. Back home we only have our wooden bathtub, and you have to go boil your own water to take a bath. Here, the hot water comes as soon as you turn the faucet. My bed is twice the size of the one I had on the train, and the covers are softer as well.

Laid out on the corner of the bed is the clothes I wore to the Reaping, all washed and neatly folded. My mother's dress looks twice as beautiful now that it's been washed, but is still a bit discoloured due to age.

The only thing missing is my locket, which Demitrius made me take off during prep. Tributes usually get jewlery and accessories confiscated in fear that they may contain some sort of hidden weapon they're attempting to sneak into the arena, at least that's what Demitrius told me. Even though I should have seen this coming, a wave of sadness still hits my heart as I think about the fact that I may never see it again. That was one of the only parts of my loved ones I had left.

After my shower I don't bother changing into the pyjamas that have been provided. Instead, I change into my mom's dress. Sure it may have been washed, but it still smells like home. I figure I might as well get some rest seeing as they want us up bright and early for our first day of training tomorrow.

Before I'm even able to get myself under the covers, I hear a knock at my door. "Hey, it's Farley. Can I come in?" Maybe I shouldn't let him in. It isn't the best idea to get attached to him, as only one person can win this game. Even so, I am a bit lonely.

"Sure" I respond, and watch as he quietly enters.

"You're back in your Reaping clothes? I thought for sure you'd never want to see those again" he says with a note of surprise as he takes a seat on the bed.

"This dress was my mom's. I wanted to be reminded of home, and didn't feel like wearing those booger-green atrocities they gave me" I say, and he laughs at my snide comment.

"Oh yeah, I think I might have heard someone mention a while back that your mom died. Is that true?" he asks me.

"Yeah, she's dead" I respond with a nod of my head.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. That sounded way less insensitive in my head, I promise" he apologizes, and I can't help but laugh at how flustered he's getting.

"It's ok. She died when I was a baby. In fact, she actually died having me" I say.

"No way. That must be really hard for you to live with" he says.

"Well, it is but it isn't. I know deep down that her body just couldn't physically handle child labour, and that it really isn't my fault. Even so, I can't help but feel even a little bit responsible. There's times when I think to myself that if it wasn't for me, she'd still be here smiling, humming, and dancing with my father like she used to. Every time I get like this, my dad is always there to tell me that he would never pin such a burden onto me, and that I should never feel like I killed her. He also likes to have me stand on his feet, and show me all of the dances they used to do together."

Dancing with my dad is one of my favourite memories to look back on as it always makes me smile. Whenever we danced, it always felt as though my mom was right there dancing with us.

"That sounds nice. Your dad is a really tough guy. I can't imagine losing someone like your mom and then having to raise a child all alone" Farley says.

"He's the most important person in my life. While he's not as confident and outgoing as he used to be, he is the strongest person I've ever met, and always put his needs aside to make sure I grow up right" I say. This conversation is really reminding me of how much I miss my dad, and if it goes on for much longer I'm going to cry again.

To avoid the lump forming in my throat I change the subject. "What about you? What are some your favourite memories of home?" I ask him.

"Well, I don't really have many heartwarming family ones like you have, but some of my favourites are from when I'd be in my room writing. I've always had a lot of time to myself. I was never the most popular in school, as no one fancied being friends with the mayor's son, and my parents would always be occupied with other things. My favourite way of escaping has always been putting a pen to paper. Sometimes I'd write about things that excite me, like magic faraway worlds and thrilling adventures. Other times I would write about things that would pretain to how lonely I would feel most of the time. Either way, it's always been a great distraction from the dreary life I usually lead."

All of a sudden I feel extremely sorry for Farley. I'd always remember seeing him off by himself in school, and kids would whisper about him all of the time just for the mayor being his father. Kids would resent him just because he had a bit more money than everyone else, and he didn't necessarily have to work as hard as the rest of us. What they didn't realise is that he's always had his own set of struggles, and the only method he would have to fill such a void would be his writing. And now he's here. He has no experience with any sort of hard labour, and definitely doesn't have a lot of physical skill. At least I have people who I can rely on and always have my back.

"I can't imagine what it would be like to grow up like that, I'm so sorry, Farley" is all I can say after that. Farley grimly chuckles.

"It's cool. You know, you, Cress, and Bil always seemed like a cool bunch to hang out with. I would just watch you guys goof off sometimes, and it would be enough to put a smile on my face" he says.

Before I know what I'm doing, I lunge at him and pull him into a tight hug. He seems surprised at first, but then relaxes into the hug.

We stay like that for a few minutes before pulling away. "It's getting late. We should sleep now if we want a chance of waking up for seven" Farley says as he gets up.

"Yeah, you're probably right. If you want to stick with me in training tomorrow, I wouldn't mind some company" I say.

"I'll keep that in mind. Good night, Katerina."

Before he has a chance to walk out the door I blurt out, "my friends just call me Rina."

He processes that for a while before saying, "ok. 'Night Rina," and closes the door behind him.

After a few minutes of tucking myself in and getting comfortable, I drift off to sleep with memories of me dancing on my father's feet fresh in my mind...