Disclaimer: I own nothing of Suzanne Collins's.
Chapter Five: A Turn of Events
Again, I smiled at her and thanked her for her compliment before walking away, insisting that my class at school was starting soon and I needed to get going. Though she tried to argue with me more, I kept on walking and eventually, she got the message that I really wasn't planning on doing any sort of volunteering for the Games.
For crying out loud, had this been the actual Games, then I would have been killed since he actually hit my pressure point. I don't see what was so impressive about it.
It wasn't until I reached the street again and saw a very angry looking Brutus speaking to his son near the corner. The academy had high concrete walls leading out of its doors and upon seeing them, I immediately retreated back in order to hear what was being said. Brutus and Enobaria must have come together that day in order to watch the potential tributes together and provide Zenobia with additional feedback.
"That was embarrassing, Flux!" He practically yelled for the whole district to hear. "You nearly got beat by someone who can't even wield a sword! Do you realize how humiliating that is for me?"
"For you?" Flux answered incredulously. "How do you think I feel? I didn't know she could move so quickly!"
"You're going to be the tribute this year for the boys, guaranteed Flux, but if you can't beat a scrawny little girl like Savera Stone then-"
"Dad, there won't be anyone like her at the Games! She got lucky was all-" He tried to defend, but his father was not taking that near as lightly.
He laughed without humor," Oh, really? And what if there are? What are you going to do? Just pull out a pathetic pressure point trick that I taught you and prove that you're that scared of getting defeated."
"I don't see why it's an issue; I won," Flux said, trying to defend his actions best as he could.
"You made yourself look weak. Especially in front of Zenobia, she didn't want the girl dead or anywhere near dead and look where you got her; as close to dead as she could have been without dying. You just proved to Zenobia Ivory that you are beatable and you were scared of being beaten; therefore you bent her rules," Brutus lectured, his tone sounding livid.
"But it's such a stupid rule," Flux whined, still trying to gain some credit for what he had done.
"A rule is a rule, Flux. You'll find that when you start dealing with the Capitol and their Hunger Games, then there will be none of your bending the rules even if it is a minor bend such as what you did today. Playing with Zenobia is about as close as you can get to playing with the Capitol and that's pushing the limit, Flux," Brutus told him sternly. "If you're going to win the Games this year, you're going to win it without controversy. Do you understand?"
There was a long pause and I was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to answer. After a overdrawn out pause, Flux finally agreed and I waited as they walked further down the sidewalk before stepping out from behind the concrete barriers and heading for the school to at least be late for my next class.
If there was one thing I needed to know about Brutus, then it was that he did not mess around. Especially not when winning was involved.
After my class at school, I arrived at home when evening had already set on the district, but my brother was sitting on the front porch, strumming away at one of the old instruments that we had sitting in our basement. At the sight of me, he stood up with a huge grin on his face. I wondered just what was wrong with him until I deduced that someone must have told him of the events from today.
Immediately, he grabbed me and spun me around before kissing me right on the cheek," You did it!"
"What?" I asked, scrutinizing his face as if he were crazy as he set me on the ground.
"You finally showed that kid up!" Ostro cheered, still smiling as we walked to the porch.
Just as I placed my foot on the step, I looked at him with narrowed eyes," He beat me. Everyone's telling me how great it was, but the truth of the matter is that he still knocked me unconscious."
"He broke the rules and that's something Zenobia needs to take into consideration-" Ostro tried, but I shook my head, being the stubborn teenager that I could be at times.
"He's better. He's what the Capitol expects out of a District Two tribute," I said simply, looking down at my shoes. I knew that he meant well and I know that all of them meant their words as words of encouragement, but I didn't want them to get the wrong idea: firstly because I was not interested in beating Flux or showing him that he wasn't the best in the academy. I was perfectly content with him being the best in the district! By all means, let him go to the Games and win. Would I root for him? Absolutely not. I probably wouldn't even watch the Games ,but I really didn't need any of this unnecessary attention.
I didn't need Flux to view me as competition.
If I thought that I was ignored before, then I most certainly was thereafter. Walking into the academy those next couple of days was equivalent to walking into a room full of angry wasps. None of them made eye contact, but they sure did make an attempt to beat me up when they passed by me, pushing, shoving, even pulling me to the ground once. Looking around, I had absolutely no one who I could trust.
I imagined the reason why most of them were grumpy was because they wanted to make sure that I wasn't chosen over them for one of the top three slots to volunteer. And they had nothing to worry about because, as I had predicted, the top three girls had been posted and none of them were me. Zenobia went ahead and announced that Flux would be the male tribute, without listing any of the other prospects (this was expected).
I thought that after this was said, then perhaps, I would be treated a little better. Or at least how I was before all of this, but Zenobia had called the three into a conference, presumably to let them know what the trials for judging would be that year, but I was still being treated like some sort of target for them.
The night before the Reaping, I sat on the back porch with my mother, chattingcasually about life in general. She was not nervous or heavy laden whatsoever, in fact, she seemed rather…chipper. She was wearing one of her old shawls, keeping it pulled tightly around her arms. Her hair was actually down and though it was slightly frizzy, just as mine was, I appreciated how beautiful my mother actually was when her hair was done.
"I'm glad I've only one teenager left," She said, under her breath more than anything, but I caught hold and took advantage of it.
"Why's that?" I asked, knowing the answer, but wanting to hear her verbalize it anyways.
"These Reapings make me a nervous wreck," She said, running her fingers through her hair. "Though I know you aren't on their little list; I can't help but feel for the mothers who've still got six children to go through."
"Well, in our district, parents seem to be proud of it," I added, twirling a piece of my hair around my finger.
Mother narrowed her hazel-brown eyes at me," Do you really think its pride, Savera? Or is it simply a cover up for what they really feel?"
Such thinking was probably forbidden by Capitol's standards, but since we were in the privacy of our own home, then nearly anything could have been said without any Peacekeepers knowing, though mother and I needed to be selective when we were around father. He mostly agreed with us when we expressed our opinions, but sometimes, he would scold us for ever saying such things. Deep down, there was an alliance to the Capitol that would never be broken between father and his country.
"No parent wants to send their child to slaughter," She said, tapping her fingers nervously on the table. "Not even Brutus with Flux. Do you know why he trains that boy so feverously?"
I did not answer, but simply looked into her eyes, waiting for a response.
"He knows that they expect something of him," She tapped her finger to prove her point. "He won the Games and they expect that boy to win. Generations are a favorite, but more importantly…Flux is one of the last family members he's got left. If Flux were to die, then not only would he be missing a piece of family; he'd be alone."
Flux's mother had died several years after Flux was born. I never really thought much of it like my mother did, but it most certainly made sense. The façade of pride was something that Brutus and Flux wore very well, but thinking of it from a new perspective made plenty of sense. No one wants to let down someone's expectations, nor do they want to be left alone. More importantly, as my mother stated, no one wanted to see their child killed. She had felt the ultimate sting of a child's death just four years before with my brother, Titus. Though the wound had healed, the scar never truly went away and never would. All of us had left Titus's room just the way it was the day of the Reaping, all of his clothing, dressers, and belongings hadn't been touched. In fact, I wasn't sure anyone, other than Ostro maybe, had even touched the doorknob.
Then I thought of the severity of the situation from Brutus' point of view. At least, we still had one another in our family, but he really would be living in that large home in Victor's Village alone. Empty rooms would forever haunt his being.
"Well, you've only one more year to worry about me," I said, half-joking and half-serious.
She smirked slightly, but it disappeared quickly," Yes, yes I do."
"I don't think you'll have to worry about that though," I said seriously, looking out over the landscape, which had turned dark.
"I surely hope not," She said with a smile, grabbing my hand and squeezing it reassuringly. "Thank you for being my little girl and not my little fighter."
I smiled wide at her before nodding and bidding her a good night. She probably stayed on that porch for a long time, sitting and waiting. Even though she had nothing to worry about, worry she would like she had so many Reaping-eves before.
That morning, I drug myself from bed and awoke feeling well-rested. Like many Reapings before, I ate a nice, full breakfast that mother had prepared before allowing her to dress up my hair and help me into my outfit for the day. My hair this year would not be up, but down, since it was getting rather long. It flowed to nearly my mid back and mother used some sort of concoction that she presumably had received from her friends in the Capitol to give my hair "volume" and wave, rather than curl. I didn't argue much ,but just let her do whatever she felt like.
My dress that year was a forest green that I felt made me look even more pale than usual, but mother insisted. I wore the dress that was filled with all sorts of ruffles and frills without complaint (at least not out loud) before she allowed me to wear my own black slippers that I would have worn every day of the year, if I could.
The time came for us to leave the house and walk the streets, seeing everyone dressed in their best once again. The process had become mundane really and I could almost go through all of the stations and lines and patterns without even listening to the Peacekeeper's directing me. That year, I looked back to see my mother, father, and brother wave bye to me once, all of them looking just as nice and bright as everyone else, before I turned to gather with my own age group.
Again, I felt several pairs of eyes upon me whenever I arrived and I just so happened to end up standing next to Wren. Finding her to be someone with whom I could at least converse with, I complimented her light blue dress to which she looked at me as if I had a third eye.
"Are you crazy?" She whispered back, nearly glaring at me. "We aren't suppose to talk!"
I rolled my eyes, noticing that the nearest Peacekeeper was several feet away," I don't think talking is going to condemn us."
Nevertheless, she turned her head away, not speaking another word.
Letting out a sigh, I turned my head forward to the Justice Building which had been meticulously decorated for the day. It wasn't long before our gregarious escort, whose name I still couldn't remember, came to the podium, taking control of it immediately before loudly saying," Welcome all!"
She babbled for several minutes, speaking about how thoroughly excited she was for this year and how she knew there was good blood in this pack before looking nonchalantly in Flux's direction, who looked extremely lethal that day, dressed entirely in black. I wanted to roll my eyes at the sight of this, but still kept a stoic face, nevertheless. They played the same video they had year after year and when it was finally done, she smoothed out her turquoise hair and giggled," I can feel the excitement in the air!"
I don't know who she was looking at, but this crowd most certainly wasn't "brimming with excitement." All eyes were on her long, white nails as she dug down into the deep, clear bowl, choosing the girl's name first. Somewhere, the elite girls were just brimming with excitement to pounce up and volunteer for whoever's name was in her hand. The escort made an effort to pull out the silence for longer than necessary before opening the envelope.
My mind focused on something else entirely, I don't remember what, but I had been fixated by something else far off in the distance. I don't remember actually hearing the escort's voice announce the name, but I do remember feeling all eyes on me. Shaking out of my daze, I looked at the lot of them suspiciously before making the connection as to what had happened.
I was the second Stone to have been reaped for the Hunger Games.
Before my heart could beat from its chest, I reminded myself that someone would volunteer and that I would not be sent into that arena.
But…no one stepped forward. No one volunteered.
A/N: Spring Break has been awesome because I've been able to just write and write, so please drop a review and let me know what you think! Thanks to those who have already. :D
