Chapter 24:
Sky Odum, 13, District Nine
Sky has never seen so much stupidity in her life as she has at this party, and she grew up with Marek Hall. How can the other tributes just so willingly participate in this frivolous event celebrating the fact that by this time tomorrow, some of them are going to be dead?
Maybe the reason she's so miserable here is the stupid thoughts that keep invading her head about what this party would have been like if Marek would have won and she attended the party with him… Which is stupid to think about. Why would he have brought her to this party? He probably would have brought Carolina with him, just like he asked his parents to adopt her over Sky.
"This is stupid," Sky grumbles for the fiftieth time this hour as Fonio keeps a tight hold on her shoulder, doing his damn best to keep her in check this evening. "People are dying tomorrow and all they care about is this? Looking like clowns and cheering on a death match?"
"Quiet," Fonio tells her, fake grin still on his old ass face as he leads her away from some Capitolites that overheard her. Sky doesn't know how Fonio was ever one of the most talked about victors with how gross he looks now. It's disgusting. Almost as disgusting as these people that keep trying to talk to her about Marek and tell her how they supported him last year or some bullshit.
"Don't tell me to be quiet," Sky says in a huff to him, crossing her arms as he stops her next to the wall. She wishes they didn't force them into this party. Why let them have fun and try to forget the fact that all but one of them is going to be dead in a matter of weeks?
"I can and I will," Fonio sasses her back, crossing his arms as he looks down at her. "Because I'm your mentor and I'm trying to help you out, yet you keep doing everything I tell you not to do."
"Because what you tell me to do is stupid," Sky tells him, scowling a bit at the suggestions he's made. "I'm not pretending to these assholes that I'm happy to be here. And I sure as hell will not lie to them about Marek."
Fonio sighs loudly and leans up against the wall next to her as the music stops. He pinches the bridge of his nose as he shakes his head at her. "Why did I agree to mentor this year?" Fonio mutters to himself as a woman heads out onto the stage and taps the microphone to get everyone's attention.
"Hellooooo everybody!" Kora Flickerman tells the crowd and people cheer in response to her, only making Sky scowl even more. "We all hope you have been having fun so far! Now we'll get back to the music soon but we have a little bit of a surprise. How about a little friendly competition?"
Competition? Fuck no. No competition they could possibly suggest will be enjoyable to Sky.
"Now in the spirit of the Games, we have a little friendly competition between the tributes planned," Kora says, getting murmurs of excitement from the crowd. "Now a couple rules real quick. Keep it nice and clean fun. We're just here to have a friendly competition, not be rude to anyone."
"She's probably talking to you," Fonio whispers to Sky, making her put up a middle finger to him without looking in his direction.
"Do you just strive to be an asshole?" Sky asks him, only making the man laugh at her question and furthering her scowl. "God, I can't wait to get in the arena just to get away from you."
"So who will be the victor…" Kora says dramatically, giving a lengthy pause before winking at the crowd, "Of the karaoke battle?"
"Oh fuck," Sky mutters as the crowd of Capitolites gets excited about this. But Sky…she just wants to run far away from this party instead of being forced to sing in front of them for their amusement. But the worst thing is knowing that stupid Marek would have been so excited about this and he would have dragged her up on stage with him.
Sky shuts her eyes, hitting her head a couple times against the wall behind her, hoping the action will get these traitorous thoughts out of her head. Why does she keep thinking about him? And not in ways that make her hate him more, but ways that remind her of the good times they had before he ruined everything? She can't be feeling this way. Not with the Games starting in less than 24 hours.
"We randomly assigned tributes to a bracket so first up is…" Kora tells the crowd, once again pausing to make things unnecessarily dramatic. "Bellona versus Sky!"
"No," Sky says, immediately opening up her eyes at hearing her name called out. "No fucking way am I going up on that stage."
"I don't think you have a choice," Fonio tells her as the crowd starts searching for her as Bellona takes the stage, getting handed a microphone and looking completely comfortable up on the stage in front of the crowd.
"I'm not singing with her," Sky spits out, knowing the only way this could be worse was if she was forced to sing with Anastacia. "I hate the careers."
"Well get in line," Fonio sighs loudly at her as he starts leading her up to the stage. "Just lose this first round and then you can be done with this."
"Yeah but I don't want to lose to a career," Sky retorts, crossing her arms and trying futilely to stop Fonio from getting her on that stage.
"Well I guess you have a tough decision to make," Fonio answers sarcastically as he pushes Sky towards the stairs on the side of the stage.
Sky looks up at Bellona, finding the career smugly looking down at her, and with that, Sky storms onto the stage, ready to beat this career. She rips the microphone out of the band singer's hand that is offered to her and glares over at Bellona. "You're going down."
"Whatever you say," Bellona answers with a confident laugh, only making Sky grow angrier at the career. She gestures to list of songs being offered by the band as a group of people, including some of the tributes, starts to gather in front of the stage. "If you think you can win, well, be my guest and pick the song."
Sky skims over the list, not recognizing some of the songs because there isn't much opportunity to listen to music when you're living on the streets, but there is one song she recognizes… One song Marek always disliked because there are two versions, one 'too mean' for him. But it's exactly that reason she wants to sing it now. "That one," Sky says, pointing at the list for the band to know.
"Alright then," Bellona says with a casual shrug. "But hate to break it to you, but District Two is also winning this competition."
The crowd 'ooos' at these fighting words and Odyssey calls out from in front, cheering on his partner as the music starts playing. "Woo, go Bell!"
Bellona grins at his cheers, only making Sky's scowl deepen as her thoughts turn to Marek again and how he would have been up front cheering for her, making her forget to even sing along to the song as the first verse starts, giving Bellona an advantage already. Both of these things make Sky angrier as they reach the first chorus, and she screams the lyrics to the song, directing it at both the careers and Marek. "And I'm like, fuck you!" Sky screams, sticking a middle finger at Bellona, not even making the career lose her focus at all on singing the song.
Sky keeps singing angrily along to the song and somewhere in the second chorus they shut off her mic, only making her scream "Fuck you!" even louder. But at the bridge of the song, Sky starts stumbling over the words, unable to sing along, the words just hitting too close and tearing open the wound in her chest that she has barely kept close from Marek's death. She can't even sing the line, knowing it's true… "I still lo-"
Sky shuts down at that, staying silent for the remainder of the song, doing her best to keep from breaking down on the stage in front of everyone. Yet Bellona keeps singing the song, doing her best to perform well and the crowd cheers her on, just like they did for the careers last year, cheering them on when they killed Marek…
The song ends and Sky drops the microphone to the ground, before storming off the stage and not even waiting for Kora to come on stage. "Alright, so we'll let BTR decide the winners of the remaining rounds, but the winner of this round is Bellona, with Sky being disqualified for not following the rules."
The crowd cheers Bellona on as Sky storms off, finding her mentor following after her as she tries to get far away from the stage. "Sky," Fonio calls after her and she picks up her pace, hoping the old hag won't be able to keep up with her. "Sky!" Fonio says as he grabs onto her shoulder, forcing her to turn around and face him.
"What?" Sky screams at him, barely holding in her tears at this point. She barely hears the lead singer, Elliot or Elias or whatever his name is, bring up Delta and Atropa for the next round.
Fonio stares at her face in surprise for a moment before his face hardens and he puts both hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at her. "You need to cut this shit out now. You need to actually listen to me and what I'm telling you to do because news flash, I know what I'm doing and have the best track record of the victors in Nine in bringing home tributes. I have reasons for what I tell you."
Sky glares up at him as the song starts playing, and she listens to Atropa sing it while Delta just speaks the words, sounding so displeased by this. "You are…my fire. The one…desire."
At the song, the tears finally start falling as she has a dumb memory fill her head of Marek first hearing this song and stupidly singing along to it in front of her, making her laugh and think he was singing those words about her.
"Look, Sky," Fonio sighs when he sees the tears on her face and she holds back a sob. "I know you are hurt, but you need to calm down with how you're acting here in the Capitol. You're making people unhappy with you and-"
"I don't care, I don't want them happy with me," Sky interrupts him, trying to wipe away the dumb tears falling down her cheeks.
"Yes you do," Fonio firmly tells her and she starts frowning at him. "Make the right people unhappy and you're done. Do you understand what that means?"
"Game over," Sky whispers to him and he nods his head.
"Yes, game over. You're dead if the right people don't want you to win." Fonio pauses to let these words sink in. "So cut this bullshit while you're in the Capitol. Play their stupid games. And please stop screaming 'fuck you' at people."
"But they deserve it-"
"No," Fonio interrupts firmly. "I don't care if they deserve it or not. You stop that now or you'll sign your death sentence before even reaching the arena. Understand?" Sky really doesn't want to agree with him, but at that moment, she just feels…defeated by it all and the anger is dissipating, leaving her feeling hollow inside. So she nods her head at him and he pats her shoulder. "Good. Now we're going to sit on the side of the room and we're going to just watch them play their games and you're not going to say anything about it or Marek or the careers."
Sky begrudgingly lets Fonio lead her to some seats nearby and he gives the two Capitolites – who look as if they're doing a terrible job hiding their age – sitting there are flirty smile that makes Sky want to vomit, but the Capitolites fawn over. "Would you mind letting us two sit in these chairs?"
"Oh of course," one of them says right away as they stand up.
The other follows suit, stepping closer to Fonio and gently putting a hand on his arm. "Anything for you."
"Thank you," Fonio grins at them as they leave, leaning close to each other and giggling as they glance back at him.
"You're fucking disgusting," Sky tells him as she throws herself down into the seat, still feeling like she might vomit a little.
Fonio just shrugs at this as he takes his seat as the song finishes. "You use what you can to get what you want."
"Still disgusting," Sky mutters, watching the stage as the lead singer has the band vote on this round's winner. In a 4-1 vote, Atropa wins and Delta doesn't look upset about this at all.
As much as she doesn't want to listen to Fonio, she stays in her seat, feeling number and not having energy to stay mad at the crowd. So she watches the karaoke battle, not knowing what else to do.
"Okay next up is Fox versus Major!"
The boy from One happily takes the stage as the District Two pair cheers him on. Fox follows after him, chuckling nervously as he looks over at the career. "I'll admit, I only know baby songs…"
"Well I'll pick then!" Major cheerfully says, laughing a little as he looks over the list.
It doesn't take long for him to settle on a song and when the band starts, Major busts out a full dance routine to the song, leaving Fox with no chance of winning based on how the crowd cheers for the career. "He's a cold hearted snake, look into his eyes."
Fox tries his best with the song, but Major is just blowing him out of the water with his performance, much to Sky's dismay. The band unanimously votes for Major to be the winner, and Fox shrugs and smiles at this, still being polite in defeat. "A well-earned win," Fox tells Major, making the career look even more smug about the victory as they head off the stage and Major joins his allies and Fox heads off to find Adam.
"Next tier! First is Bellona versus Eliot!"
Sky scowls at the career that beat her, but stays quiet, unlike her allies whooping and cheering her on as she takes the stage confidently once more. Sky's District partner runs up with that typical energy he has, bouncing a bit on his toes as he grins at his two allies that are doing their best to cheer him on compared to the careers next to them. Eliot lets Bellona pick the song, which turns out to be his mistake, because while he has a fun time singing along, he doesn't have the performance energy that Bellona has. But it might also be the fact that the thirteen year old can't really sing well asking "What is love?"
But the vote is closer this time from the band, a three to two victory in Bellona's favor. Eliot doesn't seem to care at all as he leaves the stage, going back to talking to Jessamine.
"Next is Eva versus Arthur!"
Eva takes the stage, picking out a song before a skeptical looking Arthur even gets up there. Eva puts her best effort in, while Arthur does the bare minimum of singing, growing increasingly more uncomfortable with the Capitolites cheering them on as the song progresses. But Eva makes up for this as she sings, "Do you believe in life after love?"
Again, it's a four to one victory for Eva, with the long haired member being the one to give a pity vote again for the obvious loser.
"And how about we get Amelia versus Atropa up here?"
Sky is almost certain that the girl from Three will lose the round after seeing how broken she has been this whole time. But she takes the stage with a new stubbornness in her and Atropa stares at her for a moment before letting Amelia pick out the song. The crowd groans at the first few beats of the music, only making Amelia start laughing a little bit, seemingly surprising herself. "We're no strangers to love," Amelia starts singing, a little nervous at first, but with Courtney cheering her on in the front of the stage, she grows more confident throughout the song, outshining Atropa.
Amelia wins three to two and she's smiling as she leaves the stage, and Atropa just shrugs at the loss as she joins her District partner again, doing her best to keep him awake and looking peppy.
"And last up in this round is Major versus Courtney!"
Major returns to the stage with confidence and Courtney joins him, looking awed once more to be up on that stage again with BTR. "Go ahead, pick the song," Major tells her, standing back and looking smug about his shot at victory. Courtney, unsurprisingly, picks a song by the band, and they both go hard as they sing along to the song. "Any kind of guy you want girl, that's the guy I'll be," the two sing along, Courtney having the time of her life and Major still trying to do choreography to the song.
It takes the band a minute to decide on the winner, and eventually in a three to two vote, they choose Courtney. Major keeps the smile on his face as he leaves the stage, but Sky can see the raging anger in his eyes as he ignores his allies and heads over to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Courtney is just absolutely thrilled at the band picking her as the winner.
"Alright we have four tributes left in this round. Let's see who will make it to the semi-final with Bellona versus Eva!"
The two take the stage with different levels of confidence, and a close round starts once more. Bellona goes to pick the song and Eva makes a comment about her just thinking she can choose, so Bellona steps back and gestures to the list, letting Eva choose. "My loneliness is killing me…" Bellona sings dramatically at the chorus, and it's clear from there that she's going to beat Eva.
"I think they're biased towards her," Sky mutters and Fonio lets out a noise of agreement as Bellona wins in a three to two vote.
"Now for a fight between two allies, Amelia versus Courtney!"
Courtney lets Amelia pick the song and they both look like they're having a fun time as they sing a song together saying thanks for the memories. Courtney gets Amelia to be laughing as they sing, sometimes fumbling over the words but not looking too bothered by it. But yet, the band still picks Courtney as the winner in a three to two vote, and Amelia gives her ally a pat on her shoulder, not looking too upset at losing.
"Okay Courtney you might as well stay up on this stage and Bellona, get back up here because it is time for the semi-final!"
The crowd cheers as the two girls get ready to sing against each other and Courtney lets Bellona pick out the song. Both have their allies cheering them on from in front of the stage and they both give it their all as they sing, "The love shack is a little ol' place where we can get away!"
The lead singer steps up after they finish, looking torn between the two girls. "Okay I think we need to have the audience help us vote for who will go on to the final round. So cheer loudly if you want Courtney!" A good amount of noise is made for Courtney and the singer nods his head at this. "Alright, alright, good show. And now cheer if you want Bellona!" The cheers are much louder for the career and the winner is clear. "Okay moving on to the final round is…Bellona!"
Odyssey whoops at Bellona winning and the two girls leave the stage. The singer stays up front, getting ready to move on. "Alright we're going to take a short break and then we will start the next half!"
Odyssey Gunderson, 18, District Two
Odyssey knows he should be thinking ahead about the Games starting tomorrow, but why not focus on the now and having fun at this party? Why can' he just have a good time and also be prepared for the Games tomorrow? That's at least what he's told Kat, who begrudgingly agreed with him before telling him to at least make sure that he made a lasting impression with the sponsors.
But she has no reason to worry about that. He made a lasting impression as Venus and interviewing as his drag persona has made sure the Capitol remembers him. And now he's going to win this karaoke battle and prove to everyone he can become the victor twice.
"You better get ready to lose, Bell," Odyssey jokes with Bell as they wait for the second round of the karaoke battle to start up.
"You have a long way to go," Bell teases him, laughing as she shakes her head. "We'll see if you're just as good of a performer when you're out of drag."
"Hey you're the one that calls me a queen all the time," Odyssey jokes back with a wink, making her laugh a bit, but it's a bit forced compared to before.
"Hey Bell!"
They turn at Glacia calling Bell and the victor waves her over. Bell sighs as she looks back at Odyssey, giving him an apologetic smile. "I better not keep her waiting. But good luck on that stage. Make sure to slay."
"Oh I will!" Odyssey calls after her, grinning at her reaction of shaking her head at him. The grin is still on his face as he looks around at the tributes nearby, waiting for their turn at karaoke. He finds one of the younger ones looking nervous as he stands there waiting, and Odyssey walks over to him, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Hey dude, no need to look so nervous about performing."
Davy lets out a noise of surprise at Odyssey talking to him and his cheeks start heating up in embarrassment as he looks away from the career. "I'm uh…not nervous about that – I mean I am, but…"
"Hey, I'll let you in on a secret," Odyssey says as he gently bumps Davy's arm, making the boy flinch as he looks back up at him. "Even I still get a little nervous about performing."
"Really?" Davy asks in surprise, still looking a little shocked by Odyssey actually talking to him.
"Yep," Odyssey nods his head, giving Davy an encouraging smile. "You just have to get up on that stage and do your best to pretend the crowd isn't there."
"But I can't…" Davy says and sighs as he looks away from Odyssey. Odyssey follows his gaze over to where his mentor stands with her youngest son. "Not with who is here…"
"Ah," Odyssey says, putting it together when he sees Davy flush at the boy looking over and smiling at him. "Well, dude, sometimes when you have feelings for someone, you just need to go up to them and say 'Hey, I like you' and take that chance."
"No, no, I can't do that… Have you done that?" Davy asks him, looking up at him hopefully. "Did it work?"
"Did I do that? No, I haven't. I, uh…haven't told anyone…" Odyssey trails off as he also looks around the room, his gaze landing on one of the younger victors present, talking to the boy he brought with him, someone Odyssey knows from Pride. Yet as he looks at them, standing there together, a weird feeling he's not used to slowly bubbles up in his stomach. Is that…jealousy?
He quickly turns back to Davy, not wanting to think too much on these feelings rising up. He pats Davy on the shoulder and gives him a reassuring smile. "You'll do fine, I promise. I'll cheer you on in the crowd."
"Alright tributes, let's get this show going again!" Elias Galante tells the crowd as the band comes back out on the stage.
"You got this," Odyssey tells Davy, giving him another encouraging smile that Davy tries his best to return, before Odyssey heads over towards the other careers gathered by the stage. He looks around at the group, not finding Bell or Major with them, but he quickly finds Bell still talking to Glacia. "Where's Major?"
"Who knows?" Anastacia responds, not sounding too concerned about where her District partner is right now.
Odyssey shrugs in return and brings his attention back to the stage and Elias. "Okay everyone, let's get started with the next round. First up is the dude who has the best name, Elias, versus Anastacia."
"You got this!" Odyssey tells Anastacia as she doesn't look too sure about that as she heads out onto the stage. Elias joins her, looking very unsure about this whole thing.
"I don't sing…" Anastacia says sadly as she looks at the lead singer of BTR before turning to Elias. "Just pick a song."
"Uh…" Elias looks confused about the list and Odyssey feels bad for the guy. "That one," he says, just pointing at a song on the list.
Anastacia shakes her head at the choice, taking the microphone. The band waits for them to start and when it's clear Elias won't start singing, Anastacia starts the song. "Somebody once-"
The crowd quickly joins in singing along to the song, Odyssey included, laughing a bit as Bell joins them again and they dance along. With the crowd singing, it covers up Anastacia struggling to keep pitch and Elias standing there with wide eyes, fumbling over the words and clearly not knowing the song at all.
When the song ends, Odyssey cheers on Anastacia, just like he did with Bell and Major when they were up. "Go Anastacia!"
"Alright good crowd participation," Elias the singer says to them. "And the winner is Anastacia!"
"Woo!" Odyssey cheers as his ally leaves the stage.
"Next up is Odyssey versus Adam!"
Odyssey is grinning as he takes the stage, getting that exhileration he always gets before a performance.
"Yeah Odyssey!" Bell cheers up at him as he takes the microphone, only making him grin even more.
Adam is much slower to get up onto the stage and Odyssey feels bad for the poor guy. "Go ahead and pick the song," Adam says quietly to him as he is handed his microphone. "You're the one who knows what you're doing."
"You sure?" Odyssey asks him, getting a nod from Adam. "Alright then, let's see…" Odyssey skims over the list of remaining songs, grinning when he sees one of the songs he loves to perform to as Venus. "That one."
The music starts and Odyssey lets himself get into that place for his performances, grinning out at the crowd cheering as he starts singing, even incorporating some of his dance moves into it – thanks Major, for that idea. "I want your love and I want you revenge-" Odyssey nearly stumbles over the words he knows by heart as he looks out at the crowd and finds Misha has moved closer to the stage and he's looking right at Odyssey. For the rest of the song, Odyssey avoids looking at the crowd, not sure what to do about the bundle of nerves in his stomach, and focusing on getting Adam to sing the song with him and try not to just stand there. The boy from Seven does his best, but Odyssey doesn't push him too much, just enough to get him to at least make a bit of an impression with the crowd.
But when the song is over and the band votes Odyssey the winner in a four to one vote, it's not quite a surprise to anyone watching. "Hey, you did a good job," Odyssey tells Adam as they walk off the stage, even offering to help him get down the few stairs.
"You don't have to lie to me…" Adam says quietly, looking upset about his performance.
"I'm not," Odyssey tries to reassure him, but he can tell it's not working. So he sighs as he lets go of Adam's arm and lets him go over to his ally. When Odyssey turns to head back to his allies, he has a smile back on his face as he greets them, letting the thrill of the performance fill him.
"Nice job," Bell tells him right away, giving him a pat on the shoulder.
"Thanks," he says with a big grin at her, and she quickly looks away from him.
"Next up we have Demarcus versus Fete!"
"You got this," Odyssey tells his ally, seeing instantly the way his face is filled with terror at going up on the stage. His ally tries his best to put on a brave face for the performance, but Odyssey can tell his anxiety is kicking into high gear.
"Come on, feet boy!" Atropa shouts at Fete as he takes the stage, looking fired up as he takes the microphone and holds it too close to his mouth. Demarcus defers to Fete to pick the song and Fete makes his choice.
Fete has more energy than Odyssey has seen in him yet, only making Demarcus' nervousness even more prominent as they start singing. Fete gets really into it, thoroughly enjoying singing the line, "What a shame the poor groom's bride is a whore." Demarcus keeps trying, but halfway through he starts stuttering over the words. "Go Demarcus!" Odyssey shouts, trying to give his ally a little confidence boost, but it's too late. When the song ends, the band votes four to one in Fete's favor and Demarcus quickly leaves the stage, heading away from their group.
"Should we go after him?" Delta asks them, not really sounding like she's volunteering.
"I can go," Odyssey offers, but Bell shakes his head at him.
"You can't, you'll be up again soon," Bell tells him, making him pout a little.
But before any of them can head over, Major approaches Demarcus, putting a hand on his arm comfortingly as he leads him off to the side. "Oh good," Odyssey comments, getting a 'hmph' from Anastacia.
"We'll be starting the next round with Calvin versus Anastacia!"
They cheer on their ally once more, but she still does not look very confident as she takes the stage once more. Meanwhile, Calvin looks like he's on a mission to win this competition. The song chosen is one Odyssey recognizes from his drag performances, and he has fun cheering them on. And he'll admit, it's amusing to see serious Calvin and Anastacia singing, "It's raining men, hallelujah." But Anastacia doesn't do as well as Calvin, and she knows this when the song ends and she's frowning.
Calvin wins in a three to two vote, though, and Odyssey smiles at Anastacia when she returns. "Hey at least you made it to the second round!"
"Yeah, you got as far as Major," Bell adds on.
"Would have been better if I beat him," Anastacia mutters to himself as the next pair is announced.
"Next is Davy versus Carameuse!"
Davy is nervous as he takes the stage, but Odyssey cheers him on, making him form a small smile. But at least he's not nearly as nervous as Carameuse is as she stands far back on the stage and away from their group, leaving Davy to pick the song. "Uhh… Mr. Brightside? I guess?" Odyssey keeps cheering on the boy as he sings, barely being joined by Carameuse. And when he wins four to one, Odyssey is proud of the kid.
"Next we have Genesis versus Odyssey!"
"Here we go!" Odyssey says to his allies as he takes the stage once more. Genesis doesn't look as bad as Adam did on the stage, but she seems to already look defeated. "You can choose the song," Odyssey tells her, wanting to at least give her a small chance.
"Okay," Genesis answers, quickly looking away from Odyssey and picking another song he is familiar with from performing. Odyssey tries again to help Genesis sing, like he did with Adam, but she clearly doesn't want anything to do with him. So he sings 'I Will Survive' on his own, playing up the crowd again.
So when the band votes him the winner four to one, it's not a big surprise. He is the performer, after all. "Good try," Odyssey says to her genuinely, but Genesis doesn't respond to him, choosing to head off the stage quickly and stay away from him. He shrugs at this, having had years of dealing with people criticizing him to let one person reacting to him now disappoint him.
"And he keeps on winning," Bell tells him as he joins them again.
Odyssey chuckles at her, "Well I did tell you to get ready to lose."
"Not a chance," Bell responds.
"Next up is Fete versus Jessamine."
The crowd is awkward as Fete and Jessamine take the stage. "Are they really making her do this?" Anastacia asks them and Odyssey just shrugs.
But Jessamine wants to pick out the song and when Fete sees it, he gives her an exasperated look. "Seriously? 'Despacito'? It's in Spanish!" But Jessamine seems insistent on this so Fete sighs, putting on a determined face and getting ready to do his best. "Fine, but if I lose because it's Spanish, I'm calling for a revote." When the song starts though, Fete has nothing to worry about as Jessamine obviously makes no attempt to sing, but rather just dances near one of the speakers, leaving Fete to struggle with the Spanish song.
One of the members of the band at least gives Jessamine a vote so she doesn't lose completely, and she smiles as she heads back to her allies.
"Alright, time to decide who will be in the semi-final with Calvin versus Davy!"
"Yeah Davy!" Odyssey cheers for him again, but the younger boy is clearly less confident this time as he goes up against a much older tribute.
Davy lets Calvin pick the song and even with Odyssey cheering him on, Davy struggles with being up on the stage and singing the song. He tries his best, but Calvin is just much better than him at singing 'Counting Stars', but at least Davy is trying.
The band gives Davy two votes, making him at least a bit more confident, but not by much since he did still lose. Odyssey gives the boy a thumbs up as he walks past, which he just returns with a sad smile.
"And next up Odyssey versus Fete!"
Odyssey takes the stage once more and Fete gives him a bored look as he joins him, no longer looking ready to go with these songs. "Go ahead and pick," Fete says with a wave and fighting off a yawn. "Obviously you're going to win."
"Well you can still try," Odyssey tries to tell him but Fete just gives him a deadpan look. "Okay, okay, how about a dramatic rendition?"
The crowd laughs at the penny whistle opening of the song and Odyssey fights off the smile, wanting to give a truly dramatic rendition of this song. He turns around, facing the back of the stage, waiting for the words to start to turn around and face the crowd, "Every night in my dreams… I see you, I feeeeelll youuuu."
Fete has absolutely no chance of winning against Odyssey with this song and he kind of just stands back, arms crossed as he feebly tries to sing along. Odyssey wins in a unanimous vote, making him start grinning as he stays up on the stage for the semi-final.
"Alright Calvin, get back up here for the semi-final!"
Calvin joins Odyssey on stage, looking absolutely determined to beat him, and Odyssey knows this might be the first round where Odyssey actually has to try to win. "I'm picking the song," Calvin tells Odyssey, who holds up his hands and gestures at the boy from Three.
"Go for it," Odyssey tells him, still feeling confident that he can win this round. After all, this is what he wants to do for a living. Well, maybe not sing karaoke battles, but performing songs. Calvin chooses a challenging song, but Odyssey is ready for it. He has to win so he can go against Bell in the final round. "Bohemian Rhapsody, bold choice," he tells Calvin, but the boy doesn't acknowledge him, just waiting for them to start singing.
And Calvin gives his best shot, so Odyssey does the same, adding that bit of performer flair that Calvin is lacking. The boy may have determination, but he isn't a performer, just standing in the same spot and not working the crowd at all.
"Okay, it's time to let the audience decide," Elias Galante says when the song ends, and Odyssey is pretty sure he'll win, but there's still that possibility. "Cheer if you think Calvin is the winner." The crowd gives a good response to Calvin, making Odyssey a little nervous that he might actually win. "Now cheer if you think Odyssey is the winner."
There's no question when the crowd cheers that Odyssey is the winner. He's grinning as they quiet down and he looks down at Bell, "Told you."
"You still got one more round to win," Bell tells him as she comes back up on the stage, making the crowd cheer at her fighting words. But Odyssey knows it's all in good fun, based on the smile on her face.
"Here's to a Two victory," Odyssey tells her, holding out his hand to her.
"Just like in the Games," Bell says as she shakes his hand, making the crowd cheer for their unity as a team, even when they're about to go up against each other.
"Okay," Elias says, getting the crowd to quiet down. "Now for the finale, we have a little twist. You must choose from a duet to sing."
Odyssey gestures to Bell, "Ladies choice."
"That confident in your performance abilities?" Bell teases him as she takes the list of songs.
"You know it," Odyssey answers back, winking at the crowd at this. "So, what will it be, Bell?"
"Hmm," Bell says as she skims over the list before handing it back to Elias. "How about 'Right Here, Right Now'?"
It's an interesting choice, but Odyssey doesn't comment on that. "Alright, don't be too upset when you lose."
"Are you telling that to me or are you preparing yourself?" Bell jokes, making the crowd 'ooh' at her fighting words.
"All for you, Bell," Odyssey jokes back, trying to get himself ready to sing because he knows Bell is going to go all out.
Odyssey starts the first verse, looking over at Bell who patiently waits for her turn to sing, smiling at him and looking like she's blushing a little. Odyssey gives her a confused look as he reaches the chorus, and he turns away from her to avoid…whatever that look is. Yet his gaze finds the one person in the crowd that he wants to also avoid thinking about as he sings. "Right here…right now. I'm looking at you, and my heart loves the view…"
Odyssey quickly looks away from Misha after that line, feeling his face flushing as he turns back to Bell and tries to just quickly finish the chorus without fumbling at all. God…what is happening to him? He's never like this…
He's a damn fool in denial.
Odyssey tries to focus on Bell as she starts singing her part of the song, but his thoughts and gaze keep glancing out at the crowd, finding Misha standing out there and looking right at him. Bell is giving the performance her all, just like Odyssey expected her to. She's singing just like he would at a show, and he wonders if she has been watching him so she can use his own moves against him.
He joins in again at the chorus, harmonizing with her to try and give himself an edge. "Right here, I promise that somehow…tomorrow can wait for some other day to be."
"But right now there's you and me," Bell continues, and Odyssey's thoughts go where he's tried to avoid all this time as he keeps singing the song, listening to the lyrics. Tomorrow has to wait…he can't go into the Games without saying something… But what a terrifying thought it is to open up about feelings he's just admitting to himself that he has.
The song finishes up before Odyssey really realizes is, caught up in his thoughts as he sings the song. The music stops and the crowd cheers for them as he stares over at Bell, unsure on what he's supposed to even be thinking right now. She stares back at him, giving him a hesitant smile that's so out of character for her, but before Odyssey has time to even think about it, Elias steps up and puts a hand on both of their shoulders. "Alright, very good performance by the tributes of District Two! But now we must somehow pick who is the victor of the karaoke battle. So, who will it be?"
He gets the crowd to cheer for each of them, but Odyssey can't tell any difference in the volume of the crowd. "I don't know…" Elias says, looking between the two of them. "Sounds like a tie to me."
Before Odyssey can say anything, Bell speaks up, "Clearly you can't hear, they were louder for Odyssey."
"Are you admitting defeat?" Odyssey asks her, completely surprised at this. He's never seen her do this before and it's…unusual that she would let him win at something so public.
"I'm saying that the performer won, not admitting defeat," Bell teases him back and Odyssey shrugs at her response. But she's still avoiding his gaze.
"Okay our victor of the first karaoke battle is Odyssey Gunderson!"
Odyssey grins as the crowd cheers for him, but he has to force the smile a bit as his thoughts are still all over the place, especially when he looks out at the crowd and no longer sees Misha anywhere. "Thank you, thank you!" Odyssey says to them, putting on a show like always as he leaves the stage, Bell right behind him.
"Hey Odyssey?" Bell asks him as he starts moving through the crowd, trying to find Misha or a victor who can tell him where he is.
"Hey, I need to do something," Odyssey says, half paying attention as he calls back over his shoulder at her. "Can it wait?"
"Sure," Bell answers and Odyssey turns and gives her a thumbs up, turning back around to focus on making his way through the crowd.
With how many victors are here tonight from Two, one would think it would be easy to find one, but of course when Odyssey needs one, he can't find them. He keeps getting stopped and congratulated by the crowd, until he finally spots Jory. "Jory!" He calls out, waving as the victor starts looking around. When Jory spots him, he quickly pushes his way through the crowd to him. "Hey, have you seen Misha anywhere?"
"Misha, huh?" Jory asks, wiggling his eyebrows at this and making Odyssey flush for reasons he's still struggling to accept. Jory taps his chin, clearly messing with Odyssey, "Hmm, I think I saw him heading out to the garden… Alone," he adds with a wink at Odyssey.
"Thank you," Odyssey says quickly and heads towards the far end of the room to the door leading outside, hoping that he'll be able to find Misha easily.
It takes forever to get out through the crowd, but soon he's met with cool fresh air. He pauses for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts. Is he…really going to do this? Is he really going to admit these feelings to Misha when he just admitted them to himself? He had tried so hard to keep himself from developing feelings for anyone before the Games, not wanting to take that risk of losing his shot at his dreams for someone else. And yet, that song keeps playing in his head… He's always been focused on right now. One step at a time.
So he needs to find Two's youngest victor right here, right now.
Odyssey sets off into the garden, looking all around to try and find Misha, almost running as he gets nervous about finding him. He nearly goes right past him, but slows to take a few steps back and do a double take at the figure sitting with his back to the path on a bench, all by himself.
"Hey."
Misha tenses up at this, but when he turns to look at Odyssey, he gives him a cute smile that has Odyssey's heart fluttering as he returns it. "Oh hey…" Misha says, patting the seat on the bench next to him.
"Everything okay?" Odyssey asks Misha as he comes over, sitting down on the bench next to Misha, but keeping a few inches of distance between them that feels so much farther.
"Yeah…" Misha answers quietly, staring straight ahead and not at Odyssey, only making him grow more nervous. "I needed some time to think."
"Yeah, me too," Odyssey says right away, making Misha look over at him and raise an eyebrow in curiosity. "So uh…I might have a new nickname for myself."
"And what is that?" Misha asks him, a hint of amusement in his voice laced with…nervousness?
"Denial boy," Odyssey tells him and before he can lose whatever little bit of courage he has right now about this, reaches out and gently tilts Misha's chin up so the victor is looking at him better. Misha's cheeks immediately start flushing at the touch and Odyssey can feel his own face heating up, but he speaks up before he loses courage. "Misha, may I kiss you?"
"Yeah," Misha says softly, so quietly that Odyssey barely hears him, but he does, making his heart start racing with all sorts of emotions from excitement to nervousness. When his nerves keep him in place, Misha leans closer to him, "Aren't you going to kiss me already?"
"Yeah," Odyssey answers quickly, internally cursing his nerves as he closes the short distance between the two of them. He presses his lips gently against Misha's, hesitating out of fear of finally giving into these feelings just for him to possibly lose them. Yet he knows what he feels is real…he's just scared of the timing.
Odyssey pulls back, whispering to Misha, "I'm nervous about doing this right before the Games."
"Don't be. You're going to get through this, I know it," Misha tells him, putting his hands on both sides of Odyssey's face and staring deep into his eyes. "They chose you for a reason."
Odyssey leans forward this time to kiss Misha, needing that bit of encouragement from him that he can do this. He can have these feelings for Misha and still win the Games. He doesn't have to keep suppressing them out of fear. Odyssey puts his arms around Misha, pulling him closer to him, and letting himself forget about the Games approaching tomorrow and just enjoying the feeling of Misha's hands in his hair, the taste of something sweet on his lips, and the warm feeling in his chest of knowing that being with Misha just feels so right.
"Hey Odyssey? Major said you were looking for – oh."
Odyssey immediately pulls back at the hurt sound in Bell's voice and as he turns to look at her, his arms still around Misha, he can see her heart breaking on her face, and it all clicks in his head. The looks she was giving him, always joking around with him, the blushing, the song…
He really is in denial about feelings in himself and towards him.
"Bell, wait!" Odyssey says as she turns to leave him, but she keeps her back turned and starts walking away from him. He turns back to Misha, full of fear and worry that he just fucked up everything for District Two this year. "I'm sorry, I have to talk to her. Kat is going to kill me before I even get to the Games."
"Go…" Misha says sadly, untangling himself from Odyssey's arms. "Just…find me if you need me."
"I will," Odyssey says in a rush as he stands up and starts running after his friend, calling her name. "Bell. Bell! Bell, wait!"
He reaches out to put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, but Bell immediately shrugs him off as she turns to face him, her eyes full of hurt as she stares up at him and crosses her arms. "Leave me alone."
"Bell, please, I didn't know," Odyssey pleads with her, trying to get his friend to realize he isn't lying. "I promise, I didn't."
"How could you be so oblivious to it?" Bell asks him, looking away from him for a moment as she stares up, blinking her eyes to keep them from watering. "God, this is why I didn't want to have feelings for you."
"I don't know, Bell…" Odyssey tells her honestly, feeling like shit that this had to happen like this, right before they're about to go into the Games. How did everything go from being so perfect to all wrong so quickly? "I really didn't know."
"So I take it you don't return the feelings?" Bell asks him, still looking away from him. When he doesn't answer immediately, she turns to him once more, her eyes icy even as tears threaten to fall from them. "Answer me!"
"I don't know! I don't like acknowledging my own feelings!" Odyssey tells her, not knowing what she wants from him.
"Didn't look like you had a hard time acknowledging them with Misha."
"Misha is…" Odyssey sighs as he starts pacing in front of Bell, wishing he could just go back and stop her from ever walking over to him then. "He's different."
"But I'm not," Bell answers emotionlessly, wrapping her arms around herself tighter in an attempt to comfort herself. "Well I won't keep you from the person who is different because obviously I'm just normal and unimportant."
"Bell, I didn't say that-"
"Go…" Bell says coldly as she turns away from him. "Go to him and be happy, just like you can be with him if you win these Games."
"Bell…" Odyssey says quietly as Bell starts walking away from him, not even acknowledging him saying her name. He stares at her, watching her walk away from him with her shoulders hunched over and occasionally using her arm to wipe at her nose, making him feel worse with each passing second.
What has he done? It's all his fault… If he hadn't gone to find Misha, Bell wouldn't have seen him kissing the victor. He wouldn't have messed up their friendship hours before the Games start.
"Hey…" Misha says quietly as he approaches, but Odyssey can't bring himself to look at him yet. Misha steps up next to him, rubbing his back to try to comfort him. "It's going to be alright…"
"No it won't," Odyssey tells him, sighing heavily as he looks over at the victor. "The friendship Kat fought so hard for us to have is ruined."
"I think Bell ruined that a while ago when she developed feelings for you," Misha says quietly, wrapping his arm around Odyssey and letting him lean against him, feeling so…disappointed with himself by this. "It's better she found out now and not during the Games."
"That doesn't change the fact that I broke her heart and tomorrow we're supposed to fight together to make sure Two gets a victor…" Odyssey sighs loudly, torn for taking comfort in Misha after he just broke Bell's heart, without even knowing he was doing it. Odyssey tries to step away from Misha, feeling disgusted with himself, but Misha keeps a hold on his hand. "Misha… I don't know why you're still sticking around with me. Surely I'm just going to ruin this."
"Don't you dare say that," Misha tells him harshly, moving to stand directly in front of him, forcing Odyssey to meet his gaze. "It's her fault, not yours. She could have said something months ago, not waiting until it was too late when you were with someone else…" Misha grabs onto Odyssey's other hand, and Odyssey looks down at them, still feeling like he's ruined everything. Misha starts rubbing the backs of his hands with his thumbs, waiting until Odyssey takes a deep breath and finally looks back up at him, "Someone you can be happy with once the Games are over."
Odyssey tries to listen to his words, yet his brain keeps replaying the heartbreak in Bell's voice as she told him the same thing. It just feels…wrong to let himself be happy with Misha after what he just did, intentional or not. And right before the Games are about to start… "These Games are going to be a lot harder than I thought…"
"Odyssey, you have no idea…"
Alrighty we have the second part of the party, aka karaoke battle time XD Here I was thinking this chapter wouldn't be as long as part one, but it was longer lol, my bad, but I decided I wanted to have the full karaoke battle. Also I know Odyssey's POV is longer than Sky's and I am kinda just *shrug* about it. He had a lot more tribute interactions in his POV so of course his was longer compared to the angry girl with no allies. And this is something I've had planned with him for a long time lol.
So yeah, there we have it! Do you think Sky is going to listen to Fonio? Are you surprised at all that Odyssey won the karaoke battle? XD And will Odyssey and Bell be able to still cooperate after this happened?
We have one last party chapter with Fox and Genesis and then the night before chapter. Only two more chapters until we are at the Games already :0 it's crazy how close we are! So see you all soon!