Previously- JazPOV-
'That was the last time I will see my parents. Either way I lose. If I win Bella dies, if I die, I'll never get the chance to tell her how I feel.' I thought to myself. When the peacekeepers came back, I was still thinking.
'What do I do?'
Now- BellaPOV-
Once the door closed behind me, I sat on the end of the bed, and let out a shaking breath.
"I Volunteered for Alice so that I wouldn't lose someone I love, but now if I win, I still lose someone… someone who means more to me than almost anything." I placed my head in my hands and shook it. I was still fighting to keep the tears at bay when the door opened. I did not even have time to look up before I was tackled from the direction of the door. I knew who it was by the voice that bombarded my ears.
"Bella, why did you do that? I can't lose you." I hugged her back for a moment, before I pried her hands from my back.
"Alice, listen to me, do you remember what I told you to do if I was ever chosen?" She nodded.
"Okay, well now you need to do that and take care of you and mom." She nodded, before placing something in my hand.
"The Mockingjay pin you gave to protect me. I don't need it now, you do. Come home to us, okay?" I nodded, and said,
"I'll try to win. You know I will." I kissed her on the forehead before hugging her to my side, and turning my attention to our mother. I looked to my mom, as she wrapped me in a hug.
"Bells, my poor baby. What rotten luck you have." I looked up at her and said,
"You know what's going to happen then. He taught me everything I know. He is the only one who will be able to find and kill me." I whispered to her, low enough so that Alice couldn't hear but loud enough so she would know that this was goodbye. She shook her head so hard I thought her neck would snap.
"He wouldn't do that. He loves you." She argued, emphatically. I shook my head.
"It doesn't matter how he feels about me, the odd are not in my favor. There can only be one winner, and he knows what my every move would be." She opened her mouth to protest when the door slammed open and one of the peacekeepers called out to us.
"Times up." Alice squeezed me in a fierce hug before being pried off of me, and escorted out of the room.
"I promise Alice!" I called out to her just before the door closed, and with that again I was left to my own thoughts.
"This is just my luck. The man that I have been in love with for years, ever since he saved me that night in the woods, is a tribute along side of me in the Hunger Games. My mom is right I have rotten luck. I was going to tell him this morning too when we went out for a hunt, but he never showed. Maybe I need to face it, Jasper Whitlock will never see me as anything more than a friend. Not that I have much time to change his mind now."
My thoughts kept running rampant, and I knew that I needed to focus and keep my head in the games, and what I would need to do to survive. However, I couldn't help but wonder if that was the last time, I would ever talk to my sister again. She would survive though. I know that even if he did have to kill me that Jasper would never let anything happen to my family, and that alone gave me hope. Alice might lose me, but at least she and our mother would still have someone to look out for them.
Though I knew that I needed to focus I decided to go through all the memories I had with Jasper in my head, to calm my racing heart. My heart was hammering so hard it sounded not unlike the beating of a hummingbird's wings.
Later, we were in a car heading toward the train station with the representative from the capitol talking our ear off about what we will see and experience in the capitol. All I wanted to do was grab one of the guns that the peacekeepers were always lugging around and blow my brains out. I knew I was dead, and whether he knew it or not Jasper would more than likely be the one to end my life.
When we pulled up outside the train station, I rolled my shoulders back. I may be a tribute, but I refuse to be seen as weak. As I stepped out of the car the commotion around the commons stopped. Everyone turned to face us just as Jasper was stepping out of the car and stretching up to his full height of 6'2". Once we got to the platform and the representative manhandled us where she wanted us again, she again announced us as if we had won some big prize.
"Your district 12 tribute Isabella Swan, and Jasper Whitlock." She said, with a grin so wide it looked as if she were possessed by some unearthly being whose smile was wider than the inhabited bodies face could take. Moments passed in silence before one of the elders in our district slowly lifted his three fingers to his mouth and kissed then before lifting them high above his head. The rest of the group followed shortly afterwards.
Jasper and I slowly reciprocated the gesture before the representative hissed at us lowly from behind.
"What are you doing? Get on the train." Jasper led the way on the train with me, the representative, and the two peacekeepers, who brought up the rear, parked themselves in front of the door and stood there like two intimidating statues who eyes followed you when you moved.