I'm updating already? Oh wow, it looks like I don't have a life! Trust me, I don't. Ha. I've had quite a few of these chapters done for a while though because I wanted to figure out where I was taking this story. There's actually quite a bit of interaction with Cato in this chapter. (;
Disclaimer: Suzanne Colins owns this still. Nothing has changed. I still have no money to roll around in or a cast to party with. Also, what the hell is going on with the Finnick casting?! Ugh.
"Hello," the woman, who looks to be about twenty, sticks out her hand to me, "You must be Lila. I'm Rebecca, your stylist. You can call me Becca if you want." I stick out my hand to shake hers when I remember that I'm just sitting in a towel on a table. I silently thank whoever gave me a female stylist because I would be feeling extremely awkward otherwise. She seems nice though, so I decide that Becca is fine.
She pulls me in front of the full length mirror and starts explaining her vision for this Tribute Parade. It actually doesn't sound bad. I'm kind of excited. She says that she and Riley's stylist came up with the idea of focusing on the water of our district instead of the fishing. I ask her what she's thinking but she playfully shushes me and tells me that it's a surprise. Then she gets out what I assume is the Capitol's version of a curling iron and gets to work.
Within thirty minutes I have my hair put into up into some sort of elaborate bun. She tells me to close my eyes so she can do my makeup and afterwards comes out with a dress. She tells me to keep my eyes closed as she slips it over my head. I'm getting ready to open them when she scolds me to give her moment and stop being so impatient. I roll my eyes and laugh slightly. That's when I start feeling slight pressure on the top of my head.
I hear a higher pitched squeal out of Becca's mouth before she says, "Alright, I think you're going to love this. Open your eyes!" When I do, I'm actually shocked. The girl in the mirror still resembles me, but she looks amazing and mezmorizing. I look down at my dress first. It's a baby blue color with a sheer fabric over it that makes it look like it's shimmering, especially down where it ends. It trails behind me by about a foot. The neckline is lower than I'm used to, but isn't entirely revealing. My eyes stop on my head where I see a tiara on top of my head with a crystal in the middle.
"You look absolutely gorgeous - stunning, even. I knew that you were related to Finnick, but wow!" Becca says excitedly. Normally, I'd be extremely annoyed by a girl like her, but I can't help but like her. She seems to actually be more into this than the past stylists and for that, I'm grateful.
She waits for me to finish admiring my new look in the mirror before ushering me towards where they keep the chariots. I spot Riley standing by our chariot. He's dressed in more of a tropical looking outfit, and I'm not sure exactly what his stylist was thinking. His suit bottoms have a pattern on them resembling swim shorts and the shirt is a plain white shirt with small patterns here and there. The idea that maybe they were going to make the male tribute shirtless, but had to change the entire plan when they found that Rileys abs were slightly nonexistent crosses my mind. I can't help but smirk at the thought.
I jump onto the chariot before having to make any kind of contact with Riley. I silently thank Becca for letting me wear flats. I'm actually surprisingly stable when walking in heels, but I figured since the dress is longer anyway, I'd prefer to skip the blisters. Suddenly, the chariot starts moving and the huge doors I hadn't even noticed were there open to reveal a huge group of cheering people. How can they be so happy about seeing up being sent to our deaths? It's sick.
When our chariot is in sight, they erupt in screams. At first Riley seems to think they're for him, and I do too. That is, until their screams start to sound like they're saying Lila. I can hear some of the closer ones mumble things like "Ohh, she looks like an ice queen." And "Oh my gosh, she's like a princess."
That's when it all clicks. Our stylists were trying to resemble the tropical form of water with Riley and the ice form with myself.
It's actually a pretty clever idea. Becca did a lot of a better job with it than Riley's stylist, however. My thoughts stop along with the screams when we come to a stop in front of the one and only President Snow. How I wish I had a weapon right now.
No, you idiot. Attempted murder on a President? You've lost your mind.
I silently agree with the voice. I never said I couldn't fantasize about it though. So I tune his words out while I come up with a thousand different ways I could kill him. I'd make each way being more painfully than the last. Thankfully, the speech is over quickly and our chariots turn to go back inside.
Once I get off, I'm nearly trampled by Talia and Finnick telling me how wonderful I was. Apparently, my face looked as cold and unforgiving as my new nickname, "Ice Princess", suggested. I don't tell them what was going through my head, but they seem genuinely impressed. I see Finnick glance behind me discreetly. I notice, though, and turn around. There, I meet with the cold eyes of the District Two tributes. My eyes glance at the girl, who I recognize as Clove, first. If looks could kill, I'd be on the floor within a second. Then, I move my gaze to her partner, Cato. He looks pissed. Maybe not as pissed as Clove, but still pissed nonetheless.
I start to laugh at the difference in their height, ignoring the glares. She seems to be barely reaching five foot. I'm surprised that I finally found someone shorter than my 5'4 height. Cato, on the other hand, he's practically a giant. My head would probably reach about to the top of his chest, and even that's pushing it. Their faces had hardened at me laughing, but I get my head back together to notice Cato smirking. Oh god. He probably thought I was checking him out.
I wouldn't need a mirror to know that I was blushing. It's a really bad habit. I don't know why I am, though. I mean, sure, he's attractive. Okay, really attractive –
Don't distract yourself. These are the games. No time for silly crushes.
Anyway, the point here is that I don't even know him. I'm the one who breaks the eye contact first so I can go up to the elevator.
The next morning, I'm awakened by Katherine banging on my door telling me to get ready. I jump in the shower to make sure I look presentable for the first day of training. I decide to use the button on the shower for a sweet vanilla scent. I would be lying if I said I hadn't snuck into the Acadamy's showers back home every now and then. Once I get out of the shower, I put my hair into a fishtail braid and slip on the training uniform that Katherine must have placed on my bed.
You have got to be kidding me.
This thing is skin tight. I may as well be walking around killing people in my underwear. I walk out into the dining room to eat my breakfast only to be redirected towards the elevator. I try to ask what the hell is going on but I'm interrupted my Katherine, once again.
"You took too long! Riley has been down in the training room for fifteen minutes. Fifteen!" she practically screeches. I hear her say something about me not having an manners and how Riley is a model tribute, but I tune her out once again. I think I'm getting pretty good at it if I do say so myself.
Soon, I'm literally pushed into the training room. The huge doors behind me slam shut loudly, and everybody turns their heads to look at me. I see Districts One and Two, who have already seemed to form an alliance, smirking in my direction. The rest of the tributes just look bored. The head trainer, Adelina, comes towards me. "Name?" she asks harshly. I guess I kept them waiting. "L-Lila," I stutter, "Lila Odair."
"Well, Miss Odair. You already missed out on the informational part of the day, but I'm sure someone can fill you in," then she turns back to the other tributes, "You may train now," she states formally. "You as well. Go."
I walk away from her to go somewhere when I realize that I know next to nothing about weapons. That could be a problem. I've gone into the training room a few nights after everyone else has gone home. I've tried knives and spears. My aim isn't amazing, but I can throw farther than most girls I've seen. I turn to go over to one of the stations when I see Clove at the knife station and Marvel at the spears station. I don't want to make enemies on the first day. I look over my shoulder to see Rue over at the knot-tying station.
Don't go over there. She could be baggage in the arena, the logical part of my head screams.
For once I don't listen to the logical part and just act on a whim. "What kind of knot is that?" I ask from behind her shoulder. She visibly jumps a bit, but calms down when she turns around to see me smiling. "It's a, um, I'm really not sure," she says with a small sad smile on her face. "It's okay," I walk over next to her, "I'm terrible at tying knots too." I whisper as if we're telling secrets, "It's worse in my case though, being from the district that makes fishing nets." She laughs, and that's when I realize that there is no way in the world that I could kill her. Once again, I ignore my logic.
"Hey Rue, do you want to help each other in the games?" She looks a bit shocked, but I see her nod. "Okay, well what do you know how to do?" I ask.
Two hours later Rue and I are sitting at our own small table in the corner of the lunch room. I learned that she's great with plants, slingshots, and climbing. I've already become attached, so I pray that either I'll die before her, or she won't die at my hands. Twelve year olds shouldn't be forced to end a life that they haven't even started yet. Then again, I'm not one to talk. I've never had many close friends or even a boyfriend. Hell, I haven't ever even kissed anyone. I haven't lived much either.
I stare down at my plate which was full just minutes earlier to see that it has been almost licked clean. I wish that Katherine hadn't been such a bitch and let me to at least eat breakfast. I sigh and tell Rue that I'll be right back. I'm walking over to the cart full of food when I bump into a wall. I know I'm not the most coordinated person in the world, but a wall is a whole new level. I laugh at myself until I look up and realize that I ran into a person, not a wall. Only I could run into probably the most threatening of the tributes and laugh about it.
Would it be weird if I said that I've always had a thing for eyes? They've always been a weak spot. Cato's are like a pool of blue – bright blue. His face isn't bad up close either…
"Ehem." He says while raising an eyebrow. This time, I try to contain my blush, to no avail, of course.
"Oh, uh, I'm sorry." I say as I rush past him towards the food again. I stock up on the bread and the pasta before I head back to Rue. "What was that all about?" she asks curiously. "Nothing," rushes out of my mouth like Niagra falls. That must be very convincing. "Nothing, hm? Your pink cheeks say otherwise. I'll go back to training so you can finish stuffing your face," she adds at the end to make me laugh.
After Rue leaves, I look around to see that the room is almost empty. I see it's just me, One and Two left. Three awkwardly silent minutes later, they leave to go. At least I think they're leaving until I hear, "You guys go on. I'll be there soon," come from a certain wall of a boy.
Shit.
"So, Ice Princess, huh?" he says as he pulls out and straddles the chair next to me, "Were you really in such a rush that you had to run me over earlier?" He has a crooked smile on his face that looks different from the usual smirk, but still pretty similar.
Hello, earth to Lila. Say something, dumbass.
"I was hungry," I say plainly while holding up a roll to back up my point. I guess he was looking for a better answer because he takes the roll from me and stuffs it in his mouth. I almost laugh at his chipmunk like cheeks but the anger in me over the roll wins out. "What the fuck was that about?" I yell. What can I say, I'm a girl who takes her food very seriously. My anger only seems to egg him on because he responds with a 'what are you going to do about it' smile. I decide that I'm not playing his little game and get up. I make sure to slam my chair into the table and bump into his, but before I can make my way out the door, I'm stopped by his voice.
"So Ice Princess, do I get to know your name or what?" I turn around with the sweetest smile I can use and reply "I'd rather you not."
That's when I hear him say, "Well if you want any chance to be in the alliance, you might as well tell me now."
He's not serious, right?
He's messing with your head.
What if he isn't though? If I were in the Career alliance, I'd be under a lot less pressure, but what about Rue? I already made a commitment to her, but there's no way they'd let her in there. They would kill her the first chance they got. It's not like I have any skills anyway. I turn around to see he's followed me and is standing within an arm's distance. I look up at his face and ask "What?" which is quickly followed by his "You heard me."
"But why would you want me? I can't do anything really."
Why did I say that? Now he probably thinks I'm weaker than he already did. "Because of reasons. One," he sticks up his pointer finger, "you're from Four which means you are from one of the Career districts anyway. Two," up goes the next, "Glimmer found her way into our group somehow. You can't be worse than her. And three," the index finger joins the others, "You made quite an entrance and the Tribute Parade. That means you probably got a lot of sponsors. Is that enough reasons for you?" he puts his hands back across his chest that causes my eyes to linger there.
Damn that tight fabric.
"Look, it would take some convincing to all of us, including me, to get you to join. I'm just saying that it's an option," he holds his hands up as if to surrender. Do I look offended or am I just boring him and he wants the conversation to be over? I guess it's the second option so I say, "It's Lila," and leave Cato standing there as I walk back into the training room.
Yes, Lila, DAMN that tight fabric. There should be more interaction along with some flirting in the chapters to come. Sorry if it ended weirdly. I wasn't sure how to end this chapter.
To that one guest reviewer on the last chapter - yes I know that Clove is 14/15. Clato is my OTP though, so I figured if the age difference was larger, I wouldn't feel like I wanted them to be together in this story. Haha. Thank you for reviewing, though!
I love reviews almost as much as I love cookies. That's a lot, so you should send them. (: