A/N: Just a short chapter, but dw the next one will be gooooooooood! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA *clears throat* sorry about that XP
MyChemicalTuna: THANK YOU! I know, if she was in more stuff then I know loads of people would love her!
As they walked towards the elevators, adrenaline rushed through Devin as she thought of well she had done throughout the journey so far. She needed to let out all her energy somehow and as her eyes locked onto the little girl from 9, she couldn't help the venom spew out of her mouth "I always knew you were useless." she spat at Lauren. Lauren jumped, she had been lost in her own thoughts and wasn't expecting anyone to even acknowledging her.
"Leave her alone, Devin." Joey told her, stepping forward.
"Oh, so you're sticking up for her now, are you?" Devin scoffed. "Well why don't YOU be allies with her in the arena and we'll see how far you get!" That stopped him. He tried to find some sort of come-back but there was nothing he could say. Lauren had been great in training, but if she couldn't handle it when there was any pressure then she would be useless in the arena. "So, do you want to be allies with her?" Devin pressured. Joey looked at Lauren her eyes wide and staring at him hopefully, obviously hanging on his response. He didn't want to make her upset but this was a matter of life and death. After a moment he looked to the floor and shook his head, no. "Good." Devin nodded. "But now I'm not sure that I want to be allies with you."
"What the fish-hook, Devin?" Joey shouted. "Don't be such a Bichir! You know you need me in your team! I got a freakin 9 in training, the audience loved me, you won't want me as an enemy!"
"Why should I care about your 9 when I got a 10?" Devin spouted back
"Because if you don't have him then you don't have me." Jaime told her, stepping forward.
"Oh wow, two 9's I'm quaking in my boots!" Devin spat sarcastically. "Why don't you two just go off with Lauren and be a little loser family!" Joey went to shout back but Joe stepped between them.
"Guys! We are not splitting up! It will be me, Devin, Joey, Jaime, Darren and Alle-Faye and that is it. No questions. No arguments." The room went deathly quiet.
"What about Lauren?" Devin asked Joe, raising her eyebrows. She'd notice them get quite close during training and by his reaction he obviously had feelings for her.
"What about Lauren?" He answered after clearing his throat.
"So you don't care about her?" Devin asked
"Why would I?" He said, not looking at Lauren at all. "Look, this is settled. Let's just go and get some rest."
"Ok, I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page about us working together and that Lauren is a stupid, useless little girl that we should never have taken any notice of." Devin said matter-of-factly as she looked around the group. "Are we all on the same page?" Darren and Alle-Faye said yes straight away, Jaime looked at Joey and nodded her head, Joe took a deep breath and said yes and Joey kept his eyes on the floor and slowly nodded his head. "Good. Right, let's go rest up for the big day tomorrow." And with that, the careers left, leaving everyone else to puzzle over what just happened.
Lauren's face was completely blank. She stood there for a minute in silence, unmoving; then she turned and quietly made her way up to her floor. Everyone else was left in a daze, a few of them scurried into elevators but others just stood in shock, surely things like that don't happen every year.
Dylan and Julia were one of the latter, both of them then stood open mouthed. "Woah." Dylan finally said.
"Yeah." Julia agreed. They looked at each other briefly then made their way into the elevator. "So how do you think this'll change our chances?"
"Wh- Julia!" Dylan said, shocked. "That poor girl has just been ripped of every chance of staying alive and you're just thinking about yourself!"
"What?! I'm sorry, but isn't the whole point of the games to keep yourself alive?! There can only be one winner, Dylan. There's no room for empathy. You spend too much time worrying about other people, you die. That's just the way it is." Julia shot back at him. Dylan shook his head.
"You start thinking like that, then you're already dead." He told her.
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Look, I know we weren't the best of pals back home, but it was hard to miss how much you did for other people and how much you cared for everyone. Don't let them take that from you. Don't let the games change that." And with that the elevator doors opened and Dylan went inside, leaving Julia to process what he'd just said.
The night passed quickly and sooner than they'd hoped the tributes found themselves in their Launch Rooms under the arena. They passed the time pacing backwards and forwards, having last minute pep-talks with their stylists. A couple of them simply sat and stared, Lauren was one of them. She hadn't spoken since the day before and had barely moved either.
The time finally came. The tributes took their place on their podiums and were lifted into the arena.