A/N: Hmm this is new. I don't have anything to ramble about. Hmmm okay strange. Well, here ya go!
Disclaimer: unfortunately I don't have blonde hair so I'm not even close to being Suzanne Collins, so I don't own Peeta (sobs) or The Hunger Games
She kissed my cheek. She kissed at least part of me! I can't get it out of my head. It still burns where her lips touched it. I'm so lost in though I didn't even notice we're already in the Training Center, making our way up in the elevator.
The Training Center is even fancier than the train, and I'm only on the elevator. The elevator is made of crystal, so as we go up all the people below us turn to ants. Each district gets its own floor, so we get the twelfth floor. I look over to Katniss and right now she looks like a little girl enjoying the ride. I look over to Effie and she has a big goofy grin on her face. Of course, we are possibly her first tributes who did amazing in the opening ceremonies. She compliments us on our costumes and how we acted. She also knows everyone who is anyone in the Capitol. She's been telling everyone good things about us.
"I've been very mysterious, though," she begins, narrowing her eyes. "Because, of course, Haymitch hasn't bothered to tell me your strategies. But I've done my best with what I had to work with. How Katniss sacrificed herself for her sister. How you've both successfully struggled to overcome the barbarism of your district."
That's kind of crazy. This is the women coming from a place who is about to murder us in various ways. And what success? Our costumes or how good we are at the table? I yet to come to know about Effie Trinket and what goes inside her brain.
"Everyone has their reservations, naturally. You being from the coal district. But I said, and this was very clever of me, I said, 'Well, if you put enough pressure on coal it turns into pearls!'" Effie trills at us looking happy she thought of something clever. We respond gratefully but I have to bite my lip from laughing because, of course, she's wrong.
Coal doesn't turn into pearls. They come from shellfish. I wonder if the people she's telling about us know that it's wrong information or are just as stupid as her.
"Unfortunately, I can't seal the sponsor deals for you. Only Haymitch can do that," she says grimly, "But don't worry, I'll get him to the table at gunpoint if necessary."
I have to admire her a little. She really is trying, just like Haymitch will.
I get my own quarters, and it's filled with a bunch of Capitol gadgets. Windows that zoom in and out where I want it to, showers with numerous buttons, wardrobes where you get to choose your clothes, and a little mouthpiece where you say what food you want a comes up to you in less than a minute. I choose a fancy blue and white shirt, black pants, and a jacket with buttons all the way up until the neck.
I can't take it in here. With all these gadgets that I don't understand, I feel cramped. My mind is in a whirl ever since Katniss kissed my cheek. Her lips had some sort of fire behind its softness. I touch my cheek and it feels hot. Suddenly, I need air.
I go outside of my quarters and see Cinna. I greet him and he greets me back. "So, Peeta, why are you out here?" he asks me. He must sense something wrong.
"I need some air. It's a little stuffy in there," I answer him.
"I know what you need," he tells me. He leads me to some stairs and we climb them. At the top is the Training Center's roof. It's magnificent. You can overlook the whole city. There are wind chimes which makes it hard to hear. There's a garden, too. I get my lungs full of air, and then think. Why would they let us up here? Tributes could jump off the edge. I'm thinking about doing it actually. Might as well do it less painful, then whatever the tributes and gamemakers are thinking of. They can kill in so many ways. It's endless really.
"Why would they let us up here? Couldn't tributes just jump off?" I ask Cinna.
He studies me for a moment before answering. "You can't." Then he puts his hand over the edge, and I hear a sharp zap. He jerks his hand back. "An electric field throws you back up. Come on, dinner is almost ready."
We go back down, and find Portia looking over a balcony that shows you the Capitol. She waves us to come and we do. I like the view but the roof is better.
Katniss comes and we go and take our seats. Effie tells us Haymitch will join us in a minute, and that he and Effie picked out the dinner. Great. A dinner and presence of a drunkard and an overly bubbly women. That's one heck of a dinner. The only good thing is Katniss is here and the stylists.
A quiet young man in a white uniform offers us wine. I refuse it but Katniss takes some. That's odd but maybe she would actually feel like trying alcohol before she dies. Too bad, she's not going to die.
Haymitch shows up when dinner is just being served. He looks clean and sober. He doesn't refuse the wine, though. Big surprise. He starts on his soup and I'm amazed that's he eating something. Hopefully he will help Katniss win this thing.
The stylists actually make Haymitch and Effie good company. We get good comments on our costumes. We make small talk but I notice Katniss just concentrating on her meal. I feel bad for having the servers waiting on us. Keeping everything full. Always refilling glasses.
I look over to Katniss and she looks a bit dizzy. It must be the wine. I never really knew how people could stand to drink. Making you sick and not knowing what's really happening.
"Just wait until you guys see your interview costumes," says Cinna. Small talk just keeps going. Nothing interesting really. Until a red-headed girl comes with a cake and sets it on fire. "What makes it burn? Is it alcohol?" begins Katniss looking up at the girl. "That's the last thing I wa- oh! I know you!"
What? How can Katniss know her? Unless Katniss has been to the capitol I doubt it. She looks at us and everyone is watching her, waiting for an answer.
"Don't be ridiculous, Katniss. How could you possibly know an Avox? The very thought," snaps Effie.
Avox? What's that? Katniss asks the same question. "What's an Avox?"
"Someone who committed a crime. They cut her tongue so she can't speak," answers Haymitch. Just thinking about my tongue cut off makes my throat close up. "She's probably a traitor of some sort. Not likely you'd know her."
"And, even if you did, you're not to speak to one of them unless it's to give an order. Of course, you don't really know her," snaps Effie.
Katniss looks confused and guilty. She really does know this girl. "No, I guess not, I just-" she stammers. I have to help her.
I snap my fingers and think of the first girl in my mind, other than Katniss. "Delly Cartwright. That's who it is. I kept thinking she looked familiar as well. Then I realized she's a dead ringer for Delly."
It's the first time I thought of Delly since she came to say goodbye. Though, I hope Katniss goes along with my lie. Delly isn't even close to recognition in our waiter.
Katniss goes along with my lie. "Of course, that's who I was thinking of. It must be the hair."
"Something about the eyes, too," I say.
Everyone relaxes and so do I. I feel good for helping Katniss. It better not be the last time I help her.
"Oh, well. If that's all it is. And yes, the cake has spirits, but all the alcohol has burned off. I ordered it specially in honor of your fiery debut," says Cinna.
We have the cake and, when everyone is done, we go to another room to watch the opening ceremonies. Some of the tributes do a good job, but I was right when we outshone them. Even our team screams, "Ahh!"
"Whose idea was the hand holding?" asks Haymitch.
"Cinna's," answers Portia.
"Just the perfect touch of rebellion. Very nice," resorts Haymitch.
Rebellion? How would hand holding cause a rebellion? I think about it. The other tributes didn't even care for the people standing next to them. They treated them like a big pile of rocks. And then, me and Katniss, looking like friends. I guess that is sort of rebellion connected.
"Tomorrow morning is the first training session. Meet me for breakfast and I'll tell you exactly how I want you to play it. Now go get some sleep while the grown-ups talk," says Haymitch, clearly telling us to go away.
Katniss and I walk together down to our rooms, to leave and see each other in the morning, but I want an explanation. I lean on against the frame. I'm not blocking her to go but I want to catch her attention. "So, Delly Cartwright. Imagine finding her lookalike here."
She just stands there for a minute. I can tell she's wondering if she should tell me or not. If she should trust me. I want her to trust me. I want her to know what I'm going to do for her, but to have that I'll need her trust. I need her as a friend, at least for now.
I understand her hesitation. "Have you been on the roof yet?" she shakes her head no. "Cinna showed me. You can practically see the whole city. The wind's a bit loud, though."
I hope she understands my message. She does. "Can we just go up?"
"Sure, come one," I say. She follows me up the stairs that end you up on the roof. She gasps when she sees it. It looks even better at night. It twinkles like the stars. I miss the stars at home. Sometimes, on a clear night, Jamie and I go out and watch the stars. That was when I was little. We got too old to do little child stuff. Suddenly, I miss those nights. I want them back.
Katniss and I walk to the edge of the rood. She looks down to the people in the streets. We hear cars, shouts, and a weird metal tinkling. I try to get her talking. "I asked Cinna why they let us up here. Weren't they worried that some of the tributes might decide to jump right over the side?" I tell her.
"What'd he say?" she asks
"You can't," I say and hold out my hand like Cinna did. I hear the sharp zap and feel electricity go through my hand. I jerk it back. "Some kind of electric field throws you back on the roof."
"Always worried about our safety," she says, somewhat disgusted. Yeah, 'safety'. They want to watch us die so they can be entertained.
"Do you think they're watching us now?" Katniss asks.
"Maybe," I admit. "Come see the garden."
Now we're at a place where people might not hear us. The wind and wind chimes covering us up. I look at Katniss expectantly.
She examines a blossom then speaks, "We were hunting in the woods one day. Hidden, waiting for games," she whispers.
"You and your father?" I whisper back.
"No, my friend Gale," I try to stop the jealous emotion from over taking me at the moment from hearing her talk about Gale. "Suddenly, all the birds stopped singing at once." I remember another time when they all stopped singing when she was near. "Except one. As if it were giving a warning call. And then we saw her, I'm sure it was the same girl. A boy was with her. Their clothes were tattered. They had dark circles under their eyes from no sleep. They were running as if their lives depended on it."
She's silent for a moment. She's possibly remembering the say. I bet it haunts her with guilt. I've had enough guilt in my life. "The hovercraft appeared out of nowhere," she continues. "I mean, one moment the sky was empty and the next it was there. It didn't make a sound, but they saw it. A net dropped down on the girl and carried her up, fast, so fast like the elevator. They shot some sort of spear through the boy. It was attached to a cable and they hauled him up as well. But I'm certain he was dead. We heard the girl scream once. The boy's name, I think. Then it was gone, the hovercraft. Vanished into thin air. And the birds began to sing again, as if nothing happened."
"Did they see you?" I ask her.
"I don't know. We were under a shelf of rock," she answers. She stares off for a moment and then starts shivering. I'm not sure if it's the cold or the story. She must be frightened of what she witnessed.
"You're shivering," I tell her. I take off my jacket and wrap it around her shoulders. She steps back a little then she lets me. I feel trust forming. Good.
"They were from her?" I ask her and secure the button around her neck. She nods. "Where do you suppose they were going?" I ask curious.
"I don't know that," she replies. "Or why they would leave here." I could understand that. I can't stand it here.
"I'd leave here," I blurt out, too loudly. I look around, worried. Then I laugh and cover it up again. "I'd go home now if they let me. But you have to admit, the food's prime. It's getting chilly. We better go in," I say. We go in the dome and it's warmer and brighter. I don't want her to stop talking to me. I try and make more conversation. "Your friend Gale. He's the one who took you sister away at the reaping?" I already know the answer. I don't know why I picked Gale as the topic, though.
"Yes. Do you know him?" she asks. If I did we'd possibly hate each other.
"Not really. I hear the girls talk about him a lot. I though he was your cousin or something. You favor each other," I reply. If only he was her cousin. Then I wouldn't be jealous of him all the time.
"No, we're not related," she replies.
I nod making sure she doesn't understand I'm jealous. "Did he come say goodbye to you?"
"Yes," she says observing me. "So did your father. He brought me cookies."
I raise my eyebrows. He went to go see her? And he gave her cookies? I silently thank him in my head. "Really? Well, he likes you and your sister. I think he wishes he had a daughter instead of a houseful of boys." Well, sort of. He wants you to be his daughter, I think. He wants her mother as his wife. "He knew your mother when they were kids."
"Oh, yes. She grew up in town," she says and then I realize we're at her door. She gives me back my jacket. How empty it feels without her warmth. "See you in the morning then."
"See you," I say and walk away down the hall. I smile and look down at my jacket. It looked so… right with her wearing in. This is good. She's starting to trust me. Trust is the first thing to becoming friends. At the way this is going, I can't see a way that I won't be able to save her.
A/N: Oh you little protective Peeta. PROTECT ME! D: Hahaha, sorry this was supposed to be put up an hour earlier but it suddenly got cold in Georgia. CURSE YOU GEORGIA AND YOUR BIPOLAR WEATHER! xD! Tomorrow at school is pajama day! Wanna know why? Because Heather Brewer, author of The chronicles of Vladimir Tod, is coming to our school tomorrow and she writes her books in her pajamas xD. This is the second famous author at our school. We've won two contests on best book fair. Guess who was the first. …. SUZANNE COLLINS! See, that was the reason I'm obsessed with this book. My L.A made us read it and I fell in love but not at the very begging. But yes, she really did come to our school. I ASKED HER A QUESTION! It was amazing. Also, when we read in L.A I didn't pay attention the first time I read it, cuz there was this boy, who is now a jerk, who I liked so I would always look at him and funny thing is when we red this chapter I was cold so he gave me his jacket, causing stares, and we both blushed when Peeta gave Katniss his jacket. Also… I need to admit something. This might be a shocker…. I used to be Team Gale *SOBS* Hey at first it wasn't my fault. We had to write a letter to her. I did, and I didn't know what to put else so I just put I was team Gale cuz I believed best friends deserved to be together. Then I got catching fire, just to impress the guy who loved the boo, then I actually started reading it and I awwwed when Gale said he loved Katniss so I was team Gale until she said 'Stay with me' so don't blame me for stupidness! Also, one more thing yesterday when I watched toy story 3 when buzz got changed I though of Peeta in Mockingjay
SPOILER ALERT
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Ok look how freaky this is:
- Mean Buzz who controlled and killed- Peeta was also changed and tried to kill Katniss
- Spanish Buzz- he was sort of back to normal but wanted to die
-Normal Buzz- he was himself again!
Also Buzz gave Jesse a dandelion and I was like OMG! Hahaha well that's it. I talk too much, sorry
Updated day: November 3, 2010