The train was long and silver, and hovered just above the track. I stepped into it with a helping hand from Cole, and the door slid open. There was a long, wodden table, filled with platters of food, stretching out along three quarters of the room. At the end there was a drink table, with glasses and different brightly coloured liquids in tall bottles. At the end of that there were arm chairs, set up in a group of four, in a two by two grid. I walked past the table, outstretching my hand and running it along the table as i walked. I ran my hand along one of the bottles as I walked past the drinks cart, and sat down in one of the chairs.
Cole followed, though not before he'd picked a small green cake off of one of the cake stands and popped it in his mouth. He sat in the chair next to me, and Effie sat opposite him. It was then that Haymitch Abernathy, our mentor entered through the door in front of me.
He walked steadily to the drinks cart, and I heard Effie cluck in distaste. He sighed, and sat down opposite me. I had met Haymitch before, and I recognised him, but I doubted that he recognised me.
"You're looking surprisingly sober." I said to him.
His grey eyes bored into mine. "Well, we have a lot of work to do, sweetheart, and I want to get it over with."
I stared at him for a moment longer, and then turned to Effie. "How long until we get there?"
"We won't be there until tomorrow." She beamed, and I turned back to Haymitch.
"Then we have time to start now." I say to him, and I see his jaw clench. I am not going to make this easy for him. If I am to return myself or Cole home, we need to start now.
Haymitch leaned forward in his seat, putting his clasped hands between his knees so his face was closer to mine. "Here's the main thing, sweetheart - get people to like you. The more people like you, the more sponsors you'll get, and the better chance you have of surviving. So I suggest you snap out of this little miss 'i'm a tribute and i don't care' act, because it's not going to get you anywhere."
He leans back in his chair, and stares at me. "Oh, and this year, don't go for the 'star crossed lovers' act, because look what happened last year."
That's it. I decide then to slit his throat with the knife he keeps in his pocket, and I go to stand up to jump on him, but I feel a hand on my leg, forcing me back down. I turn to see Cole looking at me with his dark, grey eyes, and shakes his head. I turn back to Haymitch expecting to see him laughing at me, but he's staring at me unamused.
Effie seems thrown by his last comment too, for her violet lips are pouted and her eyes are wide and threatening to brim over with tears, but she tries to make light of it. Her voice trembles, as she says, "Well, I do believe that lunch is in half an hour, so you may go and freshen up, and then meet in the dining car."
She smiles, and walks to the car behind us, where Haymitch came from, ad I'm guessing the rooms are in that direction. Haymitch gets up a few seconds after, and goes in the seam direction.
I look at Cole, who turns to look at me, too, and says, "Don't let him get to you. It's just the alcohol, or lack of it."
I nod, and he gets up. "Come on," he says. "Let's go to our rooms."
I nod again, and let him lead the way to the rooms, following in the direction of Effie and Haymitch.