My apologies, because this one goes a bit slow, it's more of a filler. The end of this chapter is mostly and almost directly from Catching Fire Novel and the Movie. Needed a space filler and a little background. Update soon. Thank you for the feedback. :)
I try to ease my thoughts as I sit on my bed. I have to keep up the lovebird act with Peeta. We're engaged. Do I want to even be engaged? Does it matter that I slept with Finnick since I may not want to even be with Peeta? Of course it does. I promised my heart to a man and then let another man take my virginity. The proposal was all propaganda though; Something to keep the Capitol and the Districts occupied. Never has my mind crossed the fact that I am going into the arena soon. I lay my head down on the pillow and close my eyes. Drifting off to sleep thinking about seeing Cinna tomorrow, and how the interview with Caesar will go. . .
The crowd cheers and chants, "Katniss! Katniss!" as I step on to the stage with Caesar Flickerman. I smile warmly and wave to all of the Capitol members, and the cameras. I take a seat, and the first thing he asks is how the extended stay is going. "It's nice, the Capitol has many luxuries that I do not have at home, so it is very generous of the Capitol to let us stay here with open arms." Ha. Scripted. It's not generous at all, they're putting us into a pen and letting us fight to death like animals. Among this year's tributes are celebrities of the Capitol. Victors from all different years. All loved by the Capitol people. 'Celebrities' isn't quite the word to describe us. We're made famous for doing nothing more than surviving a cruel death match. Caesar's voice pierces my thoughts. "Done anything interesting in your time before the arena?" He asks. I start to get nervous. I look at Peeta backstage. He smiles, and I look back to the crowd. "I lost my virginity to Finnick Odair last night." I mindlessly blurt out. The cameras show finnick, who's a little red but with a smug expression nonetheless. Oh god. What have I done. Caesar looks confused, Peeta looks heartbroken, Haymitch is laughing at my expense in the crowd, flask in the air and all. Cinna gives me a look of disappointment. President Snow's going to kill me. Literally. Just as President Snow appears on the stage, Lights blacked out, obvious that the broadcast was cut short, he says, "You're going to be late." What does this mean? Late for what?
My eyes open to Haymitch, shocking me out of that embarrassing dream. I'm going to have to watch what I say on stage. "You're going to be late for breakfast, now come on. Peeta's waiting for you in the dining hall... and do me a favor. Don't lash out on him this morning. You look irritated." He pulls the covers off me, and I get up. I shove him out the door and ready up, using the shower this time. The various knobs and buttons still interest me. I get dressed and go down to the dining hall, where there's other tributes, victors, mentors, the whole deal. Usually, the tributes dine with the prep team from their own district solely, but I guess again, changes have been made to the whole set up. Maybe Snow wants us to befriend each other just to make it more cruel and dramatic in the arena when friendships are torn apart. Nobody really trusts each other anyway, do they? I make my way over to Peeta and greet him with a kiss on the cheek, in case there are Capitol citizens around, and mutter an apology for last night. I kind of freaked out on him before I went to my room... and then to Finnick's... I feel so guilty, but it felt so good. The guilt and the pleasure mixed to bring an abnormal feeling. "It's alright, we're all a little stressed..." He says.
I lock eyes with Finnick, who is across the room. He winks at me with a smirk and I roll my eyes and turn away. Peeta slides his hand around my waist, I'm guessing because he saw Finnick's wink, but I could be paranoid. I eat a breakfast of luxurious foods, and sit with Peeta for a while. "You know, we have a good chance of just being friends." He says. "Well- unless you want to be more, you know...", he quickly corrects himself. I smile. "Peeta. you're already a great friend to me." I kiss him on the cheek. I can't think about Gale anymore. He's back home, working. Peeta gets up and leaves to go find Haymitch, probably to talk more about the games.
At this point, after we're all fed, we're supposed to be heading to our rooms with our mentors and preparing for the interviews. Since all of the tributes have already been through the necessary training for the interview, we have more leisure... As long as we stay in the building. Things and schedules were switched up, so we already trained a bit and got our scores. The "chosen skill" I presented was pretty gutsy. I displayed a dummy, hanging from a rope around it's neck, and wrote Seneca Crane on the front. I got a 10. We have the interviews tonight, training tomorrow, and the day after that, we're in the arena. With the free time I have before the prep team cleans me up, I find Finnick. He's talking to Johanna, who's basically on the verge of smashing someone's face in. I mean really, she looks pissed.
"Hey." I say abruptly. Johanna glances over at me and scans me up and down before complimenting my outfit, and returning to her rant, muttering under her breath this time. I wasn't even sure if she knew who she was talking to. Finnick turns to me with a smile and chides, "Well, well, well. Look who came crawling back for some sugar.", offering another square of the sweet granular substance. "The sugar joke is getting old." I barked, snatching the cube out of his hand and crunching down on it. It tasted plainer than I thought, but still sweet. He looked satisfied. "Can I talk to you... in private?" I ask quietly. My mood has obviously shifted. Johanna marches off into the crowd while mumbling, and Finnick and I head towards a coat closet. Nobody notices our absence.
The door slides open and we step inside, locking it from within. I wonder why there's a lock in here? Back home we don't have locks on any doors besides the front door- never mind a coat closet. "Don't be so snarky." I snap at him before he can say anything. For a moment, I see his real expression flash in his eyes and I can tell he's pushing the thought of being sarcastic and witty out of his mind for the moment. "Odair, you haven't spoken a word to anybody about what happened last night right?" I ask quickly. He grabs the back of his neck and nervously laughs. "Was I not supposed to?". He saw the look of terror on my face and burst out laughing. I punch him in the arm.
"I'm serious. Nobody can know. It's deathly important." "Why is it so important, Girl on Fire?" He says, smirking. I explain to him about President Snow's visit to my house in the Victor's Village. His smirk fades, and his eyes widen slightly. "I had no idea, you know Katniss, this could affect my life too. You could have told me about that before." I look at him a little baffled. It's my fault? How is it my fault? His serious expression fades as he steps a little bit closer to me, close enough that he could lean over slightly so his lips were next to my ear. "Don't you worry, Girl on Fire. It stays between you and me." He whispers in a seductive purr. He pulls away from my ear and kisses me hard on the lips. Not too hard that it's rough, but not a gentle romantic kiss. It was solely a lustful kiss. It made no difference in the way it made me feel. The warm feeling in my stomach, the hunger I feel, aching for more. But I know all too well that I can't do anything else. Not right now anyway... Just like that, he pulls away. He unlocks the door, and winks at me as he's leaving.
My legs feel weak. Why am I so nervous? I put my serious face back on and walked orderly back to where Effie and Haymitch were. Peeta was there too. "Where did you go?", Haymitch demands. "What does it matter to you?" He looks at me suspiciously. If I don't want people finding out about me and Finnick's little ordeal, I have to mind my attitude a little bit. "I just went to get more food..." I start. Effie smiles, and relieves the tension by chiming, "Yes, yes, the food is just delightful." Peeta nods, with his hand on his stomach. Haymitch points at me, "You, to your room. You have to do a quick rehearsal for the interview, and Cinna and your team need to fit you for your outfit tonight, and start cleaning you up.". I give a short nod, kiss Peeta for the Capitol crowd, and make my way to the elevator while Haymitch is probably demanding Peeta to go do about the same thing.
"It's...beautiful." I blurted. The dress he made me was just gorgeous. But it was a little too formal for an interview. It was white, with lots of ruffles at the bottom, tight at the waist and exposing my chest a little bit more than I'm used to, which is close to none. Shiny pearls cover the dress. It's a wedding dress... "Cinna, why am I wearing a-" "President Snow insisted that you wear this. I added my own touch to it. You'll be twirling tonight." He answered all of my questions before they are even asked. Snow. Of course. He's all too evilly planned this out, to distract the Capitol and the Districts, because there'd been uprisings.
Time passes, and before I know it, I'm standing in front of a mirror that covers the surface of a whole wall. My dark hair is back and twisted into a perfect knot. My skin is glowing. Not a patch, blemish, scar, mark, or any sign of an uneven tone is present. My make up is beautiful. Cat-eye liner, light blue and shimmery pearl eyeshadows cover my lid. Little rhinestones lined up perfectly patterned beneath my bottom lashes. Pale pink lipstick makes my lips appear full. Diamond earrings hang gracefully from my ears, to match the necklace resting down to make it all pop. Effie and Haymitch appear to get me backstage for the interview which is in less than 3 minutes. Apparently, tributes are whispering about something Finnick said up on stage. Oh god. Apparently he hinted towards something. He said he made a friend here who helped him with something... I don't quite remember what they said because I'm nervous about my own interview. Effie has tears in her eyes as she remarks, "You would have made the most beautiful bride". Would have. Haymitch's last words of advice ring in my ears "The victors are angry, Katniss, they're doing anything and everything they can do to try and stop the games. I suggest you and Peeta do the same"
I smile and give Effie a hug, and she pushes me out on stage. I stride towards the middle, to where Caesar is standing. In the spotlight, feeling beautiful, Caesar asks me all kinds of questions. About my wedding dress, about Peeta, about how the Capitol has been treating us, about the final games, and lastly, something about how Snow was "as always, right" for thinking everybody would like to see my dress. Obviously our "wedding" had been cut short because of the games. "Let us see, let us see!" Caesar exclaimed, while making a spinning motion with his hand. As soon as I start, I see the small orange-red flames on the bottom of the dress and small dark grey tufts of smoke rising up randomly. I feel a little nervous, but I trust Cinna. When I'm done twirling, I life up my arms to find there are full feathered wings on the back of them. My dark dress fits tight to my body now, and is made of feathers. I am a Mockingjay. The crowd goes insane. When my time is up, I go up on a levitated platform behind the stage, where the tributes stand in order after they've been interviewed. I take my place next to the male tribute of District 11.
Peeta drops a big fat lie during his interview. He says we got married in secret and our love should be eternal. He also mentioned that I'm having a baby. A baby? If it weren't controversial enough that we had gotten married in secret... He finishes his interview looking unphased, and I had to do the same to keep up the show. I keep thinking about Finnick. I long for his touch. It comforted me. It was warm and passionate... It fulfilled a craving deep inside of me that nothing else could. As soon as Peeta makes it up onto the platform next to me, he holds my hand and I give him a kiss. I notice him glance up at Johanna, and she gives a little smirk. What's that about? I look at Finnick who smiles warmly at me. The crowd is excited and upset. As Caesar tries to calm them down, I grab the hand of the male tribute next to me, and he grabs his district partner's hand. We are all holding hands now, and lifting them up above our heads. We are strong. We are a group. Caesar makes a face and a small motion and next thing we know, the lights are out, and the broadcast is cut. My mind jumps from Finnick to Peeta, then to the Games. I have a strong feeling the training day tomorrow is going to be cut and that we are going into the arena a day early...