Chapter 9

At first, the look on Katniss's face shows that she definitely feels betrayed. But then her expression changes to one of relief. That should make me feel better, but I still feel guilty.

"Good. So what's the schedule?" she asks without looking at me.

"You'll each have four hours with Effie for presentation and four hours with me for content," says Haymitch. "You start with Effie, Katniss."

Haymitch starts with me for the next four hours as Katniss trains with Effie in her room. We go to the sitting room, Haymitch taking a seat across from me. There's a silence while Haymitch takes me in, so I decide to speak up.

"I joined the Careers." I say flat out. This surprises Haymitch.

"Did you? Well, that might help in terms of supplies." He says, but I feel the need to say more. "I didn't do it to win. Let's be honest, I'm probably not going to win. Especially with Katniss…" I feel my throat tighten when I say her name, and I fall silent.

"Would you mind explaining what's going on between you two?"

"There's nothing between us." I mumble almost inaudibly.

"Really?" he says in a tone that shows he doesn't believe me at all. "I think anyone paying attention to you at the table three days ago wouldn't think so." I keep silent and look down. There's a silence that seems to press on me more and more until…

"You have feelings for her, don't you?" he asks. I nod as an answer, unable to speak for the moment. I look up at Haymitch, and see that he really feels sorry for me. For the way these Games are, for me especially. If it were anyone else's sympathy, I might not accept it; anyone else wouldn't know what it feels like. But Haymitch does. He's been in these Games before. Only he was lucky enough to survive. After a brief silence, Haymitch speaks again. "I can see that you're likeable, and you have a way with people. You're funny, which could help you gain favor with the audience." I nod at what's he's saying. "I'm guessing you didn't join the Careers because you're funny, though." I shake my head.

"You wanted to help her, if you could." He says.

"Yes." I answer, finally speaking.

"If the people knew what you felt for her, if you said something about it, you'd be unforgettable. And you'd help her, too. You'd make her something desirable, someone to continue sponsoring when you died." Haymitch says, looking at me seriously. I understand what he wants me to do. He wants me to find a way admit what I feel for Katniss on the interviews.

"I'm not making you do that, though, if you don't want to. It's up to you." There's a ring of truth to what he says. He won't pressure me to do this, it's entirely up to me.

"I'll do it. I'll say it at the interview" I say. Haymitch nods at my answer.

"A girl like that will take a lot of convincing though." He says. I nod, knowing that she wouldn't believe me if I said that. It would be difficult to convince her that I don't see her as an enemy, difficult just to convince her that I'm being honest and that this isn't entirely a strategy for the Games. No, the audience will be the easy ones to convince; convincing Katniss will be a whole lot harder.

"At the moment, the audience is who you need to convince. You can start your interview being friendly. I don't think you'll have much of a problem being likable. Save your declaration for the end. It'll have the most effect." Says Haymitch. I agree and I decide to only focus on the strategy part of what I'm about to do, rather than the feelings that go with it, since that only causes, pain, confusion, and a little bit of embarrassment. After we're finished planning out the best way to bring up Katniss, I tell Haymitch not to tell anyone about my alliance with the Careers, especially Katniss.

"Don't worry; I'll let you surprise everyone with that." He says grimly. After that, we spend the rest of the time with Haymitch asking me simple questions and me answering them to practice for the actual interview. By the end of the coaching session we leave for lunch in a pretty good mood. We eat lunch together and switch off, Katniss going with Haymitch, and me going with Effie.

Effie takes me to my room and has me practice walking upright, proper sitting posture, eye contact, hand gestures and smiling. It's all a lot easier than the session with Haymitch (at least emotionally) and by the end of it, Effie is all smiles and praise. I don't take her praise too seriously, since I'm getting praised for walking. But I still thank her to be polite.

I decide to eat dinner alone, so I order dinner from my room and eat there. Today's coaching with Haymitch helped, even if a part of me doesn't like what I'm going to say on camera. If it were up to me, I'd only be telling Katniss, not the entire country with Katniss a few feet from me. But I have a strategy and hopefully it will take me further than day one. And more importantly, I hope it helps Katniss.

The next morning I'm greeted by my prep team. My lessons with Haymitch and Effie are over, this day belongs to Portia. They work on me all morning and into the afternoon, making my skin glow, neatly styling my hair, refining my face with powders (luckily none of them seem to be vibrantly colored). When they're done, Portia comes in with what I assume is my outfit, but I can't see it since it's covered. The prep team turns me away from the mirror and helps me into the outfit. Someone turns me back toward the mirror and I look at myself for the first time. I look striking, my skin tone contrasting slightly with the black suit they've put me in. The flames of my costume from the opening ceremonies have not been entirely abandoned, the flame accents showing prominently against the black fabric. "You look very handsome." Portia tells me.

"Thank you." I tell her quietly.

"You'll do very well out there. I know you'll have their attention." She smiles and gives me a quick hug for luck, which I return. The prep team gets me into my shoes (black leather dress shoes), gives me one quick touch up on my hair and then we leave for the elevators.

Cinna and his prep team lead Katniss from her room toward us at the elevator and I get my first glimpse at her in her interview outfit. Her dress is entirely covered in reflective precious gems of red, yellow, and white, with bits of blue gems that tip the flame design they create. Just as with the costume she wore at the opening ceremonies, she has been turned into a creature of flame. She can't be described with any other word but radiant. Her dark hair has been braided down one of her shoulders with strands of red woven into it, her gray eyes demand attention with the way that her lashes throw off bits of light whenever she blinks, and her entire body has been covered in a gold dust that makes her shimmer, further making her appear to be a living flame. It's all I can do not to stare at her as we ride the elevator down to the stage.

All twenty-four of us sit in a big arc around the stage throughout the interviews. I'll be going last, which is good considering what I'm about to say, but not good in the way of nerves leading up to it. Now I'll have to listen to how witty, charming, funny, humble and fierce everyone is and the audience usually starts to get bored about halfway through, like the Gamemakers did. Hopefully, some people will be listening by the time I get up there.

Right before we're paraded to the stage, Haymitch comes up behind us and growls "Remember, you're still a happy pair. So act like it."

This seems to confuse Katniss, but it only reminds me of what I'm going to do, and how I had agreed willingly to do it. My resolve hardens at his reminder and with that, we're lead single file to our seats. As we approach our seats, my heart starts to pound in my chest and I can feel my pulse pounding in my head. It's a relief to get to my seat and I take a few breaths to calm myself.

I look around at the City Circle. Even though evening is falling, the City Circle is brighter than midday. I can see the elevated seating that has been set up for the prestigious guests, including the stylists and mentors, the balcony that the Gamemakers are seated in, and the other balconies that most of the television crews have claimed. The City Circle itself and the avenues feeding into it are completely packed with people, with standing room only. Inside homes and community halls around the country every television is turned on to us. Everyone is watching.

Caesar Flickerman, the man who has hosted the interviews for more than forty years bounces onto the stage. In all that time, the only changes he's seemed to have gone through are the changes he does to his hair for each new Hunger Games. But he still wears the same midnight blue suit with tiny electric bulbs that twinkle like stars and still has the same face under all that make-up.

For this year, Caesar has dyed his hair a powder blue and given his lips and eyelids the same color. He looks freakish, but not as bad as I've seen him in past years. He tells a few jokes to warm up the audience and then gets right down to business. The girl from District 1, looking provocative in a see-through gold gown, steps up to join Caesar. It's obvious from the way she's dressed that she's going for sexy as her angle.

Each interview only lasts for three minutes, then a buzzer goes off and the next tribute steps up. One thing about Caesar is that he really does his best to make every tribute shine. He's friendly, setting the nervous tributes at ease; laughs at lame jokes and he can turn a forgettable response into a memorable one just by the way he reacts.

We watch as each of the districts slip by, with everyone playing up some angle. The boy from District 2, Cato, is a monstrous killing machine. The red-haired girl from District 5 is sly and elusive. Before too long, Rue from District 11, dressed in a gossamer gown complete with wings flutters her way to the stage. A hush falls over the crowd as everyone takes in this tiny tribute. Caesar's very kind to her, complimenting her seven in training, an excellent score for one so small. When he asks her what her greatest strength in the arena will be, she doesn't hesitate. "I'm very hard to catch, and if they can't catch me, they can't kill me. So don't count me out." She says with a brave note in her voice at the end.

"I wouldn't in a million years," says Caesar encouragingly. Then the buzzer goes off and Thresh is up next. He ignores Caesar's attempt at banter and only answers with a yes or no or just remains silent. Soon his interview is over and Katniss is stepping up to take her place on the stage. Now, I'm listening to every word, on edge for both of us.

"So Katniss, the Capitol must be quite a change from District Twelve. What's impressed you most since you arrived here?" asks Caesar. There's a silence that seems to stretch for a lot longer than a few seconds as Katniss looks out into the audience for a moment, and then speaks. "The lamb stew," she says tremulously. Caesar laughs and the audience joins in. "The one with the dried plums?" he asks. She nods. "Oh, I eat it by the bucketful." She says. Caesar turns to the audience with a look of horror on his face, hand on his stomach. "It doesn't show does it?" he asks, the audience shouts reassurances and applauds.

"Now, Katniss," He says confidentially. "When you came out in the opening ceremonies, my heart actually stopped. What did you think of that costume?"

"You mean after I got over my fear of being burned alive?" she asks. Big laugh from the audience and I smile at how she has the crowd's attention.

"Yes, start then."

"I thought Cinna was brilliant and it was the most gorgeous costume I'd ever seen and I couldn't believe I was wearing it. I can't believe I'm wearing this either." She lifts her skirt up a little and spreads it out, the gems catching the light. "I mean, look at it!"

The audience oohs and ahs and for a moment Katniss looks out at them, almost as if she's looking out to someone in particular. Then she twirls in a circle once and the reaction is immediate, the crowd goes nuts.

"Oh, do that again!" Says Caesar. She lifts up her arms and spins around and around, making the skirt fly out and making her look as if the flames of her dress are engulfing her. There's no doubt she has their attention now. The audience breaks out into cheers and Katniss stops, clutching Caesar's arm.

"Don't stop!" he says.

"I have to, I'm dizzy!" she says, giggling. Caesar wraps a protective arm around her. "Don't worry, I've got you. Can't have you following in your mentor's footsteps." He says and the cameras find Haymitch, who is now famous for his head dive at the reaping, and he good-naturedly waves them away and points back to Katniss.

"It's alright, she's safe with me." Caesar reassures the crowd. "So how about that training score. E-le-ven. Give us a hint of what happened in there."

Katniss glances up at the balcony and bites her lip. "Um… all I can say, is I think it was a first." She says, the cameras finding the Gamemakers who are chuckling and nodding.

"You're killing us." Says Caesar as if in actual pain. "Details, details."

"I'm not supposed to talk about it right?" she says, addressing the balcony. One of them shouts out "She's not!"

"Thank you." Katniss says. "Sorry. My lips are sealed."

"Let's go back then, to the moment they called your sister's name at the reaping." Says Caesar, his mood quieter now. "And you volunteered. Can you tell us about her?"

Katniss's expression shows the sadness she feels for her sister. The crowd is so silent, you can hear a pin drop when Katniss finally speaks. "Her name's Prim. She's just twelve. And I love her more than anything."

"What did she say to you? After the reaping?"

"She asked me to try really hard to win."

"And what did you say?" prompts Caesar.

"I swore I would."

"I bet you did," says Caesar, giving her a squeeze. The buzzer goes off. "Sorry, we're out of time. Best of luck, Katniss Everdeen, tribute from District 12."

The applause continues long after Katniss takes her seat and I've taken my place at the center of the stage. I take two deep breaths before I go up. Caesar smiles at me and shakes my hand. We wait a few moments until the applause dies down. "So, Peeta what's one of the things that's different for you here in the Capitol than at home?" Caesar asks me. "I'd have to say the food. I didn't know that there were so many different types of bread, and my family owns the bakery." I say, feigning shock, while the audience laughs. "And I've noticed that some of the breads remind me of the tributes here. Is that how it normally is?" Caesar and the rest of the audience laughs some more and I hear a few people in the audience shouting out. Caesar has to compose himself before he continues. "You scored an eight in training, pretty impressive. Were there any perils during training?"

"Not during training, but the showers here are certainly perilous. Tell me, do I still smell like roses?" I ask. He jokingly sniffs me. "No, but you should check for me, I think I might've hit that button, too." We take turns sniffing each other, which has everyone laughing hysterically. Caesar gives the audience a few moments to calm down, and then speaks again. "So, Peeta, back at home, do you have a special someone, a girlfriend, maybe?"

Here it is, my "big moment", and Caesar has already handed the opportunity for me to bring it up. I shake my head after a moment as an answer to his question.

"Handsome lad like you? There must be must be some special girl. Come on, what's her name?" Says Caesar. Now comes the part where I'm being completely honest. I take a deep breath and sigh.

"Well, there is this one girl. I've have had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the reaping." Again, I'm being completely honest. I hear the audience give sounds of sympathy, for at this moment, they can relate to what I feel. But not when I'm done.

"She have another fellow?" asks Caesar. I think of Gale Hawthorne and my answer comes to me.

"I don't know, but a lot of boys like her." It's true. I've heard many of the boys in our year, boys younger than her, and (the worst part for me) boys older than her talking about her. Katniss does have her fair share of admirers, even if she doesn't really notice.

"So here's what you do. You win, you go home. She can't turn you down then eh?" Caesar says encouragingly. Oh, Caesar. If only things were that simple. I think to myself.

"I don't think it's going to work out. Winning… won't help in my case." I say, real sadness creeping into my voice.

"Why ever not?" Caesar asks, mystified.

I feel my face turning red as I finally say what I had meant to say this whole interview. "Because… because… she came here with me."

Author's Note: And we have now completed part one! I have chapter 10 ready, and I'll be posting soon. Chapter 11, as long as it's been taking me, I'm now beginning to write and I'll hopefully have it ready in a few days time. Thanks for all the readers and reviews so far. :D