My eyes opened slowly. The strange smell of the Capitol filled my nostrils immediately. I sat up quickly, wondering where I was and why. Something orange fell over my eyes and I quickly brushed it away. Then I realized it was my hair. Then I remembered I was in the Capitol. I breathed a sigh of relief and rolled out of bed. I hopped in the shower and tried all the different options, then I dried off and slipped on a yellow Capitol dress. Blue sparkles faded out to the bottom of it. For once, I looked my normal age. But I didn't like that. I quickly took out some dark red lipstick that I had bought the day before and put it on my lips. I looked in the mirror and breathed a sigh of relief. I looked like my old self.
"Old self," I said happily. Then the happiness turned to horror. "No!" I washed off the red lipstick and looked in the mirror again. I didn't want to be my old self; I wanted to be my new self. I wanted to be the Capitol citizen that hadn't lost her entire family. I shook my head and walked out of the bathroom, lipstick no longer on. I headed out of the hotel and outside. Capitol people were walking and talking in their strange accent. I started walking forward when someone caught my eye. I looked over at the little girl who looked to be ten years old. She had red straight hair and bangs that were just above her eyes. She was laughing and wearing a bright pink dress. She looked just like Manda...
"Woah!" a voice shouted in front of me, and I suddenly ended up on the ground. I moaned and sat up. On the floor beside me was a Capitol boy.
"I'm sorry," I said, realizing I had run straight into him when I'd been looking at the girl.
"It's fine; I fall all the time," the boy said, grunting as he stood up. He reached his hand down and helped me up. "Hey; I don't think I've seen you around here before. You new?"
"Yeah; I became a Capitol citizen yesterday," I said.
"Cool," the boy said. "What's your name?"
I was about to tell him Melany when I remembered that I was going to live a new life; to forget my family, I had to forget myself.
"Lavinia," I said, for once actually smiling. "My name is Lavinia."