Chapter 3: Best Friend
Victoria couldn't believe her father! How dare he call her that? How dare he criticize her decision to go to Capitol University? She was nineteen after all, an adult! She was able to make her own choices. She stormed down to the park, where she knew he would be waiting. She went through the south entrance and saw him sitting on a bench. Coran, her best friend. Coran, the only person, besides Effie, that she knew was from the Capitol. She looked at him sitting on the bench, his violet eyes closed, head back. He could have been sleeping. He had light brown hair that fell over his eyes normally, but was now hanging backwards. The black tunic he was wearing was sleeveless, showing his muscled arms to their full advantage. Looking at him, no one could have guessed that he was Cinna's nephew, born to Portia and her husband. In fact, it was actually hard to tell that he was from the Capitol at all. The only feature that was Capitolish was the light silver shadow on the upper lids of his eyes. He was her best friend.
She sat down on the bench next to him, fuming. Without opening his eyes, Coran said in a whisper,
"Hey Victoria, what's wrong?" He always seemed to know what she was feeling without looking at her. He said that he was a best friend thing, but Victoria said that he was able to read aura's, or the essence around a person. He said she was full of crap.
When she didn't answer right away, Coran turned his head and opened his startling violet eyes, staring at her. She took a few deep breaths and said,
"I got my acceptance letter from Capitol University today." Coran grinned. He was also a student at the University and had been hoping that she would get in.
"That's fantastic! I can show you the entire campus! You'll love it there; there are people from all of the districts and the Capitol and they all hang out together. It's amazing!" His grin slid off of his face however, when he saw that Victoria wasn't joining in his celebration.
"Hey, what's wrong?" She turned and looked at him.
"I told my dad and…and he wasn't exactly thrilled." He saw the tears form in her eyes; no matter what she said, Victoria still loved her father and had wanted him to be happy for her.
"What should I do Coran? Do you think I should stay or should I go to the University?" He closed his eyes, trying to think of a good solution for his friend. It dawned on him that there was one person who would support her in going to school, someone who was like a parent to her.
"You need to go to 12." It was a simple statement, but when he said it, Coran saw Victoria jump in shock.
"What? No! Dad will be furious if I go to her. They haven't talked in months! No!"
"Victoria, she loves you. You know she does! She may not like it that you are there without Gale's permission, but she will support you. You have to!" He held her gaze, serious-like.
"But what about you showing me the University?" Coran shook his head.
"I can show it to you later this summer. But you need to go to 12. I will buy your train ticket. You can leave tonight. Just go back to your house and pack. I will meet you at the train station." He stood up, kissed her on the forehead, and, without another word, ran towards the north exit of the park, leaving Victoria to go home and back.