Chapter 2: Rebellious Thoughts
Cressida was woken up by the sound of shattering glass. She groaned and looked at her clock. 5:45am. Her alarm wasn't supposed to go off for another half an hour. She groaned and made her way down her staircase.
"Mom? Dad?" She asked. Her parents were in the kitchen talking loudly and trying to put away extra food and drinks from their party. Her mother adjusted her bright green wig and then knocked over the toaster while putting a plate of fudge on the granite counter.
"Where did that merlot go?" Her dad asked not realizing he was stepping in puddles of it.
"Guys – I can put this stuff away." Cressida said. Her parents stared at her.
"Margie's fingernails – were like talons – haha! Brian, I want to do that – this afternoon – at the salon!" Her mom said. Cressida ushered her parents out of the kitchen.
"Good night, guys." Cressida said.
"I love you honeybunches!" Her dad slurred before giving her a quick hug. Cressida groaned and began cleaning the kitchen. Tom joined her a few minutes later. After tasting it to make sure it wasn't spiked with anything, they split the fudge between themselves to take with their lunches. Cressida looked at the clock. Only fifteen minutes until she had to leave for school. She ran to her room and threw on some clothes and grabbed her bookbag. She put a can of soup and the fudge in her bookbag and headed out. Tom didn't have class for the first hour of school, so he could stay home and finish tidying up. She was half a block away from the apartment building when two people jumped out from behind another building. She let out a shriek as the Trouble Twins burst out laughing.
"Geez, you guys!" Cressida gasped.
"You're awake now, aren't you?" Castor asked winking. She nodded.
"Ugh. I've been awake since 5:45." Cressida groaned. For some reason, she felt comfortable telling them about cleaning up the kitchen when her parents came home.
"Bummer." Pollux said. "Well, at least you didn't have to drag them upstairs or anything."
"Nah. Tom usually does that if we need to." Cressida said. Pollux raised his eyebrows.
"Is it really that bad?" He asked concerned.
"Yeah." Cressida said.
"Your parents don't – hurt you guys or anything, do they?" Castor asked. "We had neighbors a few years ago that would physically fight and throw stuff after they got drunk at parties.
"They don't hurt us." Cressida said. "Though they don't help us with much either – ok, except room and board. I should give them credit for that." They laughed as they entered the school building.
The morning passed uneventfully. Cressida sat with the twins at lunch and split her fudge with them. In exchange, they gave her some carrots and dip. They went to their History and Society of Panem class in good spirits. "Alright guys, the school has a surprise for you all!" Mr. Vainer said grinning. Everyone looked up. "As you all know, the Victory Tour is coming up in a month." He paused as the class cheered. "Capital East Secondary is pleased to welcome two past Hunger Games victors this afternoon to talk about how they are using their time and resources to give back to this grand country of Panem!" Everyone gasped.
"Oh my gosh! I hope it's Jadin from Two! He's sooooo hot!" A girl in the back squealed as her friends sighed and giggled. Jadin was the previous year's victor.
"Nope. Not Jadin." Mr. Vainer said. "You all will just have to find out." He escorted the class to the assembly hall where the rest of the school was gathered.
The students stood and sang the Panem National Anthem before a burly figure walked onstage. "CHAFF! CHAFF! CHAFF! CHAFF!" The students cheered as their guest egged them on and flexed his muscles. Even though he had won the Hunger Games several years back, he still trained vigorously to keep up his figure.
"Oh wow!" Cressida's friend Marianne gasped. "He's so ripped! I don't think anyone at Capital East has a body like that!"
"Pollux is getting muscles." Cressida replied grinning quite forgetting that the Smith twins were sitting right next to her. Pollux jabbed Castor grinning and flexing his right biceps. Castor snorted down a laugh.
"What's up, Capital East?" Chaff boomed into the microphone. Everyone cheered. "I love being a victor and now a mentor. I'm pleased to say that none of my tributes have lost a limb." He waved his arm stump in the air as the class laughed. "So, what do I do when I'm not mentoring or otherwise engaged in the Hunger Games? Well, I might be coming to a party at one of your parents' houses!" Everyone laughed and started cheering hoping he was talking about them.
"Ugh – I'd hate cleaning up after him." Cressida muttered to the twins. "I heard he's fond of breaking stuff."
"I also train the noble citizens that keep Panem and the Capital safe – our Peacekeepers! You learn a lot about combat during the Games and your peacekeeping force has found some of my hints to be very useful indeed." He paused to flex his muscles again while the students cheered. "Right – well – happy Victory Tour, happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favorite tributes' favor!" Everyone cheered as he exited the stage.
"Oh wow! I'm going to have to get a poster of him!" Marianne sighed.
"Isn't he like old?" Cressida asked.
"He's not that old. Besides, he's really hot!" The students quited down as the principal walked onto the stage.
"And now, I'm proud to introduce our second victor, Mr. Beetee Tesla – who incidently helped us re-wire something backstage moments ago!" Everyone clapped and cheered, although the applause was slightly less enthusiastic as it was for Chaff. Unlike Chaff who wore a skimpy atheltic outfit to show off his body, Beetee wore slacks and a button-up shirt complete with pens sticking out from a pocket-protector in his shirt.
"YEAH, VOLTS!" The twins cheered.
"You know him?" Cressida asked stunned.
"Totally!" Castor said grinning. "He comes to Dad's store to sell his stuff!"
"Good afternoon, Capital East Secondary!" Beetee said smiling after adjusting his glasses. "My co-inventor Wiress couldn't be here as she's working on a project at the moment, but I send you her greetings as well. I hear the palm cameras are very popular right now!" the crowd cheered. "Oh good. We both helped with inventing them a while back." He spoke mostly of his inventions. Some of the students got bored when he talked about a hard-drive that could store several terabytes of information and how it would be useful in the school library. He ended with showing a picture of a wig made of fiber-optics that could be turned on for a week straight. Everyone cheered and almost all the girls immediately wanted one.
"And now for our Q & A!" The principal said. "We have half an hour where you can ask the victors whatever you want!" Chaff came out flexing and strutting before sitting down next to Beetee. There was another round of cheering from the students before the principal began facilitating the Q & A.
"Yo, Chaff!" One student called out when his raised hand was acknowledged. "How many hours do you work out?"
"Eight to ten! Can't you tell?" Chaff asked grinning and flexing some more.
"Beetee, Does Wiress design any clothing that has lights like that wig thingie?" Another student asked.
"No, she mostly works on machines. She's a mechanical engineer. But she's worked on some sewing machines that have probably made your clothing, yes." Beetee said smiling.
"Chaff, Even if your tributes loose, do you still go to Hunger Games parties as mentors?"
"Well, I'm happy to say that my tributes – such as Jadin –" Chaff paused while the students cheered and the girls sighed and squealed, "win or come out very close to winning. Oh yes, we party, don't we, Beetee?" Beetee smiled and nodded, but there was a hint of forcedness to it. "Mr. Haymich Abernathy from Twelve always supplies us with – ah – goods from the top beverage suppliers in Panem." Chaff said barely catching himself to edit his statement to school-friendly standards.
"Hey, Chaff, I turn ninteen next month!" A girl called. "Do you have a fiance, or will you marry me?" Everyone laughed.
"Well, us mentors devote so much time to the Games and to our activities for the better of Panem that none of us have the chance to settle down. Oh – we have our – affections – but we never – you know – have families."
"Technically, it's against the rules." Beetee pointed out. Cressida thought she saw a look of sadness cross his face before he cleared his throat. "But, to mentor young tributes in our districts and to give back to society is, like Chaff said, rewarding indeed." Cressida suddenly had a question. She timidly put her hand in the air.
"Yes?" The principal called on her.
"Um – this question is for Beetee." Cressida said. Castor elbowed her to stand up. "Um – when tributes have a hard life – do you – do you help them take what they learned and use it in the Games?"
"Sure." Beetee said. He adjusted his glasses and Cressida could tell he was choosing his words carefully. "As you have learned in school, life in the Districts is much different than it is in the Capital. I actually have had many tributes come to the games after suffering hardships of many kinds. For example, Wiress lost her parents in a factory accident several years before the Games, but worked hard in their memory. I helpd her channel her resourcefulness and determination to keep going to help her win her Games."
"Thanks." Cressida said. "Actually – I remember her story. It inspires me a lot – even though – you know – I have parents and everything." She sat back down suddenly. Yeah, I have parents. They're probably sleeping off their hangovers all day today. The principal had moved onto another person who asked a question to Chaff, but quite a few students were turning around to glance Cressida's way.
She remembered when Wiress became victor. Tom had covered Cressida's eyes when the Careers were caught in Wiress's deadly trap which snapped their limbs off. The Gamekeepers had sent a lightning bolt to hit the tree where Wiress was hiding to finish her off before the Careers all died, but she still survived. They both watched the interview were Beetee and Wiress were interviewed together since Wiress' brain was still recovering from the electric shock and had trouble expressing her thoughts unaided. "I – wanted to see my parents again –" Wiress had said. "But Beetee – convinced me –" Wiress had paused and Beetee had whispered a few words to get her back on track. "To put my mind to good use – for –" Wiress looked straight into the camera and everyone could see the tears rolling down her pale thin face.
"To put her mind to good use for their memory." Beetee had finished. "Wiress made sure their strength lived on in her, and it was that strength that she demonstrated in the arena." Cressida remembered being inspired by that interview. If Wiress could come back from the Hunger Games after loosing her parents, Cressida figured she herself could somehow find strength to deal with her somewhat chaotic home situation.
The closing of the assembly brought Cressida's mind back to the present. Everyone exited the auditorium and school was let out early. Cressida was still thinking about the differences she saw between Chaff and Beetee. Chaff seemed to enjoy the Games just like anyone in the Capital. Beetee tolerated it – probably just thankful that he survived the ordeal. For some reason, Cressida couldn't get the idea out of her head that if it were up to Beetee, he would have married Wiress and had a normal family. And for some reason, she put together that the Capital was keeping him from that wish. She sighed. On one hand, she had her parents who were married and had two teenage children, but at some point deciding partying was more important than they were. "Like they took us for granted." Cressida thought to herself. "And yet, here was Beetee and Wiress who were old enough to be my parents, and yet they were kept apart and never allowed to have kids. There was something unfair about that."
"Cress, are you ok?" Pollux asked. "You look preoccupied." She turned around and looked at them. They were a block from their apartments.
"Meaning, Pollux has been shooting spitballs into your hair for the past fifteen minutes and you have said nothing." Castor pointed out. Cressida gasped and put her hands to her hair that was now full of spit-wads.
"POLLUX!" She screeched as Pollux howled with laughter. "THAT'S DISGUSTING!"
"Well, it stopped you from brooding, right?" Pollux asked. He dodged an eraser that was flung his way. Castor retrieved it and grinned at Cressida. "Uh – hey – Castor and I were thinking – wanna come to our dad's work area and see some stuff Volts made for us?"
"Uh – sure." Cressida said hesitantly. She wondered what was behind Pollux's seemingly random offer.
"Even though you're not into gizmos like us, some of the stuff is cool!" Castor said. "Trust me."
"After dinner." Cressida said. They all shook hands "See you once I get your spit wads washed out of my hair." She gave Pollux a meaningful look before going to her apartment.
"So why are we really here? " Cressida asked sitting on a crate in the Smith's workroom a few hours later.
"This is the room of secrets." Pollux said with a mysterious air.
"We can't be heard in here by any sort of is all thanks to Wires and Volts." Castor explained. "They made the soundproofing walls. So Pollux - and others can mouth off about the Capital in here."
"You guys seem to know Volts really well. Do you know if he and Wires are married but just haven't told anyone? " Cressida asked curiously. "I wondered about that at the assembly."
"Probably." Castor answered.
"Aaaaw." Cressida sighed. She had read a few tragic love stories in little fiction booklets published in the Capital, and this sounded a bit like one of those stories.
"That's not cute. That's sad. I mean, the Capital would want their kids their lives - they can barely do what they want as victors. " Pollux explained. "Think about it: Almost every Victor works for the Capital. Why? What would you do if you went through the Hunger Games and won?"
"Dunno. I guess relax and write a book." Cressida reasoned. The twins chuckled.
"Yeah. Have an easy life - not be paraded around." Castor replied.
"Well - Chaff doesn't mind." Cressida said thoughtfully.
"Some of them like it. Volts says that people from the other districts don't like it as much." Pollux explained.
"So - why are you telling me all this? " Cressida asked confused.
"You're a smart somewhat disgruntled citizen. Wanna rebel? " Pollux asked. Cressida's mouth dropped open.
"Way to be subtle little bro."Castor said shaking his head.
"Pollux, we're fourteen. What would we do?" Cressida asked.
"Dunno. I'm sure the three of us can think of something."