Chapter Three:
"Good evening, Miss Mellark."
I honestly am getting tired of people calling me that. In any case, a young man, probably not much older than me and Cedric walked in. He had an easygoing smile, a handsome face, and a warm expression. I wasn't sure if I liked him or not. He introduced himself as Adeon.
He examined my makeup, lifted up my arms to take my measurements. I blushed a little when he mentioned my measurements were not perfect like some peoples. Chest, 31, Waist 28, and hips 33 1/2.
"In any case, you've definitely got a girlish figure, no matter how pretty you are. However, this is perfect for tonight's outfit."
"What am I dressing as? Girl on fire number two?"
Adeon smiled, a look of mischief coming over his strange multicolored eyes. "Oh, not quite. I don't like copying other people's work, although I do greatly look up to Cinna. We all do." He paused for a moment, and then with a cheerful smile said, "Wait here a moment."
Take my advice: trust your stylist. Adeon was back before I could blink with lots of beautiful fabric. He helped me get dressed in to a long shimmery gown. It shimmered with all colors of orange and red, glowing in the dark like a flame. Adeon fixed my almost black hair so that when I twirled around, my gown looked like it was the fire, feeding on the black charcoal of my hair.
"Wow," I said, my eyes wide as I looked at myself in the mirror, impressed.
He set a headpiece gently on to my head and pressed a button on it. The headpiece started to flame up, looking like a real fire on my head. My mouth fell open in shock at the beautiful fire goddess I saw in the mirror.
"Well...I suppose it's girl on fire number two, but I think it's more like fire girl or flame girl rather than girl on fire," Adeon said, looking satisfied. He pressed the button on the headpiece and added, "Don't keep it on or you'll run out of battery. Wait here a moment; Haymitch wants to speak with you."
Adeon disappeared, to be filled in by Haymitch. Haymitch studied my appearance and then nodded. "It's fine. I've been planning. How do you feel towards Mr. Hawthorne?"
I felt myself stutter. "I...I...I don't know."
Haymitch gave me a surly glare. "That don't help, sweetheart."
"Don't call me sweetheart," I snapped.
He shrugged and said, "Well, looks like I'll have to work harder. You are just like your mother. Go out there and take the crowd by surprise, sweetheart."
Before I could snap at him again, I was herded to the chariot. I found Cedric there, looked dazzling even without the headpiece turned on.
"Hi," he said, smiling a little. "All of this-" he motioned to his fiery gold outfit. "Is really cool!" He said, his smile widening, "And you look very pretty."
I tried not to blush. I hated it when guys were like this; so sweet it was impossible to hate them. The sweetness plus his good looks was about to make me implode.
"Let's get in," he said as the first chariot pulled out.
I got in nervously, a little scared at the height we were at.
A couple seconds before our chariot started to pull out, he held my hand. I started to glance up at him, about to say something, when his hand went up to my head. He gently pushed a strand of hair out of my eyes, and turned on my headpiece.
"Good luck, fire girl," he murmured against my ear before pulling away, still holding my hand, and turned his own headpiece on. And then, we were broadcasted all over Panem, hand in hand, with a fire burning on our heads. The fire tributes.
I felt myself start to smile as everyone started screaming our names. I put my free hand out in a gesture of friendliness at them, as if to acknowledge them in some way. I was so in to greeting everyone, smiling, blowing kisses, and catching roses that I barely noticed Cedric had let go of my hand until I felt his arm go around my waist and pull me closer to him.
I looked down quickly at my waist to see his hand, and then looked up at him. He looked down at me with his dark gray eyes, and I felt myself starting to blush a little.
"You like attention, don't you fire girl?" he asked softly.
It's a surprise I heard him over the din. I replied smartly, "You bet I do."
If I thought that actually hearing him was a surprise, then I had no idea. What happened next nearly knocked me backwards off the flying chariot. He leaned down and touched his lips to mine.
I felt my mouth pop open, which wasn't really wise since he was kissing me. I closed my mouth, and for some reason melted in to him. I'm not sure why I did that. I mean, I did enjoy the kiss, but why on earth did I have to give him the satisfaction of knowing so? I don't know why I kept kissing him, until I remembered where we were. On television. All over Panem.
I pulled away, and he did too, smiling as if he had just won something. He started waving again as if nothing had happened, keeping his arm around my waist. My head was fuzzy. I'm not sure what I did.
When I finally forced my head clear, we were walking in to the apartment. My mom and dad were deadly silent. Haymitch seemed kind of pleased, skipping up the stairs. Effie didn't seem to know what to think.
I don't know why on earth I had to talk. "WHY...exactly...did you kiss me?"