This was it, Kurt thought. We're on our way. The train was moving so quickly and their hometown was disappearing faster than he had imagined it would. Soon, there was nothing but grass fields as the train sped out of District seven and toward the Capital.
Kurt looked over to Blaine, his one and only companion in this mess, and saw the tears threatening to fall from his golden eyes. Blaine had sacrificed a lot in the course of an hour. His abusive father, his neglectful mother, his caring sister, his friends, and his home- they were all gone now. Kurt knew he was putting up a brave front for his sister and he also knew that Blaine did not want to look like a weakling in front of all of Panem. Blaine felt closer to Kurt now more than ever after his help and he wasn't afraid anymore to show his feelings.
Kurt wanted to say something, do something to comfort his friend, but as he reached out to him, he heard fast approaching footsteps coming from around the corner.
"Stop your tears, you vertically challenged buffoon! Tears are for the weak! So unless you are crying over the bush of fur you foolishly allowed to sit upon your head, there will be no tears. Especially when you have someone as wise and as great as myself coaching you. Stop your blubbering already!"
Kurt had never seen the woman in person before but he knew a lot about Sue Sylvester and, really, who didn't? She was the champion of the first ever hunger games, twenty-five years ago when she was eighteen. She was tall, around six foot three, had short cut dirty blonde hair and she always dressed like she was about to go work out. He had seen from the previous Hunger Games that she was absolutely terrible to the tributes and she was known for her mean and straightforward persona. She was a winner and was going to stay that way. Hopefully she would help Kurt win these games.
"I told you to shut it, triangle brows. You chose this. Now follow me to the dining area." With that she walked off quickly down the long thin hallway.
Kurt and Blaine rushed down the hallway in silence. Kurt peeked over at Blaine just once to see that he had stopped crying and put on his tough face yet again. Kurt could tell he wouldn't let his guard down again anytime soon, especially around Sue.
Sue led them to a closed door where she turned to meet the two boys to say something before they entered.
"You are going to meet our chaperone and style team now. I had a saying in them myself so you bet your fat asses that these are the best people of the group. I wouldn't have it any other way. Play nice with the chaperone and make her happy. And if you don't I'll send down a vicious cat with rabies as a gift during the games."
She opened the door that lead to a dimly lit room with a large table covered with an assortment of delicious foods. The food was looked so much better than the grime Kurt prepared at home. He usually cooked soup because that's all he and his father could afford to make so the large turkey that sat on the middle of the table looked very appealing. Kurt glanced at Blaine and noticed that he had the same look of amazement he wore himself.
"What are you girls staring at? Sit down and eat as much as you can, the extra weight will help you in the arena when you don't have much to survive on," Sue said as she pulled out her chair that was placed right in front of the large turkey.
Kurt and Blaine made their way over to their seats; they sat next to each other directly across from Sue.
"I thought you said that our chaperone and our prep team would be here," Kurt said as he placed his table napkin on his lap and began to place food on his plate.
"Sue Sylvester does not lie. They will be. There's something about those walking rainbows that like to be fashionably late. It pisses me off. The way I see it is that if you show up on time, you're late." Sue replied taking a large chunk out of her turkey leg.
After that comment the three ate in silence. The food was absolutely delicious. Never in his entire life had Kurt tasted such good food before. He made sure to try a bit of everything, the turkey, the mashed potatoes, the roast beef, the cream of broccoli soup, even sugary cakes. They were all so good. It wasn't before long until his stomach felt like it was being stretched. It hurt. Kurt rubbed his aching stomach. Was this what it was like to be full? He had never had enough food to completely fill his stomach before- only enough to stop his stomach from growling. If this pain was what it felt like to be full, he'd rather be hungry.
Hoping to ease his stomach, Kurt reached for the jug to pour himself another glass of water at the same time as Blaine. Blaine's hand grabbed Kurt's by accident and Blaine laughed but didn't pull his hand away. He gave Kurt's hand a squeeze with a slight smile and then finally let go so Kurt could pour himself a drink.
That moment, although he knew Blaine was straight, gave him butterflies in his stomach. He loved the feel of Blaine's touch on his hand, how Blaine was so warm and how his hand could fully surround his. He wished he could grab Blaine's hand again just to have that warmth one more time.
Kurt was daydreaming about Blaine when three colorful people walked through the door. One, who Kurt assumed to be the chaperone, held clipboard in her hand and paid no attention to the others in the room. She had fire red hair and purple cat-like eyes and a skin colored a light orange. She was much shorter than the others but she gave off a sense of authority, which the others obeyed.
Kurt, after taking in the initial shock of the chaperone, looked at her clothes and tightened his lips in jealousy. She wore a beautifully tailored suit that shimmered blue and yellow from a distance. The suit jacket was slightly open to reveal a golden tattoo on her chest that he had noticed the other two people had as well.
The other two, a boy and a girl, had to be the style team and they both looked stunning to Kurt. Unlike the chaperone they had no skin coloring and their hair was colored a very appealing yellow. They looked flawless with their perfect skin and beautiful clothes and Kurt envied them
Kurt looked over to Blaine to see that he was not as impressed by the three who had entered the room. He seemed particularly disgusted by the chaperones skin color and looked away. The chaperone took her seat at the table and proceeded to ignore the rest, looking at her clipboard to know the next day's schedules.
"Hello Kurt, Blaine," One of the stylists nodded towards the two boys. "My name is Ferin, and this is my sister Brissa." He moved his sister forward as he made the introductions.
"We will be your stylists for this year's Hunger Games and we are so excited to make you both presentable to the rest of the Panem," he said before taking a seat.
"It's so nice to meet both of you," Brissa said in a shy voice as she sat down next to her brother and began putting food on her plate.
"Whatever weird colors or feathers they want to put on your face, you let them. Got it porcelain?"
Kurt assumed that Sue was talking to him because Blaine was actually quite sun kissed due to the amount of time he spent outside, out of the shade of the trees Kurt usually had. Kurt didn't understand why Sue would have to tell him this, if he had to be excited about one aspect of the Hunger Games it was the clothes…. but the fact that he was to die in them was a put off. He just nodded at Sue and continued to eat.
"Sorry for not introducing myself before, my name is Scarlet, you might have gotten that from my hair color. I am the District 7 chaperone, and I actually need one of you men to win this year so do as I say. We need to stay on schedule, start training, begin wardrobe ideas, discuss interview questions, and decide what you will show the Game Makers," Scarlet said in a very no-nonsense tone as she looked over her list that was neatly printed on clip board.
"Seems an awful lot doesn't it? Why don't we just go in and fight?" Blaine said with a snappy attitude. He was already angry enough about being in the Games, he didn't want to listen to or do anything else. He saw no point in it if he was going to die anyway.
"I told both of you sorry excuses for tributes to listen to her. She knows what she's doing. Apparently you're too stupid to know anything so let me tell you. Your appearance, the interviews, and the judging will affect you in the arena. So first of all we need to tame that mop head of yours and teach you how to not sound like the complete idiot I know you are," Sue said taking another sip of her wine and staring at Blaine with entertained eyes.
Scarlet cleared her throat and continued, "Yes, Sue is right, we have a lot to do tomorrow and if we don't get it done the President will have my head. So finish your dinner and get to your rooms, we have an early day tomorrow. The Avoxs will help you in the morning."
Both Kurt and Blaine stood up and headed towards the door. "When will we get to the Capital?" Blaine asked when they reached the door.
"Around five in the morning. Get rest, you'll need it." Scarlet said with a small apologetic smile.
"You both better be up at 4:30. If you aren't I will burst into your rooms and set a stray dog on you. Got it?" Sue yelled as they walked down the hallway.
"Scarlet, Ferin, and Brissa seem nice," Kurt said as they made their way to the third car that contained their bedrooms.
"Yeah, for people from the Capital they don't seem that bad. Though Scarlet's face kind of scares me." Blaine forced a laugh as he began to open his door, which was right across from Kurt's.
Kurt pretended to laugh with him, "Speaking about scary, I think Sue is out to get us."
"Nah, she really just wants one of us to win…. So she'll have to be a bit tough."
"A bit?" Kurt leaned against his door frame not wanting to end his conversation with Blaine.
Blaine smiled slightly, "Okay, she'll have to be really hard on us."
"That's seems more correct, we should probably head to bed or she'll be sending the hounds."
"Right…Goodnight, Kurt."
"Goodnight, Blaine." Kurt entered his room and went straight for his bed.
He had so little sleep from the past week from crying he felt like he could sleep for years. He slipped off his shoes, and laid on his back to look at the ceiling of the moving train. He didn't know when but he eventually fell asleep to witness the nightmares that occurred in his dreams.
Minutes, or maybe even hours later he was woken from his restless sleep from a knock on the door. He got up quickly hoping that it wasn't Sue waking him up for being late. He quickly rushed to the door and opened it slightly.
"Blaine?" Kurt asked, just barely able to make out his face in the darkness.
There was no response from him and Kurt was curious as to why he even knocked on his door. Eventually Kurt heard Blaine's hushed voice rush from his lips.
"Can I come in?"