A/N: I finally updated this story! So enjoy! This chapter is basically pre-chariot drama with the chariots! And warning- there is a lot of cursing in this chapter so I'm just warning you…
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except for Aria. Soon I will be posting who is who and give credits, but my computer isn't letting me for some reason...
I wake up from my nap and go to the dining hall. I hear Arella say that she's attracted to her district partner and I burst through the door to see her and Coronarcher, who shall now be called Corrie since his name is so fucking long, eating cake.
"Hey guys! Omg you never told me that there was cake! How's it going? Oh and I also see that Arella has a boyfriend. Good for you Arella!" I say.
Arella's eyes widen and she drops her fork. "I'm sorry, did you just say boyfriend?"
"Well I heard you say that you were attracted to your district partner so I thought that you two were boyfriend/girlfriend…" I say.
Gosh Aria, why do you always have to jump to conclusions?
"Ah, hi I'm Corrie, who are you?" Corrie asks.
"I'm Aria from district two," I say.
"Hello? Guys? I know I went to take a nap, but it wasn't that long. Where did you go?" I hear Donevin say.
"I'm in here with the others eating cake!" I say.
"Oh sorry, I went to lie down. I had a headache. But did you say cake? I want some!" he says.
Arella laughs. "The huge Career who is so big and tough just freaked out because he wants cake?" she says and continues laughing.
"We have plenty of cake to go around. It is amazing stuff, is it not?" Corrie says and pulls out two forks and a cake for Donevin. "And a fork for the lady," he says and hands me a fork.
I take the fork from him and start eating. "Thank you," I say.
Arella looks up at Donevin. "You know, I'm not so afraid of you now," she says.
"Well let me tell you, you should be afraid. There won't be any cake to make me seem less scary," Donevin says. He picks up a knife and throws it into the wall, barely missing Arella's head. "And remember, I can do that and much more. Just wait."
Really Donevin? There's cake in front of you and all you're focused on is threatening Arella? She's like twelve, you can kill her easily!
Arella sighs. "Fine, I promise to be more afraid Donevin… Maybe next time you shouldn't be so excited for the cake?" she says and pulls the knife out of the wall.
"Hey would you mind keeping your knives to yourself and away from my girlfriend's head until the Games? Man, I just gave you cake!" Corrie says and does some magic trick that makes the knife come out of Donevin's ear and smiles. "I mean, I would prefer it if you kept them away from her head during the Games as well, but I know that's not likely to happen."
Shimmer walks into the room with Eden.
They better not be a couple…
"District four has agreed to be in our alliance," he says.
"Yay!" I cheer.
"Yay! Welcome guys! Ready to kill some dumbass lower district fools?" Donevin says.
"No business at the dinner table!" Corrie says.
We all ignore him.
"I'm not ready to kill anyone yet," Eden confesses.
"Well how about when the Games begin?" Donevin asks.
"Maybe," Eden says and smiles deviously.
I honestly don't think she's with Shimmer…
I turn to her and say, "Hey!"
"Hi, are you Aria?" Eden says.
"Yup. And you're Eden right?" I say.
She nods and says, "How are you?"
"I'm good! Just super excited for the Games… I can't wait to kill the lovebirds of district nine," I say and smirk.
And because once I win, Dad won't try to kill me every 3 seconds. Then when I win, I'll be perfect for once in my life.
"Haha yes! I also want to kill the ones from 12. Ugh they annoy me!" she says.
"I haven't seen them yet, so I don't know how annoying they are… but district 9 thinks that they're all that with their relationship… and district 12 is always annoying," I say.
"Agreed. And district 9 is all like 'oh and I want to marry you' blah blah blah," Eden says.
That's it. Eden is officially my new best friend.
"they are soo annoying. Every two seconds they're like 'I love you baby!' 'I love you too!' kiss kiss kiss kiss! They're the reason I can't wait for the games… and the girl prances around like she's all that, when in reality, she's an idiot," I say.
"She is going to be my first kill," Eden says and sticks out her hand. "Deal?"
"Fine. You can have her, as long as you let me get her boyfriend then," I say and shake her hand.
Eden smiles. "Deal. Now I have to go to sleep," she says.
"Goodnight," I say.
She leaves the room and a few minutes later, I go to my room to sleep.
-THE NEXT DAY: OFFICIALLY IN THE CAPITOL-
I wake up and realize that today is chariot day. I wonder what Sisle is going to put me in…
I get out of bed, shower, put a crapload of coverup on to hide my scars, and head downstairs. I walk by the training center and see Kai, Donevin, and Shimmer training.
But I thought training didn't start until tomorrow…
I walk into the training center and walk to the knife station. These knives are gorgeous… I pick one up and throw it, watching it hit the middle of the farthest target.
Then I hear Sisle calling me from another room.
"Where is Aria? I need to get her in her dress!" she says.
I run out of the training center and to Sisle.
"Here I am!" I say.
"Aria, this is your outfit," she says and hands me a sheer floor length gown with multi-colored gems covering the essential areas, multi-colored gem earrings, and stained glass slippers. She puts basic makeup on my face and puts my hair into an elegant side ponytail.
"Oh my gosh, I love it!" I say and put my outfit on and look in a mirror. "Wow, I look gorgeous!" I say and hug Sisle.
"You're welcome darling, now make me proud," she says.
"Thank you! I'll make you the proudest stylist in all of Panem!" I say and leave to go find the careers.
Later that night…
I stand around with Kai, Eden and Shimmer and strategize. Donevin's a jerk, so he's not with us at the moment. I'm barely even paying attention to the strategizing part; I'm just staring into Shimmer's eyes. I love Shimmer… He has nice eyes… I'm just saying random things like "District nine must die," so it looks like I'm paying attention.
All of a sudden, Shimmer starts staring at something behind me. I quickly turn around and see that it's Xavier.
Oh hell no…
He leaves the circle and starts following her.
I am going to kill that bitch.
"Why is Shimmer following Xavier?" I ask, trying not to sound pissed.
"I'm not sure. I feel like he's out to get her," Kai says.
"I agree," I say and turn to Shimmer.
"SHIMMER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING STALKING THE WEAKLING?" I scream.
And just as I suspected, he ignores me.
Hence why I have the word "worthless" carved into my right thigh…
I see him drag her to his room.
Oh hell no. This cannot fucking be happening to me…I am going to fucking brutally murder that bitch in the arena…
"I think something's wrong with Shimmer. He just took her somewhere… Should we be worried?" I say.
"Let's go Aria. Where did you see him go?" Kai says.
"I think he went to his room. Let's go," I say and drag Kai to Shimmer's room.
The second we get there, there is already a group of tributes.
Matt kicks down Shimmer's door to reveal Xavier tied down to a chair. Matt then knocks Shimmer out and gets knocked out himself. Zoey unties Xavier.
"Shimmer was going… to rape Xavier!" Claude announces.
What the fuck?
Matt gets up and starts talking to Xavier.
I think there's something between them…
"Is Shimmer okay?" the girl from 5 asks.
Shut the fuck up bitch. He's mine.
I look to my right and see Donevin shoving Arella into a wall.
Really Donevin? Really?
Kai gets angry at Donevin. "I TOLD YOU TO STOP SHOVING GIRLS AROUND!" he says.
As if the Career alliance couldn't get any worse…
Donevin punches Kai in the jaw. "YOU DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN AND CAN'T DO!" he screams
Great. More fighting…
"I don't fight Donevin. We can do this here or in the arena," Kai says putting his hands in fighting position.
No Kai. Please not now!
Donevin spits on Kai, kicks Arella in the stomach, and leaves.
Oh and did I fail to mention we're all looking picture perfect for the chariots while all of this is happening?
Miss Moody runs into the room and straight to Arella.
Wow Miss Moody, I'm glad to see you care about other people…
"Arella! Oh my goodness! W-What happened?" Miss Moody exclaims.
Is she blind or something? Arella just got kicked by Donevin… how stupid could she be?
"FAT LUMP OF MEAT!" Eden says to Donevin and rushes to Arella.
Ah, I love Eden…
"Do you take pride in beating up girls that are twice as small as you?" Zoey says to Donevin.
Clearly you don't know district 2 Zoey…
"I take pride in beating up girls whose name is Zoey too," Donevin says. "Go away."
"Don't you dare try to threaten me," Zoey says.
Zoey, leave before you get hurt. You know what? Just stay. You're annoying and I hate you.
"Donevin, fuck off," Claude says and drags Zoey away.
"Just leave him alone. He isn't worth it. It's like talking to a brick wall," Arella says.
I go over to Arella who is surrounded by Eden, the girl from district 5 (I really need to learn her name…), Zoey, Claude, and Kai.
Eden leads Arella to a couch and I quickly run to get a tissue box and some painkillers for Arella.
"Here, these should help," I say and hand her the tissues and painkillers.
"Thank you," she says and attempts a smile.
"You're welcome," I say and smile. "Do you want me to stand up to Donevin for you? Because at the moment, I'm the only one that he doesn't hate…"
"No, you should keep that way. Less chance of him wanting to kill you. I think I might be on his shit list now…" she says.
For a weak little 12 year old, she's actually pretty smart…
Kai pulls me aside. "Don't get in an altercation with Donevin. Pretend, to him, that you're on his side still. That way, during the Games, you can, you know..." he says and makes a stabbing gesture, saying that I should backstab Donevin.
I nod. "Got it."
"Does anyone have a bucket?" Arella asks, looking like she's going to puke.
I quickly run and get her a bucket.
Arella pukes.
"I'm sorry for what Donevin did to you. I'm a warrior, not a bully. And he should be, too," Kai says.
"I'm sorry too. I just want to let you know that just because I'm from district 2, doesn't mean I'm like that. I only fight when it's necessary, but if it helps, you were never a target," I say.
"Of course I wasn't a target... I'm weak, you could pick me off too easily," Arella says.
No shit Sherlock. But I'll give you a reprieve today since you're injured and puking. Quick Aria, think of a nice thing to say! Wait, but does being myself mean nice? Because Lydia wasn't nice. So maybe I'm a nice person, just forced to be bitchy? But then why does everyone call me a bitch? Ugh I hate this!
"and also, you're one of the nicest people here to be honest... I have no clue why Donevin did that to you... If he were to beat up anyone here, it would be Zoey," I confess.
"I guess zoey wasn't convenient to him? And I ran into him earlier too…" she says.
Idiot. Clearly you don't know Zoey. She's a bitch, how could you not fucking see that, Arella?
"Donevin hates Zoey because she thinks she's all that with Claude…" I explain.
Just as I say that, Zoey leaves like a prissy little girl. Pathetic…
And of course, Arella follows her… expected.
"WHAT IS WITH ALL THE YELLING AND SCREAMING! CAN'T YOU SEE IM TRYING TO GET SOME REST. JEEZ. PEOPLE NEED TO SHUT THEIR MOUTHS SOMETIMES. DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA," some random idiot loser tribute runs around screaming before he goes back into his room.
I swear, is everyone here a fucking loser except for Shimmer, Eden, and Kai?
"umm, excuse guys... i know this may not be the right time, but did 6 get outfitted?" some girl from six says.
I mentally facepalm. That girl is a fucking idiot. That was the worst time to ask about if your district got outfitted. And besides, if you haven't seen your stylist, your district hasn't been outfitted you idiot…
I decide to go to Donevin's room and pretend to be on his side. I leave everyone else because they're fucking idiots.
I let myself into Donevin's room. "Hey, can we talk?" I ask.
Donevin groans. "What do you want?"
Whoops, I forgot it's Donevin's naptime! But I don't give a fuck about him, so who cares?
"You hurt her pretty bad… I'm guessing she's your kill?" I say.
Aria, you fucking idiot! If he keeps trying to hurt her, obviously he wants to kill her! Haven't you ever thought of why you have the word "stupid" carved into your upper right arm? Well that's why!
"She's anyone's kill as long as she's dead in the end… I hurt her pretty bad, huh?" he asks.
"yeah you did… She can't move and she puked a couple of times…" I say.
Well she can move, but I won't tell you that!
"That's horrible. Tell her I say sorry," he says sarcastically.
"I have a question. So with Shimmer being kicked out of the alliance for almost raping Xavier and beating up Matt, Kai hating you, and same with Eden, where does that leave the careers? Is it just us? Or can we trust the girl from 1 even though we haven't spoken to her yet?" I ask.
"I don't know. We need to talk to them first. And screw them. If Kai wants to stand up for some WORTHLESS DISTRICT TEN TRASH, then let them," he says.
Worthless? Trash? Those words sound familiar… oh yeah that's right. I have worthless carved into my right thigh and trash carved into my right forearm… fuck you dad…
"I guess we'll just have to talk to the district 1 girl at training or at the chariots if there's time... and as for Kai, if he wants to join their side, let him... right?" I say.
"Right. I'm going back to sleep now," Donevin says and goes back to sleep.
I leave his room and quickly run away so people don't get suspicious and think Donevin and I are together for some strange reason…
I run to the doctors and find Kai with a bunch of other people I could give two craps about.
"Hey! What's going on?" I say.
"Looks like he slipped a rib. How are things on your end?" he says.
I look and see Matt on the doctor table thing. Poor Matt… but whatever! Xavier's probably heartbroken her boyfriend is in this condition… even though Shimmer did tie her to a chair and almost raped her and then attacked Matt…
"ouch! well things are going surprisingly well... Donevin knows Arella's condition, but obviously doesn't care, and he thinks I'm on his side for the long run…" I say.
"Good. As long as he thinks you're real, that's all the advantage we need. I don't even know what's going to happen to Shimmer. And where in Pete's name are all the Peacekeepers?" he says.
I have the biggest urge to tell Kai how I truly feel about Shimmer, but after everything that's happened just now, I don't think now is the best time…
"since I'm on your side and pretending to be on donevins, what do I do at training tomorrow? Do I still pretend to stick with Donevin because he thinks that I'm on his side and that I'm against you? Or do I go on your side and get on donevins bad side?" I ask.
"Stay on his side at least until the bloodbath...if you feel like it. Don't let him leave the Cornucopia. I'll...I'll take him, but you have to persuade him to go for the goods," he says.
"and I totally forgot about shimmer! well I guess nobody really likes him after what happened to Xavier and Matt..." I lie.
Well no shit it's a lie… I love Shimmer even though he did what he did…
The two of us then go to Arella and her pathetic little friends and I play the role of the nice girl, rolling her to a doctor, getting her a bucket, and all that nice stuff… And to make it all better, she bought it! so now everybody thinks I'm a nice girl! I love it!
I cannot wait to kill these bitches…
-CHARIOT TIME! (even later that night)-
Oh the time we've all been waiting for! The chariots! I step onto my chariot still in the same outfit, looking perfect like Sisle helped me to look, and I play up the "look at me Capitol. I am going to be the victor of the 123rd Hunger Games" role. I have a confident smile, I wave, blow kisses, and all of that stuff to make the Capitolites fall in love with me. The audience loves it!
Sadly, I'm stuck sitting next to Donevin, but I pretend he doesn't exist.
And of course, we're all in different outfits. So how do I feel about everyone's? well let's start with district one. Obviously, Shimmer looks sexy in his outfit and well, Ribbon looks like your stereotypical district one girl on a chariot…
I of course love my outfit, I think that Sisle did an amazing job on it! and stupid Donevin is wearing a fucking Speedo with sandals… not too sure how to feel about that one, but if you're going to give a guy a Speedo to wear, you're supposed to give it to a hot guy, not an ugly, annoying one. Shimmer should've worn a Speedo… that would've been sexy…
District three is your typical district three… I hate them…
Eden and Kai look really great in their outfits! I think they're made of sharkskin, but I don't know anything about fish so I can't really tell…
District five and six don't make much impression on me… although I am formulating ways to kill them in my head since they're idiots…
Xavier and Matt look better than I thought they would. I honestly thought that they would go for the tree getup like they do every year, but I like the different spin on lumber with the designs this year…
District eight looks interesting… The girl's hair is super chaotic, but her outfit… well I honestly don't know how to feel about it… And the boy looks like somebody from a horror movie…
Now they're up to district nine. Zoey and Claude. They both fucking annoy me so much I can't even bother to look at them. They're outfits don't even help. Claude totally broke the whole "Speedos are for hot guys only" rule by wearing one along with a see through cloak thing and a gold grain crown. Zoey on the other hand looks exactly the same, except without a Speedo obviously. Underneath her cloak is some fabric bra and underwear getup… like come on, if you know your tribute isn't hot, why give them revealing outfits, like what the fuck?
And onto district ten! Arella and Corrie. More lovebirds. They both look like cows; I want to laugh. But if I laugh in my chariot, people would think I'm mental and I cannot have that happen.
District 11 looks like their stereotypical selves… Outfits with flowers and leaves and grass on them… Just like every year…
And finally district 12. They annoy me so much I don't even pay attention.
After the chariots, Reyana herds us all together for some big announcement. Fuck her. And screw the announcement. I storm off to my room, shower, and sleep. Training is tomorrow and I have to be refreshed for that.
When I sleep, images play in my mind. Nightmares swirled with reality. I see a knife, but instead of it representing victory, it represents death. My death. My death for not being like Lydia. My death for not being… Perfect.