It is officially 2013! Here is chapter 5 of Peeta's Story. Hurray! I'm just so happy today. Hope you like it.
When we pull into the train station and the train stops completely, the doors open and a few Peacekeepers come in to escort us out. The train station isn't very big to hold a lot of people. So, it's mostly filled with the biggest fans of the Games. Maybe hundred or so people are here cheering hysterically. We're guided into the Training Center with Haymitch and Effie following us closely.
"Katniss, you'll meet your Stylist and prep team in that room and Peeta, your's through that door." Effie tells us pointing in directions of our prep rooms. I walk through my door and am immediately greeted by three very Capitol looking people. They lay me down on a table and start changing my appearance. They cut my hair and wipe my face with something sort of slimy and sticky.
"What is this?" I ask them.
"It prevents hair growth." Oh, so they don't want me to grow a beard in the arena. That won't be a problem even without the cream I won't grow a beard in a few weeks. After a while, they lead me into a room where I guess is the place I'll meet my stylist. After about five minutes my stylist walks in and asks me to rise. She circles my like Haymitch did and pokes me a few times with a small stick with measurements on it.
"My name is Portia." She tells me shaking my hand.
"Peeta." I say. Then she starts going over what she has planned for the opening ceremonies. After she explains it she takes me to a room where we have lunch. During lunch she tells me that this is her first games.
"This year, I hope to change the face of District 12. Cinna, Katniss's stylist, and I have planned to make sure that both of you catch the public's eye."
"How do you plan to do that?" I ask her. I'm a little curious on how they can make us interesting.
"You'll see." she says with a mysterious smile. After lunch she quides me back to room we were in before. "Here, put this on and I'll adjust it if it needs adjusting." I do as she says and change. It fits perfect on me. I am wearing a skintight coal black unitard. Portia puts me in leather boots that lace up to my knees. She circles me making sure that its complete perfection and leaves the room. She comes back with an orange, yellow, and red fabric. She unfolds it and throws it over my shoulders.
"Is this a cape?" I ask. She nods her head.
"Peeta, how do you feel about fire?" she asks. Fire? It's useful when you need something to heat up, but it's dangerous because it can destroy practically everything.
"What do you mean?" I answer her question with a question.
"I want to light your cape and headdress on fire." She must see the look of shock on my face because then she says, "Not real fire, synthetic fire. It won't hurt you." I'd resist letting them burn me alive, but Haymitch said not to resist, so I guess I can't.
"Alright." I lie to her. She grins at me and pulls up a chair for me to sit on. I am no way ok with being lit on fire. The prep team from earlier come back and put makeup on me. I feel weird having makeup on. I don't know how girls can last having this gunk on their faces. Not to mention some of the guys too. She brings me a mirror and shows me my reflection. I don't even have much makeup on. Just highlighted areas here and there. It may be a little bit of makeup, but it still feels uncomfortable. They make me stand and then they all position themselves in front of me. They stand there looking proud of their work and I think they're also waiting for a response.
"Wow. You've all done a nice job." I tell them smiling.
"Alright, now you just need the headdress." says Portia pulling it out from her bag. She places it carefully on my head and stands back admiring it. They applaud and lead me toward the area where the chariots are waiting. I walk in and am surprised to see that Katniss is actually relieved to see me. I can tell by the way she looks over at me when I walk through with my team behind me. When we meet up, everyone but the guy I presume is Cinna, are all excited about what a splash we'll make. Cinna and Portia help me and Katniss onto the chariots. They fix any last minute things like our headdresses and capes. They position us a certain way on the chariot. The walk away for a little bit to discuss something. I hope they aren't worrying about the fire because that's just me more nervous.
"What do you think?" I hear Katniss whisper. "About the fire?" Should I tell her how I really feel about the fire? I think she would understand.
"I'll ripe off your cape if you'll rip off mine," I tell her angrily.
"Deal," she says. So, she must be thinking the same thing as me. The Capitol would send us into the arena in any condition we're in. Shouldn't Haymitch be preventing something like this.
"Where is Haymitch? Isn't he supposed to protect us from this sort of thing?" I ask her.
"With all that alcohol in him, it's probably not advisable to have him around an open flame," she says. We both end up laughing. I wish I knew this girl more personally before we got into this mess. She seems like a fun person to be around. Or she's probably nervous and not acting normal. We stop laughing when we hear the opening music begin. The massive doors open and you can hear the loud cheers of the crowd. We watch as the tributes from District 1 are pulled on their chariot out into the streets. The cheering becomes even louder. District 2 follows shortly behind them. Cinna reappears with a lighted torch.
"Here we go then," he says and sets our capes on fire. I hold my breathe and clench my jaw preparing for the burning sensation that is soon to come, but it doesn't. It works. "It works." Cinna echoes my thought. I watch him as he lifts Katniss's chin and tells her to keep her head high and to smile and that they're going to us. He jumps off, but turns around and shouts something. I can't hear over the music. He shouts again and make hand gestures.
"What's he saying?" Katniss asks me. I turn to her and I don't see Katniss, I see an even more dazzling version of Katniss. She looks so beautiful. I look in her eyes and see an interesting look in her eye that I can't read.
"I think he said for us to hold hands," I tell her. I grab her right hand and automatically feel that warmth I felt when I shook her hand. I look over to Cinna who gives us a thumbs up. I then look straight ahead because we have started moving forward. When the crowd sees us, their cheers are deafening. They all begin chanting "District 12!" I smile and wave at everyone on my side. Then I turn my head over to Katniss's side and see her smiling and waving. I feel her grip on my hand tighten. I look back over to my side and continue smiling and waving. I hear people start shouting Katniss and I glance over to her again. She's blowing kisses at the crowd and the crowds throwing rose at us. I smile at her. She's definitely not acting like herself. Her grip tightens even more to point where I feel pain. When we enter the City Circle I side glance at Katniss and see her staring at our entwined fingers. She started releasing her grip on me. I tighten my grip on hers.
"No, don't let go of me," I plead. I may never have another chance to hold her hand again. "Please. I might fall out of this thing." I lie to her.
"Okay." she says and looks in the other direction with a quizzical look on her face. All the chariots stop in front of the President's mansion. He speaks to us, well more to the citizens of the Capitol because he faces his attention to us a few times. I don't pay attention to him. I watch the screens and notice that the camera faces the District 12 chariot a lot more than it should especially the darker it's getting. Finally when the national anthem plays they do a quick cut around the tributes, but hold on me and Katniss until we disappear into the Training Center. Immediately, we are ambushed by the prep teams yammering on about how incredible our performance was and congratulating the stylists. Portia extinguishes our costumes and goes back to group of excited prep teams, leaving me and Katniss just standing there. I feel angry stares at us and look in that direction to see that some of the tributes are casting us dirty looks. I think they know what I know. We just outshined them. More Katniss than me. I look at her and realize that she trying to release her grip. I do the same. We both massage our hands.
"Thanks for keeping hold of me. I was getting a little shaky there," I lie to her. I was a little nervous, but I held my ground. I just wanted something to say to her.
"It didn't show," she says to me. "I'm sure no one noticed." I finally have thought of something to say, but I'm not sure she knows how to take compliments. My dad complimented her on her hunting skills and she just shrugged it off.
"I'm sure they didn't notice anything but you. You should wear flames more often. They suit you." I tell her. I smile at her. She smiles for a second, but then it fades and she looks to the side lost in thought and then looks back at me as if she decided something. She stands up on tiptoe and kisses my cheek right where my bruise is. Then she walks away. Did that really just happen or did I just imagine it?
Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I had no access to the internet, but I hope to upload two chapters today. Anyway please review. Tell me what you think.
~ secretTHGluver ~