HEY! :) Peeta's confession is one of my favorite parts of the book. I hope you like how it written out. Now, I'll leave it to you.
I shake Caesar's hand and sit down in the white chair next to him.
"So, Peeta, what was your life like in District 12?" he asks me.
"Well, when I wasn't at school, I was working at my family's bakery." I say with a smile.
"Oh, so you're a baker. He's a baker." he says addressing the crowd. "What do you do as a baker?"
"I'm the baker's son. " I clarify "And I knead the dough and frost the desserts."
"Well that seems like an exciting experience. Doesn't it folks?" he says laughing.
"Actually Caesar, speaking from my experience of bread, some of the tributes here actually are similar to their district bread." I say ending with a smile.
"How so?" he asks with an intrigued smile on his face. Actually me speaking of bread isn't such a wow factor or anything, but you have to give it to Caesar for helping out the tributes. I briefly explain how the District 4, 11, and 6 tributes are similar to their district bread. Caesar sort of enhances what I say into something the audience understands. They actually laugh at what I'm saying.
"So Peeta, what do you find different about the Capitol?" he asks slightly laughing.
"Okay, well, the showers are a little weird."
"The showers. We have different showers." says Caesar. I nod.
"Tell me Caesar, do I smell like roses to you." I say leaning into him. He gives the crowd a questionable look. "Take a whiff." He leans in and smells me. The crowd laughs when they see this. "Do I?" I ask him when backs away.
"Yes." he answers. "Do I smell like?" He leans into me. I then smell him.
"Mmm." I start giving a laugh. "You definitely smell better than I do."
"Well I've lived here longer."
"That makes sense." I say. The crowd applauds and most of them laugh.
"Funny very funny." he says patting my shoulder. "Your girlfriend must like your humor. I bet she's missing you right now." I look out toward the crowd. I spot Haymitch drinking from his flask. He points at me and nods his head. I read this as 'this is your chance, don't fuck it up'
"You have a girlfriend at home right Peeta?" asks Caesar. I look back at him. How exactly am I suppose to play this off? Maybe if I just go with it, it'll be over before I know it. I feel everyone's eyes on me. My hands are sweating. I shake my head.
"Handsome lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, what's her name?" I wonder if this was planned. It could also just be a freaky coincidence. I sigh. It's now or never. I gather all my courage and speak.
"Well, there is this one girl. I've had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the reaping." Why didn't I say I loved her? It's been more than a crush for over than ten years. I hear sympathetic sighs around the room.
"She have another fellow?" Yeah, Gale and a couple of guys in my class who said she'd make a good wife because she would supply them with food for the rest of their lives I think in my head. But, I can't exactly say that aloud.
"I don't know, but a lot of boys like her," I tell them instead.
"So, here's what you do. You win, you go home. She can't turn you down then, eh?" he says grinning at me.
"I don't think it's going to work out. Winning… won't help in my case," I say with a sad smile.
"Why ever not?" Caesar persists. I scan the crowd, hardly any of them are breathing. I look at the tributes they're all watching me intensively, even Katniss. I face Caesar and I can feel my face burning red.
"Because…" I stammer. I look up at Haymitch. He gives me a stern look. I look back to Caesar. "because… she came here with me." I quickly avert my glance to the floor. I lift my eyes, but not my head, up to view the screen, I see Katniss on it. She has her mouth half open in a mix of what can only be surprise and protest. She drops her head down and stares at the floor. Then the screen is on me and Caesar.
"Oh, that is a piece of bad luck," he says. The crowd agrees with him. I think I can even hear some of them cry out.
"It's not good."
"Well, I don't think any of us can blame you. It'd be hard not to fall for that young lady. She didn't know?" asks Caesar. I shake my head.
"Not until now." I say glancing up at the screen. The screen transitions from me to Katniss. She's blushing like crazy.
"Wouldn't you love to pull her back out here and get a response?" Caesars asks more to the audience than me. The crowd goes wild. I'm not ready to face her yet. "Sadly, rules are rules, and Katniss Everdeen's time has been spent. Well, best of luck to you, Peeta Mellark, and I think I speak for all of Panem when I say our hearts go with yours."
The buzzer goes off, but you can barely hear it over the roar of the crowd. When it quiets down I thank them and walk to my seat. Katniss looks up at me and the look in her eye shows anger. We stand for the anthem and I can see that the screens are dominated by a shot of me and Katniss.
After the anthem, everyone heads over to the elevators. I get shoved into the elevator containing the tributes from District 3, 7, and 9. When the elevator stops on the twelfth floor, I feel palms slam on my chest and I fall backwards from being completely off guard. I fall on the floor with scattered shards from the urn that tipped over.
"What was that for?" I ask.
"You had no right! No right to go saying those things about me!" Katniss yells at me. I hear elevator doors open and I turn my head to see Effie, Haymitch, Cinna, and Portia.
"What's going on? Did you fall?" says Effie with her mouth agape. I sit up and look at my hands. They're bloody. I feel anger rising within me.
"After she shoved me." I tell them as Effie and Cinna help me up.
Haymitch turns onto Katniss. "Shoved him?" he asks with raised eyebrows.
"This was your idea, wasn't it? Turning me into some kind of fool in front of the entire country?" she accuses Haymitch.
"It was my idea," I say. Haymitch looks up at me. "Haymitch just helped me with it."
"Yes, Haymitch is very helpful. To you!" Why is she so pissed? Can't she see we're trying to help her?
"You are a fool. Do you think he hurt you? That boy just gave you something you could never achieve on your own." says Haymitch.
"He made me look weak!" she breaks in.
"He made you look desirable! And let's face it, you can use all the help you can get in that department. You were about as romantic as dirt until he said he wanted you. Now they all do. You're all they're talking about. The star-crossed lovers from District Twelve!" Haymitch yells at her.
"But we're not star-crossed lovers!" she screams in aggravation. Haymitch grabs her shoulders and pins her against the wall. I'm about to step in, but then I realize that I'm suppose to be mad at her. And I guess I am a little angry with her.
"Who cares? It's all a big show. It's all how you're perceived. The most I could say about you after your interview was that you were nice enough, although that in itself was a small miracle. Now I can say you're a heartbreaker. Oh, oh, oh, how the boys back home fall longingly at your feet. Which do you think will get you more sponsors?" That shut her up. She shoves his hands off of her. Cinna puts his arm around her.
"He's right, Katniss." says Cinna.
"I should have been told, so I didn't look so stupid."
"No, your reaction was perfect. If you'd known, it wouldn't have read as real," Portia breaks in. Again, why is she so pissed? Haymitch technically just explained to her that we're helping her… I'm helping her. So what's the problem? It's not like we could ever 'be together' or anything like that. Unless… she's worrying about what Gale is thinking about all this.
"She's just worried about her boyfriend," I say looking over my hand and pulling out a piece of broken urn. I can tell I hit a nerve because then she exclaims that she doesn't have a boyfriend. All right, so she may not have a boyfriend, but Gale has to be what she's worrying about.
"Whatever. But I bet he's smart enough to know a bluff when he sees it. Besides you didn't say you loved you. So what does it matter?" I say. Great, now she's going to think that it's all fake. Her anger subsides and she looks towards the floor like thinking something over.
"After he said he loved me, did you think I could be in love with him, too?" she asks.
"I did. The way you avoided looking at the cameras, the blush." says Portia. I can tell Katniss is embarrassed now by the way she's fidgeting with her hands and shifting her weight from one side to the other.
"You're golden, sweetheart. You're going to have sponsors lined up around the block," says Haymitch. She finally turns her attention to me.
"I'm sorry I shoved you." she says in a quiet voice.
"Doesn't matter," I shrug. "Although it's technically illegal." I raise my hands slightly.
"Are your hands okay?" she asks. I know she feels a little guilty about all this. I don't want to her to feel worse so I tell her they'll be all right. We all stand in the silence until Haymitch speaks up.
"Come on, let's eat." We follow him to the dining room. I settle myself next to Portia and Effie and away from Katniss. I try to eat, but I start feeling sharp pains and the blood flow increases from the cuts on my palms. Portia leads me away to some sort of mini hospital located below the District One floor. Portia has a Capitol attendant clean my hands and wrap them in bandages.
"Wait outside in the hallway. I need to speak to her in private." says the lady who wrapped my hands. I walk out and wait in the hallway like I was told to do. There's nothing really to do, so I just stand there. Then I hear shuffling sounds of feet and voices down the hallway. I look in that direction. Suddenly Districts 1 and 2 tributes appear around the corner. They stop talking when they see me. They all glance at each other. Then the District 2 boy walks over to me.
"Hey, Loverboy," he says. "What happened to you?" I guess the teasing has begun.
"Fell." I say. He smirk and looks back towards the group. Then back at me.
"Well, you seem didn't seem very off balanced at training."
I stay silent and glance at my shoes then look at the door that's still closed.
"What are you goes doing off your floors?" I ask. The tributes are suppose to remain on their District floors unless accompanied by an escort.
"Just exploring." I'm getting the feeling that he is sort of the leader of the group. So… if I want in on the group then he's the one I have to talk to. I have an idea.
"Can you meet me on the roof after everyone goes to bed?" I lower my voice so the group won't hear me.
"Why?" he asks suspiciously.
"I want to talk business with you. Alone." I say. He stares me down for several moments.
"Alright." he says nodding his head. He walks back to his group and they walk back down the hallway. I hear the door behind me open and I turn around. Portia leads me back up to our floor. She explains to me what the lady told her about my hands. When we get there, they have all ready finished their soup.
I try my best to use the utensils, but anyone can see that I'm having some trouble. When we finish eating, we walk over to the sitting room and watch the recaps of the interviews. I think I did pretty well in my interview.
When it's over we all stand up. Effie takes me and Katniss by the hand and wishes us well. She thanks us for being the best tributes she has ever had.
"I wouldn't be at all surprised if I finally get promoted to a decent district next year!" she adds. Although the look in her eyes say that she cares more about us than the possibility of receiving a new district. Tears begin to form in her eyes, but she quickly wipes them away. Effie kisses our cheeks and hurries off to her room.
Haymitch on the other hand stands there with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Any final words of advice?" I ask.
"When the gong sounds, get the hell out of there. You're neither of you up to the bloodbath at the Cornucopia. Just clear out, put as much distance as you can between yourselves and the others, and find a source of water. Got it?" he says.
"And after that?" Katniss asks.
"Stay alive." We nod.
Katniss walks out without a word of goodbye to me. I walk over to Portia.
"Okay, Peeta, tonight try not ruin your bandages in anyway." she says with a concerned look. "Goodnight." Then she walks out.
"Good luck, Peeta," says Cinna. He walks out behind Portia.
"Goodnight Haymitch," I say.
"I need to talk to you on how to get in on the alliance." he says unscrewing his flask. I don't really want to stand in the way of him and his flask right now so I make my way toward my room and call out over my shoulder.
"Don't worry, I got it covered."
That is the end of chapter 11. Review please. (: Tell me your thoughts on my story. I'm curious to know what people are thinking. Alright have a good day.
~secretTHGluver~