Unfortunately for me those 2 weeks fly by so quickly it was as if they were made of dust floating along the streets of District 2. I sit with fellow Mentors on a long glass table, a banquet of food arranged decoratively in front of us. I sit gingerly next to James who is glaring at Charlotte with venom in his blue eyes. I haven't really spoken to him in the past fortnight, everything just seems awkward and distant between us and I'm too stubborn to try and thaw our icy relationship. A gentle chatter fills the room and almost everybody seems relaxed. I cut a chunk of fish and eat it, watching the large red clock on the opposite wall tick by painfully slowly.
"So, how's the District 7 training going? Are they ready for the interviews tonight?" A dark haired man asks, forcing a conversation with me. I nod politely,
"Yes, they seem ready." I reply but in all honesty I have no idea what they're going to say. Both of the Tributes are upset after their measly training scores of 5 and 6. I try and tell them it's an average score, but it just reminds them of the fact their deaths are inevitable. Someone in the corner laughs; I look up at the already drunk face of Haymitch. He's smug, really smug. His Tribute, Katniss scored really well, I'm beginning to think that maybe District 12 will have a winner this year.
"This roast pork is delicious, my complements to the chef!" President Snow declares from the top of the table. Everybody raises a glass and cheers, a pinched face man peers from around a door frame, a smile on his face.
"I'm glad you're enjoying the food." He says, before disappearing back into the kitchen. James reaches across the table and picks up a spoonful of roast potatoes. It's weird watching him eat, all he ever seems to consume is countless cups of pure black coffee. His arm grazes mine and I glance up at him, silently begging he will talk to me. I shake my head, wondering why I'm starting to think like that. I haven't felt this weird swirl of emotions towards somebody since Rain. Rain. The name erupts from the box in my brain I locked it in and stings like a venomous snake. I bite my lips are as onslaught of memories attack me like gun fire. Trapped in a cave in utter privacy; laughter and honey bread; reuniting in the snowy forest; a dying kiss. That kiss, he died for me and I couldn't save him. My lungs struggle for breath and my eyes blur with tears. I can't breathe. I can feel my shoulders shaking and my head fogs; the voices around me don't make sense and I can't feel anything but my heart ripping into shreds.
"Cleo, Cleo!" A voice hisses into my ear. I snap awake, my body shaking. "Come on, follow me." James says, he helps me to my feet and escorts me to the bathroom. Some other people have left the table I notice; dinner is over. James sits me down on the cool tiles and hands me a wet cloth. I hardly remember walking here.
"It's ok, just breathe." My eyes flicker towards the bathroom mirror and I gasp. My face is pale and my lips are bloodied from biting them to hard, my eyes are red and the black eyeliner I was wearing has smudged down my face. I've been crying and I never even noticed. I look down at my arms, angry red marks have been racked down them. It looks like I've been attacked by a vicious cat, but I caused those marks myself. The worse part is, I don't remember breaking down. James sits in front of me, blocking my view of the mirror.
"It's ok, you're ok. What happened?" He asks, I swallow and try to speak but my chest heaves and my words are broken, as if I've just ran for hours.
"Shh, clam down, it's ok, it's ok. Just calm down." James, holds my arms and stares right into my eyes, somehow it's comforting. I take deep breaths, trying to quiet my hammering heart. In the back of my mind the name batters my head, like a woodpecker on the trunk of an oak tree. I try and bury it, like I haven done before, but it won't disappear. Rain, Rain, Rain. It hurts, the name causes me pain and it won't go away. James pulls me into his arms and brushes my hair gently with his fingers. He rocks my back and forth gently, his left hand patting my back. It's what Kovu does when I have panic attacks at home. I concentrate on the beating of James heart, the way his breath stirs the hair behind my neck, the patting of his hand.
"Are you feeling calmer?" James asks, I nod. He releases me and smiles gently.
"I took you away before anyone noticed."
"Thanks," I whisper, I don't want any of the other Mentors seeing me break.
"Are you ready to go back in?" He asks me, I shake my head.
"Do you want me to stay with you?" I want him to stay, I never want him to leave but I don't want him to miss out of the diner party and I need to clean myself up.
"You go, I'll be back out in a minute." I assure him
"If your sure, don't be too long though or I'll come back and get you." James warns me, he stands up and leaves the bathroom.
I walk towards the mirror and assess the disaster in front of me. My eyeliner is totally ruined and my mascara has clumped together so it looks like my eyelashes had turned into spider legs instead of black feathers. I sigh,
"Great, James saw you like this." I whisper to myself. I take the wet cloth off my forehead and gently wipe away the eyeliner smudges, unfortunately I don't have any spare makeup in my bag but my patch up work is better then I expected. I brush down my dress and drag my fingers through my curled hair, with a fake smile, I walk back into the party. The rest of the Mentors were already sitting down, luckily nobody seemed to notice my arrival.
"Are you ok now?" James asks quietly. I nod and sit down. President Snow stands up and the room descends into silence, I look up at him expecting a speech.
"I must say, this years games promise to be eventful and for the first time, I think their may be a battle for glory." Charlotte scowls and scrapes her knife across her plate creating a demonic shriek that sends shivers down my spine.
"Coal miners won't beat my Tributes." She hisses, glaring at Haymitch. The gray haired man chuckles, swigging whisky straight from the crystal bottle.
"Don't count your eggs before they've hatched, Charlotte." Snow says, "Tonight's interviews shall be a spectacle to watch, but I need to remind you all that tomorrow brings the most hard work for you. Make sure you get your sponsors early or your Tributes have no chance." Snow smiles, his vicious snake eyes glittering menacingly. Some Avoxes enter the room like reanimated corpses, pale and silent. They take away our dinner plates and load the table with sweet deserts. The stuff I was really waiting for. I reach towards the thick chocolate cake, which nobody else seems to want. James looks at me from the corner of his eye and a faint smile whispers on his lips, he of all people knows how much I enjoy my sweets.
Desert passes quickly and the Mentors leave the room with a few minutes to go before the show starts. I brush cake crumbs from my pale yellow dress and follow the other Mentors down the corridor of Games fame. I look around towards the end of the corridor, trying to find the picture of myself.
"You're up there, you might not be able to see it very well because you're too small." James says, I roll my eyes and strain my neck, hoping it's not a picture of me when I was lying in a hospital bed after my win. James reaches up and unclips the picture from the wall and hands it to me. I stare at the dull hazel eyes of the almost dead girl. My hair is plastered to my starved, skeletal face with blood, my lips are blue and my nose is bleeding. At least I didn't look that bad before.
"It's a horrible picture." I whisper, transfixed. I never really saw just how awful I looked after my win. James takes the picture from me and pins it back into place.
"Look around you, all the pictures are awful. Come on, we're the last ones to take our place." James brushes past me and walks into the large arena that hosts the interviews. The Mentors sit on the front row just in front of the rowdy audience. The chairs are red leather and really uncomfortable, I know I'm going to spend most of my night trying to mould the stiff leather into a comfy seat. Caesar bounces on stage and the audience leaps to their feet with overexcited enthusiasm. I roll my eyes and try to peer past the flamboyant host to the door where the Tributes are lined up ready to be interviewed. The first few Tributes are called on stage and interviewed, nobody particularly standing out. Cecilia sits down on stage, her wide eyes terrified. She's wearing a light blue dress that makes her pale skin appear more tanned. She looks very pretty, I'm glad she has a good stylist, after all, this will be the last dress she ever wears. Caesar attempts to engage Cecilia in an interesting conversation, but she's too stiff and nervous to answer him correctly. Her timer beeps and the audience clap, not out of entertainment, but out of pity.
"She's hopeless." James sighs, I nod.
"Dill won't be any better, though. We won't be able to get them any Sponsors."
"We won't need to, they'll be dead by sunset." James reminds me, I can't help wondering if we might be a little too pessimistic towards our Tributes.
By the time the District 12 Tributes are interviewed, the enthusiasm has fizzled out and everybody is tired and deflated. The set up for this show is very clever, nobody wants the Districts past 7 to ever win so they give them the grave shifts, the last interview spaces, the last chariot places, they're always last in everything.
"What would happen if the poorer Districts won?" I ask,
"Riots. They won't win, Snow wouldn't ever allow it to happen. You know he hates those Districts, there are rumours he wants to get rid of Districts 11 and 12 because they're not of much use anymore and they're to far away from the Capitol to properly control." James explains as the girl from District 12 walks on stage.
"That's terrible, he can't do that." I whisper,
"Snow can and he will. Look at District 13, the Capitol wanted it bombed so it was." James whispers, the audience claps loudly. I look up on the stage confused, did I miss something? Katniss smiles sweetly, the timer on stage counts down her final 30 seconds. She stands up, escorted by Caesar and spins on the spot. Fire frazzles and sparkles from the hem of her dress, the crowd gasps, frightened.
"Beautiful, beautiful!" Caesar coos, his piggy eyes glittering. Katniss stops spinning and smiles, the timer bleeps and she walks of stage, a few stray flames trailing after her.
"They really want to take the fire theme as far as possible." James says, I nod in agreement. The District 12 boy, Peeta, seems to be incredibly media trained, he makes the audience laugh and never reveals too much information that might be a disadvantage to him. From the corner of my eye I see he has been given a minutes extra time. President Snow will not like that. I must haven tuned out of the interview because I snapped back into attention by the crowd gasping. James smirks slyly,
"He's excellent, I'll give him that. What a people pleaser." James declares.
"Because...because...she came here with me." Peeta whispers. The crowd descends into silence. I look up at James, confused.
"Who came here with him, what's going on?" I ask
"Were you not listening?" James smirks
" I must have blanked out again." I say, I keep on doing that and I don't even realise how long I'm unaware of what's going on. It must be yet another issue my Games brought out as a coping mechanism.
"He's in love with his District partner, and she came here with him." James explains. My eyes widen and I look at the boy onstage. His interview is up and he bows his goodbyes, his blue eyes are clouded and trouble. I don't think he's acting about loving Katniss. Rain. The name bites at my brain for the second time today. Why do I keep thinking about him? It's been years, I wonder silently. I can feel my breathing speed up and my legs begin shaking. I stand up and leave quietly, the roaring of the audience fading away behind me.
I'm so sorry I haven't uploaded another chapter for months, I've just been really lazy. Anyways, I'm back and so is Cleo! Yay! Thanks for the reviews you've given me, they're so good and I'm so pleased with them so thank you very much! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, if so tell me and if you didn't like it you can tell me your critiques. Thanks a lot 3