Sorry that this is slightly later than usual, but I made the mistake of starting another story while this one is going on, and I've gotten somewhat obsessive with my shiny new story. If anyone's interested, it's going to be a Harry Potter one, and I'll probably post the first chapter in a week or so. Now that I've made that announcement, here's the chapter. I hope you like it. Please R&R.
When I walk into the room where all of the mentors meet that next day, Haymitch is sulking in a corner. Chaff is his usually merry self, downing gulps of some kind of toxic substance, but Haymitch looks almost psychotic. I'm wary to walk over to him for fear that he's going to brain me or something, but because his attitude has me curious, I carefully go over there to check it out.
"Wow, you look crabby," I point out, looking down at him. He shoots me a steely glare. That's when I see it, when I know his problem. His eyes are completely clear. He hasn't had a single thing to drink. I think back at his two tributes, obviously better than most previous years. Does he really think that they have a chance? That's the only reason that I can think of that would cause him to quit the bottle.
"I can't drink," is his response, then he turns away.
"So, since you aren't completely shit faced yet, does that mean you think your tributes actually have a chance." He snorts.
"The boy doesn't have much of a chance. He's too good. The girl, though, she's something special. It isn't just what she did for her sister either, she's a hunter." He leans closer to me, then. "In our District, hunting is considered illegal, just like you guys can't catch extra fish. Katniss, though, she's been doing it anyway, since she was just a little thing. There aren't a half dozen others in our district that have the guts to do something like that, let alone the skill to get so many clean hits. If that girl can realize that hunting people aint that different from spearing a squirrel, then she has a real chance."
I'm surprised that he told me all that. Usually mentors keep their mouths shut about their tributes, unless they're saying that they're good or bad, which you can usually figure out anyway, if you have any experience whatsoever. I guess that just means Haymitch trusts me not to run off and give all that information to Rowdy and Mia. It's a step, anyway.
"I hope she does. After that thing with her sister, well, I think everyone loves her." I don't come out and say it, I don't even really hint at what I'm thinking, but Haymitch knows. He simply nods, then waves me away.
"Yeah, yeah. Now get lost, I'm not in the mood for people right now." I hold up my hands.
"I should go tell Chaff to give you a shot." Then he growls at me and starts to get up, and I hurry away. Chastity finds me next, and pulls me away from everyone else. When we were alone, she pulled me tightly to her side.
"We're ready," she breathed into my ear. "Anytime this thing is going to go, we have everything drawn out." Then she takes my hand and pulls me back into the room.
Between the whole thing with Katniss and what Chastity just told me, I'm actually in a fairly good mood, despite the impending Games, which, of course, always suck.
"Hey Finnick," a familiar voice says from behind me. I turn around to see Johanna grinning at me. I quickly get up and walk over to where she's standing, giving her a quick hug.
"You miss me?" I asked. She shouldn't have, not that much. These past few months, she's only called me every other night, and I'll admit that I sort of started looking forward to the calls. Now that Rafe and I aren't on the best of terms, I'd have to say that she's become my best friend. Like Annie, she gets everything that I'm going through, and she doesn't judge me by things that she doesn't fully understand, like Rafe still does.
"Of course," she says sweetly, "not." I roll my eyes at her.
"I can tell when you're lying. You couldn't fool a two year old," I joke.
"I believe that I might have fooled you once," she says.
"Yeah, along with everyone else in Panem." She laughs, and we start circling around the room, talking and joking until it's time for the opening ceremonies. I'm somewhat excited to see what Silvia managed to do with our tributes, since she always has something that's somewhat unique.
She did good too. Both of them look amazing. Or at first they do. Then, once the sun has set and darkness has fallen over the Capitol, the District 12 chariot pulls out of the remake center. I'll admit, I do gape. I think that the rest of Panem does too.
"Oh, my, Gosh," someone else in the mentor's box says. I don't know who. Probably one of the tributes from two, because no one else uses a voice like that.
"She's beautiful," Chastity said.
"I'm going to ask him to marry me," Johanna followed.
"Cinna's a frickin' genius," Haymitch said, referring to who I'm guessing is there stylist. I'm also guessing that it's his first year, because I would have remembered someone who could pull of something that totally and utterly amazing.
The two tributes from District 12 were clothed in simple black unitard. And that's about where the simple ended. They wore headpieces and capes that were on fire! Not only that, but whoever applied their makeup must have been brilliant, because the flames cast perfect, eerie shadows on their faces. They were terrifying, and they were perfect. Well, Katniss was terrifying I guess. Not that I remember what Haymitch said about Peeta, I realize that he was right. That boy's bright blue eyes are way too innocent for him to be much good at all in the arena. I'm sure he has the physical skills, but it takes so much more than that to kill.
"Haymitch, remember what I told you earlier," I said. He nods, an actual smile making its way across his face. He looked happy, and even better, he looked hopeful. I think that every mentor in that room, the ones from the rebelling districts anyway, is hopeful. This girl, this amazing girl, will never be able to leave anyone's mind. Not after the thing with her sister, and definitely not after this. I smile the rest of the night, even as I'm watching the recaps with my own not as brilliant tributes.
"I wish I was from District 12," Mia said dreamily when she saw their costumes. I smack the back of her head.
"They starve, they have no money, and all of their tribute have to be mentored by Haymitch. Now, who would you want as a mentor, me, or him?" Mia rolled her eyes.
"I didn't mean like that. I meant that I want to be from a district where they can set people on fire." I laugh, just because that sounds so wrong. Although, from what I've heard about some districts, I wouldn't be surprised if the Capitol did set people on fire.
"It's just appearances. You don't know if they have talent or not. Wait until training, and when you kick butt and score a twelve, everyone will forget about them."
"You really think so?" No.
"Of course I do." Then she kept her mouth shut for a while, and I even got a chance to feel good about my self. I may have made the last couple weeks of Amana's life shit, and Doc may have made those couple weeks of my life feel like shit because such a good kid died, but this time, I'm going to make sure that everyone is all happy. These are happy times. Remember, there's a girl, and if she's as good as Haymitch thinks, maybe, just maybe we've finally found that tribute.
It's a good thing, too, because the threat of Johanna taking over was getting a little worrisome. I'm guessing her strategy would have something to do with take an axe and cut everyone's head off, and that wouldn't work out very well at all.
That next morning at breakfast, I do my best to mentor Mia, even though I'm really not into it. I want Katniss to win, and even though it's really, really cruel of me, I don't want anything that I tell Mia to end up causing Katniss to get killed. So I just hang back a little bit and give casual advice. Like don't die, or join the Careers if you think you can trust them, and try to get weapons, but only if you're sure you can get out alive.
I could tell her other things. I could tell her to let the Games take over her head, to let them warp her into a monster so she has a chance of winning. I could tell her to hide in trees and jump unsuspecting tributes, but I don't. that isn't just because I don't want her to win, however. It's also because I know that she can't win, and I don't want her to become something that she's not in the process. I did that, and even though I did win, I still regret it.
She just listens, nodding every once in a while. She's smarter than other tributes, I notice eventually. Even though she is too sweet, and she may freak out about little things, she's smart. She knows what's going to happen to her, I can tell that from the fear that's plain in her eyes. She's terrified, and I wish that I could do something to make it stop, but I can't. Even if I could, I wouldn't. In just a matter of days, she's going to be expected to fight to the death with other teenagers. It isn't fair for me to make her unafraid of something that should scare the crap out of her.
My next two days are pretty much similar to that. When Mia isn't training, I'm busy mentoring her as best as I can without getting too close to her. That's harder than it sounds, though. There's something about Mia that makes you love her. She's so innocent, so girlish, that her death seems almost as bad as Doc's. It's like knowing that in a few days, someone is going to kill your sister. Well, not quite that bad. I'm not as close to her as Daisy, but there's a trace of what I know I would feel.
When I'm not with Mia, I'm basically hanging out with Johanna. Haymitch's lack of alcohol has made him cryptic and unbearable, and without a buddy, Chaff has just been downing everything himself, so he isn't exactly he most conscious either. Chastity would be an option, but we don't have the easy friendship that formed so quickly between Johanna and me, so I tend to spend more time with the girl from District 7.
Well, and a hoard of girls from the Capitol. When I'm finished mentoring, and Rowdy and Mia are all snuggled up in bed, I still have to work. So, if you can imagine, I'm exhausted, and probably should be feeling grumpy. There are other things, though, that keep popping up to help me feel better.
Like Johanna's pep talks, which are horribly cheesy, but unbelievably funny. She'll just launch into a speech whenever she sees my shoulders sagging even just slightly, about how everything is just peachy, and you have to look beyond the imperfections. Then she uses these hand gestures and everything, which makes me laugh hard enough that I almost cry.
Even better than her, though, is Katniss Everdeen. Everyone is talking about her, and the buzz gets even louder after her private score from her training session flashes across the screen.
"Awe, she tied yours, Finnick," Mia says with a smile. I'm smiling too. Whenever she did to score that high, it had to have been impressive. That means that Haymitch was right. She doesn't just have the persona, but the talent as well. She'd be perfect, so perfect. The only thing that stands in the way of the rebellion starting is the Hunger Games. Twenty three other tributes. If Katniss can beat them, though, I know that everything will fall into place perfectly. It's with that hope that I sit through the interviews that night, anxiously waiting to see if Katniss will drop another bomb that will help the rebellion.
Her speech is good, she seems likeable, nice enough, but I'm disappointed that there isn't anything more to it. Then her district partner, Peeta Mellark, gives his speech, and he drops to bomb for her.
First of all, this guy is amazing. He has me laughing from the second that he steps up to do his interview. Then Caesar asked him if he had a girlfriend.
"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."
Aw, how sad. Or that's what I thought at first, anyway.
"She have another fellow?" Caesar asked her.
"I don't know, but a lot of boys like her."
"So, here's what you do. You win, you go home. She can't turn you down then, eh?" he asks, as if this would be the perfect solution. I'm thinking that if that boy manages to win, there's no way that Snow wouldn't sell him. His smile is too contagious, and too many people are starting to like him. Then, very few girls would want him anyway, not real ones.
"I don't think it's going to work out. Winning… won't help in my case," Peeta says sadly.
"Why ever not?"
"Because…because… she came here with me." I actually pump my fist. That boy is brilliant. He just put one of the final pieces in play for this thing. Now, Katniss Everdeen isn't just talented, she isn't just brave, but she's desirable. Every single boy in the Capitol is going to want to follow Peeta's example, and she will get sponsors. These Games, are going to be hers.