Chapter Nine part one

Beatrice:

I woke up to the sound of faint but rapid gunshots. My guess was the shots came from outside instead of another floor up or down. I even started to smell a strong and nasty-smelling coffee.

I walked to the window and looked to see what was going on outside. Wheezy, with his back on me, was holding a huge gangster-styled tommy gun and aiming it at a bag of straw with a bull's-eye target painted on it.

Then, I looked to my right a little bit. I found a huge circus bear cage with a very bad paint job and something small and skinny walks around in the cage. I squinted and I sort of got a better look at the creature. That was no creature that walked in the cage…it was Lexi wrapped in a thin blanket made out of burlap sacks. I guess that Smarty had put her in the cage and left her in there all night.

"Oh, Lexi." I said in a whisper. "You shouldn't be treated like that."

"You're worried about your cousin, are ya?" A familiar bossy voice asked, making me jump in surprise.

It was Smarty.

He was sitting on the couch that I didn't notice before with his legs crossed…drinking a cup of coffee and making himself look like he's king of the world. I'm not even going to ask where he got it or how he managed to make coffee in an old house.

"Yeah, I'm worried about my cousin." I said with a small frown on my face. "It's really obvious."

Smarty chuckled with a small evil grin on his face.

"You have a 'sarong' bond with her and a 'sarong' heart." He said.

"The correct word is 'strong'. A sarong is a type of garment that's wrapped around the body and looks like a dress." I said.

"You broad. You're a walking dictionary."

"And don't call me a broad. I probably told you before that it's a very insulting name to women, especially to a teen girl, like me. If you want to catch my attention, you can either call me by my name."

"And what's your name again?"

"Beatrice Birchwood. You don't need to tell me your name because I remember it very well."

Smarty takes a long sip of his coffee and sighed in an irritated matter.

"All right…Birchwood, I get the 'mist'." He said.

"It's supposed to be 'gist'." I said and then, I crossed my arms and tapped four of my right fingers on my left arm.

"I'm not here to be corrected. I'm here because I wanted to tell you to meet me and the others on the first floor in a few 'millets' to talk about the challenge."

"All right." Was all I said.

"That was all I wanted to say." Smarty said and then, he got off of the couch and left the room. Then, he walked back and said to me, "If you want to say any last words to your cousin, the only time to 'stalk' to her is after the meeting." Then, for real, Smarty left.

I adjusted a small mirror on the wall, pulled my ponytail band out of my braid, and unbraided it. After a few seconds, the tip of my hair reaches to the lower half of my spine.

Since it was difficult to braid with the hood of my hoodie in the way, I took off my hoodie (exposing my oversized gray T-shirt) and tied the sleeves around my waist.

I loosened my arms and began to comb my fingers through my hair. A couple of tangles were present in my thick head of hair and I had to comb through my hair carefully. Then, I split my hair in to three thick strands to make a regular braid instead of my usual Katniss braid.

I heard a whistle when I had a quarter of my hair braided.

"That's some beautiful hair there, muchacha."

Oh no! I thought. It's Greasy! Should I not reply or try to humor him a little bit to make him not suspicious of me.

I glanced at Greasy, who was leaning against the door with his hands in his pockets and smiling.

"You should have your hair down more often. It looks nice." Greasy said.

"My hair gets tangled real easily because it's super thick." I replied with caution. "Probably so thick that many things can get stuck in it. Birds, sticks…bats…paper airplanes…" I mumbled at the last part.

Greasy laughed at what I said and I began to regret to choose the idea on humoring him. I can't too comfortable with that choice.

"Well, uh, I just came by to see how you were doing and to tell you that you're supposed to meet us on the first floor in a few minutes. Aquí está una manzana para el desayuno."

"Greasy, I can't understand the last sentence. What did you say?" I asked and tied the end of my braid together with my ponytail band.

I turned around and I found Greasy gone. He left behind a fresh green apple. I am going to randomly guess that Greasy wanted me to have this apple for breakfast. I really had to admit that the apple looked really delicious and I picked it up.

Just as I was about to take a bite, I stopped and realized that Greasy could've put something in or on the apple and it could probably kill me after biting in to the apple.

I untied the sleeves of my hoodie and it put the hoodie back on the way it was before I tied it around my waist. I stuffed the apple in my hoodie pocket and I hoped that it won't roll out of it if I ran or jumped around during the challenge.

I took my shoes out from underneath the bed and put them back on my feet. I double-knotted them and I left the room, closing the door behind me.

Psycho told me about the challenge before I went to sleep last night. I thought. And now, Smarty wants to talk to me and the other members of the Toon Patrol about the challenge. I don't know if I should trust Psycho anymore or if I shouldn't trust him at all. But I can't worry about him too much. I have to worry about the meeting and Lexi. When I meet up with the weasels, I'll try to stay calm and don't get Smarty ticked off. Just remember these things: Worry, stay calm, and don't get the leader ticked off. I'll try to remember them and I think that I'll be all right.

(To be continued…)