CHAPTER 3
I wake up the next morning to a short, skinny woman in a purple wig breathing on me face with a huge smile on her face. "AAAAHHHH!" was all I said as I fell out of bed in a tangle of sheets and comforters. The wig lady laughed and helped me up, "Well aren't you just hil-a-r-ious!" Hi! I'm Chrissy Bell and I'll be your designer for the games!" she said in a squeaky high-pitched voice. I remind myself to not dread this as she literally drags me from the room by my wrist. She eventually sits me down on a couch and orders a latte for me. "Ok cutie, now here's the deal this year I'm going to design your costumes based on your personality!" I almost spew my latte all over Chrissy, "Chrissy, that may not be the best idea for me because, well my personality won't exactly make the crowd like me."
"Nonsense! Honey you Are as cute as a button!" she says as a notepad materializes out of nowhere and lands in her hands, "Now tell me what do you take interest in?"
I pause for a second then take a deep breath and set down my latte, "I like to study this ancient civilization called Rome, I like art, and I am trained in militaristic combat, anymore you need to know?"
Chrissy looked at me with a confused expression on her face, "How do people dress in Rome?" I hold out my hand for the sketchpad and draw a quick and simple toga, the way a lady would wear it.
She studied my sketch then looked up at me, "Do you design clothing too?"
I look at her, shocked, "No, I mean I like to draw but I never have had the money to afford designing clothes."
She smiles at me, makes a few more sketches then closes her notepad, "Ok sweetie I have all the designs I need! Thanks for being a great model and thank you for introducing me to a new dress design!" she says as she walks/hops out of the car. I ponder over her reaction to my drawing then shrug it off; it won't matter if I'm a great artist anyway, since I'm going to die.
I finish drinking my latte then immediately regret it, it made me all jittery and I couldn't stay sitting for more than twenty seconds. I try everything to try and tire myself out, jumping jacks, running in circles, hurdling over the couch a couple of times, even dancing, but I couldn't stay still so I ended up laying on the floor face down until the caffeine wore off. It wasn't long till I felt two hands grasping my shoulders and picking me up off the ground. I look behind me to find Chaos staring at me with a quizzical look, "Why on earth were you on the ground?" I sigh, "Chrissy gave me a latte and I drank all of it now I'm all hyper and I've been laying on the floor resisting to move because if I move I feel I won't be able to stop and all I want to do is sit on that couch over there and be lazy." I say all in one breath, I pout and cross my arms showing my distress. Chaos set me down the started laughing, "You can be really funny sometimes you know that right?" he said in between breaths.
"No! Really? I haven't noticed" I say in a sarcastic voice. I turn to go back to my room, "No, wait Minny, I wanted to talk to you," I look at him; the face he is giving me tells me I won't like the conversation we were about to have. "I wanted to tell you that I am going to do everything I can to get you back home, whether you like it or not," I look at him, appalled, then I start backing to my door. I didn't want to hear this, this wasn't my plan, and how am I supposed to tell him I plan on dying in that arena? He grabs my hand and I try to jerk it away but he has an iron grip. His eyes bore into mine, "Minny, I can't let you die in there, I just can't ok?" tears were brimming up in his eyes. "You think I'll be able to live knowing that you sacrificed yourself to save me? Do you think I'll be able to carry on with my life after I left my best friend in the arena to die? Chaos, I, I just don't think I can live with myself if I lost you." I say as I look at the ground, tears filling up my own eyes.
"Then what do you plan to do Minny? Kill yourself in the arena? Get massacred in the first thirty seconds?"
I look in his eyes, "Chaos, I plan to die fighting or die beside you."
He looked taken aback by this and in his shock he loosened his grip, I slipped out of his hand then ran to my room and locked the door behind me. I collapse into my bed ad start bawling. How am supposed to save Katnis' son when Chao is trying to save me?
About an hour later someone was knocking on my door. "Go away Chaos!" I said.
"It's not Chaos, it's me, Majest."
I stop crying and look at the door, Majest? What is she doing at my door? I crack the door open slightly then look at Majest, "Is Chaos with you?" I say cautiously.
"No, he is in the main car pouting." I let her in. "I heard everything you guys said back there, Minnehaha, it isn't just about you not being able to live without your buddy it's something else isn't it?" I look at her and contemplate telling her my plan, what the hay she was my best friend I should trust her. "Ok but if I tell you my plan you can't tell anyone, especially Chaos and Katnis." I say. She swore and I told her my whole plan, how I was going to drive all the attention to me in training, how I was going to sabotage my interview, and how I was going to do everything I could to protect that boy in the arena. "I mean the way I see it is 13 used Katnis during the rebellion, I think it's about time we repay our debt." I say, hoping Majest would understand.
She thought about everything I said then nodded, "I'll do everything I can to help you out, I agree, it's time 13 repaid it's debt." I smile and hug her, she was my best friend and she understands.
"Right then we have to come up with something you can do while I pull the attention to me." I say, totally pumped now that I have a partner.
"I could convince him during training we are trying to help him and get him away from the beginning bloodbath."
I think about it then agree, "But if I don't rendezvous back with you guys the first day assume I'm dead and protect him as best as you can. Promise?" I say as I hold out my pinky for a pinky swear. She links her pinky with mine, "I swear." We talk about pretty much everything as we sit in my room waiting for dinner to be made when Majest says, "So what's up with you and Chaos? I mean you guys have got to be more than friends." I almost spewed the water I was drinking.
"Wait what? There's nothing really going on with me and Chaos, I mean, I'm not really sure at all. Well we did kiss, twice, but I don't know if that means anything to him." I say, I had never really given a thought about it, I just accepted it. Majest looks at me like she doesn't believe a word I am saying. We hear someone knock on my door, "Dinner's ready in the main car." Spencer said on the other side of the door. Majest gets up, "I think we should include Spencer in your plan, he could be very helpful, and we can't leave him to fend for himself." She says as she walks away. "You like him don't you? You like Spencer and you don't want him to get hurt?" I call after her. She stops at my door and only slightly nods her head, then walks to the main car. I sit on my bed for a few minutes; I wasn't the only one who didn't want to be the one to kill the person I loved. I finally get up and walk to the main car. No use in worrying about these things, I can't save everyone.
Chaos wasn't at dinner, nor did he answer his door when I knocked. I waited for him to come and lay in bed the way he did the night before but he didn't. I stayed up as long as I could but he didn't come. The next morning I woke up and found him in the main car eating breakfast. "Chaos? Why have you been ignoring me?" I ask. He looks at me with a surprised face, "I haven't been ignoring you! I've just been thinking." He walks over to me and wraps me in a hug. "I just want to keep you safe Minnehaha, but when you said no I didn't know what to do. I-I just don't want you to die in there." His voice cracked, the strong and silent Chaos' voice just cracked, because he didn't want me to die in the arena. I look up in his eyes; genuine concern with a little bit of aching pain was what I saw in them.
"Chaos, you and I, we are indivisibiliter ac inseparabiliter, indivisible and inseparable. If you die in that arena then so do I. I won't leave you there; I'm staying with you, always." He looked at me, surprised at first and then he was kissing me. It wasn't a careful kiss; it was the kind of kiss that is desperate. Like if he let me go just then I might die and he'd never see me again. I let him kiss me then I kissed him back. My head was basically blank, all I thought, felt, and breathed at the moment was Chaos. Nothing could've ruined that moment, except for maybe Spencer standing in the doorway and staring at us with a smug smile on his face.
"Nice way to ruin the moment Spence." Chaos growled. I punched him in the shoulder. "Chaos it's not his fault that we were in the most used car on the train." I said playfully.
"I knew you guys liked each other or something. Ever since he grabbed your hand at the reaping and the way you looked at him when he volunteered. But in the arena that's dangerous, the last time a couple was in the arena all hell broke loose. And they ended up making the generations after have a harder life than before. Don't make it worse on the kids of the future, they don't deserve it." Spencer said this as he walked to the table and grabbed an apple. I stared at him, dumbfounded, I hadn't heard him really speak since the other night, and here he is, giving a speech, which no one else could have delivered with the ease that he just did.
"Spencer that's not what I plan to do. And don't blame Katniss and Peeta for everything that happened. You should blame the Capitol, them with their arenas and entertainment. They were the ones that formed the whole stupid games; Katniss and Peeta were just trying to survive." I snapped at him. Why I was defending Katniss, I had no idea, but what I did know that at the moment I finished my little speech I noticed Katniss standing in a corner, white-faced.
"You kids shouldn't speak that way, especially where you are going. The Capitol has been good they let the rebels live, even your father Minnehaha. If the Capitol was truly evil they would've had him tortured and executed." She said, and all I thought was how did she know my dad? He never talked about Katniss, only my mother did. Every time she told of a glorious battle with Katniss and the Capitol my father wrinkled his nose and walked away, disgusted. Whatever I don't want to find out what she did to make him hate her so. So naturally I ignored her and walked to the other car. My hand was on the doorknob when Spencer grabbed my arm, "Minnehaha heed my warning, what you and Chaos have can be destructive, not only for the people around you but to yourselves. You need to either stop it or keep it secret from the Capitol." He started to walk away when I grabbed his arm, "Wait Spencer I need to talk to you, just not here." I dragged him to Majests room and shut the door behind me.