Katniss walks into the dining room soon after, huffing slightly. She sits down and starts shovelling food in her mouth, but we all remain quiet.
"So, what's going on? You're coaching us on interviews today,right?"
"That's right, dusty." I don't know why Sue's making coal jokes, we're all from the same district.
"You don't have to wait until I'm done. I can listen and eat at the same time," she tells us, looking up from her food.
"Well, there's been a change of plan, about our current approach." I tell her, swirling the coffee in my cup around.
"What's that?" She sounds confused.
"Peeta has been asked to be coached separately." Sue tells her.
Katniss looks confused at first, but her expression quickly changes to something between angry and hurt. She stays like that for a second before a carefully blank mask take over her face.
"Good, so what's the schedule?" She asks, starting to push the food around her plate.
"2 hours with Effie for presentation, 2 hours with Sue and myself for content, then you belong to Cinna." I nod slightly. "You're starting with Effie, Katniss."
When we've finished eating, Effie leaves with Katniss trailing behind. I can already tell she's going to hate what Effie has planned. We head to another room with Peeta, who doesn't really need any coaching, he's very charismatic, and talk through what he wants to say during his interview, and how he wants to play it.
We head back for an early lunch 2 hours later, and Katniss stomps into the room, ball gown hitched up to her thighs so she can walk. I can't help but laugh at her, and when she glares at me, I laugh more. We're going to have our work cut out, I'm sure.
After lunch, we take Katniss to the sitting room, and point her to a couch, while we look at her for a while, trying to figure out what to do with her.
"What?" She asks after a while, blush creeping up her neck.
"We're trying to figure out what to do with you." I tell her.
"How we're going to present you. Are you going to be charming? Aloof? Fierce? So far, you're shining like a star. You volunteered to save your sister. Cinna made you look unforgettable. You've got the top training score. People are intrigued, but no one knows who you are. The impression you make later on will decide exactly what I can get you in terms of sponsors," Sue continues, still frowning at her.
She looks thoughtful for a second. "What's Peeta's approach? Or am I not allowed to ask?"
"Likable. He has a sort of self-deprecating humor naturally," says Sue. "Whereas when you open your mouth, you come across more as sullen and hostile."
"I don't not!" She protests.
"Please. I don't know where you pulled that cheery, wavy girl on the chariot from, but I haven't seen her before or since," Sue scoffs.
"And you've given me so many reasons to be cheery," Katniss counters, and I can feel the annoyance coming off her in waves.
"But you don't have to please me. I'm not going to sponsor you. So pretend I'm the audience," says Sue. "Delight me."
"Fine." Katniss practically barks back. We take turns interviewing her for about half an hour before I speak up again.
"All right, enough," I tell her. "We've got to find another angle. Not only are you hostile, I don't know anything about you. I've asked you fifty questions and still have no sense of your life, your family, what you care about. They want to know about you, Katniss."
"But I don't want them to! They're already taking my future! They can't have the things that mattered to me in the past!" My heart breaks a little when she says this, and I can't find the words to continue. Sue jumps in though, saving me.
"Then lie! Make something up!" she tells Katniss.
"I'm not good at lying." Katniss replies. Of course she isn't. Poor sweet Katniss, she's never lied in her life.
"Well, you better learn. And fast. You've got about as much charm as a dead slug." Even I feel like sting from that one. "You think this is hard? I'm passing a gallstone as we speak!" My eyebrows raise slightly at that one.
"Try acting humble." I tell her.
"Humble." She echos.
"Yeah, like you can't believe this is happening to you. That a girl from district 12 has done this well. Talk about how great the Capitol is, how great Cinna's clothes are. How nice people are. Gush."
By the end of the session we've run through every way we can think to play her, humble, cocky, witty, funny, sexy. She's none of those things.
"I give up, Robin Hood. Just answer the questions and try not to let the audience see how openly you despise them." Sue tells her, shaking her head.
After that we hand her off to the prep team, and go our separate ways. As usually, I end up on the roof. There's a blonde figure up there this time, sitting with her feet pushed through the railings, but it isn't Quinn.
It's Johanna.