I watch her go into the room that will lead Annie to her stylist. We've been spending the last few days with her all day. She is actually really funny once she gets over her shyness. I feel emptiness when she leaves to get prepped. I leave her with advice that she should never question anything they do. Not like Annie would do that, but I still say it, mainly for Kayne. Now, I need to just think about her plan for staying alive.
What, who am I kidding? There is no way I could start planning without her here. I still don't know who she wants to be or what she is good at. I decide to go to the mentors' center while they are being stylized. We only have a few hours in here today but when training stars, I'll be practically living here.
We don't have to go to the center. You are welcome to stay in your room, but very few of us do. It has to do with the fear of being alone that we develop in the Games. Some of us have it but some of us don't.
When I walk in, I find that the room hasn't changed. The walls still are painted the ugly yellow color; the tables are still set up in rows with hard metal chairs around them. The back wall hasn't been repaired yet from Johanna's anger attack last year. It wasn't pretty. Johanna and I are the only ones here.
"Sup." She is sitting on a table towards the back of the room, but on the opposite side of the broken wall. We all wear the same thing, a pair of black pants and a bright orange shirt with "mentor" on the back.
"You decided to go without a chair this year!" These chairs are often the topic of discussion in here. We don't like to talk about how the games are progressing. That usually ends up in fights that I don't like to get involved in. I sit on the table across from her and kick the chair next to me into the other table. It collapses and Johanna high fives me.
"Way to rebel against the chairs." Johanna is the most sarcastic person that I know. She won the game just two years ago, but she already is one of us, a mentor. I don't want to not be on her side, I watched her kill. She is the closest person here in age and she is also pretty cool.
"Hey, Cecelia!" I feel really bad for Cecelia. She is pregnant with her third child and she still has to be a mentor for the games. I try to talk to her as much as possible but we don't really have much in common. I have to be truthful; Cecelia is what I want to be. I want to have a family like Cecelia has done. I doubt she has fully recovered but she has to be pretty close. I watched her games when I was young.
Cecelia nods and sits on a chair because in her condition, sitting on tables isn't an option. Johanna kicks me in the leg lightly and I pretend to fall off the table. I find it best to take Johanna's actions lightly. She smirks and then turns her attention to Cecelia.
"You got a name yet?" Johanna asks Cecelia. Cecelia seems happier at the thought of her children.
"Well, if it's another boy, we would like to name him Davis. If it's a girl, I really don't know, maybe something like Drusilla." I hope it's a girl because I prefer that name a lot more. Plus, she already has two boys.
"You two want anything?" She asks both of us. We both shake our heads and Johanna walks out to the door.
"Hey, !" She motions to the Peacekeeper to come over. I know most of the peacekeepers back home but I have no idea what their names are here. I try but we get new ones every year. We also get new Avoxes because they don't want us developing relationships with them.
"I need an apple juice and a class of water. I would get it myself, but I can't leave." The Peacekeeper nods and walks off down the hallway.
She jumps over a chair and she kind of trips over her shoelace. She recovers and sits on top of the table closest to the door.
"Real smooth." She laughs and the Peacekeeper comes back, this time delivering the drinks personally. Johanna gets up and gives the water to Cecelia.
"Come on, drink, you need to stay hydrated." Cecelia thanks her and more mentors walk into the room: Haymitch, Enobaria, Mags.
"You do have a heart!" I tell Johanna and she pretends to laugh.
"Oh, joy, look who's joined the party." Johanna isn't really fond of Enobaria and she expresses it openly. I think she think that Enobaria is the closest a citizen could get to Capitol status and she hates the Capitol. She says that openly too. I realize Johanna has very little secrets, if any.
"I'm not afraid to kill you." Enobaria tells Johanna. She goes to sit at the front of the room, where all the Career mentors sit.
"Me, you." That's how a feud is restarted. As everyone trickles in, most conversation ceases. Today is the big day that the Capitol people see our tributes all prettied up. It's a big deal. Somehow a thumb wrestling competition breaks out. I am very thankful for my many competitions with Noah and Daniel. I win, thanks to my strong thumbs from years of practice. I make a mental note to thank Noah and Daniel when I get home.
The peacekeeper comes back in.
"You may now see your prepped tributes." I think that Annie is going to look great!
Please review! The next couple of chapter is training and then I'm going to start the 70th Hunger Games. If you read the Johanna stories, the same events happen in both, so they tie together.
Remember, that button lets you review, and in doing that you make my day!
~MiKayla