Good evening/morning/afternoon/whatever time it is where you are! For me it's evening, that's why I put evening first!
I should be revising for my A-Levels, but Hayffie calls!
This chapter's quite long actually, but most of it is just dialogue and plot from the book. I like the interactions between Cinna, Portia, Haymitch and Effie, they have a good relationship as a unit, I think.
I hope you like this chapter! :D
P.S. Talia is back! Please don't hate me! :D
Effie
When we get to the Capitol, I hand Katniss and Peeta over to the styling teams and go to meet the stylists themselves, Haymitch by my side.
He informs me of the fight that they had this morning, and it fills me with happiness. We have fighters! One of them could win!
Haymitch and I walk into one of the meeting rooms in the Remake Centre, and are immediately met by the stylists.
Cinna is gorgeous, I realise. He's tanned, with dark hair, and lacks any Capitol manipulations, aside from a flick of golden eyeliner on his eyelids. I recognise him from the pictures in magazines, but in person, he's so much more handsome.
Portia is a typical Capitol girl, like me. However, whereas I pride myself on pastels and bright colours, Portia seems to like black. Her hair is teased out into a puff of blonde frizz, her lips are black, and she's wearing a black, form fitting dress which looks divine on her.
"Hello!" I say, reaching out to shake their hands. "I'm Effie Trinket, the escort for District Twelve! We talked on the phone. And this is Haymitch Abernathy."
Haymitch nods and shakes their hands individually.
"Hello, Effie and Haymitch. I'm Cinna, and this is Portia." Cinna gestures to them individually.
"We know." I squeal. I'm really excited to see them, they're both rising stars in the Capitol. They could have had any district that they wanted, yet they chose District Twelve, as I did. I could see myself bonding with them.
"Shall we go over these outfits then?" Haymitch says, cutting off my train of thought.
"Of course." Cinna walks over to the dressing rack and reveals Katniss and Peeta's costumes. They're uni-tards that stretch from the ankle to the neck, with shiny black boots. Attached to the uni-tards, however, are beautiful capes that are made from orange, red and yellow material.
"Oh, they look like they're on fire!" I squeal.
"That's the idea. Cinna and I are planning to set them on fire, to illuminate our tributes, and make sure no-one forgets them." Portia beams, and I'm struck dumb.
"You're going to what?" Haymitch growls.
"Set them on fire. It's completely safe, it's not real fire. They won't feel a thing, we promise." Cinna covers quickly, and I find myself feeling relieved.
Haymitch, on the other hand, isn't convinced.
"Well, this'll be a first. My tributes would have died before they reach the arena, at this rate."He growls menacingly.
"We promise its synthetic fire. They'll be completely fine." Portia says, looking a bit frightened of Haymitch.
I put my hand on his upper arm to calm him down, and I feel his body loosen under my touch. "It'll be fine, Haymitch. They know what they're doing. And just think of it! With our tributes on fire, no-one will forget them! We'll be all anyone will be talking about! They'll have an even better chance!"
I can tell that my words are registering with him, as he looks up at me, a spark of realisation in his eyes.
"Alright. Do what you want with them. Just try not to turn them into charred tributes, will you?" Haymitch says, and grabs a champagne flute.
We drink and talk for a while, and I find myself warming to these two people. They seem really nice.
After about an hour, one of the styling team comes in to tell Portia that Peeta is ready for him. She puts down her flute, straightens out her dress, and says goodbye. She takes the suit for Peeta and leaves.
"Katniss will probably take a bit longer." I say to Cinna. "The girls normally do. More waxing to do." I joke, and Cinna laughs. I can feel Haymitch's glare at me though, like hot coals pressed to the side of my face.
"So, she's your first volunteer in how long?" Cinna asks.
"About 28 years, if my maths is correct." Haymitch says, and then explains about how his friend's older brother volunteered to save his friend when they were twelve years old.
"Actually," Haymitch remembers, "that friend of mine was Kenneth Everdeen, Katniss' father, and the brother was her uncle, Raleigh Everdeen. It must run in the family."
It certainly looked like family loyalty was strong in the Everdeens.
At that point, a member of Cinna's styling team comes in to tell him that Katniss was ready for him now.
Haymitch and I said goodbye to him, and then he left.
Haymitch turned to me. "So, Miss Trinket, we seem to have quite the pair of stylists this year." He grinned.
"Yes, we do! Those costumes were fantastic, I told you!" I beamed at him, and he kissed me softly.
"They'll certainly make sure that Katniss and Peeta will never be forgotten. They may have a real chance this year. I'm going to stay sober enough to help them out."
I was shocked. Haymitch, stay sober? They must have had a real impression on him.
"Good, I'm glad. I prefer sober Haymitch anyway." And I kissed him again.
Of course, we couldn't stay kissing forever. Haymitch and I had to go and start grooming sponsors. The Capitol citizens had seen the reapings, and I knew that they'd want to see Katniss. Volunteers from outsider districts made quite the impression here.
Haymitch
God, those stylists were good. After years of those blithering idiots, Faul and Lilia making our tributes miners, Cinna and Portia made a welcome change. I'll admit, I was worried about the whole fire idea, but now, I see that it's a brilliant idea! The Capitol will eat it up!
Effie and I walk into the Victor's Square, and Effie goes to see about looking for potential sponsors. I, on the other hand, need a drink.
I know I said that I would stay sober, but I could stay sober after consuming a considerable volume of alcohol, so I wasn't worried.
I went to the bar and ordered a whiskey. While waiting, I heard a familiar voice that I hadn't heard in a while.
"I knew I'd find you here."
Grinning, I turned and faced the red haired beauty.
"Hello, Talia. As usual, your navigation skills are on point."
"Well, a person doesn't have to be a genius to know which places you haunt." She smiled, and I laughed. I liked our banter.
"How are you?" I asked, seriously now. I knew that she was still being used for the Capitol's entertainment.
"Not so great, actually. Did you watch the reapings last night?"
"No, must have missed it." I can't even remember last night, apart from Peeta cleaning me up and sleeping with Effie.
"Oh, right." She looked defeated.
"Tal, what's wrong? What happened?"
She took a moment, and then spoke. "My brother, Orion, was reaped." She looked down, tears forming in her eyes.
"Oh shit. Sorry." I didn't really know what to say besides that. He'll make it through? It was unlikely.
"Yeah, oh shit's right. Can I get a vodka and orange?" She asked the bartender, and he left.
"The thing is, he's not even ready for it. I and my other brother, Remus, were trained by our father, but Orion and Lily, my younger sister, weren't trained because they only had a few slips in there. Remus and I took out tesserae for our family, and since I won, my family have been living in comfort. So we thought that there was no need. And now that Remus is nineteen, he can't volunteer. So, Orion's basically doomed." Her voice broke at the end, and she started crying.
"Hey, sweetheart, don't cry." I held out my arms to her, and she walked into them.
I noticed Effie watching us from across the square. I gave her a look. I'll tell her later, she'll understand. I hope.
Tal was one of the reasons that our relationship became strained in the first place. Effie was jealous of the time that I was spending with the new Victor three years ago. Hopefully, Effie would be more understanding now. And I would learn not to get so worked up about it.
Talia leant back, wiping her eyes, and downed the entire drink in one go, coughing.
I laughed. "Steady on." But I knew that she needed it. Just as I did. Being a Victor was hard. Especially when you were in the position that Talia was in, forced to mentor someone that you care about, someone that you know won't make it out alive.
Suddenly, Finnick popped up behind Talia. She whirled at the sudden presence behind her, ready to attack; Victor's instinct I guess, and realised who it was.
"Sorry, Fin." She said, letting her guard down.
"It's okay. Hey, I heard about what happened, with your brother. I'm sorry, really. It's hard when someone you care about is put in there." He gave her a pitiful smile, and I knew that it was for real. He had had the same experience, with his girl, Annie.
"Yeah, it is." Talia gave Finnick a hug, and then seemed to compose herself again. "I'll just have to mentor him the best that I can, right?"
Suddenly, she saw someone that she knew, one of the newer Victors, Johanna Mason. Her eyes lit up, and she excused herself from our company to go and talk to Johanna. Johanna was quite an enigma; she won the 72nd Hunger Games by pretending that she was weak and feeble, then coming out in the arena as a cold-blooded killer.
I knew that Johanna had been offered the same proposition as Finnick and Talia had been. However, the similarities stopped there. She refused. And Snow took her family away. Poor girl.
"So, you look like you've got a good one this year, Abernathy." Finnick remarked, and I knew that he was talking about Katniss.
"Yeah, my volunteer. She'll give the Careers a run for their money, you wait." Fighting banter, Finnick and I were good at this. Normally, he won though. This year, he could kiss the crown goodbye.
The clock struck six, and Finnick and I split up. Now was time to go to the tribute parade. We would see Cinna and Portia's costumes in action.
I met up with Effie and we found some seats next to Chaff and Seeder. I was quietly confident, and I could tell that Effie was brimming over with excitement. Her demeanour was adorable sometimes, especially when she was like this.
The anthem started to play, and District One's chariot rolled out. The costumes were good this year; District Two were dressed as Roman warriors. However, as District Eleven's chariot rolled out, I could see the unmistakable glow of fire.
And then, the black horses of District Twelve's chariot came out, and the walkway was ablaze.
Katniss and Peeta were surrounded by flames, engulfing their capes and headdresses. They were also holding hands and smiling to the crowd. Effie squealed beside me, and grabbed my hand in excitement. I looked around me; the people were too focussed on the kids, so I let Effie keep holding me.
The crowd were going nuts over them, I could tell. They would be unforgettable.
As the president gives his speech, I could see that the cameras were trained on my kids. Pride swelled within me. They were my kids. My kids were getting the praise this year, not Odair's, not Brutus', mine!
Effie was incoherent by the end of it. She couldn't stop squealing.
"Calm down, sweetheart." I whispered, putting my hand on her arm, and she calmed down a bit.
"I'll go and round up some sponsors, you go and deal with the kids. I'll meet you later." I wanted to kiss her goodbye, but there were too many people around. Instead, I slightly pursed my lips. Effie giggled and practically ran off.
Her enthusiasm was sweet, if not a little tiresome.
I spent the rest of the evening rounding up sponsors for my kids. Everyone seemed to love them, and they lapped up Katniss' "heartbreaking story", as one woman put it.
Now that I got into the swing of things, I realised that real mentoring was bloody hard work.
Effie
I found Katniss and Peeta in the Remake Centre, and led them up to the penthouse suite. I let them know how excited I was, and how well they did. I also tried to reassure them that I had been trying to get them sponsors all day.
"I've been very mysterious, though. Because, of course, Haymitch hasn't bothered to tell me your strategies. But I've done my best with what I had to work with. How Katniss sacrificed herself for her sister. How you've both successfully struggled to overcome the barbarism of your district."
I could tell by the face that Katniss pulled that I had gone too far. But I had to stay Capitol.
"Everyone has their reservations, naturally. You being from the coal district. But I said, and this was very clever of me, I said 'Well, if you put enough pressure on coal, it turns into pearls!'" I smile at them so widely, even though I know that it is wrong. I have to seem dumb, after all.
"Unfortunately, I can't seal the sponsor deals for you. Only Haymitch can do that. But don't worry, I'll get him to the table at gunpoint if necessary." And I knew that that was true. I wasn't going to let him screw up our first chance to get a Victor!
I send the kids off to their rooms to get cleaned up before dinner, and wait to Haymitch to come back. When he does, he holds up a clipboard, grinning from ear to ear.
"Look at what I've got." He practically sings, and hands me the clipboard.
At first, I can barely understand what he's written, but then I figure it out.
"Are these all names?" I ask.
"Indeed they are. Names of every person who has shown an interest in the kids." He sits next to me and watches my expression.
There are a load of names here. At least twenty. And when I see the name Emilia Hart, I squeal.
"You got Emilia Hart! She's one of the richest women in the Capitol!" I look at him in wonder. I couldn't see Miss Hart having anything to do with Haymitch, but obviously she had spoken to him.
"I know, sweetheart. She's taken quite an interest in Katniss, having a younger sister herself. She went on about how she would have done the same thing, and how she really respects her for volunteering. I think she'll be one to give a big gift."
I'm dumbfounded. "Oh, Haymitch, this is wonderful!" I kiss him, hoping that the monitors don't pick up the sounds of kissing.
"I know." He grins, when we break away. "I'm gonna go get ready for dinner, I'm famished. This mentoring thing is hard work." He winks at me and then leaves, leaving me with the clipboard.
Cinna and Portia arrive for dinner, and I rush to them.
"You were fantastic! The crowd loved your designs! Oh, you two are amazing!" Words could not describe my sheer happiness and awe.
They both laughed, brushing off the comments modestly. Peeta emerged from his room and went to talk to Portia, who introduced him to Cinna.
"I'll go get Katniss and Haymitch." I announce, and walk along the hall, calling outside Katniss' door. Then, I go and alert Haymitch, who opens the door and pulls me inside.
He kisses me softly for a few minutes, and then lets me go.
We all sit down to dinner, and as it's about to be served, Haymitch wanders in.
"Will you ever be early for anything, Haymitch?" I snap, and Haymitch ignores me. He gets his wine and starts eating.
Dinner is civilised, and actually quite nice. Cinna and Portia provide stimulating conversation, which Peeta, Haymitch and I join in with. Katniss seems to be focussing on her food, which is understandable. It is lovely food.
But something weird happens when the pudding is brought out. As the alcohol burns away, Katniss asks "What makes it burn? Is it alcohol?"
I'm about to answer her, when I hear her say, "Oh, I know you!"
My heart stops. I look over to her, and she's looking right at the red-headed Avox girl. The girl runs away quickly, Katniss seems confused. She sees us looking at her.
"Don't be ridiculous, Katniss. How could you possibly know an Avox?" I snap, wanting this conversation to be over now. I didn't like where it was going. "The very thought."
"What's an Avox?" She asks, and I glare at Haymitch. How could he not tell the kids what they were?
"Someone who committed a crime. They cut her tongue out so she can't speak." Haymitch says nonchalantly. "She's probably a traitor of some sort. Not likely you'd know her."
"And even if you did, you're not to speak to one of them unless it's to give an order." I interject fiercely. The thought of Katniss associating herself with Avoxes repulsed me. "Of course you don't know her!"
"No, I guess not, I just—" Katniss stammers, but Peeta cuts her off with a snap of his fingers.
"Delly Cartwright. That's who it is. I kept thinking that she looked familiar as well. Then I realized, she's a dead ringer for Delly." His eyes sparkled with realisation, and I relaxed. If that was all it was, then everything was okay.
"Of course! That's who I was thinking of. It must be the hair." Katniss says, smiling at Peeta as they share their memories of this Delly girl.
"Something about the eyes too." Peeta says, nodding with Katniss.
"Oh, well. If that's all it is." Cinna says, and we all relax. "And yes, the cake has spirits, but all the alcohol has burned off. I ordered it specially in honour of your fiery debut." He smiles widely, and I clap at his clever idea.
We eat the cake and then go to the sitting room. I find myself sitting closer to Haymitch than I would have normally liked in this situation, but I don't care. This is a big moment.
We watch the recap of the opening ceremonies, getting a closer look at all of the costumes.
"The stylists have outdone themselves this year." I remark, inclining my head to Cinna and Portia, who smile gratefully.
We all emanate an "Ahh!" as Katniss and Peeta roll out. They look spectacular. The flames reflect on Katniss' olive skin and make Peeta's bright blue eyes sparkle.
"Whose idea was the hand holding?" Haymitch asks.
"Cinna's." Portia says, giving a beaming smile to her partner.
"Just the perfect touch of rebellion." Haymitch says, leaning back and grinning manically. "Very nice."
Rebellion? But then it's clear to me. Katniss and Peeta have set themselves apart from their competitors. They have presented themselves as friends, which is more than the others have.
"Tomorrow morning is the first training session. Meet me for breakfast and I'll tell you exactly how I want you to play it." Haymitch says, alternating his gaze between the two kids. "Now, go get some sleep while the grown-ups talk."
Katniss and Peeta both leave, and I find myself clapping and giggling happily. They're perfect! We could have a winner.
"What's up with you?" Haymitch snarls, his eyes twinkling.
"Just the realisation that you're actually going to do something to help your tributes, for once." I retort, and he laughs darkly.
"Well, for once, I may have a winner on my hands. And thanks to these two, that chance has increased. Why didn't we get you in sooner?" He addresses the question to the stylists, who smile at the compliment.
"So, what are their strategies?" Cinna asks, and I repeat the question, looking at Haymitch. He takes a moment to think, and then answers.
"Well, the girl will have to mention her sister. You can't help but feel respect for her family loyalty, and that little girl's a diamond. People will love that angle. And if she can get a good score in training, then we'll be flying."
"Katniss, the girl who was on fire." Cinna mumbles, dreamily.
I gasp. "I love it!"
Haymitch chuckles. "Right, we're going with the fire girl angle. Can you incorporate fire into her interview outfit? Same with Peeta's, Portia?" Haymitch asks, and the stylists grin at each other, as if sharing an inside joke.
"It's already done." They say together.
"Perfect. The boy... I'm not sure about him. If he can pull a good score, maybe the Careers will want him. But I'll need to talk to him to find out more about him. I know that he's a good talker, so he'll need to play that up with Caesar, maybe he can joke around. The crowd love that. But I'll have to see what he's comfortable with." Haymitch muses, and we agree with him.
The stylists leave after half an hour of talking, and Haymitch whispers in my ear.
"Meet you in a bit."
When I get back to my room, I look over the list of potential sponsors again, and I cannot help but feel happy. They could have a chance! If we can get these next few days right, then the Capitol will love them. Haymitch will need to coach them right, and if they do what he says, they should last the Games. One of them could win.
Once I'm back to my usual, albeit ugly self, I slip into Haymitch's room. I curl up under the covers with him, and we whisper to each other about the tributes until fatigue slowly overtakes me.
Haymitch
Effie falls asleep quickly, but I don't. That blasted pin. Every time I saw it, Maysilee would come back to me. I saw her at the reaping, when she stumbled up onto the stage. I saw her on the train, when we laughed together about a stupid joke. I saw her in her interviews, where she claimed that she had a little crush on me. I saw her at the Cornucopia, when fear masked her beautiful features. I saw her when she saved my life, and when I failed to save hers.
I saw her when she slowly bled her life away.
I try to push her bloody face away from my mind, but it doesn't work.
That girl, Kenneth's girl, has more connection to me than either of us realise. She owns the pin that once was owned by my ally. She's the daughter of one of my closest friends, before the Quell anyway. I owe it to Kenneth to try to keep her alive. I also owe it to Maysilee and her niece. And I owe it to Jemima and little Primrose.
So that's settled it. My attentions would be firmly on the girl. But I would try to help Peeta as well. He was kind and good with words. And tomorrow, I would realise how good both of them really were.
In the morning, I go down to breakfast to see both Katniss and Peeta there.
"Good morning." I say, breezily, and fill my plate up.
As I sit down, I realise how scared both of them are. Katniss looks frightened, and Peeta's not as eloquent today as usual.
I make my first business eating. I love this damn stew, it's probably the only thing I miss about the Capitol when I go back home. Once I'm finished, I take a swig of liquor and face the kids.
"So, let's get down to business. Training. First off, if you like, I'll coach you separately. Decide now." Most kids don't care, they have nothing to hide, but Katniss and Peeta seem to consider it.
"Why would you coach us separately?" Katniss asks.
"Say if you had a secret skill you might not want the other to know about." I elaborate, and I see realisation in their eyes. They share a look, and then Peeta speaks.
"I don't have any secret skills. And I already know what yours is, right? I've eaten enough of your squirrels."
I almost choke on my drink. Squirrels? Well, we're more alike than I realised.
I used to have to hunt for my food as well. I took down squirrels, deer, birds, anything. It seemed like Katniss had to do that too. I knew her family weren't the richest, they lived in the Seam, but I didn't know that she had to resort to that.
"You can coach us together." Katniss says, and Peeta nods.
"All right, so give me some idea of what you can do." I prompt.
"I can't do anything." Peeta says. "Unless you count baking bread."
I snort. "Sorry, I don't. Katniss, I already know you're handy with a knife."
"Not really. But I can hunt. With a bow and arrow."
And there it is. Her skill. If she can take down squirrels with a bow and arrow, she must be good.
"And you're good?" I ask, just to make sure.
She thinks about it, and then shrugs. "I'm alright."
Peeta pulls a face. "She's excellent! My father buys her squirrels. He always comments on how the arrows never pierce the body. She hits every one in the eye. It's the same with the rabbits she sells to the butcher. She can even bring down deer."
I resist the urge to laugh. Perfect! She seems good.
"What are you doing?" Katniss asks, glaring at him.
"What are you doing?" He retorts. "If he's going to help you, he has to know what you're capable of. Don't underrate yourself."
Something about the way he speaks interests me. He seems to really want to help Katniss. I wonder why, usually tributes don't bother helping each other.
"What about you? I've seen you in the market. You can lift fifty kilo bags of flour. Tell him that, that's not nothing." Katniss argues back.
They seem to have an argument about who is better, but the other way round. Self-depreciation rubs me the wrong way. They argue about Peeta being strong, Peeta's mother betting on Katniss instead of him, and about how she was a survivor because someone helped her. I gathered by his reaction that that someone was him.
Then, something that Peeta says catches me. "She has no idea. The effect she can have."
The way he says that, it sounds almost reverent. I realise something quickly. Could Peeta have feelings for this girl? I made a note to ask him later.
"Well, then. Well, well, well," I mutter, "Katniss, there's no guarantee there'll be bows and arrows in the arena, but during your private session with the Gamemakers, show them what you can do. Until then, stay clear of archery. Are you any good at trapping?"
"I know a few basic snares." She mutters, still angry from her argument with Peeta.
"That may be significant in terms of food. And Peeta, she's right." I carry on, telling him about how important strength is in the arena, and how they should refrain from showing their strengths in front of the other tributes.
"One last thing." I say. "In public, I want you by each other's side every minute." When they protest, I slam my hand on the table to shut them up. "Every minute! It's not open for discussion! You agreed to do as I said! You will be together, you will appear amiable to each other. Now get out. Meet Effie at the elevator at ten for training." With that, I dismiss them.
I have a lot to think about now. Both of them appear to have serious advantages, Katniss with her archery and Peeta with his strength. And Peeta's apparent respect for Katniss... that could be interesting. I'll have to ask him about that later.
I spend the rest of the day down in the Square, talking to sponsors and Victors alike. Effie comes down after delivering the kids and starts talking to sponsors too. She has her clipboard, and is going around making sure that I got the right people.
I can't help but watch her. Although she's wearing a horrible puke yellow ensemble, she still looks pretty. I just have to remember her natural face.
"Mitchy!" Chaff calls, thumping his stump down on the table next to me.
"Chaff." I nod at him. "How are things?"
"Alright. You should see my boy! He's a beast, a total beast. Thresh, his name is. He looks like he could squash the little girl with his bare hands." He gloats, laughing.
"Great. What little girl?"
"My girl. Her name's Rue and she's only twelve. The poor kid's frightened to death. But she seems to be resourceful, so I'm not counting her out just yet. Your girl looks good too, volunteers are hard to come by." Chaff said, and I remembered little Rue. I saw her in the chariot last night, she looked so scared and overwhelmed by the whole experience. Poor kid.
Over dinner, Katniss and Peeta tell us about their day. Something that Katniss says shocks me a bit.
"The boy from Two looks brutal. He had a fight today with the boy from Eight, because he took his knife, or something. He said that the boy from Eight was the first one that he'd get."
Great. Talia's brother had made an enemy in the meanest looking guy there. That was a great way to start off.
I told Talia as much the next day, and she put her head into her hands. "He didn't tell me about that. How stupid can you get to pick a fight with Two? I'll have a word with him later. Thanks for that, Haymitch." She smiled sincerely, and I patted her on the arm.
By the end of the four days, Effie and I had managed to confirm ten sponsors, and we had another twelve waiting on the scores. I just prayed that the two of them hadn't screwed that up.
Effie and I tried to coax Katniss and Peeta out of their rooms, but they wouldn't budge. I groaned mentally, they both must have done something stupid.
At dinner, I got sick of talking about the weather and asked them outright. "OK, enough small talk – just how bad were you today?"
Peeta goes first. "I don't know that it mattered. By the time I showed up, no-one even bothered to look at me. They were singing some kind of drinking song, I think. I just threw around some heavy objects until they told me I could go."
I sighed. Great, this can't be good.
"And you, sweetheart?" I ask the girl, and she mumbles her answer.
"I shot an arrow at the Gamemakers."
That simple statement was enough to shock us all into silence. She did what?
"You what?" Effie asks, her voice horrified.
"I shot an arrow at them. Not exactly at them. In their direction. It's like Peeta said, I was shooting and they were ignoring me and I just... I just lost my head, so I shot an apple out of their stupid roasted pig's mouth!"
I'm shocked. What a little rebel. Pride swells in me, but it's masked by my anger at what she did.
"And what did they say?" Cinna asks.
"Nothing. Or, I don't know. I walked out after that." She said, not knowing that it would only add fuel to the already raging fire that was our emotions.
"Without being dismissed?" Effie gasps, and I place my hand on her thigh under the table to calm her down.
"I dismissed myself." She mumbled, looking down.
"Well, that's that." I look down and butter a roll.
"Do you think they'll arrest me?" She asks me, and I snort.
"Doubt it. Be a pain to replace you at this stage."
"What about my family? Will they punish them?"
I'm taken aback. Of course she cared about her family, but the way she said it, she looked really scared about her family's safety. More that I had in common with her.
"Don't think so. Wouldn't make much sense. See, they'd have to reveal what happened in the Training Centre for it to have any worthwhile effect on the population. People would need to know what you did. But they can't since it's a secret, so it'd be a waste of effort. More likely they'll make your life hell in the arena." More than they already are, I think.
"Well, they've already promised to do that to us anyway." Peeta mumbles. Great minds think alike.
"Very true." And I see her face relax a bit. I've cheered her up at least a bit.
I decide to be crude. I pick up a pork chop with my fingers and dunk it in my wine. As horrible as that sounds, it's rather nice to me. It combines my two favourite edible substances, meat and alcohol. "What were their faces like?" I ask, imagining the shocked faces of those murderers, including that bastard Seneca Crane, who had done more damage to me than any other Gamemaker, aside from the Quell designer.
Katniss smiles at the memory. "Shocked. Terrified. Uh, ridiculous, some of them. One man tripped backwards into a bowl of punch."
The image is so funny that I laugh loudly, and everyone else follows suit. Even Effie laughs breathily.
"Well, it serves them right. It's their job to pay attention to you. And just because you come from District Twelve is no excuse to ignore you."
My heart stops. Stupid Effie, think of the monitors! I squeeze her thigh with my hand as if to tell her to remember.
I think she realises what I mean, because she covers with "I'm sorry, but it's what I think."
"I'll get a bad score." Katniss says.
"Scores only matter if they're very good; no-one pays attention to the bad or mediocre ones. For all they know, you could be hiding your talents to get a low score on purpose. People use that strategy." Portia says, and Johanna Mason springs to mind.
"I hope that's how people interpret the four I'll probably get." Peeta says.
He'd better not get a four, or his chances of sponsorship are down the drain.
Now that that's out of the way, we eat peacefully, and then go to the living room to watch the scores.
The Careers are in their usual eight-to-ten range, with the boy from Two, Cato, getting a ten. Orion gets a six, which isn't bad. Chaff's beast, Thresh, gets a nine, which is impressive. And even more impressive is little Rue's seven. She must have done something good to get that.
Peeta pulls an eight, which earns him a round of applause from us. I clap him on the back, and he winces. It makes me chuckle, and I get a glare from Effie for hitting our tribute.
Then, Katniss comes up. I'm praying, anything above a seven, anything above a seven.
And then, the number eleven pops up.
An eleven?
Effie squeals next to me, which assures me that I'm not imagining it. An eleven! This must be a first in Twelve's history! It's better than my score, which was a nine.
Everyone congratulates Katniss, but she doesn't seem to be taking it in.
"There must be a mistake. How... how could that happen?" She asks me.
"Guess they liked your temper. They've got a show to put on. They need some players with some heat." And Katniss definitely had heat.
"Katniss, the girl who was on fire." Cinna says and hugs her. He's right, she is definitely on fire now!
Once the kids go to bed, I excuse myself to talk to Peeta. I need to ask him about something.
I find him sitting on his bed, his face in his hands.
"Kid, you okay?" I ask, coming in without permission.
His head shoots up, and he looks at me for a minute. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"I wanted to talk to you about something. Is there something you're not telling me, about you and Katniss?"
His face scrunches up in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"You seem awful friendly and complementary about each other."
"You put us together, and she puts herself down alot, so I had to."
I can tell that there's something else going on, but I can tell that the boy doesn't want to talk.
"Okay then, whatever you say." And with that, I leave him. I'll talk to him about it some other time.
It's an abrupt ending, and I'm sorry about that. I wanted to upload this before I'm bogged down with my last two weeks of school ever! How scary is that? But after the 20th of June (my driving test), I'll be free to write as much as possible! So if you could hold out until then, that's be amazing! :D
I hope you liked this chapter, and as always, don't forget to review! It makes me happy! :D x