Sorry for yet another short chapter. It seemed odd to squish the interview prep and the interview itself into one chapter for some reason, so I decided to just post this for now and keep working at the interviews. Two short chapters in one day makes for a whole one, right? :)

Chapter Sixteen - In Preparation

"Get up, Alexis!" A yell comes from the other side of my bedroom door. "We've got work to do."

A beam of light bursts into the room as Zéle cracks open the door. I groan and roll over, facing the wall.

"Alexis! We've got to start working on your interview, you're with me first, and trust me, we have a lot to cover." Zéle says, marching over and shaking my shoulder.

"Go 'way." I mumble.

"Come on!" he snaps, whipping back my covers. I reply to this in what I believe to be a quite fair way by smacking him over the head with my pillow.

"Ow." he groans.

"You earned it." I reply, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "Fine, get out and I'll be up in 15 minutes."

Zéle leaves the room uncertainly, closing the door behind him and enveloping my room in a blissful darkness.

And I fall back asleep.

Turns out Zéle wasn't lying about having a lot of work to do. We have four hours together while Cassius works with his mentor, Nereida, and Finnick and then we switch. Zéle gets me in awful dresses that I'm shocked they didn't have to cut open to get me out of and high heels so tall and thin they look more like a waterside than a shoe. I'm also forced to wear books on my head for hours like we didn't have enough shelves, which was just torture. And apparently, even after years upon years of practice, all my life, I have never, according to Zéle, learned how to sit or walk properly. And what, to him, is the "right way" is absolute hell.

So, after four hours of torture, I finally change back into clothes that aren't trying to strangle me and have an excellent lunch before the next part of my day, content work.

For the first, maybe half hour, nothing happens. Nereida, Cass' mentor, a tall and muscular woman with a kind face, and Finnick just stare at me, every once in a while tilting their heads to one side or another as if to get a better view.

Finally, I can't take it. "Something wrong?" I ask in a way that seems innocent enough but gets the point across that this needs to stop. I'm not a very self-conscious person, but I never liked people staring at me, which happened enough, thanks to my fantastically alien-looking peacock eyes.

Finnick shakes his head. "We're just trying to figure out your angle."

"My angle? Well, I wouldn't know, but apparently my face looks better like this." I tilt my head sideways in the way I've been watching my mentors do for the past half hour. They laugh.

"No, sweetie." Nereida smiles. "Your angle for the interview."

"Like, what are you going to be? What's going to make you stand out? Are you funny, smart, sexy, innocent, kind?" Finnick explains.

"I'd say we're looking at a few different ones. From what we've seen, you can be funny, kind, and definitely sarcastic." Nereida says. "We can definitely work with that. But from the audience's point of view, we've seen that you're definitely strong, from your training score. You're loyal, and also very brave, from the way that you defended with your ally." Nereida gives me a look I don't understand. It's funny, I hadn't thought that my little spat with the Careers would have aired, but then of course it would have. The Gamemakers always love a little drama, and I've given them quite a bit.

We try several different angles for a while. I cracked up too much to even try to be mysterious. I wasn't sweet enough to be kind. And sexy? Forget it.

"I think we should try mysterious again." Finnick says suddenly. Nereida and I just look at him. "Not in the "only-answers-in-yes-and-no" but like, she'll say lots about anything, seeming relaxed and out there, but will sometimes quickly pull back, withhold information. Not hide information, withhold it."

"Might as well try it." Nereida shrugs.

They keep asking me questions they think might come up in an interview. Stuff about my life back home, my training score. But this one seems easier for me. I just say what I want, but when something that might help me in the Games comes up, like my skills with spears, I pull back, acting coy and smirking.

"Perfect!" Nereida cries, when I again give a small smirk to what would be our audience. "Done!" She reaches over to each of us and gives me and Finnick both a huge high five. "You're going to be fabulous, Alexis. Now, let's see what's for dinner."