Jesse
I wince when the sound of the smashing window and Effie's shriek fills my ears. Avox's rush into the room and start cleaning the mess while I decide to go look for Hope. I walk to her room and knock the door. No answer. I walk in anyway and find the room empty. I sigh. Where else can she be? I look in the dining room and I'm about to knock on her parent's door when I notice a door slightly open at the end of the hall. Curiosity gets the best of me and I push the door open to find a set of stairs leading to another door.
I climb the steps and pull the door open. The roof comes into view and my eyes widen. There's a garden to one side with all types of blooming flowers. I look up at the cloudless blue sky and smile. It's seems like forever since I've been outside. I hear a quiet sob and my eyes fall on a brown haired girl sitting with her head in her hands and her knees tucked up to her chest, leaning against the metal railing. Hope. I take a few loud steps towards her, wanting to know that I'm here so she won't be startled.
"Hey," I whisper and she looks up, her eyes red and her cheeks wet. The sight feels like a stab in the heart. I kneel in front of her and put my arms around her. My eyes widen when she wraps her arms around my back.
"I'm sorry," she sobs and I rub my hand up and down her back.
"What for?" I ask, confused.
"For yelling last night and because I haven't been in the best mood lately. All this is getting to me and it frustrates me when everyone calls me my mom. I love my mom but I'm not her, you know?" she replies.
"Yeah, I do."
"God," she huffs, pulling away to wipe her tears off her cheek. "Effie's probably mad at me and now I have to face mom and dad."
"It'll be fine," I reassure her. "Come on." I take her hand and pull her to her feet.
"Does it look like I've been crying?" she asks and I wipe a few tears off her cheeks in answer, our eyes never breaking contact.
"We should go," I whisper and lead her inside and to her parent's room for our training session with them.
Her parent's had heard about her breaking a window by the time we go to their room but they only said to apologise to Effie and left it at that. The next four hours were spent coming up with our angles. "Why don't I be the weak boy? You know, so sure that he's going to die and that he wants to die to be with his parents," I suggest and all three of them look at me sadly.
"I guess you could do that," Katniss finally says and then moves on to Hope.
"I'll be anything except in love," she says instantly and I smile, knowing that if she had to play that angle she'd go crazy.
"Thank god you have your father's sense of humour," Katniss replies. "You could be funny but nice. Or you could be powerful and deadly."
"That's not a bad idea with a score like that she could pull it off," Peeta agrees and I wrinkle my nose. Hope, deadly? I don't know if that's the right angle for her. She's too… nice.
Hope looks at me and asks, "What do you think?"
"I think you're too pretty to play deadly. I don't think anyone will take you seriously but that's my opinion," I reply.
"He has a point," Katniss admits and huffs. She rubs her growing stomach and her eyes widen.
"What?" Hope asks.
"The doting big sister," Katniss says, smiling.
"You can talk about how much you want to meet your sibling and that you'd do anything to get out so you can meet him or her," Peeta adds and Hope smiles.
"I don't even need to act to play that angle. I hope I can meet the baby," she whispers, staring at her mom's stomach.
"I haven't really thought about the baby much since we came here," Katniss says, her voice filled with guilty. Peeta puts his arms around her.
"I know but as soon as all this is over we can run around after him," he replies.
"Him?" Hope asks.
"I think it's a boy," her dad says, "But we haven't found out yet."
The training session seems to end there and we all sit down and talk about the baby. "Do you have any names you like?" Hope asks and both of their parent's glance at each other and smile.
"We want you to name it," Peeta says and Hope grins.
"I'd live to," she beams. We talk for a while longer until it's time for dinner. Hope apologises to Effie as soon as she see's her and Effie seems to forgive her straight away.
Once dinner is over Hope and I walk towards our rooms. "The interviews tomorrow," she groans.
"Yeah," I mumble, to tired to talk louder. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Night," she says and I go into my room.
Hope
(The Next Day)
I have no time to lie in bed and think once I wake up because my prep team order me to have a shower. I do as they say and wash both my body and hair before getting dried off by the Capitol machines. Venia hands me a robe and they sit me down and get to work. They all talk at once, about meaningless things and I sit there, half asleep and stuck in my thoughts.
All I can think about is Jesse and how sure he is going to die in the bloodbath. I barely notice my prep team curling my hair with a curling wand and painting my nails. I wonder if I am strong enough to take care of not only myself but also Jesse and Finnick in the arena. It'll be hard but I'm sure Jeremy will help. I hope it was a good idea to team up with him but I know it's for the best if Haymitch told me to.
Three hours later I'm standing next to Jesse backstage wearing a black dress with red and orange diamonds in the shape of a Mockingjay on my back. It seems that it's become a nickname for me just like it was with my mother. The anthem fills my ears and Jesse and I walk onstage with the other tributes and take our seats on the side. I don't pay attention to most interviews except Finnick and Jeremy's. Finnick is visibly being charming and sweet- it looks easy to pull off when he's playing that angle.
Jeremy is playing powerful and deadly and I know if I'd used that angle then I wouldn't have pulled it off. Finally, Caesar calls my name and I walk towards him. He holds a hand out to me but I pull him into a hug. "Uncle Caesar!" I grin and the crowd laughs. This is easier than I thought.
"It's nice to see you, Hope," he replies, pulling away. "You look more and more like your mom every time I see you."
I keep the smile on my face even though I want to yell at him for saying that. "Thank you, Caesar. I hear that a lot," I reply.
"I bet you do," he smiles, "Now, everyone has heard that soon you're to be a big sister. How do you feel about that?"
"I'm ecstatic. I can't wait. I only hope that I can make it out of the arena alive so I can see him," I say with a sad smile. Caesar pats my hand and looks at me sympathetically.
"With your amazing training score you must be storing enough to win," he replies and I shrug.
"Everyone here has an equal chance," I say.
"So, if you don't win then who would you like to be crowned victor?" he asks. That's a hard one…
"It has to be Finnick," I finally say, "We've been best friends for years and life wouldn't be good if he wasn't here." The crowd cheers and claps and I smile.
"Does that mean you and Finnick Odair are the next star-crossed lovers?" Caesar asks, wiggling his eyebrows.
"No!" I nearly yell. "Finnick and I- we, oh god. Just no. We're too… friendly. He knows what I mean but…" I trail off and I pretend to be sick, making the crowd laugh.
"Bad luck, Finny!" Caesar teases. "So, who is the lucky man?" This is starting to sound a lot like my dad's interview. A glance at him tells me he's thinking the same thing.
"There isn't one," I say and unfortunately it is true. Now, if he'd asked me if I liked a guy then I'd have a different answer. I think Caesar just read my mind…
"How about a crush? You must have a crush? Who is it?" he presses and I feel my face heat up.
"I-I don't like anyone," I lie.
"Oh, yes you do," Caesar teases and I huff.
"Fine, maybe I do have a very, very small crush on a very, very handsome guy," I admit.
"Who is it?" he asks, literally on the edge of his seat.
"You, of course!" I smile and the crowd starts laughing. The buzzer rings and I walk back to my seat while Jesse walks towards Caesar.
"Jesse Davies!" Caesar smiles, "It's nice to meet you."
(Five Hours Later)
I slide into bed and close my eyes even though I know that I won't sleep. I'm too nervous and scared. After a while I feel really hot and decide to head to the roof. I open my bedroom door to find Jesse holding his hand up in a knocking position. "You couldn't sleep, either?" I ask and he nods. "I would invite you in but my room is way to hot. I feel like I can't breath."
"Come to my room," he says, "It's nice and cool in there." I hesitate but agree after a minute and I follow him into his room. I sigh when the cool air hits me and sit on the edge of his bed. "You don't have to sit there. You can get under the covers… if you want."
Our eyes meet and I crawl to the top of the bed and slip under the covers, our eyes never breaking contact. He looks away and walks over to the couch.
"What're you doing?" I ask, frowning.
"Sleeping on the couch," he replies.
"Come in here with me," I whisper, nervously. I don't know why I'm acting like this. All nervous, I mean. Finnick and I have slept in the same bed before and I never felt like this. I suppose it's different since I've never like Finnick that way.
"Are you sure?" he asks, his shaky voice telling me he's nervous too.
"Of course. It's not like we're going to do anything," I say and try not to blush at how wrong that sounds. He nods and walks towards the bed. He gets under the covers and turns so we are facing each other.
"Goodnight," I whisper.
"Night," he replies. We stare at each other for a while before we both fall asleep.
In the morning I wake up to find Jesse's arms wrapped around my waist and my head on his chest…
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