*UPDATED MARCH 20, 2023*
You all have been saying that you have been waiting for this chapter. I am so happy that so many people are enjoying this story so much. I honestly never expected this. I wrote this chapter as quickly as I could without messing up anything. Hopefully, it's good. Please, submit a review and let me know what you think about my story and this chapter. Even if you submitted one on another chapter, you should submit again. I am going to be doing a little contest with my reviews. I'm going to choose a random number and whatever person has that review is going to be choosing what character dies first from a list of a bunch of them. There will be certain characters that can't die until later because of their importance in the story. Also, this person will get to choose how they die, too. So you want to submit as many reviews as you can. And I am going to do it out of all the reviews for the entire story, not just this chapter. I will be deciding the winner in…2 or 3 chapters, whenever they are going into the Arena. Also, here's a list of all the tributes, just in case you get confused. The stuff in the parenthesis are the ages of the tributes.
District 1- Miklisho Maccoll (16) and Silke Deprie (15)
District 2- Marcus Shay (16) and Elizabeth Hirsch (14)
District 3- Allen Schmitt (12) and Gilzira Tappington (14)
District 4- Micheal Deluna (15) and MaryAnn Deluna (15)
District 5- Drake Hemsington (17) and Jarrica Vellics (15)
District 6- Marvin Langford (12) and Vale Gremp (12)
District 7- Alexander Hopkins (16) and Amber Evergood (13)
District 8- Phillipe Snodgrass (17) and Leslie Nestern (15)
District 9- Devin Crane (16) and Lindi Reiter (12)
District 10- Beck Mason (17) and Turnfina Starr (18)
District 11- Jacob Hastings (18) and Katrina Hayes (18)
District 12- Luke Mellark (14) and Alice Dawson (13)
May the odds be ever in your favor…
Chapter 8- Know Your Enemies
All the tributes are standing on the stage. Caesar Flickerman starts this portion of the parade, which many people appropriately call Body Language. In a lot of different ways, that was exactly what this was about. Caesar will say your name and say a little about you. Your job is to say nothing, yet make the Capitol love you. Twirl around in your costume, blow kisses, wave, smile, and wink. This would be one of the top defining moments in these pre-Games. You had to show people that you were a contender, but you weren't allowed to say anything. You can't correct Caesar; you just have to go along with whatever he says. They want to make sure you can follow their directions in the glittering paradise they're allowing you access to. The interviews are the time to speak.
Marcus and I mount the stage.
"Well, that was quite the parade! Ladies and Gentleman, your 88th Hunger Games tributes!" Caesar starts. The crowd erupts into cheers and applause, and Marcus wraps his arms around my waist. I throw his arms off of me. Don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. Caesar starts talking about all of us tributes, each person offering up a wave or a bow or a curtsy as their name comes up.
When it gets down to Marcus's, he waves quickly, taking a nervous step, then trips over his own feet and lands on his back on the ground. The Capitol laughs insanely, and I let him lay there. I'm not offering him any help. I cross my arms and look at the crowd. I point and Marcus and laugh behind my hand. The crowd is eating this up. I wonder if the nerves are getting to his head. Or maybe he planned this to help us. Then he struggles to get up and stands up behind me, reassuming his position in the formation we are all required to stand by- the girl in front of the boy. Caesar finishes his little speech about Marcus and moves on to me. He says my name and I wave to the crowd. Then he starts talking about my district and training, and I smirk at them when they mention my dad. I gesture to the front row where my parents sit with Artemis. I blow kisses and the crowd looks over at them. My parents start playing along, waving and pointing at me and giving thumbs up. We are making the most excellent team here. He talks about my costume and my stylists, and I twirl around and gesture up and down my body in a showy fashion.
The introductions end, and Marcus and I do our final wave, and then we head back down into our chariot, where we do the final lap and go back to the Training Center to get ready for training tomorrow and interviews later on in the week. Octavia takes me back to the dressing rooms to reapply makeup. I ask her if I can do it myself, and she agrees. I show her my technique, adding black eye shadow, then gold over that, and then purple over part of that. This gives my eyes a shimmery, gorgeous, feisty look. I can't wait to get back down to everybody else. I reapply my lip gloss and head down to the Tribute Lounge, a place for tributes only after the Capitol reaffirmed that they were just so sorry for sending all these kids to their deaths. It's an empty sentiment, likely, but they're entertained and they're happy to let us be all alone to perhaps some final peace by ourselves. No escorts. No mentors. No cameras. And there is only one rule- what happens in that room stays in that room. Nobody gives up the secret, or they say every tribute that came before you will curse you, making it impossible for you to win, and the tributes of your Games will all team up to kill you. And if somehow you survive all that, they will haunt you your entire life. And even after the Games are over, you can't tell anyone what goes on in there. Not your kids. Not the kids you mentor. My parents didn't have this when they were tributes, so I doubt they would have any idea, to begin with. Long story short, I won't be telling what happened to anyone any time soon. It's a binding rule.
The fun starts at 6:15, and we have until our 11:30 curfew to party. Odds are we'll all be drunk by then. I walk into the lounge, and there are already 15 people there, all sitting in a circle around a fire. I join the circle, sitting between Miklisho and Luke. After a few minutes, Marcus and a few others walk in, all wearing their costumes. Soon we have all 24 of us sitting together around the fire.
Marcus is the first to speak. "I heard we have to all do something to bind our secrets here. You know, make sure that what happens here stays here," He states. A few other people nod.
"I suggest a naked picture exchange. We all take pictures naked, and then if someone squeals, then not only will there be the curse, but their naked picture gets broadcasted all over Panem, no matter when it is. And they'll be in a sealed envelope with someone we all can trust." Gilzira offers.
I try to keep my shock to a minimum. I really don't have to get naked in front of all these people, but nudity in the Capitol is nothing new. We'll all be naked and having too much fun to care who sees us, maybe. Nobody will ever find out about this. We'll remember, but no one else will.
"I don't think so. I'm not showing anything to anybody like that," Jacob Hastings says. This is the first time I have really looked at him. He's pretty adorable in person, but like an elf or a puppy, not somebody you want to have sex with, like some other people here.
"I agree, " Leslie says. "It's inappropriate." I try not to immediately voice my agreement.
"I have a wonderful idea," Miklisho says, grinning.
"We share a cigarette. And with that cigarette, we are saying we are keeping the secrets of tonight to ourselves, just as our mouths are together on that cigarette."
"That works for me," I say. Thank god the idea was changing. With my consent, now all the Careers and Jarrica are agreed. Jarrica is a Career at heart, and she's making it really obvious, which isn't changing my opinion of her. All the younger tributes are a little hesitant. And Luke, being the sweet boy he is, is comforting.
"It's alright. It won't be that bad. Just a little puff and then you're done. It's not how much you take; it's the fact that you're taking any at all. And besides….it's not allowed in the districts anymore," He says with an air of mystery. His perfect blue eyes are shining like gems, and I feel so attracted to him. I am tired of pretending.
"Wait, none of this is being told to anybody outside this room, right?" I ask.
"That is true. Nobody besides us will know what happened here," Lindi says. So, I grab Luke and shove my tongue into his mouth, smothering him as he moans softly against my mouth.
"I have been waiting hours for you to do that!" Luke yells as he pulls away.
"We've been dating for 4 months," I tell everyone.
"That's so sweet." Silke sighs.
"And you can tell people if you want to. We won't stop you, and the curse won't kick in if it's your own secret," Turnfina says.
"We're letting people know at the interview." Luke replies. Everybody sighs with a chorus of "AWWWW." I think people forget sometimes that most of us don't want to be here and are looking for anything to make us feel like ourselves.
Katrina isn't looking at me. I understand she wants to kill me, but she is seriously freaking me out.
Miklisho sticks the end of the cigarette in the fire and then passes it to Allen. It passes slowly from hand to hand, some of us coughing and sputtering, others looking far too comfortable. I take a small puff, the smoke nearly gagging me. I hand it over to Miklisho, and he takes a huge puff. I'm sure he has a way of getting whatever he wants back home, but this is my first time, and I feel sick already. And we haven't even started partying really.
We all are done and Miklisho keeps smoking. I wonder then how he managed to get the cigarette in the first place. He pops a pill into a beer and drinks it. Which one of his mentors is the culprit? Everyone gets a can or a bottle from on top of the nearby bar counter. We turn on a switch and loud music comes blaring out of the stereo system in the ceiling. And another switch makes multi-colored lights flash. It's like being in another world. I take a sip from my can and find a tart apple flavor.
The alcohol is flowing and we're all getting a little tipsy. I go up to Luke and start grinding all over him. He pulls me around we are kissing. His breath tastes like beer. "You look…..realllyyyy….pretty," Luke says, hiccupping. Yeah, he's drunk. I feel a little woozy so I go over to Miklisho and some others that I don't know, chatting with them up until they get too unreliable, like Maryann, Micheal, and Miklisho, and getting information while they're drunk. When they're sober, I won't be getting anything from them that can help me kill them easier. I extinguish the fire because with all of us getting drunk, fire is really not a good idea. I walk over to the bar area and see MaryAnn and Micheal lying next to each other in the shadows, crying quietly. I guess that's what you can do when nobody is telling. They are both way too drunk. They wouldn't be doing that if they weren't. Or maybe they would. I seriously don't know.
I look at my clock. It's 11:10pm. We only have 20 minutes until curfew. I turn the switch off and the music stops. People groan but I figure it'll take a lot of time for us to get ourselves together. The rest of the Careers at least listen. We clean up nothing, all walking out and going back to our rooms. Miklisho has Gilzira, MaryAnn and Silke with him. When they sober up, they are going to be pissed. That is if they remember any of it. I'm not drunk, and I will always remember this. I sling Luke's arm around my shoulder and help him back to his room, and then into his bed. I have such a temptation to lie down next to him. But that is a really bad idea. I go back to my room, ready to go to bed. I'm satisfied. I found out that MaryAnn and Micheal are afraid of being apart, and a whole list of other things I can use against some of the others. You know the saying….keep your friends close, and your victims closer. Or something like that.
OK, so what did you think? Was it good? Did you like that I made up the Tribute Lounge? Did I make everyone have enough fun? Or did I go overboard? Please, review and let me know what your thoughts are. And remember, the more reviews you post, the more likely you are to win my contest and decide who dies first in the Arena. This competition is going on for another few chapters, but I am using the reviews from all the chapters, not just this one. May the odds be ever in your favor!