ʗɧɑǷƮɛƦ 7 - Ʈɧɛ ƮƦɪßʊƮɛ ǷɑƦɑɗɛ T he next thing I knew I was standing in a horse driven chariot at the back of the line of 11 other horse driven chariots. I covered from my collar bones down to my ankles with a black unitard. I had big sturdy black boots that made me feel very firm in the rocky chariot. I had a thin black flowing cape attached to my shoulders and my hair was in a Dutch braid like Katniss would have had it. I told Cinna to do this especially and he didn't even ask why, he just followed my orders. I hope he wouldn't tell Haymich that I had told him to do this, because Haymich told me to follow all of his orders but I couldn't be bothered with thoughts like that right now – I just wanted Katniss to see I had a part of her with me on this night in the form of her braid. I hoped she would see that. Peeta was dressed the exact same as me. He didn't look frightened at all. He looked much more like he was trying to keep any emotion he had underneath him and away from the cameras. He reminded me suddenly of Katniss because that is the exact same thing she would of done. A cameraman appeared from nowhere and gave a signal to the tributes and stylists that it was now exactly 60 seconds until the first chariot. Cinna appeared next to me with a woman who was dressed as plainly as Cinna. I guessed this was Peeta's main stylist. "You look fabulous. Both of you." He told us. "Now I'm going to need you to pull off your capes soon. This will activate the fire." The woman who I'd guessed was Peeta's stylist began to talk. "It's not real fire, its synthetic." her voice was very light. It was sweet sounding and reminded me of a feather. She seemed like such a nice woman, just like Cinna was a nice man. I decided I liked them both. They talked to Peeta and I like we were just normal people, not like we were going to die in a few days or like we were royalty because we were going into the Games and they never ever talked to us like we were children either. I added them to the list of people I would miss them when I was dead even though they were from the Capitol. "30 seconds!" the cameraman shouted over at us. Peeta's stylist began clapping excitedly. Her and Cinna were so proud of their fire creation. I looked over at the other tributes. They were dressed quiet traditionally in the normal themed costumes that they wore almost every year with a few tweaks from the stylists. I looked at the chariot in front of ours and noticed how small Rue was compared to the boy from her district. She looked ever so small and venerable compared to him, how could the stylists not see that? Is that how they really wanted to portray her to the other tributes? I looked at the boy from her district and noticed how smart he looked. He looked appealing in his agriculture themed outfit, but still pretty scary. I wondered what his name was. My thoughts were interrupted by Cinna telling Peeta and I that it would be best to hold hands appear like a strong team together. "I don't want District 12 to be overlooked this year. You need to appear as strong as you can." He told us. He then pulled off our capes, causing the synthetic fire to explode in flames from our backs. I could barely see the flames right now and I didn't want to concentrate on the strange ticking sensation the fake flames gave me across my back so I just nodded and grabbed Peeta's hand. I noticed how uncomfortable he looked with it. He hadn't looked at me for almost a whole day, not even a sideways glance at me. Had I done something wrong? I squeezed his hand to try and get some sort of response from him, but all he did was put his fingers in-between mine so our hands fit together. I kept looking at him until our chariot started moving and startled me, causing me to wobble and squeeze his hand terribly tight. He looked at our hands and he gave me a reassuring tiny squeeze back, but he still didn't look at me. The Capitol people began screaming at us and shouting out names almost immediately the second we came out. I began to wave to them, causing them to scream even louder in excitement. Primrose Everdeen, the angel on fire, waving. Peeta began to wave to and blow kisses to the women, who about fainted. I looked over at the huge television screen that showed us what the people at home would see. I saw me on the screen waving and smiling, with my braid swaying from side to side and for the first time I got to see how truly beautiful I looked right now. I was glowing. The flames brought out the colour in my skin, causing me to look less pale. My eyes were shining. I could bet Katniss would be proud of me right now. I hoped she would be. The crowd threw roses at us and kept on shouting for us until President Snow interrupted them to make his yearly welcome speech to the tributes of the Games. He was sitting in the middle chair in a large gold balcony which had red carpet surrounding it. It looked very grand. The Capitol anthem played out cutting off the screams of the crowd before he began his speech. "Welcome." His voice boomed. "Welcome. Tributes. We welcome you. We salute your courage and your sacrifice." The crowd were cheering intently again at each of his words. "And we wish you," he continued "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour." The crowd screams got louder and louder as exited the Parade Hall and the tributes got off their chariots and returned to their mentors and stylists.. Cinna extinguished our flames from our backs as Effie, Haymich and Peeta's stylist were chatting excitedly about what an amazing impression we had made back then. "You will certainly not be forgotten in a long time, you two." Cinna said with a smile. His smile was so warm and refreshing from the forced ones I normally got from Peeta and others that it caused me to send a genuine smile back at him. "Are you sure you should be near an open flame?" Peeta asked Haymich coldly. Boy, what had gotten into him? He really wasn't happy at all. I wish I knew what had caused his anger or sadness (or both) inside of him, but his remark to Haymich make me let out a little giggle. I was in such a good mood for a girl who was going to die in less than four days. "Fake flame." Haymich corrected him cleverly, causing Peeta to feel a little embarrassed. "We should probably head back. We're getting too much attention from other districts now." Haymich said, pointing his head in the direction of the boy from 2, Cato, who was staring at us. We'd stolen his limelight, and he wasn't happy. When we returned back to our penthouse after a short ride in the car again, Peeta headed to his room without any food. He said he was too tired and wanted to eat in his room tonight. I wanted so much to go after him and talk to him, I wanted to know why he was acting the way he was. Was it me? Or Haymich? Or Effie? Or just the Games? Or, maybe was it Katniss? No. Why would it be Katniss? They'd never even spoken. I didn't understand why I thought he was fixated with her. Maybe it was just me missing her so much that it made me see her in every scenario possible - but that didn't cover why he was so upset by the bow and arrow comment by Haymich and why he seemed so obsessed with my Katniss style braid that I wore to dinner. I decided to let my hunger get the better of my curiosity as I sat down to dinner. I stuffed my face senseless with many different arrays of food then excused myself so I could go to sleep. I was so tired, goodness knows how I was going to survive with the lack of sleep mixed with the constant movement I'd have to go through in the Games. That is, if I ever got through the first twelve hours of it. I climbed into bed and before I went to sleep, I told myself that after tonight's beautiful outfit, I would get a few sponsors. Maybe I'd last twenty-four hours in the Games, not twelve. Just maybe. And with that thought, I fell into a deep sleep and dreamt of all the happy memories I'd had before I got reaped. I never even realised how beautiful my life was before all of this.
ʗɧɑǷƮɛƦ 8 - Ʈɧɛ A͜ƖƖɪɑℕcɛ T he days was training again, and it was basically the same as yesterdays. I woke up, ate breakfast with Haymich, Effie, Peeta and the stylists, think about Katniss and my mother, went to training, did survival skills until lunch, think about Katniss and my mother, ate lunch on the same table as District 11 but sitting a far enough distance from them to not draw too much attention to myself while Peeta ate on his own, did weapon training until 4pm, went back to the penthouse, had dinner, watched Peeta and Haymich talk tactics, watch Peeta avoid my gaze all evening, think about Katniss and my mother, go to sleep. When I woke up, I began to do my routine as normal up until lunch. I sat on the same table as District 11 as normal but today, they spoke to me. The boy was the first to start conversation after a few minutes of eating lunch quietly. "Why do you sit here, 12? Why don't you sit with him?" he asked gruffly. His voice was very low, but he didn't sound angry, just puzzled. I would be puzzled too, if it was me and Peeta and someone kept sitting with us. I began to open my mouth and close my mouth, unsure what to say or whether just to tell the truth or not. I decided to tell the truth. I was going to die in two more days anyway, so. "Because I thought the little girl was interesting," I told the boy. "I'm not surprised. You seem to have that sort of empathy in you." The boy said, still sound very gruff. Maybe his gruff-ness was just his normal voice. It reinforced impression to me that he was a strong boy, but I was pretty sure of that after watching him throw about the weights and knifes in training. I looked at the little girl who was staring at me. Her big brown eyes were fixated on me. "Her names Rue. I'm Tresh." He told me. "I'm Primrose." It was quiet for a few minutes as we resumed eating, but the little girl - who's name I'd know known to be Rue – perked up and spoke to me for the first time. "You could of said something to us. You've been sitting here for days and you haven't even said hello." She asked boldly. Her voice was chirpy, like a bird, and yet sweet like sugar as well. It was a beautiful tiny voice for a beautiful tiny girl. I was growing fonder and fonder of this girl. "I don't know. I'm not that good at making friends," I stuttered. Her rhetorical question caught me off guard slightly. I didn't really know why I hadn't spoken to them. Apart from that the boy kind of scared me a little bit, but I wouldn't tell her that right now with his yellow eyes staring intently at me. "Well, Primrose, staying quiet and looking awkward isn't a good start." Tresh said. "But, neither is trying to make friends before we all kill each other." And with that, he walked away. I was puzzled with him. I couldn't figure him out. I was pretty sure I had everybody here worked out just a little bit. Everybody from 1 and 2 were lethal and basically were very arrogant with no sentiment or empathy whatsoever. Everybody from 3, 4, the boy from 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 seemed very much like me – naturally nervous and just missing their families and probably were embracing their deaths soon. The girl from 5 was very, very clever and I'd come to the conclusion she had actually had a chance of winning after watching her for some part of these days. I'd figured out that Rue from 11 was innocent, but also clever, Peeta from my district was strong and probably would get far but not win but Tresh from 11 was a big question mark with me. I didn't know who he was at all. I realised I had been quiet for a few minutes after Tresh left until Rue awoke me from my thoughts. I seemed to be very enclosed in my thoughts nowadays. "Don't get upset about him, he may seem like he is big and tough but inside, he's very sweet. He has a big heart, he just doesn't like to show it. Not right now, anyway, in here." She told me. Each word Rue said made me grow fonder and fonder of her. She reminded me of myself so much. I knew Katniss would like her. Katniss and her would probably be great friends. "So, why did you think I was interesting?" I shrugged, not wanting to admit that it's because she looked so much weaker and I felt the inner protector inside me call for her. "I don't know. You look so… I don't know how to word it. You just look so confident for a girl who… who seems to have a lesser advantage compared to the other tributes." She smiled down at her food and nodded. "Cool. Good. Tresh taught me I should look confident and that it should have that effect on people. It might get me sponsors." "I've never really thought of it like that." I said. I began thinking back, racking my brains to every time I saw her, remembering how I'd thought of her strange confidence oozing from the little girl. I began nodding again. "Yeah, Tresh is right." We ate in silence together until everybody was allowed to go back into training. It suddenly dawned on me that this was my last training session, my private scoring sessions with the Gamemakers, then it would be the interviews and I'd be running away from the Cornucopia at the games before I knew it. The suddenness of it all hit me with a great force. My breathing got slightly quicker and I became engulfed by panic. It wasn't until Rue said something to me that brought me back into reality. "Are you okay, Primrose?" "Yes." I said, trying to control my breathing. What just happened to me? "And call me Prim. It's easier and shorter." "Do you want to go to knives together?" she asked softly. I was a little startled by her question. Did this mean she wanted to be allies with me? Or just she wanted to make sure I was okay after my panic? I shook the thoughts away from me, I didn't want to be thinking right now, I just wanted to be training hard in weapons. I needed to know how to use one, not that I wanted to kill anybody. But I'm sure when the time came, just like anybody else, I'd have to kill. I couldn't imagine doing it. I remembered Rue suddenly and nodded and led the way over to knifes. We spent the rest of the afternoon until 4pm wandering around going to all the different weapon training areas that we could in the short space of time we had left. I felt almost sad when training ended, I was beginning to talk to Rue a little more as the time passed and I found out that she was very good at running and climbing and in the little spare time she got, she loved to sing and make music with her family. I told her about Katniss and she said she felt really sad when she saw what happened at the reapings between us. I also told her about my love for healing and how good I was with plants. "Well, I guess I'll see you in the interviews. Good luck in your private sessions, Rue." I told her when the loud buzzer went, signalling that training was over. I put my hand on her shoulder and began to walk to meet Peeta like usual so we could go back to the penthouse with Effie and Haymich, but Rue grabbed my wrist. "What?" I asked. "Allies?" A smile crept up on my face at the one word she just spoke. She was looking up at me, with so much vulnerability painted on her face. "Of course, Rue." The vulnerability washed away from her face and was replaced with a huge smile. She literally skipped off to go back to her mentors and Tresh. I wonder if she would tell them that we were going to be allies. On my way back in the car to the penthouse I began wondering whether being allies with Rue would extend my lifespan in the Games. I wondered if being allies with Rue would make Katniss happy. I decided it would because Rue was a nice girl, and Katniss would of probably chosen to ally with her if she was here instead of me. In the car, I looked over at Peeta. He was still very quiet and keeping himself to himself. I didn't know whether I should try to talk to him later or not, or whether that may just be a bad idea considering the Games were beginning in two days. My stomach churned at the thought of the Games. That night, I couldn't turn my thoughts off at all. My mind would switch between what the Games might hold, how my family might be feeling back home in 12, how Gale was holding up, whether Gale was helping Katniss in any sort of way and the one thought that seemed to linger in the back of my brain was why Peeta was acting the way he was acting. I'd never known him so angry. Or sad. Whenever I'd seen him, he always looked happy. Unless he was with his mother, he was always a little bit off when he was with his mother, but I guessed that not every mother and son had a good relationship. She wasn't a nice woman anyway. But, nevertheless, he always seemed okay. At school, he'd always seemed very happy. What was with this new Peeta? The Games seemed to be turning him into something he wasn't. I wished very hard when I went to sleep that the Games would not do that to me.