As I am scrubbed, waxed hairless, and my face poked unrelentingly, I find the red-haired one is named Veronica, the blonde one with fake gold eyes is Faye, and the little mocha elfin girl was named Lilith. They would ask me constantly about my family, but that always ended in tears- despite the fact they were rubbing layers of skin off too. Veronica learns first I don’t want to talk about them, while Faye- she’s quite dumb- is the last. They ease me into a foul smelling bath- supposedly it’s meant to help my skin and the pain- and after I’m getting light headed, Lilith dries my hair and puts it into a single ponytail and hands me a robe.
Boy, does it feel nice on my raw skin. Lilith says goodbye and drags the other two out of the room. Seth comes in to talk to me, which is a nice surprise.
“So, Caroline, how do you like the Capitol so far?”
“Besides all this ripping skin off, I think it’s quite nice. The food is the best.” I smile and he laughs.
“It’s going to get worse later on. They just did the basics tonight. All day tomorrow, we’re getting you ready for the ride in the City Center.” Seth shifts in his chair. “Since your district is the fuel district, I’ve planned some very interesting clothing for you and Jake.”
Oh great; I’m going to be naked for sure! “And they would be . . .” I trailed off, letting him finish for me.
“A surprise,” he glances at his watch and sighs. “Time for bed; see you tomorrow Caroline.” He hugs me goodnight and leaves.
I climb into bed after taking my robe off, not caring that I was naked. Celestia got a nice surprise though when she came to wake me. She had shrieked and told me come to breakfast. With clothes on.
Sliding on silk pajama bottoms and a T-shirt on, I shuffled to the table rubbing sleep out of my eyes. Sam and Seth we eating with us, but it was hard to tell who was who without them talking: Seth had the deeper voice. I pick at my food, sullenly, because I had eaten too much last night. Soon, it was time to get ready. Great. It’s not even eleven in the morning and more hair is going to be ripped out. My life keeps getting better and better.
By three, I’m just a little pink with my long blonde hair crimped, nails a bright green, and my eye makeup dark but drawing out my multi-colored eyes. “You guys; I’m beautiful!” I gasp as I look in the mirror.
“You were already beautiful; we just pulled out the best.” Lilith said in her soft voice. They retreated as Seth came in. “Close your eyes.” I felt silk being drawn over my head and zipped in the back, becoming tight around me. “Hold out your feet.” He sits me down, and as he pulls boots up to my knees, I feel the dress come above mid thigh. “Stand and look in the mirror.” I can hear the smile in his voice.
I don’t see me. I see someone from the future. Strapless, skin tight, black dress that’s threaded through with glitter. Shoe with three inch heels come it my knees, as I had guessed, but what caught me was the fact that they made my legs seem longer than they really were. Seth had made me an alien.
“Seth, this dress: It’s beautiful. I love it! No offense, but how does this tie into the fuel theme?” I run my hands over and over again on the fabric, catching every inch of my curves, turning in the mirror to catch as much of my reflection as I could.
“Fuel runs the cars, the buildings everything. Fuel is a sign for the future. And you, my dear, look like you’re from the future.”
“When do we leave?” Caroline, tear your eyes away from that dang mirror! You’re becoming vain!
“Right now. Actually, we’re a little late.” Seth tosses me a piece of fruit. “Eat up, you haven’t eaten today.”
If I thought Jake was handsome before, I’m sorely mistaken now. Slightly baggy, black skinny jeans with glitter everywhere and a white V-neck shirt covered with paint splatters. “So, they added colors to your hair.” Jake plays with my hair a bit before I ask for a mirror. They did put the same colors of paint that’s on Jake’s shirt in my hair. Pink, purple, blue red, orange, but no green. “Why is there no green?” Everyone laughs, but Lilith says “It’s on your nails, silly!” I look and they all laugh harder.
“Why didn’t you notice the streaks earlier?” Sam asks.
“Probably because I was taken by the dress and my eyes! Can I have more fruit?”
“We’re late! Let’s go!” Celestia finally looks at her watch and shoves Jake and me into the elevator.
The chariot is black and the horses are either black with tiny white spots, or white with huge black spots. I’m guessing the former. The other tributes stare and whisper about us, but Jake and I are in our own little world. Jake leaves me by the horses to get me some fruit because I wouldn’t stop complaining when the boy from District One comes over. Blonde hair, tan skin, blue eyes; kind of like Kade, but he has an air of arrogance about him.
“Nice little show you put on at the reaping. That your boyfriend?”
“Jake? No,” I say a little mental ew. I shake my head, and think the whole idea is really weird. Yet somewhere deep inside me, I imagine a world where it’s just Jake and me. That’s a pleasant world.
The boy scoffs. “Not him. Kade Young.”
“Oh, well . . . he was, but then this happened.” I gestured around us, remembering what Kade had told me.
He gets closer, only a few inches away from me, his hands on my waist. “Then you won’t have any problems with kissing me.”
Suddenly, a fist strikes out and lands squarely on his cheek. “Don’t touch her, you sick bastard!” Jake: Good. I stand there stunned as the boy gets up and glares at us. “Watch your backs, District 12. I’m coming after you.” He walks away and when he’s finally out of earshot, I whack Jake over the head with an apple. “What was that for? I got that creep off of you! You should be thankful,” he grumbled and rubbed his head. I roll my eyes and began feasting on my fruit.
“You could have gotten in trouble, you idiot. Remember, fights aren’t legal . . . yet,” I say around bites.
“Hey, are you two alright?” Abel asks, completely sober now. We nod and he sighs. “Just hang out for another hour or so then it’s your turn. No more fights, please.” Slowly the chatter starts up again as he leaves.
I’m still downing fruit when Sam arrives to tell us it’s time. “Smile, wave, be friendly,” he directs. As we start to leave in the chariot, I look back and receive a thumbs up. It’s truly dark out, but the city lights shine everywhere, making us sparkle. The people go crazy over us. I look up at the screen overhead: I’m dazzling- blinding, even. Jake pales in comparison to my glittery appearance. By the end my arm is about to fall off and my face feels like it’s going to melt off. People were screaming our names constantly, and I was sure we were going to get some great sponsors.
Veronica cleans my face; Faye’s scrubbing my nails, and Lilith gets the color out of my hair as I doze in the chair. Lilith sends me off to bed when she’s done, leaving me with an orange. I’m awake at dawn and see a T-shirt and jeans are waiting for me. I’m the last breakfast, surprisingly, and everyone id chatting about last night.
“And there’s the shining star!” Abel says loudly.
“Yeah, I’m here,” I grumble into my plate. Those nightmares were terrible. Jake guesses silently, his eyes meeting mine and I know he knows.
“Well today is a training day. Stay away from District One and weapons you know you’ll be excel at.” Abel hints to us and we don’t question it.
Celestia makes sure we’re early and as it turns out, only half of the tributes were there. When all of us finally show up, a lady tells what there is and informs us that we cannot practice weaponry on each other. I glowered at that and got an elbow in the ribs. Jake and I split up to gather more skills, but I steer clear of swords and knives. Dad taught me how to use them with deadly precision when I was ten.
Lunch is called as I finish a lesson in hand-to-hand combat- which, unfortunately, I was great at- and Jake sits next to me at a table. “So, what did you do?”
“Knots, archery, fires, and combat; you?” I bit into my sandwich and wrinkled my nose in disgust: Mustard. Gross. Jake ate about half of his in one bite, which was sickening.
“Swords, knives, camouflage, plants. How come you didn’t work with blades? That would be a great skill to have in the Arena.” He ate his lunch and helped himself to mine.
I explain to him between the fruit on my plate. I smack his hand every time he tried to snitch a bit. We talk about what we’re going to for the rest of the day when the boy from One comes by.
“I’m sorry about last night. I don’t know what got into me. Will you ever forgive me?” He sounded pretty sincere, but I wasn’t buying it.
“No, now go away. I know you’re not sorry, and I know you knew what you were doing. Go away or else I’ll have Jake hit you again.” He didn’t leave. “I’m not going to tell you again. If I have to, it won’t be Jake: It’ll be me that’s hitting you.” I bit into my pear nonchalantly and he scowled at me.
“Fine then; but I don’t think you’ll like the consequences though.”
Lunch is called to close and we decide to work on knots for the rest of the time. We get to the point where our fingers bleed, but we know every knot the instructor knows. Once on our floor, Celestia flips about the rope burns.
“It was rope, smart one,” I say sarcastically. “Can I have some fruit? For some reason I’m still craving it.” A bowl of strawberries is brought to me and Jake tries to steal some. I cuff him upside the head with a laugh and go clean up.
Boy, does it feel nice on my raw skin. Lilith says goodbye and drags the other two out of the room. Seth comes in to talk to me, which is a nice surprise.
“So, Caroline, how do you like the Capitol so far?”
“Besides all this ripping skin off, I think it’s quite nice. The food is the best.” I smile and he laughs.
“It’s going to get worse later on. They just did the basics tonight. All day tomorrow, we’re getting you ready for the ride in the City Center.” Seth shifts in his chair. “Since your district is the fuel district, I’ve planned some very interesting clothing for you and Jake.”
Oh great; I’m going to be naked for sure! “And they would be . . .” I trailed off, letting him finish for me.
“A surprise,” he glances at his watch and sighs. “Time for bed; see you tomorrow Caroline.” He hugs me goodnight and leaves.
I climb into bed after taking my robe off, not caring that I was naked. Celestia got a nice surprise though when she came to wake me. She had shrieked and told me come to breakfast. With clothes on.
Sliding on silk pajama bottoms and a T-shirt on, I shuffled to the table rubbing sleep out of my eyes. Sam and Seth we eating with us, but it was hard to tell who was who without them talking: Seth had the deeper voice. I pick at my food, sullenly, because I had eaten too much last night. Soon, it was time to get ready. Great. It’s not even eleven in the morning and more hair is going to be ripped out. My life keeps getting better and better.
By three, I’m just a little pink with my long blonde hair crimped, nails a bright green, and my eye makeup dark but drawing out my multi-colored eyes. “You guys; I’m beautiful!” I gasp as I look in the mirror.
“You were already beautiful; we just pulled out the best.” Lilith said in her soft voice. They retreated as Seth came in. “Close your eyes.” I felt silk being drawn over my head and zipped in the back, becoming tight around me. “Hold out your feet.” He sits me down, and as he pulls boots up to my knees, I feel the dress come above mid thigh. “Stand and look in the mirror.” I can hear the smile in his voice.
I don’t see me. I see someone from the future. Strapless, skin tight, black dress that’s threaded through with glitter. Shoe with three inch heels come it my knees, as I had guessed, but what caught me was the fact that they made my legs seem longer than they really were. Seth had made me an alien.
“Seth, this dress: It’s beautiful. I love it! No offense, but how does this tie into the fuel theme?” I run my hands over and over again on the fabric, catching every inch of my curves, turning in the mirror to catch as much of my reflection as I could.
“Fuel runs the cars, the buildings everything. Fuel is a sign for the future. And you, my dear, look like you’re from the future.”
“When do we leave?” Caroline, tear your eyes away from that dang mirror! You’re becoming vain!
“Right now. Actually, we’re a little late.” Seth tosses me a piece of fruit. “Eat up, you haven’t eaten today.”
If I thought Jake was handsome before, I’m sorely mistaken now. Slightly baggy, black skinny jeans with glitter everywhere and a white V-neck shirt covered with paint splatters. “So, they added colors to your hair.” Jake plays with my hair a bit before I ask for a mirror. They did put the same colors of paint that’s on Jake’s shirt in my hair. Pink, purple, blue red, orange, but no green. “Why is there no green?” Everyone laughs, but Lilith says “It’s on your nails, silly!” I look and they all laugh harder.
“Why didn’t you notice the streaks earlier?” Sam asks.
“Probably because I was taken by the dress and my eyes! Can I have more fruit?”
“We’re late! Let’s go!” Celestia finally looks at her watch and shoves Jake and me into the elevator.
The chariot is black and the horses are either black with tiny white spots, or white with huge black spots. I’m guessing the former. The other tributes stare and whisper about us, but Jake and I are in our own little world. Jake leaves me by the horses to get me some fruit because I wouldn’t stop complaining when the boy from District One comes over. Blonde hair, tan skin, blue eyes; kind of like Kade, but he has an air of arrogance about him.
“Nice little show you put on at the reaping. That your boyfriend?”
“Jake? No,” I say a little mental ew. I shake my head, and think the whole idea is really weird. Yet somewhere deep inside me, I imagine a world where it’s just Jake and me. That’s a pleasant world.
The boy scoffs. “Not him. Kade Young.”
“Oh, well . . . he was, but then this happened.” I gestured around us, remembering what Kade had told me.
He gets closer, only a few inches away from me, his hands on my waist. “Then you won’t have any problems with kissing me.”
Suddenly, a fist strikes out and lands squarely on his cheek. “Don’t touch her, you sick bastard!” Jake: Good. I stand there stunned as the boy gets up and glares at us. “Watch your backs, District 12. I’m coming after you.” He walks away and when he’s finally out of earshot, I whack Jake over the head with an apple. “What was that for? I got that creep off of you! You should be thankful,” he grumbled and rubbed his head. I roll my eyes and began feasting on my fruit.
“You could have gotten in trouble, you idiot. Remember, fights aren’t legal . . . yet,” I say around bites.
“Hey, are you two alright?” Abel asks, completely sober now. We nod and he sighs. “Just hang out for another hour or so then it’s your turn. No more fights, please.” Slowly the chatter starts up again as he leaves.
I’m still downing fruit when Sam arrives to tell us it’s time. “Smile, wave, be friendly,” he directs. As we start to leave in the chariot, I look back and receive a thumbs up. It’s truly dark out, but the city lights shine everywhere, making us sparkle. The people go crazy over us. I look up at the screen overhead: I’m dazzling- blinding, even. Jake pales in comparison to my glittery appearance. By the end my arm is about to fall off and my face feels like it’s going to melt off. People were screaming our names constantly, and I was sure we were going to get some great sponsors.
Veronica cleans my face; Faye’s scrubbing my nails, and Lilith gets the color out of my hair as I doze in the chair. Lilith sends me off to bed when she’s done, leaving me with an orange. I’m awake at dawn and see a T-shirt and jeans are waiting for me. I’m the last breakfast, surprisingly, and everyone id chatting about last night.
“And there’s the shining star!” Abel says loudly.
“Yeah, I’m here,” I grumble into my plate. Those nightmares were terrible. Jake guesses silently, his eyes meeting mine and I know he knows.
“Well today is a training day. Stay away from District One and weapons you know you’ll be excel at.” Abel hints to us and we don’t question it.
Celestia makes sure we’re early and as it turns out, only half of the tributes were there. When all of us finally show up, a lady tells what there is and informs us that we cannot practice weaponry on each other. I glowered at that and got an elbow in the ribs. Jake and I split up to gather more skills, but I steer clear of swords and knives. Dad taught me how to use them with deadly precision when I was ten.
Lunch is called as I finish a lesson in hand-to-hand combat- which, unfortunately, I was great at- and Jake sits next to me at a table. “So, what did you do?”
“Knots, archery, fires, and combat; you?” I bit into my sandwich and wrinkled my nose in disgust: Mustard. Gross. Jake ate about half of his in one bite, which was sickening.
“Swords, knives, camouflage, plants. How come you didn’t work with blades? That would be a great skill to have in the Arena.” He ate his lunch and helped himself to mine.
I explain to him between the fruit on my plate. I smack his hand every time he tried to snitch a bit. We talk about what we’re going to for the rest of the day when the boy from One comes by.
“I’m sorry about last night. I don’t know what got into me. Will you ever forgive me?” He sounded pretty sincere, but I wasn’t buying it.
“No, now go away. I know you’re not sorry, and I know you knew what you were doing. Go away or else I’ll have Jake hit you again.” He didn’t leave. “I’m not going to tell you again. If I have to, it won’t be Jake: It’ll be me that’s hitting you.” I bit into my pear nonchalantly and he scowled at me.
“Fine then; but I don’t think you’ll like the consequences though.”
Lunch is called to close and we decide to work on knots for the rest of the time. We get to the point where our fingers bleed, but we know every knot the instructor knows. Once on our floor, Celestia flips about the rope burns.
“It was rope, smart one,” I say sarcastically. “Can I have some fruit? For some reason I’m still craving it.” A bowl of strawberries is brought to me and Jake tries to steal some. I cuff him upside the head with a laugh and go clean up.
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