Chapter 6

“So, Logan, we’ve all heard about the seven you got in training. How does it feel to be beaten by a girl, nonetheless by the girl from 12?” the interviewer asked. I growled, sinking lower into my seat. “In any case, I certainly don’t like it.” The crowd laughed. “At first I tried to get her attention, because, well, she’s beautiful. But then her cohort got in the way.” I smiled gleefully. I hope he liked that. “I tried to be friends-,” Bull crap “-and yet she still pushed me away. I didn’t enjoy that. I go to tell her she’s pretty and she threatens me. Somehow, I’m still attracted to her. But how can you be friends with someone like that?” People murmured agreement.
“You can’t, Logan,” the interviewer said right before the buzzer rang. The rest of the other interviews went by in a blur, only a few stuck out to me. The boy from Nine was very sweet, and the girl from Eleven was loud and made herself heard. Just like what I wanted to do, but sadly, I had to play my right hand and win this round of the game. When it was my turn, I was met by silence only broken by the clicking of my heels on the floor. When I come in waving and smiling, cheering shatters the thick air. The timer starts and then begins the interview. “Caroline Sullivan, how are you feeling?” The chair was really comfy: Nice red velvet that was warm from the last few people sitting in it.
“To put it simply: Elite. All of my clothes in my closet once belonged to Kelly Jackson.” I smiled devilishly, waiting for people to some and rip the dress off of me. I crossed my legs, making the man stare.
“How did that happen?” He was shocked, but continued ogling my legs. Remove your eyes, old man. This is not for you- it’s for the other male tributes.
“Came back one day from training and there they all were. It totally surprised us up there on my floor. They were absolutely livid when I came out in a dress one day.”
“That’s great! You look very beautiful tonight- sexy even. I see what Logan Clark was talking about. Do you have a boyfriend back home?” The crowd was hushed, intent on hearing my answer. I thought for a bit, raising the tension in the room.
“Eh, I like to go around. You know, try different people.” I waved my hand, brushing off the question.
“Ah, lots of boys in your life.” The people laughed. “So, who was your last boyfriend? Did you ever date Jake Jones?”
“The boy Jake stepped in for, Kade Young was my last. We broke up after the reaping. He didn’t think that I would come home. But did ever date Jake? I don’t know, neither does he right now. We’ve been best friends since we were six, and when we were eight he wanted me to marry him.” The crowd just ate it up! They were on the verge of a riot almost.
“So sweet; what about your family: Are they watching this?”
“No. I’m the only one left, and I only cared about my father. Do I have to talk about them?” I said icily: Thinking about them made me want to cry.
“You don’t have to sweetie, if you don’t want to.” The man smiled sadly, pitying me. “Well, about your eleven in training: How do you feel about it?”
Like a target was placed on Jake and me. “Pretty dang proud,” I flashed another winning smile which got the group even more fired up. “I know I did great in training, so I’m pretty confident in staying alive.” The buzzer sounded and I prepared myself for Jake’s turn.
Despite the fact that I wanted to listen, I spaced off for half of it. I heard my name at one point and I looked up to the screen above my head. My shocked face was up there, and I couldn’t help but wonder what they were talking about. “Does she know?” the man asked.
“Now she does. After what happened to her family, she went to Kade, not me,” Jake sighed. “It hurt, but at the reaping when Kade was called, I couldn’t have him out there with her. They would have kept each other alive until it was just each other. In the end, she would have killed herself because she has no one to go back to, while I’ll be sitting at home watching it happen. Do you know what it’s like to have you love die before your eyes? I didn’t want to even imagine the state I would be in when Kade showed up back home without her. I didn’t want to know.” He shook his head.
Oh, I see what he’s doing. I kept sitting, but pretended to blush, making sure everyone believed Jake.
“How are you going to protect her out there?” The man sounded very concerned. People in the Capitol: Always sappy. I mentally rolled my eyes.
Jake snorted. “Me protect her? It’s probably going to be the other way around. She’s scary when she’s infuriated. Few years ago, her mom made her mad. The holes in the walls are still there and they had to replace a door because she shattered it. I’m not joking. There are still shards of the wood everywhere in that house.” The crowd loved this. They were cheering nonstop for more, but the buzzer rang. As he walked off the stage, the anthem played while the audience slowly left the huge building. I hugged him when he reached me, grinning from ear to ear. “How’d I do?”
“I missed about half of it, sorry.” I smiled slyly, giggling a little. “I came down to earth when he asked if I knew. What did I not know?”
“You know…and have known since we were little,” he hinted.
“Oh gosh, I feel stupid now. It went right over my head.” I laughed loudly, making District Five glare with hate in their eyes. When we got back, I was dead-beat tired. “Ugh, I need sleep!” I exclaimed as I plopped down into a chair. Lilith slathered something on my face- which actually smelled a lot like home- that made my skin tingle. She kept my nail polish, though, for some reason. Before she left me, she grabbed my shoulders, squeezing them firmly. “Make us proud, Caroline.” She shuffled out of the room quietly, leaving me with tears in my eyes. I feel asleep fast, but woke up around midnight. Someone- or something- was in my room, trembling at the foot of my bed and a hand on my foot. I sat up, curiosity prevailing over terror, and whatever it was looked up at me.
“Care, I don’t want to do this. I can’t do this.” Jake: He’s crying. I was shocked so I pulled him to me. “How are you so carefree about this?”
“I’m not untroubled about this. I’m not going about this easily. Every time someone brings up family, I want to die. I think of all the ways this could end up and none of them are pleasant.” I sighed as Jake tried to stop crying, jerking the whole bed with his hiccups. “Just try to get some sleep, okay? Who knows how much we’ll need tomorrow?” I folded the blankets around us; he curled next to me as I stroked his hair and humming one of his songs. Soon, he was fast asleep and I couldn’t fall into the dark nothingness of slumber.