Are The Odds In Our Favor? ~Cato~

4. Opening Ceremony

I wake up to the sound of Clariss screeching at me through the door, "Wake up and come for breakfast! There's a big day ahead of us!"

I groan. I had no nightmares today, thank god. I finally get up after five minutes of procrastinating and get dressed. 

I go to breakfast. We don't discuss much, just sometimes Clariss says something about the ceremony.

After I finish eating, I go back to my room. I'm in there for only like half an hour when Clariss knocks on my door and escorts me to a small room and orders me to lie down on a small bed. Looks similar to a bed Elliot was on when he broke his leg. I lie down as she walks away.

A few moments later a group of people come in and tell me to get undressed. I hesitate, because I've never been naked in front of strangers, but then slowly start taking off my clothes.

They wax, shave, tweeze, cut, scrub, wash and do god knows what else to me until I look completely new and fresh. They look at me for a minute or two, clearly pleased with their work, then suddenly leave. I call after them, but no luck.

Then a woman comes in. She looks quite normal, compared to the people of the Capitol. She has tanned skin, cat like eyes and long black hair braided into tiny braids. I assume she's my stylist.

"Hi, Jeneah. I'm Karima and I'm going to be your stylist for the games," she says with an unexpectedly soft voice.

"Hi. So what outfit are we going to have? Walking computers?" I  joke. I'm kinda dreading her answer.

"No," she laughs lightly, "but I think you're going to like it," she smiles and winks at me.

We stand up and she leads me into another room with a big table with lots of makeup and accessories. I sit down in a chair and she gets to work. There aren't any mirrors near me, so I have no idea how I look. After my hair and makeup is done, she tells me to close my eyes as she helps me put on my outfit. I feel her put something on my head. When I open my eyes and go stand in front of a big mirror. I can only gaze at what is in front of me.

I'm wearing a tight black jumpsuit, which seems basic at first, but then Karima presses a button on my sleeve and coded streaks of green go up and down my body, as if I were a computer screen. On my head I have a black crown with a single shiny emerald embedded in the middle.

"So, what do you think?" Karima asks, scanning my face, trying to find some kind of answer. I can see that she worked really hard on this and it must have cost a fortune to make.

"I love it!" I answer and give her a big smile. She returns it, happy with my reaction. And I really do love it. Definitely better than some old wires wrapped around us like they normally have.

"Now, since you're ready, we can head down to the chariots," says Karima.

"Okay," I agree quietly. Before I totally forgot, but now it hit me. I'm going to see Cato again. And with that thought I'm starting to feel the nerves build up.

I stand up and she leads me down a narrow hallway and through a door into a huge room, where the 12 chariots are waiting for us. I go up to the third one, where Rade is already standing.

"Wow, you look amazing," says Rade, when he spots me walking towards him.

"Thanks, you too. Did you see what it does?" I ask him, pointing to the small button on my sleeve.

"Yeah, it's really cool, isn't it?" he says, smiling at me.

"Yeah," I agree and smile back at him softly. He kinda reminds me of Elliot, just older.

"Why is that guy staring at you?" Rade asks me. I look around and see Cato looking at me. When our eyes meet, he grins, causing me to blush hard, so I quickly turn around to hide it from him. He's wearing and outfit that looks as if it's from the ancient Roman times. His top is sleeveless, so I could see the toned muscles on his arms.

"Don't know, I guess he just can't look away from our stunning outfits," I joke and Rade laughs. Someone announces through some kind of speaker, that we should get in the chariots. So we climb up onto our chariot and wait for the ceremony to begin. I'm glad that Cato isn't behind us, because he'd be probably staring at my back the whole time. I don't know what's going on with him, but no doubt he's being weird.

I feel the chariot start to move, so I press the button on my sleeve and Rade does the same. As we go through a giant gate, I can hear the roar of the crowd. Rows upon rows of people cheering and screaming are standing next to us on both sides. From the corner of my eye I see Rade waving, so I follow suit. I stick a kind smile on my face and start waving. That will hopefully make a good impression on the sponsors.

As the carriages stop, president Snow stands up and starts his speech. I don't really listen, because I'm preoccupied with other thoughts. Mainly about Cato. I wish someone else could be in his place, 'cause he's just a distraction from the games. My only goal should be to try and win the games, but that's going to be kinda hard with a boy on my mind. I'll just try and not think about him, I tell myself.

As Snow's speech ends, we are taken out of the stadium. We wait for the chariot to stop and then we get out. I see Clariss running, or at least attempting to run in those ridiculously high heels she's wearing, and she hugs us tightly.

"That was a-ma-zing!" she screeches at us smiling brightly. "I could not believe my eyes when I saw you," she continues, a little out of breath from that "run" she did. I see Beetee and Karima walking up to us.

"You looked absolutely stunning up there. Good job," says Beetee, smiling softly.

"Well, we couldn't have done it without Karima and these costumes," I say, beaming at Karima.

"Oh, thank you," she says, "but without you two, they would be just clothes. You gave life to them and I am proud."

"Well, you should go have dinner and then head to bed. Tommorow is an important day, with your first training and all," Clariss says. And with that, we head to the elevator.

After dinner I go and have a shower and wash off all the makeup I have on. I lie down on my bed and fall asleep quickly.

When I wake up the next morning, I notice a small note on my bedside table. I pick it up and read it.

Meet me on the roof at midnight.