Jabberjay [The Hunger Games]

Chapter Eight

     After pacing around for another thirty minutes I finally find the guts to leave my bedroom. As soon as I open the door the pleasant smell of dinner hits me like a wall. I have no desire to eat but I quickly decide that I must in order to get the nutrients that I will need in the arena. The walk of shame from my room to the dinner table as everyone watches me is quite unbearable. I am surprised to see that Chrisana and Velour are here since I have not seen them since the Tribute Parade. In fact, this is the first time Malo and I's entire team has been together since that night. Chrisana takes no time before getting up and wrapping her arms around me in a hug. I feel as if it would be rude to ignore her, so I return the gesture and pat her on the back.

     "My star," Chrisana says as she rubs my cheek with the back of her hand.

     I force a smile and then we both walk over to the table and take our seats. There is a hodgepodge of different types of meat laying on a platter in the center of the table. On each side of the bowl there are trays loaded with warm vegetables that send clouds of steam into the air. I fill my plate with a mixture of the vegetables and then some roasted ham that causes my mouth to water. I take my first bite and get lost in chewing it, not realizing that everyone is staring at me.

     "Well, are you going to fill us in?" Vivian says with curiosity before Katrina raises up her hand that calls for attention.

     "No, first I deserve an apology," she declares in her dramatic Capitol accent that causes me to fight an eyeroll. I had totally forgotten that I walked past her, avoiding her earlier. I cannot believe that has been at the top of her concern since it happened, and I envy her trivial problems.

     "I'm sorry, Katrina," I say.

     "Thank you," she huffs back at me, clearly still dealing with it.

     "Anyways, back to business..." states Vivian. The annoyance in her voice seems to be directed at Katrina, but maybe I am wrong. It would not surprise me if Vivian thought I was completely childish for running off and hiding earlier. She takes these games extremely serious and so do I, but she is traditional. She wants everything to fall in place and I am learning as of recent that I simply do not.

     "Yeah, I didn't do too good," I reply, looking over at Malo's face which is flushed in concern.

     "How bad?" Brutus asks before swallowing another spoonful of vegetables.

     "I didn't do horrible with the axe, and I did really good with the knives. I was trying to finish strong like you said, so I ran at one of the mannequins and pounced on it. Everything was fine until I started stabbing it and that's when I had some sort of hallucination- or flashback, or something, of the girl from back home,' I tell the group as faces of confusion appear.

     "The one that you..." Brutus says in an unsure tone, and that is when I realize that nobody understands what we are referring to. I know that Vivian must know because she is a mentor, unless Brutus kept it a secret from her. I always thought Malo knew as well and that we just did not speak about it. I also assumed that Katrina and the stylists would have found out because they are a part of the District Two team and dig for drama at any chance they get. I guess not though, because judging by their faces they have absolutely no idea what we are talking about it.

     "Yeah, the one that I killed," I say as Katrina lets out a gasp full of theatrics.

     "You killed!" Katrina raises her voice in shock.

     "It was self-defense, don't get your feathers in a bind," Brutus snaps.

     Katrina then pats down her dress that is covered in a vibrant peacock print. I look over at Malo who has not said a single word since I had walked out of my room. I would do anything to get in his head and see what he is thinking right now. I wonder if this makes him think of me differently. I mean, if I had found out that he murdered someone before the Games began it would strike me as extremely cutthroat. Does that boost my threat level in his mind? I wonder if he thinks that I am less trustworthy now, then again what if he never thought I was trustworthy? If that is the case, then he will definitely turn on me in the arena. I wait for him to say something, but he remains silent.