Sharp Objects

chapter thirteen

"Well caesar," I begin, flashing him a pretty big smile, well for me anyway "they don't call me the girl with the knives for nothing, that's for sure!" I give a completely and utterly noticeable fake laugh, but the Capitol citizens don't seem to notice: they just laugh along with me. And so does caesar.

"Well, I'm sure they don't! Now, do you think that you could win, do you think you can beat everyone?"

"Well duh! I wouldn't be here, with a 10 in training if I didn't think I could win, would I?" I show the Capitol my best sarcastic smile, and they Marvel in it, cheering and admiring my drive, and the generic arrogance that you find in nearly all careers. " I may be small, but a little birdy told me that small means deadly. Well hey! I'm practically the meaning of that phrase! So don't turn your back on me." I finish with a sly smile, turning up my nose in an almost snob like way. The crowd cheers me on, and caesar indicates me with his thumb, nodding to the audience with wide eyes,

"Well clove,I have heard you are quite facy with a knife?" says caesar "I'm the best" I reply in a sarcastic tone."Really?" He questionatly asks"I can kill you from clear across the stage" I say with another sly smile appearing on my face. He looks rather frightened as he pulls a quite shocked face until the crowd starts  cheering and screaming my name chanting out 'the girl with knives' again and  again.

"Well, you seem to know what you are talking about clove!" Says caesar, once the crowd had died down a little " now, what do your parents think about you being here? And the proud of you for being a tribute? Are they sad?"

No. I didn't expect this. Crystalline didn't tell me how to prepare myself for family questions, because she knows that I hardly have any.

I'm panicking and caesar is looking for answers.no,no,no! I can't deal with this. My heart begins to pound in my chest, whereas, just minutes ago,while I was being my normal sarcastic self, I was perfectly fine.

I try to search for Cecilia in the stylists box,but I can't see her:there are two many people with pink hair. I begin to shake, whirling around in my seat.

And then I catch cato's eye. He gives me a small nod, a smile, and those bright blue eyes are telling me to tell caesar the truth. To tell him the truth.

"M-m-my" I stumble over my words, unsure of how to begin " my mother dies in a glass leak fire when I was 7.." a collective 'awww' comes from the audience " and my father became a peacekeeper and moved here when I was 13,so I've lived in the community home for the past 2 years,with my little brother Albert, and my cousin Harper.

The audience seems genuinely sad for me, some are even crying at my what must seem awful life. But I don't want there pity. I'm doing perfectly fine without it.

" that's awful clove,I'm very sorry. How is life at the home?" Says caesar, his voice becoming suddenly much more solemn and quiet.

"Oh,it's not bad at all. We get on just fine. If no one bothers us, then we don't bother then, simple as." I say in a matter of fact tone that probably makes me seem much more cold hearted then I was earlier. But they wanted to see a pice of me, and,in that,they got one.

Then,finally, the buzzer goes off, signalling the end to my interview. "Well, as much as we'd all like to hear more about you clove, I'm afraid your time is up." Says caesar.

Thank god!

I stand up, and caesar stand with me." Clove kentwell of district 2, the small but deadly girl with knives!" Shouts caesar, and the crowd goes mental. I can hardly believe that those ear-splitting shrieks and shouts and screams,are for me.

I walk back to my seat, and caesar calls cato up to replace me. Cato's interview is brilliant. The audience loves him, it's easy to see that. His general arrogance,mocked with a total ' murderous killing machine ' angle, with a few charming comments thrown in for good measure, makes him seem like the kind of guy that would look good with a Victor's crown on his head.

And some part of me has to agree with them: he is perfect, it's undeniable. So undeniable that even I have accepted it now,despite the fact that,a few days ago, I was trying to tell myself I didn't have a massive crush on him.

Well, clove-from-three-days-ago, ear tour words.

The rest of the interviews flash by,not like mine, which seemed to last for hours and hours. I picked up a few small hints about each person from there interviews. The girl from 5, Alyssa, is sly and elusive, something to watch out for. I've had doubts about her before, and her interview only seems to increase the fact that she is not one to be ignored. The little girl from 11,rue,wears a gown with fairy wings, and I instantly know that,if confronted with her in the arena, I would never in a million years, be able to kill her. The boy from her district, thresh, is sullen, hostile and not very talkative at all.

And then, the famous 'girl on fire' takes to stage. The crowd goes mental as she twirls around in her bright red dress, she may look good in the flames now, but once we get into that arena, I swar I'm going to burn her. Butn her to the ground and get rid of her once and for all. I'm sure that none of my allies would object, seeing as she,outrageously enough, outscored us all in training.

Peeta the bread boy Is generally a witty character,and he sends the audience into fits of laughter with some kind of joke about the Capitol showers and smelling of roses.but, when caesar asks whether he has a girlfriend or not, and he declares his love for fire girl, right there on stage, I have to stop myself from falling into fits of giggles. This is quite obviously just a clever strategy chosen by their mentor. And fire girl's reaction is perfectly planned, perfectly acted, and she had the audience completely fooled. They absolutely love the idea of ' star-crossed lovers from district 12'. This means that they'll get the most sponsors. And more sponsors, means survival.

No.i won't let her take my sponsors away from me.i won't let her,she's done enough already. Oh fire girl, you really got it coming to you. We're going to burn you Katniss, burn you to the ground you wait and see.

Before I know it, we're all filling off the stage and back into the corridor, where our mentors swarm us,loading us with praise that we can't even begin to properly acknowledge.

Glimmer struts over to us, her blonde curls bouncing. " clove you were ace! They loved you!" She squeals, giving me a huge hug that I find hard to return without wanting to take off one of my shoes and whack her round the head with it.

" so were you Glimmer ! You look excellent!" I try to say it with enthusiasm, and I even give her a fake smile, and she laughs and beams back at me, before moving on to cato.

"Cato yo were amazing! They were cheering so loud it was giving me a headache!" She giggles, resting her hands on Cato's shoulder, and her head on her hands, staring up at him with a pair of huge emerald eyes as night and as bright as crystalline's.

" thanks,you were great too" he says, awkwardly dislodging Glimmers arms from his shoulder and moving over to brutus and crystalline, who seem to be in a heated discussion with tallulah and the stylists.

I follow him,not wanting to be left with glimmer, but instead, I'm blocked by Marvel. " Hey,clove, you did great out there,well done. I would've lost my nerve if I was In your situation too. You know, with the home thing and all that.but I didn't show,you were brilliant. Well, see you tomorrow then , for the launch." He smiles, and I can't help but smile back, then he walks off towards his own mentors, and I gravitate towards mine.

"Clove, you rocked that interview!" Says crystalline, on the way back to our floor. She doesn't seem to be stumbling as much anymore, which means she's probably had some coffee.

"Thanks,it felt like it went on for hours." I reply, still struggling with my own heels. "But there's one thing I can't help being annoyed about...." she trails off,looking deep in thought.

"What's that?" I say,just as she pulls me backwards from the group heading towards the elevator.

" that I mentioned the star crossed lovers thing last night, and you hated the idea, but now the people from district 12 have done it and it's made me them the favourite to win." She whispers, giving me an accusing look "maybe you should of listened to me, and then you and cato might be the favourites."

She leaves standing there,in shock: she did say something about that last night. And when peeta the bread boy brought it up in his interview, I'd hardly even noticed