I felt gentle lips on my for head and my eyes slowly opened. Harry was in my room and sitting on my bed.
"Morning sleepy head. Breakfast is going on and they asked me to come get you", he said.
"Ok. I'll be right there." I said sitting up. He left and I grabbed some random outfit of the drawers and got dressed. I fixed my hair a little and then left my room down to breakfast.
When I reached the dining room I sat next to Harry.
"I would eat as much as you can if you think you can hold it down. You need to gain a few extra pounds", Katniss said.
Following her orders I ate a mini quiche, crepes filled with delicious cream in the middle, bacon, a donut, a smoothie, and some kind of cold coffee that tasted pretty bad, but I needed some if I was going to tolerate going through a beauty make over.
Effie announced that we were nearly there. I watched out the train window with Harry and soon enough we started seeing people. They looked weird with there crazy hairstyles and piercings and such. It scared me how much this was like the movie.
The train came to a stop and before we got off Katniss and Peeta came over to us.
"Remember to agree with whatever your stylist says no matter how weird it is. They know what they're doing", Peeta said. We nodded.
"Just saying we're specifically talking to you, Lillian", Katniss said.
"What?" I asked.
"Just listen to your stylist please", Katniss said. I looked at her for a second and then agreed.
We got off the train. We get off and it sounds like we're in one of the boys concerts. We enter the remake center and I am told to follow some people to an elevator. Then I am put in a room where three people were waiting for me.
There was a chair that you would see at a hair dressing place in the middle of the room. One women with rainbow colored hair called over to me and I went to her and sat in the chair. The only guy there had hair died that reminded me of a peacock. He wore a whole bunch face makeup. The other girl reminded me of a grape. Her skin was a tiny shade of purple and she had dark purple hair and purple make up and I was assuming if she didn't wear her uniform she'd be wearing something purple.
They got to work instantly. They washed my hair about a dozen times, then I had to be waxed. It hurt so much, but like I promised I didn't say anything. Not a peep. Then they did some little things like my eyebrows and my nails. I'm then rubbed with this lotion stuff so my skin is now soft and hair free like a baby.
"Tada!" Grape lady said. Her real name was Messiah but I liked grape lady better.
"You are fabulous", Katanna said. I find it funny shes named after a deadly weapon and she's wearing all rainbow.
Pascal didn't say anything. He just looked at me with a thinking face and then pulled out a pair of tweezers. He picked something off my eyebrow and I cringed.
"Now she's perfect", he gushed.
"Let's go get Tressa", Katanna said and left the room with the other two. The way she pronounced her S's bothered me.
The door opened again and in came this women. She didn't look old, I imagined her in her mid 20's maybe. She had a whole bunch of weird piercings in her ear and very bold makeup, but she pulled it off.
She told me to get up and follow her and I obeyed. Her accent wasn't as thick as the Prep teams.
We sat in this room that over looked the city. She ordered lunch, which was rice balls and salad with some rolls. We had chocolate covered fruit and cookies.
She starred at me the whole time I ate and when I finally finished I stared at her back.
"I'm Tressa", she informed holding a hand over the table. I took it. "Any questions so far?" She asked in a polite tone.
"What am I going to wear in the tribute parade?" I asked. I had a dozen other ones but they weren't for her.
"Of course, well I was thinking something that's really going to represent District 13's stars. You know movie stars, pop stars, something along that line", she said now pacing around the room. She reminded me of an evil scientist for some reason.
"Can you specify a little more?" I asked.
She turned to me.
"Well I can but I'm not. That would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it. I'll give you a hint though. You're going to outshine the others", she said and laughed at her own joke. Yep. Definitely a mad scientist.
We finished lunch and I was now directed to a new room. It was full of all kinds of beauty products. Hair stuff, nail stuff, make up stuff and a whole bunch of other stuff I didn't know what was.
I was put in a chair again and they all went to work. Tressa, Katanna, Messiah, and Pascal. Two worked on my hair while the others worked on my face.
Hours later they finally finished and I now had to get dressed. It was hanging on a rack ready for me to put on. It was a beautiful dress. It was a slimming dress, half gold and half black. Then it had a train with some kind of 3D stars on it. Tressa helped me into it and then helped me into the longest pair of heels I've ever been in.
"Sorry, but you're a little on the short side", she said.
She put on my jewelry which were star earrings, a ring that had stars on it and for some resin she let me wear my necklaces.
She helped me walk to the mirror since I was still getting used to how tall the heels were and I couldn't believe my eyes. It wasn't Lillian standing in the mirror it was some other person.
She was beautiful. Her hair was in a bun at the back of her head that looked like a flower. Her makeup was done a little strange but it matched with her dress. Gold lips, gold eye liner, and the rest made her features stand out like her eyes. Her eyebrows looked fierce and she looked tall and confident. She looked attractive. She looked like a model or...a star on the red carpet.
But I didn't like it. It wasn't me. This wasn't Lillian Galloway, this was some stranger that belonged in the old District 13 or the Capitol. They made me look like them.
"Well we better get to the chariot. Katanna spray her with glitter", Tressa said in a rushed tone and I was sprayed with gold glitter.
We went down to the last level of the remake center where 13 chariots waited to take us to the training center. District One was just getting on theirs and I saw Charlotte.
She had a dress on made out of lettuce. It was bizarre.
I saw Harry talking to two other people and I went to go join him. The two other people were Vanessa and Matthew. For once today I smiled and went to go greet my old friends.
"Lillian?" Harry asked.
"The one and only", I said standing next to him. I was actually his height.
"Did you have a growth spurt?" Asked Vanessa joking. I laughed.
"Wow. You look amazing", Mathew said and I saw Harry threw a glance at Matthew.
Vanessa was wearing some old diner outfit. It was red and silver. The top was like a collared shirt and the bottom was a puffy, long, pleated skirt. Her hair was in an outdated hairstyle and her makeup reminded me of a robot almost.
Matthew wore black pants, a shirt that made him look like a pirate and a untied bow tie. He was wearing a chef hat and it made me laugh.
Harry wore gold pants with a black belt, a black collared shirt under it, and then a coat that matched the train of my dress. He had a similar ring to mine on his finger. He looked dashing.
The anthem blasted and the first chariot left. I looked out at all the chariots and noticed we had gold horses. We were told to load our chariots and we said a quick goodbye to Matthew and Vanessa.
Tressa started speaking instructions to us very quickly.
"Ok. Once you get out there press the gold star on your ring. That's all you have to do. Smile, wave, chin up, don't look like a hideous monster. Got it, good. Now get up there and dazzle them", she said and we followed her orders. Harry and I's fingers intertwined and we watched all the chariots leave.
Then it was our turn. It started to move and I felt like I was going to fall off. We got out into the refreshing twilight air, and we both pressed the star button on the ring. There was a gasp in the crowd and they all started cheering again.
I waved and smiled. It felt weird. Someone through a flower and I caught it. I pretended to smell it and kept waving. I saw in the screen that Harry and I were glowing. Literally. The gold part of my dress was glowing a bright yellow and Harry's tux was doing the same. But the thing that caught my eye was that the stars on the train of my dress were falling off and making a star image in the sky. It was almost like those sparkler things when you wave them in the air. How it makes that image.
We went around the city circle. The only time I looked down from the people shouting District 13 is when we reached President Snows mansion. I didn't want to look at the man who was causing all this trouble.
Once inside the training center, I see Katniss and Peeta along with the prep teams and Tressa and Harry's stylist.
"You guys were wonderful", Katanna said and I smiled. I just couldn't wait to get my feet out of these aching heels.
We went over to the elevator. I stopped once I saw Charlotte and remembered my promise to Louie. I excused myself for a second. Harry followed me and we went to go talk to Charlotte.
"Lottie", I said and she looked up from the ground.
"Harry! Lillian!" She said sounding relieved. She hugged Harry and then me. Her lips looked like the middle of a leaf and her eye shadow was all green. She looked so mature.
"Hey. How are you doing?" Harry asked.
"I'm ok. You?" She asked.
"Good. Hey we have to go, we'll check on you tomorrow in training ok?" I said and she nodded. We went back to Katniss and Peeta and went on the elevator. It was all glass so you saw whole training center. From the outside it looked a squiggly but inside it looked like a rectangle. It looked fancy.
Then the doors closed and there was a jult and the doors opened. We were already on our floor. The next time I was in one of these I had to look out the glass wall.
We went entered our living quarters and I gasped because it was so beautiful. I couldn't even describe it.
The living room had this cool look to it. It was all gray with splashes of turquoise. There was a giant TV on the wall. The chairs and couch looked so comfortable.
Then there were three steps and there was this square space with sliding doors and inside was the dining room. It had a set table, probably waiting for people to eat on it. The table was made of thick glass and more gray chairs.
There was a piano in the room and two doors that led to a balcony overlooking the Capitol.
We were showed to our room and I immediately slipped off my heels and walked around the room. There was a king bed in the middle of the room with another really soft blanket, the closet had sliding doors and opened to a variety of clothes. It was like my own personal mall. There was a panel on the wall like the one on the train to help you pick out your outfits.
The bathroom had a tub, and then a shower with a TV inside of it. It also had that iPad panel thingy. I slipped off my dress and got some clothes with the help of the iPad.
I went into the bathroom and took a quick shower, rubbing all the makeup and glitter off me. I then changed into my clothes and put my hair in a pony.
I went to dinner we're everyone was already sitting down. Tressa and Harry's stylist were there too. Through course 1 and 2 we talked about the opening ceremonies. Through 3 and 4 we talked random things. Effie seemed quite happy like usual but didn't mind. Out of delicious clam chowder, a whole bunch of fancy appetizers and steak, dessert again was my favorite. We had cheese cake, triple chocolate cake and this fancy mouse stuff. It was so good.
After dinner we made our way to the living room and watched the recap of the tribute parade. Tressa was right. We really did outshine the others. I saw why she laughed when she said this.
Katniss and Peeta ordered us to bed since we had our first day of training tomorrow and we had to strategize. I changed into a long sleeved shirt and shorts. I tried to clear my mind but it didn't work so well tonight.
I tried quickly to climb the ladder before they caught up with us. Then I felt the claws dig into my back and pull me down. I let out a piercing scream.
Matthew jumped off the ladder to help me and declawed the beast from me with one quick swish of his knife. We were going to get back on the ladder when more started to appear.
We were surrounded and soon enough they were going to be back. We fought and fought and finally when we had an opening we tried to run. Someone was screaming but I couldn't make out who it was.
Matthew was carrying all my weight and then we stopped running and were frozen in the air. They caught us.
I woke up breathing heavy. What is it with these dreams? I decided to get up and go to the sitting room and wait for everyone else to get up. I only had 5 hours to wait. Maybe I would find paper or something.
On the couch was Tressa. She scared me a little.
"Sorry", she apologized.
"It's okay. You just caught me off guard", I said and sat down on the couch.
"What are you doing up", she asked.
"Can't sleep. You?"
"Thinking."
"Oh....great job designing the costumes", I complemented.
"Thanks. It's in my blood you know. I come from a whole family of fashion designers", she said.
"That's cool."
".....are you nervous?" She asked.
"Yeah."
"Figured. Snows spreading a lot of fear around these districts....you shouldn't be nervous though", she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"I don't know...your going to think I'm more crazy than I already am, but I feel like you're going to do good. I feel like you're going to do just fine. I look at you...and I feel hope and happiness. Your something special, something I want to hold on to. Almost like a lucky charm. I think you're going to make it", she said. I was beginning to really like her.
"Thanks. That means a lot." I said and she nodded.
"Well I'm going to bed", she announced and left.
I asked for a paper and pencil and I sketched out what I missed about home the most. The boys, Nikki, my job.....
I guess this was my way of letting them go, because even though Tressa and Katniss might see something in me I know I'm not going to win. Harry is was wether he liked it or not. He had people who needed him much more than they needed me.
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Here are a few pictures that go with this chapter.
