Deadly Game (A Hunger Games fanfic)

Deadly Game - Chapter 17

Hey, here's a chap for you!!! Took me some time, I know, but it's a little longer than usual. I wanted to fit in everything before the games. So next chap will be the games :) Can't wait to write that!!!

VOTE, please

COMMENT, please

<3 Anna

Chapter 17

When I wake up, it's already bright in the room, and panic rises in my chest. Today the games will start!

Then I realize, they were delayed.

I let out a slow breath, relaxing again. I decide to lie here a little longer – I need to think things through. I have a feeling I've forgotten something important.

To say last night was interesting is an understatement. When we stepped off stage, Violet and a few of her fancy friends from who knows which club – I think it was the Official Nail Polish Discussing Club – immediately attacked me. Their questions were so silly, and I was really confused. Then, when I didn't answer, they became more and more persistent. When Caro appeared from nowhere and gave them a you're-not-allowed-to-speak-to-the-tributes-lecture, they quickly apologized and disappeared. Then Caro gave Violet a cold gaze and took me with her over to the stylists. They all looked at me, probably wondering what I did there, and Caro said,

"Her escort, Violetta Grade, made a complete fool of herself. I couldn't leave our precious tribute with her."

Something told me Violet had caused herself some serious trouble.

Then Evan came rushing to us, all upset 'cause he couldn't find me and thought someone had taken me. Somehow we ended up on our own floor, and ate dinner.

The last thing I remember is Evan carrying me to bed.

I stretch and sit up. Then I sit there for ten minutes, too lazy to move. When my stomach finally tell me it needs food, I drag myself into the bathroom, stepping into the shower.

That's when something clicks inside my head, and I suddenly remember.

It's my fifteenth birthday today.

Well, might as well celebrate it. It may be my last, I think, checking the different buttons in the shower for something nice. Warm water, fog, and cherry blossoms.

When my hair is dry and braided I choose the last dress of those I picked in the beginning. It seems so final. The last dress I'll wear before the nightmare begins.

It's made of white and light pink thin fabric. It's quite girly – way too girly for me to had seen it without laughing before this whole thing happened – and hugs my curves. There are small flower decorations, but not too much. I guess I should dress up today, so why not make it a little more extreme, then?

I walk to the dining room in my white high heels, and the only ones in there are Caro and Evan. I force a smile to my face – trying to appear as normal as possible.

" Good morning, Cassi."

"'Morning, Caro, Evan." Evan nods at me, his mouth stuffed with pancakes. I walk to take food, and fill my plate with pancakes, though I don't really have an appetite. I can't shake the thought that I should be in the Arena today, that my fifteenth birthday should be streaked with the pictures of blood, death and fear.

Caro scans me, and I see her eyes narrow. She has already noticed that something's not right with me. She is too observant not to see it. She doesn't say anything, but as I turn to take orange-juice, I see in the corner of my eye how her hands move on the table, forming different poses, and I hear Evan's sharp, deep breath. They're using the sign-language June told me about.