the hunger games: if it happened to me

Chapter 8

I sit there. Alone. Waiting for my stylist to arrive. I look down and get a glance at my charm bracelet, I look at the charm juan gave me. My mind wanders off to every memory we've shared. The thing with juan is, he's not like everyone else. He's special. He has this amazing personality that I could never describe in words. My thoughts take me back to yesterday, when I promised I'd win, for him. That's when it hit me. I'm not here to look pretty. I'm not here to fall in love with Ferny. I'm here to win, for juan.
The door opens, a man comes in, mid 50's I assume. He looks pretty decent for a capitol person. The thing that catches my eyes is the small red stripe in his hair, other than that he looks pretty normal. "Hey there, you must be iridian?" He says very welcoming. I nod, agreeing. "Nice to meet you, I'm your stylist, Roderick Eightenvalls." He continues. "Hi" is all I manage to say. "I'm guessing you already know that each state gets dressed by their weather, capital bird, and their capital flower. Right?" He asks. "Yes I saw last year's games. Which one of all three are going to chose?" I ask curiously. "I don't have to chose, I'm dressing you up in all 3, and Ferny too" he answers. I don't know if this is allowed but I smile and nod. "Okay come with me" he says as he pulls me to the prep team.
They sit me in a chair and tell me to close my eyes. And I do as I'm told. I feel the waxing, the plucking, the makeup going in to my face. It's a little uncomfortable but I pull through. "Finished" one of the girls from the prep team says. Took awhile. I get up and look in the mirror. Wow. I look so different. My eye make up consists of eyeshadow fading from light gold to orange-red to black with drawn eyeliner feathers than drift in to roots then fade into ashes. I understand the concept of my makeup. The black feathers represent my states Capital bird, the mockingjay. The roots represent my states capital flower, a primrose. And the ashes represent my states weather, burning hot. "This is truly creative." I say with a smile. They all nod and smile back.
"Time for your dress" Roderick says. He takes out a bag, unzips the zipper and takes out the dress. I am not allowed to look at it until I'm wearing it. So I close my eyes and let the prep team put it on me. "Open your eyes" I hear Roderick say. Slowly I open my eyes and I'm speechless. The dress is gorgeous. It's one sleeved, at the top of the sleeve there's beautiful primroses covered in gold glitter, then they fade into a pattern of roots, which fade into the burning black at the bottom of the dress, the black section is all feathers with diamonds in every one. I've never seen anything like it. I'm just staring at myself in the mirror. The makeup, the dress, I'm amazed. I've never looked like this before. I am not pretty. I am not beautiful. I am as radiant as the sun.
"Now for the interview, talk about home. Talk about Ferny. Talk about how you're so in love and he's the one. Make them believe that you two are really star crossed lovers." Roderick explains. I nod. "Just be yourself" is his finally sentence to me before we head to the interview.
I feel someone grab my hand. It's Ferny. His stylist did an amazing job as well, our outfits match. Only his is a button up long sleeve shirt with black jeans. His hair is combed up and freshly cut from the sides. I can't lie he looks really cute and it takes me a while to stop staring at him and get back to reality.
"Hey Iri, you look, wow flawless" he says with a cute smile. I feel myself blush. "Thank you, you do too" I add. I hold his hand tight as we walk with the other tributes to our big interview.