Part 5: The Girl On Fire

Chapter 4

I sat at the table on the train. Cinna sat next to me and peeta was directly across from me next to Haymitch.

"Fabulous food, fabulous wine, the massages, spa treatments, I told them nothing but the best for my two Victors. It all needs to be..." Effie said.

"Fabulous?" Haymitch guessed.

"Exactly. Now the schedule is a bit of a bear. 12 days, 12 districts. But it's mostly parties, celebrations, adoring fans to greet you at every stop along the way, and then we wrap it up in the Capitol. All you need to do is give a few speeches, wave to the crowds, and enjoy your time in the spotlight. You've earned it." Effie said. Earned it?

"What did you just say?" I asked dryly.

"Maddie." peeta said.

"I said, enjoy it Maddie, you've earned it." Effie repeated.

"By killing people. By losing people." I said angrily. I then stood up from the table and left the room.

***

I sat on the couch staring out the back window. I have most definitely not earned anything. I didn't earn attention. I didn't earn a Tour. I've killed people. I've lost people along the way. I played with newts necklace in my hands. I've kept this with me for all those months. it brought me comfort. i still had his note tucked away inside. I heard the door open. I assumed it was Haymitch.

"I'm really not in the mood for a lecture. I'll apologize to Effie later." I said. I turned around but instead it was peeta coming to sit down with me.

"I thought you were Haymitch." I said.

"You don't have to apologize to anybody. Including me. I know it's not fair of me to hold you to things you said in the games or your decisions after. you saved us. i know that. but i can't go on acting for the cameras and then just ignoring each other in real life. so if you can stop looking at me like i'm wounded then i can quit acting like it. and then maybe we have a shot at being friends." peeta said.

"i've never been really good at friends" I said.

"for starters it does help when you know the person. i hardly know anything about you. except that you're stubborn and good with a bow." peeta said.

"that about sums me up." i chuckled.

"no there's more than that you just don't want to tell me." he said

"it's like i said i'm..." i trailed off.

"see maddie the way the whole friend thing works is you have to tell each other the deep stuff." he said

"the deep stuff? uh oh like what" i said sarcastically

"like uh what's your favorite color?" he asked

"well now you've stepped over the line." i joked. peeta chuckled.

"seriously though what is it?" he asked

"green. what's yours?" i asked

"orange. like a sunset." he said. i smiled. then suddenly the room grew dark as we went through a tunnel. The only source of light were dim ones on the sides of the tunnel. The train was moving fast but I saw a red symbol painted on the wall. A mockingjay. I got up.

"Did you see that?" I asked. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm imagining things. But I'm sure I saw it.

"What?" peeta asked. Then the train was out of the tunnel and into District 11.

"Whoa." peeta breathed. We looked out the window. An army of Peacekeeper cars swarmed either side of the open land. What is going on here?