The 70th Hunger Games: A Little Love

Chapter Eighteen

My date was a second year, and he had the most clear, smooth skin, and these constantly chapped lips. His hair was relatively greasy, and pulled back into a small little bun in the back of his head. He was some sort of asian, I never wanted to assume, and his name was Kenneth Nguyen. He had asked me with a flower from his families garden. The thorn snagged my finger when he gave it to me, and in return he kissed it better. He was a really sweet boy.

And I was totally, completely, utterly nervous to go out with him.

So, my stomach was going crazy, unsure of what to do with itself. Should I eat before? Should I wait? Were we going to kiss that night? I was going crazy. My mom felt my head a hundred times, and I didn't have a fever, so I was fine to go. Before I left, she made me a calming tea, lemon and honey, to calm down my stomach before he came to pick me up and walk me to the school.

It worked, sort of.

He came to pick me up, a little after seven, with a nice ironed suit and a light-blue tie to match my dress. He brought me another flower, this time it was some sort of rose or carnation, a delicate pink with soft brown around the edges, and he made sure that all the thorns were trimmed off. I wasn't really sure what his parents did, aside from having that large flower garden. I know I saw his mom at the local market often, selling the flowers to the middle and upper-class citizens in district four, but I wasn't sure what his dad did.

So, we walked together to school, and the entire walk I kept brushing my palms off nervously on my skirt. I think Ken wanted to hold my hand as we walked, but my hands were just far too sweaty. Every time I swallowed, my spit felt like vile going down my throat-hot and threatening to come up at any moment. I had to calm myself down.

So, we made it to the dance on time, with a small pep in our step. We came to see our school gym completely decked out:  balloons, streamers, small paper decorations cut into hearts. There were fake roses around at the tables, and the table cloths all had roses on them. It was simply beautiful, so full of warmth and love that I couldn't help but think of an old holiday they used to celebrate before the dark days:  "Valentine's Day". It was some day to celebrate your love for your boyfriend or husband, or girlfriend or wife. Some day in the winter where everything was covered in snow, people were dressed in pink and red and giving out chocolates and roses. It seemed sweet, in theory, and totally down my lane holiday-wise. I think they got rid of it during the dark days, where they got rid of any sort of holiday that wasn't based around religion.

Anyways, that was the kind of air around the place. My eyes instantly went to the food, perhaps if I ate something, I would feel better, less nervous. What I saw was behind anything I thought:  sure, I had heard of the dance, but I had never expected so much food! There was all sorts of different meats, a bar with all different locally grown vegetables for salad, and a large assortment of pasta with different sorts of sauces. I tapped Ken, and urged him towards the food.

"Do you want to eat anything?" I asked, pointing to the large assortment of food. They had music playing, and a few students were dancing—mostly the upperclassmen, who felt comfortable in their own skin—and a majority of the students were sitting around at tables. I saw Seeah and her date, a poorer student who was here on scholarship, signing back and forth to one another. I smiled, glad that somebody who was understanding of her capabilities took her to the dance and was enjoying his time with her. A few tables over, I saw Immah and Paislee talking to each other, Immah's dark skin contrasting against Paislee's fair tone in the red lights of the party. I saw everyone, or well, almost everyone, aside from Watter. It was typical that you came to these sort of things with somebody, and I don't think anyone asked them.