"Johanna? Why do you even want to do this?", I asked her while getting ready for a special TV broadcast with Caesar Flickerman. Finally, I could choose my clothes myself and was not forced to be in TV.
"Snow tried forcing me into prostitution, too. I refused and now all the people I loved are gone."
These two sentences made me understand her a lot better. Though I feared even more now that Snow might harm my family after the TV broadcast.
"He will keep using you, if you don't resist. And since you are a victor, your family will always be in danger. It's not a fairy tale that family members of victors often get reaped as well", Johanna told me.
"That's not exactly helping", I shot back nervously.
"Well. The world is cruel. Without fighting you can't win. Maybe Snow usually wins the battles, but we will win the war", she declared confidently.
We set off toward the stage.
"Aren't you afraid that Snow will use us against each other?", I questioned.
"He would do that anyway if he wanted to. No matter whether we are friends or a couple", she shrugged it off. She had some nerves.
"Ladies and Gentleman! Today we have a special broadcast with two of our recent and favorite victors! Let's welcome them with great applause! The victors of the 71st and 72nd Hunger Games! Johanna Mason from district 7 and (f/n) (l/n) from district 11!", Caesar announced.
Johanna grabbed my hand and pulled me with her onto the stage, attempting to smile but ending up grinning.
I smiled brightly at the cheering audience and it was making me feel sick. They only cared about their entertainment, never considering the lives of the people behind the scenes.
Johanna and I sat down on the coach, close to each other of course. Her hand was resting on my thigh, my hand laying over hers.
"So, Johanna. It's unusual for you to ask for such attention. What would you like to tell us today, so close after the 73rd Hunger Games?", Caesar wondered.
"Sorry. We didn't want to steal Matthew's attention. But we will be going home soon and wanted to announce it as soon as possible, together at the Capitol", I interjected.
"No, no. I'm sure, it's alright. What is it?"
Silence fell over the area. You could even hear an earring fall right now.
"(f/n) and I want to proclaim our relationship today. I'm happy to call her my girlfriend now", Johanna stated.
Gasps were heard in the audience and soon everyone was babbling.
"Congratulations, you two! I didn't expect that to be honest! How did it happen?", Caesar shushed the audience. They were curious.
"We came along right away. It was love at first sight", I declared smiling lovingly at Johanna.
She grinned back at me and pulled me closer. "Indeed", Johanna agreed and closed the gap between us to kiss me.
Everyone cheered.
"Such a lovely couple!", Caesar exclaimed. "When did you meet for the first time? When did you know that you loved each other?", Caesar continued the interview.
"We already saw each others games. That was when she awakened my interest. When I saw her taking a break from talking to the sponsors I followed her. Something inside of me just wanted to get to know her. When we first talked I knew something was off. I felt strange. At that time I didn't realize that I loved her. But the urge to be close to her remained and I used every chance I could get. When she was unsettled about something I wanted to make her feel better. I had never felt like that before. But in that moment I noticed how much I wanted to make her happy and be with her as much as possible", Johanna declared. She kept looking between Caesar and me.
Her words sounded so sincere that I almost believed them myself, though I knew it was just an act.
"And obviously it's reciprocated. (f/n) can't even take her eyes off of you", Caesar noticed making me quickly avert eye contact, a blush adorning my face. I had not even realized that I had been staring at Johanna.
The audience laughed. Some 'awww's could be heard.
"I guess I can speak for all of us if I say that we are happy that you share your story with us", Caesar changed the topic.
"Of course! We wouldn't want to keep any secrets from our lovely viewers", Johanna exclaimed.
Luckily I managed to suppress my laughter at the irony. They had no idea how provocative Johanna had been right now. In reality they did not understand anything but just believed everything they were told. Had to be easy to trust so naively. At least until the truth came out. It was beneficial for us as we could manipulate them and use them against Snow.
Suddenly I felt sympathy rise inside of me. The citizens of the Capitol were nothing more than dolls. They moved depending on the strings the celebrities decided to pull, not even noticing that there movements were being controlled.
"We are definitely grateful for that and excited to see how your relationship is going to develop", Caesar declared.
"Yes. I immediately wanted to show you that (f/n) belongs to me. So no one is working up false hopes of snatching her away", Johanna grinned. Her arm was slung around my waist.
"Though there is one problem. We are living in different districts and moving isn't an option right now. It would be horrible to only see each other at the Capitol. I wish we could at least use the train", I stated sadly.
A loud discussion erupted among the audience.
"I'm sure we will find a solution for that. We would be furious if Snow did not allow them to visit each other, right?"
Caesar got loud approval from the crowd.
"Thank you! You are the best!", I claimed smiling brightly. "But we would like to use the rest of our time here together to its fullest. Would it be alright if we left now?", I asked.
"Of course. We don't want to hold you back. Enjoy your time and keep us up to date", Caesar requested.
"Sure", Johanna agreed and pulled me up with her.
We left the stage holding hands as the audience cheered us on. We stayed like that until we reached the apartment where we let us fall onto Johanna's bed.
"That was exhausting!", I sighed.
"True", she agreed.
"Though you were extremely credible. I almost believed your words myself", I admitted.
Johanna started laughing. "I don't know about you but I'm going to sleep now. Those idiots absorbed all my energy."
I hesitated.
"What? Wanna keep on the act and sleep beside me or what?", she joked.
"Would you mind?" I blushed deeply at my question. I had not been able to stop my mouth from saying these words out loud. But the thought of possible nightmares bothered me even more than my embarrassment.
My request had taken Johanna off guard and made her speechless. This was the first time I experienced her being speechless.
"At home I'm usually sharing a bed with my sister Rue. If you don't want to, it's alright. I don't want to bother you."
Johanna's grin returned "No, I just didn't expect you to ... ya know. Never mind! Just make yourself comfortable. It's not like I care."
I sighed and snuggled under the blanket. None of us was energetic enough to get a second one or to even change clothes. I had not slept properly since I had left district 11 about three weeks ago. So falling asleep was not a problem. It was rather the part of staying asleep that was bothering me. I was afraid of getting another nightmare and hence held onto my necklace.
Suddenly Johanna turned around and pulled me toward her. How had she fallen asleep so quickly? Though I had to admit that being close to her made me feel safe right now. And that was exactly what I had needed to fall into a peaceful and relaxing sleep.
"(f/n)." Johanna's voice and surprisingly gentle shaking ripped me out of my sleep. "Jeez! You could have slept through a tornado! Get off! My bladder is about to burst if you don't move!"
Confusion filled me in my sleepy state until I noticed that I was laying on Johanna's arm/shoulder.
I quickly sat up. Apparently too quickly as my vision got blurry for a moment.
Johanna did not waste a second to hurry toward the bathroom.
A smile crept onto my face. She had obviously waited far too long for me to wake up instead of waking me up herself. A look at the clock told me that it was already one pm. Seemed like I had caught up some of the lost sleep of the last weeks.
I decided to call my family to check up on them.
"Why didn't you tell me that you wanted to stay because of your new girlfriend?", Rue immediately asked me when she noticed it was me.
"Sorry. Everything and everyone is going crazy over here. I will tell you some details when I'm back", I promised. "How are things going at home? Are you all doing fine?", I reassured.
"Yes, same as usual", Rue soothed me without realizing.
"Okay. I will be back in about a week. I love you, Rue."
I felt like I could see her cute smile through the phone. "I love you, too", she said and hung up.
"How cute", Johanna stated sarcastically.
"Don't mess with my family", I half-joked.
She frowned and put her hands up in a surrendering manner. "Alright."
Soon her frown was replaced by her signature grin. "Anything in particular you wanna do today?", she asked me.
"No, not really, except eating a lot of this amazing food", I laughed slightly.
"They have all kinds of luxury. Have you ever played video games?"
"What's that?"
Johanna laughed. "Then it's settled. You can't decline."
Apparently I liked video games and was how Johanna put it: a natural. I did not just get to know many different games but also a lot of district 7's cursing.
After some hours Johanna threw her controller away. "Are you kidding me? You had to be lying about never having played video games before! You beat me in every fucking game!"
"No! I'm an honest person", I insisted.
"You are fooling the whole Capitol", she reminded me.
"I'm mostly an honest person", I corrected myself.
Johanna shook her head grinning again.
"But now that I'm thinking about it. Every victor, even every tribute has their own way of presenting themselves to the Capitol. Finnick even has kind of another identity. If you ask me the playboy role doesn't suit him. You are provocative and challenging. Matthew is brutal and smart. What is my style?", I wondered.
Johanna stayed silent for a moment. "You are the cute, natural type. If you hadn't pulled that totally badass move of killing the boy with the arrow you would have seemed absolutely innocent."
"Yeah, may be", I agreed.
I picked up Johanna's controller. "Wanna call it a day?", I asked her referring to the video games.
"Not until I beat you", Johanna shot back.
We played the whole day.
It was fun to hang out with Johanna. Every day we tried something different and from time to time we did something together in public on purpose. It was annoying that everyone was staring at us. We were some kind of entertainment for them. Of course we were. Victors were nothing more than an entertainment program to them.
"Do you want me to say farewell now?", Johanna joked as we had to part ways at the train station.
I laughed at her words. "No, but don't forget to call me", I reminded her.
She patted my head teasingly. "As if I would."
I gave her a last smile before entering the train.