I feel like throwing up as I wait in the line for the live interviews with Flickerman. District 3 is annoyingly close to the front.
I look up to see that both tributes from 1 are done.
"And now, from district 2, another volunteer! Please welcome Clove" I watch the television screen. I see her wearing a sweet peach dress, contradicting her true arrogant and sadistic personality.
"I have heard you are quite facile with a knife" says Flickerman, as Clove sits down.
"I'm the best" she responds, matter-of-factly.
"Really?" Flickerman engages.
"I could kill you from clear across the stage" she says, smirking.
Caesar looks to the screen with mock fright, earning laughs from the crowd.
From here, I tune out and prepare myself.
"I can't do this" I whisper to Lumen, panicking.
Even in my nervous state, Lumen doesn't respond.
"Lumen, look I know you weren't expecting me to get a better score than you. And for me to secure the alliance. But maybe you should just accept it and stop whining like a jealous baby" I whisper yell, both frustrated with him and scared for my interview.
"I'm not—" he begins whispering back to me but is interrupted when someone ushers me onto the stage.
"From District 3... the lovely Antoinette Hart!" he announces.
I walk in waving and sit down next to Caesar.
I hear a lot of whistles as the crowd sees the sheer, nearly transparent silver dress I was wearing, thanks to my lovely styling team.
What am I? A dog?
"Look at you" Flickerman praises, while I smile and wave at the crowd.
"You know, Toni. The people here love you so much, you're starting to be known as the Capitol Golden Girl.
I laugh. "I like the name, but this dress is silver, not gold" I joke.
"That is quite an outfit. Don't you think?" he compliments, as the crowd screams.
I give him a small laugh. And lean into the microphone. "Yes, Caesar. And it feels good too" I say, flirtatiously. (A/N Stole Glimmer's lines, so just pretend Glimmer's interview was different)
"It does? Let me see" he says, going to touch my dress.
I pull away in mock offense and call him "bad" in a high pitch voice, while playfully slapping him.
"Oh, oh. You mean it feels good on you" he laughs and the crowd laughs with him.
"Sorry. Almost got myself into trouble there. Bad boy. Bad boy" he says, playfully.
"Slap my hand" he says, and I do so, giggling. God, this is degrading.
"Do it again" he jokes.
"No" I say, as if playing hard to get.
He erupts into another fit of laughter. "Spicy. I like it. Now let's ask Antoinette a few questions" he says to the crowd, who cheer in response.
We go to sit down. "Oh Caesar, you can call me Toni" I say.
"Alright, Toni, so the outfit you wore at the Tribute's parade the other day. Do you want to tell us about it?" he says.
"Well, I was just hoping that I wouldn't flash anyone" I say, bringing about some laughter from Caesar and the crowd.
"When you came out of that chariot, I have to say. My jaw dropped. Did any of you experience this as well?" he asks the crowd, who respond with sounds of agreement.
"Tell me about the wires. Where were they from? Were they functional?" he asks me.
"Well I don't really know. They just gave me the dress. I just sat there and looked pretty, you know" I joke, playing dumb.
The crowd laughs and Caesar burst into a fit of exaggerated laughter.
"Hey, that's a difficult job and might I say, she pulls it off perfectly" he says to the crowd, making them cheer again.
"And that score of 11. The highest score this Games. How did you manage to pull that one off?" he asks me.
I suck in air through my teeth. "Come on, Caesar. You can't make a girl reveal all her secrets before the big game" I say.
"Right, right of course. I know these folks love a good mystery, right?" he beckons to the crowd, who cheer in response.
"Now let's talk about your brother" he says. I nod.
"Twin, actually" I inform.
"Wow, twins. This must be very hard for you" he says, empathetically.
The crowd awws.
"Yes, Caesar, it is. But I'll avenge him when I win" I say with a smirk.
I couldn't let them see me weak.
The crowd cheers. "That's the spirit!" Caesar compliments.
"Now, you had some screen time last year, didn't you? When you attacked that peacekeeper?" he asks.
The crowd oohs. Shit, I hope I'm not losing them. I decide to respond with confidence, which the crowd seemed to be into during other interviews.
"Yeah, well he should've known better than to mess with a Hart" I say, proudly.
The crowd cheers. Thank god.
"I love that!" Caesar laughs.
"Tell me, Toni. Do you plan on breaking some hearts in the arena" he plays on my last name.
"Maybe. So they better watch out" I wink at the camera.
"Ooh. A little warning to the boys in there. They won't know what hit 'em" Caesar jokes.
"It's a warning to all of them, Caesar. Because I go both ways" I say with a smirk, making the crowd erupt into cheering.
I think I saw a girl in the front row faint. Capitol citizens certainly do have a flair for the dramatic.
"What an ending line. Ladies and gentlemen, from District 3, Golden Girl Antoinette Hart!" he sends me off and I walk off the stage.
"You did it darling. That was incredible" Celeste congratulates me.
"Thank you." I say, bashfully.
"Nice job sweetheart" Beetee compliments, giving me a small hug. "Thanks" I say, turning to watch that douchebag Lumen.
As I look to the camera, the careers walk up to me.
"Congrats on the 11, Three. Maybe I underestimated you" Clove says, professionally.
"Yeah. Whatever you did in there, I guess it wasn't so bad, hmm?" says Glimmer, making the others confused.
I hum in response, looking to the screen.
"Please welcome, Lumen Moore!" says Flickerman, welcoming Lumen to the stage.
"Lumen, welcome. How are you finding the Capitol? Don't say with a map" he jokes, making the crowd laugh.
"Well Caesar, who needs a map when you integrated a GPS system onto your watch?" he responds, showing Caesar his watch. The camera zoomed in on it. The crowd oohs and ahhs.
I scoff. Beetee definitely gave him that watch. I can't believe Lumen gets to act smart but I can't.
"You seem rather tech savvy for a Career, Lumen" Flickerman comments.
"Well keep in mind: I may be a Career, but I'm still a district 3 tech nerd at heart." he says, earning him awws from the crowd.
Ugh.
Caesar laughs and then begins asking another question.
"So Lumen... tell me. Is there a special girl back home?" he asks.
"No, not really" he shrugs.
"No? I don't believe it for a second. Look at that face. Handsome man like you, Lumen. Tell me" Caesar pushes.
"Well, there uh. There's this one girl that I had a crush on forever. But I don't think she actually knew who I was until the reaping" he says.
Oh no. He's totally gonna say me isn't he. I look at Beetee, who probably put him up to it.
"Well... I'll tell you what Lumen. You go out there. And you win this thing. And when you get home, she'll have to go out with you. Right folks?" he says, earning agreement from the crowd.
"Thanks but I uh... I don't think winning's gonna help me at all" he says.
Of course I was right. That asshole's actually pretending he likes me on national television.
Imagine my parents watching this. It's so embarrassing, not to mention unnecessary. I've got the alliance. And I'm pretty sure I'll get sponsors. I don't need him.
"And why not?" Caesar asks.
"Because she came here with me" he says, stirring the crowd.
I stare at the television in confusion and anger. By the look of Beetee's face, he hadn't told him to do this. So what's the point? Revenge on me for being better than him?
I hear laughing next to me. "Your partner's got a little crush on you" Marvel teases.
"Yeah, will do did your little friend yesterday" I snap back, shutting him up.
Caesar is silent for a moment. "Well, that's bad luck." he says.
"Yeah. It is" Lumen says, looking to the camera.
Oh he is so dead once he comes out.
"And I wish you all the best of luck"
"Thank you"
"Lumen Moore, District 3!" Caesar sends him off and I go to catch him backstage.
I grab him by the collar and crash him into the wall. "What the hell was that?!" I yell at him.
He groans in pain. "Yesterday it was Marvel. Now it's me. How many guys do you plan to yank by the collar, Toni?" he teases me with a smirk that I'm prepared to punch off of him.
A crowd gathers around us but I don't really care.
"You don't talk to me and act like a spoiled brat. Then, you lie that you've had this major crush on me?" I say in his face.
He is silent and then says with a smirk: "Maybe I wasn't lying" he says, making me bang him back into the wall.
"Is that how you wanna play?" I yell.
"Stop it!" Beetee pulls me off. "Maybe he did you a favor. He made you look desirable." he says.
"I don't mean to butt in but I think she was obviously plenty desirable without him" Clove cuts in, monotone.
That seems out of character for her.
"Yeah, I worked my butt off in there. Half naked hot dumb blonde, so I think I'm perfectly desirable on my own" I say in frustration.
Time skip.
I just couldn't sleep. So much happened today and so much will happen tomorrow.
I'm still annoyed at Lumen's behavior. But I guess he was only trying to help.
I guess part of my anger came from the fact that he got to be strong and smart, while I quite literally just sat there and looked pretty.
And why was Clove defending me earlier?
Suddenly my door opens and I see Lumen come in and sit on my bed.
"You too?" he whispers.
"Can't sleep either?" I ask.
"No, of course not" he says.
I guess careers can be nervous too.
"I'm sorry I went after you" I say.
"You know I meant that as a compliment" he says, making me inwardly scoff.
"Sure you did" I respond.
He moves closer to me. "And it wasn't a lie, you know" he says, with his eyes flickering down to my lips.
"I don't think you even knew my name before the Reaping" he says with a low voice, leaning into me.
His face was inches away from mine. And before I knew what was happening, he was kissing me.
I immediately pulled away from him. "Lumen, I'm sorry, but I really don't see you like that. I thought it was all an act" I say, suddenly getting uncomfortable with him so close and on my bed.
"It can still be an act. But how are we gonna sell it in the arena if we don't practice here? Hmm?" he says, leaning over me.
"U-um. I guess that's true" I say, unsure.
He smiles and goes to kiss me again, basically trapping me under the weight of his body.
I try to keep up but his kisses are so hungry. I break from it to breathe a little. "Don't you think it looks realistic enough?" I ask, suggesting we stop.
"Mhm. Looks good. But let's just keep practicing, hmm?" he says, kissing down my neck and starting to grind down into me.
I jump a little at the sudden change of pace. I know I want to stop but he's a big dude and is currently crushing me. So I just lay there and start crying.
He's sucking my neck, grabs my right hand and brings it under his pants.
Now I decide to risk getting hurt and knee him as hard as I can in the crotch.
He keels over off the bed and I run out of the room.
I hear him chase after me. Probably so I don't tell anyone what he just did.
I run into the training room and find Clove at the knife station, thank god.
"Clove! Clove, Clove, Clove" I repeat her name, though I got her attention after the first call.
"Toni? What's wrong? Why are you—" she starts but I cut her off.
"No time to talk. Get ready to aim that knife at someone" I say.
She doesn't hesitate to shut up and grip the knife harder.