Sorry it took so long - I can't help but blame school again! But now we shouldn't have many tests in like five weeks, so I hope there'll be more time for writing!!
The song on the side is Iron Children by Rachel Macwhirter - she's amazing, and she's written three songs inspired by the Hunger Games (Iron Children, Mockingjay and Too Clever By Half - The Ballad Of Foxface)
PLEASE LISTEN!!!!!
<3 Anna
Chapter 16
When I wake up, June is gone, and the light in the room tells me it's morning.
Interview day.
Yey...
So as I slowly drag myself out of bed, I savor my last moments of peace. And, true enough, after the shower Violet is already knocking on my door, demanding me to hurry up and come eat breakfast.
I join Rino and Evan at the table. We eat in silence, then Violet tells me that I am going to train with Evan first, then with her. I nod, and she ushers Rino out of the room.
I give him a small smile of sympathy - Violet is going to make him crazy with her endless tips about how to behave.
Evan and I finish breakfast, then he takes me to a small room and we sit down on the couch.
"So, Cass, we need to decide what your personality will be at the interviews."
I respond immediately. "A survivor, a fighter. Just myself."
"Strong, yet feels emotions. Positive attitude?"
"Yes."
"I think you should tell people a little about your background - how you've survived without your parents, for example." That isn't really something I'd like to share, but I agree, 'cause I know Evan is better at this than I am.
"Okay."
We're silent for a few minutes. I sit there quietly, not moving, and watch him.
The sea-green eyes, the messy dark hair, the perfect face, the long strong body... Evan really is handsome.
He stares at me, too, and I wonder what he sees. I've changed a lot during my few days in Capitol. I'm cleaner, my hair is shining, I'm not nearly passing out from lack of food all the time...
"You have pretty eyes," he says, and I blush.
What am I supposed to answer?
"Thank you."
He leans forward, and gives me a hug.
"We can't tell anybody about us being a couple, you understand that, right?"
Yes, I do. If he and I tell anybody we're together, that would mean that he would pick me as a favorite, which would be unfair. He needs to help both Rino and me equally, or at least pretend to.
"Yeah, I get it. But what if they ask during the interview?"
"Tell them you have a boyfriend. I want people to know that you're taken, you're mine. Just say that your boyfriend wishes to stay anonymous, since he's not really interested in getting more attention."
"That's fine with me."
"Okay, I'm going to be your interviewer now, so answer the questions like you would do tonight."
He interviews me for about an hour - when in reality it's only going to be three minutes.
Then, the rest of the time we just mess around, and get to know each other better – families, best friends, likes and dislikes... normal stuff. He tells me funny stories, and if he's purposefully trying to cheer me up, he succeeds. I laugh a lot, but the nervous knot in my stomach doesn't disappear.
When it's my turn to be with Violet I'm in a better mood.
"Since I've already went through the whole how to behave-part in the train, and you've mastered it well, we'll move on to standing, sitting and moving."
This means I don't have to suffer through the same lesson that I got on the train?
Oh yeah!
So Violet makes me wear a long dress and high heels. Then we practice walking, sitting and standing for hours. Than next up is smiling, how to look at the audience... The list is endless, but Violet seems to think I'm pretty good at it.
When she finally lets me go, I'm starving, and after a quick meal I'm ushered into the prep-team's room. Apparently my leg hair has grown back in the few days I've been here - damn stubborn hair - so I quietly suffer through the whole episode of making my body beautiful.
This time they bathe me in a smelling liquid that is to keep all hair away from my body for a few weeks. I mean, jeez, couldn't I had bathed in it on the first day? That would had saved me from a lot of pain.
My nails are fixed by Heart and I watch Sizza and Marc rush around to gather shampoos and brushes - they're preparing to attack my hair. And an attack is needed, since I haven't really worked my brush through my hair today. I've been tossing and turning from the nightmares, so I have a lot of knots in my hair.
It feels like they rip half of my hair away, but when I look in the mirror, my brownish hair is perfectly curled and falling down five centimeters past my shoulders.
My makeup is light, white and blue eyeshadow, mascara and a clear lip-gloss.
"We want you to look as natural as possible," Heart says.
Translation: Caro wants me to look as natural as possible. The prep-team members follow Caro's orders like she is a goddess.
When they've finished, Caro enters, and inspects their work. After a slight correction of the shade of my eyeshadow they tell me to close my eyes.
I once again feel a dress pulled over my head. It's heavy - heavier than the first one. When I'm allowed to open my eyes, I understand why.
Pearls and seashells.
The whole dress is covered with beautiful seashells and pearls. From what you see of the fabric it's silvery. High heels that match Caro's silver ones cover my feet, and my hair is still free around my shoulders. But not for long.
Marc's steady hands softly pull my hair up in a complicated bun. Sizza and Heart add pearl and seashell decorations to my hair, and I am once again stunned by their work.
I look amazing, breathtaking.
****************
"Come on Cass. You can do this."
Evan is trying to calm me down as we walk to the lift. It doesn't work. Not when I'm about to step up on a stage and face the whole Capitol. Did I mention I'll do it alone?
"Cassi, it's okay. I'll be sitting with the stylists, Evan with the mentors. You'll see us all the time."
"Caro's right. I'm not leaving you alone, Cass. Rino will be there, as will your allies."
"Oh, Rino hasn't mentioned our fight? Well, Rino won't be of any use for me. And, both Axara and Faith sit far away from me."
"You've fought?" Evan sounds surprised. Rino looks down guiltily.
"Yeah, Rino pushed a twelve year old girl - who happens to be my ally, Faith - out of his way. I slapped him and told him a few selected words." I shrug.
"Interesting," is all he says. But I see that he's proud of me. Everyone is tense though and there is no point in arguing right now.
"Good work, Cassi," Caro whispers as we enter the lift, "That's the way, Blossom."
As we finally reach the room that leads to the interviewing stage it's packed with tributes. Caro gives me a hug, Evan a reassuring smile, and then they leave, Evan with the words,
"Believe in yourself, Cass. By the way, you look beautiful."
Butterflies invade my stomach and I search the room for Axara and Faith. Rino immediately hurries over to the Careers, and I spot Axara and Faith in the far corner. I start making my way to them, and as I'm almost there, someone grabs me.
I turn to face the woman.
"You need to go to your place, we're about to start."
I cast a last glance at Axara and Faith before following the woman with green hair to my place. I walk with Rino and we step onto the stage.
A huge audience is screaming and chanting our names as we take our seats.
We sit in a a half-circle around the sofas where the interviewer will sit. He enters, and the audience screams again.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the interviews of the 69th Annual Hunger Games! My name is Caesar Flickerman, and I'll be your host tonight!"
Not that he needs to say his name. Everyone knows it. Caesar Flickerman has been the host for at least twenty years, and who knows how long he'll keep going. The Capitol people have gone through too many surgeries for me to guess their age.
This year, Caesar has dark purple hair and eye-brows. It fits him so much better than last years pink. He changes his hair-color every year - it's never the same shade.
After a few words Caesar settles into his chair, and the interviews start. First up is the girl from District 1, whom I've been calling Blondie ever since our little 'chat' in the dining room.
"Welcome our first interviewee, the girl tribute from District 1, Willa Sanvec!" Blondie walks to the sofas, seductively swaying her hips. The golden tight and short dress hugs her curves. It's not hard to guess her personality for the interview. Sexy, seductive. Urgh. To me she just seems too desperate - fake and pathetic.
The audience loves her, though.
As a buzzer sounds, signaling the end of her three minute long interview, she winks at the audience, before walking to her place. As she passes me, she hisses,
"Beat that, Sea Princess."
"It's on, Blondie."
Drew is up next, and his golden outfit shows as much skin as Blondie's, if not more.
As it's Clarie's turn, I feel disgusted. Her tries to be seductive are seriously bad, and her dress shows too much skin to be appropriate. Marco is a typical Career - talks a lot about killing.
Girl from three enters, her tall frame immediately catching my attention. She's beautiful - symmetrical face, rosy lips, blue eyes and ginger hair. Her name is unusual – Swan.
From what we learned in school, a swan was a white big bird, but there are none left now.
In a while, the boy from three leaves the stage with a shy expression, and it's my turn. I feel frozen, but somehow I manage to stand up and walk over to Caesar.
"Welcome, Cassidy Wildeman from District 4!"
I smile a little, and shake his hand steadily. He gestures for me to sit down, and so I do.
"Thank you, Caesar. It's so nice to meet you, after seeing you so many times on TV." Not nice at all - but my poker-face never fails.
Caesar laughs. "Here we have a polite young woman!" He tells the audience, and they laugh, too.
"So, Cassidy, what do you think about the Capitol?"
"Well, the food is better than at home, but I miss my family, of course."
"Ah, of course. Would you like to tell us a little about them?"
No, not at all, I want to answer, but I know I can't.
"Well, my parents died five years ago, and I have a twin-brother and a little sister."
"Well, that's sad to hear. I understand that you and your siblings were adopted?" He tries to sound sympathetic.
"Yes, by my best friend's family. So we're a big family now." I try his soft tones, the sweet and
"So what did they think about you going into the games?"
"Well, of course they believe in me. They know who I am, they know what I can do."
Caesar seems to understand that my family is a touchy subject, and asks,
"What will your strategy be in the Arena?"
"It should be obvious. I'm going to stay alive!" The audience and Caesar laugh. "I might not be a usual Career tribute, but I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve." I smile mysteriously at the audience.
"Yes, we are aware of that – due to your training score, ten." He looks exited and holds up his hands, showing the ten fingers. "I mean, ten! How good isn't that?"
I smile a little.
"So, Cassidy, I heard rumors that you refused to join the Career alliance?" Caesar looks genuinely interested, and I see how people in the audience lean forward too, waiting for my response. I catch Evan gaze, and almost start laughing. Oh how fun we had discussing that fight!
"Yeah, it's true. I have my own alliance. Besides, I have no desire to join a gang of body-builders with two braincells, that are either focused on looking sexy, or killing. I mean, they wouldn't even remember my name, right?" I ask innocently, while glancing quickly at Drew. The cameras catch my movement – immediately two of them are focused on Drew's angry face, and one on the smirk that is forming on my face.
Caesar notices this, too. "I take it you aren't very good friends with the Careers?"
"No, I'm not. I have better people to spend my time with – besides, I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to win."
Laughs.
I wonder if all these people can do is laugh or scream? Oh yeah, and don't forget about chanting names!
"So, Cassidy, there's one question I bet we're all dying to know: Who was the boy at the reaping?"
That is a subject I do not want to discuss with him. Riccy is not someone I talk a lot about in public. Our close relationship is private, it's too difficult to talk about.
"Oh, my adopted brother Riccy... he and I are pretty close, he's a fantastic big brother!" I say with a smile on my face, not going into details.
Caesar smiles, too. "Many believed he was your boyfriend."
"Yes, people make that mistake very often!"
"So, do you have a boyfriend?"
"Yeah, I do in fact have a boyfriend. But he wishes to stay anonymous, he doesn't want any attention."
Caesar looks a little disappointed. "Well, we'll respect his wishes, and if he's looking at this, I'll tell him that he's chosen a very strong and smart girlfriend, so congratulations, boy!"
My boyfriend is so watching this. I catch Evan's gaze, and smiles a little.
The buzzer sounds, and I stand up, along with Caesar.
"Well, I wish you luck. May the odds be ever in your favor, Cassidy Wildeman!"
He shakes my hand again, and I make a little twirl on my way to the seat, hearing people gasp as the light reflects in the pearls on my dress. They chant my name, even louder than they did Blondie's. I sit down, and smirk at her. She just glares.
The rest of the interviews pass, and during the boy's from District 7, I catch Axara's gaze, and mouth, 'Good luck'. She just nods nervously.
Axara is good. Very good, in fact. She doesn't need a role – she's her own charming self. Her blonde hair is hanging lose around her face and it shimmers, and her green eyes sparkle as she and Caesar laugh.
Her dress is gorgeous. It's a green shade that perfectly fits her skin-tone and green eyes. It's about knee-length, strapless, and made out of a soft, flowing fabric. Black high heels make her seem longer, and she's wearing a golden pendant around her neck – her District token, I guess.
When she walks back, she meets my eyes, and I make thumbs up discreetly. The interviews continue. Faith doesn't seem nervous at all – there's no trace of the fragile girl who cried at the reaping. Her dress is pale yellow, and she's very confident.
When she takes her seat again, she seems statisfied.
I don't pay much attention as the tributes from ten pass, but when Andie from District 11 steps forward to be interviewed I'm on alert again. This boy is hard to figure out, and I need to know all the tributes, to know what to expect in the Arena.
I don't get much out of the interview.
Andie keeps turning the conversation from thing to thing – never really being one role for longer than a few seconds. He just goes from smart, to funny, to sarcastic... the list is endless.
So when he leaves Caesar, I still don't know what to expect from Andie.
But, in time, I'll figure him out.
For now, I'm happy with how good these interviews went.