**LOUIS'S POINT OF VIEW**
I look out into the crowd and realize what I've just done. I just broke up with my girlfriend for a guy. A GUY! I don't know, he just makes me feel special even though we hardly ever speak. But when we do, it makes my heart flutter. We have some classes together back home but I don't think he's ever noticed me. But now I'll definitely be remembered. I mean, a performance and a declaration of love from two volunteers. What more could they possibly want? I'm stuck in my thoughts amout Harry when Ceasar asks me my next question.
"So... Umm... How long have you felt this way about Harry?" He asks, still baffled by what I said.
"I guess I realized that I was in love with Harry in the first grade. It was in music class when the teacher asked if anybody knew our district anthem 'A Thousand Miles' by heart and Harry's hand shot straight up. I noticed how perfect his singing voice was mixed with his perfect head of curls and that made me realize that I loved him. But I didn't want to be made fun of so I just kept it to myself and used Eleanor as a cover up. Eleanor, if you're still watching this, I just want you to know that I'm sorry for using you. I just wanted to seem normal. But then again, this is as far from normal. So, Ceasar, I guess the answer to your question is first grade." I explained. I looked over my shoulder to the end of the stage and Harry, Zayn, and Portia were standing there, jaws to the floor. Ceasar was wiping tears from his eyes when the buzzer went off.
"Wow. Just... Wow!" Ceasar said, "Let's give a standing ovation to Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles, the boys in love!" The crowd goes wild as me and Harry grabbed each other's hands and took a bow. We walk off the stage and into the elevator. We go upairs to my room when I notice something. Harry followed me into my room.
"Harry, I'm sorry for what I did out there. I just needed to get that off of my chest. And I totally understand if you don't feel the same w-" My voice is cut off by something I didn't expect. Harry's lips crashing against mine. Just as I started to melt into the kiss, he pulled his face away from mine. Damn.
"I feel the same way about you too." He says with a giant grin on his face. "Plus, we can also use this to get sponsors too!" Sponsors are people who send you packages to help you during the Games. About 3 years ago, one of the sponsors sent in a set of solid gold shuriken for one of the contestants. That went down in history as the most expensive gift ever sent by a sponsor. Harry walks out the door, gives me a peck on the cheek and then makes his way back to his room.
"See you tomorrow, Lou." He says with a wink. My heart flutters again and I walk to my bed and collapse into it. I can't sleep so I just lay there. I think about me and Harry together. But I also have some nervous thoughts, like losing the Hunger Games, and if I do win, how Eleanor will probably hate my guts forever. But before I know it, Caroline is knocking on my door.
"We've got a big, big day ahead of us!" She says through my door.
"Joke's on you! I'm already up!" I yell. I get up and put regular clothes on. Just the normal. TOMS, Red pants, a striped shirt and suspenders. I also grab my carrot coloed beanie and walk out the door. By the way, I love carrots. I could eat them all night, all day. When I walk down to the dining room where Harry, Zayn, Portia, Simon, and Caroline are already seated. A covered platter sits at the empty spot next to Harry with my name on it. I lift the cover to see the whole thing was covered in carrots/carrot related dishes. How did they know? Was it my orange "I Love Carrots" hoodie? No, that can't be it. The plates are scattered with the orange heaven sticks. Carrots, carrot cake, carrot soup, and just about anything else carrot flavored you could imagine. And to wash all of that beautiful meal down, Carrot juice. It's like I've died and went to heaven. Oh wait, that's gonna be soon. In the arena. God damn you Capitol.
"We've got a big, big day planned for us today!" Caroline says for about the forty-millionth time today.
"What's on the schedule?" Harry asks, taking a sip of his tea.
"Well first, you two have got training to do," She says pointing at me and harry, "Then, Zayn and Portia will fit you for your game uniforms." Every year, all the tributes go out in matching attire and half the time, they look stupid. One year, they all went out in electric blue and bright red jumpsuits. That was one of the years the tributes actually didn't look half bad.
Just as I finish my meal, everybody stands up and Caroline tells me to go and get ready for training. Caroline hates being off schedule. She once started hyperventilating because me and Harry were a minute late. The other things she hates are bad manners, and Simon. She doesn't particularly like Simon because of the fact that he's always so critical. You can tell she doesn't like him because of the way she winces whenever he waks into the room. And believe me, she doesn't try to cover it up one bit.
I walk up to my room and go straight in the shower. There are so many fancy buttons in thes shower I barely know how to turn it on. Oh wait, it's the button that says "on." I'm such a dumbass. I press the button for body wash, wash myself, press the button for shampoo, then wash my hair. Once again, I love Capitol technology. But not all Capitol technology is good. They make genetically altered versions of animals there. These Mutations are called Muttations or Mutts for short. Sometimes, the Gamemakers use the Muttations against the children in the Hunger Games.
I get out of the shower and put some new clothes on. This time, I put on a green and red striped t-shirt, green suspenders, and TOMS. Very Christmasy. I walk out of my room to head down for my training session, when I see that Harry was waiting for me outside my door.
"Did a Christmas tree throw up on you or something?" He asks me, chuckling.
"Very funny, you ass." I say with a wink. He grabs my hand and we go down to the training center. As we get into the elevator that takes us down to the training center, I wonder if the rumor has gotten out that me and Harry are dating. I guess we'll know when we get down there. Before I know it, the elevator stops. Things happen a lot faster when I think.
We walk out into the big open area that is the training center, still holding hands. We get a few confused looks but after about 30 seconds, people shrug it off. Some lady preps us for the training. She tells us that we need to perfect every skill possible here. My face immediately burns. 'I don't know how to do any of this stuff!' I think to myself. Since when does killing a bunch of teenagers become this hard? The lady dismisses us to go train when Harry notices me just standing there.
"Come on Lou, We gotta go train if you wanna win!" Harry says.
"But I want you to win Harry!" I say. Oh wait. I forgot. Last year, they changed the rules so that two tributes from the same district can win. Totally slipped my mind.
"We can both win, now let's go." He says pulling me over to the knife throwing station. The girl from District 3 is throwing them all into the target's head, never missing. Training at home, just in case you get picked, is illegal but you can tell she's been doing it her whole lige. It's not like peacekeepers monitor you everyday. Most of the districts do it anyway. But we can't because what are the kids from District 23 gonna do? Bore you to death with a cello solo? I wish.
I take aim with my knife, gripping it by the blade. I send the knife flying when it dramatically turns off course and hits another tribute in between the eyes. I'm so horrible it's deadly.
"Sorry, won't happen again!" I call out. The gamemakers send in a replacement tribute and everybody goes back to what they were doing. I guess nothing really bothers these kids all that much. I decide to go to the plant identifying station where I meet the replacement tribute. Well, I didn't actually meet her. She kind of just stared while I tried to identify berries and leaves.
Three hours and 5 replacement tributes later, I'm ready to go. The woman from before tells us that it's time to go meet out stylists. I go up to my room and almost die because of what I see the tributes are wearing this year.
We're wearing the most simple, perfect outfit ever. TOMS, a hoodie, and sweatpants. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought I picked the outfit myself. This outfit is so perfect that I almost want to just go up and hug Zayn. But instead, I sit there and listen while Zayn tells me about the outfit's mechanics. He tells me that the hoodi is waterproof and locks in heat. It also comes my color of choice. I say orange almost too quickly. I'm still thinking about the carrots I had for breakfast when he asks me what color I want everything else. But then I realize, if I wear all orange, then I'll stick out like a sore thumb and I'd die rather quickly. So I just say hunter's green. This is probably the most laid back clothing the tributes in the Hunger Games have ever worn. The most formal was when the guys went out in tuxedos and the girls went out in dresses. That year surprisingly lasted the longest. Go figure.
Before I know it, it's time to go to bed. But I can't sleep. I mean, how could you if you knew that you would probably be dead in a matter of hours? Instead of sleeping, I sneak my way down to the lobby of our floor and meet Harry there surprisingly.
"Fancy seeing you here." I say giving him a peck on the cheek that makes him jump.
"You scared me Lou!" Harry says.
"Sorry. So, why are you out here right now?" I ask.
"Just thinking." He says staring blankly out the window.
"About?" I ask again.
"About how I'll be dead soon. About how I'll never get to see my mother, Niall, or Liam ever again." He says. I can see that he's holding back tears.
"No. Don't talk like that. You can win this. I've seen you shoot. No one in any of the Districts can shoot as perfectly as you can. You kill animals by shooting them straight through the eyes for God's sake! If there's anyone you should be worried about, it's me. I'm the one who doesn't have any survival skills whatsoever." I say supportively.
"I don't know, The way you made that knife boomerang around and hit that tribute straight in between the eyes was pretty impressive." He says with a chuckle.
"That was an accident!" I say defensively. Wait, why am I defending myself? I'm pretty sure that was a compliment. Whatever.
We spend the whole night talking and, well... Other stuff (Not sex you dirty, dirty bastards.) And Caroline walks in and says her trademark 'Big, big day' bullcrap. Of course it's a big day. We're going into the arena today! We eat our breakfast and then go to get our tribute uniforms from Zayn. When we get there he hands them to us, we put them on, and that we leave. We go down to the hovercraft landing zone where we leave for the arena, and then it hits me.
I'm going to die...
And I left $50 in my coat pocket!