The Girl With The Shimmering Smile

The Tribute Parade #2

I have a love/hate relationship with this chapter. Let me know your thoughts and if you'd like me to add something in future chapters. Also HAPPY ONE MONTH to this fanfic! I can't believe it's already been a month since I posted the first chapter. Thank you all for the support, couldn't have done it without y'all! <3

After quite some time our prep team finally showed up. I was already in a bad mood for waiting so long but seeing their disgusting faces only made my mood worse. I hated how they looked at me - like I was a scumbag -  despite the fact that I could kill every single one of them without breaking a sweat. They separated Cato and me almost immediately and led me towards some kind of room. It wasn't really a room, more a separation with plastic curtains but I could still see the silhouette from the tributes on the other side.

They made me change into a blue hospital gown and lay down on an ice cold metal table. I felt exposed in the clothes and hated how they didn't look away when I changed. Of course I kept a straight face doing it, I would never allow anyone to see my weakness. I could hear them mutter while waxing my legs and I smiled internally knowing I caused them some form of distress. They kept waxing my entire body and I was so close to hitting one of them in the face when he decided to wax my private parts. When they were done with it they moved on to scrubbing and rinsing my legs, plucking my eyebrows and brushing my hair. After some time they looked pleased and led me to a private room.

I was once again left alone, waiting for some random dude who would make me look cool in the parade. After about five minutes a tall white middle aged man appeared in the doorway. He had long eyelashes and golden eyeshadow, but other than that he looked pretty normal. "Hello, Clove. My name is Paris and I will be your main stylist. My stylist partner Patricia will take care of your district partner". This man was way too formal for my liking. I only nodded to him and he continued talking. "I was thinking about something romanesque inspired. Perhaps something golden, it would work beautifully with your hair colour." he said. I liked the idea. It would make us look powerful just like the Roman empire. I gave him a liking nod and he looked very pleased with my approval.

Paris started walking around me, measuring every body part of mine. He stopped when he reached my arms. "You're strong. We should probably leave your arms and shoulders exposed." I was wrong about this guy, he knew what he was talking about. He stopped by measuring my head. "For the helmet" he said. I only nodded, hoping it wouldn't make me look stupid. It was very common with stylists and big dumb hats. I was really hoping he designed as well as he talked.

To my liking the costume really did suit me very well. It really highlighted my muscles and made me look more dangerous than any other tributes, except for Cato since he was wearing a matching one. The only difference between our costumes were the helmets and shoes. My helmet was more like a real one while Cato's was more like a crown. Paris did follow through with the romanesque theme but he also added some kind of golden feather touch to it as well. The golden feathers were adorning the chest and the helmets, it made us look like mighty eagles. I liked every detail of it except for one thing. The tall golden heels - they made it so much harder to walk and I struggled with it for a while until I kind of learned how to walk a straight line. Cato had been laughing at me the whole time and I would have punched him if it wasn't against the rules here. Thankfully all we had to do was stand on the chariots or else I would've definitely made a fool out of myself. I hated heels, always had. They were uncomfortable and totally useless if you had to fight someone.

My eyes were fixed on the pair from 12. Their usual costumes were coal miners but they apparently decided to do something else this year. I assume they were supposed to be the coal. What a stupid idea. The costumes didn't even look that great, they were just plain black. I had to admit they did look better than some other years, but Cato's and my costumes looked much much nicer. My eyes kept wandering to the tributes from district 11. The little girl and her total opposite were dressed in some kind of farmer's clothes. It actually looked pretty good with their silver crowns and the blue colours. The guy was enormous and I felt some kind of rage building inside me for some reason. He thought he was so much better than everyone else just because he was a giant. I bet he would even make Cato look small, and that's not something he's used to.

I suddenly felt like someone was watching me and I turned around, searching for the person who was watching us. I had to bite my tongue to not laugh at the horrible costumes district 1 was wearing. The dark pink, the feathers and shiny jewelries, and that hat. Oh my it just kept getting worse. It looked like some kind of attention- seeking bird. Our eyes locked and my inner laughter died out completely. Her golden hair was much curlier than when I saw her last, the makeup she wore highlighted her bone structure perfectly and she was almost breathtaking. I couldn't for the life of me understand how she made that ridiculous costume work. Her cheeks turned pink and she spun around to talk with her district partner. He looked completely lost all the time and he definitely did not wear that outfit like she did. I mean he probably wore it a lot better than anyone else in this room would, but he was still way out of her league. I watched the both of them hug and I felt my senses heightened. Were they friends? Or perhaps even more? No, she had been flirting with Cato this whole time; they were probably just friends. This was bad. The stronger relationship between the two of them - the stronger threat to us. They could turn on one of us any second and it would be harder for Cato and me to take them out one by one if they were friends.

Cato and I had made a deal that night on the train before we entered the capitol. He had snuck into my room late at night and made me promise we wouldn't turn on each other. I didn't know if this was a strategy or if he really did mean it, but I wouldn't kill him until it was just him and me left. District 2 would get a winner this year, that's all I knew. Cato had been like a big brother my whole life, but I wouldn't hesitate to slit his throat if I had to.

I was completely lost in my own world and didn't realise I had kept staring at the girl with the shimmering smile. I still didn't know her name, probably something stupid like Glitter, Sparkles or shimmer. "Clove?" Cato said from out of the blue. Or well he had tried to talk to me for the last couple of minutes but I hadn't heard him. He had now turned around and followed my gaze to the two blondes. He half grinned at them and whispered "Oh I see you found your perfect match Clover" he said, obviously mocking the contrast between our personalities. I saw her giving him one of those shimmering smiles and a flirtatious wave. Cato cracked up in a real sheepish smile this time, clearly smitten by her charm. I rolled my eyes and turned around. "In your dreams Caterpillar. She seems to have found her mate already". The nicknames have been our thing since we were kids. We used them much more infrequently now, since the whole growing apart thing... It felt good to hear them again though, like we maybe could get that dynamic back. Not that it really mattered now when one of us had to die. I would honour him back home though, making sure his family got some of the money. Thinking about winning the game made me amped up. This was the whole reason I was even born to begin with.

I watched as the girl from 1 petted one of the chariot horses. She looked like she was in heaven and had the biggest smile on her lips. I had never liked horses that much. Truth to be told - I had never seen one in real life - but they looked big and unreliable. "Get on" Cato said behind me. He was pointing towards the chariot and I realised it was time for the parade. We got up on the cart and I barely had time to collect myself until the horses started to trotter through the big doors. The biggest crowd I had ever seen started to cheer on us as we made our way down the road. I could hear them scream some names, probably from district 1 but I could also hear them scream our names. I made sure to keep a stone cold expression through it all even though the applause made me want to smile -  I had to keep up my image after all. It almost went down the drain when I saw the banners switch to the district 12 chariot. They were on literal fire. The crowd went mad and started screaming their names and throwing roses at them. I grabbed the side of our chariot and it felt like I almost could break it with all my rage. Both of the tributes from 12 had made themselves an enemy, but especially the girl had a big target on her back. I would make them both suffer like never before.