The Girl With The Shimmering Smile

The Interviews #2

Sorry about the delay, school is acting up right now. 

The following day wasn't all that exciting. We met up at the training station like we had been doing over the past few days. Cato had congratulated everyone on their score while I just gave them a quick nod, it was good enough I suppose. The difference between today and the other days was the fact that we did not train. Instead of training we observed every movement of the other tributes, to get some kind of idea how they would play the games. My eyes were glued on the girl on fire though. She avoided all the weapon stations and only hit the survival ones, odd. How did a girl who refused to use any kind of weapons manage to get an 11? It didn't make any sense.

We came up with a simple strategy for the bloodbath. Everyone would run to the cornucopia and grab a weapon. We would hold each other's backs and kill everyone who was dumb enough to be in our way. I had to get my hands on the knives no matter what - if someone in our alliance died because of it then so it'll be. It wasn't a very complex strategy but it was good enough since we knew what to do when we got there. I couldn't wait to scratch my knife over Katniss's face. The thought of making her suffer made me smile to myself. I knew everyone in district 2 would be cheering on me while I did it.

They let us out of training much earlier that day. It was our final day in the capitol and tonight was the interviews. We would spend almost half the day only preparing for it. I hated those interviews, everyone was always so fake. The table was set with every imaginable dish and I quickly grabbed my favourites before Cato could eat them all up. Everyone had been in such a good mood today it was almost a bummer the interviews would fuck it up.

Enobaria called me in after dinner. We were supposed to find a good show angle for me. Obviously I had to keep my confidence and arrogance since the stunt I pulled on reaping day. Enobaria did however think I should try to act a little bit cute and charming, it would help with the sponsors she said. I totally refused with the cute act, there was no way in hell I would do that. The charming part was more manageable and I agreed to it after some convincing from her side.

Enobaria was satisfied with me after a while and sent me over to the prep team. They were waiting for me impatiently even though I wasn't even late. The prep team started pulling my hair - or styling it like some people like calling it. It hurt and I couldn't wait for the arena when no one would touch me except for when I killed them. They managed to style my hair in the ugliest way possible. I really did not understand their fashion sense in this city. My prep team of course had to put some makeup on and I would lie if I said it didn't feel nice when all the different brushes massaged my face. Thankfully they only applied some mascara, lip gloss and eyeshadow. It wasn't much but I actually felt really pretty. I wished they hadn't given me the stupid hairstyle because maybe all this wasn't that bad.. It was nice being in the spotlight without having to pull every muscle in your body to get there.

My main stylist Paris entered the room about forty minutes after the prep team had started with me. "Hello Clove, how are you feeling today? Nervous about your interview?" he asked me kindly while fiddling with a ball of yarn. He had a calming effect on me somehow. "I'm feeling confident about it" I only said back. Paris nodded slowly and watched me up and down. He seemed to like the job the prep team had done. "That's great. Now you only have to get dressed and you're all set" he said. Paris held a poofy dress in front of me and I almost felt like laughing at him. The dress was so light orange it almost appeared pink, it was also strapless and very long. I would have to hold it up to not trip while walking. It was the ugliest and most impractical dress I have ever seen in my entire life. It only got worse when he handed me a pair of heels in a matching colour. I stared blankly at him for a good minute. He couldn't be serious, could he? It was when he took a step forward and handed me the shoes I realised he was in fact not kidding. He then did something that actually shocked me. The man turned around and let me change in peace without him watching me. No one else had done that since I arrived and I wondered what his reason was. Did he actually have some manners? Was he raised by someone from the districts? Or maybe he just liked boys and was disgusted when he looked at me.