The Purest Snow

Chapter 18: More Than A Wife

"What is wrong with you?" Rosella hissed under her breath. She marched up to Coriolanus at the mentor's seats.

    "What?" Coriolanus asked.

    "Your paper? Your ideas about betting? Are you out of your mind?" She questioned.

    "I was assigned it, Ro! I had to!"

    "You did not have to do anything! You only did it because you love Lucy Gray! Did you ever consider for one second that the children that will have to die for her victory have people that love them too?"

    "You want her to win too, Rosella. You said so yourself. She could be the voice we need!"

    "She could be the voice for you! Your songbird! What are you going to do? Have her twirl around with a guitar while we watch kids die in the arena year after year? I want her to win so the games will stop, not so you can turn them into a spectacle!"

    "Look, Ro, I'm sorry okay, but can we talk about this later? I need to focus on helping Lucy Gray right now," Coriolanus said quickly, noticing as more people began to show up in the hall.

    "Fine!" She snapped.

"She's right you know," she heard Lysistrata say, as she spun on her heel and headed over to the bleachers. She sat down next to Scott, crossing her arms and legs, determined to make it through the first minute this time.

She couldn't tell Coriolanus about Highbottom's confession, of course. It would only add to his need to be like their father. And after the paper she read, she wasn't sure he needed much more.

"Ro-Ro!" Avi said, putting down the newspaper. "You are crazy! I'm obsessed! We bow to you!" Avi and Mitch laughed, and pretended to bow at her feet.

"Thank you, thank you," she smiled.

"Are you worried? Do you think you'll get in trouble?" Mitch asked.

"Nah. The capitol likes me. They've watched me sing on TV and stuff.  If Gaul or Highbottom or any of them try to get rid of me, people will notice. And considering they've already stopped watching the games, is any of this really going to be a shock? If anything it'll cause an uproar. Which is exactly what I want."

"You want an uproar?" Mitch laughed.

"That was the idea... but Dr. Gaul has decided it was a stroke of brilliance! A way to get more funding for the games to continue disguised as a sob story," Rosella said.

"How would this get more funding?" Avi questioned, looking down at the paper.

"More funding for better treatment of the tributes apparently... I guess it was the perfect addition for my lunatic brother's proposal about sponsoring the tributes and betting on their wins!"

"What? What did he do?" Scott asked.

Rosella sighed, looking at the paper from Dean Highbottom in her hands. "I'll tell you guys later," she stuffed the paper in the pocket of her uniform jacket.

"One thing we do know is that we've got something to celebrate!" The voice of Lucky Flickerman interrupted the conversation. "Because we've just hit the halfway mark! That's right, twelve tributes down, and only twelve to go! Whoowee!" When he finally wound down, he adopted a sad expression. "But that also means we've got to say our farewells to Miss Juno Phipps. Lepidus?"

"Why is he throwing a party over twelve dead kids?" Rosella muttered in annoyance. "Surely this can't be considered normal behavior?"

"Anything for a good show, right?" Avi sighed.