drapetomonia - the overwhelming urge to run away.
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When Junia Beaumont, her brother and their classmates get a last assignment before the end of the school year, she doesn't know just how quickly things will change for her.
Who would have thought t...
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27. backstage
The following evening, it’s finally time.
The Hunger Games: A Night of Interviews will be broadcasted live all over Panem, however, by the time June makes it to the Academy auditorium in her freshly washed and pressed uniform with her family, it’s already packed. It seems even the War Department and Dr. Gaul are finally cutting Adeena Beaumont some slack and she’s able to enjoy one entertaining evening before the Games start.
But even with all of these people, many of them of high rank within the Capitol’s society like her own family, the only person she really looks forward to seeing again is Treech. It has only been a little over a day but she missed him terribly. She knows he must be alright but still, she can’t help but worry about him.
When she left the house earlier during the day to find some food coloring, she was alarmed by how long it took. Even nowadays, that sort of thing is scarce and she had to look around for quite a while. She was about to give up when she made it to a bakery with the most colorful assortment of pastries and baked goods she had ever laid her eyes upon. But most importantly, black velvet cupcakes.
She remembers how surprised the kind lady behind the counter looked when June asked about the coloring she had used for the icing, however, she didn’t hesitate much to show her. June is sure the woman hasn’t had many visitors as of late with the bakery not exactly being in a busy area, so it took little persuasion for her to leave the shop with the cupcakes, the food coloring tucked away in the pocket of her jacket. She made sure to hide it away in her bedroom when she came home and trusts it will be safe there.
The syringe will be the easiest part. Her father used to be a doctor — technically he still is, it’s just not his primary occupation — before he joined politics after all. She knows they have them at home.
Much like everyone else, her family is dressed to the nines. With the way the donation system is set up, June knows she can’t count on them to sponsor any of the tributes as everyone involved with the Games — including families of the mentors — are forbidden from doing so. Otherwise she’s sure Max would be able to persuade their parents to bet on the tributes or donate money, too.
Cas, dressed in a dark blue suit much like at the reaping, has left the family’s side quickly to find the Vickers and Plinths. She considers joining him for a moment since Sejanus is also there but decides against it since she’d rather be close to the stage. Still, when she almost breaks her neck to make him see her in the crowd, Sejanus smiles and nods affirmatively in encouragement.
