"You were fabulous!" Tabitha squeals in her prissy Capitol accent as she totters over to us in her baby blue stilettos and garish sapphire tunic. I chuckle to myself at how ridiculous she looks and then regain enough inner composure to face the silly woman.
"Truly!" Luna adds, who is already standing beside me, looking less stupid in a green full-length frock with brown leather boots. I smile at her as she hugs me gently, careful as to not smudge my makeup.
"Luna will dull you down to your normal selves when we get to the floor because we wouldn't want to spoil your gorgeous look now, would we?" Tabitha beams in an inhuman way, an exact 'U' shape forming. That hurt. Dull us down to our normal selves? For me, it may be true but it still didn't need to be mentioned. Anyway, I just roll my eyes without anyone seeing, plaster a fake smile once again on my face and nod enthusiastically at our escort. My cheeks will never feel relaxed again.
As we are taking our short trip in the elevator, I realise that we haven't yet seen our floor. When Tabitha hints to us about it, I don't particularly taken notice. I tend to ignore her frills. Silence haunts the crystal clear lift. It is eerie but I say nothing to cure it either. Suddenly, a slight jerk tells us that we've stopped. The doors slide open and our jaws drop. As Tabitha saunters onto the floor, Ridley and I stand in awe in the lift. The door is about to close when Tabitha quickly tugs us out of the way. Four sapphire sofas all huddle around a deluxe plasma TV. A large polished glass table stands proudly on an elevated dining area to the left of the entrance, and 10 crimson leather chairs surround the sleek perimeter. There are so many touches of beauty that I cannot even begin to mention all of them.
"Come on, dearies, we have things to do and places to go. Right now, you need to go to your rooms!" Tabitha commands loudly and we don't hesitate, wanting to explore more of our luxurious surroundings. She points down a small hallway, opposite the TV and we dash vaguely in that direction, not caring where we go. Just as long as we end up somewhere. There are two similar doors opposite each other halfway along the corridor. I guess it doesn't matter who enters which room. If our clothes are already in there, an Avox will just swap the wardrobe contents over.
"Candace," Ridley says nervously. I can tell that he is carefully dithering on what he is about to say. "I just-"
"You just what? Want to ruin one of friendships? Or even better, one of my allies! Marshall could help me in the Arena. I thought you wanted me to stay alive!" I spit and then sigh, becoming less harsh on him. "It'd be better anyway if you just left me on my own and let me die, to forget about everything." I turn away but don't walk into my room. Just silently let a tear slip out, knowing that I won't face Ridley again on this occasion. I expect him to sigh and sadly or angrily go into his quarters, leaving me alone in the grand hallway. But he doesn't.
"I'll change your mind. You'll see." And with that, I am alone. I groan and enter my room.
"I have been here for 13 years and I still think the best food I get is during the Games!" Tabitha cries as we dig into our sumptuous dessert of a summer berries trifle. I attempt to ignore the idiotic woman but with her being so loud, clothes and all, it's futile. The dinner is fairly boring. Throughout the meal, I notice Ridley anxiously looking over at me. But every time I meet his gaze, he holds it for a couple of seconds and swiftly but subtly turns away. After many attempts, I shrug and give up, concentrating back on the sumptuous food as everyone else was.
"Well, that's interesting," I reply quite sarcastically but she doesn't seem to notice so I silently laugh and shake my head.
"Yes, 13 years of the Hunger Games," Tabitha sighs emotionally. I don't see why it affects her though. She isn't the one with near-certain death. "It's quite amazing." This shocks me greatly. I know the Capitol citizens aren't very sympathetic. I can't tell whether she is being genuinely kind or simply making a statement on being an escort for such a long amount of time. Because of this, I have no clue of her age. Due to all of her surgical enhancement, I can't describe as old or hound or any age in between for that matter. Perhaps 13 years of 23 innocent children being slaughtered has changed her opinion on things. Maybe. It puzzles me but I generally go with the concept, seeing as I have no other ideas.
I am sat in my room, contemplating my thoughts, when I hear a knock. I expect it to be Tabitha to chat about Capitol fashion or Darius to converse about arena tactics. But it isn't. I didn't even have time to get off of the decorative regal red satin bed cover before Ridley comes barging through the door.
"Excuse me," I exclaim when the door behind him slides back into place. It is a mystical black marble that reflected every inch of the room. He stops as I yelled at him, shrugs and comes to sit next to me. "You're so rude, Ridley."
"Only to you," Ridley irritably replies, a smirk lingering on his luscious lips.
"Why?"
"Oh, I don't know. It's more enjoyable to see you get worked up as opposed to Darius. At least. You look cute," He says kindly. I hate it when Ridley compliments me. It makes me feel warm inside, yes, but that's not how I want to feel about the boy who I'm supposed to slaughter in less than a week. I'm trying to distance myself from him, not get closer.
"Great," I groan quietly, with a slight hint of sarcasm in my voice, only detectable if he'd been intently listening to my tone.
"No need for sarcasm, Candace." He had. I smile a bit but make sure that Ridley doesn't notice. Then, as I am grinning, my face droops as he stands up. Truthfully, I don't want him to leave but I look away, both to hide my emotions and to seem as though I don't care. But as I am facing away from him, Ridley taps me on the shoulder and outstretches his hand. I stare at him, perplexed. Nevertheless, I take his hand and laugh. It is all very mysterious. "Close your eyes." I obediently do so, but only slightly so he clamps his other hand over my them, blacking out my vision altogether.
FILLER CHAPTER!! Sorry guys, that was a filler chapter which I know was boring but if I made it interesting with what is going to be in the next chapter, it would have been too long :( boo. Anyway, that gives you an insight as to what will be happening in the next chapter.
~Lauren found that chapter hard to write
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District 2
Fanfiction'"Candace Jennings, District 2!" Caesar yells, the audience going wild as he screams my name. All of the people cheer and go crazy for me, the other Tributes, not so much. This gives me confidence. I am a Career and I am going to be Victor of the 94...
