"Margo and Alexia Hawthorne!"
For a second, I'm back at the reaping. I feel the Peacekeepers grabbing me and pulling me on stage. I hear Mother crying and Lily screaming my name.
"Margo?" Alexia asks.
I'm not at the reaping. I'm at the interviews. I'm sitting on the couch next to my sister and Augustus Keller and all of Panem is watching.
"What?" I ask.
A few people laugh.
"She's just nervous," Alexia says, chuckling, then she grabs my hand and gives it a light squeeze.
"We all get stage fright sometimes, it's alright," Augustus says, laughing obnoxiously, "I asked how you're doing here in the Capitol,"
"Oh, the Capitol is wonderful. Everywhere I go, there's a new first thing I get to do or try, I just love it here," I say, plastering on a smile.
A few people cheer in the audience.
"That's just what we like to hear! I'm sure that the Capitol is a little bit different from back home in Twelve, would you like to elaborate?" Augustus asks.
"Well, August, I think for both of us the biggest difference is that the rest of our family isn't here. We never go anywhere without them, and I know that we both miss them," Alexia says, looking over at me.
"Ah, yes, you two do have another sibling correct? Plus, your parents, and who else?" Augustus asks.
"Well, we do have our younger brother, Troy," I begin, and Alexia waves to the camera for him, "And of course our parents, and then there's our Uncle Calvin, Father's brother, and then there's my girlfriend Lily, and Alexia's...well, I let you talk about him," I say, smiling.
"Oh yeah, my boyfriend, Aster. Well, I don't know if we're technically boyfriend/girlfriend quite yet," Alexia says, blushing.
"Why don't you know?" Augustus pries.
"Well, we only admitted our feelings for each other right before I left for the Capitol," Alexia says.
"Well, I am more than sure that when you get home, he will more then willing to be your boyfriend. Am I wrong?" Augustus says to the audience, getting a large group of people to cheer.
"So, you and your girlfriend? Lily? I assume that you've been together for a little bit longer." Augustus asks.
"Yeah, we've been together for around two years now I think," I say, smiling towards the camera, "And, I just wanted to say to her, Lily, I love you more than anything, and I'm planning on keeping my promise to you."
"What's your promise to her?" Augustus asks, as if we're gossiping or something.
"That I'd get her necklace back to her, August," I tell him, then show him the necklace.
"Oh, isn't that just a gorgeous pendant! Now, I'm assuming that that's your token?" he asks.
"Of course it is," I say.
"That's just amazing, Margo," he says, putting one hand over his chest.
After that, Alexia and Augustus go back and forth for a few minutes.
"Now, before we wrap things up here, can you believe that we're almost done? But before we wrap things up here, I just had to ask you two – after that little spectacle at the Tribute Parade, do you two have any secret outfit changes you'd like to show us?" Augustus asks.
"Actually, we do August," Alexia says, standing then discreetly helping me up.
We walk forward a few steps, then look at each other.
"Three," Alexia says.
"Two," I say.
"One,"
We spin twice, clockwise, and I feel my dress exploding out. I can hear people gasp from the audience as our dresses go up in flames, and when we stop spinning and the flames recede, we are left wearing tightly fitting long sleeved black evening gowns that are covered in the sparkling red veins that used to be just on the bodice. I can hear people cheering and clapping, and Augustus gives a shout out to Helios and Chastity. We walk over to Augustus and shake his hand then walk back to our seats.
"And with that, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to present to you the Tributes for the Seventh Quarter Quell!" Augustus says as the lights turn on above the Tributes.
He motions for us to stand, so we do, and once again the anthem plays and then it's over. As soon as Wade comes on stage and begins telling the audience members to leave, the tributes are escorted offstage. A few begin crying, Willow from Eleven collapses, and the Careers all find each other and start congratulating themselves. Alexia and I find Kolton, Vita, Helios and Chastity backstage, and they begin clapping when they see us.
"You two did really good out there," Kolton says, visibly proud.
"What happened to our dresses?" Alexia asks.
Helios pulls out two small, black devices.
"These happened. As soon as you started spinning, we hit these, and it triggered the change. You technically didn't even have to spin, we just thought it would look better," he explains
"Well, I was just captivated by them. These girls are all anyone is going to be talking about!" Vita exclaims, "Let's head upstairs, shall we? You can get changed and then we'll get something to eat."
"Yes, please. We haven't eaten since breakfast," I say, and we begin our trek to the elevator.
YOU ARE READING
The 175th Hunger Games
Fanfiction"On the 175th anniversary, for the rebels to remember that the war was fought against their own brothers, the two tributes selected from each district will be siblings, both between the ages of 12 and 18 as per usual." One hundred and one years aft...
