I Needed You

Chapter 3

We arrive at the Capitol and its absolutely stunning. People cheer as the train comes to a halt. We get off, and the people and their bizarre clothing choices back up a little, not in respect, but in disgust. Enobaria, Brutus, Delia, Cato, and me all pile into a car and after a few minutes, we arrive at the tribute quarters. The Tribute Parade is tomorrow, it's pretty late, so I decide to just go to bed. Sifting through the clothes they've provided, I find a comfortable t-shirt and some shorts. This will do. I change, and just as I'm about to turn off the lights, I hear the whispers in the hall, I crack the door open just a sliver. 
"Whats the deal with those two?" Brutus tries to whisper, but it's so loud, the whole floor could probably hear him.
"I don't know, and cut it out! You're so loud!" Enobaria says in a hushed voice. 
"Should we ask?" His voice is still very audible. I lean into the door and it closes with a quick snap. Enobaria stops talking, I sprint as quietly as possible to the bed and get under the covers. 

"Wake up, wake up! Clove, darling! It's the Tribute Parade Day!!" Delia sings. She yanks the covers off me. 
"Shut. Up." I growl at her. I snatch the blanket back from her a refuse to open my eyes. Delia sighs and walks over to the door, and turns on the lights, I groan. 
"See you at breakfast!" she scampers out the door. 

After about 10 minutes of rolling around, I finally get up, taking off my clothes, I sleepily walk into the bathroom to take a bath. Theres no bath, but inside a small glass room is a collection of buttons. I walk in there and press a random button. Down squirts a thick, sticky, white liquid on my head, I press the button again, this time catching it with my hands. Soap. It smells like vanilla. I press a few more buttons and more soap squirts down, the red one smelling like peppermint, the green one smells like pine. I notice a smaller control panel to the right of the soap one. I press the button in the middle, and the 2 sliders on the side light up. One lighting up red and the other lining up blue. I slide the red one all the way up and scalding hot water shoots down. I quickly fumble around until the temperature isn't that bad. I press the soap button that contained green soap, and I smell like the forest when I exit. Well how I would imagine the forest to smell. I find another t-shirt and some leggings. I put it on just as Delia comes into my room again.
"My lord! You take longer to get ready than I do!" Lie I think to myself. "Hurry up!" I roll my eyes and follow her out. Again, I eat jam and bread. 

Later

I am put in a golden suit, its pretty, I guess. My stylist, Pearl, is nice enough, his accent is so Capitol I can't help but laugh whenever he talks. He comes around to put some gold eyeshadow, he calls it, at first I repent, but as he starts to smooth it on, the sensation is funny. I relax as my body starts to trust Pearl. 
"Done!" He squeals. He gestures me up gives me a good natured shove to the mirror. I make a face,
"Is it not to your liking, Clove?" Pearl looks down, sad.
"Er, no, I mean yes, it's beautiful, I just don't care for dresses" His face lights up again
"Oh see, Clove! This suit does not have a dress, it has a skirt!" I give him a fake smile.
"Thanks.." He rests his hands on my shoulders
"Ah, you look absolutely gorg!" Pearl says, shaking me slightly back and forth.
"Gorg?" 
"Why, gorgeous, of course!" I let out a fake laugh. "Oh my! Look how time has run out! It's almost time for the parade!" He gestures towards the door. 
We get to the chariot area and thats when I first meet the tributes that I'll be allying with. The boy from one comes over and introduces himself, he's wearing hot pink. I feel lucky to be in what Pearl put me in now that I see his costume.
"Hello, I'm Marvel, Clove, right?" I nod. "Over there is Glimmer." he points to a girl next to District 1's chariot. What kind of a name is Glimmer?  I think. He starts walking towards the same chariot and I follow, Glimmer seems to be talking to someone. 
"So do you specialize with any weapons?" Marvel asks me. 
"Knives" I tell him, we stop in front of Glimmer, next to her, is Cato. 
"Cato you're so funny!" she laughs. Her laugh is almost worse than her flirting. Almost.
"Cool, I'm good with spears." Marvel tells me. 
"That makes two of us." Cato chimes in. 
"I thought you were the sword boy for a reason" I smirk. 
"I bet you can do both, Cato!" Glimmer gushes. Nobody responds to her comment. Awkward. 
"Cato, Clove, time to get on your chariot!" Pearl rushes over. I nod angrily. I forgot going into the Games with Cato meant I had to share practically everything with him. 
"Well, bye then, Cato!" Glimmer turns around to step onto her chariot with Marvel and her stylist's help. Pearl tries to help me get up, but I tell him it's alright. I climb onto the chariot but nearly tip off once I start to get my lower body off the ground. Ugh. I'm a Career. Careers are not supposed to have trouble with getting on a damn chariot. I drag my legs on the chariot and almost immediately as I stand up, the horses just start going, I almost fall off, but I grasp the side. Cato smirks. I don't have time to say anything as we enter the square. People are throwing their hats, flowers, and coins at us. I force a smile onto my face and I wave.  We're about half way down the road when everybody starts cheering and something behind us, I turn around and District 12 is literally on fire. I roll my eyes and scowl. Thanks for stealing my thunder. But trust me, once we get into the arena, you won't last a minute. The horses stop in front of the president and he stands up. President Snow says a speech, and the horses sweep us away again. 
I glare at the stupid tributes from twelve, the girl, she's taller than me but I doubt she's had  any experience fighting. The boy, he's tall as well, shorter than Cato, but taller than the girl. He's somewhat muscular, from my point of view, he's like a District 12 version of Cato. He turns around and my first thought is that he's actually somewhat of a looker, I see his soft expression and I realize he must be nothing like Cato. When the elevator stops at our floor, I panic for a second when the thought that my face might have let go of its scowl, I relax when Delia tells me to let my scowl go, and when I do, my face feels like it's been released. 
Pearl takes all my makeup off and takes my costume, he tells me to hop in the shower since he put a lot of hairspray. This time I chose to smell like vanilla.