Jaded ||| Johanna Mason

three

In the morning, all of the district 2 members sat in the living room, together, for the first time. The holo was the only place the tributes got to see their scores and Jade was not shunning herself for their comfort. She wanted to see their faces when her score was announced.

They didn't have to wait long for Caesar Flickerman to come on the screen with his costar. They introduced all of the people watching to "this exciting segment of the hunger games" before getting into it.

"Starting us off is Midas from district one, with a score of... nine," Odius nodded his head in semi-approval.

"His partner, Velvet, also from district one, with a score of... nine."

Caesar moved onto district two and everybody in the room sat up.

"Thor, from district two, with a score of... ten," Odius and Domitia clapped him on the back, the other victors cheered for him. Thor gave Jade a confident grin, obviously proud of himself.

It was dead silent when Caesar moved on. "Jade, with a score of..." Caesar paused for a moment before revealing Jade's score "eleven."

Hestia and Caligula congratulated the young girls as they cheered and whooped. The rest of the victors and Thor were stunned. They looked at Jade and were met with an arrogant smile as she leaned back on the sofa.

I knew it.

Jade could see the anger festering underneath Odius's skin. She had managed to score higher than his protege. His gears began turning.

But Jade didn't get any congratulations from them. Instead, all of the district 2 members watched silently as the rest of the scores were distributed, the rush of her score fading with each new number announced.

The night after was a blur and Jade wondered how she ended up in the Capitol as she sat in her room in the middle of a mock interview with Hestia.

Hestia continued quizzing Jade and scolding her when she rolled her eyes. The escort was pretending to be Caesar Flickerman but she didn't have half his charisma and was asking Jade completely off-topic questions.

"Jade, who's your favourite victor from your district? Your mentor?" Hestia asked as Jade once again huffed and rolled her eyes.

"None of them. They all fucking suck and I hate them," Jade replied as Hestia hit her lightly with her prepared cards.

"Language! Jade, take this seriously! This is important!" Hestia exclaimed disapprovingly, sitting back with her note cards before asking Jade the same question.

With a sigh, Jade decided to play along so Hestia would stop pestering her. "I'd honestly have to say Enobaria. She's been a great mentor so far and I loved her lethality in her own games, I may have taken some notes!" Jade said with a fake chuckle before returning her face to neutral, lying through her teeth.

Jade knew that openly dissing her mentor and the other victors would not gain her any favour, the capitol people loved them. She had to lie.

Hestia looked slightly taken aback at Jade's acting. "See? I've got it. Now can I go relax before tomorrow?" The tribute said. Finally, Hestia gave in and left the room.