❛ 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬- 𝘵𝘩𝘨

CHAPTER 8

The second and third day of training went by in a lonely blur, and finally the training scores were televised.

Johanna, Arya, Blight and Colton sat on the sofa and stared at the t.v.

The training scores came up:

Cashmere: 10

Gloss: 10

Enobaria: 9

Brutus: 11

Wiress: 5

Beetee: 6

Mags: 4

Finnick: 10

Unnamed D5f tribute: 7

Unnamed D5m tribute: 5

Unnamed D6f tribute: 4

Unnamed D6m tribute: 3

Johanna: 9

Blight: 5

Cecilia: 6

Woof: 2

Unnamed D9f tributes: 5

Unnamed D9m tributes: 6

Unnamed D10f tributes: 4

Unnamed D10m tributes: 4

Seeder: 4

Chaff: 5

Katniss: 12

Peeta: 12

When Arya saw Johanna's score, she let out a deep breath of relief, but then worries clouded up inside of her once again. What if the score was too high? Would the other victors target her because of the relatively high training score?

Most-likely not- there were many other higher and lower scores- Johanna's was perfect.

Just like her...

Arya quickly shook the thought away- what was wrong with her? She couldn't have feelings for two people- one who was dead!

—---------------------

The next morning, Arya woke up close to noon. It was the morning of the interviews, so Johanna was getting prepared and ready.

Arya supposed that later she would have to give her yearly speech about being polite and play to the audience's feelings, but Johanna already knew what she was supposed to do, but it didn't guarantee that she'd do it.

Arya got up and brushed her hair up into a messy sock bun, and threw on a long sleeve, black shirt and a jean skirt with black ballet flats, and walked out to get lunch.

It was only Colton and Arya in the dining hall, so they made polite conversation while they waited for the food to come out.

"...I basically stayed in a tree the entirety of my hunger games. I didn't want to kill anyone, and I managed to keep my promise to myself about not killing. Anyway, what about you? Your hunger games? Kill anyone?" Colton asked.

Arya hesitated. Technically she did kill someone, two people, actually.

First was Kinsley. In splitting up and not staying together, she practically killed her. But in not getting there in time, if she hadn't been responsible before, she most certainly was now.

But the second, was a bit of herself. In the games, when Kinsley died, Arya wailed like a dying animal, because she felt like a piece of her was dying alongside Kinsley.

"No. But let's talk about something else." 'Anything else.' Arya added silently in her head.

"Okay. Dating anyone?" Colton asked.

'Seriously, how bad is this guy at picking topics?' Arya silently thought.

Luckily, she was saved from having to answer by the food coming. There was mashed potatoes, quail meat, and dried prunes, sprinkled with a bit of brown sugar. There looked like more food than two people could eat, but even Arya found herself enjoying a prune.

Eventually, Arya got to see Johanna, and by this time, Johanna was already ready for the interviews.

She had a floor-length dress on, that had on sleeve, a high neckline, and a lot of make-up.

She was designed to look like a tree, but she still looked pretty. Even though Johanna had complained how much she disliked her stylist, she still did a good job.

Arya took a deep breath.

"Johanna, I know that you don't like the Capitol, and you don't like following what other people say, but still, you need to be polite tonight. Your life could depend on sponsors, and you get sponsors from this interview. Please be good tonight."

Johanna rolled her eyes, and waved her hand as if to say, 'Yeah, yeah, whatever.'

"No, Johanna, please, listen to me. This is extremely important!"

"Fiiine. Okay, I'll be good, Mom."

Arya rolled her eyes. "Good luck out there. You got this. Just remember, the Capitol is your friend tonight."

Johanna nodded, and then she had to go to get in the line before the interviews.

————————

Arya found her seat in the screaming audience next to Colton. The two didn't even try to talk, because of the loud audience, and it happened to get even louder when Caesar Flickerman came out.

"Welcome to the 75th HUNGER GAMES!" Caesar yelled into the mic.

"Please welcome to the stage, district 1 tributes, brother and sister, Cashmere and Gloss!"

Arya tuned out as the two blonds flounced out onto the stage and started their sob-story.

It wasn't until a couple of hours later that district 7 was on.

Johanna came out, and Caesar started to welcome her.

"Johanna, we've seen a lot of tears tonight. But I see no tears in your eyes tonight. Johanna, you are angry. Tell me why."

Oh, please don't Johanna. Stick to the plan.

"Yeah, well, yes, I'm angry! I am angry! You know, I'm getting totally screwed over here."

No, no, no, please don't Johanna. Sponsors, living, please stop!

"Uh-huh." Caesar said, prompting her to be careful, while his eyes were trying to give her the message to stop.

But instead, she turned to the audience and camera, and started yelling into the mic.

"The deal was, if I won the Hunger Games, I'd get to live the rest of my life in peace. But now, you want to kill me again." She let off a light laugh.

"But you know what? F—that! And f—- everybody that had anything to do with it!"

Tonight, Johanna was clearly not showing her friendship with the Capitol.