Because I'll Win

Chapter 6

The Tribute Parade was starting soon and I still haven't seen Lake. My dress was getting uncomfortable mostly because I was getting looks from the other male tributes. My dark hair was in loose curls and over top of my shoulders. I was at our chariot and soon Lake joins me. He is wearing a black tux with a red tie and I was trying not to stare.

"Um, you look beautiful." Lake stammers. I am taken aback. Lake just stammered, Lake, who was always smooth with his words, stammering over me? I smile and say,

"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself." He returns my smile and we climb onto the chariot. My dress was getting in the way so Lake picked it up for me and practically threw the train of my dress into the chariot.

"Ladies first." He says, dramatically gesturing to the chariot. I laugh and thank him and climb inside. He hops up and we start to move. We wave to the crowd once we emerge. We will be the talk of Panem with these getups. I glare straight ahead of me and Lake does the same. I happen to catch a glimpse of myself on a screen and it takes my breath away at how stunning we are. I start to wave and smile again. Lake follows suit. I wobbled a bit on the ride and so I grabbed Lake's arm and he laughs and smiles his goofy smile down at me. And then, what happens next is so bizarre, I almost fall out of the chariot. He bends down and kisses me softly. I hear the Capitol crowd roar with pleasure. The cameras are definitely on us. I look up and smile at Lake, to let him know that it was okay.

I almost roll out of the chariot laughing because of what Tristen would say if he was witnessing this. I can almost hear his beautiful voice chuckling and scoffing at us.

"Jesus Lake, my sister? You could have anyone and you choose her? Wow." I smile and think of Tristen some more.
Before we know it, we are at the Training Centre. We dismount the chariot and our stylists run up to us, smiling. Haymitch follows closely behind, along with Duke. Haymitch is surprisingly sober and Duke is crying. Capitol people, ugh. We hop into the elevator and it shoots upward towards the penthouse. We walk inside and I am amazed at what I see. There are things the entire district couldn't afford in here. The giant flatscreen tv, a hottub, the list keeps going on and on.

I find my way to my room and I fall asleep almost instantly. Soon Haymitch is banging at the door ordering me to come for dinner to watch the recaps. I shyly come out of my room. What will Lake do? Will he kiss me again? Will he pretend that it didn't happen? Let's maybe go with the last one. I walk over to the couch and wedge myself in between Haymitch and Lake. I lock my eyes on the screen and see the tributes come out, and soon I see us. We look lethal, deadly, gorgeous and most of all, familiar with each other. I see myself, glaring out at the crowd and then it happens. I was right, the cameras were most definitely trained on us. I see Lake bend down and give me a gentle and soft kiss. Soon I see myself smile up at him and start laughing. I mean, literally laughing right there in the chariot. Soon Lake starts to laugh seeing me laugh so hard. We go to bed without a word to each other.

But I know I'll have the nightmares.
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Huntress in the top/right or wherever it is.