Our Love Could Be Lethal Act I Re-Write

Act I: Welcome to the Club

"—I don't know who the hell you think you are—" Brutus points his finger into my face. We've been going at it for about fifteen minutes. The styling crews had to be cleared out when he burst into my room after he heard I was home.

"—Who I am? I. Am. A. Person. Brutus. I'm not a fucking machine—" I pace around my room, trying my best not to rip my hair out of the two bubbled pigtails.

"—you disrespect the being a Career, you disrespect where you came from—"

"It's none of your business." My words apparently do nothing but piss Brutus off even more because he lunges to grapple me. Lyme shouts in protest and I quickly take several side steps to avoid him colliding with me.

Luckily, I swiftly dodge him—it's good to know that at least some of my training has stuck with me—and pick up a vase, holding it over my head as a warning for him not to take a step closer.

He seems to heed the warning because he stops advancing on me, even though he is still poised to strike, and continues saying, "Maybe in the Capitol they can't pick up on this shit, but we do. When you're talking about us it becomes our business."

"You ruined my life, so I'll continue talking about it all in whatever way I want thanks."

"If you think words don't have consequences, you're wrong. Even in private, there's always someone whose listening—"

"Oh, so, you're suddenly concerned for my safety?"

"Enough!" says Lyme, inserting ourselves between the two of us. "Brutus, I've heard just about enough of you, lay off the poor girl for once in your life, just leave her be. And you," she turns to me and I lower the vase, feeling a bit better knowing Lyme is in between us. "We are going to have a long, long chat when we get back in 2." I open my mouth to protest but she pitilessly pinches my lips closed, "And you are going to shut up and listen. Really listen. Do you hear me?" I nod. "Good, I'll let the styling teams back in. And if you two start it up again, I'll bury you both in the woods back home where no one will find you, understood?"

Brutus and I both nod and he moves to clear out of my room. I can feel Lyme staring at me, warning me not to say anything else to break the fragile peace she's brokered. I don't dare mess with Lyme when she's serious like this. But, as soon as he's left the room and is out of earshot, I mumble, "It's not like there's much styling left to do with that bald head of his."

Lyme shoots me a disapproving look, but there's a small, devilish smile hiding on her face. She doesn't say anything else to me before she calls out down the hall for the stylists to come back. I quickly place the vase back on the dresser where I found it before the team rushes back in to continue their work on me.

They finish up a rather natural and fresh makeup look which I voice to Gloriana how much I love it, hoping that she'll take note and do more looks like this in the future. She twists the two bubbled pigtails into a small crown that wraps around my head, giving some flair to the rest of my hair that they've straightened to flow freely down my back.

But to make up for the plainness on my face, she clears the room and sticks me into a poofy shimmering metallic gold dress and matching shoes. Even though the entire look is clearly meant to be showstopping, it lacks the usual edge my looks have, like a plunging neckline or something skin-tight. Something about it gives me an air of softness that I didn't even realize I was capable of giving.

This might be the first time that I am genuinely in love with the work that they've done for me, the only exception being that the tulle is a bit scratchy, but I can live with that. For the first time, when I look in the mirror, I see someone who is plainly and simply pretty. Not someone scary or intimidating, or even hot. Even during my interviews before the Games, they never put me in anything like this.