𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗶𝗮 ♛ ꜱᴇᴊᴀɴᴜꜱ ᴘʟɪɴᴛʜ

♛𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲♛

It was as if a cyclone was fiercely turning through Aurelia's head.  That cyclone was made up of two words, a boy's name.

And no, for once it wasn't Sejanus Plinth.

For once, the brown eyes in her mind were replaced by black ones, hard as coal.  As Jessup Diggs made his way up to the stage, the blonde girl followed his every step, her sight not leaving the boy.

Jessup Diggs was an absolute monster of a boy.  Easily six feet tall, built like an ox.  He looked completely different from any boy from the Capitol, who were all quite tall but much slimmer, and Aurelia couldn't help but stare.

He could win this, whispered the optimistic side of her brain.  The other side shot it down immediately.  He looks strong, sure, but he could be a total imbecile.  Smarts almost got you farther in the games than physical strength did.  Until the nerd from District Three gets whacked from behind by a brute from another district while laying a trap.  That being said, smarts and strength was a very good combination to have.

The boy reached the stage and climbed up the stairs, Aurelia sensing that everyone was watching to see what would happen.  Would it be normal?  Would Lucy Gray do something?  Would Jessup do something?

All Lucy Gray did was offer out her hand for a seemingly normal shake.  After a moment's hesitation and a quick glance at the girl's face, Jessup grabbed her clean, pale hand with his darker one, caked in coal dust.

Suddenly, the girl made a move in front of him until they were holding hands, side by side.  She curtsied, and the boy was forced into a bow.

They immediately cut the cameras.

♛

District by district, the reapings moved on and on. Eight, Eleven, Six, it didn't matter.  All Aurelia could think about was her tribute.

He could be a contender, easily, if he had some sort of brain in his head, but so could so many others.  The boy from District One looked strong, and Sejanus' boy was huge.  There was no shortage of muscle in the tributes, so it looked like it was going to be smarts and strategy that bested everyone else.

As the ceremonies drew to a close, delectable smells of food coming from the buffet floated over to Aurelia.  She could barely stop her mouth from watering as the scents of fresh bread, meat (which the family hadn't had in ages), and vegetables that weren't cabbage.  The other students were just chatting around, likely not hungry from a full breakfast, but the Snow twins could barely hold on.  They followed a group of their classmates over there, finally, trying to laugh loud enough to cover their grumbling stomachs.

Aurelia hadn't had a day with three full meals since before the war.  The Academy lunch was suffice, but breakfast and dinner were mostly cabbage.  It was worse in the middle of the war though, when there was no food anywhere.  The blonde twins and their cousin had sworn never to speak of the things that they witnessed during the worst of those times.  The Capitol citizens did unspeakable things just for scraps.

But now, now there were platters upon platters of any food the girl could imagine laid in front of her.  She admired herself for the self control she exercised in taking her fill, but not more than that.  Coriolanus did the same, except he could take a bit more due to being a growing boy.  Both of the twins were skinny, but Aurelia's grandmother constantly reminded her at events like this that she needed to keep her figure if she wanted potential spouses to look at her.

She placed her plate in between Sejanus and her brother, Coriolanus going to grab dessert before they ran out.  She said a quick hello to Clemensia, sitting on the other side of Aurelia's twin, exchanging small talk about outfits and the scorching hot weather.  The blonde girl then realized she hadn't spoken to Sejanus yet, on her other side.  If he did know his tribute from his past, he would know by now.

As she turned to look at him, she caught him pushing the food on his plate around with his fork, staring absentmindedly at the table.

"You know him?" Aurelia whispered to the boy.  His chocolate brown eyes, same as they always were, met hers.  The sorrow was palpable, spoken without words in the way his face was set.  He looked around to see if anyone was listening to them, before nodding.

"Yeah.  Used to be in my class at school."

Aurelia felt so sorry for the boy.  There was a little hope that at least it would be better if Sejanus didn't know the boy he had to mentor, but he definitely did.

"Sej.."

"Like I said, not here.  I'm fine.  It'll be fine."

"Sejanus, you aren't."

The boy glanced down at his fork, then back up at the blonde.

"I know," he muttered.  "But it doesn't matter what I think, does it?  What I feel?"

"No.  That doesn't matter, not for any of us, and we had to learn that to survive.  But I know how you feel, and it's awful," Aurelia said under her breath.  

They felt it in different ways, perhaps.  The brown eyed boy was upset about not being able to express his feelings in a world that was out to get him.  The green eyed girl was upset that nobody ever listened to what she had to say.

Just then, Coriolanus returned from grabbing dessert, white as a sheet.  He hadn't actually grabbed anything, and just sat down and started eating without a second glance at Aurelia.  

"Cori, what's up?  You okay?" the blonde whispered.

"Tell you later."

Those three words sent shivers right up Aurelia's spine, and she didn't even know why.  Something had happened, something so severe Coriolanus couldn't even tell his twin sister in hushed voices.  Whatever had happened, it was enough to really shake her twin, even disrupt his outwards persona he put on like a mask.

She glanced to the head of the table to see Casca Highbottom glaring at the Snow twins with the cruelest of smirks plastered across his face.

♛

i know something you all don't know.....

you could say its my secret

and guess what

you dont get to know until i write it because i'm planning on this book picking up reallyyyy sooonnnn and im so excited!!!

QOTC: what do you guys think my secret is??? (hint: its in relation to something thats going to happen in further chapters)

also EXCUSE ME this book made it to 1 out of 836 stories in the ballad hashtag?????

its down to 2 now but it WAS in number one and i have photo evidence

thanks so so much for the comments, reads, votes, they make my day just that much better!!

drink water or i'll set a german shepherd after you <3

-jess