Lethal Lovers / Cato Hadley

Chapter 2

Azalea Hawthorne

"You two haven't had a trip? Crystal chandeliers. Platinum donuts! 200 miles per hour and you can barely feel a thing. I think its one of the wonderful thing is about this opportunity, that even though you're here and even though it's just for a little while. You get to enjoy all of this." Effie gushed and I looked over at Henry who looked as disgusted as I felt. "I'm going to find Haymitch. He's probably in the bar car."

"Have you ever met him? Haymitch?" Henry asked and I looked at him, feeling a frown on my face. "You know, Azalea, he is our mentor. He did win this thing once." Henry said and I rolled my eyes. "Look! You know if you don't want to talk, I understand. But I just don't think there's anything wrong with getting a little bit of help." Henry snapped and my mouth dropped open. I sighed and turned to face the window when the sound of clapping entered the room making me look back up.

"Congratulations." Haymitch said and I glared at him, he looked wasted. "Where's the ice?" Haymitch asked, looking around for the ice. "I don't... I don't know." Henry said and I rolled my eyes. "Okay, so uh...so when do we start?" Henry asked, sitting forwards in his chair and resting his elbows on his knees. "Whoah. You're so eager. Most of you aren't in such a hurry."

"Yeah. I wanna know what the plan is.
You're our mentor, you're supposed to..." Henry said and Haymitch rolled his eyes and sipped his drink. "Mentor?" Haymitch snorted and I frowned, god help us if he's our mentor. "Yeah. Our mentor, you're supposed to tell us how to get sponsors and give us advice." Henry snarled angrily, I could kind of see his point - our lives were in the hands of Haymitch.

"Oh, okay. Ummm...embrace the probability of your imminent death." Haymitch said and I really couldn't believe this was the man in charge of me and Henry. "So why are you here then?" I asked and he smirked, holding up his glass of whisky. "The refreshments." Haymitch said when Henry lunged for the glass. "Okay, I think that's enough of that." Henry snapped but Haymitch moved his drink and placed his foot on Henry's chest making my nose scrunch in disgust.

"You made me spill my drink. It's a brand new pants. You know, I think I'll go finish this in my room." Haymitch growled and stood up, leaving the bar car. "He's gonna come around." Henry said, standing up and I rolled my eyes. "What? It's no use." I snapped but he walked out of the room. "I'm gonna go talk to him."

I woke up the next morning and got changed, I stretched and walked into the cart. "You'd freeze to death first." Haymitch's voice said and I frowned. "No, cause I'd have a lot of fire." Henry said and I snorted. "Now that's a good way to get killed." Haymitch said and I opened the door. "What's a good way to get killed?" I asked and they both turned to look at me.

"Oh! Joy. Why don't you join us? I'm just saving a life-saving advice." Haymitch said as I sat down opposite him and next to Henry. "Like what?" I asked and started to butter some toast. "I wa... I was just asking about how to find shelter." Henry said and I looked at Haymitch, taking a bite. "Which would come in handy if in fact you were still alive." Haymitch said, waving his piece of toast about. "How do you find shelter?"

"Pass the jam?" Haymitch asked but I ignored him. "How do you find shelter?" I asked again, my voice harsh. "Give me a chance to wake up sweetheart. This mentoring is very...taxing stuff. Can you pass the marmalade?" Haymitch asked but I stabbed my knife between his fingers, his thumb and pointer finger to be exact.

"That is mahogany!" Effie gasped but I rolled my eyes. "Look at you! Just killed a...place mat! You really wanna know how to stay alive? You get people to like you. Oh! Not what you're expecting. When you're in the middle of the games...and you're starving or freezing, some water, a knife or even some matches can mean the difference between life and death. And those things only comes from Sponsors. And to get Sponsors, you have to make people like you. And right now, sweetheart, You're not off to a really good start."

I froze, the word sweetheart, my ex boyfriend used to call me that word when he would get me to do things for him, I could feel the bile rising in my throat. Haymitch must've sensed the word had upset me because he looked as though he was about to say something. "There it is. It's huge. That's incredible. Come on!" I looked towards Henry who was waving at the Capitol citizens. "You better keep this knife, he knows what he's doing." Haymitch said, handing me back my knife.

We were ushered to our prep teams, and I was waxed in places I never knew could be waxed, my hair cut, showered, nails painted, then I saw they were whispering to each other. "What's that?" I asked and one of them looked over at me. "What's that?" I repeated and he sighed. "We were just saying we might need to hose you down again before we take you to Cinna."

I was sitting in a room with nothing on, I felt exposed. "That was on of the bravest thing I've ever seen for your friends sister." Cinna said and I jumped, but then noticed how normal he looked compared to the other stylists. The only thing abnormal about him was gold eyeliner on his eyes, but it made him look quite handsome. "My name is Cinna."

"Abigail." I said and he smiled at me. "I'm sorry that this happened to you. And I'm here to help you in any way I can." Cinna said and I smiled softly. "Most people just congratulate me." I said and he nodded. "I don't see the point in that. So tonight they have the Tribute Parade. They're gonna take you out and show you off to the world." Cinna said and I smirked slightly. "So you're here to make me look pretty?" I asked and he chuckled.

"I'm here to help you make an impression. Now usually, they dress people in their close to their district." Cinna said and I grimaced, hoping I wasn't naked and covered in coal dust. "Yeah. our's was coal miners." I said and he nodded. "Yeah. But I don't wanna to do that. I'm gonna do something that they're gonna remember. Did they explain about trying to get sponsors?" Cinna asked and my lips pursed. "Yeah, but I'm not very good at making friends." I said and he smiled. "We'll see. I just think, somebody that brave shouldn't be dressed up on some stupid costume now, should they?"