EVERMORE ⎯⎯⎯⎯ CORIOLANUS SNOW

vii. warming up

-ˋˏ [ EVERMORE, ] ˎˊ-
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
❛ WARMING UP. ❜

     SELAH TOOK A SMALL BITE OUT OF HER COOKIE, WATCHING THE WAY HER CLASSMATES CONVERSED WITH EACH OTHER AS IF THEY HAD NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. Like their tribute wasn't locked in a cage, starving, and they weren't throwing away half eaten plates of luxurious food.

     She sat alone—the way she liked it. A napkin of wrapped up food sat in her lap ready to be taken to Charli—some thrown in for Wovey too, of course. She wasn't sure if the girl would even come close enough to her to get it, let alone take food from the hands of a privileged Capital student. But the least she could do was try.

Sejanus slammed his tray of food down in front of Coriolanus, who was also wrapping food into a napkin just as Selah had done. The two conversed tensely, making Selah wonder what exactly they were talking about.

Before she could ponder it any longer, a body sat down in front of her, blocking her view of the two friends. She met the brown eyes of Clemensia Dovecote, a bold smile painted on her red lips. Selah wanted to stab herself in the neck.

"Excited to meet your tribute?" The girl giggled, opening her water bottle. "I certainly am. Although, I have much more faith in mine then I would ever have in yours. I mean, a young girl? You seriously think she'll win?"

     "I never claimed she would." Selah picked at the ends of her hair, desperately wanting away from the insufferable girl. "And I've already met her."

     Clemensia's eyebrows pulled together. "What do you mean? We weren't allowed to see them until today. It's breaking the rules. You saw how Coryo got in trouble."

     "Coriolanus kindly invited me to accompany him to the train station, where I got to meet my tribute. I, however, did not make the foolish mistake of jumping into the hauling truck, just to get dumped into the Zoo with the rest of them," She explained. Clemensia looked as if she had gotten slapped in the face. There was clear hints of jealousy and anger in her expression.

     "Why in the world would Coriolanus invite you? He doesn't even like you!" Clemensia seethed, looking Selah up and down in disgust. It was obvious to everyone that she had the hots for Coriolanus. The way she constantly batted her eyes at him, how she would snarl at every girl that made a move to talk to him, or the way she would longingly stare at him whenever they were in the same room—it was all painfully obvious. Coriolanus either didn't seem to notice, or he didn't like her enough to make any advances.

     Selah shrugged her shoulders. Any fire that she had felt in her heart earlier had sizzled away after thinking about Charli. She no longer had the energy to have a petty argument over someone she didn't even truly care about.

     Or, so she liked to tell herself.

     Clemensia opened her mouth to say something again, but was cut off by the tall frame of Coriolanus himself. She immediately went back to smiling, looking up at him in admiration. Though he wasn't looking at her, his sight was focused on Selah.

     "Selah, walk with me to the Zoo, please?" He asked, holding a hand out for her to take, as he always did. Clemensia scoffed when Selah nodded and placed her hand in his. She threw her napkin onto the table before harshly scooting her chair back and walking out of the cafeteria. "What's that all about?"