august ❀ Lamina

Chapter 5

Hours had passed. People came and go. Children stared and left. But we all stayed in this cage, kept like animals.

A few people dressed in red uniforms came to the cage to talk to their tributes. Capitol boy from before showed up with a sandwich for rainbow girl. I didn't have anything against her personally. In fact, she seemed pretty nice. I was just a bit upset she brought up a good point before I could choke out Capitol boy in that car earlier.

I was sitting by Marcus, unconsciously watching Lamina. That was when I heard my name from the other side of the bars.

"Hey! You! Colette!" I glanced over to the voice. It was a boy who wasn't yelling, but wasn't making a point to be very quiet either.

I stared at him. He was waving me over. Reluctantly, I walked over.

"I'm your mentor." He informed me. "Florus Friend." He introduced himself. I just glared at him. I didn't trust him one bit, and I was prone to trusting my gut over some Capitol boy I just met. I pegged him as the overachieving type straight off the bat. He looked like he had mommy issues, but he'd barely spoken, so who was I to make that assumption?

"Colette." I said monotonously. I didn't say Coley. I didn't want him throwing my name around like that.

He nodded after a few moments. "Here." He offered me an apple. "You should eat. You're not going to win without any sustenance." He added.

I was going to take the apple before he said that. He wanted me to kill people. That was the only reason he was feeding me at all. I hesitated. Then, I thought of something even better to do.

I took the apple from his hand, then stood up. I walked over to Lamina and handed her the apple. I made sure he was watching. "Here." I smiled gently at her, offering the apple. She looked at me, then the apple, then back to me.

"But... but that's yours. I can't take it." She said quietly.

"Please? You need something to eat." I told her.

"So do you." She protested in her soft voice.

"Just take it, please." I said. "Do me a favor. I want to stick it to the Capitol kid over there." I nodded toward the guy who said he was my mentor.

She hesitated. "Isn't he your mentor?" She asked.

"Take it. It's yours." I didn't give her any room to argue. I placed the apple in her hand and walked away. I was sure she wouldn't fight to give it back, and I was right.

I sat down in front of Florus Friend and stared at him. "I prefer oranges." I said just to piss him off. It didn't work though. He just nodded understandingly.

"I can arrange that. Here, take a sandwich." He offered me a sandwich and a bottled water. I sighed exasperatedly, but I couldn't ignore how hungry I was. I took the sandwich from his hand and took a bite. It could've tasted like dirt and I still eaten it. I was so starving.

He slid two more wrapped sandwiches through the bars. "You can save those for later." He said. I slowly took them and slid one in my pocket and picked up the other.

"Thanks." I mumbled. I stood up and walked away from him. I knew better than to trust his offerings. I'd heard some peacekeepers say that our mentors get some prize if we win this thing. I wasn't stupid. I was just a ticket to more money to him.

I set down a sandwich next to where Marcus was sitting and walked away before he could say anything.

I approached Lamina again and sat down next to her at the base of the tree. some of the tributes were eating with their mentors. I saw a boy calling out for Marcus. I recognized him. Kyla talked about him from time to time. Nobody in two seemed to like him. Sejanus Plinth. His whole family were considered traitors in two.