Baird's girl

Chapter 19

May 6, 2018
District 12

Once inside the Baird's house, Joana said:
"It would be better if it's just the two of you, I think. Just you and Amber."
Then she added, asking Alicia:
"Don't you want to go back to the lake with me?"
Alicia smiled at her:
"Yes, of course."
"Awesome."
Then Joana turned to Ethan:
"Amber should be here soon, wait here."
Then she took Alicia's hand again and headed back to the lake.
On the way, they crossed paths with Amber, Maude, and Thomas, who were coming back from the lake. Maude asked her sister:
"What are you doing?"
"We're going back to the lake," Joana replied cheerfully.
Maude looked at Alicia, suspicious, before Amber put her hand on her cousin's shoulder and said to her:
"Don't worry, it'll be okay."
Maude, still suspicious but trusting her cousin, decided to continue on her way.
Thomas and Amber were about to leave when Amber said to Joana:
"Be careful with the snakes Joana."
"Promise."

Once back at the Baird's house, Thomas asked Amber if she wanted him to stay, to which she replied that it would be okay, so Thomas went home.

Amber entered the house and found her cousin looking Ethan up and down, and he seemed embarrassed. Amber then said to Maude:
"Stop it, you're going to scare him."
"Yeah, well, let him be scared, for once it's someone from the Capitol who's afraid of someone from the districts and not the other way around," Maude replied coldly.
Ethan felt the hatred in Maude's words, and he could only understand it: Amber had reacted the same way the first time they met.
Amber then intervened:
"Don't you want to get some fresh air? You're pretty tense."
"Whose fault is that?"
Then she went out, leaving Amber and Ethan alone.
Ethan felt like an intruder, and in truth, he knew he was: he was a resident of the Capitol, at the home of a District 12 victor , and he knew that Amber hated the Capitol.
Amber broke the ice, still with the same sarcastic tone she used with people she didn't know well:
"Why are you here, gorgeous ?"
Ethan hesitated and then replied:
"I wanted to see you."
"Yes, I figured as much, but why did you bring your whole escort? I see a peacekeeper outside, motionless, which is unusual since we always see them in pairs and moving, and I understand that the girl who was with you was... your sister? So why did you bring them? Out of fear?"
"It was a precaution, and Alicia insisted, I'm sorry if it made you uncomfortable."
"A precaution? For what? No one here would ever dare do anything to someone who might come from the Capitol, we would risk too much if that ever happened, much more than you can imagine."
Ethan took a deep breath, aware that he had to approach the situation delicately:
"I know it may seem excessive, but Alicia has her reasons. She worries about me, maybe a little too much."
Amber crossed her arms:
"And you? Are you scared?"
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't," Ethan admitted.
"But it's not for my safety here that I'm afraid, it's that I'm seen as someone I'm not."
"A heartless monster? Someone who shares the ideas of the Capitol?"
"Yes," he admitted.
Amber then replied:
"Everyone here sees you like that; all the people you've met see you all like that. Because no one at the Capitol has ever done anything to help us. We had to make ourselves heard, people we love lost their lives, and even that, it changed nothing."
"I know all that, Amber, it's been told to me, and I'm sincerely sorry."
"I could believe you. But your apologies, whether sincere or not, will not bring back my father, not my uncle, not my aunt, not my sister. Your apologies will never erase the damage caused by the Capitol. Never."