One Lucky Winner

Chapter 11 ~ Tobias

The carriage in front of us rolls through the doors, causing the crowd to go crazy. We're next in line. Surprisingly, I'm not nervous at all. I'm actually pretty excited.

We're wearing what we came here in. Tris and I in black, and Caleb in a light blue shirt and dark pants. Dauntless and Erudite.

"We're next," Caleb says, from the other side of Tris. He sounds nervous. I don't get what he's so nervous about. It's just a parade.

"I'm scared," says Tris quietly. This surprises me. She can make it through her (and my) fear landscape multiple times, yet she's scared to go through a parade?

"Don't be scared. You're suppose to be Dauntless," I say with no emotion, ignoring the look from Caleb.

Tris says nothing in reply, and I suddenly feel bad. Maybe I was a little harsh on her. I'm suppose to be comforting her.

"It's fine. Don't be scared. They'll love us," I say quickly, trying to be nice. Tris still doesn't look at me. I really need to work on being nicer. I wouldn't last a day in Amity.

Our carriage starts moving with a sudden jolt. Tris clutches onto my arm as the carriage starts rolling forward.

My stomach jumps with excitement. Our stylist told us to not smile and wave; we're just suppose to stare straight ahead and try to look tough. I figure it shouldn't be hard at all. This is going to be really fun.

I still feel bad for Tris, so I gently take her hand off my arm and place it in my own hand. She doesn't shake it off, but she doesn't look at me either.

I really don't understand women.

We roll out on the pathway, and I feel Tris's grip around my hand tighten. A new wave of screams erupt from the crowd. We do as our stylist said to; look straight ahead and look determined.

Somehow, everyone notices that Tris and I are holding hands, and they love it. Someone even has a sign that says: Forget Katniss and Peeta, Tris and Four are the new star crossed lovers! It makes me happy. They like us. We'll get plenty of sponsors.

Soon, after a few minutes of looking ahead and steadying a trembling Tris, people behind us enter, and we have lost the crowds' attention. Everyone is screaming over the people who came in behind us. They seem very popular. Our stylist said their names are Bilbo, Thorin, and Legolas. What kind of names are those?

I hear Caleb sigh. I don't blame him. When the attention isn't on us, it's boring, at least I think it is. I have no one to impress.

"Let's try to capture they're attention again," I say.

Tris finally looks at me. "No."

"Why not?" I say, trying to stay calm.

"I don't like attention," she says. "And there's no turning the crowds away from those weird people behind us, so how would we do it?"

"Well, people obviously like us together," I say.

"What's that got to do with anything?"

Without another word, I grab Tris's waist and pull her towards me. Softly kissing her, I ignore the disgusted look I receive from Caleb.

When I break away, I'm hoping to hear screams from the crowd, begging us for more PDA.

But, instead, no one even notices. Everyone's still hooked on the strange men behind us. I don't even think they're men. They're aliens, or some strange creatures.

I sigh and let her go. "Maybe not, then."

She looks at me and then finally smiles a little. "Yeah."

I smirk. "You know, I like you better without all that makeup." Our prep team plastered her eyes with dark eyeshadow and mascara, and whatever else you put on eyes. Of course, it looks good, but I'm used to seeing a makeup-less Tris, and that's the way I like it.

She laughs. "You're going to have to take that out with the prep team," she says. "I never wanted this makeup either."

I smile at her. I realize, at that exact time and place, I'm deeply in love with her. I've only known her for a few months, but I'm sure of it. I'm in love. What a perfect time to be in love. Right before a death game.

All of the sudden, earth shattering screams fill the air. Every single person in the crowd is on there feet, screaming at the top of their lungs. A few people have fainted. Some people are even crying and vomiting all over the place.

Us and all of the other tributes look behind us to see what they're all screaming over.

It's the tributes from Panem. From District 12. They finally entered.

And they're on fire.

Katniss, Peeta, and Gale are all wearing orange and black suits that are on fire. I saw them standing there before the parade, smirking at them because they're the only ones who were forced to dress up. But, I guess I was wrong. They're costumes are the best. Their stylist, like ours, ordered them to stare ahead and look strong. They look epic.

Jealously immediately fills me. Why them? They had all the fame last year, when they won the games; our stylist told us that the girl and one of the boys shared the victory last year.

I see the person who was holding the sign about me and Tris strike a match and burn the sign. He holds the burning poster up and screams "SCREW TRIS AND FOUR! KATNISS AND PEETA WILL NEVER DIE!" which brings up a new round of screams from the crowd, and also catches a lady's afro on fire.

I watch carefully as Katniss grabs on to Peeta and Gale's hands. People go crazy over that. Three perfect, attractive people, holding hands as they ride into war. I stare at my feet. I didn't know I would get this jealous. Based on the guy with the sign, I think all of the people who was going to sponsor us, isn't going to anymore. Everyone's probably going to sponsor the District 12 people.

Soon, the carriages arrange themselves in some order, and they all come to a halt. The president of Panem, President Snow, appears on the balcony above us, hushing the crowds. He grabs a microphone.

"Welcome! Welcome," he says slowly. "Tributes, we welcome you to Panem!" The crowds go crazy. President Snow says a few more words, something cheesy about courage and sacrifice, then everyone claps as the tributes are carried back into the dressing rooms.

Seriously? They made us do all of that just so the President could say a couple of sentences? It doesn't make sense to me. There was something I didn't like about President Snow. Something told me he was trying to be polite, but he was really just faking. He is the ring leader of all this. The Hunger Games. I make a mental note to not trust him or anyone from Panem, including the tributes.