The Tribute and the Victor

Chapter 12

I stared at the photo in pure shock. How could anyone have taken that photo? We were alone? At least I thought we were. I didn't know they allowed paparazzi where the tributes stayed. Maybe they didn't? Maybe they managed to sneak in somehow? But none of this really mattered now because it was out there. No way of taking it back. I would now be known as Caleb's lover, the only way to get away from it was to die in the hunger games. "So..do you want to explain this?" He grinned. "I..erm..well.." I stared at Caleb in the audience that looked just as shocked as I must have done, there he stood, mouth open, stiff as a board. I could almost see the beads of sweat running down his face. But before I could say anything else, the buzzer went off to let Caesar know that my 3 minutes were up. "Well that's a pity.." He sighed. "We didn't have time to talk about your 'close relationship' with your mentor" he said as he pulled a silly sad face to the audience. The crowd automatically reacted with a huge "awwww" as they were all disappointed with the fact that they hadn't got the juicy gossip. "Ahh well never mind ey? I suppose it gives you all the more reasons to win doesn't it? To come home, back to Caleb?" He said trying to help me out. But I said nothing. I just nodded quickly, praying for him to wrap up our interview. "Well you heard it here first guys..lets give a big round of applause for Darcy Quinn from district 7!" He exclaimed. The audience where on their feet cheering. But I didn't care, I just wanted to leave. As I left the stage I couldn't help but cry. The audience may have loved my interview but I hated it. There was no going back now..all I would be known as is Caleb's pathetic lover. How could I have been so stupid? I hated myself for it. As I ran past the other tributes still waiting nervously for their interview, I noticed Calix staring at me full of concern. But I didn't care...I needed to get out of there.As I made it to my floor I ran down the corridor throwing my 6 inch heals half way across the room and ripped the beautiful hairband straight from my head, I was just about to run for my bedroom door when I felt Caleb grab a tight grip of my arm. At first I struggled. But after a few seconds I gave into his tight grasp and sank to the floor. "Hey, calm down. It's alright, I know, I know.." He said calmly. "You didn't tell me the Capitol new about that!" I yelled at him. "I didn't know they knew!" He tried to explain. "None of us did" I heard another voice say softly. It was Pheonix, standing in the corner of the room with her arms folded. "They shouldn't have allowed photographers anywhere near the tributes, and believe me..I'll be having some stern words about this to certain people!" She said angrily. I started sniffling again as Caleb pulled his arm round me and picked me up. He took me to my room and sat me down gently on my bed. "There now." He said wiping off some of the makeup that had run down my face. "I'll see that this doesn't affect your sponsors in the arena" he said softly. Sponsors? I hadn't even though about my sponsors! I was too busy worrying about how people would see me when in actually fact the real problem would be trying to convince them to send me sponsors again! "I'll leave you alone for a little while, let you calm down a bit" he whispered. "No.." I mumbled. "Stay here" I whispered. He hesitated for a second, but then realised that there would be no point in trying to stay away from me as the capitol already know about us anyway. "Alright" he whispered. That evening we watched the interviews replay on the tv. My interview actually wasn't as bad as we thought. We soon realised that the only reason why Caesar had brought us up was to help us gain the sponsors, not loose them. Maybe I had overreacted a little, but I wasn't intending to admit it anytime soon. The time then came for Axe's interview. But for some reason, Axe wasn't coming up onto the stage, Caesar must have been waiting for about a minute before Axe was eventually pushed on. The interview was extremely awkward the whole way through, Axe hardly said a word no matter how hard Caesar pushed for an answer. You could almost see the relief on Caesars face when he heard the buzzer go off to tell him that the interview was over. "At least that made my interview look better" I said selfishly.