Percy’s POV
I was enjoying myself over tea when Katniss suddenly barged into the suite, her face red and her eyes absolutely looked downcast.
“ Katniss?” Effie calls out to her. “ Katniss, come and have some tea with us!” Effie turns towards us. “ She ignored me!” she exclaims, looking upset. Everyone shrugs. She continues to complain about Katniss’ ‘rudeness’ and all.
“ Oh, give it a rest a will you?” I finally say to her, bored of listening to her complaints. “ She’s a little bit upset. She’ll be okay soon after,” I tell her. “ If she’s still sulking or something I’ll go and talk to her. Okay?”
Effie huffs a little but shuts up soon after.
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One hour goes by…
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“ Is she out yet?” Effie’s head appears at the sitting room door.
“ No, Effie,” I answer back, not taking my eyes of the television. Cinna had handed me some of the earlier Games’ tapes.
“ How long does she think she can do this?” she mutters. “ Oh, dreadful manners. Absolutely dreadful manners.”
I didn’t respond.
It was dinnertime when she finally appears. And that was because Effie had gone and asked her to join us for dinner.
“ Hey,” I say to her. She merely nods at me, her face still red and splotchy. “ You okay?” She shrugs. “ Okay, I’ll shut up now.” She nods in agreement.
The adults began to have a small chitchat when I notice her looking at me, her eyes forlorn. I raise my eyebrows in question, What up? She shook her head. When the main course arrives, Haymitch finally say, “ Okay, enough small talk, just how bad were you today?”
I give my report first. “ The weapons weren’t suited with me. Some too light, some too heavy. I didn’t think I made an impression at all on them. And by the time I showed up, most of them were a little bit drunk, I think. Because their face were a little bit red and all. But some did pay some attention to me. Although I didn’t do superbly.”
“ And you, sweetheart?” says Haymitch.
“ I shot an arrow at the Gamemakers.”
I choke on my piece of chicken.
“ You what?”
Cinna thumps me on the back until I could breathe again.
“I shot an arrow at them. Not exactly at them. In their direction. It’s like Percy said, I was shooting and they were ignoring me and I just …I just lost my head, so I shot an apple out of their stupid roast pig’s mouth!” she say, a tone of defiance in her voice.
“ And what did they say?” Cinna asks carefully.
“ Nothing. Or I don’t know. I walked out after that,” she says.
“ Without being dismissed?” Trust Effie to make a big deal of it.
“ I dismissed myself,” she shrugs, which caused Effie to shriek in despair.
“ Effie, shut up,” I say to her. She turns her heavily made up face to me.
“ How rude!” she snarls at me.
“ Okay, fine. Effie, please shut up. Better?” I sneer at her. Her mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. “ So, why are you worked up?” I ask Katniss.
“ I….I’m scared they’ll do something to my mother and Prim,” she mumbles.
“ I doubt it,” Haymitch and I say at the same time. I snicker into my pudding and he manages a grin. “ You see, it just wouldn’t make much sense. They’d have to reveal what happened in the Training Center for it to have any worthwhile effect on the population. People need to know what you did. But they can’t since it’s secret, so it’d be a waste of effort,” he explains. “ More likely they’ll make your life hell in the arena.”
“ Which has been our agreement from the very start, remember? Torture these children because their district rebelled against us. Shocker, I know,” I add, the tone of sarcasm becomes even more pronounced. “ So…all cheered up now? Got your appetite back?”
She grins at me.
“ What were their faces like?” Her grin widens.
“ Shocked. Terrified. Uh, ridiculous, some of them. One man tripped backward into a bowl of punch.” We all had a good laugh at that, except for Effie. Although it seems to me as if she’s trying hard not to roll over the floor laughing her ass off since it’s ‘rude’.
“ Well, it serves them right. It’s their job to pay attention to you. And just because you come from District Twelve is not an excuse to ignore you.” Her eyes suddenly dart around as if she’s said something totally outrageous. “ I’m sorry, but that’s what I think,” she says to no one in particular.
“ That’s what we all think, Effie,” I tease her. Her eyes bulge, giving her the appearance of a rather surprised toad.
“ I’ll get a very bad score,” Katniss says miserably.
“ Not as bad as mine. I mean, you should’ve seen me. Damn lame I was,” I tell her. Everyone laughs again.
“ Scores only matter if they’re very good, no one pays much attention to the bad or mediocre ones. For all they know, you could be hiding your talents to get a low score on purpose. People use that strategy,” Portia says, her hand on my shoulder.
Katniss grins at me before starting to gobble everything she could reach.
After dinner, we go to the sitting room to watch the scores announced on television. First they show a photo of the tribute, the flash their score below it. The Career Tributes, as usual, would get in the eight-to-ten range. Wow, what a surprise! Anyways, most of the other players average a five. Rue, on the other hand, comes up with a seven. Wow, if I get a lower score than her I’d kill myself. No pun intended.
And finally, our district. Wait for it…wait for it…
There’s my picture….
And my score….
Ten?
Effie squeals with delight and gave me a hug. Portia patted me on the back while Haymitch gave me the thumbs up.
“ Guess you weren’t that lame with knives and whatnots,” Katniss snickers.
“ Shut up.”
Then it was her turn. Her face turned a little bit pale.
Her picture comes up. Then the score…
Eleven!
Effie squeals more louder. You know, like the sound when you step on a rodent or something. Yeah, a bit like that. We all cheered and congratulated her. She still seems to be in a shock, though.
“ There must be a mistake. How…how could that happen?” she asks Haymitch.
“ Oh, just shut up will you? They gave you a good score so just suck it up,” I tell her, grinning. She kick me in the shin in response.
Haymitch guffaws. “ Guess they liked your temper,” he says. “ They’ve got a show to put on. They need some players with some heat.”
“ Katniss, the girl who was on fire,” says Cinna and gives her a hug. “ Oh, wait until you see your interview dress.”
“ More flames?” she asks.
“ Of a sort,” he says mischievously.
“ Well, I’m glad I’m not going to wear flames anymore,” I snicker at her. She kicks me again in the shin.
“ Oh, don’t sound too sure, Percy,” Portia smiles at me, her eyes just as mischievous as Cinna’s.
Uh-oh….
