Percy’s POV
You know, I might as well be signing a death certificate.
And why, WHY did I agree to play this by Haymitch’s rules (yes, the I-have-a-crush-on-Katniss is his idea..)? I think it’s got to do with the sponsors. Love story? You have got to be kidding me! Okay, I don’t deny that I do have a crush on Katniss but admitting it (more like pretending to) in front of the whole citizen of Panem? And the fact that said person doesn’t have any clue?
Yeah…I think I may have signed my death certificate…
“ Oh….” was all Caesar could say.
“ Yeah. Oh,” I repeat, smiling grimly. “ Definitely an ‘oh’.” I could feel the cameras training its glare on me. And I have a feeling it’ll go to Katniss, showing the whole country how she looked.
“ Dear me,” Caesar said, patting my arm, “ that is an extremely bad piece of luck, Percy.”
“ Well, I have a knack for attracting bad luck. Good luck rarely happens to me. Truly rare,” I say, grinning.
“ Well, you don’t know whether or not that is true,” Caesar say, reassuring me. “ Maybe, just maybe the rules could be tweak just a little bit, right? And maybe the both of you can go back home!”
I laugh at that. “ As if!” I snort. “ That, my friend, is excellent luck and as good luck rarely happens to me, excellent luck will never, ever do.”
The audience laugh some more and Caesar laughed probably the loudest.
“ And I take it the young lady doesn’t know?”
“ Nope. Not until I decided to be a Romeo on this stage,” I tell him. “ And I’m not exactly the only one,” I add.
“ The only one what?” Caesar asks.
“ Um…,” I could feel myself blushing by now, “ Well, um…”
“ Oh, do you mean you’ve got competitors back home?” Caesar asks, his grin widening. I nod. “ Oh, dear me! Our dear Percy Jackson has competition for the heart of the lovely Katniss Everdeen back in District 12! What a shame!”
“ I know. It sucks,” I say, grinning.
The audience laughs.
“ Oh, ladies and gentlemen, wouldn’t you just love to pull her back out and have a response, ladies and gentlemen?” A roar of approval can probably bring the building down. “ Sadly, rules are rules. And Katniss Everdeen’s time has been spent. Well, Percy Jackson, best of luck to you, even though it rarely happens to you, and I think I speak for all of us when I say our heart goes with yours.”
The roar of the crowd is deafening! I think I did good with the interview. Yay for me! Of course, I’ve got Katniss to deal with after this….but other than that, they absolutely bought the whole sob love story. Tee hee….
***************
Well, what did I tell you? That Katniss is going to flip?
She did…right after she pushed me down and send me tumbling into an urn…
…and now my hands are bleeding like crazy!
“ Ow,” I say, pulling out bits of the ceramics out of my hands. “ And why did you decide to attack me?”
“ How dare you!” she shrieks. Personally, aside from being scared of her fiery rage, I am quite grateful the other tributes don’t share the same floor with us. Or they’ll think we are having an argument which will lead to a break up which would probably lead to horrible death in the arena. “ You had no right! No right to go saying those things about me!”
