Mentors

17

A excruciating door slam from across the hall vibrates the room, and it makes me accidentally bite Peeta's lip.
"Ow!" he wails, pulling his head back.
I panic, trying to bring his face closer to see what I did, but we end up bumping foreheads.
"Ahh!" We both squall.
"I'm sorry! That wasn't romantic at all."
I grab his chin and examine his mouth, which isn't bleeding.
"What was the door slam for?" Peeta asks, holding his forehead.
"Probably Haymitch." I assume.
We decide to finish painting for the day. And resume again tomorrow.

Days go by, and it is the day of the interviews. Peeta and I have finished the painting.
We all sit at the table for breakfast.
"So what did I tell you about tonight?" I remind them.
"To be yourself." They say in unison.
"Correct." Peeta replies.
Effie babbles about posture, manners, and how to answer questions.
"They will ask you about the quarter quell." I inform, "No doubt about it. State your honest opinion, keep it PG rated, and try not to be nasty or judgmental. They will ask about training, briefly mention the scores and your opinion on them."

They both received a score of ten in training, which I am beyond proud of. We had ice cream and apple pies to celebrate. Which Peeta had not baked, since the kitchen wouldn't let him.

"Do I talk about my family?" Raina asks.
"If you feel comfortable. They might ask questions on what happened at the reaping." answers Peeta.

"Why would you want to talk about your family? They abandoned you, chose you for the games. Obviously you're not their favorite, so why give them recognition up on stage? If I were you, I'd talk trash about my family." Kolton says.

She looks hurt for a moment, and then she sets her glass down with caution.
"You know what. You're right." she stands up and pushes in her chair before leaving the table.

"Oh. No, no no. Don't do that." I stand and flee the room and go to follow her but she closes her bedroom door in my face.

"Open up." I hit my fist on the door.
Peeta walks from behind me and places his hands on my shoulders.
"Let her be," he says.
I sigh, and walk to my own room.

I lay, looking at the ceiling.
How could the games be tomorrow?
The chariot ceremony, the training, now these interviews. It's happening so fast. I'm not ready to screw up just yet.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Katniss." Peeta tells me.
Effie taps the door open with her heel and peeks her head in.
"Much to prepare for! Your tributes are being put in the hands of our stylists! Must not delay, children."
I roll my eyes, dreading for the remainder of the night.
As I approach the television room, I'm greeted by Cinna with an embrace.
"How is my girl on fire this evening?" he asks, before addressing Raina with her dress.
"Still flaming." I proclaim.
Raina's getup for the interviews is all black, and it's lovely and eye catching. She didn't much care about it, but she did want my opinion.
"Do you like it?" she wipes her sweaty hands on the fabric.
"You look beautiful," I say, "if you're not the best dressed there then I'll have something to say about it."
she smiles warmly.
Effie calls from the other room,
"Must be in makeup in five minutes!"
"That woman always has to be on time for everything." Raina exclaims, as she fumbles with her outfit.
"You should hear her talk about shoes." I say, which she laughs.
Soon enough she's dragged into makeup by Effie, and I lost the energy to watch the commotion, so I retreat to the TV room. There I find Kolton, freshly groomed and with a face ready for the cameras.
"You ready?" I ask him.
"No." he answers, bluntly.
"And I don't think you ever will be."

"So. Are you going to help me in there? Not abandon me?" he asks.
"You mean about the sponsors?"
he nods.
"We'll see, I want to get you both out. I don't care how."

"Schedule! We lost three whole minutes! We must leave!" Effie shrieks, running around frantically.
Peeta enters the room, looking as presentable as a mentor can be.
"You guys ready?" he asks.
"No." we both say.

Peeta and I stand back stage, waiting for it to start. I look around at the other tributes being put in all these dresses and suits. There are various stares we are getting.
A girl from district 2 runs past me and throws up into a garbage can.
"Talk about nervousness." I mutter.
"She's from district 2, how can she be nervous?" says Kolton.
As they wait on line to be interviewed, we watch on a television.
I remember Raina saying she made friends with a few careers. As the first girl comes out, she swoons the crowd with her backstory. Younger than me it seems like. The boy looks about my age.
The one who threw up behind me struts onto stage. She starts really sweet with Caesar Flickerman, but then she starts to get emotional. It isn't until she claims she is pregnant is when she begins to cry.
Caesar cuts the interview short, due to the shrieks from the audience. As they try to calm everyone down, they take a short break.
I peek my head to see what the commotion is backstage and the careers have ganged up on the girl, surrounding her.

"What an unfortunate circumstance." the girl from district 1 laughs.
"Who's the father, huh?"
"How far along are ya?"
"Wanna go throw up?"
"No!" the girl cries, "stop, it wasn't like that!" She sinks to the floor, and they lean in on her.
They continue to mock her, becoming meaner as each sentence flows.
"There's no way in hell we are allying with a pregnant girl! You can forget about living to see your baby." The girl from district 4 says.
I think about interfering, but Raina and Kolton step in.
"What's going on?" Raina screeches, helping her up from the floor.
"Don't help her, Raina. She did this to herself."
"You don't know that." she defends.
As they make more comments toward the girl and her weight, Kolton pushes everyone out of his way,
"What kind of sick people are you? You thought she was strong, pretty, and a perfect fit in this alliance! Why now would this make a difference! Look at her, you're killing her before the games! If you're this cruel now, what kind of victor do you see yourselves to be? News flash, clods, there can only be one victor."
Everyone seems taken back completely.
"Fine, if you want to be that way, then we don't need you in this alliance, either. Better watch your back in there... because I'll kill you. You too, knocked up whore. Pregnant or not, I can have the joy of hitting two birds with one stone.   Let's go guys..." The boy from district 1 pauses.
"Are you coming, Raina?" Someone asks her.
Raina clenches her fist, and steps closer to them. For a moment, my heart drops. But then she speaks,
"Thinking you're all that with your career title. We don't need you as allies, for we can only half trust. I highly suggest you save the time of hunting us down. I can snap your necks like that." she snaps her finger in the boy's face.
Some look frightened, others look unconvinced. The boy from 4, whom I've met on occasion, walks into the circle of people, coming from the back of the group.
"I waited until Raina would slay you to enter the issue." he states.
"Roman, what are you doing?"
"I would be honored if I can ally with the three of you." he walks and stands in between Kolton and Raina.
The rest of them grunt and walk back in line with the rest of the tributes, gossiping and laughing.
The girl sits on the floor and holds her head.
"Are you alright, Talisa?" Raina helps her to her feet.
I step out to help Raina carry her to a nearby chair.
"It's okay, sweetheart." I say. God, I spend too much time around Haymitch.
"No, it's not." Talisa cries, "they're going to kill me first!"
"We won't let that happen," says Raina.
"Right Katniss?"
I nod.
What am I to do? With my tributes allied with a pregnant girl?

A/n} hey it's been a while, id love to tell you what I've been up to.
So I haven't been on because I've been auditioning for a musical in my local theater school. And we are doing the play Into the Woods, and I'm super excited because I got the lead! Anyway to make you feel better of me not updating in a while, I want to let you know that I have been writing in this chapter every single day, I've just had some writers block.

QUESTION ABOUT FANFIC:
so do you want me to write about how Raina and Koltons interviews go? Or do you want me to skip ahead to the morning of the games? Please if you are reading this a/n, leave me a comment!