Starve On Pixels

Chapter 3: Stop, Drop, and Roll

Sunny's POV

My stylist, who's name wasn't worth remembering, had put me in a dress that looked like an ugly Christmas tree. There was so much glitter that I could barely even see. I think it was meant to represent District 1's wealth and trade in precious jewels, but I would rather be naked than to wear it. What was this stylist thinking?!

"Get me out of this!" I yelled at the mystery stylist.

She looked scared, "Sorry miss, I'm on orders!"

"I order you to remove this immediately!"

"I can't, it's stuck on you."

She scurried away like a frightened mouse.

I eventually got myself out of the outfit and into something much more fashionable of my own choosing. It was still shiny, but the glitter was only used for detailing along the body of the dress. I finished putting on a strip of glittery eyeshadow to make me look more mysterious just as they called for Emily X and I to get on our chariot.

"You actually agreed to wear that thing?!" I asked in disgust as Emily X came out in the death trap they called a dress.

"I didn't want to get in trouble," she explained.

I jealousy admitted to myself that the dress looked better on her than it did on me. I blame my mousy stylist.

Emily looked nervous, but I already knew that I was going to surpass all the other contestants, and earn a ton of sponsors through my interview.

Caesar asked me hundreds of useless questions, "So do you have any family you'd like to give a shout out to?"

"Unfortunately there's nobody worth it out there. My sister is a spoiled brat and my parents sent me to die," I finished in a cheery tone.

Caesar looked stunned, "Umm... That's a very pretty dress. It's different from your fellow tribute's."

"That other dress is horrendous! I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that out in public!" I couldn't believe my ears, this guy was so stupid.

"Thank you for your time," Caesar said quickly. Although thinking back, Caesar sounded anything but thankful. "Next!"

Emily X gave a sickeningly sweet interview, filled with curtsies and thanks. It was so obvious that she was faking it; however, the crowd ate it right up. Ugh.

My fellow Careers from District 2 went next. I felt bad for them, they had worse outfits than ours- they were covered in strange gray suits. The suits were sooo plain and ugly, it made me sick. Vivian and Vanessa were well built from all the masonry they'd done over the years- Vanessa was just as stony as me with even more sarcasm. Vivian seemed generally nice, but she kept quoting this teenage book series.

District 3's tributes looked super nerdy. Sophie kept glancing at the automated clock as if she wanted to reassemble it, and Nicole kept asking about the programming on the TV broadcast. Neither of them gave a stellar interview.

Even though District 4 was with the Careers, Elle and Katie didn't look like much. There was a lot of awkward giggling. At one point they were asked to do some kind of swimming routine in their tacky looking mermaid tails.

Pippa and Joanna from District 5 had a nervous vibe coming from them. It seemed they had both been reluctant to come. Their ridiculous outfits didn't help either. Since they were from the District of power and electricity, their hair had been teased and shocked until it stood on end. Pippa was wearing a neon yellow jumper while Joanna was dressed in a gray jumper with goggles. I was laughing too hard with the other tributes to hear what was being said.

Lauren and Nadeen from District 6 were dressed in clothing that had basically nothing to do with their District. Since transportation was so hard to make a costume out of they had been given some creative freedom; Lauren was in a pretty summer dress and Nadeen was in a frog suit. They both gave polite, clipped responses during the interview.

Despite being from the lumber District, Kate was rather wiry. Both of the tributes were dressed as trees with leaves wound in their hair- Christina looked disgusted at the whole outfit. During her questioning Kate broke into hysterical giggles as she tried to strangle Caesar after several sarcastic answers. Christina just grunted in response to her interview. Neither of them seemed very social.

Emily Z and Ellen from District 8 seemed to be good friends. They did their interview together- we were running out of air time- and they finished each other's sentences. I had a feeling they had made their own dresses, which were extremely pretty, since they were from the textiles and clothing district. The reds, oranges, and yellows in Emily's dress complimented the blues, purples, and blacks in Ellen's dress. I was too busy jealously glaring at them that I didn't hear a word of what they said. How much of a threat could a seamstress be anyway?

Zoe and Schuyler from District 9 had identically miserable expressions. It was probably a combination of being interviewed in front of millions, and being stuck in tan coloured onesies to represent grain. I almost felt bad for them.

District 10 had sickly looking tributes- Valerie and Charlotte. The cow and sheep suits they were wearing didn't disguise how far their ribs jutted out. They spoke in meek voices as if they knew their fate was already sealed.

If I said the last tributes were pitiful I take that back. Not only were Molly and Diana skinny, they had deep whip marks that covered their entire bodies. It looked as if, despite being from the farming District, they'd never seen food in their lives; which was a shame, considering they were in pretty country girl clothing.

District 12's tributes actually seemed fierce. Helen acted a bit mad, but Natalie looked as if she worked out regularly. They were both lit on fire which was such a Katniss Everdeen thing- Natalie initially looked kind of frightened.

Natalie's POV

This whole thing was awkward.

My stylist was awkward. She kept dropping stuff.

My dress was awkward. It was going to be set on fire.

My makeup was awkward. It was thick, dark, and... Lumpy?

"Off you go now," my stylist mumbled once she'd finished shuffling around.

I tripped on the hem of my dress as I stumbled towards the carriage contraption. Once again, awkward.

Helen seemed rather cross at her dress, "Stupid death trap! I won't be able to take over the world in this!"

"I doubt you'll be able to take over the world at all," I muttered under my breath.

She reached down and ripped the fabric so that it only came down to her knees, "Much better!"

I was genuinely excited to finally be free, so I probably sounded like a Capitol teenager when I answered all of Caesar's questions. When my dress lit on fire, I screeched- I could practically hear my brother laughing at me.

Being on fire was weird. I paralyzed with fear, but at the same time the fire was so entrancing that I couldn't look away as the flames licked at the bottom of the dress. Once it was over I was escorted off of the stage.

The clumsy stylist gave me a t-shirt and shorts to sleep in, "You've got a long day ahead of you kid, rest up."

"Okay," I replied.

I fell into a restless sleep.