The Hunger Games: Separated

Chapter 7- The Capitol

Chapter 7: The Capitol

Dedicated to @noodlesakataylah because she has commented advice on every chapter I have written, and she made me a awesome new cover. <3

The Capitol finally comes into sight, and I just stare at it with my mouth open in amazement. It is beautiful. Even though the coloured buildings look way too bright. Since its illegal to travel between districts unless you are on Capitol business, I have never left District 11 before now. It is the complete opposite of everything I have ever known. There isn't any trees here, just buildings, buildings, and more buildings.

I remember Seeder's advice as the Capitol train station packed with weirdly dressed people comes into view. I smile and wave at them, which seems to make them even more excited. I just hope that some of them decide to sponsor me. The train stops and I make my way towards the exit. William is already on the platform, but he doesn't look very impressed, nor is he even smiling.

Sunshine comes up behind me and pushes me onto the platform packed with screaming weirdly dressed people. "Lily, Lily are you scared about going into the arena?" "Lily was that your sister who screamed at the reaping?" I just smile and wave, high-fiving people every now and then until I reach the waiting car. I open the door to find Seeder and Sunshine are already sitting there. I dive in and shut the door carefully so that we can leave. "You did great!" Seeder exclaims happily.
"Keep going like that and you will have sponsors lined up around the block!" Sunshine adds.
"Thanks!" I smile happily.
"We will be arriving at the remake centre in a minute, don't forget what I told you earlier." Seeder whispers in my ear.
"I won't" I whisper back.

Three painful hours later I am being forced into the third bath I've been in today. This time full of a liquid that burns my skin when I touch it. I've been waxed, plucked and scrubbed over every centimetre of my skinny body, plus forced into foul smelling, sometimes skin burning baths, all while my prep team chats away about how beautiful I am going to look when they are done. I listened to Seeder's advice about letting them do whatever they wanted to me, but I'm now ignoring the urge to jump out of the stinging bath and run away. I did make sure that they looked after Rue's necklace though.

"You can get out now sweetie." Ambrosia the only female member of my prep team, with purple tinged skin, and orange, frizzy hair tells me. I step out of the bath, and feel self conscious as she and the other two members of my prep team Hero and Chalder, circle my naked body. "Ok time for for your nails!" Chalder says excitedly in his ridiculous Capitol accent, flipping his sunshine yellow hair out of his eyes.

They spend another hour filling, buffing, and perfecting my nails, then finally decide that they are finished with me. "Let's take you to Paz!" Hero exclaims excitedly as Ambrosia hands me a plastic robe. He is probably the most normal looking appearance wise, but his hair has still obviously been dyed blonde and he is wearing sea foam green lipstick with matching eye shadow. "Who is Paz?" I ask after I have the robe tied securely around me. All three of them give me a annoyed look. "Paz is your stylist." Chadler replies.

Next thing I know I am in a room with the 'Paz' person. I promptly realise that she is the most cosmetically altered person I have ever met. Not a centimetre of her tall slender body has been left as it was. She had had implants put under her skin in strange swirly patterns, eye lashes that are hot pink and stick out 15 centimetres from her eyes, short messy hot pink hair to match her eyelashes, then tattoos and makeup covering anything left of her body. I want to stay as far away from her as possible, but instead I introduce myself confidently. 

She introduces herself, and ushers me to a comfy couch close to a table. She sits down on the other side of the table, and presses a button that makes food appear instantly. I steady my shaking fingers before we fill our plates with the delicious food. I can't help wishing that Ivy and Rue were enjoying this with me instead of Paz. We finish eating and she takes me into another room.

"Take off your robe." She demands and I obey. She then inspects my body and spends two hours covering it with makeup, then yet another hour on my hair. Her lack of politeness makes me uncomfortable.

"Close you eyes, and don't open them until I tell you." I close my eyes, then feel her putting under garments on my body, slipping a short dress over my head, then finally slipping my feet into some sandal like things.
"Okay, open your eyes." She says, and I open to see her with a huge smile on her face, showing her hot pink cosmetically altered teeth. Jeez this lady is obsessed with pink.

I walk over to a mirror on the wall, and see an almost unrecognizable me staring back. My face is caked with makeup, and my hair has been straightened, and is flowing down my back. I am wearing a short dress that looks like someone has made a tight bodice out of orange peel, then attached gigantic strips of orange peel to make a skirt. Each of the strips is a couple of centimetres apart, and curls upwards towards the ceiling making it awfully revealing.

"So how do you like it?" Paz asks excitedly in her ridiculous Capitol accent. "I love it!" I lie.