My good mood is vanishing with every little strip of hair waxed off of my body. Really, it's vanishing strip by strip, but then I look out the window, and feel a little better. They work magic on me, even though they look very strange, like oddly colored birds. I feel very self-conscious, and I prefer to keep the robe on. But by the time they're done, I look kind of good. I play with my hair, which they cut a little bit, but not very much. They leave rather quickly afterwards, and my stylist comes in and I gag.
His hair is a blonde so bright it hurts to look at, his whole skin is died a light shade of green, and his eyes are a creepy pink color. I feel ill.
"Hello, I'm Flavio. And what's your name, dear?" he asks me.
"Clove," I say. I really don't like him. At all.
"Clove. Well, why don't we sit down and we can talk about your costume?" he says.
"Okay," I say pulling the rove tightly around me. It's customary for the costume to represent the flavor of the district. I'm District 2, and we're mining and stone cutting (technically). Really, we do all that, and make weapons and supply Peacekeepers. Aren't we just wonderful?
"So, since your district makes weapons, I was thinking of dressing you and the boy tribute from your district. What was his name? Well, I think you should be dressed as Roman statues. What do you think?" he asks me.
"His name is Cato, and okay," I say.
The outfit actually looks pretty cool. So does the headpiece and boots, but I'm not about to tell Flavio that.
"Thanks," I say briefly.
"Go out there, knock'em dead, Clover!" he says. (He's been getting my name wrong all afternoon.) I walk out towards the stables, where they keep the horses, and also where we're instructed to wait. I'm the only person there. I lean against out chariot, and close my eyes.
"You know, you look really creepy like that, Clove. Or is this really a statue?" I hear Cato say.
"Yes! I turned into a statue. No, it is me. Human Clove," I tell me.
"Ouch, prep team put you in a bad mood? Well, you better get over it soon. Districts One and Four are going to be here soon, and our allies aren't doing to like you much if you're insulting them," Cato says.
"Okay, getting over myself," I say. Then I compose myself, and put on a smirk that made me famous at school.
"This better?" I ask him.
"Yes," I slap him lightly on the arm, and more tributes come in. District Eleven comes in first, dressed as farmers. They both look terrible. District Five comes in next, dressed as powerplant workers, and they could look worse. Then District One, glittery and fancy. I can tell they'll be crowd favorites.
"Clove, go over there and ask Thresh to be a Career. Please?" Cato begs.
"No. You do it. I'll talk to District One in the meantime. Something tells me you like the girl a little too much. Beside, you might scare him into it. The most I could do is taunt him," I plead. He goes over, and I make my way over to the District One tributes.
"Hey?" I wave.
"You're District Two?" I hear the boy ask.
"Yeah, I'm Clove. Cato's over there, trying to see if he can make the District Eleven guy Career Number Seven."
"I'm Marvel," the boy tells me.
"I'm Glimmer," the girl says. Then Cato walks over, and he looks ready to kill someone.
"So what did District Eleven say?" I ask him.
"He said no! To me! And to us! The mother- "I cut off Cato's string of cuss words by putting my hand over his mouth.
"Now, now, not in front of allies!" I scold him playfully. I take my mouth away, and he sees Glimmer. He goes into flirty mode, I can tell.
'I'm Cato. And you must be Beauty," he winks at Glimmer. I tune out their flirting, and lean against the carriage.
"Are they going to be flirting this much" Marvel asks me.
"I don't know Mr. Marvelous. Maybe. I can just see it. They'll be making out, and District Twelve and District Eleven will come over and kill us and District Four while they make out, and they die from lack of oxygen. What a lovely year it's going to be," I say, only half-kidding. Then he starts laughing.
The bell rings, telling us to get in our carriages. Marvel, who I shall now refer to as Mr. Marvelous, goes over to his carriage, and I go over to Cato and Glimmer, and drag Cato by ear over to the carriage.
"What did you do that for?!" he yells.
"We have to go. Come one, get ready!" I say to him as I compose myself at the side of the carriage. I start to wave as the carriage moves out. I smile into the faces of the people who could be the difference between life and death for me, and I just smile and wave. I'm just another tribute in a carriage. I blend in with the freak show.
YOU ARE READING
To Be A Career (A Very Clove Story)
FantasyMany believe that Clove, along side her district partner, Cato, was a person of mass destruction. That all she cared about was winning The Hunger Games. In this story, you will finally understand Clove's side of the story.
