THE 68TH HUNGER GAMES - Book 1: Tribute

Chapter 5 - Celebrity Status

The District 1 tributes depart the horse stable and out into the streets of the mighty Capitol. The crowd roars as Cassara Shine and Ryone Diamonte waves. Cassara turns around at the rest of us at the back and gives us a mocking grin,

“What a bitch,” I mumble.

Fedinand giggles in response to my remark then pats me on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry about her,” he says, “the crowd is going to love us.”

The District 2 chariot follows on with Melliano Graphite and Dale Rover inside. I notice that the crowd loves them just as much as the first chariot. I feel dizzy and nervous and only two chariots have left.

Ben Luminia and Johanna Icon speed off in the District 3 chariot and I notice that they are dressed in glowing high tech body suits.

“They look amazing, Ferdinand!” I say feeling intimidated by the other tributes.

Ferdinand pats me on the back and tries his best to comfort me. Before I know it, we are already up to District 7. The District 7 chariot contains the extremely large Billiam Roberto and the charming Annie Fo. Their chariot finally leaves the stable and out onto the street only to be greeted to a couple of claps and mainly laughs. Annie and Billiam are dressed as willow trees with axes jutting out from all corners. I can’t help but laugh as well because I notice that Billiam finds it difficult to wave at the audience in that costume.

“Are you ready?” Ferdinand says with a smile.

“Ready,” I reply.

The district 8 chariot; our chariot, finally leaves the stable and we are greeted to a loud roar from the audience. The crowd goes wild as Ferdinand starts waving and flashing his white smile.

“Should we spice it up a little?” Ferdinand asks enthusiastically.

I nod, and before I know it, he has his tanned arm around me. The crowd goes wild, and I decide to play along by leaning my head on his shoulder and waving gracefully. I also blow kisses to some of the crowd members, which makes them throw flowers at me and Ferdinand.

“Oh my gosh! They love us!” I say happily.

As we draw nearer to the training centre, I notice a huge screen up above with my face on it. The District 8 emblem is printed beside my face on the screen and I notice people roaring and cheering as I react to the screen with my face on it.

“We love you Capitol!” shouts Ferdinand towards the audience beside him.

This drives the crowd crazy and they begin to blow kisses back to us. We finally reach the front of the training centre and I notice the other chariots already beginning to arrive. A couple of them look a bit pissed off at me and Ferdinand for stealing the crowd from them.

“Great job Hyora,” he says teasingly, “you were great.”