Star Crossed (Clato Fanfiction)

Chapter Eight: Tribute Parade

Chapter Eight

Tribute Parade

I met my prep team a few minutes ago. We didn't exchange words at all. They just looked at me and whispered to each other. Right now, they're ripping all the hair off my body. It burns so much but I'm holding in my screams.

They put a clear liquid all over my body then tell me to get in this tub. The tub is full of a purple liquid. I really hope they're not dying my skin. I step into the tub and lay down until it's up to my shoulders. The burning feeling goes away and I let out a sigh of a relief.

They make me stay in there for 20 minutes then tell me to get out. I get out and wrap a towel around my body. A peacekeeper leads me into a different room and tell me to sit down. I sit on the table and wait.

A few minutes later, a tall, slender women with red hair walks into the room. She walks over to me and eyes me carefully.

"Hello I'm your stylist, Reno. You must be Clove."

"Yes, I'm Clove. Are you here to dress me for the parade?"

"Yes. Now, stand up."

I get off the table and stand in front of her. She starts walking around me. She pulls my towel away and I feel my face get warm. It must be a deep shade of red. She stops in front of my naked body and looks up then down. I feel so exposed having her stare at me.

"I'm glad I actually have something to work with this year."

"Thanks?"

"Sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable. You're actually pretty and have a great body."

I feel my face get even redder and I look down at my feet.

"Okay, so do you know what gladiators are?"

"Yes, we learned about them at school."

"Good, good. That's what you're going to be dressed up as."

*

It's a few hours later and I'm fully dressed. I'm wearing a full gold outfit with a matching gold hat with wings sticking out from the top. You can't see my hair at all but you can definitely see my face. There's gold eye liner around my eyes, making the color pop out. That's pretty much all my stylist did. She said I looked better natural but make up is always a good thing.

A peacekeeper walks me to the chariot then walks away. Cato is already here and is staring at me. We're in a matching outfit. He looks amazing. The gold shirt really shows off his muscles. He smirks when he notices that I'm checking him out.

"Like what you see?"

"Yes and I think someone else does too."

I see the girl from district one staring at him. He turns and looks at her then looks back at me.

"You know you're the only one for me."

I smile at him. I have to stop myself from kissing him right here. A peacekeeper comes by and tells us to get on the chariot. Cato gets on first then helps me up.

Music starts playing then the chariot in front of us starting going. A few seconds later, we follow. The crowd is cheering and yelling our names. I force myself to ignore them and look straight ahead like Enobaria told me to.

Just as we're at the end of the road, the cheering gets louder and I look up at the screens. The tributes from district 12 are on fire and holding hands. I look over at Cato and he has a angry look on his face. He looks at me and shakes his head.

We pull into a area and President Snow comes out. He looks around at everyone as the crowd gets quiet.

"Welcome tributes, I hope you enjoy your stay here. I'm honored to have you here for the 74th Hunger Games!"

The crowd starts cheering again and we are pulled into another area. This one is closed off though. Cato helps me off the chariot and our team comes over to tell us how good we did. I find myself staring at the tributes from 12. The boy is staring at the girl in awe and the girl is joking with their mentor, Haymich. Haymich notices my staring and pulls them toward the elevator. I look over and see that Cato was also staring but with a cold look on his face.

Our mentors lead us to the elevator and we ride it to the second floor. I step into the room and look around. This room is ten times nicer than the train. I wish every house back home look this way.

"You two go get cleaned up then rest. It's the first day of training tomorrow."

I don't know who just said that but I nod anyway. Our escort leads us to our room and I go into mine. I take off my outfit and fold it. I put it on the table beside my bed then go to the closet. I pull out the most descent looking outfit and put it on. I crawl into the big,soft bed and try to fall asleep.