The 57th Hunger Games.

Chariot Ride

Caroline was absolutely right. Not even the Careers would like what they do to you in there. I am whisked into a room where three people are standing, ready to bring me to Beauty Base Zero, they say. "Hi! We're your prep team. I'm Lindsay" the one of the right says. She has actual cat whiskers, an actual tail and actual cat ears. Her hair is bright, almost neon blue. It is straight, and on the tips it curves out a little. Her skin is pinkish, but the color is not as strongly dyed as Gretchen's. Her outfit is just a black, shining black jumpsuit that someway looks good on her. She has a blue belt the same color as her hair around her waist. "I'm Melania" says another one. Besides the shimmering black jumpsuit, she's totally different. She's a yellow bird. Skin is yellow, hair is in elaborate curls and twists and braids that are all put into a bun. She has actual wings that I'm g3uessing she can't really fly with. Her mouth is in a beak-like position, either because she puts it like that or because of some surgery. Finally, the last girl, says "And I'm Brandon" in a manly voice. Then  I realize he's a man. Whoops. His hair is long and straight, black on top and yellow on the bottom. He has fake freckles all over his face carefully drawn to look like extra eyes. Wings come out of his back. Small wings. His jumpsuit is not black. But it is shimmering. It is striped black and yellow. His lips, unlike anything else in his outfit, are not black or yellow. They are pure white. They scare me. "But you can call me either Bumble or Bumble Bee. You can call me Brandon if you'd like, I just prefer the nicknames." he says. After I'm done looking at them up and down, down and up, they wave away Gretchen, who followed me and Willard. Willard has disappeared without me noticing. Again. Lindsay, Melania, and Bumble (I've decided to call him Bumble) have a tub ready for me. It is has so many colors I don't really think I can name them all. I strip down in front of them, slowly, embarrassed. "Well, hurry up!" says Melania, and she starts taking my clothes off me herself. Be mentally prepared. And do not resist. I remember Coraline's words and stand there un-moving as Melania carries me into the tub as if she was just playing spa day and I was her doll. And this goes on for hours. They scrub me, they wax me (Ouch!!), they put Make-Up on me, and more. I feel horrible, but I don't show it. Finally, I am given a paper bathrobe and quickly moved to another room. There is only a 360 mirror, a closet, and a small circle elevated from the floor in the room. I keep walking, and my prep team leaves, taking my bathrobe with them. "Stand in the circle" Bumble whispers as he leaves. So I do. I stand in the circle in the room naked with a 360 mirror there to remind me of it. For minutes, I stand there. I'm about to leave the room when a man appears. "Hi. I'm Luke. Your stylist. Don't move. I'm just going to look at you." My body tenses all over. For some reason it feels different with him. With him, I want to cover my body. With him, I am not ready. But I don't move, looking at him. There is nothing to describe. He is not the sky. He is not a cat. He is not a yellow bird. He is not a bumble bee. He is a human. He is wearing an all-white outfit with gloves. He is wearing strong gold eye-shadow, lipstick, and nail polish, but no more than that. Besides that he is a normal human being.  For about fifteen minutes he just walks around and looks at me. Just when I'm about to start screaming, he pulls out a black bag with what I guess is a dress inside. "Close your eyes. I don't want you to open them until you are completely ready." he says. To make sure, he pulls a black stretchy band over my eyes. I feel him dress me. I feel the cloth against my skin. I feel the heaviness of something in my head. I feel the dress go all the way up to my fingertips, where it ends in a small glove that only covers my middle finger. But I still have no Idea of what this mystery outfit is. Luke leads me to a chair, then he starts working on my hair. I am still blindfolded. I can see nothing. After what seems like a millennium of seeing black, I feel Luke's strong hands pull my blindfold off my head. For a second I think I am seeing a picture of a beautiful young girl. But then I move. And she moves. And I realize it's me. It is very hard to explain my dress the right way. I am wearing layers. First, it's tights that are only visible because the have black leaves all over them.  Next is a white...leotard. It is strapless. It does not cover my arms. It does absolutely nothing to my legs. Next is a slightly transparent leotard. It covers about five inches of my arms and then it stops. Again, it leaves my legs alone. Next and last is a completely transparent shimmering dress. The center goes only down to my knees, and it extends on the sides down to my ankles. The sleeves go all the way to my wrists, and for each arm there is a small whole where my middle fingers go. And finally, sprouting from my arms and shoulders, and in my hair, is grain, sugar cane, and more, all sprouting from my delicate arms. There is a white crown on my head with white roses. I love white roses. Sometimes I ask myself, What reason could there be for someone to not like... maybe hate... white roses? . My crown is literally glowing.  I have very high heels that are completely white .The only reason I can walk is that there is an invisible sole in them that make me look way cooler than I am. Without thinking I hug Luke with all my might... but then quickly pull away. I got the best stylist in all of Panem (*From the Author- Except for Cinna, of course)  For a second I sense a glint of happiness that someone likes his work. But he instantly goes back to his confident, easy-going self. We are taken into a room with a curtain replacing the front wall where all the tributes are preparing for their chariot rides. Willard is already there when me and Luke get to the chariot. "Hey, Vanessa" he says to Willard's stylist. "Hello Luke" she says, too concentrated in fixing part of Willard's costume to really care. Willard is wearing something very similar to me. He's wearing a suit. He has layers, but they all cover the same amount of skin. Instead of having black-leave tights, he has black-leave gloves. His crown doesn't have flowers. It looks more like a king's crown. And of course, sprouting from all over his suit are all kinds of plants and crops we grow back on district eleven. I simply love it. We go into our chariot. My crown- or Willard's, for that matter- is not glowing. "It's just to save battery. I'll turn it on when you go out" Luke says with a wink when I ask him. 

So we wait. 

And we wait

And we wait

And then we get to do a little waiting...

Until finally, finally, out chariot slowly slides out of the dark room into the screaming crowds, who scream even louder when they see what we're wearing.  At first I don't know what to do. I stand there with a plastic smile and my arms by my sides. But then I get the hang of It. I extend my arms out so that the wind causes the plants to sway beautifully. I wave and blow kisses. I don't even look at Willard. I let out a big laugh. But I don't need to act. I'm actually enjoying this. It seems like I am the favorite of the Chariot Rides. Me. The ride ends as quickly as it started. We wait as the District 12 Chariot pulls up. The tributes look like they're about to cry. They are completely naked and painted black to represent coal dust. Their stylist must be insane. I'm glad I'm not them. The anthem plays and me and Willard are taken into what I think-- No, wait, what I know is... The Training Center. It's huge and amazing and... scary. very, very, very, very scary....

*Author's Note- Hey Guys! I am extremely proud of this chapter because of how long it is. About 1480 words! WOW! Anyways, I'm SO SO SORRY that I didn't update yesterday!! I had such a busy day, by the time I had one free second, I had to go to bed. But today I hopefully made it up for you guys by writing a very long and very exciting chapter! Yes, I did design the dress myself. I'm the incredible LUKE! Oh, and the part of the tributes from District 12 being naked I got from the book, because Katniss says that once that happened. I thought... why not? So.. yeah... I hoped you liked this chapter please vote and comment and follow me for more and BYE!!!