Chapter 3
Katniss thought is was strange to see the president here. She had never officially met him before. And in all honesty, she didn't really want to see him. What he was wearing was so ugly. And he smelled almost like…blood. Katniss pushed the thought away almost as soon as it entered her mind. Of course he couldn't smell like blood. The mere thought was laughable.
Katniss had no clue what he could be doing here. Well, it must have been important because he had traveled all the way from his city to see her. Maybe…he was here to give her a reward for being so awesome, yes, that must have been it. She hadn't done anything wrong lately, except maybe completely and totally defy the Capitol and undermine President Snow's authority.
But Katniss believed that wasn't going to make them mad at all.
Katniss had just wanted to stay alive. And so maybe, just maybe, she felt some kind of attraction to Peeta too.
But no, she had never meant to make it look like she was rebelling against the Capitol, even though she knew some people thought that. She didn't want to go against the Capitol—without it, where would the fashion world be? The only people who really cared about fashion anymore lived in the Capitol. Katniss thought that fashion should be a top priority for everyone. It was such an important part of their lives.
Katniss stood frozen, not really knowing how to react to seeing President Snow in her house. Should she say hi and offer him some cookies? Or should she get her ass out of there?
Katniss' brain decided that day would be one of the days when it would work even more slowly than usual—if that was possible—so she couldn't decide.
But of course, President Snow decided to break the uncomfortable silence.
"Off with your head!" President Snow yelled suddenly, pointing a fat finger at Katniss' head. The exclamation was so sudden that Katniss just stood there in shock. It seemed like that was getting to be a permanent position for her.
Katniss fingered her hair tentatively. "But if my head was cut off, I would be ugly." Katniss shuddered at the thought.
"I don't care! Now tell me the truth or you die!" President Snow's face was red with anger, but since he was a bit…on the chubby and short side, he looked more like a child having a temper tantrum than anything. Katniss bit the inside of her cheek, refraining from telling President Snow about the uncanny resemblance. If she did that, it would definitely be "off with her head". Actually, Katniss didn't even know that it was still a legal punishment. But she guessed it was more legal than…taking all of her makeup away. Now that would be bad.
"Stop being so difficult!" he yelled at Katniss, shaking a finger at her childishly. Katniss had to keep herself from laughing. There was a freaking grown man in her study acting like a 3-year-old.
"But I haven't even said anything yet," Katniss said through her—hopefully silent—giggles.
"Stop talking or I'll personally chop your head off!" President Snow threatened. The thought of this childish man doing something like chopping her head off almost made Katniss burst into hysterics. President Snow seemed to notice because he glared at her and pouted. "Anyone who went to such lengths to stay alive shouldn't want to throw it away. And you have your family to think of too. And all those…cousins." The way the president said this made Katniss shiver. His tone suggested that he thought there was something going on between Gale and Katniss. Katniss frowned. As hot as Gale was, he was soemo. There were so many hotter guys out there. Like Edward Cullen. Yes, Edward Cullen would definitely be a better boyfriend than poor, suicidal Gale.
"Whatever," Katniss said, waving her hand dismissively. It seemed that she didn't take this very seriously. But then, she never took anything—with the obvious exception of fashion and other girly things—seriously.
"We have a problem, Ms. Everdeen," President Snow said through gritted teeth. Now he just looked like a little kid who was trying to act like an adult. The whole thing was quite amusing. "And it began when you pulled those berries out in the arena."
Katniss paid no attention to what he was saying and took some nail polish out of her purse. She began painting her nails hot pink. She thought that was a very good color on her, indeed.
"And now the Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane has gotten his head chopped off! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" President Snow rubbed his hands together evilly. Now he just seemed like a child dressing up as a mad scientist. He didn't notice the fact that Katniss wasn't paying the least bit of attention to him. Instead, she was fully concentrating in making her nails look absolute perfect. Which was a very hard task.
"After that, I had no choice but to let you act out your little lovesick, idiotic teenage girl scheme. Though the idiotic part wasn't too hard, was it?" President Snow looked at Katniss condescendingly, but she showed no sign of having heard him at all. Instead, she was humming a song under her breath. President Snow just went on talking about stuff that Katniss didn't care about. If he wasn't the president, he would definitely be voted "Most Boring Person of the Year".
"Of course, a naïve girl like you wouldn't know this," President Snow continued on. "In many of the other stupid districts," President Snow paused to puff out his chest a little so that he could look more confident (something that was failing epically), "the people viewed it as an act of defiance. Now there might even be an uprising." President Snow paused as he contemplated this fact. "Well, actually, that might be a good thing because then I can chop more people's heads off."
Now Katniss was actually paying attention. After all, an uprising might mean less people caring about stuff like fashion. And that would mean…total chaos. "There have been uprisings?" Katniss asked hesitantly, almost afraid to find out the answer.
"Not yet. Our entire government could collapse. This could mean a full on rebellion! But on the bright side, more people will die," he said brightly.
Katniss just looked at him, not knowing what to say. "This is bad, right?" she asked, not knowing anything about war or government.
"Yes, you silly little girl. This is bad," President Snow sighed.
"Oh," Katniss said. Then she resumed painting her nails.
