"I'm not leaving the room looking like this," I snarled, examing my bare chest against the vile mermaids tail that had been sucked onto my legs so tightly I could barely walk.
"They'll love it out there," said my main stylist who had a very offended look on her face while her arm was drapped around her assistant who had been in tears when I refused to put on the outfit and called her a few harmless rude names.
"How else do you expect to get sponsors?" asked the gruff voice of Finnick who'd emerged from behind the curtains without my notice, stood there with his arrms folded and his left eyebrow raised a little higher than usual, almost in amusement. Why did he find everything so funny?
"I don't need sponsors..." I mumbled, flicking my shell necklace, listening to the jingle it made as I did so.
"Do you want me to get your me mentor in here to talk you out of it?" he said like a parent telling off a small child, the way father or mother would talk to me when I was younger and mother was better. "Do you want me to get the Capitol to bring papa back? He won't be happy if he has to come all that way, and nor will Mr. Reffnot."
The thought of my mother made me flinch internally, and something that was obviously meant to be a joke stung me slightly. I put on a fake smile, but Finnick could clearly see through it from the years we spent as children, playfighing and been marked on how many bruises we gave each other, and gave me a confused glare before he shrugged past the curtains and back outside.
I shook off the woman who'd began to dust some sort of powder on my arms, and followed Finnick out of the room, much to the flustration of my prep team. My legs were stiff and I was basically waddling, my hair swaying just like they wanted it too, arguing over whether or not they wanted it cut or not for the majority of time I spent in their company, but in the end I kept the hair.
As I emerged round the corner and into an wide stable, filled with people, noise and twelve carriages, all decoarte dependant on the district. I looked around for a bush of sand-coloured hair that belonged to Finnick, but instead was just greeted by a very bizzare looking district ten mentor who was just glaring at me with the most absent expression.
I shrugged the thought of her out of my brain and waddled through the crowd to the bright blue sparkling chariot that obviously belonged to my home district. Almost seconds after I spotted out chariot, I saw Finnick next to it with a girl. Of course he was with a girl, he was Finnick Odiar..
I grinned as I came over to greet my old friend, wondering if it'd be awkward as he was getting quite intimate with the girl. She had hair aurburn like Annie, but this girl had darker and more smoother skin, and her hair was darker and glossier. Finnick had one had on her waist, and was smiling down at her while he played with the roots of her hair with his other hand. He looked like he really liked her.
He began to slowly kiss her, but strangely she made the first move. Mid way through their kiss, he noticed me walking over to him and I waved from the distance, his face instantly dropping, waving at me before whispering something to the girl after he pushed her away gently, her body suddenly becoming very stiff.
"When does this thing start?" I asked, smiling at Finnick, looking over to his female friend, my heart dive-bombing to the souls of my feet. "Aubrey?"
"You look great!" she said, her voice unrealistically high, a massive grin glowing on her face; she looked really happy. "Right.. erm, Nutmeg.."
"But you're my mentor," I croaked, my eyes shifting between them awkwardly. I always knew that they were close, and even kind of suspected that something more than casual friendship was going on between them, but seeing it was a different thing. I wouldn't say I felt jealous... but I felt jealous. Jealous and angry. They were both meant to be my friends...
"I'll go check that Jordie's looking after her alright," Finnick smiled. "I know you like her."
"She looked after me after the games," she said, looking very solom all of a sudden, becoming very interested in her feet.
"Stop worrying," Finnick whispered to her, making me cringe as he kissed her on the cheek and walked away, Aubrey's eyes staring after him with a weak smile right until he dissapeared out of the doors of the stable.
I glared at her, my inner feelings clearly showing on my face; not that I was making an effort to hide them. She caught my gaze copied it like she was my reflection.
"Don't look at me like that," she snarled, taking all the courage I had out of me with one bite. Within the five minutes I'd been stood with her I'd deduced a full rant, sermon and lecture to preach at her in the middle of the stable. How did she take the wind out of me with barel]y six words.
"What are you doing?" I growled, trying to seem equally as tough as her. I was a tributre afterall. But she's a victor.
"Don't you dare," she huffed, waggling her finger infront of me threateningly. "After all this time Denzel, you decide to spit your dummy out."
"I'm just doing what Albert would've done," I said, instantly regretting it after I'd said it.
I'm not sure if I was twice as frightened or relieved when she began to laugh manically, shaking her head, not removing her eyes from me.
"I'll mentor you," she said. "And I'll watch you die, and so will Annie, and so will your mama, and your brother, sisters, trainers, teachers, and then you might feel satisfied with what you've done."
And with that she walked away the exact way that Finnick went moments previously. When I climbed into the chariots when Nutmeg arrived in an equally flattering attire, I tried to forget her completely. Forget splashing water in her eyes off the egde of the peer, stealing from the stalls, ambushing Dalton, booby trapping our fathers boats, battling each other in the dome even though males and females weren't aloud until advanced class, but as the chariot rode on and the echos of the crowds cheers roared in my ears that was all I could think about. She was all I could think about.
