Sunflower Seeds

Chapter Five

    Flaurina is the first to spot the Capitol. She starts yelping about how much people are going to love us as soon as the lights coms into view. I can see the distant city from my bedroom, and my stomach cramps up every time I accidentally glance out the window, threatening to send my dinner back up. Niall sits next to me on the bed, a blanket wrapped around us both. We sit in silence and in darkness, the only light coming from the glowing Capitol that the train is rapidly approaching and from under the closed door. The mood between us is solemn, and the closer we get to the Capitol, the tighter my stomach twists. We get so close that I can just barely see people waiting in the station for us, and I bury my face in Niall's shoulder. Flaurina raps excitedly on the door, momentarily distracting me from our approaching doom.

    "Come on out! You've got to greet your adoring fans!" She squeals. The distraction is gone, and when Niall gets up to follow her, I just flop over in the space that he left, unable and unwilling to get up. He studies my limp form for only a second before scooping me up and carrying me over to where Flaurina is sitting by a window. The mountains come up at us so quickly, for a  moment I think we are going to crash into them, and then, as the train is encased in complete darkness, I remember the tunnels that pass through the mountains. They're the only way in and out of the Capitol. Flaurina bounces around excitedly, chittering about sponsers and such, while Niall and I watch the tunnel fly by in silence.

    After what feels like a millenium, the train begins to slow as we emerge from the tunnel, and the Capitol upclose is almost breathtaking. Even in the dark of the night, you can see the colors of the Capitol. The buildings, the cars, even the people are painted the colors of the rainbow. Excited citizens begin to point and cheer as our train pulls in, and I force a smile and wave. I can see some people reacting at the fact that Niall is holding me, but I mostly ignore them and focus on winning hearts, it may be our only chance at staying alive.

    As soon as the train pulls into the station and we are out of sight of the Capitol citizens, my hand drops like a dead-weight. Their enthusiasm makes me sick to my stomach.

    "I don't understand how they can cheer for us like that." I murmur after Flaurina has fluttered away. "Don't they understand that we are people, too? That we had lives before this?"

    "Guess not," Niall says flaty, "But in that case, we'd better give them what they are asking for."

    I frown and look up at him. "And what would that be?"

    His face is hard and expressionless, and his tone scares me.

    "A good show."

~

    I always knew that the makeovers they give us aren't exactly painless, but this is just torture. My prep team prances around me like a gaggle of geese, scrubbing every inch of my skin, rounding out any uneven surfaces, and ripping every stray hair from my body. They giggle and comment on how "dirty" I am, and how I am so unlike anything they've ever seen before, which is probably a complete lie because we've had some pretty awful-looking tributes from Nine. After they finish with me, I meet my stylist, but it's not who I'm expecting. The District Nine stylist that we've had for as long as I can remember is an older woman who has unnaturally platinum hair and the personality of a tiger. But she's not who walks in the room. Instead, it's a girl I've never seen before who's not much older than I am, probably ninteen or twenty, and she looks reasonably normal, not yet changed by the Capitol. She introduces herself to me as Granite, "like the rock". She's got coal black hair and contrastingly white skin, and she's probably the most petite person I've ever seen. Although she's soft-spoken, she's got a loud personality, and I suddenly feel very safe around her.

    "So what are you going to do, dip me in glue and cover me in grain?" I ask sarcastically, thinking of our tributes a few years back.

    "No, I think I want to focus more on the landscape of Nine. I traveled there when I was assigned. It's really pretty." Granite tells me. I think about that. I've only really seen Nine as a flat wasteland full of fields and prarie grass. If you're only there as a tourist, I suppose you could find it pretty.

    "What really caught my eye was the amount of sunflowers." Granite says softly, looking at my hair and taking in my body. Sunflowers. I think of Clara's sunflower that I put on the dresser of my room, and a lump forms in my throat. Clara... I'll probably never see my baby sister again. Thankfully, Granite doesn't notice my sudden change of mood as she gets to work on my costume.

    By the time Granite is finished wih me, I feel like a sunflower. My hair has been crafted into a multitude of petals with golden streakes infused in various places, and she's accented the shadows in my face with a brown powder, so my features look sharp, yet soft. She paints green and gold vines all up and down my arms and legs, then she puts me in a flowing, green tunic and I'm sprayed with something that makes me shimmer like I've been coated in dew.

    When I see Niall, I'm amazed at they pulled the whole flower thing off on a boy. The only really different thing about us is his hair, since his stylist couldn't exactly do full out petals, and the fact that he's got pants on under the tunic.

    We are quickly ushered to the bottom floor of the Remake Center, where we find ourselves in a giant stable. Granite leads us to our chariot, which is drawn by white horses, and helps us get situated. She and Nialls stylist, a young man with aqua blue hair and black and red tattoos covering his hands, stand back and study us, before Niall's stylist whispers something to Granite and she nods.

    "Hold hands when you go in." Granite says with a smile. I look over at Niall and he shrugs.

    "They know best, right?" He says with a smile, taking my hand. His grasp is strong and keeps me steady, because as the doors open to the stadium, I'm sure I'm going to pass out or something. The streets are lined with screaming citizens, and they get even louder as District Ones chariot pulls out, followed by Two, then Three and so on. The Career tributes look extremely glamourous, and they are always the favorites, you can hear it in the crowd. By the time it gets to us, my palms are sweating and my heart is pounding. How am I supposed to act? I need to win the crowd, but how? I glance over at Niall, and he looks extremely confident and proud, the dew spray making his skin seem almost radiant. My heart does a little flip, and I try to mimick his expression as we pull into the streets. The first thing I see when we pull out is the giant screen that is instantly focused on us. We look like we're sparkling in the bright lights, and the gold on my arms and in my hair shines. The biggest thing I notice is our confidence, which makes us glow even brigher. The crowd notices that Niall and I are holding hands, and they start to go crazy. I wave at the crowd, blowing occasional kisses into waiting hands. They go insane trying to catch my kisses, which makes me laugh. We pull around into the City Circle, where President Snow, the president of the Capitol, acknowlages us, and then we pull around one last time before disappearing into the Training Center, where we will be held until the Games.

    The doors slam shut behind us, and Granite and Nialls stylist, whom I still don't know the name of, run over to help us off the chariot. I notice I'm still locked to Niall, and I release his hand.

    "So, what did you think? Was I okay?" I ask Granite eagerly. She smiles at me.

    "I think you did great, Ty. You may even get a couple sponsers, if you keep it up." She says with a wink. I turn to Niall, a huge grin on my face.

    "We did it." I say, temporary relief flooding through me. He smiles back, and I notice again how amazing he looks. Maybe he should just shower in the dew stuff.

    "Maybe you were right, maybe we can make this work." He takes my hand again and gives it a squeeze before his stylist leads him off, leaving my head spinning and wondering how these next few days are going to play out.