Almost as soon as I sat down, Cato's name was called and he rose, leaving me alone with the rest of the tributes.
Believe it or not, but, every single one of the other tributes scared me, even that little girl from 11.
I sat as far back as I possibly could. In order to pass the time until Cato returned, I looked up at the screen seeing Cato's face. Man, he looked deadly.
"Welcome Cato! Now that you've received your training scores, how do you feel about going into the games?" I hear Ceasar ask.
"Well, I'm deadly, I'm dangerous, and I'm ready to go." Cato says with such an extreme confidence, that if I didn't know him as well as I do, I would have been terribly afraid of him.
"I know that no one is counting you out! Now, what I think we all want to know, is what's going on between you and your District partner." Ceasar says, wiggling his bright blue eyebrows, which draws a laugh from the crowd. Apparently my answer to this question wasn't enough for Panem.
"Well Ceasar, all that I can say is that Clove is very special to me. She's also someone that I DEFINITELY don't want to cross. I've seen her throw in training." Cato chuckles, smirking again, and it takes all of my will power not to sigh like a love-struck fool. Well, I kind of am.... Oh well.
I can feel all the other tributes eyes on me, but I don't care. My eyes were glued to the screen, watching and waiting for that buzzer to signal that he'll come back to me.
Ceasar laughed, the buzzer sounded, and my anxiety released the knots in my stomach, allowing me to relax.
"Well, thank you Cato! And may the odds be ever in your favor!" He says, shaking Cato's hand, and I can tell that he's trying not to wince as Cato's viper grip locks on his hand. I know that Cato wasn't trying to hurt him, he was just too strong for his own good.
Cato releases his grip, turns and walks off camera. My eyes immediately go to the entrance of the stage to see him walking towards me.
Thank goodness.
He sat down next to me, taking my hand once again. He was only ever this gentle around me, I knew that he would never hurt me.
I rested my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes, just faintly listening to the other interviews.
From what it sounded, Ceasar was really helping that girl from 11 out, Rue I think he said that her name is. District 11 doesn't really have too interesting a back ground, but he even made me want to bet on her. Of course as a tribute myself I can't bet on who will win. Anyways, her buzzer seemed to go off too soon, since the people in the audience let out a simultaneous sigh of disappointment as soon as the buzzer rang.
The boy from her district was HUGE and he looked extremely threatening. Throughout the entire interview he answered questions as plainly and quickly as he could with a mere yes or no, staring out into the crowd with silent distain. He made me uncomfortable.
Then it was Fire girl's turn. Man, her designer was talented. He had her in a white gown covered in jewels, and I hate to admit it, but I was really jealous.
Once she got on stage however, I could see how nervous she was. That relaxed me a bit. Maybe she wouldn't out show all of us again.
She didn't really make much of an impression, until she stood and twirled around in her dress. The light caught the multicolored jewels of the dress, making it seem as though she were going up in flames.
I felt the jealousy well up inside of me again, I fought with it, subdued it, then tried to eliminate it, but I wasn't all together successful.
Her buzzer went off and she left to sit down, and the boy from her district was called.
I have to say that his interview was amusing, at one point he and Ceasar took turns smelling each other. Even I couldn't help but laugh.
He didn't act at all serious until Ceasar asked him the final question.
"Peeta, tell me, do you have a special girl back home?" He hesitates, I raise my eyebrows, now wanting to know myself. He was no match to Cato, but he wasn't bad looking, I couldn't see how he didn't have a girl friend.
He shakes his head then. It wasn't at all believable.
"Handsome lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, what's her name?" Asks Ceasar, pressing the question firmly.
"Well there is this one girl. I've had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the reaping." Peeta says.
The crowd gives a sympathetic "awww"
"She have another fellow?" Ceasar asks.
"I don't know, but a lot of boys like her,"
"So, here's what you do. You win, you go home. She can't turn you down then, eh?" says Ceasar.
"I don't think it's going to work out. Winning... won't help in my case," says Peeta. I wonder why not. Nearly everyone loves a victor.
"Why ever not?" asks Ceasar.
Peeta stammers and barely manages to get the words out. "Because... because... she came here with me."
I froze. Did he mean Fire Girl? I felt my jaw drop. I didn't know what to do? Did she know about this?
I couldn't comprehend much after that, all I heard was a few moments later the buzzer went off, and Peeta left the stage and went back to his seat. I was coming out of my stupor, but Cato had to help me stand for the anthem. Then, without a word, we all left the stage.
