FOUL GAME | the hunger games

09- SUBTLE.

SUBTLE.

Eleven. A score of eleven. My heart begins to slow down but I can still feel it pumping in my chest.

The scream and excited roars from people around me now sound in my head as distant echoes from very far away, and even though they are echoes I can listen to every single one.

Phanuel is congratulating me, Lorraine is complimenting me. My prep team is praising me. Tulip is happy for me. Steffan is delighted. But I can't hear Fred's voice.

His hand on my own brings me back to reality and for a brief moment, a fraction of seconds, I can get that feeling of being back home.

But the good feeling ends as soon as I see Lorraine's face in front of mine, kissing both of my cheeks multiple times, and stopping just to kiss Phanuel's.

"My dear children! You've both made history today. I'm so proud of you." She said with tears rolling down her cheeks. She proceeded to sit in a distant chair to recover her composure.

The whole room started to calm down as well. Lorraine basically is the mood creature, if she is excited, so is everyone else. If she isn't present, everyone goes back to normal.

The girl from seven, Tiger-Lily, who was chattering with Oliver early today also scores a 7.

"Don't worry, she's probably been training with  axes for her whole life." Lorraine says from her chair while drying her tears.

Marie, the blonde girl from Eight scored a 6, and to everyone's surprise, Oliver scored an astonishing 8.

My mental note about not trusting him and avoiding him at all costs in the arena is now on the top of my to-do at the arena list.

I stop paying much attention after Oliver, but there's one thing about everyone that catches my attention the most; no one has a score below five.

I try to push away my fears as soon as Lorraine turns the television off. And grabs our hands to lead us to the table, which had an extravagant banquette with tons of different cheese and foods made with it.

"It's lighter than usual, since we've had brunch, but we've got to celebrate!" Lorraine says with tears still steaming down her face.

I look over at Phanuel to see his reaction. I know he struggled way more than me back in our district, since he was one of the low percentage of people who had to take tesserae. Saying the extravagant brunch we ate less than two hours ago wasn't enough and that we need a 'light' dinner which is probably more than what neither Phanuel or me could eat in a weeks sounds almost like an insult to me.

I don't know how these people can eat so much and remain relatively lean. Maybe calories are modified. Some of us in the districts could use that system, just the other way round.

"You guys, you did it amazing. I'm so proud of you." Fred is the first one to speak while he sits down next to me.

Dinner is alright, even though I can't even finish a plate. The rest of the night solely consists of compliments and happy and hopeful faces all around us. By the time we are required to go to bed I don't even complain to be able to get out of there.

༄༄༄

The next two days are supposed to be the most unbearable days. There's nothing else you can do other than prepare yourself for your last showcase with the wealthy capitol citizens. They literally pick their favourites as if we were lobsters in a tank.

I have Fred with me during the first day of training to tell me what to say and how to showcase me to the capitol, but it's useless. Both of us know that no matter what I did, I had very little chances of ruining everything, specially with an interviewer like Caesar.