Tidal ~ Hunger Games [2]

eight

+ phone call +

I sat on the back steps of the house, the backyard having neatly trimmed grass and a wooden swing set and monkey bars, which had been put there for the benefit of Zale. A mug of tea was in my hands as I watched my youngest brother on the swing, trying to get high enough so he could jump off, which he had done a million times already. The evening sun was beating down on us, the back doors open and the sound of mom cooking audible, the smell mingling out into the warm air outside.

"Watch this" Zale shouted at me as I looked up from the patch of grass I was staring at, a smile resting in my face as I leaned my elbows against the step behind me. "I'm watching" I called back with a nod of my head, Zale letting go of the chains as he leaped from the swing, landing on the grass as he tumbled over onto his back, laughing the whole time. I let out a laugh with a small shake of my head, watching him get straight back up as he wiped the dirt from his knees, giving me a thumbs up as he went back to the swing, not at all discouraged from his tumble. "Waverley, my dear" someone called from behind me, making me turn around to see my mom leaning out of the door. "The phone" she said simply as I stared back at her for a moment, her words bouncing off of me.

"Hmm?" I replied, sitting up straight as I furrowed my eyebrows at her, making her motion her thumb over her shoulder. "Daria is on the phone for you" she told me as I let out a small breath of realisation, getting up with a heave as I nodded my head at her. "Oh, right" I replied, turning towards her as I stayed where I was, having no idea where the phone actually was. "Where is that?" I asked her quickly, holding my mug down by my side as mom just simply smiled at me.

"In the office, last door past the bathroom" she told me as I nodded my head at her, turning back to look at Zale who was already swinging through the air. "I'll be back in a moment" I shouted to Zale who squinted his eyes as he looked over at me, nodding his head with a wide smile spread on his face. "I'll wait for you before I flip" he shouted back to me as I let out a small laugh, nodding my head in reply. "Okay doke" I shouted back to him as I walked into the kitchen, my mom already back to her cooking as I set my mug onto the island, my feet cold against the marble floor.

I made my way out of the kitchen, moving down the hallway to the open door that was at the end, the sound of my dads voice coming from it. "That sounds fun" he said as I stood in the door frame, my father standing with the phone held up to his face, turning to face me as he gave me a wide eyes look. He lowered the phone from his ear, resting it against his shoulder as he let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head at me. "She won't stop" he whispered as I smirked at him, letting out a small chuckle as I imagined Daria just blabbering on on the other side of the line.

"Okay, well here's Waverley now" dad said quickly, interrupting her half way through her chatter as he gave me the phone quickly like it was hot. I took it from him, thanking him as he left the room as quickly as he could. I let out a heavy sigh, lifting the phone to me ear as I mustered up the cheeriest voice I could create. "Hello?" I asked, my voice light and springy like it always was when I was talking to someone from the Capitol. "Waverley, darling, it's Daria here" she replied to me, her voice so shrill that I had to hold the phone slightly away from my ear, but I could hear it just the same.

"Hello, are you alright?" I asked her, running my finger along the smooth surface of the desk slowly, my feet feeling cold against the hardwood floor. "Perfectly adequate, and you?" Daria replied, making me let out a silent breath as I stood up on my toes for a moment, already bored of the phone call. "I'm fine thanks" I replied slowly, instinctively nodding my head as I set my clenched fist on the desk, knowing that I would probably be on the phone with Daria for a lot longer than I would like to be.

"That is just great, it is superb that you're adjusting just fine to being back home" Daria replied, her voice sounding just as shrill as I remember it being. "Adjusting" I replied back to her, picking up the base of the phone, which was black with the pristine gold rotating dial contrasting against it, in between my two fingers of my free hand. I walked around the desk, setting it down as I collapsed into the large brow leather chair which creaked under my weight as I brought my legs up, leaning them on the corner of the desk.

"So sorry to call you at such an odd time of the day, I've been terribly busy with starting the planning for your victory tour" Daria told me with a small laugh as I scrunched my eyebrows, leaning back in the chair as it reclined with me. "That's being planned already? It's not till winter" I replied, knowing that the Victory tour was one of the staple events a new victor had to go through, which was probably going to be a lot of smiling and waving from what I have seen from the previous years.

"There is so much to plan, sweetie" Daria said, completing it with a sharp laugh which sounded much more like a cackle. "I've been talking to Calix about your outfits already, you must call him to hear his ideas" she added as I leaned my head into the phone, balancing it against my shoulder as I let go of it clasped my hands over my stomach, already extremely bored of this conversation already. "I don't have his number, I wasn't even aware we had a phone" I replied quietly, no one having mentioned it before

"Of course you do, hun, how else may we keep in contact with you" Daria replied as if my cluelessness was the funniest thing in the world, chuckling under her breath as she finished it off with a light sigh. "Anyway I will get right to the point, I'm phoning about your talent, have you decided what you want to do yet?" she asked me as I sat up a bit straighter, proud that I had already thought about this, waiting for the day that I would be contacted to tell someone about it. "I have actually, I was thinking jewellery" I told her as she let out a quizzical hum and I could basically picture her nodding her head slowly like she always did. "Making it or wearing it?" she asked me with another one of her laughs, thinking it was hilarious as I forced out a laugh as well to indulge her a little bit. "Making" I replied, making her hum in agreement once again as I awaited a reply.

"That sounds absolutely wonderful" she exclaimed, the sounds of her hands clapping audible in the background as I opened my mouth to ask her just how talents worked, being interrupted before I could say anything. "I know so many people would be interested in wearing your pieces" Daria told me as I let out a small sigh, rubbing my lips together. "I'm not too sure I'll be that good" I replied with a small chuckle, knowing that my hands probably weren't going to be careful enough to actually make any pieces that were nice enough to wear.  "Oh let me tell you, no victor is ever good at their talents when they start" Daria said as leaned back in my chair once again, her small intake of breath telling me that she defiantly had an anecdote to add to that statement.

"I'll tell you about Crystal from District 1 who won her games a few years ago, her plan was to start playing piano"

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A/N: I know that I keep promising to update more and then I disappear but trust me I will not be giving up on this book. I might take a while to crank out some chapters but I will be updating every time I can!
please don't give up on my story it'll all fall into place eventually I promise!