Chapter 4

THANK YOU for all the lovely reviews on the last chapter, sorry that its taken me so long to update! But heres chapter 4, enjoy! x

We are sent into different rooms, I am told that I must strip off and wear a single robe that is in the room. I lie on the table waiting for someone to walk in when three capitol staff come in smiling brightly. All three of them look like typical capitol people, dressed in strange clothes, have strange coloured skin and over the top eye makeup and hair. They explain that they are my prep team, and are going to prep me for the games in terms of my looks. As soon as they walk in I am stripped from my robe, lying on the table naked. Each of them does something different to my body. They talk about a person called Portia and how she wants me to look untouched. I assume that this person is going to be my stylist for my time in the capitol. They strip some of the hair off my body, and off my face and cover me with different types of creams and liquids which are said to make sure that it does not grow back again. This means that I will never be able to grow a beard, I didn't want one anyway but it would be nice to have the option to. They also scrub every inch of me, making sure that I am clean enough. They did it so well that I think I wont have to wash for months after. I just lie there letting them get on with everything, Haymitch told me that I am not to resist so I don't, I don't even comment on what they are doing or ask about why they are doing it. They all seem to be pretty happy chatting to themselves, discussing things. Once they are done they tell me that I am to sit up and wait for Portia.

I debate whether or not to go and get the robe or not. But I don't even care about being naked anymore, they took the robe without even saying anything like it was completely normal. I wasn't given much choice, and after having three people working on my body for a few hours I no longer feel self-conscious. The door opened and a capitol woman walked it. She had darker skin, bright blonde hair, and some very bright pink makeup on. She had darker skin compared to the other capitol citizens that I had come across earlier in the day. Her skin looked like the hot chocolate that I had drunk earlier on the train, that was the best way that I could describe it. She handed me my robe straight away, it was like she knew that I would be uncomfortable with her looking at me naked.

"Hello Peeta, I am Portia" she had a softer voice that the others, she didn't talk as brightly as Effie does.

"Hi, I guess you're here to make me look like Prince Charming?" The Hunger Games, isn't supposed to be some sort of beauty contest. But everyone seems to make it into one, especially when the tributes do the opening ceremony. They are meant to dress as something that will remind them of their district. That and the interviews are very much about the beauty in everyone which tends to make the sponsors pick the better looking tributes.

"If you want to look at in that way yes, this is only my second year as a stylist"

"And they gave you district 12, unlucky you" No one ever wanted district 12 for anything. Effie didn't want to be the capitol representative, and the stylists never want to style our tributes. It was because there is very limited things that you can do with coal miners.

"I asked for this district, my partner Cinna just started this year and he wanted this district so I went along with him. For my first year they gave me something easy I guess, district 10 there is quite a lot you can do for their district"

"So what have you got planned for me then? The usual of miners outfits with the head torch's?" It was usual the district 12 tributes would be in something like miners outfits purely because it's the only thing that the stylists can think of doing. I'm pretty sure that one year, the tributes were completely naked and covered in coal dust I prayed that she does not make me do that.

"Me and Cinna have an idea. We wanted to make yours and Katniss's complement each other. We want to make you both unforgettable so that the sponsors remember you throughout the Games. Rather than looking at coal mining we looked at coal itself" We are going to be naked I thought, covered in coal with no clothes on. "Don't worry we aren't going to cover you in something, we are going to look at what you do with the coal"

"Well we burn it? Your going to cover me in flames aren't you?" Naked and covered in flame, that is going to hurt. Surely there is something that will stop them from doing that, it's not safe. It takes a few hours for me to get into the complete costume that Portia has designed. Its pretty simple, a black suit which covers me from ankles all the way up to my neck. I am then given shiny black boots to wear which laced up to my knees and a cape which was the colours of a flame. Portia tells me that they have planned to set my suit alight before the chariot goes. I am taken to go and meet Katniss, Portia and the team accompany me.

Relief washes over me when I see Katniss in exactly the same costume as me. I was worried that I was going to be in something completely different to her. She obviously looks a million times better in her costume than I do in mine. She looks more stunning that usual which I didn't think was humanly possible but she's topped herself again. She hasn't got loads of make-up on which surprised me slightly, she has subtle colours. I thought that she would come out looking like one of the capitol people with died skin. Obviously our stylists are different from the others, which is a good thing because they seem to really care. They want us to be remembered so that we get more sponsors and there is a bigger chance that at least one of us is going to win which of course will be Katniss. We are taken down to the bottom of the remake center, which is just a stable where the horses are kept. The capitol staff start to load the pairs of tributes onto the chariots. Each chariot will have two tributes in and it will pulled by 4 well trained horses which do not even need to be lead. Once we get to the chariot Cinna and Portia are arranging our positions straight away. They fiddle around with the way that we are stood, and the way that are capes look. Once they are done they move away to talk to each other.

"What do you think?" Katniss whispers to me. "About the fire?"

To be honest I'm slightly scared about the fire, I am worried that by the time we are halfway down we will already be burnt to a crisp. I know that Portia said that it was fake and especially designed for this but I still cant help but worry about it. Was she telling the truth? Or was this some sort of a plan from the game makers, cook the tributes before they are even trained. "I'll rip off your cap if you'll rip off mine" I say gritted through my teeth.

"Deal. I know we promised Haymitch we'd do exactly what they said, but I don't think he considered this angle" At least now that we have agreed that we will avoid getting worst burns that what we will get. As long as both of us agree whether we need to do it or not then we should avoid most of the burns. It would not surprise me if the capitol didn't care about it, they would put us into the games no matter what condition we where in. Then I noticed something all the other tributes had their mentors with them. Where was Haymitch? He was no where in sight.

"Where is Haymitch anyway? Isn't he supposed to protect us from this sort of thing?" I ask Katniss, I don't want it to be awkward between us so I strike up a conversation every chance I get possible.

"With all that alcohol in him, its probably not advisable to have him around an open flame" She says, I thought that maybe she was joking but by the sound of her voice she wasn't. But we found ourselves laughing about it. I don't know whether it was with nerves, or about what she had said about Haymitch. Our laughing is interrupted by the opening ceremony music begins. The ride will last about 20 minutes through the capitol and end up at the City Circle. The massive doors open to reveal the streets which where lined with Capitol citizens. The tributes from district one are the first to ride out on their chariot. As the tributes start moving out we move closer to the doors, as tributes from district 11 start to move out of the door Cinna appears with a lighted torch in his hand.

"Here we go then" he says, he doesn't give us chance to answer him or even react to what he says because he has already set the capes on fire. I was expecting to feel the heat on my back, but nothing just a slight tickling. He then climbs onto the chariot in front of us and sets the head dresses on fire. He lets out a sigh of relief "It works. Remember heads high. Smiles they are going to love you." He jumps off the chariot, we move along and he starts shouting at us. I look at him to try and see what he is saying. It looks like he is saying that we have to hold hands that can't be right surely? He wants me to hold Katniss's hand, the whole way down. None of the other tributes before us are doing this.

"What's he saying?" Asks Katniss, I look at her and she is dazzling with the light of the flame that she was covered in. She isn't going to believe me about what he was saying, she isn't going to want to hold my hand the whole trip. But I need to give her some idea to what he was saying, he wants us to hold hands. There is always a chance that she will agree to this but there is a chance that she will not as well.

"I think he wants us to hold hands" I don't give her the chance to react to what I'm saying because I grab her right hand so that it is in my left. We both look round to Cinna to see whether he was saying that, he nods his head and puts his thumbs up. That was the last thing that we both see before we enter the city. The crowd at first look was confusion about the way that we looked but then this turned to amazement. Shouts of 'District 12' where heard, everyone was looking at us. Even the crowd who are ahead of us, they are looking back to see us. The thought of this many people looking at me scares me slightly, I totally freeze. Then I catch sight of the both of us, in the chariot. We both look amazing with the flames on us, like burning coal. I see Katniss's face, she is smiling like crazy and is waving to the crowd whilst I am stood their like a statue. This was what Cinna was talking about we need to sell ourselves as well. I copy exactly what Katniss is doing, lift my chin up higher, smile and start waving to the crowd. I keep watch on us on the screens just to see what we look like. As we get closer to the centre, the crowds get more excited about us. They start shouting our names, they are screaming at us. The atmosphere is very excitable, everyone is going to remember us for this. We are going to be very hard to forget and its all thanks to Cinna and Portia. Things are being thrown at us, people are looking up our names in the programme just so they can shout them. Katniss is squeezing my hand so hard, that its beginning to loose the circulation. I don't mind though, I'm just as scared as she is but I am trying not to show it so that I can support her, make her feel better. Holding her hand is really helping because it is giving me support as well. I catch a glimpse of us in the screens along the side, Katniss looks worried.

She then tries to let go of my hand. "No don't let go of me" I tighten my grip on hers I don't want her to let go because I'm afraid that I will fall out. "Please. I might fall out of this thing"

"OK" she says, she keeps my hand in hers. She doesn't sound happy about the fact that we have to hold hands. Which I guess is why she tried to let go.

As we finish the journey through the capitol all of the chariots fill the loop of the City Circle right in front of President Snow's mansion. All of the houses around the circle have capitol citizens in the windows. As we come to a halt a slide back slightly but manage to regain my balance, so I don't fall out the back. Snow comes out on the balcony and gives a formal welcoming. The districts will all be watching this, so the camera people make sure that they focus in on the tributes during the speech. However I can see from the screens that they are focusing on me and Katniss more than the other tributes and from the look on Katniss's face she can see this as well. Then once the anthem starts playing the cameras quickly go around all of the other tributes, before it ends and we are moving again. We go around the circle once more before going into the training centre, and the doors close behind us. As soon as the doors close behind us our prep team are there helping us get down from the chariot. Our capes and headdresses are removed and Portia puts them out with a spray. Me and Katniss seem to still be holding hands sometime after we are off the chariot, she realises and releases her grip.

I have to start massaging my hand to get the blood flowing perfectly through it. "Thanks for keeping hold of me. I was getting a little shaky there" I say, this was part of the reason I did feel shaking and like I was going to fall. But I also just wanted to be closer to her, and hold her hand before we get into the arena and she or another person has to kill me.

"It didn't show, I'm sure no one noticed" she tells me, which makes me feel slightly more confident about my performance. I wanted to come across as not scared to be in the games, not afraid to die.

"I'm sure that they didn't notice anything but you. You should wear flames more often they suit you" I smile at her. She then kisses me on the cheek right on my bruise. I thought that it would hurt, because it was on my bruise but it dint. Her lips felt soft, I felt like I was on top of the world. There was a spark when she kissed me, I wonder whether she felt it too? A shiver ran up my spin. Katniss Everdeen just kissed me. I've fallen in love with her even more.

Thanks so much for reading, I would love to hear what you all thought of it. So please please review, it would mean alot to me. Thank you! xx