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PART II "THE GAMES"

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For a moment, the cameras hold on Peeta&039;s downcast eyes as what he says sinks in Then I can see nified on every screen as I realize, Me! He ether and stare at the floor, hoping this will conceal the e to boil up inside of me

"Oh, that is a piece of bad luck," says Caesar, and there&039;s a real edge of pain in his voice The crowd is onized cries

"It&039;s not good," agrees Peeta

"Well, I don&039;t think any of us can bla lady," says Caesar "She didn&039;t know?"

Peeta shakes his head "Not until now"

I allow h to see that the blush on my cheeks is unmistakable

"Wouldn&039;t you love to pull her back out here and get a response?" Caesar asks the audience The crowd screams assent "Sadly, rules are rules, and Katniss Everdeen&039;s time has been spent Well, best of luck to you, Peeta Mellark, and I think I speak for all of Paneo with yours"

The roar of the crowd is deafening Peeta has absolutely wiped the rest of us off the map with his declaration of love for me When the audience finally settles down, he chokes out a quiet "Thank you" and returns to his seat We stand for the anthem I have to raisethat every screen is now dominated by a shot of Peeta and me, separated by a few feet that in the viewers&039; heads can never be breached Poor tragic us

But I know better

After the anthe Center lobby and onto the elevators I make sure to veer into a car that does not contain Peeta The crowd slows our entourages of stylists and mentors and chaperones, so we have only each other for company No one speaks My elevator stops to deposit four tributes before I a on the twelfth floor Peeta has only just stepped from his car when I slam my pally urn filled with fake flowers The urn tips and shatters into hundreds of tiny pieces Peeta lands in the shards, and blood immediately flows frohast

"You had no right! No right to go saying those things about me!" I shout at him

Now the elevators open and the whole crew is there, Effie, Hay on?" says Effie, a note of hysteria in her voice "Did you fall?"

"After she shoved me," says Peeta as Effie and Cinna help him up

Haymitch turns on me "Shoved hi me into some kind of fool in front of the entire country?" I answer

"It wasas he pulls spikes of pottery from his palms "Haymitch just helped me with it"

"Yes, Haymitch is very helpful To you!" I say

"You are a fool," Hayust "Do you think he hurt you? That boy just gave you so you could never achieve on your own"

"He made me look weak!" I say

"He made you look desirable! And let&039;s face it, you can use all the help you can get in that department You were about as romantic as dirt until he said he wanted you Now they all do You&039;re all they&039;re talking about The star-crossed lovers from District Twelve!" says Haymitch

"But we&039;re not star-crossed lovers!" I say

Hayainst the wall "Who cares? It&039;s all a big show It&039;s all how you&039;re perceived The most I could say about you after your intervieas that you were nice enough, although that in itself was a small miracle Now I can say you&039;re a heartbreaker Oh, oh, oh, how the boys back hoet you more sponsors?"

The smell of wine on his breath makes me sick I shove his hands offto clear my head

Cinna coht, Katniss"

I don&039;t knohat to think "I should have been told, so I didn&039;t look so stupid"

"No, your reaction was perfect If you&039;d known, it wouldn&039;t have read as real," says Portia

"She&039;s just worried about her boyfriend," says Peeta gruffly, tossing away a bloody piece of the urn

My cheeks burn again at the thought of Gale "I don&039;t have a boyfriend"

"Whatever," says Peeta "But I bet he&039;s sh to know a bluff when he sees it Besides you didn&039;t say you loved me So what does it er fading I&039; I&039;ve been given an edge Hayht I survivedin a sparkling, dress Giggling The only moment of any substance I hail hen I talked about Prim Compare that with Thresh, his silent, deadly power, and I&039;ettable No, not entirely forgettable, I have

But now Peeta has made me an object of love Not just his To hear him tell it I have many admirers And if the audience really thinks we&039;re in love I rely they responded to his confession Star-crossed lovers Hayht, they eat that stuff up in the Capitol Suddenly I&039;m worried that I didn&039;t react properly

"After he said he loved me, did you think I could be in love with him, too?" I ask

"I did," says Portia "The way you avoided looking at the ca

"You&039;re golden, sweetheart You&039;re going to have sponsors lined up around the block," says Haymitch

I&039;e Peeta "I&039;m sorry I shoved you"

"Doesn&039;t al"

"Are your hands okay?" I ask "They&039;ll be all right," he says

In the silence that follows, delicious s room "Come on, let&039;s eat," says Haymitch We all follow hi too heavily, and Portia leads him off for medical treatment We start the cream and rose-petal soup without them By the time we&039;ve finished, they&039;re back Peeta&039;s hands are wrapped in bandages I can&039;t help feeling guilty Tomorroill be in the arena He has done me a favor and I have answered with an injury Will I never stop owing him?

After dinner, atch the replay in the sitting roo inPeeta actually is char as the boy in love And there I a and confused, made beautiful by Cinna&039;s hands, desirable by Peeta&039;s confession, tragic by circuettable

When the antheoes dark, a hush falls on the room Tomorrow at daill be roused and prepared for the arena The actual Games don&039;t start until ten because so many of the Capitol residents rise late But Peeta and Ihow far ill travel to the arena that has been prepared for this year&039;s Ga with us As soon as they leave here, they&039;ll be at the Ga up our sponsors, working out a strategy on how and when to deliver the gifts to us Cinna and Portia will travel with us to the very spot froood-byes must be said here

Effie takes both of us by the hand and, with actual tears in her eyes, wishes us well Thanks us for being the best tributes it has ever been her privilege to sponsor And then, because it&039;s Effie and she&039;s apparently required by law to say so awful, she adds "I wouldn&039;t be at all surprised if I finally get promoted to a decent district next year!"

Then she kisses us each on the cheek and hurries out, overco or the possible improvement of her fortunes

Haymitch crosses his arms and looks us both over