Lexi, Gwen, and I high-fived as we followed Bridgette to the other side of the car. “Guys, there are some newbies who are gonna join us!” Bridgette told the other 5 Careers and the two from District 3. “Cool.” Peyton said. “Hello, I’m Heather, and this is Penny” Heather said, pointing to her fellow District 2 tribute, “and these are Lulu, Cody, Bridgette, Peyton, Geoff, and Alex.” I looked at the other Careers and the pair from 3. They all seemed too nice to be Careers. Most of the Careers I’ve seen have been big, strong, powerful, intense, and ugly. Except for the people from 1, who were always sane, pretty, nicer than most Careers, and usually blonde. They were typically smarter about helpful things, too. It looked like Lulu and Cody were working on some sort of weapon they were inventing. District 3 is all about electrical devices. It looked like some sort of mega blowtorch. I got the chance to talk to each of them for a little bit. So far, I like Bridgette, Peyton, Alex, Penny, and Lulu the best. Penny and Heather are the leaders of the Careers. The rest are either other Careers or tagalongs like Lulu, Cody, Lexi, Gwen, and me. Sometime between our getting into the Careers group and being introduced to everyone, the train went into hyper drive and we reached the Capitol by 5:00. We had to do a chariot procession at 7:00, and interviews at 8:00 and tomorrow, the Games begin. When we reached a building in the Capitol, I was shoved into a large room and told to wait for my designer. He finally came in. His name was Cinna and he was to choose the outfit I’d wear in the procession. “You very much remind me of Katniss so I’m going to re-spark her statement. We aren’t going to put you in a coal miner’s outfit like those other designers usually did. We have to incorporate coal. And what do they do with coal? They burn it.” When we stepped out into the arena in those identical black jumpsuits with bright orange, yellow, and red capes and headdresses onto the chariots, I was scared to death. Cinna and Trent’s designer Portia were standing behind us. They suddenly blazed the capes and headdresses with a synthetic fire. I saw our mentors, Katniss and Peeta, sitting in the stands. They stood awestruck because they had done the exact same thing. We quickly removed the burning clothing after we returned inside. Katniss stood before me. “We have a new girl on fire.” She smiled. The interviews, hosted by Caesar Flickerman, helped me learn more about some of the others. Ally wants to come home to see her boyfriend. Izzy can’t stop talking once she starts. Alex has a hamster named Danny. For three months a year, Rayven’s a vampire. And so on. For this, Cinna gave me a black dress with orange, red, and yellow gems in the shapes of flames. I was the new girl on fire. Caesar kept asking me to twirl for him because the dress was so sparkly. “Déjà vu, wouldn’t you say? Looks like Courtney is our new girl on fire!” he told the audience. When it was Trent’s turn, he was cracking jokes from time to time. Finally, Caesar asked “So, is there a special someone that you want to acknowledge back home?” “Well, actually, there’s this one girl that I’ve had a crush on ever since I can remember. But she likes someone else.” He replied. “So, maybe if you won it’d get her to notice you!” Caesar spoke. “Well, winning wouldn’t help my cause.” Trent said. “Why ever not?” Caesar asked. “Well, uh, because, she came here along with me.” Trent answered.
