Filed To Story: Sunrise on the Reaping Book PDF Free
“You can’t say that!” Drusilla protests. “You’ll spoil the brilliant work I did covering up the riot!”
“What riot? Woodbine ran and your people shot him.”
“I know a riot when I see it! Never mind. That’s forbidden. It won’t win you any points with the audience anyway. They’ll respond to a bad boy, not a rebel. You need to be naughty, not dangerous. For instance, last winter, one of the University students dyed all the fountains pink when there was a face cream shortage. So saucy! Everyone loved it!”
I sense she’s actually trying to help, but . . . “Yeah, okay. But I’m going into the Hunger Games. I don’t think a face cream statement is going to cut it. Can I talk about spitting on the crowd?”
“Absolutely not! What will people do with that?”
“Well, if I can’t do the reaping, and I can’t do the spitting, what am I supposed to talk about?”
Drusilla thinks a moment. “You must be mysterious. Allude to radical behavior without being specific. The ones who witnessed the opening ceremony have already been gossiping. Let the audience use its imagination.”
“Naughty, not dangerous,” I repeat.
“That’s it. Be a rascal. A charming, naughty rascal.”
A rascal. That’s what Mamaw used to call a squirrel who’d sneak up on the porch to steal nuts she was shelling. Right from under her nose. Bold as a stump, but funny, too. “Well, I can try.”
I don’t get a chance, though, because right then, Proserpina and Vitus burst into the apartment in a state of agitation.
“It’s Magno. We went to his apartment to see the interview costumes so we can plan tonight’s makeup and hair -” begins Proserpina.
“We’re allowed to do that. Required to, actually, on our syllabus. So it’s not like we’re brownnosing or anything -” interjects Vitus.
“And the door to his apartment was wide open and he’s reeling around, he’s sick -“
“He’s puking all over the place and talking like a crazy person and -“
“We think the toad venom rumors might be true!” Proserpina claps her hands over her mouth as if she’s let some monster cat out of the bag.
“Rumors?” rants Drusilla. “That man’s been licking toads since the war. I can’t believe that even he would risk it during the Games. Oh, what am I saying? Of course I can. If for no other reason than to end my career!”
“Why would he lick toads?” asks Wyatt.
“Because he’s a reptilian freak! And he’ll do anything to take me down.”
“They say some kinds make you hallucinate or something. If they don’t kill you,” explains Vitus. “Some people do it for fun, but ugh, nasty.”
“I’m going to issue a formal complaint with the Gamemakers!” Drusilla grabs her handbag and storms out, effectively ending my interview practice.
“Do you two, perhaps, have any black clothing they could wear?” Wiress asks our prep team.
“Us?” asks Vitus in disbelief. “We don’t wear black!”
“It’s too depressing!” Proserpina bursts into tears, her magenta hair puffs bobbing wildly. “I need to call my sister.” She throws herself into a chair next to a table holding a burnt orange telephone, presses some buttons, and begins to wail into the receiver, “I’m going to fail! I’m going to fail!”
Mags corrals the rest of us, including Vitus, into the kitchen to eat bowls of strawberry ice cream.
After a few minutes, Proserpina joins us. “My sister says it isn’t our fault and to just do the best prep we can.” She slurps a big spoonful of ice cream, a last trickle of tears sliding down her flushed cheeks. “She says if they try to fail us, we can appeal to the University Board. My sister knows everybody on the University Board on account of how she used to be the student social planner and had to get everything approved.”
“Her sister’s amazing,” says Vitus.
“She is,” says Proserpina. “She was the president of the Capitol Cohorts Chapters. And she basically created the Spring Saturnalia her freshman year.”
“It’s the best party of the year,” Vitus tells us. “So much better than that tired old fling.”
“So much better,” echoes Proserpina. “Anyway, she thinks we’re going to be all right. Like she says, a positive attitude is ninety-seven percent of the battle.”
It’s so astonishingly self-absorbed, in the face of our impending deaths, that I don’t even know how to respond.
Maysilee, on the other hand, doesn’t miss a beat. “I’ll try to keep that in mind in the arena. More ice cream?”
Mags catches my eye, her smile barely suppressed.
Proserpina just holds out her bowl, oblivious. “I really think it will help you.”
Maysilee, Lou Lou, and Wyatt’s prep teams arrive, and we take turns in the bathrooms and bedrooms being groomed. I try to negotiate a few extra minutes floating in the tub so I can work out how I might come across as a rascal, but all I can think about is stealing nuts. I have a bad feeling I’m just going to come off as annoying.
Since they’re not trying to counteract the insecticides from the gym shower, the prep teams get better results with less effort, but they can’t compensate for our clothes. We were given a few changes of socks and underwear, but aside from that, we’ve been wearing our training outfits for three days straight. Lou Lou’s is as wrinkled as a raisin from her napping in it, Wyatt spilled mashed potatoes on his and scraping it off made it look worse, and I have a tear at my shoulder from when Panache attacked me. Even Maysilee, who looks the least crumpled, has a spattering of her homemade glue from working with tokens. On top of that, the cheap fabric really holds the smell of fear sweat that we’ve been pumping out, and that’s demoralizing even if the cameras won’t pick it up.
I try to keep a positive attitude, since that’s ninety-seven percent of the battle, reminding myself that at least we have black clothing that fits us and we have our tokens. But the truth can’t be denied. We look like what we are: neglected, no-account, not-worth-a-professional-stylist long shots from District 12. Who’s going to sponsor that?
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.