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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act three.

(chapter forty-six, may i introduce!)

training centre, 74 ADD.

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JUNIPER FELT ANGER BUBBLE up in her stomach as she watched Nadine Groves pace up and down, heels clacking against the wooden floor. The Hale girl could hear the escort grumbling underneath her breath as she kept glancing towards the door where the two tributes had disappeared behind with their prep teams. They had been in there since the morning and the interviews were to happen soon and yet, they still had not come out. 

"Nadine, sit down," Juniper snapped, picking the skin off of her thumb as she clenched her jaw. "Your heels are giving me a headache." 

"Yara is giving me a headache!" Nadine screeched as she stopped in her tracks. "Where are they? They should be out by now." 

"Maybe Yara has a brilliant design she's taking her time on." 

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Juniper." Nadine waved her hand in the air. "When has Yara ever had a good design? Except for you, of course, but that's only because I pressured her into it!" 

Juniper left the skin of her thumb alone as she began to ball her hands into a fist. She didn't care that Yara and the other stylist were taking a long time preparing Dakota and Jeremy, but all she did care about was that the two kids weren't made fools by the costumes they were wearing. The Capitol people listed the cowboy outfits as cute during the Parade and they barely just got by.

"I'm going in there—" 

"Don't," Juniper warned as Nadine began to walk towards the door. "Don't get involved. And anyway, they aren't in there."

"What?" Nadine scoffed. "They have to be in there. They went through that door." 

"They don't get ready in that room, Nadine." Juniper shook her head. "They — you know what? Never mind." 

Nadine huffed as she resumed pacing and it caused the Hale girl to grit her teeth. However, she tried to ignore the escort as she became focused on Dakota and Jeremy. The girl had gotten a five for her personal evaluation whilst the boy got a seven. Not the highest, but not the lowest. They were good numbers and a good start. But Juniper feared for Jeremy as he complained on how his foot was becoming more painful as the days went on. The Hale girl supposed it was because of training, but she did warn the boy to not overexert himself. The Victor grumbled under her breath as she felt her heart thud and thud. 

"Oh, finally!" Nadine snapped. "What were you doing in there, Yara?" 

"Uh — styling the girl?" 

Juniper looked at the door to see Yara and the other stylist, who was an immense junkie that no-one barely saw him, with Dakota and Jeremy. And the Hale girl couldn't help but raise a brow when she saw them. The two kids looked nice, she would give them that, but whatever Yara was thinking, their outfits did not correlate with District Ten.

Dakota was decked out in a velvet, golden dress that wrapped around her entire being. Her legs, arms, waist, and neck were covered in the material and it was only her hands and face that Juniper could see. But Dakota was also covered in feathers that were sewn into the dress in an intricate detail. There was also a matching headpiece and her face was painted with flecks of gold makeup. 

And then Jeremy looked nearly the exact same with the substitute of a suit with a gold turtleneck. He too had feathers sewn into the material delicately with his face powdered with some sort of glitter that made him shimmer. It wasn't enough to be classed as ridiculous since it did look quite nice on the boy, but Juniper had a hard time gathering what the outfits meant to District Ten. 

"Isn't it good?" Yara smiled as she gestured at the two kids, who cowered. The other stylist slipped away. "It's amazing."

"Amazing...?" Nadine mumbled. "Amazing? What are these feathers for?" 

"Because it's District Ten, you idiot," Yara replied as she scrunched up her nose at the escort. 

Juniper blinked as she stared at the two kids as she said, "I think you're misunderstanding what District Ten is about, Yara." 

The stylist narrowed her eyes at the Victor as she pursed her inflated lips, saying, "And why do you think that, Juniper? District Ten specialises in animals. Feathers are part of animals."

"Are you that dumb you don't know what Ten is about?" Juniper scoffed. "The only feathered animals we have are chickens and we don't specialise in them. We specialise in slaughterhouses and cattle." 

"Oh, well, do you want me to dress them up in meat?" 

Yara's nostrils flared and Juniper decided to drop the subject as she felt her hope deflate. They all began to head to the elevator with Brent Higgins nowhere to be seen and when they went to the certain floor where the tributes would wait before taking the stage, Juniper felt all dreams of her kids winning disappear entirely. 

"Oh, you're joking..."

The first tribute that caught Juniper's eyes as the doors opened was the girl from Twelve. She had been the talk of the town within the Capitol ever since her Tribute Parade and ever since she got an eleven during her personal evaluation. It didn't help that she had volunteered, especially from an outlier district. And her having a good stylist didn't contribute either. 

The sixteen-year-old's flesh glowed satin. She had strands of red weaved into a pattern that began at her left ear, wrapping around her head, then falling into one braid down her right shoulder. Her face was erased with a layer of pale makeup with her features drawn on. Dark eyes. Full, red lips. Lashes that threw off bits of light when she blinked. And then her dress was entirely covered in reflective gems of red, yellow, and white with bits of blue. It looked as if she was on fire. Dakota and Jeremy looked pathetic as they lined up in-front of her. 

"Right..." Juniper grumbled at the two. "Try and catch the Capitol's attention. Just remember what we practised yesterday."

The girl and boy both nodded with winces and before Juniper left with the other mentors, she stared directly at the female from Twelve. She didn't have a dislike for the girl. Her being the star of the Tribute Parade, and soon the interviews, was just a tactic. She just wanted to survive and Juniper couldn't blame her for that. 

Caesar Flickerman was set to start his spiel once all the tributes were on the stage and so, Juniper hurried down a corridor with the other mentors and took a sharp right that led to a set of short stairs. Then, there was an archway that revealed their elevated seating unit. 

The interviews were done outside of the Training Centre and it was standing room only with the City Circle and avenues packed, but there was an elevated seating unit set up for prestigious guests such as the mentors that bothered to come to the interviews. The stylists took up the front row, for the cameras would turn to them when the crowd was reacting to their handiwork. And then a large balcony off a building to the right was reserved for the Gamemakers with the others being filled by television crews. Everyone in Panem would be watching, every TV would be switched on. 

"Juniper." The sound of Haymitch Abernathy's voice filled the Hale girl's ears. "Fancy seeing you here." 

"Haymitch." Juniper shook her head as she looked over her shoulder. He was decently dressed and tried to make an effort for the evening. "Nice tributes."

"They're a work in progress..." Haymitch grumbled as he shoved his hands in his pockets. The pair sat down in two spare seats just as the music began playing. 

The tributes began to walk single-file onto the stage and as they did, the standing crowd slightly below went wild as they began to scream and clap. Their thunderous applause rattled nearly every bone in Juniper's being, but she ignored it as she tried to find Finnick within the little raised platform and when she did, she found him sitting with the female mentor from Four. They both gave each other small smiles before setting their attention on the stage.

Once all the tributes had sat down in their chairs, Caesar Flickerman came bouncing out. This year, his hair was a powder blue with his eyelids and lips coated in the same hue. He looked slightly scary with his pure white makeup, but less frightening than last year when his yearly colour change was a crimson red, looking as if he was bleeding. 

"Thank you! Thank you." Caesar waved to the crowd as they all roared for him, loud music blasting from the speakers that surrounded them all. "Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome to the Seventy-Fourth Annual Hunger Games!" 

Juniper swallowed a lump in her throat as she watched Haymitch fish out a flask from his jacket. His tributes weren't until the very last so he could relax until then and surely, Juniper should too, but she felt very uneasy. Especially when she turned her head to the side to find two loony mentors looking back at her. They both had ashen skin and black hair with the man having ill-fitting glasses and both were very twitchy and nervous. Juniper was sure she had seen those two faces before from when they were much younger, but she couldn't match names or districts to them. 

"Now," Caesar continued, causing Juniper to turn her head back to him. "In about five minutes, we are going to speak to these very tributes, the tributes that you have heard so much about. Are you excited? Let me hear it!" 

The man began to tell a few jokes to warm up the audience like any talk-show host would before a spotlight donned down onto the first tribute. It was a Career, the girl from One. She looked too much like Cashmere and Satin with her emerald green eyes and flowing blonde hair. 

"Let's see if she does indeed shine..." Caesar began to say. "Let's have a warm round of applause for Glimmer!" 

The Victor from Ten nearly scoffed at the name as she watched the girl walk into the centre of the stage to join Caesar in a see-through, gold gown. Juniper winced at how provocative the girl looked. She was sure she was only seventeen. The Hale Victor looked over at Cashmere to see her, too, wincing. Juniper clenched her jaw as she looked back. That girl wouldn't win and it was best if she didn't. 

Caesar began to ask questions to Glimmer and Juniper zoned out for most of it, but was only able to catch the host saying, "Glimmer, are you prepared?" 

"Yes, Caesar, I am very prepared," she said in return, flicking her flowing, blonde hair over her shoulder. 

"I like it. That's assurance. That's self-assurance." 

Her interview went on for three minutes and nearly every mentor let out a huge sigh when the buzzer went off. Except for the two next to Juniper. Haymitch didn't seem to notice them and she would normally ask him who they were, but he was too busy nursing his flask to pay any attention. And so, the Hale girl resorted to sneakily studying them. They looked to be from Three. Or Six, but they didn't look like morphling addicts. Or they could be with the way their limbs twitched every now and then. 

"Give a round of applause for Marvel!" 

The boy from One, Marvel, was already finished and Juniper knew neither he or his district partner could win. Glimmer was too obsessed with her looks, too ditsy, and Marvel was skinny and tall rather than muscular and fit. And like Juniper thought at the Tribute Parade, she knew they would not be in the top five. 

Next, it was the girl from Two. Juniper knew she would be in the running to win with how she was healthy, brawny, and fit. She wore a a pretty, orange dress and her dark hair was done in an intricate braid atop her head that flowed down her back. But she wasn't like Glimmer from One. She was more ruthless and more dedicated than she ever would be. 

"Welcome, Clove," Caesar greeted.

And that was all Juniper got as she began to zone out once more. She didn't care for the other tributes. She only cared about Dakota and Jeremy. And Haymitch only cared about his two kids, Katniss and Peeta. The two Victors' would occasionally glance at each other during Clove's interview where she was arrogant and sarcastic and even during the boy from Two's turn as well. 

"It's an honour representing my district." The boy's name was Cato and he was a physical wonder with a robust and powerful stature. He was the target out of the tributes with his blue eyes menacing. He was a classic Career. 

"You're a fighter!" Caesar laughed. 

"I'm prepared, vicious," Cato said boldly. Juniper nearly scoffed. "I'm ready to go."

Once Cato was off, the Hale girl turned to face the two loons beside her to see that they were already looking at her. The man was studying her with caution and yet wonder whilst the woman's eyes were wide open. Juniper raised a brow and when Caesar began to announce the girl from Three, both mentors snapped their heads back to the stage. They were the Victors' from Three and there were only two winners from that district. 

They were what the other mentors called Nuts and Volts. 

"You're the mentors from Three," Juniper said as she leaned to the side slightly to talk to them better. She wasn't the newest Victor, but was still learning all the other mentors that she was not brought up with. She was sure Nuts and Volts had both won around the Fortieth, a set of Games that were rarely spoken about. 

"Are you asking a question or stating a fact?" Volts replied. He was twitchy and nervous. "If it's the latter, then you are the mentor from Ten. Stating facts." 

"Right..." 

Juniper was going to lean backwards and mumble some insults about them to Haymitch, but the woman, Nuts, let out a little gasp as she pointed to the stage. The Victor from Ten looked to see that the little girl from Three was rising from her chair. She was thirteen and had no chance. She was too lanky and weak for the Hunger Games and Dakota had told Juniper how the girl split her lip during training, making a fool of herself to the Careers'. And the Hale mentor could see that as she watched how Glimmer, Marvel, Cato, and Clove all laughed quietly in their seats. Both Nuts and Volts muttered something under their breaths and even Haymitch leaned forwards in his chair to eye them with a raised brow. 

"What are their real names?" Juniper grumbled to the man from Twelve. "I keep calling them Nuts and Volts in my head." 

"Beetee and Wiress..." Haymitch told her. "Beetee is Volts, Wiress is Nuts. They won the Thirty-Ninth and Forty-First." 

"How?"  Juniper scoffed as she eyed their states. Both were muttering under their breaths still as the girl did her interview with Caesar. It was nothing special. 

"He electrocuted the final six since he's so tech-savvy," said Haymitch. "And her... I genuinely have no idea. I suppose she outsmarted them all."

"How can she outsmart twenty-three tributes?" 

"I don't think she was always that nuts." 

Juniper let out a sigh as she returned her gaze back to the stage. The three minutes were soon to be up and the girl hadn't given any memorable information. She was scared, but Juniper didn't blame her. This was only her second Reaping. She would only have two slips in the glass bowl. And when the buzzer went off, the girl slowly went back to her chair and looked as if she was about to cry. 

"Ah — what did I miss?" 

Juniper bit her lip and narrowed her eyes as she looked over her shoulder to see a rather drunk Brent Higgins behind her. He held a glass and flask in both hands and was sitting down in a seat next to the woman from Eight as well as Blight from Seven, the man Juniper met at the Parade. He looked at the woman, Cecelia, suggestively before turning his attention back to the Hale girl. 

"So?" 

"It's only District Three, Brent." Juniper turned back around. "You haven't missed anything." 

"Hm..." Brent shrugged. "Oh, Nuts and Volts! And Haymitch, good to see you." 

Juniper rolled her eyes and heard Haymitch mutter to her, "I know I'm a drunk, but I'm not that bad." 

Suddenly, another little gasp from Wiress was let out and Juniper watched as the boy from Three stood up, walking towards Caesar. He wore a yellow suit with a black shirt underneath it and there was, truly, nothing special about him. Jeremy had told Juniper how the boy tried to fit in with the Careers', laughing reluctantly when his district partner got hurt just to make them like him. But he was only fourteen and could never win. His interview flew past. 

The Hale girl saw the hope deflate in both Wiress's and Beetee's faces at how poorly their tributes did and so, she said, "I'm Juniper, by the way." 

Beetee was the first one to look at her and when he did, something flickered in his eyes as he stated, "Yes, we know... we know very well who you are, Juniper Hale." 

"Seventy-Second..." Wiress mumbled and Juniper gathered why she was given her nickname of Nuts. "Seventy-Second." 

"Yes, Seventy-Second." Beetee nodded at his female counterpart. "Juniper Hale won the Seventy-Second."

"District Eight came..." 

"... second, yes." 

Juniper clenched her jaw as she watched the two. She gathered that Wiress was not able to finish her own sentences and that Beetee had to help her finish them. And with that, immense awkwardness filled the Hale girl up as she turned her attention back to the stage. Marina from Four, Finnick's tribute, was up. 

"I am sorry about that... we figured that your Games is a touchy subject..." Beetee mumbled to Juniper. His fingertips started twitching. "Well... all Hunger Games are touchy subjects." 

The Hale girl narrowed her eyes at the man's rambling and tried to focus on Finnick's tribute. She seemed to be doing well. Juniper supposed she would be with Finnick as her mentor. But she couldn't seem to concentrate as she could still feel Beetee's eyes on her. 

"Can I help you?" Juniper snapped. She really wanted to focus on Marina. 

"I just find it odd... that you have been here two years in a row..."

Juniper raised a brow. 

"Normally, if there are two or more female Victors', they get rotated when it comes to mentoring," Beetee explained. "And in District Ten, there is you and Lucy Stevens, but yet the latter has not come since you have won... why is that?"

Juniper knew exactly why that was, but she didn't want to talk about it to Beetee or Wiress, who was listening intently, and so she shrugged, saying, "I don't know. I suppose the kids have a greater chance in having me as a mentor than Lucy."

"Yes, perhaps," Beetee murmured. "You did manage to mentor a tribute to becoming second last year." 

Juniper merely hummed at that and was dedicated to now shutting Beetee and Wiress out as the boy from Four, the tiny twelve-year-old, got up from his seat. And she was nearly succeeding considering there was a minute left for the boy's interview until suddenly, Wiress spoke up once more. 

"Sold." 

The Hale girl snapped her head to the side so quickly that she thought she pulled a muscle when her neck began to ache. But any pain she felt was suddenly drowned when the immense anger began to wash over her, Juniper narrowing her eyes at the woman from Three. She could feel her chest rising up and down slowly and Wiress began to cower away slightly whilst Beetee tried to give her a smile. 

Sold. 

Juniper bit the inside of her mouth. How did Wiress know? Had Cashmere been going around, telling everyone? Or did Snow advertise to those in the Capitol? Juniper didn't know and didn't want to. What her and Snow spoke about on her eighteenth was between her and Snow. And it wasn't like she enjoyed doing it. She did it for her father, to save him. How could Wiress just freely speak that out?

Juniper tried to blame it on her craziness, but she had to grip tight on her chair as District Five, Six, and Seven flew past. She could feel something growl in her throat and Juniper scanned the audience. She latched her eyes onto the Gamemakers' balcony to see Seneca Crane laughing along with the crowd. Snow wasn't here, he was probably watching at home, but the Hale girl could still feel his venomous eyes on her. And suddenly, it felt like everyone's eyes were still on her. 

She jumped when Brent leaned forwards to whisper to her, "One more to go, Missy." 

And he was right. Juniper narrowed her eyes at Wiress and Beetee before focusing on the stage. The male from Nine was already wrapping up his interview and next, it would be Dakota. Juniper tried to shove down whatever lingering thoughts she had and watched the girl. She was fidgeting nervously within her chair. 

"Now..." Caesar drew out. "We have a very special guest... give it up for Dakota from Ten!" 

The crowd went crazy and Juniper leaned her elbows onto her knees as she stared at the girl. She got up slowly from her chair and nearly tripped on her way to Caesar, but regained her composure as she met him to the middle. But the entire three minutes that Dakota did her interview, Juniper only had one thing within her mind. 

Sold. 

How could Wiress possibly know? Could she look at Juniper and just tell? Or did it practically reek off of the girl? The Victor didn't know and it wasn't something she would like to think about, but the moment Wiress said that one word, it consumed her entire being. The loon must know that Juniper wasn't doing it for fun, that she actually enjoyed it. Juniper Hale was doing it to save the only family she had left, her father. 

"You didn't pay attention to either of your kids," Haymitch said and when Juniper glanced up, she saw that Jeremy was already sitting back down in his chair.

"Oh..." Juniper murmured. When she looked behind her, Brent was gone. "I was... never mind." 

Haymitch looked at her funny, but he remained silent as they watched Eleven go by. And soon, they were calling Katniss, the girl from Twelve who was bedazzled in gems. She got up and made her to the centre of the stage, shaking Caesar's outstretched hand. Juniper tried to not feel guilty about her own tributes as she watched Katniss. 

"So, Katniss, the Capitol must be quite a change from District Twelve. What's impressed you most since you arrived here?" 

Katniss blanched as she frantically began to search the crowd, looking as if she was trying to find someone. And then suddenly, her eyes relaxed slightly as she answered, in a shaky voice, "The lamb stew." 

Caesar laughed and some of the audience joined in.

"The one with the dried plums?" Caesar asked and when the girl nodded he added, "Oh, I eat it by the bucketful" — he turned sideways to the audience in horror, hand on his stomach — "it doesn't show, does it?"

Juniper clenched her jaw as she heard the crowd shout reassurances to him and applaud. In any of the outlier districts, a round belly was a sort of accomplishment. Looking old was an achievement. But here, in the Capitol, it was frowned upon. Everyone wanted to look young and thin whilst the districts barely looked alive.

"Now, Katniss," the host continued. "When you came out in the opening ceremonies, my heart actually stopped. What did you think of that costume?" 

Katniss looked at someone in the crowd before responding, "You mean after I got over my fear of being burned alive?"

There was a big laugh from the audience.

"Yes. Start then." 

"I thought Cinna was brilliant and it was the most gorgeous costume I'd ever seen and I couldn't believe I was wearing it. I can't believe I'm wearing this, either. I mean, look at it!"

The girl began to spin and the audience's reaction was immediate, cries of delight and curiosity bouncing off all of the balconies. Juniper turned to look at Haymitch. 

"Oh, do that again!" Caesar laughed. 

So she did. Katniss lifted up her arms and spun around, letting her skirt fly out. And suddenly, the dress lit up in flames, much like it did during the Parade. It was all flickery, but very impressive as the audience broke into cheers. 

Katniss's interview went on and when the buzzer went off, everyone in the crowd stood up and applauded her as she went back to her seat. But the mentors didn't. Some clapped, some didn't. Juniper did as she looked at Haymitch, who just shrugged. 

Then suddenly, they introduced Peeta and from the moment he was greeted by Caesar, he had the audience in fits of laughter. He explained how he was the baker's son and began to compare the tributes to breads. He began to speak an anecdote about the Capitol showers. And then Caesar asked the boy if he had a girlfriend back home. Peeta hesitated and gave an unconvincing shake of his head. 

"Handsome lad like you, there must be some special girl," Caesar said. "Come on, what's her name?" 

Peeta sighed before replying, "Well, there is this one girl. I've had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the Reaping."

"She have another fellow?" Caesar winced. 

"I don't know, but a lot of boys like her." 

"So, here's what you do," Caesar began to say encouragingly. "You win, you go home. She can't turn you down then, eh?" 

Peeta shook his head as he said, "I don't think it's going to work out. Winning... won't help in my case." 

"Why ever not?" Caesar asked, confused. 

The boy began to blush and barely stammered, "Because... because... she came here with me." 

In that moment, Juniper Hale decided she did not like Peeta and Katniss from District Twelve.