Harper Coyle's P.O.V. (D4)

"It's just one last quick interview with Julius before you go back to your District, it's no big deal," Mari says, straightening my tie, and I fidget with the small microphone attached to my ear, "There isn't even a crowd."

"But it's still going to be live, so yeah, there basically is a crowd, unless you aren't counting the entirety of Panem," I correct with a small roll of my eyes. Mari frowns at me and blinks. Her long, blue eyelashes flap as she blinks again and turns away.

"Well, you better not have that sour attitude when you're on camera in a few minutes!" Mari scolds as she saunters out of the room. I stick my tongue out at her before looking back at the mirror with a scowl.

I don't want to have another interview. I don't want to do anything else that has to do with the Capitol or the Hunger Games. Janice and I won, so big deal. Someone wins every year. Can't they leave us alone now? No, they'll probably keep us here forever, because we both won. We still have to do the stupid Victory Tour, and after that, we'll probably start mentoring. I wonder if the President would even allow us to mentor though, just as another precaution to keep something from starting up.

A soft knock on the door breaks me out of my thoughts. I see Vinis leaning against the doorway with a serious look on his face.

"What did Pau tell you? Make it convincing," Vinis starts, and I can feel a whole speech coming on, "You and Janice need to act like you really didn't know this would happen, which, you didn't, and you need to really stress that it was the Gamemakers that made you both win. The President needs Panem to know that. Sure, we all know that you both won because of the Gamemakers, but the rest of the world doesn't. Some of them are starting to think that maybe it was all set up, and that you two were meant to win all along. Towards the end, almost everyone was rooting for both of you."

I frown, "People actually think that?"

Vinis just stares at me for a moment before turning away, "You're live in five minutes, so I'd get out there if I were you."

I watch him walk the whole way out of the dressing room area and over to the interview set. For some reason, his words keep repeating themselves in my head. Some of them are starting to think that maybe it was all set up, and that you two were meant to win all along. Why is that bothering me so much? Maybe because the Games were somehow rigged so we would both win? But how could that've happened? The Games didn't exactly seem like they were going in our favor, so if it was somehow rigged, whoever did it really made it look convincing. The question is why would someone rig it for Janice and I to win? Of all people, why us?

"Harper!" Mari calls from the set, "You have ten seconds to be out here!"

I roll my eyes again and run a hand through my hair as I pull my tie off. I don't care if Mari took the time to straighten it, I told them I hate ties. I toss the tie into a trash bin as I jog over to where Julius and Janice are waiting for me. There isn't a crowd, other than a few cameramen, which makes me feel a bit relieved, but I still know that everyone will be watching. A camera is pointed directly at Julius and Janice, but I can see the cameraman still counting down with his fingers how much time I have until they go live.

I dive onto the couch beside Janice and manage to sit up properly by the time the cameraman only has one last finger held up. When a red light on the camera switches on, Julius and Janice beam their best smiles. I awkwardly force a smile a few seconds after I noticed them.

"Hello, Panem! Today, as you all know, we have our lovely Victors here for one last interview about their thrilling experience in the Games, before we get to witness them receive their crowns of victory later this evening!" Julius announces loudly, clapping his hands together, "So, let's ask these two some questions!"

I wince, hoping this will be over quickly. Julius looks at me first, "Harper, what was your favorite part of the Games?"

I go serious as I stare at him blankly. Did he seriously just ask that? What am I supposed to say? When I mercilessly murdered five people?!

I search for an answer as he smiles at me patiently. Finally, I blurt out, "Um...maybe when the arena first changed?"

Julius leans back, "Ahhh, the tropical arena with all of the water. I can see why you liked that!"

I force a short laugh. I didn't like it at all...I didn't like anything.

"Janice, how did you feel when Steve died and it was just you and Harper?" Julius switches to Janice and I hear her gulp as her smile fades as well. Man, he really picked the best possible questions for this.

Janice stutters with her words, giving me a look, "U-um, well, I wasn't feeling good, if that's what you mean. That was one of the worst days I've ever lived."

"I see..." Julius comments solemnly, but his acting is terrible, "So what was going through your minds when you found out you had both won?"

He's addressing both of us. I decide to answer first, knowing that Janice is still uncomfortable about the last question.

"It was unexpected. I honestly couldn't believe it," I say, then I remember what Vinis said, "But, I understood it perfectly after my mentor explained that it was the Gamemakers' decision. Apparently, if they hadn't saved both of us, there wouldn't be a Victor, so they made the choice..."

"A good one they made, at that! You do realize that almost everyone wanted you two to win, but they couldn't choose," Julius reminds me. I look into the small crowd of cameramen and see Vinis standing there, nodding at me. He's standing so stiff, so serious. Vinis has always had more of a...mysterious personality. It's impossible to tell what he's thinking. Did he like how I answered it? Does he disapprove? Does he want me to say more?

"...don't you think?" I snap back to the interview and find Julius and Janice staring at me patiently. I assume I was just asked something.

I chuckle, "I'm sorry, I missed that."

"I asked if you're glad you and Janice are the Victors?" Julius repeats.

"Yes, of course!" I reply quickly, knowing that I would probably actually prefer to be dead right now. I don't know how he'd react to that though.

"Well then, I guess that wraps this up! Thank you for talking with me, I'm so glad that we got to see each other again." Julius stands up and shakes my hand before kissing the top of Janice's hand and facing the camera, "I'll see you later at the Coronation in the President's mansion, ladies and gentlemen! But first allow me to present," Julius grabs our hands and raises our arms in the air as he shouts, "Your Victors, Janice Senn and Harper Coyle!"

And the camera light shuts off. Janice and I immediately lose the smiles and walk away calmly while Julius starts chatting with some crewmen. I sigh when Vinis approaches us.

"I'd hoped you would've said something more," he says blankly, "The people might need a little more convincing than that."

And with that, he stalks out of the room. Janice raises an eyebrow at me, "What was that all about?"

I rub my forehead as I reply, "I'm not sure, but Vinis ordered me to make sure I told everyone that you and I are only alive by chance. The Capitol doesn't want anything like this to happen again. But..."

I trail off, glancing over to where Vinis disappeared.

"But?" Janice pries.

"But, I think something's up. Vinis is acting extra cautious about this and it's got me thinking...what if we started something up?"

"That's not possible," Janice shakes her head, glancing around us, "It's too soon for us to be the cause of an outbreak."

"Unless...someone already knew we would win?" I point out and Janice frowns in deep concentration.

"But who?"

"I don't know, but I don't think we should continue talking about this here. We'll talk more on the train tomorrow, deal?" I offer and she nods, "See you later, then."

"Bye..." I say as she heads towards the elevator.

I stay put for a few more minutes, my mind going wild with questions. Who would've known? Why did they pick us? What is happening? Is there anything happening at all? I hope there isn't, because I don't want to be the cause of another rebellion. It's not necessarily me that I'm worried about though. It's Janice. What if the Capitol assumes we're behind it and uses us against each other?

I shake my head. I shouldn't be making these accusations when I don't even know if something happened or not. For all I know, everything is working in perfect order and the Districts are cooperating...hopefully. Maybe Vinis is jut being extra careful, so why am I questioning that? I just hope I'm wrong and everything is perfectly fine.

Please be fine!

~~~~~

Soooooo....turns out I miscalculated slightly. Instead of this being the last chapter, there's now probably going to be ONE or TWO more chapters before this book is done! My bad...I thought I could get the interview, coronation, and train ride chapter all in one, but I was wrong. This one had a lot more in it than I previously anticipated. Hope you guys aren't annoyed that I messed up with that.

Anyways, this is unedited so make corrections where you see them please! :)

Sorry this chapter is pretty lame, but I just had to get it out.

~MK