As Peeta finally walks out, closing the huge, metal, door behind him, I let out a breath that I hadn't known that I was holding. It had almost felt like I was being interrogated.

Sure, interrogated by basically one of the two superstars of the districts, I thought sarcastically. Yeah, right. You're not that important.

I thought back on the, well, meeting. There was something strange about about it. Yeah, it was already strange in general, but still. There was something defiantly different in this meeting than in the past.

I had at first thought that it was just that he was trying to figure out what made me tick, and failing, by the way. But I don't think that it was that now, though.

Peeta just doesn't seem the type to do that, or at least didn't seem like the type to do that from what I could tell.

Maybe my thoughts were clouded from finding out that he knew my secret, and desperately hoping that he would keep it a secret? No, not that...

My face crumples into one of confusion as I was crossing out the possibilities.

Out of the blue, it came to me. It was the weird look on his face as he chatted with me.

No, it was not one of annoyance, or disgust, by rather something completely different.

Wariness.

But why would the famous Peeta Mellark be wary of me, of all people? Much less, why would anyone be wary of me? What was happening that I didn't know about?

***

Suddenly, the heavy metal door opened yet again. But this time, it was not Peeta nor Effie and her friends that come out of it. It was two women, one with crimped, plum-purple hair and giant eyelash-extensions. The other had a weird yellow dress shaped like a beach ball on, and bleach blond hair with neon green high-lights. Ew...

It hits me. This is probably the prep-team that Peeta had talked about earlier. I mentally groaned as I thought about having to put a dress on. Even thought I had to wear dresses all the time back when I was in the Capital, I was a true tomboy through and through.

They squealed when they saw me, rushing over as fast as they could with their ridiculously tall high-heels.

"I'm Plum!" The one with the plum-purple hair yips. Huh. Go figure. "And I'm Rubee!" The green high-lights one purred. "We're your prep-team!"

I try not to grimace at the prospect of having to wear a dress or any other fancy-wear, and force a smile at them. "Crystal," I reply.

"Oh, we know all about you, dear! The talk of the district, you are!" Rubee squeals.

"Great!" I say, feigning excitement.

"Now, dear, if you would just come with us," Plum ordered.

I sighed, obeying as they led me through the door that they had come from. We walked down the corridor, and into the room across the hall, three doors down.

We walked in through the now-open door, and voila, a fashionista's paradise.

Dresses of all different shapes and sizes stood on racks in the middle of the room. Flashes of red, purple, and blue caught my eyes. A giant mirror lined two of the four walls. Another wall was completely dedicated to lipgloss. Yet another held a nail polish rainbow. A huge, open case filled the the brim with blushes and mascara, and one more with assorted hair-products, stood in the corner.

Whoa.

Before I even took one more step, I was attacked by people holding up dresses against me, comparing nail polishes, and trying to find "what lipstick went best with my skin tone".

Rubee shooed them away, and led me to a reclined chair that sat beside the nail polish shelf.

"Ok, so just close your eyes, and we'll do all the work. It's just a small makeover for now, since, you know, it's not your tribute parade or anything... Thank goodness that when you first got here, they did the basic procedures, so we just need to find the make-up, dress, polish... Oh, wait, that's actually a lot..."

I did as I was told, leaning back on the recliner and closing my eyelids.

Yes, you heard Rubee right. When I got here, they stripped me of all my leg-hair, filed my nails into uniformed little shapes, and trimmed my choppy blond hair. They gave me what the Capital people usually did to the tributes before giving them their outfits for the interviews and chariots.

Not the smartest move, in my point of view.

Two whole hours later, my eyes were still closed, and I was in the same position that I was in earlier. I desperately wanted to move, but apparently that would "mess it up".

"Finished," Rubee sighed. Finally.

They led me over to what I presumed to be the wall-mirror-thingy.

"Ok!" Plum squealed,"You can open your eyes now!"

I opened my eyes, and immediately gasped, my eyes bugging out as my mouth hung ajar.

I was wearing a tight long-sleeved, pure white top, with lace of the same color covering the front half of the shirt in a some-what second layer. It was matched with a navy blue skirt that ended a couple inches above my knees.

I wore dark brown ankle combat, and a golden necklace with a skeleton key as the charm.

My hair had been straightened, which I at first didn't see the point of since it was naturally straight, then noticed how silky it was. It had then been curled again at the edges, and someone had again given my wild hair a cut, so now it had multiple layers that fluttered as I moved.

My eyes were now even more bold with blue-grey eyeshadow and a tinge of eyeliner, and my cheek-bones were outlined in blush. Other than that, I had no visible make-up on. I was glad that it wasn't like one of the traditional Capital-style makeovers, but more of a combination of both the districts and the Capital's fashion, mellowing it down a bit, but still keeping it stunning.

I looked... Beautiful.

"Amazing! Turned out just as I had hoped, but maybe some lipstick...?" Plum said in a warm voice.

I quickly shook my head. "Oh, no thanks, I think it's great just how it is."

The last thing I needed was more make-up caking my face.

She nodded slowly, still admiring her and Rubee's luck. "Okay then."

"Wait!" I called out to Rubee suddenly, regretting it as soon as I said it, suddenly self-conscious. "D-do you think that you could braid my hair? Like Katniss Everdeen's?" I bit my lip, hoping that she didn't think that I didn't like her and Plum's work. I just wanted to look like my hero and role-model.

Plum hesitantly nodded, and Rubee replied, "Okay, sure. Give me five more minutes."

Five minutes later, I had a new hair-style, and was heading towards the door.

And with that, I was escorted out of the room by Rubee.

"Good luck," she whispered in my ear as she led me out.

I defiantly think that I'll need it.