[the hunger games series: catching fire]
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        "Are you serious right now? You sound like your drunk," Cameron retorted, taking a seat as far away from Finnick as she possibly could. "Which you probably are. Well if you have a flask on you, could you pass it to me? I would rather be drunk for this conversation anyway."

Haymitch chuckled, "Wilbur said you had some spine, but I wasn't expecting this," he admitted, sitting across from the three of the other tributes.

"No one does," Mitchell said quietly.

Cameron narrowed her eyes at her fellow tribute, "Shut up, Mitch."

Before Mitchell could respond to her, Finnick opened his mouth, "So what's this meeting for Haymitch?" he asked. "We should make it quick, the opening ceremony's tonight and I really shouldn't leave Mags alone for this long."

"Yeah, you said we could leave this alive, all three of us?" Cameron clarified. "How do you expect the Capitol to go along with that?"

Haymitch shook his head, "The Capitol won't know, they don't know about any of this right now. They also don't know that District 13 is still here."

This caught Cameron's attention, she couldn't tell if Haymitch was joking or not. Everyone knew that District 13 was destroyed in the first rebellion. The Capitol completely demolished it, no one had heard from it since then. Before that, it was the graphite mining district, but Cameron didn't know any information beyond that. The only thing that she was sure of was that Haymitch was either drunk or had completely lost it. Mitchell had the same thought process.

"13? The district that quite literally got blown up?" Mitchell asked. "Yeah, he's most definitely drunk," he said to Cameron.

"I'm not," Haymitch said slowly. "District 13 is alive, and it's the site of the rebellion. They're not ready to come out yet, it's not strong enough. We need our Mockingjay, and we think we found her."

Finnick raised his eyebrow, "And who would that be because I'm guessing it's not one of the three of us," he said, gesturing to the tributes in the room.

"And you would be right," Haymitch responded. "It's Katniss."

"The archer?" Cameron asked.

"The girl on fire?" Mitchell said at the same time as Cameron.

Finnick shook his head, "Interesting reactions," he commented. Cameron replied by sending a pointed glare his way.

Haymitch chose to ignore Finnick's comment. "Yes Katniss, but to move this revolution forward, we need her to stay alive throughout the games, and if all goes according to plan, you three, as well as another handful of tributes will be able to leave the arenas with your lives."

Cameron and Mitchell exchanged quick glances with each other. "So what? We protect Katniss, be her ally, and then we leave this thing alive?" Cameron asked.

Haymitch nodded, "Yes you keep her alive until we can reach the extraction point."

"How will we know when that is?" Mitchell inquired.

"Trust me, you'll know," Haymitch responded.

Cameron pursed her lips, "How comforting," she said uncrossing her arms and placing them on the table in front of her.

"So this whole thing is a hoax? That's what you're telling us?" Finnick said, copying Cameron's motions of placing his hands on the table in front of them. "A ploy to get the girl out and safe?"

"Not for the capitol, but for the Rebellion. And If that's what you want to call it, then sure. It's a hoax," Haymitch said shrugging.

Cameron tilted her head at the man, "You seem kind of," she paused, trying to think of her next words very carefully. "Nonchalant about this whole thing," she finished. "Shouldn't it be a big thing, shouldn't you be trying to sell this whole thing more than you are?"

"I don't think so," he retorted.

Mitchell scoffed, "You don't think so?" he asked.

"No, if you all want what's best for you. You'll join us," Haymitch said simply. "I'm giving you all an out, you should take it."

"Yeah, if the careers don't kill us first," Cameron pointed out. "Trained killers, remember. I mean, technically he's a career," she said, nodding her head towards Finnick.

"Now, Cam, that's not very welcome now is it?" Finnick retorted.

She grimaced as soon as he talked, "I told you not to call me that."

"I know how you fight, they won't kill you," Haymitch insisted, interrupting their banter. "There's a reason why I wanted to talk to you three first," he continued. "You're ferocious, ruthless, well-liked. Something that both Katniss and Peeta need."

"Yes because everyone hates the fiancées," Cameron said sarcastically.

Haymitch continued as if she didn't say anything. "The Rebellion needs people like you," he continued. "As much as they need Katniss. She's the Mockingjay, you all, are her supporting players. A team is only as strong as its weakest link, and you three are some of the strongest tributes I know. Wilbur said the same," he added, nodding at both Cameron and Mitchell. "Bottom line is, we can't pull this off without you three."

Finnick looked like he was deep in thought, "What about Mags?" he asked.

"If she's with you, she gets the same deal you're promised," Haymitch informed him.

Finnick nodded, "That's enough for me, I'm in," he said simply.

"Aww to protect your ole grams," Cameron said, in a mocking tone, tracing a false tear down her cheek. "How sweet."

Finnick eyed her carefully, he somehow knew exactly what he could say to get on her nerves, "Like you wouldn't do the same for Carnett over there."

Cameron gave him a tight-lipped smile, "No comment," she said stubbornly, knowing that Mitch was definitely going to hold this against her later.

"You don't need to answer now, but I do need something before the opening ceremony," he told the two district nine tributes.

"I don't know about Cam, but I'm definitely in," Mitchell said to Cameron's right.

Cameron clicked her tongue, "I'll get back to you," she told Haymitch.

"Cam, you can't be serious," Mitchell said incredulously. "This is a great deal."

"And like I said, I need to think about it," Cameron repeated. "I will get back to you, I swear."

"She probably won't but I will make sure she does," Mitchell said, poking the woman in the back, which she returned with an icy glare.

Haymitch nodded his head, "Well then I expect to hear from you tonight," he said, staring directly at Cameron.

"Will do," she responded, standing up from her seat, the three other men looking at her with an interesting gaze in their eyes. Cameron looked around at the two other tributes in the room. "Well after you two, I'm not going first," she said, putting her hands up in defense.

Finnick let out a small scoff, standing up and strolling out of the room. Mitchell followed him slowly, shooting one last 'wtf' glance at Cameron before walking out of the room, to probably wait for her outside of the door. Haymitch looked between her and the open door before pulling out his flash and passing it to her.

Cameron looked down at the flash, raising her eyebrow. "What's this?"

"To sweeten the deal," he said, tipping his head at her. "Drink up."

"You're bribing me with alcohol?" she asked rolling her eyes.

"Is it working?"

Cameron raised the flash to her lips, downing a small bit of the amber liquid inside the container. "Maybe," she said handing the flask back to him. "You'll have to wait and see."

---

Later that night, Cameron was sitting in her seat waiting for their stylist, Gaia, to finish off her makeup. She tilted her head, looking at herself in the mirror. She had a long green dress that faded into a pale gold. The dress fell right above her feet, showing off the small gold heels that Gaia had insisted Cameron put on. The heels weren't massive, which Cameron liked. She never did well with large heels, especially walking in them. Good thing she and Mitchell were going to be standing still in the chariot, or else she would be a walking disaster.

Gaia let Cameron keep her hair down, normally they would tie it back in a small bun with braids down the side, leading to the small knot at the back of her head. She felt a lot more comfortable this way, freer. That didn't stop her from thinking about Haymitch's deal. Hell, it was the only thing she could think about. It consumed her mind for the past few hours, eating her from the inside out. Infesting every crevice of her brain.

Cameron kept on mentally kicking herself for not accepting the deal right away. It was everything she could've wished for. She and Mitchell would leave the arena alive, together. Being able to see Jasmine again. She thought that Katniss and Peeta were cool, so teaming up with leave shouldn't be too bad. Finnick would probably be a thorn in her side, but she didn't really blame him. It was easy to get a rise out of Cameron, Mitch and Wilbur knew that all too well.

It's not like they would be the only three in on the deal. Cameron assumed that Haymitch would probably try to recruit more tributes, maybe Johanna Mason, or some of the more interesting tributes that would add something to their evergrowing team. If Cameron had to guess, Peeta was already in on the deal, as he was her fiancé. At least that's what most of the Capitol believed. They needed a love story and the two tributes were right there.

"Sorry darling, I'm back now," Gaia sang. "I have the perfect thing to top off your lovely ensemble you got going on." She pulled out a small brush and golden pigment from the satchel around her waist. Gaia dipped the brush carefully into the pigment and spread it across Cameron's lower waterline. She looked at herself in the mirror. Honestly, Cameron thought it kind of looked ridiculous. But she wasn't going to say that to Gaia, it would break her heart. "There you go," Gaia said smiling, placing a few finishing touches of golden flakes across her nose to act as faux freckles. "You look lovely, darling," she said in a warm tone.

Despite her previous reservations, Cameron actually came around to her look. "Thank you, Gaia," she said in the kindest voice she could muster. "It looks lovely."

"You two are gonna be the stars of the show," she said, ushering Cameron up off of her feet. "Go on darling, I still have to touch up Mitchell, you know how he can be," Gaia said smiling.

Cameron nodded taking a few small steps out onto the track where the opening ceremony would take place. District nine's chariot wasn't hard to miss, it was decked out in a bright gold color, with shiny gold pieces of grain lining both sides of the cart. Even the horses had gold reigns on them. Cameron shook her head, "They're taking this whole 'grain' thing very seriously this year," she said out loud, moving closer to their mode of transportation.

"If it isn't miss Cameron Knight herself," Finnick sounded poking his head out from around their chariot.

Cameron didn't want to play into his games, "What are you doing here, Finnick?" she asked. "Last time I checked you weren't a part of district nine."

"I'm not, I was waiting for you," he said shrugging.

Cameron scoffed lightly, "Any particular reason, or do you just sit around creeping on all of the tributes?"

Finnick clapped his hands together as if they both of them had business they needed to attend to. "Haymitch's deal," he stated, moving closer to her to try and hide from any prying ears. "You didn't take it."

"I didn't take it right away," she hissed. "Doesn't mean I won't take it in the future."

"Clock is ticking," Finnick said to her. "You're gonna have to make a choice sooner or later," he was standing dangerously close to her. To outsiders, it would look like they were engaged in an intimate conversation.

"You think I don't know that," she retorted, whispering in his ear. "I'm not an idiot."

Finnick took a step back, "I didn't say you were, Cam."

Cameron shook her head, repressing a small smile that began to make its way onto her face, "So we're back to the 'Cam' thing, I thought you had given that up?"

"Can't get rid of it that easily," Finnick said simply.

Cameron sighed, "What's so special about the girl?" she asked finally, looking up to meet his eyes. "She's just an archer."

"Hate to break it to you, sweetheart," Finnick started. "But you use a bow too."

The blonde rolled her eyes, "First of all, it's a crossbow. Two very different things. Secondly, don't call me sweetheart, or Cam for that matter."

"You're really picky about the whole nicknames thing, aren't you?" Finnick asked, changing the subject.

"Well, I don't go around calling you 'Nick' do I?" she replied.

"I wouldn't be opposed to it."

Cameron glanced away from him quickly. "I'm not gonna do that. Don't you have places to be? The ceremony is gonna start soon. I wouldn't want district four to miss their-," she looked back at him. "Shirtless tribute. Why are you shirtless anyway. They couldn't think of a better way to style you?"

Finnick raised his eyebrows at the shorter woman, "I don't see other people complaining, just you."

"Well, maybe they should start," she responded.

"If you know what's good for you, Golden Girl," Finnick said, smirking at her. "You'll take the deal," he finished walking away from their chariot.

"You also can't call me that!" Cameron called after him, but he was already too far away from her to respond. She sighed, pursing her lips as she turned back to the side of the chariot, looking at the horse in front of it. "Men, they never listen," she complained.

"You can say that again," a voice sounded behind Cameron.

She turned around, plastering on a small smile. "Haymitch," she stated. "And friends," she said looking at the man next to him.

"Cameron, this is Peeta Mellark," Haymitch said gesturing to the man next to him.

"One-half of the 74th victors," she hummed, trying to keep the interaction as pleasant as possible. "Trust me, I know."

Haymitch chuckled, "Peeta, this is Cameron Knight. Winner of the 72nd Hunger Games, and the female tribute from district nine," he explained.

Peeta stuck out his hand for the woman to shake, "Nice to meet you," he stated simply.

"You too," Cameron said, shaking his head gracefully.

"Don't let the niceties fool you," Haymitch warned. "She's dangerous, this one," he said pointing to Cameron

"Well thank you for your kind words Haymitch," Cameron responded letting go of Peeta's hand. "Your mentor's a big talker," she told Peeta, tilting her head towards Haymitch.

Peeta laughed, "Big talker and drinker," he responded.

Haymitch shook his head at the two of them. "That's enough talking you too," he said to them. "Peeta, I will catch up with you soon, I have to talk to Cameron for a second."

Peeta nodded, looking at Cameron once more. "We'll see each other around, I assume," he said to her, before turning on his heel and walking towards his spot.

Cameron smiled at him before glancing over at Haymitch. "You're going to ask me about the deal, aren't you?" she said in a small voice.

"Yes," he responded simply. "Are you gonna take it?"

She took a deep breath in, weighing her options. She could either risk getting killed by not choosing to shack up with the fiancées, or she could have a chance of making it out of the arena, alive. "Can you guarantee mine and Mitch's safe passage?" Cameron asked.

Haymitch nodded discretely, "We can certainly try."

Cameron looked around to make sure no one was matching them. "Deal."

"You made the right choice, Cameron," Haymitch said leaving her alone to ponder her decision.

"You said yes to Haymitch, right?" Mitchell asked, peering around the corner of the chariot.

She jumped, not expecting anyone to be near her at the moment. "Oh my god, Mitch! What the hell is it with you men and scaring me! God!" she exclaimed, brushing off her nearly perfect dress. "But, yes. I agreed to talk the deal."

"Good," Mitchell said simply. "We are gonna live through that. The both of us. We can escape the games."

Say you'll remember me,
standing in a nice dress, staring at the sunset,
babe ☁︎

Grace talks ig: More Finnick content because I love you all (and Cameron and Finnick but like we get a lot of them later when we actually get to the games). I thought that this chapter was super fun to write and to read because I actually red this chapter back before I published it (such a big improvement, I know) ALSO Cameron met our bestie Peeta and I can't wait for them to speak more because I know for a fact that they are going to be really good friends, and probably one one of the only people Cameron will be nice to because she is a stubborn bitch and we love her for that! Anyways thanks for all of the love that you have shown this story so far, and vote/comment if you want to! BYEE LOVELIES <3