𝑳𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝑹𝒆𝒅 || 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑮𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔

𝟏𝟕 || 𝑷𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒓

THE OTHER DISTRICTS WEREN'T HUGE FANS OF EVELYN, but Districts 1 and 2 hated her. They usually hated the victors if they weren't from their district, and this year wasn't any different. The victor could feel the crowds' eyes on her as she spoke, she could see their frowns, and she could hear their whispers.

Evelyn's speeches weren't as free-spoken as her speech in 7 had been, but she still added her own words about the tributes. It was hard for the girl to say anything about the career tributes since she killed them in such a brutal way. It made her feel like a hypocrite, and she knew that would only make the districts and their families hate her more.

"Don't worry about the career districts," Sasha told her and he patted her on the shoulder as they walked into the train. "They're always jerks. What you need to worry about now is the party at Snow's mansion."

Evelyn grimaced, "Why? Is it bad?"

"It's the Capitol. Of course it's bad," The mentor said sarcastically as he poured himself a drink and sat down, "So, it's a loud party, but that doesn't mean you can say whatever you want whenever you want. I'm pretty sure Snow does that on purpose. Makes the party as loud as possible so a victor thinks they can say whatever they want, and then he gets them in trouble the moment they say something. The whole damn place is bugged."

"Oh, that does sound fun," The victor muttered, sitting next to Sasha, "Any other tips?"

"Oh yeah, Snow likes to sneak small digs at you when he's giving his speech, so watch out for those. Also, don't tell anyone you're full. People in the Capitol are snobs, and they have a drink that makes you throw up so you can 'stuff more in'. The drink is pink, they'll tell you if they're trying to give it to you."

Evelyn scrunched up her nose like Cassandra did when she was disgusted and looked away from the mentor. That sounded like something the Capitol would do. They would make a drink that made you throw up so you could stuff more food in your mouth.

Sasha laughed when he saw Evelyn's reaction, "I reacted the same way when I found out about the drinks. Although my mentor thought it would be funny if she didn't tell me."

"Who was your mentor?" Evelyn asked him. It was a stupid question, there was only one victor who won the games before Sasha did.

"Bell," Her mentor answered, "There weren't a lot of options for mentors before Evan and I won. And now you get to mentor for the rest of your life, so have fun with that."

"Hm, can't wait to send children to their deaths," Evelyn said with little enthusiasm, "Sounds like a dream come true."

Cassandra walked in the moment the victor finished speaking, and it was obvious that the escort was trying her best to keep from saying anything stupid in reply to her words. Instead, she just took a deep breath and turned to face Evelyn, "Xanther needs you. You need to start getting ready."

✮

Snow's mansion was just as loud as Sasha told her it would be, and even though Xanther gave her an extravagant outfit she still felt underdressed. Her hair was up in a bun and she was wearing another pantsuit, although this time the stylist had her wear heels. Even with all of that, everyone else was more extravagant.