The Supreme Games - Book One

|12.5| D4 Interview

Aurelia Tempersmith's P.O.V.

"Hello Mr. President, sir," I mutter, my heart rate going a mile a minute. President Snow grins unsettlingly and slowly walks around me in a circle.

"Miss Tempersmith, I would like to know why you were talking to Mia Moore after the interview." He halts to a stop once he's barely a foot in front of me.

I gulp silently. I have to come up with something fast. This could be it.

"Well sir, when I got off stage, she came up to me and yelled at me for not asking her any questions. I dragged her over and whispered to her that if she keeps it up like this, then you, President Snow, will make her life a living hell in the arena."

I steel myself and refuse to break eye contact. It feels as though he's burning holes through my soul to see if I'm lying. I feign confidence as best as I can to cover it up. He clicks his tongue.

"Is that so? Then, why didn't I hear any yelling?"

"W-well sir, that's because I slapped her mouth before she could cause a ruckus. There are important sponsors around and I didn't want for things to get out of control." My heart feels like it's about to burst. It's challenging not to stutter or appear nervous in a situation like this.

The President doesn't seem very impressed. "One more thing, Miss Tempersmith," he pauses. I hold my hand behind my back to hide the trembling.

"If I discover that you lied to me, then you know what will happen." His indifferent expression morphs into an icy glare. I shake my head yes in understanding.

"Of course I know what'll happen. Why would I lie if I knew that I were to be executed in such a manner?" His looks of suspicion changes into one of mild satisfaction.

"Very good, Miss Tempersmith. I believe that you are taking your job more seriously now than ever before. I've taught you well." He sticks up his chin, turning around to grin at himself in the mirror.

"Yes sir, I am," I reply with very little emotion in my tone.

"Good, good. Now go get ready, District 4's interview will start shortly."

And with that, he exits the room.

↞↠

"Hello and welcome back!" I announce as people slowly start treading their way back into the large auditorium. "Here we have our District 4 tributes! Let's give it up for Emerald Aster, Aqua Reigner, Coral Reigner, Kristoffer Marins, and Finn Vanderloos!"

This is the loudest the crowd has been so far. District 4 is clearly one of the favorites. They have the siblings, the lovers, and the viscous fighter.

"Let's start off with Coral! So Coral, how'd you feel when your name was pulled from the bowl for the second time?" I ask.

"I was a bit shocked, but I was also happy because now Aqua and I have a bigger chance of winning, since we're both deadly." She smiles, but it's clear to me she's lying. I can see right through her, but the crowd is none the wiser.

"I bet you two will make a deadly duo in the arena. What do you think, folks?" The crowd is quick to agree, chanting Aqua and Coral's names repeatedly.

"Aqua, do you a special weapon that you trained with from back home? You are from a career district and all." She looks at Coral, smirks, and replies with, "Yes, yes I do."

"Would you like to tell us?" I plead.

"Nah, I'll save it for training,"

"Fair enough. So, what about Rust? What do you think of his little crush on you?" Some men from the audience whistles.

Aqua rolls her eyes and says, "Are you for real? That guy is all talk and no bite. Why do you think his name is Rust? It's because his skills are real rusty." I try to control myself from bursting out in laughter, but the crowd beats me to it. The camera shows Rust blowing an air kiss to Aqua from backstage, but we all know he's embarrassed, seeing how red his face is.

"Not so cool now are we?" Aqua yells at him with her fist in the air. The crowd cheers for Aqua, wiping the tears in their eyes. I notice Finn patting her back, laughing, then putting his arm around her.

"Oh ho ho, what's this? You take Finn over Rust?" I ponder aloud. The crowd ooh's and the camera pans back to Rust now with a dirty glare plastered on his face.

Aqua smirks yet again and says, "I would choose this guy over that wannabe career any day." Finn playfully shoves her and she does the same thing back. They must've made pretty good friends on the train.

"Aqua isn't the lovey dovey type," her sister adds. "She's a fighter." Coral looks to her proudly and they do a sisterly handshake, making everyone go wild. I decide that this is a good time to move onto the next tribute.

"Emerald, how long have you and Kristoffer known each other for?" I ask her.

"For about twelve years. I met him when I was five."

"Kristoffer, how did you know that she was the one?" I ask him.

"I knew it since the day I met her. But I didn't actually prove it to her until I was sixteen. We've been together ever since then." The crowd coos and hollers for lovebirds.

"Thank you, Emerald and Kristoffer."

Before I can open my mouth to ask Finn a question, the crowd starts chanting his name. He laughs, waving at them and blowing a kiss to the ladies in the front row that causes them to shriek their heads off. Once they die down a little, I ask him his first question.

"So Finn, you're strong, you can kill with anything sharp, and you're drop dead gorgeous. Do you have a special lady back home?" The women in the crowd scream once again, and he chuckles.

"Nope, I never really thought about it. But I've made pretty close friends who are girls," he answers.

"And who would those lucky ladies be?"

"Well, a lot of them are back home, but one of them is right here." He pokes Aqua in the side and she sticks her tongue out at him.

Coral simply rolls her eyes. "Oh, get a room." The crowd laughs along with the four other tributes. The buzzer goes off, so I say my closing part.

"And there you have it! District 4's Emerald Aster, Aqua Reigner, Coral Reigner, Kristoffer Marins, and Finn Vanderloos!" As they walk off, the audience goes nuts for them. They're even louder now than when they first walked out.

"We will be taking another thirty minute break, so relax, and make sure to be in your seats on time for District 5!"

As I walk off I smile to myself. I thought Finn was ruthless career who only wanted the fame and glory, but it's nice knowing that he's human and actually made a friend that he's supposed to be fighting. I mean, there's a chance he could be faking it for sponsors, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

However, it's a very sad thing to see everyone getting along. It's as if this is a summer camp, except everyone dies when it's all over.This year truly has been like no other. The tributes seem so...friendly towards each other. How on earth will they break friendships and sibling bonds in the arena, knowing that the only way to survive is to kill one another?

Who knows? Maybe the games will change these tributes in an unthinkable way, hopefully lighting a spark inside them for something much more...

Revolutionary.