when worlds collide - chapter three!

Chapter 3

Ginny

"How will we get there?" Harry asked, when we were all gathered around again.

"Portkey, my dear boy, Portkey," Dumbledore said.

He pulled out an old hat, and held it out toward us. We each grabbed onto it somewhere. There was jerk from behind, and we were being whisked through the air, everything blurring around us.

Everyone except Dumbledore fell flat on our faces. He was trying to hold back a smile. We picked ourselves up and looked around. That hallway was empty, except for the occasional picture, which I was surprised to find out, didn't actually move. Though, we were dealing with muggles, here.

"Okay, each of you will have your own stylist and prep team to get you ready for, not just tonight, but also your interviews in one week's time."

He gave us our assigned room numbers, and we all went separate ways. I glanced back at Harry, who had stayed behind to talk to Dumbledore about something. He nodded. I went into the room, where three very freaky-looking people were waiting.

I gritted my teeth as hair was ripped from every inch of my body, leaving only the hair on my head. I'd plucked, waxed, and scrubbed with lotion; until it stung so badly I could barely stand it. Carcenella, Paloma, and Lazaro were a little too friendly, chatting non-stop as they were causing me extreme pain.

Finally, after I'd been soaked in several foul-smelling concoctions, they left me alone in the room, telling me, "Jovanni will be in soon." Ugh. The weird names they give their kids here. Though, I supposed to them 'Ginevra' or 'Ginny' was weird. I pulled on the paper robe and waited for this Jovanni to come in.

He was probably the least crazy-looking person I'd met there, since his skin wasn't some weird color, he didn't have any tattoos or anything either. The one thing he did have was frighteningly bright silver lips. I had no idea if it was lipstick or if he had dyed them , but either way they were pretty freaky.

After a bit of small talk ("What do you think about the Capitol?" and "Are you nervous?") he showed me the outfit I'd be wearing on the chariot ride around the square. It was a red body suit with a bit of gold dust that would glow as soon as it got dark. It was simply amazing.

Harry

Of course, when I turned to look at Ginny, Dumbledore took advantage and left.

"Damn," I muttered along with a few other choice words.

I went into the "prep room" as Dumbledore had called it. As soon as I got in there, the prep team ordered me to take off all my clothes (which was, frankly, very embarrassing, as two of them were girls). I ended up sitting in a bath of some sort, having my face waxed. The whole experience was a nightmare, down the very clothes they wore.

The women, Eboni and Mya, both had had their skin dyed these horribly hideous colors of blue and pink, several gold and silver tattoos, and their hair…don't even get me started. At least Dennon wasn't so bad, well, his skin wasn't dyed anyway.

I was rubbed down with oils, and lotions, and other things I couldn't even tell you the names of. It was rather unpleasant. I wanted to punch them in mouths pretty much every other second, just to shut them up.

"Hey!" I snapped.

They had been talking about the Hogwarts tributes and they had gotten to Ginny. As soon as they said her teeth looked awfully crooked and her hair looked stupid I had actually punched Dennon, who had said those things.

"Well, well, touchy, touchy." He muttered, massaging his jaw.

I closed my eyes. "Don't talk about her like that," I said, gritting my teeth.

"Girlfriend?" Mya asked, clearly afraid I'd punch her, too.

I opened my eyes and sighed, sinking father into the bath. "Yeah."

"That's unfortunate," Eboni said.

"Tell me about it."

They stayed silent the rest of the time, until the left. I was left sitting in the room, wearing only a towel while I waited for the stylist, Tigris.

She was even more freaky-looking than the prep team, which I didn't think was possible until she walked in. Her face looked cat-like. She had whiskers, gold and black stripes, and even a tail. Perfect example of what happens when you go too far to look like your cat.

Without saying a word, she pulled out the red body suit.

Peeta

My prep team was hovering around me, trying to decide what to do first, because, apparently, everything was wrong with how I looked. It was pretty embarrassing standing stark naked in front of people I barely even know the names of.

After a minute I was sat down on a chair while they filed down all my nails and waxed my face. It was probably my worst experience with them. The hot wax hurt enough by itself, but when they ripped off the paper, I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming bloody murder.

It wasn't fair that we had to go through all this pain before we were actually in the arena. I mean, wasn't it bad enough we'd have to go through dying? No, I suppose not. I was sure, at that moment someone was watching, laughing at my discomfort with the whole situation.

They were talking non-stop about some tributes named 'Harry Potter' and 'Ginny Weasley' that were apparently from the school 'Hogwarts'. And apparently, they were together. So they were in the same boat I was in with Katniss. So close, but so desperately far. Who knows, maybe they'll end up the last two and have to kill each other…

Or maybe Katniss and I will… I thought. I quickly dismissed it. No matter what, Katniss would at least make it farther than I will. She has to.

Genesis was snapping her finger in front of my face. I shook my head and looked at her. Turns out she was trying to get me into this awful bath, with some sticky, slimy…substance in it. I almost gagged on the smell, which wasn't much better than how it felt.

When they finally left, the stylist, Portia, came in immediately.

"Hello, Peeta." She said, sweetly. I immediately liked her.

"Um, hello." Very smart, I know.

"We may as well get into the details about the costume.

She explained to me that the once I put on the jumpsuit, and I was at the chariot with Katniss, her stylist, Cinna, would set on fire.

"Fire?" I freaked out. I'd gotten burned at the bakery before, but that didn't mean I didn't want to be burned alive.

"Don't worry, it's synthetic fire. You may feel a slight tickling sensation, but you won't get burned."

Somehow, I didn't trust her.