Preparing for the interviews

I hug my stomach as I gently rock forwards and backwards.

Within the next hour, I was due on stage, for one final opportunity to convince the sponsors that I was worth investing in before the games started tomorrow.

There was only one problem: I was completely naked.

Even though not a single follicle of hair had grown on my body since I'd first arrived in the capital, my design team still somehow found enough issues to work on me for hours. After scrubbing my skin red raw, cleaning my long dark hair until it shone, and weighing me down with so much makeup I thought that I must be a few pounds heavier, they had left me alone, taking my clothes, robe, and towel with them.

I had given up on trying not to feel cold. Whether by accident or design, it was impossible to keep warm in some of these Capitol buildings without being fully dressed.

Even though I'd managed to avoid any more nude exposure over the last week, the damage had been done on the first evening.

I'd thrown myself into the different activities at the training sessions, but I couldn't keep the blush out of my cheeks, and I knew that everyone was undressing me with their eyes. Mealtimes in the apartment were little better. Peeta refused to meet my eye, and Effie spent most of the time loudly commenting on my body, updating us daily on how the Capitol was verbally dissecting my anatomy.

As I began to wonder if I'd get out of my interview because I'd have frozen to ****, Cinna arrived.

"Oh, thank you!"

I rushed over and hugged him: he was holding an outfit; I wouldn't have to be naked after all!

The top half of the dress was little more than two pieces of loose fabric tied together behind my neck, that would sit over my breasts without providing much support. These two pieces were attached to a pair of baggy shorts, which didn't quite reach down to my knees. Of course, there was no underwear, or shoes.

My bare toes twitch on the cool floor as Cinna tied my hair into my trademark braid. When he was finished, he walks around me, to complete his final checks.

"Now remember, Katniss," he explains softly. "The audience will be expecting you to be naked, and teasing them will get a better reaction than if you start out nude. I'm sure Caesar will bring it up, but if not, see if you can work your stripping into the conversation. Once you've undone the knot..." he pauses to tap the back of my neck, "you should be able to slip out of the rest of it. And remember: the Capitol loves a virgin."