Chapter Text
Heliona sat nervously tugging at the tight collar of her light blue union-shirt – this together with a red blazer and ridiculous pants-skirt – also red, were a part of her new school uniform. New uniform, new school – Academy actually. The most prestigious place to get an education in the whole Capitol. Not only in the Capitol, but in the whole Panem. She still didn’t believe she made it here. A girl from school on the outskirts of Capitol, and with not the best grades at that. This was like a dream come true. A diploma from such a place could open many doors and opportunities for her further in life. Therefore as soon as she heard that the Academy was enrolling new students and that there were 3 times more vacant places than usual – she applied as fast as a bolt of lightning. Though, given her grades and origin, Heliona wasn't that sure at all that her candidacy would be even considered. However, the miracle did happen – after a couple of interviews with the Dean and some of the professors, as well as passing the entrance exams – she received the coveted letter of acceptance to the Academy.
She was even more smitten when she found out that accommodation would be provided on campus and, most importantly – students would be supplied with three meals per day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – all free of charge. In such hungry times, it was something unthinkable. Of course, there were rumors about how well the Academy treats its students, but then these were only rumors and nobody truly knew what happens behind the closed gates. It would be a wonderful relief to her small, poor family of herself and her mother, allowing the latter to save more money from her meager salary. A one-in-the-billion chance, that Heliona couldn't miss for anything in the world.
And there she was – on the first day of school, tugging at her new uniform and sitting in the Heavensbee Hall of the Academy at a gathering in honour of the opening of the new academic year. It was the end of summer, and it was hot. The shirt and blazer didn’t help to ease the heat making her sweat even more. A large amount of students around also was not helping – it felt like there was near to no oxygen.
Besides, she was uneasy – she didn’t know anyone here and was just looking around helplessly while everyone else seemed to easily get new acquaintances. Heliona hoped that maybe when lectures would start she would be able to make at least a couple of new friendships. In the meantime, she felt like a grain of sand in the ocean of students, sitting in the last rows of the great hall. Students were seated in gradation – from the oldest, closer to the stage, to the youngest, further away. At the same time, the best students of the Academy were sitting in the front rows. Heliona could see them – wearing the same uniform they somehow seemed much more stylish and confident. Maybe it was the ironed and starched clothes, or maybe it was the fact that they were the most popular and recognizable students, as she could notice. She could only dream of being around them, one of them, at some point in time.
Anyway, the anthem had been sung, the Dean and several professors had already given introductory speeches and parting words to the students. It seemed that the gathering was already coming to an end and Heliona could not wait for them to be dismissed – she was looking forward to seeing the dormitory, getting her first lunch here, and attending the first lectures. Quiet whispers between students were growing around. Everyone wanted to leave to the fresh air already.
When suddenly Dean Highbottom stood up from his seat and took the stage again. Heliona sighed, thinking, not one more speech, please no .
“Before we leave to start a new learning year, I would like to announce one more important news,” Dean said looking expectingly around the hall. Students grew quieter at once, many raised heads to actually look at the stage.
“As you know, this year we enrolled a lot more new students for the freshman year, than ever before. Fifty to be precise, while usually we only do around twenty. There is a reason for that," Dean Highbottom took a pause, and some of the older students looked back at the newbies.
“Panem needs more fresh talents, we lost a lot of scientists, doctors, and engineers during the war. Now that we have already done so much to restore our country, we have the opportunity to restore this loss as well”, Dean continued his blue eyes flickering between the students in front of him.
“However, we need real talents. Smart, worthy students who can withstand competition and can greatly represent our Academy. In this regard, a new program for students is launching this year – Mentoring. Every freshman will be assigned a mentor , from our best students and some of the senior students, to guide and support them throughout the year. Every mentee's performance will be evaluated at the end of the academic year – grades, social activities, everything . Depending on that every mentor will get a grade in the mentoring course, hence impacting their average score. Also, a winner mentee will be selected. Both – the winning mentee and his mentor will get equal monetary prizes in the amount of the average wage in the Capitol," Dean took another pause to sip on the water from a glass, wave of murmurs sweeping through the crowd – while average wage was, well, still not that big, for many it was money to dream about. Heliona had her eyes wide open, she couldn’t believe what she heard! Such money... she could buy new winter shoes, help her mother to pay the rent, the possibilities seemed endless for the teenager.
“Although,” the Dean continued, “there is the other side to the coin. Academy doesn’t have a capacity to support all fifty new students through all the senior years. Therefore, at the end of this academic year, twenty-five of the freshman students with worse performance will be expelled. We, of course, are encouraging them to continue education, but in some other school.” On that ominous note, Dean took another pause, to drink water and sip something from the little vial he was gripping tight in his hand all along. Many in the audience gasped in shock, expelling half of the new students - this looked to be too cruel.
Heliona felt her heart dropping and her blood running cold. While she could dream about the prize money all she wanted, the opportunity to be expelled seemed more feasible. With her performance in her previous school, she didn’t believe she would appear at the very bottom list of mentees, more like closer to the middle, but it would still be not in the top-twenty-five group. No way she could get to the top half of the list. This was awful, all her aspirations could be gone and in nine months she would have to return back. Her old school probably wouldn’t take her back and all she would be left to do is some heavy physical work until the end of her life. Heliona felt dizzy, like on the edge of a panic attack. She took a few deep breaths, ordering herself to calm down. Relax, you can’t foresee the future, maybe there is something that can be done , she thought, digging her nails into the palms and leaving half-moon traces there. This calmed her wracked nerves a little bit. The last thing she wanted was to start crying right there and now, what a lousy first impression of herself would she leave then!
At that time the Dean took the word again, “Quiet, quiet, you will have a possibility to discuss this when the gathering is over. Now I will name mentees and their respective selected mentors. Everybody named I’m asking to stand up and come closer to the stage, so you could meet your mentor. Each such couple of you I will wait in my office right after this meeting. You will be acquainted with the terms of the mentorship and will get to sign according papers. All right, so here we go, the first mentee is…” with this the Dean stared at his papers, calling mentees and mentors names one by one.
Heliona crossed fingers, holding her breath and praying to the almighty Universe to get the best mentor possible. By now it seemed to her, that it was the only way to not get expelled. Perhaps, if she receives good support in her studies she will manage to make it to the top half of the list... Students around her stood up one by one and went to the stage, where they were joined by their mentors. Rows of seats were becoming more and more empty, but Heliona still wasn’t called. She felt anxiety rushing at her. Maybe they forgot about me? Maybe I got the letter of acceptance by mistake and shouldn’t even be here in the first place? she wondered nervously, squirming in her seat.
“And last but not least – Heliona Saturnalia...” boomed the voice of the Dean, with that Heliona struggled to get up on her jelly-like legs.
“Heliona gets a terrific mentor – the student with the highest grades in the Academy – Coriolanus Snow.” finished the Dean. Heliona heard soft gasps and whispers, feeling like hundreds of eyes were turned on her at that moment. She couldn’t help but blush while attempting to get to the stage.
Best student.. why me.. will it be bad or good.. probably some quiet nerd guy or higher-achiever girl with advanced expectations... then I’m lost , she guessed coming closer and closer to the stage. And then she noticed him. A handsome and tall young man stood up from the front seat and looked at her smiling. Light blond curls, sky blue eyes that seemed to look right into the soul. He looked like some antique God coming down to Earth. “Oh shit,” Heliona thought, “I’m lost.”
“Hello, I’m Coriolanus Snow, nice to meet you," the young man smiled at Heliona politely tilting his head and holding out his hand for a handshake.
“Hhh.. Heliona Saturnalia," stammered she, shaking his hand. His handshake was nice – warm, steady, and confident, while she felt that her hand was trembling from all the emotions, and probably wet from sweat. “Nice to meet you too," she continued after a short pause, half embarrassed that she didn’t say it at once in one sentence.
“Let’s go take a place next to our peers, shall we?”, he said smiling and gracefully offering his elbow for her to grab onto.
“Yeah, sure, okay,” Heliona replied flabbergasted by his gentlemanly manners. Not something you get to see often on the outskirts of the Capitol, not to mention the districts. She didn't notice his quick disapproving glance when she said “okay”, they'll come back to this later, decided he.
They squeezed through the line of mentees and their mentors, Heliona feeling every eyesight aimed at both of them. “Oh Lord, I’m becoming popular, in a bad way I guess” she cringed mentally.
Finally, they arrived at the end of the line, which appeared to be right next to the stage, next to Dean Highbottom.
“All right, all said and set,” said the Dean. ”With this, I announce the start of the academic year. Good luck to everyone.”
Students started to get up from their seats and head to the exit of the hall.
“And you,” the Dean looked at the line of freshly assigned mentors and mentees. ”You, ladies and gentlemen, will follow me to my office right now, I will speak with each couple of you separately.”
With this, he turned around and headed to the second exit of the hall, behind the stage. Since Heliona and Coriolanus stood the closest to the Dean, they were the first ones to head after him. Heliona blushed and felt strange about leading the procession with this blond antique God at her hand. She glanced at him quickly trying to be discreet. He was smiling to himself and looked absolutely calm.
Why is he so handsome, omg , she caught herself at a thought, feeling even more blush.
Coriolanus seemed to have noticed her interest and looked at her side.
“How do you like the Academy so far?” he asked politely.
“Ah, umm, it's nice, the building is so beautiful,” she said, trying to hide the impression he was making on her, “but I haven’t seen a lot so far, it is the first day you know, and we haven’t had a tour yet.”
He hummed smiling, “Maybe I can show you something from the Academy, guess this is a part of my new mentor responsibilities”.
“Oh, that would be so cool, sick,” Heliona exclaimed, smiling back at him.
Definitely need to talk to her later on about the use of the slang words, Coriolanus made a mental mark to himself. Being originated from one of the oldest and well-respected families in Capitol, he valued good manners and didn’t approve of the jargon language, believing this is something for the lowest society classes. He wondered thoughtfully where did this girl come from. Surely, she wasn’t from the districts, but she also lacked the sleek appearance of Capitol’s rich younger generation. Coriolanus only hoped that she was a capable learner. Pretty much like everybody, he looked forward to gaining the monetary prize now. His family was the oldest, but not the richest one. In fact, quite the opposite, after his father died in the war, they were barely struggling, their only asset – the penthouse in the center of Capitol left as a ghostly reminder of their evaporated wealth. So, this girl had suddenly become his biggest hope – a means to get what he was so desperately wishing for. She had to win, they had to win . There was no other way, and he was very much determined to get challenged by this project in the nearest future.
They walked through the long hallways of the Academy, where it was very cool, despite the summer heat. Perhaps thick stone walls and high ceilings contributed to this. Both fell silent, as they walked absorbing the coolness after the airless Heavensbee Hall.
The trip to the Dean’s office appeared to be not so long. Soon they all found themselves in the spacious room with high windows on one side of the wall and the flag of Panem on the other wall, long light wooden benches along both walls. Registration desk at the entrance, and big white doors at the further corner of the room. Dean Highbottom stopped at these doors turning himself to the students following him, “Ladies and gentlemen, I will ask you to take a seat here and wait until I call you out. As I said, I want to talk to each couple of you separately. You two,” he glared at Heliona and Coriolanus standing closest to him, “are the first ones, so come with me”.
He opened the doors and let himself in, Heliona and Coriolanus tailing him neatly. Dean’s cabinet was big, also with high light windows on the one side of the wall, and tall bookshelves filled with different books at the walls surrounding. Big dark wooden table in the middle of the room, two chairs for visitors, and one big chair on the other side – for the Dean.
Mr. Highbottom walked around his desk, “Take a seat please, we have a discussion.” Heliona felt a pang in her stomach, she didn’t like his serious tone at all. This could be the bad news, she thought.
The Dean reached into one of his drawers, taking out a stack of printed-out pages. “Here you are”, he handed them two sheets of paper from the stack, stapled together. Coriolanus reached for them placing papers in front of him and Heliona. “Terms of the Mentorship program” printed at the top page in bold. She noticed how firmly the sheets were filled with text, the smallest font possible, from both sides of the pages, barely readable.
“Academy is saving money on everything, Miss Saturnalia, even on ink and paper,” the Dean traced her gaze.
“That’s a lot, to read at once,” she remarked.
“You won’t have to do it at once, we will talk and then you both will have one hour to go somewhere quiet and get fully acquainted with the contents of these terms. Then you will fill in the blanks, put your signatures on it, and bring it back to me. As said, we don’t have that much paper, so you’ll have only one agreement version for both of you, and it will be stored in my office.”
Dean Highbottom leaned forward on the table, his blue orbs flickering between two younger people, “Basically what you need to understand, is that mentor becomes as a guardian for the mentee. Mentee’s grades, appearance, and performance are a representation of his mentor. If the mentee fails somewhere, this will be considered as the mentor’s failure. So I highly recommend you, Miss Saturnalia, to look up to your mentor, and put in your best efforts. You need to be at your best performance, we , the Academy need only the best of the best. Hope it is clear.”
“Yes sir,” Heliona nodded.
Coriolanus frowned, “What kind of guidance can I provide to my mentee? What if she,” he quickly glanced at Heliona, “still will fail, non-regarding the guidance from me?”
Well, thank you so much for believing in me in the first place , sarcastically thought Heliona. Though, he had a point, she herself wasn’t so sure in her capabilities.
“In this case, Mr. Coriolanus, you will fail your mentoring class and won’t be the best student of the Academy anymore, and she, ” the Dean pointed at Heliona, “will be expelled, no other option, isn’t it exciting? But don’t worry you are getting all the instruments you need, to provide the best mentorship. First of all, there is no limit anymore to how many books you both can take from the library – study as much as you wish. Professors are also available for any consultation for both of you, in case you need to refresh in your memory any of the lectures.”
Coriolanus’ frown deepened, he didn’t like the idea of his grades depending on some girl.
“Secondly,” the Dean continued, “we’ve brought also some positive reinforcement into the mentorship, you know, to help make the right choice. You will see in the section ‘Praise and rewards’, point two – apart from any praise in words for the positive results of the mentee, you are entitled to a small amount of money during the year, which you can use to reward the mentee. It is not much but will be enough to visit a cafe a couple of times or go to the fair. You can’t take all the money at once though – every time you wish to give out a reward it should be justified – good grades, good performance in sports, etc. You’ll come to me and I will approve any such case and issue you the appropriate amount of money.”
Coriolanus and Heliona peeked at each other surprised. This sounded too good to be true.
“Thank you, sir," they both replied.
“Don’t thank me yet”, the Dean smirked, “Besides the positive reinforcement, the negative one also comes into force, you can see all the details in the third section ‘Penalty and discipline’. As I said, mentors are fully responsible for their mentees. A mentor can use such tools as scolding, grounding, or leaving a mentee without one take of a meal on a day to force obedience. His mentee must comply with any disciplinary actions that the mentor will set. For the worse cases, there will be stricter measures.” He bent down and fished something out from under the table, “Here you are, one such thing for every couple of mentors and mentees,” he said placing some wooden object in front of them on their terms and agreement paper. It looked like a big long cutting board.
Heliona noticed Coriolanus’ brows shooting up in surprise and immediate understanding, while redness crept over his cheeks.
“Will… will I have to use that?” he asked hesitatingly peering at the dean.
“Yes, you will have . Three demerits in a week for this young lady over there and it is your responsibility to put this to use.”
Coriolanus softly gasped. Heliona squirmed not understanding what are they talking about, looking from the Dean to her new mentor, “What is it, some cutting board? We will have to help in the school’s kitchen if I will be in trouble?”
Coriolanus tried his best to avoid her gaze. Mr. Highbottom laughed throwing his head towards the ceiling, “Mr. Snow, why wouldn’t you tell your charming mentee what is it? As far as I remember you had a very close encounter with such object in your younger years, skin to skin, so to say.”
“It’s a paddle,” he replied quietly, still not looking at Heliona.
“What, like a boat paddle? Are we going to swim somewhere?”
The Dean continued laughing. Coriolanus ignored her question, looking up at him, “But isn’t it the peacekeepers, who are doing this ?”
“Yes, Mr. Snow for the other classes – yes, it still will be a peacekeeper coming on Fridays afternoons. For this freshman year though, the rules will be much stricter – more opportunities to get a demerit, so we decided it would be best if mentors could dish out the discipline during the week.”
The Dean looked up then at Heliona, “Tell me, child, were you ever disciplined in your previous school?”
“No,” she said meekly, she liked this conversation less and less. “Is this tool designed to hit students somehow?” she guessed. To hit me, almost slipped from her tongue.
“Well, this is unfortunate for you then, that you never had this in your previous school, although nonetheless, you will have to comply with the Academy's standards. You see, Miss Saturnalia, a paddle is used as a disciplinary tool for paddling, spanking in other words. Applied to the backside of the legs – a little below the tailbone and down on the thighs until the knees start.”
Heliona felt like all the air left her. This is it, this is the catch why it was so easy to get into the Academy this year, so they could conduct training experiments on the fresh meat, on her . She gulped, “Can we... can we bypass this somehow?”
“Yes sure you can, stay at your best performance and Mr. Snow won’t have to worry about this. Also, in point 4 of the third section of your terms and agreements paper, you’ll see that there can be other tools used for the discipline – the mentor can use his bare hand, school-issued belt, or a school-issued ruler. These tools I think you have already received from the Academy," the Dean looked meaningfully at her. “Although most of these tools can be applied only to the already mentioned body parts of the mentee. Apart from the ruler of course – this a mentor can use on his mentee's hands as well.”
“But it is illegal to hit children!” she exclaimed at the last attempt to refuse from all of this.
“It is not anymore, not after the war, young lady. Anyway, you’re not a kid – we made sure all the freshman students were over eighteen. This young man is twenty. So you’re both legally adults and can do whatever you wish, and whatever you’re obliged to.”
Heliona felt sick to her stomach, this sounded terrible, she couldn’t believe she was thrown into this situation in the first place. She couldn’t help but flush, at the embarrassment of the only thought that this gorgeous young man sitting next to her would do such things to her if she merely got a bad grade.
“How awful should be the offense to receive such... discipline?” she asked quietly, almost in a whisper.
“There is a demerit system in the Academy, Miss Saturnalia. A bad grade, failed test, any sort of misbehaving, backtalk to the teachers, or negligent attitude towards your uniform will end up in a demerit.”
“So like pretty much anything can cause a demerit? Like even breathing?” blurted out Heliona. Coriolanus visibly flinched peeking at her.
The Dean looked at her sternly, “This is exactly an example of the backtalk, that could end up in a demerit for you, young lady. I will let it slip for now, though it will be only once. Consider this as a warning. Every week the amount of demerits is set to zero. If you collect one or two demerits per week your mentor can discipline you as he sees appropriate. Although as soon you get a third demerit in a week, we strongly suggest mentors carry on corporal punishment. If you get a fourth demerit in the same week or more, appropriate corporal punishment should be executed every time after there is a new demerit. This is not an infinite number though, if you receive as many as fifteen demerits in one week, we will assume your mentor is not doing his job rightfully and as your next punishment he will have to cane you, while I or someone else from the staff will witness the punishment.”
She felt tears starting to creep into her eyes, this all was humiliating – this conversation, these stupid rules, all... everything . Suddenly Coriolanus bent a little to her side and squeezed her arm in sympathy. Heliona raised her eyes to meet his. He did also look embarassed, although held himself better than her. He offered her a weak smile and spoke softly, “It is all right, you just stay out of troubles and this will never have to happen.” He looked at the Dean, “What if I don’t comply, will not take out such a punishment on her? Will there be someone else?”
“Well Mr. Snow, if it will become known to us that you willingly ignore these rules and/or you and your mentee are lying about the executed discipline – you both will get whipped and then expelled. I hope this is clear and I won’t have to repeat myself again.”
“Yes sir”, replied Coriolanus glumly, his squeeze unawaringly tightening on Heliona’s arm. He is doomed, he thought, all his future now depending on this girl, who didn’t look like she herself believed she would stay out of troubles. He also couldn’t imagine how he would punish her. He never hit anyone in his entire life, let alone spanked . Being expelled from the Academy was humiliating enough, but being also whipped – that was indeed, too much. He had of course a fair share of his own spankings, being most cases dished out by the peacekeepers, who visited the Academy on Fridays for the sole purpose of disciplining the misbehaving youth of Capitol. However, he never thought about if he had it in him to discipline someone, to hurt someone. He guessed he would have to find this out in the very nearest future.
Heliona broke the silence, “Will it be public, like public flogging sort of things?”
The Dean chuckled, “No Miss Saturnalia, while it is not prohibited and a mentor can do this to their mentee, we have an abandoned office specifically for these situations. Mr. Snow knows this place from personal experience, so if necessary he will show you everything.”
Heliona looked surprisingly at Coriolanus. While she was worrying so much about her own butt, she missed before the dean's not-so-subtle hints that Coriolanus himself was disciplined enough in the past. She was shocked, to say the least. Coriolanus blushed and looked away from her in shame, understanding the reason of her glance. She decided not to push right now and to carefully ask about it later on. Instead, she just put her other arm on top of his and squeezed in return.
“Also,” the Dean continued, “for the mentors and their mentees we are removing the ban on visiting each other dorm rooms. We understand that you might need to study together or carry on discipline sessions in private. Though, I would strongly advise against intimacy. Early pregnancy has not helped anyone in studies.” Mr. Highbottom issued one more meaningful look to the young people sitting opposite him.
Heliona blushed at the mention of the intimacy, of course, given how handsome this guy was, this thought had already crossed her mind, but given the current circumstances, she brushed it off.
She still had some questions, troubling her, “What if I refuse to participate in this? Refuse to sign this paper?”
“In this case, you will be immediately expelled and we will invite the next student in line who applied to study at the Academy. Coriolanus will be assigned as a mentor to this new student then. There are hundreds of students waiting on the list now. The opportunity to study here is a rare chance, young lady. Use it wisely," admonished the dean.
“How is the spanking… the discipline should be registered? On the clothes, or on... bare?” was the last question that haunted Heliona, though she didn’t dare to look the Dean in the eyes asking this.
“You run ahead of things Miss Saturnalia, while this may never happen to you, you worry too much about this. The short answer – as your mentor decides appropriate, the Academy is not dictating this. Since he had already experienced all the different sorts of discipline on himself, I’m sure Mr. Snow will select the best option for you," Dean couldn’t stop himself from humiliating Coriolanus a little bit more. “I hope you don’t have any more questions and we can finish this now. Please take your papers, go sit somewhere and discuss it. Apart from your names in it, you’ll need to fill in three fields there more – the first one is an option for the reward that you’ll see as the most preferable one, like I said – a trip to a cafe might be one of them. Secondly, you need to include one more tool for the disciplinary sessions, this one I leave up to you for discussion. Thirdly – a mentor can mention a special offense that is a hard no-no. Now, take your papers, take your paddle, meet you in an hour.”
Dean Highbottom waved his hand dismissively at them. Troubled students peeked at each other and hurried to stand up to get away from there as soon as possible.
“One more thing, please leave through the second door. Don’t want to spoil the news for others,” the Dean grinned deviously, pointing to the door at the back of the room.
Heliona grabbed papers from the table, not daring to touch the godforsaken paddle. Coriolanus took the paddle and moved it to the hand furthest from her. Then, holding her by the shoulders with one hand, he directed them both towards the exit.