I stretched as I woke up and rolled over. Groaning, I hauled myself out of bed and threw on some ratty shorts that could get wet. Well actually I think all of my clothing has been wet at some point, living in Four makes it kind of unavoidable. I walked out of the back of my house wearing only my tattered shorts to our meeting place. The houses in the victors village were nice in that they all were along the coast. My house was in between the houses of my two favorite people, Annie and Mags. I was going to meet Annie. We have to keep our relationship a secret because of the Capitol and the hold it has over me. I walked to the beach and then another half mile to the small alcove of rocks that Annie and I had dubbed our special place. We meet here almost every morning. We have an agreement; any morning we are free we come to our place as soon as we can. We are both used to waking up early from when we had jobs. If the other person isn't there by 9am then they have something else to do. Annie knows when I am going to be in the Capitol but I think she waits in our spot everyday anyway.

Annie is an amazing girl. I have been in love with her for years, since before her games. When she went in the arena I tried to detach myself from her because I was too afraid of losing her. My resolve weakened the night of the chariot parade. I was going to do everything in my power as her mentor to make her win. And she won, for a price. The arena…changed Annie. It changes everyone who goes in, but it changed Annie more. She lost it near the end when her ally was viciously beheaded. Then one of the game makers decided to flood the arena. I don't think she would have won if not for that. She was the only one of the surviving tributes who could swim, she was declared victor with-in a few hours. I was called to President Snow's office the day before the ceremony to crown Annie as victor and watch the recap. He told me that seeing as I worked for him, or anyone who could pay well enough, that I was not allowed to show any attachment to Annie, what so ever. If I did, if anyone knew I had feelings for her, she would be killed, just like he killed my family when I refused to 'work' for him the first time.

I shuddered as I tried to shake myself out of these dark thoughts. I sat down in the sand with my feet in the water, waiting for Annie. She would be here. It was only 7:30 but I figured I would be seeing her within the next few minutes. I was right because no less than five minutes later I heard muffled footsteps and a poorly hidden giggle. I could tell by the sound of her foot falls she was trying to sneak up on me. I braced myself and spun around to face her when she got right behind me. She hadn't counted on me hearing her approach and she let out a small yelp and started to fall backwards. I darted forward and caught her before she could hit the ground. We wound up lying in the sand tangled up in each other.

"Well hi there.' I said in my natural voice, not the seductive purr I used in the Capitol. She giggled and then made a pouty face,

"I was trying to sneak up on you. You ruin all my fun." I suppressed a laugh and made a snorting sound.

"You might want to try a bit harder. I could hear you from 1,000 feet away!" She wasn't pleased with my description and wriggled out from under me and sat next to me. We talked for almost four hours, just sitting there enjoying another beautiful day, until it was time for me to leave. I had to catch a train to the Capitol soon, oh joy.

I said goodbye to Annie and I could tell she was upset. I wrapped my arm around her,

"Hey, it's okay. I'll be back in a few days anyway. I have to watch the wedding dress show for Katniss with some creepy lady named Persia. I've had, um, contact with her before." Annie cut me off here.

"You mean you've slept with her!" She spat savagely. I cringed.

"Annie you know that isn't my choice." Her face softened.

"I know, I just can't stand the thought of what you do there" I sighed.

"I know, neither can I." I stood up, pulling her with me and began walking back to our houses. As we got closer I noticed people standing in my living room, you can see into my living room from the beach due to a large picture window. Luckily, the people hadn't seen me or Annie yet, their backs were turned.

"Annie! Stay back on the beach for a few minutes. Wait until I've been in my house for ten minutes before you go home. They can't see us together." She looked at the sky for a few seconds, silent. "Umm..Annie? Did you hear me?" She nodded and tilted her head toward me for a goodbye kiss. I was more than happy to oblige and after we broke apart I whispered 'I love you' to her and walked to my house.

I opened the back door to my house, the one leading directly into the living room, and put on a stunning smile for whom ever was in my house. I looked around and noticed it was my old stylist from the Capitol and my prep team. These people had been with me since my games nine and half years ago. It has been decided that since I need to look pretty so often that the team could be responsible for just me and not the upcoming tributes. There is a different stylist team working on the male tributes from Four now. Varsuvious, my very flamboyant male stylist, greeted me with a hug. He has green skin and aqua blue hair. His hair is long and messy. My prep team has the same skin and hair colors with different hair styles. It's almost nauseating.

"Oh Finnick darling! How wonderful to see you again! We have all missed you so very much! Looks like you are going to be spending the afternoon with a lady by the name of Persia, and then accompanying her on a live feed to the City Circle to see the pictures of Katniss's wedding dresses. Doesn't that sound like so much fun! I hear they just did the photo shoot yesterday! It seems that Miss Persia wants you to match her for tonight's event, so we will be temporarily dying your hair and skin. It will wash out with a special soap I will provide for you on the way back." I swear he didn't take a single breath the whole seven sentences. That man could talk forever. I smiled brightly,

"Yes that sounds marvelous! But, if I might ask, why are you in my house? And not waiting on the train?" I will admit, it kinda ticked me off that they just let themselves into my house.

"Oh wasn't it a lovely surprise! The train arrived a bit early so we thought we would come meet you here!" Varsuvious accented this bit of news with wild hand gestures. I smiled brightly.

"Oh yes of course that it wonderful!" I said with equal exuberance.

With a lot more conversing we finally made it out the door and on our way to the train station. The prep team was not at all happy with walking the half mile it takes to get to the station for a second time. Outwardly I was very sympathetic, inwardly I was groaning at the pampered lives they lead. We made it to the station in one piece and all got on the train. I immediately headed to the dining car, I still hadn't eaten breakfast and boy was I starving! It was well past lunch time. I sat down and soon the prep team and Varsuvious joined me. An avox brought us a marvelous lunch consisting of fabulous lamb stew. If I remember correctly Katniss loves it. We all ate with a light hearted conversation going on the whole time. After we finished Varsuvious instructed me to follow him to a different car so I could be dyed. Joy. I honestly hate all of the capitol fashions, why people can't just look like themselves is beyond me.

I followed my stylist into a room that looked more like a hospital than a styling room. Well perhaps this is more of a dying room. Har har. I was instructed to strip completely and shower quickly. I complied and was finished in less than ten minutes. When I got out Varsuvious told me that he would dye my hair first. It was going to be black. I was allowed to wrap a towel around my waist and I sat in a chair, leaned my head back, and zoned out. The nice thing about Varsuvious is that he doesn't talk while he is working on me, which means I was left to my own thoughts for the short time it took to turn my hair black. He finished and told me to go rinse off the excess dye. I did so quickly and didn't bother with a towel because I knew he still had to dye my whole body and that meant no privacy, which I am sadly used to. It took less than an hour to turn my skin a metallic gold color and then I was allowed to rest until we got to the Capitol. That was a joke because as we finished I could see the outskirts of the city from my window. I had just enough time to get dressed and then we were pulling into the station where Persia would be waiting.