Later that night, at the dinner table, her mother had prepared the Capitol's beef stew with hot grain. Remembering what happened just a few hours ago, Jasmine couldn't find her appetite. She pushed the food around on her plate, barely taking a bite. Her father noticed this and lightly touched her head.

"Why aren't you eating, sweetheart?" Her father asked

Jasmine looked at her father and gave him a small smile, "Still finding my appetite…"

"Is it your ankle?" Her mother asked, worriedly.

She looked at her mother who immediately covered her mouth, knowing she let slip about Jasmine's injury. They were covering it very well when her father came home as she was always sitting down.

"Ankle? What happened to your ankle?" Her father asked, looking at her.
"I… I fell." Jasmine replied

Her father put his spoon down and turned to look at her, "How many times have I told you to watch where you were going?"

"Dad… That was just one time that I fell and broke my arm. I'm bigger now. Besides, it's just a sprain." Jasmine said, "I'll be fine after a few days."

"Honey… You're different from the other kids. Your father and I are worried about you. We don't want anything to happen to you." Her mother said
"I know… Don't worry. I can take care of myself." Jasmine said

"Can you? Jasmine… The Hunger Games are nearing… You may have scraped past the 4 years but who's to say you're lucky this time? I'm afraid that you'll get picked this year and you…"

Her mother started to tear up, making her unable to continue her sentence. Her father reached over and held her as she started to cry on his shoulder. Feeling responsible for turning this situation into a sob fest, Jasmine got up from her seat and slowly limped towards the front door.

"Sweetheart, where are you going?" Her father asked

Jasmine turned around, "I'm going out for a walk. To aid my digestion. If I can't eat dinner, I can eat the pink lemonade masquerade cake that mom baked, right?"

Her father knew how horrible Jasmine must feel; to be different from the other kids but he didn't raise her to follow the crowd. In fact, he never expected her to be like them. He loved the way she turned out. When other kids were learning how to combat, she was sitting in the library, reading books. When everyone sat down to watch the annual Hunger Games, she played on the swings her father built for her.

The year she turned 12, was the year everything became a reality to her. Jasmine finally knew what the Hunger Games was like and how she barely survived the reaping. It wasn't easy for her because she knew the huge disadvantage she had if she were ever called out. Because of this, Jasmine never wanted her parents to know how scared and negative she was about the games. She always put on a positive front for them to see so that they wouldn't worry about her. But now, Jasmine could feel the walls crumbling, little by little, revealing the scared girl she was hiding.

She limped out of her house and towards the swing set, which was now a broken one, after the Peacekeepers saw it and warned her father before destroying it. It was set next to the tall, big tree and she remembered the first time she played with it, she'd always try to see if she could reach the tree branch.

Jasmine sat down and looked at the other houses that lit up the street. She pulled her knees close to her chest as she thought about her future in District 2. Was she going to be the next tribute at the Hunger Games? Or was she going to live the rest of the year in fear before the next reaping?

"What am I going to do?" Jasmine asked out loud.

"Depends on what's the root of the problem."

She looked up just in time to see Cato leap down to the ground from the long branch up in the tree. He looked at her and once again, his intimidation seeped through Jasmine, making her stand up quickly so that he wouldn't seem to have an edge over her.

"W-Were you up there for a long time?" Jasmine asked
"Long enough to see you come out here and talk to yourself." Cato replied
"I wasn't talking to myself. I was just asking myself a question… out loud." Jasmine said

Cato moved closer to her, "And you weren't expecting an answer, right?"

Jasmine stepped back with her good foot and said, "No…"

He smirked and moved closer to her again, "So why did you ask your question out loud?"

"Because I thought I was alone." Jasmine said

Cato moved another inch closer, so much so, that they were now face-to-face.

"And yet, you're not." Cato said

Jasmine wanted to step back again, but her legs felt rooted to the spot.

"What do you want?" Jasmine asked
"You." Cato replied

As soon as the word left Cato's lips, Jasmine's fight-or-flight mode came into action. She pushed Cato away from her as hard as she could and he landed on the ground with a thud. She quickly turned around to limp quickly back into her house, not looking back to see if Cato was alright. Her parents looked at her from the kitchen and she merely managed a convincing smile before limping towards her room. Once she closed the door to her room, she sat down on her bed to calm herself.

Feeling slightly better, Jasmine stood up to cross the room to get a book to read. As she walked pass her window, she felt someone watching her from the house opposite. She turned to look and saw Cato standing at the window. It was then that she realized that Cato was living just across from her house. No wonder her mother and Cato were so chummy. Even though Jasmine couldn't see Cato's face clearly, she could feel the intensity of his gaze. Jasmine quickly looked away as she reached for her book, pretending not to see him. With her book in hand, she slowly moved back to her bed. She heaved a sigh of relief as she was now out from his view. Not wanting to let Cato ruin her night, Jasmine shrugged and opened her book; happy to plunge into a world that was different from hers.