Emerald began to freak out. "My hair is green. My hair is green. MY HAIR IS GREEN!"

Charlotte stared, as if to say, what is she doing? She spoke to Hesse, "Can you calm her down?"

He shrugged. "Emerald."

"What?" She yelled, exasperated.

"Breathe." She inhaled and exhaled.

"My hair is green, Hesse. My hair is green."

"I know." Hesse replied. "I know your hair is green, Em. But if you would just relax. Charlotte says that the dyes will come out in 24 hours."

"But I can't wait 24 hours!" Emerald argued. "I want my hair back."

"This is your hair, Em. It's kind of clever, too. Now you're Emerald all over. They should just dye your skin green and make you green from head to toe."

"Don't give them any ideas." Emerald snapped.

"Look, Em. Can I call you Em?" Charlotte asked. Emerald rolled her eyes in her sarcastic fashion of approving. "In less than a week, you will be fighting in an arena full of kids just dying to kill you. In these games, it's all about making an impression on the sponsors. And that's exactly what your hair is going to do. People will remember you because of your green hair."

"I-"Emerald stopped herself when a group of cameras doing pre-taping for the Games caught her eye. She sighed. "Fine. But not for you all. For my survival in the games."

Chat sighed in relief. Charite said, "There's a good girl." Eihei raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Well, then. Let's get Hesse into his costume for the parade."

…

"I look stupid." Emerald complained.

Hesse sighed. "Why are you always so difficult?"

"Why are you so optimistic when we both know that we're going to die anyways?"

"Because," Hesse grinned. "I'm digging the leaf skirt."

Emerald snorted. "Skirt? More like a ruffle. I didn't know they made long sleeved leotards."

She had been dressed in a brown leotard that had a green leaf-like row of ruffles with a matching fishnet long-sleeved shirt worn underneath. Matching this were a pair of green combat boots. Hesse looked similar, except his leaves rested on top of his head and his combat boots were a bright yellow. "Amarillo is Spanish for yellow. Except they spell the rillo r-i-l-l-o, like your last name. This way, you can both be colorful." Dox, Hesse's stylist, had explained.

Emerald still thought it was stupid. As if she had a choice.

The parade had started. The group from District One consisted of a tall, dark-haired girl named Liga Seftis and a pudgy, well-fed blonde boy named Pella Tonje. They were attired in suits completely covered in rhinestones, even the girl. It was an interesting idea, Emerald thought. District Two had two victors with pale skin and dark hair, Cuva Afaha and Cristof Flemings, who were costumed as swords. District Three, a district with similar-looking tributes named Evanjalee LeSo and Bronze Interro, had their tributes dressed as keyboards. But District Four intimidated her the most. The boy, Vedas Jonstone, a blonde boy with piercing blue eyes, was dressed as a fish. This made Emerald giggle and even Charlotte grinned. But the girl. Kyrosse Rottman was her name. Her chestnut brown hair was tied in a bun and she had bright hazel eyes that rivaled even Emerald's green ones. She was attired in a green sequin dress that reminded one of a fish. Yet she did not look as ridiculous as Vedas. The costume in fact suited her. She sported a hat that was in fact a fountain. But this was not the thing that intimidated her. The first thing was those hazel eyes. They showed no trace of fear. They showed only courage and confidence. The second was the applause that just kept coming. Emerald did not think the hat to be so spectacular. But the audience's opinion seemed to differ. Therefore, she could not concentrate on the next two districts, victors, or costumes. She later learned that the District Five female tribute was named Cattila Rela, and at that point, Emerald felt bad for not paying attention.

And then she was being hurried onto a float, snapped out of her thoughts. It was all a blur. A colorful, loud, applause-filled blur. Yet Emerald couldn't enjoy it. Here she was, about to fight to the death. And she was genuinely worried about making a good impression. Was it weird that her hair was green? Was she skinny and pale from malnutrition? Would living at the bottom end of Seven affect her popularity with Sponsors? But she wasn't worried about Sponsors. She looked past the blur and saw nothing but smiling faces. Smiling for her. And she glanced at Hesse. He looked more nervous than she. Emerald looked out to the audience. Opened her mouth. And smiled. The audience cheered. All eyes were on her. She was glowing.

And then the blur ended. There were no cheering fans backstage. This was the Hunger Games, not what us people of the past would call a rock concert.

"That was horrible." Hesse said in disgust. "They treated us like superstars."

"Are you kidding? That was amazing!" Emerald replied.

"You think so?" An unrecognizable voice said from behind.

Emerald turned around slowly. He looked so unlike her. Yet he was the missing piece to her complicated life. The father who had left her years before.

"Just out of curiosity, wasn't your hair red?" Gale asked. Hesse eyed her carefully, studying her expression. However, it stayed the same and remained calm. She nodded. "Why'd they change it?"

"To match my eye color. And the whole, 'I'm a tree with leaves' thing." She replied. Unknown to Gale, the well-hidden tension in her voice was rising, however slow.

"Is that why they called you Emerald?"

"Emerald is my name."

"Did your mother change it after I left?"

Emerald paused. "Why do you want to know?" He looked bewildered, as if it were obvious. "You left. If you had stayed you would have known."

Gale sighed. "Please don't be mad at me."

"Please don't be mad at me? You left our family alone to starve! Do you know how embarrassing it is to be the only child in all of District Seven signed up for tesserae? And then you come back and you act like everything's okay, I've just been sentenced to certain death. Nothing wrong with that."

"Ameline-"

"No, don't even." She cut him off, turned on her heel and left. She ran into the elevators and pressed the buttons. Thank God for elevators. She thought. Emerald really couldn't stand being alone with her thoughts. Not right now. Not after that. She entered the apartment that Katryana had showed her.

She could hear Hesse behind her. "Emerald!" he called. "Emerald, come back!"

Emerald whirled around. "Why?"

"Because."

"That's not a reason."

"Why didn't you tell me you signed up for tesserae?" The question caught Emerald off guard. She had been expecting a question about her encounter with her father, or about the parade.

"Because you would have said no."

"But we could have helped! I didn't know it was getting that bad!"

"Yes, and you didn't need to."

"Yes, I did! Look where it's gotten us."

"You don't understand."

"No, I don't."

"You're supposed to be on my side. But whatever. I'm going somewhere. I probably shouldn't be hanging around with a guy who breaks girls' hearts as a sport. " Emerald left, leaving her harsh words to sink in.