I looked in the mirror, taking in my poofy, black, coal inspired dress. With ruffles. And poofy shoulders. The works. I could barely move. To say I hated it would be an understatement. I had to say, I was disappointed in Chisel. His last dress, which was my style, had me pretty hopeful that the rest would be like that.

Oh well. At least my make-up wasn't so bad. They had covered up the cut on my forehead nicely, you could only see it if you were looking for it. My hair was curled and pulled up on top my head, and my eye shadow was a shimmering silver. My lips were painted silver too. It was a bit much, but it was pretty.

Chisel walked me out to my carriage, where Effie and Mason were standing. I noticed he was dressed similar to me, in a dressy black suit.

"You look…um…nice." He said, taking in the dress and trying not to laugh.

I narrowed my eyes. "I could say the same to you."

My sarcasm knocked the grin right of his face, and I smirked.

"Alright, everybody in! It's about to start! In, in!" Effie rushed us, and I followed in after Mason.

"Your uncle would love what you've done with her dress." Effie giggled.

I scoffed as we started moving. Mumbling, "Not even coal itself would like this thing."

"Hmm?" asked Mason, trying to read my lips.

"Nothing." I shook my head. I tried to smile, and wave at the crowd, but my movements felt limited. Then, as were halfway up the stage, I felt my hair slipping out of its ties. Whoops, nice job, purple lady.

I felt a little panicked as my dress started unravelling itself. I glanced at Mason and saw he had the same problem. I looked straight forward, trying to keep my smile up as I felt my hair come down over my shoulders and my clothes fell off all together. There were gasps from the crowd and all eyes were on us. Shit. Were we naked?

I looked up at the screen and saw that we weren't, instead we were sparking. I had on a strapless sparkling silver dress that hugged every curve I had. It was like a long flowing body glove. I hardly recognized the girl on the screen, she looked gorgeous. It took me a second to put it together, what this diamond themed look had to do with coal mining. Then I remembered, when you apply enough pressure to coal, it becomes a jewel. Mason's tux was just as amazing, he had the same glittery glow.

I looked at him with a grin in amazement, and he took me in as our carriage came to a stop. "Wow." He breathed. "Lily, you look amazing."

"Thanks." I grinned. "Chisel is a genius."

"That's not what I-"

"Tiger Lily!"

My head snapped around at the all too familiar nickname. It couldn't be.

But it was. Walking over to my carriage was none other than my blonde haired, blue eyed, super tan,…way more built than I remembered...best friend.

"Finn!" I cried, hopping out and running into his hug. He picked me up and spun me around.

"You look so beautiful, I hardly recognized you!" He teased me, his laughter booming.

I shot him a playful glare as he put me down. "That's what happens when you don't come see me for 4 years!"

He pouted. "Well you haven't called me for two!"

"I'm sorry, I've been a little busy!"

"Oh yeah?" he cocked an eyebrow. "Doing what?"

"Oh you know, I've been bulking up." I said holding up my tiny arms as if I was flexing these big bulging muscles. "Getting ready to go fight and stuff."

He chuckled. "I can see that. What do you bench now? Rabbits?"

"Hey, I've carried quite a few doe all the way home!" I defended, grinning. Then I poked his biceps. "What about you? Taking steroids or something? Where did these come from?"

"Oh, these little things?" he said, flexing. I laughed, remembering how he used to pretend to be buff when he was a scrawny little 14 year old. "They're just from fishing."

"What do you catch, great white sharks?" I asked.

We burst out in laugher and hug again, giddy to be reunited. The circumstances hadn't really set in yet.

"How's mom?" I asked.

He shrugged. "She's been okay. How bout the Mellarks?"

"They're fine. I'm sure you'll see them later." I said.

"So what's the deal with your boyfriend? He's been glaring daggers at me this whole time." Finn whispered with a smirk. I followed his gaze to my carriage, where Mason looked away as soon as I met his eyes.

"Mason? We just met today." I told him.

"Oh so it's that love at first sight type thing." Finn nodded, grinning. "Nice."

"Stop!" I laughed, hitting his arm. "He volunteered for Bash."

"Really?" he asked, looking at Mason again. "That was brave. I can't even imagine the thought of you guys going in together."

"I know." I nodded. "Or Bash going in at all. He's so little."

"I would have looked out for him." Says Finn.

"I know." I smiled gratefully. "So what's your story? You got reaped?"

"Nah some little kid did. I figured I'm bigger, stronger. My mom made it out. And Dad did twice. So why not me?" he explained.

I nodded. Finn's always been a good kid like that. "Same."

"You volunteered?" He seemed surprised.

"What?" I laughed. "You can play the hero and I can't?"

"No, I know how reckless you are-" I glared at him, and he corrected himself. "Sorry. Brave. But you're so little."

"Just cause I'm little doesn't mean I can't take care of myself."

"Yeah, I know that. I just worry about you, kid."

"Yeah well…if your so worried than let's keep in touch after this, kay?" I say.

We started cracking up again. I love that Finn gets my dark sense of humor like that. Everyone else gets mad at me.

"Making friends already?" Mason says with a tight grin, coming up beside me and looking Finn over, like he was sizing him up.

I laughed. "Mason, this is my old friend, Finn. Finn, Mason Hawthorne."

"Finnick O'dair. The second." Finn said, extending his hand. Mason shook it, and you could tell they were trying to see who was stronger. "Pleasure to meet you."

"You too." Mason said, still not pulling away. God, boys are so stupid.

"Break it up, macho men." I said, pulling both of their arms away.

They both looked at me like kids with their hands caught in the cookie jar. Yeah, that's right, I called you guys out. What are you gonna do about it?

"So Finn, how's your partner?" I asked.

"Her name's Chelsea Withers." He said, rolling his eyes and jerking his thumb in her direction. "She's the really ditsy looking blonde."

"That's not nice!" I giggled, slapping his arm.

Finn held his hands up in defense. "She actually is though! She can't even hold an intellectual conversation, it's really bad. She asks if she looks okay every thirty seconds. So much for a district alliance."

"That's okay, though. Not all districts form alliances." I told him.

"But it's smarter to." Mason cut in.

I looked at him. "Not really."

"You already know your partners strengths." Mason tries to reason.

"And they know your weaknesses." I say, shooting him a look that makes him back down a bit. "It doesn't work out for everybody."

Mason scoffed. "It seemed to work our pretty good for your parents."

"My parents aren't like everybody else." I snapped back.

"I'm gonna…go…I'll catch you later, Lils." Finn excused himself. He never liked tension. I gave him a curt nod, before returning my burning gaze to Mason.

"Neither are we." Really? That was the best he could come up with.

I rolled my eyes. "So what? You're saying you want to be allies?"

"I think that's the best bet for both of us." He said.

"Oh really?" I said, raising my eye brows and waiting for an explanation.

"You're the only person that I know I can trust right now." Mason said, barely above a whisper as his eyes darted around suspiciously.

I laughed. "What makes you think you can trust me?"

"I just know." He said, waving me off.

"And why should I trust you? You're from District 2. How do I know you're not gonna team up with the careers?"

"Because I volunteered for your brother." He deadpanned.

I frowned. "How do I know that was out of the goodness of your heart? What if you have this sick goal of getting me all alone in the arena and killing me and that was your plan all along?"

"Wouldn't I have just killed you on the train?" he asked, humoring me.

"But then you'd be arrested. If you did it in the games not only would you not face the law, but you'd be praised for it."

"Really? You really think that's my motive?" he had a hint of smirk on his face as his eyed me with amusement. He reminded me of his dad for a moment.

"No." I breathed. "What is your motive?"

"If you were my ally," he whispered, by my ear, grinning. "I'd tell you."

I turned to glare at him, but he was already walking away, towards the other tributes, leaving me alone and frustrated.

"I hate boys." I mutter to myself. Then I think about it, cocking my head to the side. "I hate girls too. I guess I just hate people. Yeah, that about sums it up."