Heylo guys :) SO originally I wanted to make Chapter 4 and 5 one long pre Games chapter but it was getting wayyy too long so I had to divide the two chapters. I know it might be alittle bit boring and Charlotte is majorly moody but just stick with me please. Trust me the actual Games will be epic. Alsoo I've thought up a new story I might start writing. I was listening to 'Toxic' by the Glee Cast and 'Past Story' in the Fairy Tail OST. (I don't even know why I tell everyone what I listen to maybe it helps with the mood ahahah) Well Let's begin shall we?


Will never had a chance to say anything. Well anything I could understand, that is. The Peacekeepers just barged in and told us time was up. They forced us apart and that was when Will said something I didn't understand. All I heard was 'Emma'.

Everything after that just flew by in blur. Being escorted out of the Justice Building, fleetingly hugging my friends, cameras drinking in the very sight of Drew and me, and taking a shower for the first time ever. You would think I would remember my first shower, but I guess imminent doom would ruin that kind of happiness.

Now in the train, I was striding through the doorway, leading into a sort of dining room, with Drew trailing right behind me. Seated at the square table was Wolfe, our Mentor, and next to him sat Crusty. Apparently, Crusty was stuck with us for the whole pre-Games setup. I took a seat across from Wolfe while Drew sat beside me. I could tell he disliked that. Sitting next to me. The silence was becoming very awkward so I decided to be the first one to speak.

"Since you're our Mentor, shouldn't you be giving us advice?" I asked cautiously, not sure how to speak to him. Wolfe looked up at me like he didn't understand what I was saying, shrugged and kept gorging on the feast the Capitol attendees made for us.

"Wolfe is a little hard of hearing so you have to speak up," Crusty told me, in a that-should-be-obvious voice. I sighed, annoyed. We just had to get stuck with a deaf Mentor. How did he even watch the Games and understand what was going on? This was just my luck.

"Do you have any advice for us?" Drew asked loudly. Wolfe gazed at us for quite a while. I thought he might have died or fallen asleep or something but instead he just laughed. Something about his laughter annoyed me. I mean we were going to have to fight for our lives and our only lifeline was laughing at us.

"Advice won't help you two. Maybe you, boy, but definitely not the girl," Wolfe said, still guffawing like an idiot. I felt my jaw drop at what he said and I glowered at the man. I hated him and I barely even knew him. It hurt to find out that the one person who could help us get further than the bloodbath, didn't even want to try. He didn't even believe in me, either.

"Well you wouldn't know that, would you? You don't even know me-us, and you just assume we're going to be the first ones to die? Get this straight, old man," I slammed a fist against the table, sweeping his food away from him. My voice was rising in anger and I was leaning towards him. I was definitely sure he could hear me no matter how deaf he was, "I am not-no, we are not- going to just die. You are the one person who should be trying to keep us alive, so stop being such an asshole and actually try to care!" For a second there, I thought Wolfe was going to strike me, but he just smiled.

"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" Wolfe asked, smiling nonchalantly. I was about to punch him myself when a hand slammed on the table between Wolfe and me, cracking a glossy plate in two. Drew spoke in a deadly calm voice, hand still clenched on the hilt of the fork, "The feisty one's got a point, old man."

"Well, well, well. Aren't you two lively?" Wolfe asked, his annoying, slightly cocky, half smile lighting up his face. Drew grabbed my arm and yanked me back to my seat, before I could do anything stupid. Wolfe chuckled at our expressions. "If looks could kill you two would be unstoppable." Irritatingly enough, that made me smile, but just a little.

Probably to alleviate the tension, Crusty suggested we watch the reruns of the Reapings. I settled into a couch and watched as Panem's symbol and national anthem blared from the television. Watching this didn't help alleviate any kind of tension, it just made it worse.

We watched in silence as district after district were shown. Crusty managed to keep up a running commentary along with the actual TV commentators. Districts 1, 2 and 4 were known as the Career Districts. The children from Districts 1 and 2, seemed very eager to be chosen. It was well known they made a sport out of training for the games. Those four were going to be a major problem. They looked seriously in shape and terrifying with their excited, bloodthirsty expressions.

The District 3 tributes caught my attention, since they were the inventors and gadget makers. They should know a lot about, well, everything. They both wore glasses and were small and wiry.

District 4 should have looked excited, like the other Careers, but they looked utterly somber. The girl called had brown hair, sea-green eyes, and looked vaguely familiar. How did I know her? Violet Cresta. The name sounded so familiar.

"That's Annie Cresta's little sister. Poor girl," Crusty looked sad. Of course, I thought. Annie Cresta won on the year of the earthquake and I heard she went crazy after watching her other tribute get beheaded. The girl on the screen walked up to the stage, her green eyes wary. The boy from that District was named Zane Raine. He looked bored as he sauntered up to the platform tousling his sandy brown hair. The only way you could tell that he was worried about anything was the expression in his eyes.

Districts 5, 6, and 7 didn't really catch my eye. I was glad to see that I didn't look as scared as I felt but I was scared enough. Drew was as emotionless as ever on the cameras. The commentators spoke about how exciting sibling rivalry was. It was completely disgusting. There was even a twelve year old, from District 10. It was heartbreaking. The silence seemed to stretch on and on until Crusty spoke up.

"Go to bed you two! Tomorrow is going to be huge!" Crusty exclaimed, flamboyantly, while shoving us out of the room. Oh yes, tomorrow we'd be at the Capitol. Very exciting. I stalked towards my room and slammed the door shut. I had a very fitful night.

/-/-/-/-/-/

Breakfast was very uneventful, devoid of screaming and evil stares, unlike last night. Everyone looked as if they were functioning on a very little amount of sleep. Drew didn't even look at me. I guess defending me yesterday didn't really affect him much.

"Don't object to anything the stylists want to do." Wolfe ordered. I just nodded, not in the mood to argue. "And throughout all of the pre-Games stuff I want you two to pretend to be siblings who will protect each other no matter what. Also-" I opened my mouth, in the mood to argue after all, but Drew beat me to it.

"You know very well we don't like each other. Why?" Drew asked in his deadly calm voice again. Actually the hatred was one-sided, not mutual, thank you very much.

"Let me finish. During the Interviews you can talk about how you used to hate each other but now you realized you love each other." I made a face at Wolfe's words. This sob story couldn't possibly work. Before Drew or I could object, Wolfe glared and said, "This will keep both of you alive longer. It's called strategy. More sympathy equals more sponsors. And sponsors can make or break you." It was sad but true. Unfortunately, in this case, breaking equaled death.

/-/-/-/-/-/

Sure the Capitol was pretty but I've seen prettier. However, if you called it magnificent I'd have to (grudgingly) agree. Everything about the Capitol was magnificent. It was mysterious, weird, different, creepy, and fascinating. The people, the buildings, the sky, the entertainment… I had to admit it was a thing of awe.

I've been in the Remake Center for two hours with my Prep Team Oskar, Michaela, and Hazelnut. They were very unusual. Oskar was a deep purple color and had black, cropped hair reminding me of some exotic fish or oddly colored dragon. Michaela's body was adorned with red, swirl tattoos and curls just as bright red as the tattoos. She looked like she was on fire. Lastly, Hazelnut was the only one with her normal features, as far as I knew, but she made up for the absence of peculiar through her hair. It was snow white with fluorescent highlights. Did these people think this made them look attractive? They were very unfortunate to think that it did make them attractive. These Capitol people really needed their brain checked.

I wondered what Emma would have said. Oh I miss her so much. I miss home. I even miss having hair on my body.

They called me hairy and I told them I never had a reason to look good before. That won my prep team over big time. They are so ditzy. Then entered my stylist. He told me his name was Zero as he examined my naked body. I resisted the urge to cross my arms across my chest. Then he smiled and said, "At least I have something better to work with this year." I'm guessing that was supposed to be a compliment but I knew the people from last year. One of them was a good friend.

/-/-/-/-/-/

For the Opening Ceremony I was dressed in a patchwork dress that looked like smoke floating around my body. It was beautiful. I barely remember meeting up with Crusty, Wolfe and Drew and heading towards the area where all of the tributes mounted their chariots for a twenty-minute ride through the Capitol.

Lately, I've been in a daze, not paying attention to what was happening around me. As I mounted the chariot, Drew stood next to me and held my hand loosely. He's been ignoring me since Wolfe told us our strategy, so this kind of bothered me. I didn't like pretending to like each other. It made me sad to know it was a façade.. Although it was a lie, it felt very real to me somehow. Besides, I was glad I had something to hold on to through the chariot ride.

When it was our turn, I smiled at the crowd and waved and blew kisses as Drew barely smiled at anyone. His eyes trained on District 7 who was dressed as trees (which they do pretty much every year). It made him seem protective, which made sense, actually. As the wave of noise attacked my senses, I gripped Drew's hand. I didn't mean to, but I was a little intimidated by the huge, screaming crowd. They were cheering for their favorite districts so remembering that I needed sponsors, I smiled widely and waved some more. I seemed like I loved them. Ha. Not really. But the Capitol didn't have to know that.

Soon there were as many Capitolites (Is that what you call them?) cheering for District 8 as the other districts. But still not enough. Eventually, the chariot began to slow at the circle where President Snow gave us yet another long speech. I tried to look attentive but I guess I didn't do a very good job because Drew kept squeezing my hand reassuringly. Either that or he was having periodic hand spasms. The crowd screamed on as we exited towards where our stylists and Mentors stood.

"Good job!" Crusty exclaimed, flushing with apparent joy, "You two absolutely dazzled everyone." I didn't believe Crusty's way too optimistic view on life, so I looked to Wolfe.

"That was alright. We'll have a better chance during private training and interviews, I guess," Wolfe sighed looking gloomy. Actually every single time he looked at me, his expression would get darker. Just like Drew. Ugh. What was wrong with everyone? As the elevator door slid open to reveal our floor I didn't even stop to admire anything. I stomped to my room, slamming the door behind me. Then I let the hot tears spill over.

/-/-/-/-/-/

I was glad I got those tears out of my system last night. I don't know what brought them on though. I guess I was way too stressed out lately about, well, everything. Anyways, when I marched into the dining room, Wolfe, Drew, Crusty, Zero, and Circe, Drew's stylist, were eating breakfast.

"Are you in a good mood today, munchkin?" Wolfe asked me mockingly as I sat down, starving. I glared daggers at him and everyone laughed at my expense. "Remember at training you two have to seem close and make sure to stay away from anything you're good at. Try something new. Save the good stuff for private training." We nodded.

Suddenly, my appetite was gone. I was nervous because for the first time I would be meeting the other tributes. It was a troubling thought. Crusty kept fussing over our appearance. I was the most comfortable I've ever been in Capitol clothes. I was wearing black shorts and a long-sleeved purple cotton shirt. Crusty kept saying we looked like hobos. Whatever those were. Finally the elevator opened to the Training Center and Crusty had to stop touching our clothes and hair.

A lady dressed in black pants and a white shirt gave us a talk about the whole training process. I didn't really pay attention; instead I examined the other tributes. Everyone looked pretty underfed except for Districts 1, 2, and 4. Of course the rest of us considered the first two Districts (sometimes Four) as the Capitol's lapdogs. The two boys looked horribly buff. It didn't help that he kept flexing his muscles and looking in my direction. Oh no, wait. He wasn't looking at me; he was looking at Drew. Most of the Careers were.

I think they wanted him.

For training I went to the camouflage station first and absolutely failed. I guess I didn't have an artistic bone in my body. The Gamemakers were there watching from a sort of balcony with about two yards of wall between the top of the balcony and the ceiling. They were watching us carefully but I decided to stay away from the shooting and throwing stations. I didn't want to reveal my strengths yet.

Instead, I headed towards the station where you learn how to make useful items out of your surroundings. I guess I was doing really well because soon the instructor was giving me even more difficult tasks to do. As soon as I looked up, I noticed the Careers watching me along with the boy from District 4. I hastily made a beeline for the next station.

/-/-/-/-/-/

Today was private training, when each of us would get fifteen minutes with the Gamemakers to show them what we can do. I got used to Drew only speaking to me practically once a day and usually to be all brotherly and ask me if I was all right or tell me a 'funny' story during lunch (in front of the other tributes). Now, it was Drew's turn for private training. That meant 15 minutes until it was my turn. I sighed and preoccupied myself with my hair, trying not to think about how anxious I was.

An automated voice called my name.

Finally, it was my turn.


I hope you're still sticking around :)

Reviews are fish fingers and custard.

xx Enjoy!