I own nothing but the plot. Characters belong to Suzanne Collins.

– Chapter Four–

Peeta and I woke up to sound of someone knocking on the door. "Get up, it's going to be a big big day!" Effie said shrilly through the door.

I looked up to see Peeta with his arm thrown over his eyes and his other arm was wrapped around my waist. I smiled sliding up and pulling at his arm. It wouldn't budge so I huffed in mock annoyance and rolled over on my back to look at the ceiling.

Peeta chuckled and rolled over so he was hovering above me. His hair was falling in his eyes, so I pushed it back so I could see his blue eyes. He kissed my hand when I rested it on his cheek. "We need to get up before they come in here and see us," I said kissing his wrist, which was right next to my head.

He sighed, "I know." When he rolled back over, he pulled me with him so I was lying across his body with my nose touching his. I kissed his lips before standing up and stretching my stiff limbs. Peeta got up as well and slipped his shirt back on before heading to the door. He opened the door slightly and peaked down the hallway before he slipped out.

I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror and sighed. My braid was a fuzzy mess, I had slept in my dress and it was so wrinkled, it looked like a crumpled up sheet. When I went to turn on the shower, I froze. There were so many knobs and buttons I didn't know what to push. When I got just the water running, I slipped out of my dress and stepped in.

The water was warm and I thought about how long it would take us to get just one bath this warm. I pushed some other button and lavender scented shampoo was squirted into my hair. Before I was ready, my body was sprayed with lemon body wash and the smell was so strong I sneezed uncontrollably. It took me a good ten minutes to get everything washed off before I could I get out.

I picked up my dress off of the floor and laid it on the bed. I carefully took the Mockingjay pin off and laid it on the dresser. When I found a pair of khaki pants and a forest green shirt and pulled them on. Once I was done dressing, I put my pin on my new sweater, I put my hair back into its intricate braid before stepping out of the room. I heard the sound of voices to the right and headed to where I assumed we ate supper the night before.

Peeta, Effie, and Haymitch were seated around the table and it looked to me as if Peeta and Haymitch were in deep conversation. I sat next to Peeta and he looked up at me with a loving look in his eyes before turning back to Haymitch.

It sounded to me as if they were having a conversation about survival in the arena so I began to listen. "I'll make a fire then," Peeta countered.

"And that is quickest way to get yourself killed," Haymitch said throwing his hands up. "All either of you needs to do is find shelter and water. If you try and do anything else, you'll likely be killed."

"What if there's no good places for shelter?' I asked around a mouthful of muffin.

"Then you better run like hell because you'll want to distance yourself from all the other Tributes," Haymitch said putting jam on his toast.

I sighed and felt Peeta's hand on my knee. I put my hand over top of his own and he shoved and mug of brown steaming liquid my way. "They call it hot chocolate," he said, "You have to try it."

I wrapped my hands around the cup and took a small sip. It burned all the way down my throat but I couldn't believe the taste. It was the sweetest thing I had ever tasted. It reminded me of having warm milk on a freezing day, sitting with Prim by the fire, and just being together.

I took my time eating breakfast because I remembered how stuffed I had been the night before. The rest of the meal consisted of quiet chatter and the sound of silverware on plates. When we were done eating, it was decided we had better watch the Reapings in Districts 1-11.

Effie led us to a small sitting room, which was dominated by a large television surrounded by comfortable furniture. Peeta sat in the chair across from me and Effie and Haymitch shared the couch in the center of the room. The Reapings would be playing throughout the next day until the Opening Ceremonies took place.

It looked to me as if the Tributes looked the same as they did every year. The Careers were massive and everyone else was of average stature. There was only one Tribute that stuck out in my mind. It was a little girl named Rue from District 11. She reminded me of Prim because of her small size. But, unlike Prim, no one volunteered to take her place.

When they showed our Reaping, I had to force myself to watch the screen. Everything unfolded just as I had remembered, but it seemed to be much faster. Within seconds of Effie calling Prim's name I was screaming that I would volunteer, but in that moment it felt like I was standing there for minutes.

When Peeta was Reaped, I saw his face and had to hold myself back from crying and asking God why it had to be him. He is the perfect person. He could go home and have any girl he wanted and they would marry him in a heartbeat, but he wanted me. There was no explanation for it, he just did. Unlike me, he had people who needed him at home. Prim and my mother could make it on their own but Peeta's family can't.

It isn't that Peeta's mother doesn't work hard, she does but Kale isn't even in school yet and Rye won't be able to find a job for a few good years. Peeta has to go home, not because I want him to but because he needs to.

When the Reapings were over, there wasn't much to say, but Effie was the first to speak. "Well, we should be arriving soon. Even with these old trains were can make it there in record time! I had better go freshen up!" and with that, she was off.

The rest of the ride was spent quietly watching what everyone in the Capitol had to say about this years Tributes. The Head-Gamemaker, Seneca Crane, was being interview just as the train was slowing down and we were entering the Capitol. Peeta had stood up to look out the window but I stayed where I was listening to what he was saying.

"I think this years Tributes will give us a fine show. I mean I can't really tell you until I see them in training but from what I can tell this will be a very memorable year," he smiled as the crowd cheered.

Peeta finally got me to turn away from the T.V. when he said my name, "Katniss, you have got to see this." For where I was sitting, I could see a huge city surrounded by tall mountains all around and to me, there looked to be no escape.

Peeta stopped trying to get me to come over when he saw I had no interest in getting up to look at it. When the train was plunged in darkness, I realized we were going through the side of the mountain to enter the city. Just when I felt I was about to exploded from the thought of getting trapped, we emerged into a crowd of thunderous applause. Peeta was waving back at them and I scowled.

"You better take notes from him Sweetheart. He knows what he's doing," Haymitch said taking a long drag from his bottle.

When we came to a complete stop, we were quickly taken to the Training Center, where we would be staying during our remainder in the Capitol. Peeta and I were each taken to separate rooms and before I knew what was happening, my Prep Team was there telling me how beautiful they were going to make me.

So far they had succeeded in pulling out all of my legs hair, taking off half of my eyebrows, and scrubbing my body so vigorusly, my skin was baby pink. Not to mention cleaning my nails and painting them an iridescent pink. But I heard them say the only thing they were not able to touch was my hair. I don't know why, but that's what they said.

"Well," Venia said looking my over as Flavius and Octavia gave me a few finishing touches, "I think you're ready to see Cinna."

"You can just stay here like this, until he gets here," Octavia says as they walk out the door. I'm left to my own devices until Cinna comes in and when he does, I'm stunned. He looks nothing like any of the stylists I've ever seen. To put it generally, he looks normal. The only trace of make-up on him is golden eyeliner.

"Hello, I'm Cinna, lovely to meet you, although not under these circumstances," he says offering his hand for me to shake, which I did. "Now, put your robe on and come have a seat with me," he says indicating toward the comfy couch to the side of the door.

Once I was seated, he began to speak, "You know, I think it was very brave, what you did for your sister."

"Thank you," I said looking up at him with a small smile.

"Now," he said, "I have a few questions for you. First of all, who did you hair," he said standing up to examine it.

"My mother did," I said waiting for him to come take a seat.

"Well," he said sitting down, "I want it to be your look. Which is why I didn't want the Prep Team to touch it because I want to be able to recreate it. Here's my second question, what do you imagine your Ceremonies costume will be this evening?"

"We're always coal miners," I said furrowing my eyebrows.

"All right, but what do we do with coal?" he asks.

"Well, we burn it but-" he cut me off.

"Exactly, I want to set you on fire." I was about to protest when he stopped me, "Now, I'm not really going to be setting you on fire. Portia, Peeta's stylist, and I have spent months creating a synthetic fire. It'll only looks like fire, you won't feel a thing. Now what do you think about this years costumes?"

"It's brilliant," I said with a smile.

"I'm glad you think so," he said with a slight laugh, "there's really no turning back now."

Cinna helped me into a black, forming fitting unitary that had a cape reaching my feet. He had also fixed my hair so it didn't look like I had left it for two days, which I had. Once he had my long boots laced up, I was ready to go. We took an elevator down to the ground floor of the training center, where all of the Tributes would line up to make their way through the Capitol Square.

Peeta wasn't there when we got there so Cinna and I stood, patiently waiting until he and Portia arrived. When they did arrive, they had Peeta and I stand in our chariot so we didn't have flames licking up our back as we were walking. I looked at Peeta as Portia and Cinna came toward us brandishing blowtorches.

"All right," said Cinna, "on the count of three. One. Two. Three," and then we were engulfed in flames.

A/N: Thank you so much for taking you time to read this! I would really appreciate it if you would leave me a review, telling me what I can improve on! Thanks again, have a great day!