"Gold or silver, honey?" Aurelia asks, her bright golden hair falling over the cans of spray paint she has sat on the table next to mine.

"Gold..." I reply uncertainly.

"Brilliant! It'll bring out the gold in your eyes too!" she grins. I don't bother mentioning that I don't have any gold in my eyes whatsoever, they're just plain green. "Zethus! Calliope! Majesty!" Aurelia calls in her sing-song voice, "She's chosen gold! We need to tell Neptune so we can do the final sizing!" She skips out, humming an extremely annoying and catchy (unbearably Capitol) song.

I've only been in the Remake Centre for about ten minutes and have already had to choose between being sprayed gold or silver, having red, blue, green or pink highlights in my hair, a choice between the same colours for my dress and having stars on my face or extremely long false eyelashes with gems on.

"Don't mind Aurelia," Zethus pinches my cheeks, "She's not used to having such a beautiful young Tribute to make even more pretty than she already is!" He lightly slaps my cheeks and walks off, his talon-like nail tapping along the tables full of foul smelling products.

"I'm not sure I want to be 'a beautiful young Tribute' if it means I have to stay with you bunch of freaks," I mutter under my breath. Unfortunately Majesty, a tall woman with an orange and red curled wig and dark skin embedded with rubies, hears me and tuts.

"We aren't freaks! We have the best style-sense in all of Panem! You just need to lighten up a little!" she lectures me and shakes her head. She pulls out a nail file and takes my hands between hers. "They are disgusting. Have you no pride in your nails?"

"I'm sorry," I pout, "I've always bitten them!"

Majesty groans and throws them down on my lap before flouncing out of the room, quickly followed by Zethus yelling her name.

Calliope chuckles, stepping out from behind the blue curtain, "Welcome to Calliope's world... I live in a penthouse with those three nut-heads! They mean well though, they just want to be appreciated. For years Aurelia has been designing beautiful clothes for Tributes, working her way from Twelve up to Seven, then to Three then finally here. Amazing some of them, especially that one from Three last year. That was her, remember it?"

I nod. The Tribute Parade has always been my favourite part of the Games; the pretty clothes capturing me almost as much as the Tributes themselves. I had always wanted it to become my talent, if I won the Games.

"Just try and be a little bit nicer, eh? She's not all there, but how many stylists do you see nowadays that are?" Calliope gives me an encouraging smile and sits down on the examination table next to me. "Now let's do these nails."

She covers my small hands in an avocado cream and pushes back my cuticles. Then she applies a small false nail to each finger, securing it with clear glue and pinching it hard onto my finger. Then she paints each nail crimson and applies a tiny gold gem on each.

"Wow..." I gasp, the gem catching the light in the room and throwing it off onto the ceiling. I tilt my fingers left, right, back and forth and entertain myself by making patterns on the ceiling.

Calliope stands behind me and brushes my hair, first straightening it before twisting it round burning curling tongs making it bounce up to my shoulders. She holds a mirror in front of my face and I gasp. It looks amazing and I tell her this.

"Thanks, but Zethus' your guy if you want your hair made amazing!" Calliope gives a small smile, though I can tell that she's ecstatic.

The doors fly open and Aurelia storms in flanked by Zethus and Majesty. "I've just seen that girl from Four. She looks amazing! If Silk doesn't look that good-" Aurelia breaks off mid sentence. She gasps and I can tell she's seen my hair. "Calliope, that is amazing! She looks brilliant! Majesty, get the spray paint. Actually, don't get the spray paint. Zethus, tell Neptune we're switching to Plan B. Majesty, get the gold ribbon from my office. Calliope there's a little bit of fluff in Silk's hair. Get it out for me then go get the gold glitter. This is going to be amazing!" she squeals, clasping her hands together as her team scurry around.

I have to stay very still as they paint a sparkling gold star on my left cheek and coat my lips in the same glittery substance. Then they apply my eyelashes- which tickle my cheeks every time I blink- and cover my body in a sparkly tanned-coloured powder.

"She's ready!" Aurelia squeals, "Someone get her dress!"

Zethus runs out and comes back moments later, an almost flat bag in his arms. I am told to close my eyes and take off the thin robe I am wearing, both of which I do leaving me feeling nervous and if I'm honest, a little bit scared. The dress is lifted onto my body over my head and adjusted slightly. It has no sleeves or straps but it tight enough round my torso to not fall off.

"You can open your eyes now honey!" Aurelia grins, wheeling a mirror in front of me.

"Wow... I look amazing!" I gasp; twirling slightly and making the sparkling gold and red skirt of my dress capture the light and throw it off onto the cream walls. "It's beautiful! Um, thank you so much!"

"You're welcome honey. We should bring Steel in!" Aurelia squeals as she skips out of the room.

"You've made her so happy," Calliope smiles at me and throws an arm round Zethus' shoulders. "You've made us all so happy. You truly do look stunning."

The door is pushed open again and Aurelia enters, followed by Steel and a blue man who I presume is Neptune.

"Silk... You look brilliant!" Steel gasps. He looks just as magnificent though; a pair of simple golden shorts and thin strips of red ribbon winding up his limbs until they eventually reach his chest and make an 'X' in the middle of it. He, unlike me, is spray-painted gold, making the ribbon even more prominent.

"So do you!" I laugh, crossing the room and throwing my arms round him. His arms loop round me and I look down to see them, golden and far more muscular than they normally are. "I wouldn't want to fight you in the arena once I've seen your arms!"

"That was sort of the idea. Make Steel seem like the steely boy his name gives the impression of him being and he'll get much further," Neptune sneers, his overly large nose scrunched up in a display of obvious distaste.

Steel pushes me back and examines my outfit, "You look like a present. All you need is a little ribbon sash and you'll be a perfect gift!"

"Thank you Steel! You reminded me!" Aurelia grins winding a three-inch thick ribbon round my waist and looping it over my shoulder. She places a tiny gold tiara encrusted with rubies atop my head and slips my feet into sparkly red heels. "There. Perfect!"

.

I climb on the chariot, my entire body shaking as I truly acknowledge the ferocity that I will face in the arena in five days. Steel stands beside me, a grin fixed on his face. The Peacekeepers that hold the doors to the Remake Centre- which is basically just a giant barn- make signals to each other and as they open it, I swear my heart is in my mouth. The snow-white horses with gold headdresses and red feathers start, pulling our chariot out of the Remake Centre and first into the critical eye of the Capitol audience and that of the Districts.

The entire crowd cheers as we make our way down the streets, followed by the Tributes from Two, then Three then Four until it gets to Twelve. Each look brilliant- with the exception of Twelve, just a simple and extremely baggy miner outfit- but none so much as Steel and I. Steel who I am hanging on to for dear life so that I don't fall off the chariot and into the street. It's something I truly cannot afford; any slip up will mean an instant loss of sponsors that will keep me alive in the Games.

I hear an enormous outburst of laughter from behind me and look round. The male Tribute from Eight has fallen off his chariot and his long cape has got tangled in the wheels of it. Even I struggle not to burst out with laughter as his district partner Malinda continues to wave at the crowd, not even realising he's stuck. I turn back to the front and wave to the crowds on either side. Steel's hand rests on my shoulder, a way of showing that we are most certainly a team, and his other hand is waving to the crowd, his glistening smile being portrayed to them all.

I feel annoyance surge through me. I feel some hate for Steel and his stupid glistening teeth. Hate for Vinyl for being such an obnoxious, self-obsessed idiot. Hate for the Capitol and their stupid pointless mind games. But most prominent of all is the hate for myself. Volunteering was the most stupid thing I ever did and now I'm going to most definitely die because of it.

How marvellous...

Finally our twenty minute tour of the streets of the Capitol ends, leaving us stood in front of the Training Centre and ready for President Peragallo to deliver his speech. The rest of the districts fill the space around us and I take a glance around to see the Tributes from Four wearing long flowing robes and pearls woven into their hair.

"Welcome Tributes. Welcome to the Capitol and welcome to the fourth Quarter Quell. We honour the courage you all have and your sense of self sacrifice. Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favour!" President Peragallo says from the balcony above us.

We all give the crowd a final wave and go inside the Training Centre, where we will remain until the Games begin. Aurelia is immediately at my side, throwing her arms around me and almost pulling me off the chariot. Luckily, Steel's hand is still on my shoulder and he keeps me on my feet. I push Aurelia away from me and step down before allowing myself to be almost hugged to death. What a brilliant way to go...

"Easy Aurelia, you're killing her!" Vinyl laughs, quickly approaching us along with Aldo and Emerald.

"Sorry," Aurelia makes a half-sympathetic face and let's go of me, throwing her arms instead round Vinyl.

The look of extreme horror mixed with surprise on his face sets us all off laughing, causing a lot of the other Tributes to look our way for one reason or another; be it in confusion, fear, hatred or curiosity.

"Come on then. Let's go to Floor One!" Aurelia sings, skipping over to the lift. The Avox guarding the lift raises her blonde head and obviously recognising one of the adults as part of the District One team, allows us to enter before pressing the lit up 1.

My stomach is left on the floor as we shoot up. I feel so sorry for the outlining districts; not only are they so much poorer than us but they also have to fly up so much further. The door opens and I gasp. Even the hallway is more amazing than the train.

"Close your mouth, Silk. It's only a hallway," sighs Aldo, pushing open the door and stepping inside. He makes a motion, clearly inviting us in. "This is the dining room. Isn't it wonderful? Wait until you see your rooms, though!"

He doesn't lie; it truly is beautiful. The cream, white and beige living room is situated next to the dining room which is a mixture of vibrant reds and cool blues mixed in with forest greens and yellow that hurts the eyes.

"Wow..." Steel says from beside me. I quite agree.

"Now, dinner's in half an hour. Your rooms are through there, go and get cleaned up," Aldo commands. Steel and I walk off to our rooms as the adults retreat to the living room to talk about our Arena strategies.