I wake up in the morning, almost having forgotten what happened last night. It shocks me a little when I notice Finnick lying next to me, still fast asleep. I watch him for a moment. He just looks so peaceful, he reminds me of the ocean when he sleeps. I can't really place why, but it's just that I can see his chest rise and fall really easily, even through his grey t-shirt.

'Stop watching me,' He smiles, though his eyes are still shut.

'Sorry,' I say, surprised at how small my voice sounds.

'Don't apologise.' He answers, remaining completely motionless.

'Sorry.'

And he starts laughing, and he has to open his eyes. I grin at him, and he glances past me at the clock. His smile drops and he throws the covers back. I hadn't actually realised what he was wearing when he came by last night, but he's actually got on a t-shirt and pretty tight boxers. I swallow and avert my gaze as he gets out of bed.

'Get up, Annie,' He tells me, making his way to the door. 'I've got a couple of things I want to do before you go to training at ten.' He winks at me before slipping out of the door. I flop back onto my bed, completely unable to believe what happened last night. There was something odd in his eyes, that I didn't recognise, but I liked it. And then when we both said we thought we were falling for each other… What happens now?

I get dressed quickly, into the hideous jumpsuit that's required for training. I just hope Finnick doesn't think I'm any less attractive in it, after all, Johanna won't be wearing a jumpsuit, unless she's completely crazy.

Before I can leave, I hear raised voices outside my door, and it doesn't take me long to recognise them as Finnick and Nikita.

'Don't patronise me, Nikita!' He says angrily, and I can hear her sigh as she's getting fed up of his attitude.

'I'm not!' She insists. 'But you can hardly tell me there's nothing going on when that's the second time I've seen you in her bedroom!'

'Last time it was my bedroom.' Finnick retorts childishly.

'And that makes it different?' Nikita replies heatedly. 'Well, if she said she doesn't want anyone to think there's anything going on, that's fine. But I'm not going to tell anyone it's not true. People can make their own minds up, it's the only way she'll get any sponsors!'

I can almost hear Finnick getting angrier by the second. I hear something smash and I jump back from the door.

'Don't speak to me today, Nikita.' And I hear her high heels stomp off into her bedroom, and the door slam noisily. Finnick groans to himself just as I open the door. He notices pretty quickly and rolls his eyes at me. I see the space where a pretty looking vase used to be, and now all that remains of it is smashed fragments of pottery.

'Guess I lost control for a sec.' Finnick shrugs, sliding down the wall and onto the floor. He's dressed now, and wearing a pretty nice suit. He has a lot of nice suits. He drags himself up off the floor. 'Come on then, I've got a game to play with you and Nick over breakfast.' He walks into the living space, and it takes me this long to realise his hand's bleeding, from smashing the vase.

'Finnick-' I start to say.

'I know,' He says before I can finish. He grabs a few tissues off the table and just holds them against his knuckles to absorb the blood. I know it's pointless to say he should do anything else, because I know he won't listen to me.

Nick's already sitting in the living room, dressed in his matching red and black jumpsuit, sitting with Mags on the sofa, talking animatedly. I smile at them, and it looks like they've really started getting along, which is cute. Finnick drags a bean bag over from the corner of the room and drops down onto it, facing a currently empty sofa. He gestures that me and Nick should sit there, so we do.

'Okay,' Finnick begins. 'this is a game that Mags played with me before my Games,' He glances behind him at Mags, who returns a pleasant smile. He turns back around to us again, putting his hands together in his lap and leaning forwards, having now abandoned the tissues, evidently they were only to please me. 'I'm going to start talking you through the Games, and you tell me what you do next, okay? Pretty simple. And then when you inevitably make a decision that would result in your imminent death, I'm going to hit you.'

'You're kidding if Mags hit you.' Nick says quickly, cocking one eyebrow.

Finnick grins at him and shrugs. 'Allow me a bit of creativity here. I've livened it up a little.' Nick shakes his head and rolls his eyes at me, and I actually smile at him. Maybe Nick's not so bad…

'Right. You've just been raised up from your tubes and you're at the Cornucopia. You can see all the little backpacks and weapons just lying around, then when the sixty seconds are up and the gong sounds – what do you do?'

'Run in for a pack or something.' Nick says instantly, like it was the only answer. Finnick punches him in the shin, and Nick makes small whimper he can't help.

'Be more vague, why don't you?' Finnick smirks at him. 'A pack or something? Which pack, what something?' He turns to me.

'Er,' I swallow and think about it a moment. 'the closest thing to me?' And he punches me in the shin as well, quite hard actually. I glare at him, clutching my leg angrily.

'I'm going to really piss you off in this game, guys,' He warns us, but the smile on his face says he's going to really enjoy doing it. 'so once you've picked the pack that closest to you, you've got nowhere to run, and you'd have to turn back and pick another route – allowing some massive District Two bitch to literally stab you in the back.' A bit graphic, really. More than necessary.

'Try again.' He sighs, opening his arms to more suggestions.

'Find something useful?' Nick asks, now very wary of being punched again. 'Like a weapon you're good with?'

Finnick observes him for a minute, then hits him again, this time in his arm. Nick rubs his arm silently, while our mentor simply grins at him. He's loving this.

'Don't search for things, you're wasting time, and while you're watching the ground, you're not watching everyone else. By now someone else has found any weapon they can get their hands on, or simply hit you in the back of the head. Don't get distracted.'

'I got it,' I say proudly, finally having thought of something where I can't think of a downside. 'you find a path into shelter, like trees if there is any, and pick up the pack that's on the way.'

He looks like he's going to hit me again, but then he simply pats my knee. 'Excellent. So, now you're safely out of the bloodbath and in the trees. What next? Where do you go?'

Nick and I exchange a glance, neither of us wants to speak because we know he'll hit us again, and it actually hurts quite a bit.

Nick inhales quickly, then speaks. 'Find somewhere to hide?'

Finnick gets up, musing over his suggestion, and pacing around the back of the sofa. Then he smacks Nick across the back of the head. He's in his element here, and I can't stop my mind wondering if this is why Capitol women want him. I stop my mind it it's tracks and force myself back into his little game. I hope he hasn't noticed.

'Not yet. What are you going to do when you wake up in the morning and you're thirsty? Just wander around until you pass out from dehydration?'

'Find a water source.' I say casually, because it seems obvious now.

'That's not fair!' Nick protests. 'You're giving her hints!'

Finnick leans over him from the back of the sofa. 'Well, I am a little bit biased.' Nick whips around, thinking Finnick has just confirmed that we're together, and I must admit, he's got me thinking that, too. 'I don't like hitting girls.' And Nick and myself relax again. But Nick's still giving him a quizzical look. He knows there's something going on, even if he's not sure what.

'So,' He changes the subject back to our game. 'how do you look for water?'

We just sit there. We don't usually have to look for water, it's always just there. I live on it! How am I supposed to look for it?

'If you don't answer I'm going to hit the both of you.' Finnick grins at us a little bit menacingly. I just raise my eyebrows at him. 'Don't say I didn't warn you.' And he slaps both me and Nick simultaneously on the back of our necks.

'Ow!' I can't help but moan, and rub my hand over the sore spot he's made on my neck.

'Sorry, sugar.' He smirks at me and I scowl back at him. 'Oh, shit, pushed some buttons?' He's right, he is pissing me off in this game. I don't change my expression, even as he laughs.

'Language, Finnick.' Mags pipes up, whilst we'd all forgotten she was sitting in the room.

He whips around, suddenly playing the schoolboy card. 'Sorry, Mags.' She nods at him in acceptance, and he slowly turns back to us, sitting back down on his bean bag. I hope he's realised he's taking this too far.

'So, to look for water,' He starts. 'there'll be animals near water, lots of them, because they'll always stay close to the source. Secondly, mud occurs only near water, so if you see mud, you're on the right tracks. And thirdly, if you're good at staying silent,' He gently tugs the lapels of his jacket to indicate that he thinks he's particularly skilled at this. 'then you could always follow someone else, because those Careers will head straight for the biggest water source, and there's bound to be streams and rivers coming off it.'

He pauses for a moment to make sure we've understood this, before he continues. 'Okay, so you've managed to find water. You've found a little stream that's far enough away from the Careers not to get caught – assuming you haven't allied with them of course, that would be a sure fire way to find the water, and an endless food supply. So what do you do next?'

'Set up camp.' Nick tries this again, hoping that maybe one time he says it, he'll be right. He's not, and Finnick kicks him hard in the leg. He's getting steadily more violent.

'Then you wake up the next morning and you're too hungry to hunt.'

'So, you hunt before you set up camp.' I finish off.

'Good,'

'You handed her that on a plate!' Nick protests again. Finnick gives him a fake sorry look.

'Then stop suggesting stupid things.' He tells him quietly. 'Then she'll take the hit and you can pick up the pieces.' I can't help but grin at Nick as he says this.

'Okay, so say you didn't manage to get any weapons at the Cornucopia, but you have got your pack – how do you hunt?' He questions, leaning forwards again.

'Check if there's any snares or rope in your pack.' I speak first this time, and Nick sits back, hoping he'll be able to do what Finnick just said he could.

'Precisely,' Finnick nods, and Nick scowls at him. 'and there probably will be. There usually is. I mean, if there isn't you're going to have to rely on edible plants – so I'd recommend visiting that station today at training, just so you're covered in every event.'

'So,' He continues. 'you've set some traps and you've managed to catch rabbit. Great, so you skin it. But how are you going to cook it?'

Neither Nick or I knows how to answer this. We're used to cooking fish, we've barely eaten rabbit before, in fact, I'm pretty sure I never have. He hits us both in the shin again, over the same place he hit us in the first place, making it hurt doubly as much.

'You light a fire?' Nick says, trying to contain his whimpers of pain. Finnick gives him a mock sorry glance, and Nick moans to himself, as Finnick kicks him.

'You light a fire and you've just alerted everyone to your whereabouts. It's only the Careers who can afford to just light fires, because no one's going to come looking for them unless they've got a death wish. What you should do, is to make a very small fire, but delicately put small rocks over the flames, so the smoke disperses in various directions, so it won't attract any attention. Secondly, once the rocks are hot, and they will get very hot, you can cook meat on the top of them.' He explains carefully, using his hands to demonstrate it, though it doesn't really help.

'Now, you've got to set up somewhere to sleep. What do you do?' Now that is a good question. I have genuinely no idea.

I look to Nick for inspiration, but he just shakes his head at me. Either way I'll get hit, or slapped, or kicked, so I just take a guess.

'Sleep in some bushes?' Seems like the only thing I can think of. Finnick knows I'm clueless and just laughs at me – then punches me in the arm.

'Right!' That's it now, he's hit me one too many times. I spring forwards at him and pound him right in the chest. I think I knocked the wind out of him, because he takes a quick gasp for breath, even though he's trying to hide it. He gently pushes me off him and back onto the sofa, and I have to say, I must be looking pretty smug right now.

'Thanks for that, Annie,' He mutters, but then gives me a quick flirty smile, and I know there's something else in his head. I blush and turn away, hoping Nick, or Mags, hasn't seen it. 'Anyway,' He says forcefully. 'as I was about to say – you do not just sleep in the bushes. There's a number of ways you can sleep safely, but if I'm honest, the best way is if you've got someone else with you, because then you can you can takes turns keeping watch while the other sleeps. However, if you happen to be alone, you have to use your skills to your advantage. For example, Annie, you're small and nimble, so you could quite easily scale a tree and sleep in the branches, safely out of sight from most people during the night. You'd just have to watch out for birds and insects.'

'And you,' He turns to Nick. 'you're probably not going to be alone, are you?' Nick shakes his head. 'Didn't think so. But, if you are, then you could always make some kind of a burrow in the base of a particularly big tree, because that can hide you nicely – but I'd recommend take a bit of a look at camouflage today.' We're both still sitting there, expecting more punches. Finnick smiles at us and sits back. 'Alright, game's over. You've both survived day one. That's enough for today.'

Nick and I both sigh thankfully. I glance at the clock and see that it's ten to ten.

'Okay, a couple of minutes then you best get to training. Don't want to be late.' Finnick declares, getting up from his bean bag and wandering into the kitchen. I flash a quick smile at Nick, then follow him, as Nick scoots back over to resume his chat with Mags.

'Nice punch there,' Finnick grins at me, pouring himself a glass of orange juice. 'makes me wonder what else you're hiding.' And he looks me over then cocks one eyebrow. I can feel my cheeks going red and try to hide my face. Finnick glances quickly over at the others, who are safely engaged in a conversation, and he gently puts his hands on my shoulders, lowering his head to look my in the eyes.

'Make friends today, okay?' He's back to being serious again. 'You'll need allies, I promise you. Choose wisely.'

'Any suggestions?' I ask him, feeling suddenly very nervous about the whole thing.

He pauses in thought for a moment. 'District Seven, most definitely. It'll be easier to have her as an ally than an enemy.' I couldn't agree more, especially with what Finnick's said about her mentor, Johanna, and he does seem to know her quite well. I can feel my jaw clenching, but then he brushes a strand of hair off my face and brings me back to reality.

'Anyone else?' I inquire, needing all the advice he can give me.

'The Careers. If you can get in with them, then you'll be set for the pretty much most of the Games. But District Seven and the Careers may not come hand in hand, so you might have to choose.'

'Okay,' I sigh, I should have known it wouldn't be so easy as just 'make friends'.

'One more thing,' He continues, and I meet his green eyes before he continues, locking me into his gaze. 'go to the survival stations, rather than weapons. I know Nick will just head straight to the biggest weapons he can see, no matter what I tell him. Whereas, if you go to survival in the training lessons, I can teach you weaponry myself.' One on one lessons? Oh, God, this can only end badly.

'Right,' I agree again. 'so… edible plants, snares, knots, camouflage?'

'Yeah,' He nods. 'I mean, maybe do knots last, because let's face it, we're District Four, if there's one thing we can all do, it's tie knots.'

I grin at him, because he's right. He's such a good mentor, actually, and he's given me literally priceless advice. I'd be an idiot not to take it.