Author's Note: sorry b/c I said that I'd update like on Saturday, but I had to stay at work until closing when I thought I was would be leaving at lunch. And Sunday I had church, so yeah :) here it is! And thanks for all the nice comments from you guys and gals:) Want a joke? *Teacher asks student for the scientific name for water. Student says H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O.* Wanna see why the student said this? Answer is at the end of the chapter! :)

While I wait for Finnick to get my dress, I look at myself in the mirror. I have green eyes that seem to sparkle, and my hair looks pretty good too. And my lips are a pale pink color. I think I did a pretty good job with myself. Finnick knocks on the door and he walks in with my dress, wrapped in a bag.

"You'll never guess where this thing was!" he says, not waiting for my reply. "Under her bed! Talk about paranoid!"

I laugh, "Under her bed! How'd you find it?"

"The only way I could think of! I asked Dallas and he said that's where she usually puts them!" Finnick says, laughing his head off. When we finish laughing, Trident boy lays my dress on the table and unzips it. I'm expecting to see a lot of stupid colors mixed in ways they shouldn't be, so at first I think the bag is empty. But it's not. My dress is white, plain white with pearls all over it. It's really beautiful.
"A wedding dress? But you're not getting married!" Finnick says, a bit skeptical.

"Maybe it's supposed to be sea foam?" I say. "Or pearls? Surely I'm not supposed to be a giant fish?"

"I think you're supposed to be a pearl," he says.

"Whatever it is, I'm supposed to get in it. So, umm, Finnick..." I hint.
His eyes widen as he gets it.

"Right! I'll just leave then." he says, quickly scurrying out of the room.

When he's shut the door, I take off my towel and put the dress on. I notice that it is pretty thick. It has sleeves that get wider at the ends and a very low neckline. It also comes down to below my ankles. I look in the bag for shoes, but don't find any. I wonder if possibly they could be under my stylist's pillow. Maybe I'm supposed to go barefoot.
Whatever the case, I don't have time for this. My dress comes down past my feet anyway. I walk out barefoot. Finnick is waiting outside the door for me. When he sees me, I expect him to show little to no emotion at all, but I am wrong. Trident boy turns red and gets jittery. He puts his hands inside his pockets and smiles at me.

"Stunning, Annie," he says. I smile back, twirling around in my dress.

Trident boy walks me down the elevator and into a type of garage thing where all the other tributes are waiting. I see David and he too is wearing white. His costume consists of a tight white shirt that shows off his muscles and shiny white pants. We greet each other.

"What are we supposed to be?" I ask.

"I don't know. Dallas said something about water," he says, trying to explain, he doesn't get a chance though. We are ushered inside a white chariot and in to time at all, our white horses start moving.

As soon as we get onto the street, it starts to rain. No it's mist, but it's coming from beside me. I look around and I'm covered in it. I notice that there are two small, almost invisible tubes on either side of David and me. The pearls on my dress look amazing. Both David and I are sparkling. We look so good that we might even compete with District 1 and 2.

As we near the main square of people, I notice something. My dress is peeling off. It's melting. I see a layer of sparkly green underneath; I don't know if it will melt too. I can't do anything to stop it; my dress is dissolving at an alarming rate. So are David's pants.

What will happen when we are left naked in the street? Was this part of my stylists' plan? I don't know.

Finally, my white dress is gone. In its place is a green sparkly party dress. I think that before I was supposed to be a shell, and now I am what? Coming out of my shell? A sparkly green crab? Whatever I am supposed to be, I'm getting a lot of attention. Capitol people wave at me and blow me kisses I don't really want. I wave back anyway. David seems to not enjoy the attention very much. He just stares at everybody; it's what I feel like doing. These people are weird-looking. They all have rainbow hair and colorful clothes that make my eyes hurt, but I have to smile and look pretty.

They are taking pictures of me. Their stupid flashes are killing my eyes and making me dizzy. I feel hot again. I can't breathe. It's like what happened in the elevator. I need the tube-thing, but it's not here! I left it with Finnick!

David notices what's going on. He puts his arm around my waist and motions to somebody in the crowd. Who does David know from here?

It's Finnick. He has my inhaler. I don't know how he plans on getting in our chariot because guards walk beside us that prevent any crazy Capitol person from just jumping in, and we are moving pretty fast.

Finnick is still pretty far away when I feel dizzy. I will faint any minute now. We are halfway finished with the parade. Finnick is suddenly at my side, holding the inhaler to my face. He must have had to slip past the guards, and then jump onto the moving chariot. Slowly, I feel air in my lungs again. Finnick doesn't take any chances though; he sits inside the chariot, hugging my legs so he doesn't fall out.

The sun is setting now and it is starting to get dark. I wonder if I will be able to see the stars in this strange place.

Finally we are finished with the stupid parade. No one noticed the fact that I almost passed out in the middle of it. The horses take us into the same garage type thing that we left from. The fumes are too much for me now.

Trident boy and David help me get to my room. Once there, David leaves to go to his room, leaving Finnick to deal with me. He sits me on the bed.

"How were you feeling during the parade?" he asks, eyebrows furrowed.

"Nervous. They were taking pictures and the flashes hurt my eyes. It was like being suffocated," I say.

"And in the elevator?"

"Scared. I'm scared of heights." I explain.
Finnick thinks about this while he paces back and forth across my room.

"Have you ever had this happen at home?" he asks, pausing his pacing. I shake my head and he resumes.

"Maybe it's because of stress," Finnick says, looking at me now. "When you get really scared or surrounded by people, it happens."

"Okay, so how do I stop it?" I ask.

"Keep your emotions under control. Whenever you feel like it's happening, think of something that makes you happy. Think of District 4, Annie." Trident boy starts to leave my room, but hesitates.

"And don't forget your inhaler!" he orders, suddenly stern. He really does leave now, shutting the door fairly hard.