Six months later:

Back in District 3, back in my home, and back in my seclusion. Beetee is the only person I talk to now, and even then, it's never more than three words at a time. My head hurts almost constantly now. Jadjia is in the hospital suffering from alcohol poisoning. She just snapped during our trip and now she drinks five bottles a day.

Yvette isn't doing well either. She is in the hospital in a coma. She only has a few days left.

Today is another special day. And probably the worst day ever for me.

The reaping.

Since I won, I am exempt from the reaping, but I have it worse than anyone in the town. I have been selected as a tribute mentor. The rule in District 3 is that the most recent victor for both boys and girls is in charge of mentoring until someone else wins. The girl from our district will have to be taught by me.

And I'm not even seventeen yet.

It's noon. Reaping time. I walk towards the center of the town with another victor, Kog.

Kog won his Games exactly five years ago.

He is in his twenties and this is his fifth time mentoring. I see that he looks very glum. Every single one of the tributes he ever mentored died in the first bloodbath. Including Girph from last year.

We reach the stage and look out at all the children. One of the girls will be my student.

I see some that are wringing their hands in fear, some that stare ahead stone-faced, and some that chat with others near them.

Liam skips, and when I say "skips" I mean "skips", onto the stage. "Hi everyone! Welcome to the reaping! Let's just skip all the formalities and get right to it! I suspect we'll be picking another winner this year!" Everyone looks at me, and I start calculating.

"Ok, here we go. Ladies first!"

Liam is about to dip his hand into the bowl when he remembers something. "Oh, right. May the odds be ever in your favor!"

He reaches into the bowl and digs around for a slip. He grabs one, pulls it out, and reads the name. "Blair Woldorf."

I see her now. She's stumbling towards the stage, supported on each side by two friends.

I recognize her; she's arguably the most popular girl at our school. And she's in most of my classes. She reaches the stage and I move to help her into a chair. She is clearly shaken up.

I try to tell her not to cry, to remain strong, but the headaches are too much and I just stare at her silently.

Liam reaches into the boy's bowl and pulls out another name. "Charles Parrington" I see him move towards the stage. He is tall lanky, and judging by his shifting eyes, scared out of his mind. I see Kog shake his head. He knows that this one won't make it through the first day either.

Liam says a few meaningless things and then dismisses the crowd. Charles and Blair are whisked off to the town hall where family and friends can visit them. Already I see a huge line of people wanting to speak with Blair. Charles has a few people in his line.

When I was in that building, the only people that came to see me were my mother and father.

Kog and I board the train and wait for the tributes to join us. Kog goes to his room and I sit in the dining car.

About an hour later, Blair enters the dining room. Tears stream down her face as she walks over and sits down next to me with a defeated and dejected look on her face.

Sobbing, she stares at the table while I stare at her and try to figure out what to say. I grab a piece of paper and a pen and write her a message. "Unless you want to be classified as the town weakling, you should probably stop crying. I know it's hard, but you need to stay strong."

She reads it, then wipes her face and tries to hold in her anger, sadness, and pain. Then she turns to me and says, "How on earth am I supposed to win?"

I look at her and then grab the pen. I am about to write when she smacks the pen out of my hand. I look at her as she screams, "Don't write! Just tell me! How am I supposed to win? Why won't you talk to me?" My head is stabbed with pain and I let out a small scream and turn away from her, hands clutching my head.

"I wouldn't yell at her, Blair."

Kog stands in the doorway, with Charles behind him. "She is still recovering from her Games, and she has trouble talking about them, as you saw from watching her last year. Be patient. You're not the only one who's in a tight spot."

Then he leaves and Charles follows him. Blair sits silently at the table with her head buried in her hands. My head finally stops hurting and I sit up.

I turn to her and try to talk to her. "What…are you…what are you…what are you good at?" She looks up at me and thinks for a while. Then she says, "Well, I'm the fastest person on the track team. And I'm also cheer captain." This is true; she is very fast, and I've seen her gymnastic abilities as well. I smile, because now I realize she has a chance. We have a chance.

I try to talk again. "Any weapons…can you…do you know about…" She stops me. "Are you wondering if I know about any weapons?" I nod. She looks down. "No." I shrug. I didn't know about any weapons either before the training sessions, so that isn't as much of a problem as it might seem, as long as she's a fast learner.

I stand up and take her hand, guiding her to the room where the television is. Kog and Charles are already sitting on a couch talking.

We sit on another couch and I turn on the TV. The reapings are being shown. Blair and Charles sit silently and look at their competition.

The tributes from 1, 2, and 4 all look particularly young. The girl from 5 stands out with her strawberry blonde hair. The boy from 6 is missing an arm. The boy from 10 volunteers to be with the girl from 10, who appears to be his best friend. The screen blinks off after the tributes from 12 are shown. Kog clears his throat. Blair shifts nervously in her seat. Charles still stares at the black TV screen.

Kog finally breaks the silence. "Well, for once this year, no one looks particularly dangerous. The Careers, that's Districts 1, 2, and 4, don't look like they've gotten much training."

He's right. None of the Careers looked older than 15.

Kog continues. "There are two things you can do right now. The first is to not focus on what others can do to kill you. The second is to instead focus on what you can do."

There is silence again. Then Kog gets up and Charles follows him like a puppy on a leash.

I turn to Blair and say, "You should…to your room and…go to your…get sleep…" She takes a second to realize what I'm trying to say and then gets up to go to her room and sleep. She walks out the door and takes a few steps. Then, she turns and runs back into the room and gives me a quick hug. Then she runs out again.

I smile, and head to my own room to get some rest.

District 3 is the closest district to the Capitol. You can actually see the lights from the Victor's Village when the smog from the factories isn't clouding up the sky, which isn't often. Tomorrow, when we reach the Capitol, it will be a big day.

For everyone.