DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES BY SUZANNE COLLINS.

This is my FIRST EVER fan fiction so please review and tell me what you think! Thanks!

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD if you like this story so far (and you know you do! :D) PLEASE REVIEW!

Chapter Nine

"Max seems familiar to me," Shalimar said abruptly.

Hudson handed her one of the two water bottles he picked up from the vending screen. "Yeah? How so?"

"Well, it might sound sort of weird but I feel like I've seen him before. The weirdest sense of déjà-vu. And he talks about you like he knows you." Shalimar gently rubbed the bruise ointment on her kneecap in small circular movements and neatly wrapped it in a small bandage.

Accepting the ointment from Shalimar, he sat down on the floor outside the Center with her. He uncapped the container and clumsily applied it, making little "w" patterns on his skin. Laughing, Shalimar took the ointment from him and started softly spreading the medicine on his knee. They sat there in silence for a while and then Hudson broke it.

"Hold on. You really aren't joking? You really don't remember Max Ajada? I sent you that second recording talking all about his visit to One!"

Shalimar frowned. "I suppose I remember the recording…vaguely." They lapsed back into silence for a moment while Shalimar finished applying Hudson's ointment. "OH!" Hudson jumped.

"Sorry. But I remember now. You were…what? Eleven, yeah? And I was ten. That recording came when I was about to lie down in my bed. Lumen had put it on my pillow and I seriously think I dented my skull when I laid down without looking," Shalimar chuckled.

"I said something about how a District Four guy came with his dad, who was the mayor of Four. They were touring all the Districts or some rich-people thing like that and we became short term friends. Then he left really suddenly. And now we're both at the Games, no contact for seven years," Hudson chugged his water and stood up.

Shalimar looked up at him. "Going back so soon?"

"Mmm, yeah. I promised Annjou I would show her how to work with bows and arrows," he offered her a hand up.

Shalimar ignored his out stretched peace offering, making a remark more vulnerable and more bitter than she had intended, "Never mind. Just go help the tech nerd. I can manage by myself. I don't need you or Max, okay? Girls can survive without guys just fine!" She sprang up, threw her bottle at the trash, scowled when it missed, and stormed back into the Center.

Hudson looked at her retreating back, confused. "Why can't girls come with a screen on their heads that show whatever the hell they're thinking?" He picked up Shalimar's abandoned bottle and threw it away and then walked after her.

They both arrived at the same time in the plants sector and saw Max and Annjou waiting for them, tentatively striking a conversation with each other. Or, tentative on Annjou's side. Max seemed to be overwhelming her with his charismatic, District Four "surfer-dude" personality.

Shalimar walked up to Max and grabbed his hand. "Ready to go?"

Max looked at her forced smile, confused, "But we just got here."

"Oh, it's no problem! Shalimar will of course share her plant skills with you in the Games. Meanwhile, Annjou and I will just settle down here and learn a thing or too about les fleurs, as the French say," Hudson beamed his own forced smile at Shalimar, who grinned back at him so big her cheeks looked swollen.

"Well then…j'espère que vous avez beaucoup d'amusement (I hope you have a lot of fun)!" Shalimar shot back, still grinning like a maniac.

Max looked back and forth at the two of them beaming their pearly whites at all the world to see, amused. Deciding to play along, or whatever his little amused smirk meant, he squeezed Shalimar's hand gently and kissed her cheek. "Shall we go?"

Shalimar recovered from her temporary double-take and, looking directly at Hudson, confirmed, "We shall."

Hudson looked at the two of them strolling away, looking for all the world like an old married couple, frustrated. He dragged his hand through his hair, a habit he had forced himself to quit when he was eleven and realized it made him look like a 'wimp'. Or so he thought, with his little child mind. Nowadays the habit only resurfaced when he was totally preoccupied with something and wasn't aware of his own actions.

"Um, Hudson? Do you want to do the bow and arrow stuff now?" Annjou peered through her blond bangs up a him, her tiny frame the picture of uncertainty. Never being one to voluntarily be outgoing and social, Annjou was secluded and quiet at the best of times.

"Yeah. Sorry, that was uncalled for. Anyways, let's go," Hudson led her towards their designated sector and Annjou plodded along beside him, silent.

To break the awkward silence, Hudson tried to strike up a conversation, "So…how was life in Three?"

Annjou stared straight ahead for what seemed like ages to Hudson, looking like she hadn't heard the question at all. After a while, she answered in a very matter-of-fact tone, "It was alright, but probably worse than you people in One. After all, everybody says One is pampered by the Capitol because of its close proximity and the fact that One produces all the luxury stuff for the Capitol anyways."

Hudson suddenly felt like the proper emotion to show after Annjou's little speech was guilt or embarrassment and was surprised to hear Annjou saying so much and in such an indifferent tone. Guess it really is true then…maybe Three techies are so involved in their work that they become robots of sorts themselves?

"Hudson, we're here. What, er, bow and arrow do you want to do first?" Jolted out of his thoughts, he focused back on Annjou when their unconsciously fast paced walking brought them to the shooting sector.

"Oh! Well, actually I'm best at the longbow, the composite, self, and straight. I can show you those if you want, but personally I think you'd handle the small bow or the short bow better. Not that I'm criticizing your size or anything-I just think…"Hudson amended hastily.

Annjou's eyes narrowed a bit and she remained silent, mouthing Hudson's words to herself. Then, as if realizing for the first time that Hudson was waiting for reassurance, she quickly smiled up at him, "Not at all! I am not offended. Please, teach me, by all means!"

"Alright, then. I think this bow will fit you perfectly. So, you have to nock the arrow properly so it doesn't fly the wrong way. Now grip firmly but not to the point where you're strangling it and hold that position. Ah…you may want to improve on your arm strength a bit…" Hudson guided her form, having to stoop down almost seven inches to Annjou's tiny 5'3" frame.

"Okay. What next?"

And this is where this chapter finally ends. Wow I took ages to update. Thanks to the one person (lmao) in June who bothered enough to check. sorry for my snail speed. There's been tons to do since this year is my middle school grad and it seems like the teachers try to kill us with the last minute workload and all the weird tests and such.

Thanks for sticking to the story thus far. What happens at the end of this chapter was that I'd tried to make it seem like a movie. You know how sometimes when the scene starts ending and it doesn't have a definite finish but instead the camera seems to pan out and the character's voices start fading little by little? Yeah, failed at that, but here's the explanation. Okay. Sorry for the rambling.