Eve sat in the hovercraft staring straight ahead, the black shimmering wall in front of her suddenly becoming the most desirable thing in the room. A row of tributes, the pairs from Four, Five and Six, were sitting against the wall, Lucille and Crellis were making sure to keep their eyes trained on her and Cato. Eve felt disgusted.

On Eve's right was the boy from Three, and next to him, the girl from the same District. On her left was Cato, who looked as pissed off as Eve felt, and next to him was Glimmer, who was snuggling up against his shoulder and muttering things about how excited she was for the Games. He was shrugging her off and reminding her to "stay the fuck away" as calmly as he could manage, but Eve noticed his fists clenching and unclenching.

They were both pretty on edge, especially Eve after the scene on the roof with Crellis. The Games, he'd mouthed to her. She knew what he was planning but not the actual details of any of it. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to or not. All she knew was that she had to stay away from him, or as far away as she could considering she was going to be in the Career pack with him.

She hadn't told Cato about it, or either of the mentors, but somehow Brutus had found out about the whole ordeal and given her a ten-second warning before they'd gotten in the hovercraft, but Eve was smart enough to know that it was a threat and nothing more. He'd said: "Care to explain why I got a call from Snow this morning saying that you were pashing Crellis on the roof last night?" She'd tried to interrupt but he'd cut her off. "Just fuck up and listen. Things are gonna start happening if you don't fucking sort your shit out." Then he'd stared at her like she was gum on his shoe; just another piece of crap that he couldn't get rid of, another throw-away, a worthless nothing. It made her stomach churn.

She shook her head slightly as the hovercraft began to drop and leant towards Cato. "My bet's that Four's going to try and kill us the first chance they get." She whispered, and Cato swatted Glimmer away again. "So we'll need to have each others backs in there." As soon as she said the words she had to bite her lip to stop herself from screaming. She quickly added. "Just to continue the act. I hate the idea of us sticking to each other like glue but we might need to if-"

"Fine." He interrupted. Eve looked at him and noticed that he was leaning towards her, away from Glimmer. His voice lowered to a whisper. "But just promise me that I can kill Sparkles."

Eve smiled.

"Why not?! It's the new Temporarily Permanent range." Luno explained as he held up a clear bag completely crammed full of makeup. "It will stay on for weeks!"

The two of them were in a fully white room below the Arena, which was empty except for two chairs against one wall, a table in the very centre, a mirror and a clothes rack, both built into the far wall, and the tube-lift in the corner. A voice over the loudspeakers had announced that they had "Five minutes until all tributes are expected to be in their tubes", and Luno had come up with the brilliant idea to put her in makeup.

"No." She took a step away from him. Wearing makeup for the Games was a joke! Luno was insane to think it wasn't.

"But-"

"I said no!"

Luno pouted, then placed the bag on the table and wandered over to the rack. "You won't have any mirrors or makeup in there so I thought you'd appreciate it." He sighed wistfully and picked up the only hanger, a dark green jacket dangling from it feebly. "Not even a little bit?" He handed her the jacket and stared longingly at the bag.

"I'm not wearing make up in there, Luno. It's a combat arena. With blood and murder and death. No." She was glaring at him as she spoke, her tone fierce

"But wouldn't you like to look pretty for it? Your face is going to be all over Panem, after all."

He raised his eyebrows, but Eve just stared at him.

"Alright." He sighed defeatedly. "Well at least let me do your hair. You can't leave it like that." He said, already making a move closer.

Eve reached protectively around her head and touched her ponytail. Luno was peering at her from under his green eyelashes expectantly, and she knew he wouldn't let her go up through the tube if she didn't let him do her hair, so she gave up. "Fine." Then she thought about the way his hair was piled up on top of his head, and quickly added: "But no beehives."

"Of course, of course. I'm just going to do a plait. Specifically, the plait I tried to do for the Tribute Parade until your boyfriend yanked it out." He huffed angrily and shuffled around to her back and quickly undid her hair.

"Ow!" She said as he pulled the hair tie out, no doubt taking a clump of hair along with it.

"Sorry! Sorry! In my defence you had done it quite tight though!" He exclaimed, and then brushed her hair. Luno sighed. "I'm sorry that we didn't get to meet under more convenient circumstances. I have a feeling that you and I would have been friends if things were different." He exhaled deeply, sadly.

Eve disagreed with him completely, but knew not to say so. Instead she nodded, but even that got on her stylists nerves.

"STAY STILL!" He shrieked as he started plaiting her long hair in a fishtail. Eve froze immediately. Luno might have been stupid and small and weak, but he was still terrifying.

"Two minutes, tributes." The same female voice announced, and Luno screeched.

"THAT ISN'T ENOUGH TIME!" He yelled up to the ceiling. Eve stayed still and silent as he took deep breaths to calm himself down, and she couldn't help but think that she was more afraid of Luno than she was of anything or anybody in the whole of Panem. He finished her plait with his dignity intact and walked around to her front. Luno clasped his hands together and sighed. "You look lovely. Even without the Temporarily Permanent make-up."

Eve's brow creased, before she finally stood up and walked over to the mirror, the noises of her boots touching the floor barely audible. As she looked in the mirror and examined the perfect plait, she saw Luno sniffing behind her.

"One minute."

"I know it's... silly, but you're... you're such a lovely girl and... and I just... I hope you win." He snivelled out.

Eve started walking over to the glass tube in the corner. "I'll be fine." She smiled sweetly as she stepped inside.

"Thirty seconds."

"I know, I know." He rubbed his eyes. "But... I'll still... wish you luck. Good... good luck."

"Ten seconds."

"Thank you, Luno." She smiled her nicest smile at him just as the tube doors slid shut. The platform began rising and she saw Luno begin bawling uncontrollably before she rose up through the ground and into the Arena.

IT'S THE GAMES NEXT CHAPTER! Sweet mother of Jesus. This is intense.

I came up with Eve and Cato's couple name too. Are you ready? Are you really ready? IT IS...*drumroll*...LADLEY! Isn't it perfect? I started off with Eto and Ceve but they sounded terrible and Harek sounds repulsive, so Ladley it is!

27 REVIEWS, 2491 VIEWS AND 754 VISITORS?! Thank you all so so much. I love you.

Please don't hate me but I'm going to have to stop posting so often. My writers block is getting worse and worse and I'm fairly busy nowadays so, yeah. Just keep that in mind.

FOLLOW! FAV! REVIEW! PM! ANYTHING WORKS!

Oh, and it's my birthday on December 5th. Just thought I'd let you all know.

Eva xox