Steel's there waiting for me, his arms crossed over his chest and looking forward as if he's in a trance. I tiptoe behind him, reach up and dig him under the ribs. He jumps.

"Payback," I laugh stepping back slightly, "From the first night of training, and your endless boasting."

"You little…!" he laughs back. "What did you do then?"

"You first," I'm still slightly embarrassed about my actions, despite the fact it was the plan all the way.

He shrugs, "Nothing much. Took the head off a dummy with an axe then sliced its chest open with a knife. Then I cut another one in half and threw the top half into the rope course."

"That's nothing much?" I ask, bewildered. My mouth's dropped open and my eyes have widened. "I just climbed to the top of the rope course and threw a couple of knives at the forehead of the dummies. That's nothing much, Steel. Oh, and I jumped down off the rope course did a roly-poly and came back up on my feet, before throwing a fit when they asked me to leave."

"Neither of us did anything major then," Steel shrugs, his eyes betraying obvious amusement. I've never noticed how deep a brown his eyes are before.

"I think you did! I didn't, but you did!" I smile, walking towards the lift. The Avoxes nod as we enter and press the button numbered one.

The doors slide shut and we soar upwards. Since the glass is clear, before we step out, I see Carter push open his door, shaking his head.

"Looks like someone else's session went badly, too." I say, pointing to Carter.

"Someone else's? Ours went fine, Silk!" Steel says, stepping out of the lift. I follow him and we walk into the dining room.

Instantly, we are bombarded with questions from Aldo and our mentors and stylists, that neither of us want to answer.

"How did it go?"

"Did you stick to the plan?"

"What did you do?"

"What happened?"

"Did anyone else seem to be making alliances?"

"Did you make any more alliances?"

"Would everyone, please, just be quiet!" I say loudly, "It went fine."

"Same for me. You guys sure can shout loud." Steel says, his eyebrows knitting together. "As for what I did..."

He goes on to explain the chopping and throwing again, before prompting me to explain mine. I do so, but there is no disguising the embarrassment in my voice.

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Now for the agonising wait!" Aurelia squeals.

Agonising is definitely the word to describe it. We're the first district to go, which is both a negative and a positive. We're first to go in, meaning we have the attention of the Gamemakers for all of our session, but also means we have the longest wait from our session until the scores are announced. After the stylists leave, muttering something about interview outfits, Aldo shows us a game to pass the time. It's simple really; he calls it 'Snap'.

Using a pack of cards (each with a Victor printed on the front, the seal of Panem on the back) you give each player ten of them. Then, with the cards left over from the pack, one at a time is turned over. If a player has the same card in their hand, they slap their hand down on the card and yell 'Snap'. They win the card and all other ones that have been turned over but unclaimed. The winner is crowned when all the other players have only one card in their hand.

"Snap!" Steel and I yell simultaneously. My reflexes are sharper than Steel's, so I slap my hand down just before his, therefore claiming the card and three others.

Aldo wins though, much to Steel's dismay. "You cheater!" he frowns, throwing his only card at Aldo.

"How did I cheat?" Aldo asks, astonished by Steel's accusation.

"You... You... Err... You..." Steel frowns, thinking of a way to prove Aldo's guiltiness. "I don't know. All I know is that you're a cheat!"

"You're such a sore loser," Emerald laughs, taking the cards from Aldo and shuffling them in her hands, "Shall we play again?"

We all shake our heads. The first game was boring and gave me a headache with all the shouting, even though the majority of it was me. I stand from my seat and walk over to the living room where I shall waste the hours until the scores are announced. It takes only half an hour for dinner to arrive, giving me something to do, for which I am extremely grateful.

It's not as nice as before, but still beats the food we have at home any day. Bread and a thin tomato with leek and pea soup for starters, with a main of rich sausages, mashed potatoes and assorted vegetables, ranging from carrot to parsnip. The highlight is the dessert though; a sweet lemon meringue pie and rolled up chocolate log.

"Wow... Your second to last dinner, and man, that is good..." Aldo leans back, his hands behind his head. "I meant, your second to last dinner... Here... With all of us together..." he gives a nervous laugh, gesturing to us all after noticing the terrified look in my eyes, and Emerald and Vinyl's warning looks.

"They should be on now. Shall we go and watch them?" Vinyl asks, a smile forming on his lips.

"Definitely," Emerald smiles.

We all sit on the sofa and turn on the television to see the seal of Panem and hear the anthem before it disintegrates into the yearly, 'Ranked on a scale of one to twelve blah, blah, blah,'. Steel is first; his simple headshot flashed onto the screen, then a number ten.

"And you said you didn't do very well?" I laugh as the rest of the team congratulates him.

Next they're showing my picture… and then flashing a nine! Emerald yelps with joy and throws her arms around my neck. Vinyl pats me on the back before turning his attention back to the screen where they're informing us of Carter's nine. Capella gets a six, Coralie a ten and Malinda an eight. Unsurprisingly, the twins from Twelve only manage to pick up a total of eight.

"You're amazing! Silk, you even beat that Malinda girl!" Steel smiles as we make our way to bed.

"What, you mean the one who killed me in my dream?" I ask sarcastically, before remembering that I hadn't told him. His eyebrows knit together. "Did I say kill? I meant... She was swill!" I say, a nervous laugh in my voice.

"Swill? What sort of a word is swill?" Steel asks. "And what do you mean she killed you?"

"I'll tell you in the morning," I sigh, opening my door and stepping into my room, slamming the door in his face. He's still pounding on the door as my head touches the pillow.

I'm not as lucky as last night in the way my sleep is dreamless. It's my childhood nightmare; the flames licking at my skin as I burn slowly to death. Only now, instead of the fire being lit by the various bullies I've encountered over the years -Pearl Reynolds, Hero Lyle to name a couple- it's Malinda and Carter striking the match and throwing it into the wood stacked under me.

But just like my childhood dream, I wake up screaming, just as the flames submerge me completely. Nobody comes to my aid; they just leave me terrified and alone.