Happy New Year everyone! So this chapter wound up being a lot longer than I intended to make it but when I went back to cut it down I realized I didn't really want to so I kept it long :) I hope this doesn't bother anyone. Also, I know this happened a few chapters ago, but thanks for helping me reach over 50 reviews! You're all awesome :) I hope you all enjoy!

District 5 Chariot Ride

Jage Chirn POV

I try not to grimace as the stylists pick and pull at my hair. When they finish my hair looks hardly any different than it usually does except for maybe a little shinier and it makes me wonder if they just like torturing people. I've been sitting in this uncomfortable silver chair for the past hour and all I have to show for it is a pink, raw body and slightly shinier hair. Finally the other stylists leave and a particularly annoying one pinches my cheeks and says, "Awww aren't you just as cute as a button! Trillian will be in soon!" before skipping out the door. I pull on a plush white robe as I wait.

Soon, my main stylist comes in. She's young with dark hair and eyes such a bright blue they must be fake. She's carrying a gold and black jumpsuit of some kind but as soon as she sees my face she drops it and rushes over to me. "Oh dear! This is worse than I thought." She quickly rushes over to one of stylist tables and searches through the drawers. She pulls out a large red tube and then comes back to me. She looks at my face extra close before opening up my robe a bit and staring at my chest and then peaking down the back of my robe to look at my back. I hold the robe a little closer around all regions below my belly button and lower back in case she gets any funny ideas but after peaking down my back a little bit she stops examining me.

"Here use this on all infected areas and it should get rid of the problem," she says matter of factly handing me the red tube.

I give her a puzzled look. "What infection?"

"Why the bumps of course! Those unsightly red dots all over your skin!" she cries out with exasperation. "You'll scare the Capitol half to death if you show up at your interview looking like you do right now!"

I stand up slightly offended. "It's not an infection! It's just acne. Every teenager gets it at some point mine is just a little worse than others."

"Acne?" Trillian says with a puzzled look. "I don't know what this acne thing is but if you want to get rid of the infection you should put that cream on right away."

I open up the tube of cream with a skeptical look. I've tried every single home remedy in the book and even one doctor prescribed medicine but nothing has been able to get rid of the pimples. I put some of the goopy red cream on my chin where a bunch of pimples had just popped up this morning. The cream sizzles and simmers on my face but it doesn't burn. Once the cream has sizzled away I find that most of my pimples have disappeared and the few that haven't are just tiny pink dots, too small to see from a distance. Trillian gives a satisfied nod.

"Just put that on whenever you spot an infected spot and it'll clear it right up," she tells me. I don't bother trying to explain it's not an infection. I just nod. After clearing up a few more spots of acne, Trillian helps me get into my jumpsuit. It's a simple black material but with rods of a gold glowing substance. With it on I look like some sort of power grid. After Trillian says I'm good to go I head out to the stables. Our horses are the color of rust and I'm not sure if I trust them. I try and keep my distance while I wait for the chariot to be ready. After a moment Bethany walks out to the stables as well. She's wearing a bright pink suit like mine with a skirt attached. She also has a power grid like design on her suit but in addition to wearing the suit she's wearing a scowl.

There are a few things I learned about Bethany on the ride here:

1. She does not like to be called Beth.

2. She does not like to talk about her family.

3. She does NOT like to be flirted with.

I had to learn that last one the hard way. I can still feel a bit of the burn on my cheek from where she slapped me. But I apologized after offending her and she was quick to forgive.

She goes over to the horses, ignoring me, and starts petting the dangerous beasts with a scowl still plastered on her face. I step cautiously towards the horses and towards her.

"So what's wrong Bethany?" I ask casually.

She turns to face me so violently I recoil just in case she might slap me again. "It's this stupid outfit! I hate pink. It's the worst color ever invented. And it makes me look fat."

4. She does not like pink.

"Aww you don't look fat Bethany," I tell her but she's hardly listening to me. While Bethany absentmindedly strokes the horses I examine the stables. To my right are the District 6 tributes. The girl is pretty but looks a little meek. Especially next to the dark looking guy next to her. He's huge and makes her look like a mouse. She steps away from her District partner cautiously. Once she's made a good distance between her and her partner she looks up and notices me staring at her.

I wave and smile. She sort of just stares back for a bit but then gives me a small smile. Once the Capitol workers are ready we mount our chariot. Bethany doesn't seem quite as angry anymore but she still looks down at her dress every now and then with a look of disgust.

After the pair from District 4 leave our horses take off after them. I grimace and hold on for dear life but Bethany smiles up at the crowd and waves. I manage to raise my hand a bit as my other continues to grab the chariot and I smile slightly over my obvious discomfort. Once we're back in the stable area I hop of the chariot as quick as I can. I don't wait for Bethany as I rush towards the elevators, putting as much distance as possible between me and the horses.

Once I reach the elevator section I see that it's mostly careers with the District 3 tributes. The guy District 3 tribute stands off to himself, staring intently at the elevators. His hands fumble and move incessantly, like he needs something to hold. The girl also stands by herself but keeps glancing around the room self-consciously.

I wait for Bethany to show up but when she does, she just goes off to a corner by herself. I'm a little surprised but not too much. Bethany told me she didn't want to work with anyone on the train and she doesn't seem like one to make close friends easily but still a part of me was expecting her to be a bit of a companion.

Standing by myself makes my brain still and all my thoughts start to catch up to me, which is bad. I need to keep moving and doing something or else I start to remember the Games and why I'm here. If I can keep myself active just maybe I can pretend this is all a vacation. I decide to go over to the lonely District 3 girl.

"Hi my name is Jage," I say kindly to her sticking my hand out to her. She gives me a bit of a skeptical look but sticks out her hand to return my handshake.

"Hi I'm Lexi," she replies.

"I just noticed you seemed kindly lonely and I thought it was weird that such a pretty girl would be standing all by herself," I say with a smile.

She gives a slight smile of her own. "Well that's a very cheesy line but thank you. I was a little bit lonely," she replies. "But how do I know that you aren't just trying to get to know me so you can kill me later?"

"Hmmm good question. I guess you just have to trust me!" I reply but I can see she's not convinced. "Here maybe it'll make you feel better if we're around more people."

I look around for a bit and I find the District 6 girl who smiled at me earlier talking to a very bright and cheery looking blonde. I grab Lexi's arm and take her to them. The District 6 girl notices me walking over and smiles at me.

"Do you know them?" Lexi asks me.

"Nope!" I reply with a smile. "But I intend to."

When we reach them I smile big and wave. "Helloooo ladies. My name is Jage and this is my friend Lexi. We were wondering if we could join you."

The blonde answers first. "Sure you can join us! I'm Kennedy and this is Helena. I'm from District 8 and she's from District 6. What are you guys from?"

"I'm from District 5 and Lexi is from District 3 right?" I ask for confirmation. She nods. We spend the next few minutes talking.

Well mostly Kennedy talks… a lot. She's a really bubbly happy person. Helena talks a bit too but she's so small I doubt Kennedy hears much of what she says. Lexi mostly stays quiet except for saying something about herself every now and then and me? Well I just watch and do what I always do. Joke around, flirt, and be the funny guy. With our conversation I'm able to forget about the Games for just a moment.

We manage to get an elevator to ourselves. The first stop is for Lexi on the 3rd floor but our elevator zooms right past it. It goes past my floor as well but by the 6th floor it stops suddenly. Then it drops, faster than it should be. Helena and Kennedy scream and drop to the floor. Without even thinking I get in a defensive pose in front of them. Vaguely I'm aware of Lexi standing beside me, shaking slightly, but standing nonetheless. Slowly our elevator slows down and then stops at the 3rd level. Kennedy and Helena stand up slowly while Lexi steps out of the elevator. Before she steps out she gives me a grim nod and I nod back. Once she's gone I realize my pulse is racing and I have goosebumps. But they aren't out of fear. It's excitement, it's adrenaline. I smile to myself while Helena and Kennedy talk about the drop of the elevator.

I may not be able to kill people or fight too well, but defending others is something I'm naturally good at.

Bethany Caelum POV

I hate pink… I don't hate many things but I hate pink. It's just a gross color. And I'm wearing it right now. I'm so self-conscious as I stand waiting for the chariot ride to begin. I feel like everyone is staring at me and my gross pink suit. In actuality I know no one is looking at me, but still I don't like it.

While I pat our horses to distract myself Jage stares around at everyone else. He didn't make the best first impressions on me, what with the whispering in my ear about how cute I am as I stepped on the train. I whirled around and slapped him so hard in the face the mark will probably still be there tomorrow morning. But he was nice and apologized to me. I'm just not looking to make friends here and unfortunately that includes him.

I dread having to get on the chariot, then everyone will see me in my gross pink jumpsuit. But seeing Jage get on the chariot with such a terrified expression brings a smile to my face. The chariot ride winds up not being that long and soon I'm out of the spotlight and hopefully I'll be out of this pink suit soon too.

Jage gets off the horse chariot so quickly you'd think it was on fire. I casually step off and walk over to the elevator waiting area. Jage is standing by himself looking around and I walk past him to the other side of the waiting section next to a mysterious gold door. I wait casually, watching as various tributes walk in. I think to myself what I would say to Gabe about them if he were here but once everyone arrives I find my mind blank. Once my mind goes blank I begin to panic. I'm at the Hunger Games. I'm going to have to kill soon. I can feel my breath quicken and the room starts to spin…

"Hey," a deep voice says. I swirl around to the voice. It's a stocky boy, only a little bit taller than me and he's wearing an odd outfit composed of all sorts of different materials. The outfit is really baggy on him hanging off of his body.

"Hi," I say cautiously.

"I'm Laurence but call me Laury," he says.

"I'm Bethany," I say back.

He stands there awkwardly for a moment. "Listen, I wasn't planning on working with anyone during this but I saw you standing here and something about you stood out," he says quickly.

His posture is tall and straight and his eyes meet mine directly. Clearly he's confident in himself. "I'm sorry I don't want to work with anyone," I say calmly. "And if you're looking for a girl who's gonna fawn over you and fall in love with you I'm not that kind of girl either, try the District 1 girl or maybe one of those girls over there," I say pointing to the group of girls around Jage. He doesn't even look in that direction.

He rubs his hand through his spiky blonde hair with irritation. "Okay fair enough," he finally says. "Just think about it." I nod and then lean back against the gold door. I'm surprised when the door gives beneath my weight.

I examine it and, even though the door is locked, whoever used it last forgot to close the door all the way. I peak in the room and see that it's a large control room for the elevators, just in case they need to be run manually. Suddenly I get an idea.

I look up and see that Laury is walking away. "Hey Laury," he turns around at the sound of my voice. "I have a test for you, if you pass I'll think about being your partner a little bit more tonight," I say coyly. He gives me a slight smile before walking back over.

We walk into the control room. It doesn't take me too long to figure it out. There are a couple of buttons to determine the level of each elevator, a speed augmenter, a grid of lights that shows the level the elevator is currently on, and an emergency stop.

I look at one of the elevators and see that it's making stops at 3, 5, 6, and 8. "What district are you from?" I ask him as I step towards the control panel.

"Eight," he answers watching me. Perfect, I can get Jage and his district partner too.

Before the elevator reaches three I press some buttons and clear all of the stops. I bring the elevator up to level 6 before clearing it suddenly and bringing it back down to three. From behind me Laury steps forwards and tweaks the speed augmenter slightly. Even the little amount he changes it makes the elevator jolt downwards. I laugh as I imagine the reaction of Jage in the elevator. Laury then brings the elevator back to normal as it approaches the 3rd level.

Outside we hear a pair of footsteps so we quickly retreat away from the control panel and back to the door. I peek out and see that it's just some escort walking down the hallway. We both step out of the control room and I close the door behind us. There's only one other girl waiting for an elevator besides us. I think she's the girl from District 7. Within a few seconds an elevator arrives and we all step in.

Laury doesn't say anything until we reach my floor. As I step out he calls my name. "Bethany," he says and I turn to face him. "Does this mean we're partners?"

I smile as the doors close. "I told you I'd think about it more."