There were a few hours to train in their private district training room before the Hunger Games actually started, but Lily and Scorpius were so nervous that they couldn't concentrate on anything. At last, it was time to go back to their tribute area for the last time to get ready for the Games. As their trainers and stylists frantically ran around getting ready, Scorpius and Lily had some moments together.

"So," said Scorpius, "we have one hour before we're on TV to the whole country, maybe for the rest of our lives."

"Scorpius," Lily replied, "don't say things like that. It freaks me out."

"I'm sorry." He hugged her. "Everything will be okay. I'll keep you safe."

"You sure?"

"Positive." Scorpius then kissed Lily on the cheek, which made her giggle a little.

At that point, they quickly broke out of their hug because Susana frantically ran into the room.

"Oh, good! There you are!" Susana said a little too enthusiastically. "I found them!" she yelled out into the hall, and moments later, the stylists came running in. Susana continued, "You are going to change into your tribute outfits that you'll wear for the Games, and then we'll send you to the arena to start the Games!"

"But we have almost an hour before it actually starts!" said Lily.

"By the time we change and get there, we'll have about forty minutes left, and then they go though instructions about a half hour before it starts, and then you'll just wait the rest of the time."

"Oh, okay."

"Now, now more wasting time! You have to get into your outfits now!"

After a few minutes, they were both changed into sleek black sweatpants and black shirts that had the District 12 symbol on the back.

"Don't worry if you look silly," said Susana once they exited their dressing rooms. "Every tribute will have the exact same outfit except with their own district's symbol on the back."

Although Lily didn't feel badly dressed, she was glad that for once, her looks weren't being constantly compared to the other tributes.

"Follow me!" Susana said. "There's a car out there waiting for us! The stylists will have to stay here because there's not enough room in the car."

Scorpius and Lily, holding hands, followed Susana out the back entrance of the District 12 rooms to the area where Lily and Scorpius were the previous night.

"The area back here is so pretty," said Susana. "I wish we had some free time so you could relax a bit and come out here, but they just scheduled it with so many activities that there was simply no time." They walked around the back of the building to a sleek black car. Susana opened the back door. "Get in, you two! I'll be in the front seat, but you can just both sit in the back."

After they got in the car, they rode for about ten or fifteen minutes before they arrived in an underground parking lot. Lily guessed that the Capitol didn't want to give away the location of the arena until the Games were over.

They got out of the car and walked through the small parking lot until they entered through gray-tinted glass doors. On the other side, there were twelve doors, each one with a different number on it. They entered the one on the far right with a large 12 for their district. Inside, there were some chairs, a couch, and a television.

"In about ten minutes," Susana said as they nervously sat down on the chairs and couch, "they'll call all the tributes to a different room to give instructions and to start the Hunger Games!"

As usual, Susana's voice made the Games sound much more exciting and pleasant than what they were actually going to be. Lily suddenly realized that she would miss Susana's overly excited tone of voice about everything she said, even though she hadn't even known Susana for two whole days.

"Until then," continued Susana, interrupting Lily's train of thoughts, "we can just sit here and watch the pre-game show, if that's even the right phrase for it. That's what they say for sports, so I guess you could say that for the Hunger Games."

"What are they showing?" asked Lily as Scorpius reached for the remote control to turn it on.

"They have interviews with the people who designed this year's Games and with some of the stylists and trainers. Unfortunately, no one from District 12's team got invited to be interviewed, but that's how it is with everything. We're the last district, so of course we don't get to do anything special with the first few districts," Susana replied.

As the television turned on, just as Susana said, the District 1 stylist was at an interview with famous talk show host Alfred Penn, and they were discussing the tributes' outfits that they wore for the interview and the tribute parade.

After several minutes of absentmindedly listening to that, an announcement came on ceiling speakers, so Scorpius fumbled for the remote to turn off the TV as the speaker said, "All tributes, please come to the designated underground area to start the Games." The speaker repeated this two more times before going silent.

"Uh, Susana," said Lily nervously, "we don't know where that is."

"No worries! I'll show you!"

They exited their district room and went into an unmarked door to the left of all the tribute doors, where they saw twenty-two vicious-looking tributes and a Capitol person standing at the front.

"I can't go in there, so goodbye, you two!" She gave them both a large hug before leaving them alone with the others.

Scorpius looked at Lily and gave her hand a squeeze of good luck. It was almost time to start the first annual Hunger Games.

I am so sorry that it has taken this long to get the next chapter up. I was out of town for a week and a half without my computer, and then I just never really got around to writing it. I'll really try to be a lot faster at updating the rest of the chapters, but I can't guarantee anything.

Note: All the characters in this chapter except for Scorpius and Lily are OC's.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! :D