Nicole Ichigo

12 years old

District 7 Female

There were still two days until the games began. Nicole was grateful for the extra days she had to live and she wanted to live them to the fullest.

However, she really missed home so for breakfast that morning Nicole decided to eat a bowl of strawberries. She noticed they weren't nearly as good as the freshly picked strawberries at her family's strawberry plantation. It turns out the Capitol didn't get all of the luxuries Panem had to offer.

Hector ate two different types of chocolate for breakfast. Nicole didn't know whether it was because it reminded him of home or because he really loved chocolate. Either way her district partner was enjoying the chocolate.

Their escort had come into the spacious kitchen, frowning as she noticed Hector eating chocolate for breakfast. She didn't say anything though, and left the room quickly. Nicole guessed it was because she didn't want Hector shouting at her again. Nicole felt bad for the escort.

"Hector, do you want a strawberry?" Nicole asked, pushing the bowl towards her district partner.

They young boy shook his head, "No. Strawberries are too plain on their own."

Nicole shrugged and was about to eat another strawberry when she noticed an electrical box on the counter. She had heard it was called a microwave and could heat up a whole meal in only a few minutes.

"What if we melted the chocolate and dipped the strawberries in it?" She suggested.

A huge grin appeared on Hector's face and he went to get more chocolate from the fridge.

20 minutes later, after Hector had managed to burn two whole bars of chocolate, they had a warm bowl of melted chocolate. It smelled delicious and Nicole dipped one of her strawberries into the chocolate.

It was so good that Nicole didn't care that she was having chocolate for breakfast and only stopped eating the snack when the melted chocolate ran out. Hector also loved the strawberries and chocolate, but he had more chocolate than strawberry.

"You should try putting the strawberries in the fridge after you've covered them in chocolate." Hesper, Hector's mentor said when he came in for breakfast.

They melted some more chocolate and put the chocolate covered strawberries into the fridge. Nicole hoped they would be ready in time for dessert after dinner.

Silvan, their other mentor came in talking to someone or something. Nicole didn't think it was weird like Hector and others did. She thought it made him unique and it also seemed like he was never lonely.

"We thought we could talk through some tactics and strategy this morning. If you guys aren't busy of course."

Nicole nodded enthusiastically; she wanted to have a plan going into the bloodbath so she and Hector had as much chance of surviving as possible.

They decided to move to the living room so they would be more comfortable but Nicole soon realised that was a mistake as beside her was a stack of papers that were thick enough for her to do origami with.

As Hesper and Silvan began talking, Nicole's eyes kept drifting to the stack of papers. Her hands itched to some origami as she hadn't done any that day.

"We think that you guys should just run away from the cornucopia as soon as the timer hits zero." Hesper stated.

"No."

Nicole wasn't surprised her district partner was opposed to Hesper's plan. Or that his voice was laced with anger. Hector didn't seem to like agreeing with their mentors.

Sometimes Hector could get extremely angry and rude without even meaning to. She had noticed it was rarely directed at her. Nicole really did see Hector as a great friend even if others couldn't see past his harsh comments and moods. He was actually a lot of fun to be around and was always making her laugh.

However, Nicole knew that her ally could be a liability in the games. He could be too loud, alerting another tribute of their whereabouts or he could insult the game makers, causing them to release mutts on them or he could start offending another tribute which could result in them running for their lives, or even dying at that tribute's hands.

Therefore, Nicole was trying to help Hector be nicer and less angry towards people. It was working a little bit as Nicole noticed that he had started saying please and thank you to more people. Hector had also stopped lashing out at Capitolites a little bit. Not a lot but he was still making progress.

Unfortunately now was not a time where Hector was going to hold back his anger.

"We need to get supplies and weapons. You know, for survival." Hector continued.

"There's bound to be more supplies around the arena. Plus we'll try to sponsor you weapons if we can." Their mentor obviously wasn't putting up with Hector today.

"Last time I ran away from a fight my friends got hurt."

Nicole hadn't realised there was a more personal reason to Hector's objections. Nicole knew then that there was no way Hector was running away from the cornucopia empty handed. But she also knew that if he spent too long at the cornucopia then he would fight anybody, no matter who they were. Nicole needed to compromise to save both their lives.

"There's bound to be backpacks with supplies dotted around. Hector could run to one of those and then find me and we'll get away from the cornucopia."

Their mentors looked at each other for a while, seemingly communicating without words. Eventually Hesper sighed and agreed to Nicole's compromise. But warned Hector that he should only go for the nearest bag. The boy from Seven agreed but Nicole doubted that he would follow that instruction.

"Next we have to talk about killing people." Silvan said, fidgeting in his seat.

Nicole had trained a little bit back at home just in case but she never thought she would actually have to put the training into practise.

"We know you've probably learnt this in training but if you want to kill someone quickly and efficiently, use all of your strength to throw something heavy at their head and then stab them in the side."

The comment confused Nicole as she would it would be easier to slit someone's throat. And why stab them in the side when stabbing them in the chest or stomach will ensure they die straightaway. But she trusted her mentors so made a mental note of what they were saying.

They didn't spend much more time discussing strategies which Nicole was grateful for as her eyes kept wondering to the stacks of papers on the table.

Hesper and Silvan eventually left the room and said that the young tributes were free to do whatever they wished for the remainder of the day. As long as they didn't get into trouble. That statement was definitely directed at Hector.

Nicole went straight to the stack of papers and began folding one in a way that was so familiar to her and after a few minutes the end result was a butterfly.

Hector watched as Nicole folded the papers but she could tell he was finding it hard to be patient and just sit there.

"What do you want to do today?" She asked her district partner.

"Find someone to challenge to a rap battle."

The statement earned a chuckle from Nicole. Hector had wanted to challenge someone to a rap battle since they set foot in the Capitol. Rapping was something Nicole couldn't do so declined straight away. Davis and Lorraine had tried to take up Hector's challenge the other night but were too drunk to rap without giggling between every few words.

"Is there something you've always wanted to do?" She asked.

"Grow up. Know what it's like to be a teenager." Hector responded with a sad smile.

"Me too."

Nicole wished she could live a normal childhood and experience life as a teenager but that didn't seem possible anymore. She wanted to know what it was like to hang out with friends late into the night, what it was like to fall in love, to meet new people, what alcohol tasted like, go to parties.

A silence passed between the two, Hector obviously thinking the same as Nicole. But Hector finally spoke what they had both been thinking.

"I wish we could hang out with friends in the middle of the night, speak to random strangers and become friends."

The young girl sighed but suddenly a thought struck her and a smile brightened her face.

"Well we're free to do whatever we want tonight and there's 22 strangers across the other floors."

An excited smile appeared on Hector's face and she knew that he had caught on to her thought process.

"Let's organise a hangout for tonight. And invite all the tributes. It can go on all night!"

The pair from Seven immediately began creating invites. Hector had written them out and Nicole folded each invite into a lotus flower shape, making sure the tribute's name was still visible and that it was obvious that there was more writing on the paper.

They decided not to tell their mentors about it in fear that they would tell them they couldn't organise a hang out. All the details had been worked out quickly and they were soon ready to deliver the invites – hoping to avoid as many mentors as they could.

The hang out would take place on the roof from 8pm onwards. They asked the other tributes not to tell their mentors in case it was shut down and told them to bring some snacks if they could.

"Do you think the careers will come?" Hector asked as they entered the elevator going down to the district 1 floor.

"I hope so." Nicole said and realised she meant it. Just because they were trained to kill didn't mean they weren't human. They deserved to experience the great parts of being a teenager and growing up. All of the tributes did.

"I think the biggest struggle will be getting Duplo to come." Nicole added.

When the elevator reached the district 1 floor, Nicole and Hector looked around before entering, just to double check there were no mentors around.

They placed the invites on the living room table and saw five bedroom doors in the corridor next to the elevator.

"I'll wait in the elevator, ready to push the button for the next floor while you go and knock on one of the careers' doors." Nicole suggested.

Nicole informed her ally that the room with a pastel purple jacket hanging on it most likely belonged to Extravagance so he should knock on that one. She hoped she was right and that it didn't belong to the escort or mentors of district 1.

It also wasn't guaranteed that the pair from One were even on their floor. They could be with the rest of the careers doing a fun activity somewhere.

Hector came back to the elevator as quick as he could, panting.

"I'm a genius."

Nicole wasn't surprised that the boy was taking credit for the idea. However, she wasn't sure which idea he was taking credit for – the whole hang out or which door was a career's.

As the elevator doors opened on the district 2 floor, Nicole couldn't move as all 6 of the careers turned to look at them. It was easy leaving the invites on a table but directly handing them to the careers all at once frightened her. She was just grateful their mentors weren't there too.

"Hi there." Hudson, the boy from Four spoke questioningly.

Nicole couldn't force any words out but luckily Hector took the lead.

"Hey! Nicole and I made some origami flowers and we wanted to give one to every tribute."

Nicole stepped onto the floor and approached the careers on the various sofas. She handed the invites to the tributes from Two and Four.

"Thank you." Tarquin said with a smile that Nicole returned.

Extravagance looked a little hurt when Nicole didn't reach into her bag for his invite.

"We left your flower on a table on your floor, alongside Tangent's." Nicole spoke quietly. Extravagance looked content with that and didn't look hurt or offended anymore.

When Nicole entered the elevator and turned around, she noticed Aelia opening the flower up to reveal the invite. Nicole was relieved that it was clear that there was more writing and that the origami piece was made to be unfolded.

Hector smiled next to her.

"We're going to need to make more chocolate covered strawberries."

AN: Another chapter done! I honestly loved writing this chapter and I didn't want to stop. But I'm very excited for this hang out session. It's going to be fun!
And Janus is a pretty chill President so he lets tributes have access to every floor during the day. Plus there's surveillance and security to ensure no one's killing each other yet.

So, what do you think of the planned hang out session? Do you think everyone will attend? Are there any tributes you don't think will attend? Are there any tribute interactions you'd specifically like to see? (No promises though!)

QOTC: What is the film which has the characters Donna, Sophie, Tanya and Rosie?