Visenya Lloyd- District Nine female

Most of the Tributes had been watching the other Tributes. We all wanted to see a weakness and keep our own weaknesses hidden. I'd been watching them, too, but I'd also been watching the Capitolites. The other Tributes would kill us, but the Capitolites could keep us alive. If I gave them what they wanted, they'd give me what I wanted.

It was clear what they wanted. The Capitolites loved a few things. They loved beautiful, confident Careers. They loved cute little kids. I was neither of those, but I had one other chance. The Capitol loved romances.

Over and over, as I watched the tapes of Games gone by, I saw it. Cormac and Siobhan. Bambi and Velvet. Vera and Frankie. Tillo and Felix. Mouse and Alice, who outlived fifty Tributes in an actual horrorshow of an Arena by being both romantic and cute little kids. If I just had someone I loved and we were two tragic star-crossed lovers, they'd send me more stuff than I knew what to do with.

It was with that in mind that I awkwardly approached Linden. He was sitting by himself in the cafeteria, arms bent over the table sullenly stirring a bowl of soup.

"Hey," I said. "How you doing?"

"How do you think I'm doing?" he asked. "I'm stuck here about to die for something that happened thirty years before I was born."

"Yeah, it sucks," I said. I sat next to him before he could tell me not to.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"This is really awkward, but I had this idea," I said. "You know how the Capitolites love romance?"

Linden stared at me for a second, then started laughing. "Why me?" he asked when he was done.

"Lots of reasons," I said, and I knew I was blushing.

"Sure," Linden said.

"It is!" I said. "Because you didn't have allies yet, because you're the right age, because you seem strong enough. And I do think you're not ugly, but that wasn't the big reason."

Linden smiled, and it was the first time I'd seen him actually look amused. "Why not," he said. "It's not like this can get much worse."


Linden Anderson- District Eight male

I held Visenya's hand in mine while my other hovered over her waist. The entire point of the "romance" was for people to see it. So we were in the art deco styled ballroom near the bottom floor of the Games center, mostly used for parade afterparties and Capitolite soirees for the mentors to try to get sponsors. There were a few people there with us. Most of them were old, since ballroom dancing hadn't been in vogue since before the Dark Days. But that was fine, since old people had money and soft hearts.

"It's pretty simple," I said as we moved through a basic box step. There were only three parts, so we had it down before the end of the first song.

"Where'd you learn to do this?" Visenya asked.

"My mom used to do it with me," I said. My chest tightened and I wished suddenly and painfully that I was a little kid again, my feet perched on my mother's as she hummed the tune from Sleeping Beauty.

"Are you all right?" Visenya asked. Both of us were just in it for the sponsors, and I wasn't falling for Visenya, but she was a nice girl. A lot nicer than I was, honestly.

"They'll be fine," I said. It took a minute to find the heart to say what came next. "They're already trying for another."

"How do you know?" Visenya asked. It made me sadly happy how empathetic she looked.

"I'm the heir of a pretty big company," I said. "They've groomed me for years to take over. And now… they love me and believe in me, but I think they're getting ready."

"I'm scared," I said. Ever since I got on the train, I'd been angry. I'd forced myself to maintain that anger and focus on how unfair it was so I wouldn't have room to think about how scared I was. It was embarrassing to have it boil over now, in pubic, but sometimes emotions are like that. My eyes watered and when Visenya pulled me into a hug I held her tightly, my face to the side so she couldn't see.

"I'm scared too. Everyone is. Even the Careers. Because you're right. This isn't fair," Visenya said.

When we pulled apart, an old Capitolite couple was looking at us with sentimental smiles as they held hands. We hadn't meant it at all, but we'd just done the most convincing thing we could.