"Falling in love with love is falling for make believe."
-Cinderella

The Training Center, Floor 5, June 17th, 11:30 pm

Alicia Schripe (17) Mentor POV

Victor of the 225th Hunger Games

After the tribute parade, Fenton and I sat together on the couch in the living area of my floor of the training center. He's sitting on the right side of the couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table while I'm taking up far more room than necessary, sprawled completely across the couch with my feet in his lap. There's some documentary about wild animals that existed before the Dark Days playing on the TV, but neither of us is paying much attention to it, choosing instead to sit in comfortable silence. Over the past couple of months since pretending to be dating, we've gotten to be really good friends. He's been hanging out with Ross a lot lately, and they've been getting along pretty well.

I halfheartedly gaze at the TV to see a small brown animal with a long, flat tail and a black bill. It splashes around in a pool of clear, glittering water, and the camera cuts to a white and brown speckled egg hatching. Out comes a slightly slimy and much smaller version of the animal that must have laid the egg.

"What even is that?" I ask Fenton.

"A platypus," he responds, clearly having paid more attention that I was. "One of the only mammals in the world that could lay eggs."

"What's the other mammals?" I ask, genuinely curious.

"Some anteater or porcupine or something," he says, furrowing his brow. "I can't remember the name of it."

"Well, I hate it, whatever it is," I say, meeting his eye.

"Why?" he asks.

"I don't know, I just do." The camera cuts to a medium sized cat; tan with dark spots like a leopard and stripes like a tiger. "Oh my God, Fenton, look at that cat!"

"Leesh, that's an ocelot," he says, smiling. "You can't have one."

"Why?" I ask, outraged.

"Because they can grow to be almost 40 pounds, they're completely carnivorous and live to be almost 10. You can't have an ocelot."

"I don't care, I want one."

I adjust my body so that my feet are tucked up next to me, and I lay my head on Fenton's chest. He slings his arm around me in a completely platonic way, and we sit like that for another hour until the documentary is done. It finishes some time before one in the morning, and when it does, he gets up from the couch and stretches. He says goodbye, saying that he needs to get back to his tributes on his floor. He bends down and kisses me on the cheek, and I smile up at him.

"Hey Fenton?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you buy me an ocelot?"

"Night Alicia."

"Night Fenton."

He walks out, closing the door softly behind him, so as to not wake up Clio, Elijah or any of the others. In his absence, I know that I should go to my room and sleep for the net couple of hours, because training starts tomorrow, but I can't bring myself to get up off the couch. I lay back down, resting my head on the arm of the couch and watching a rerun of an old reality TV show that ended a few years ago. I think about Fenton while half listening to what's going on in the show. He's been a better friend to me than I can remember anyone being since I won the Games, and I'm grateful for him. At the same time, I can't tell exactly what my feelings for him are. It's always been a problem for me, separating platonic feelings from romantic ones. I've known him for almost a year, and I still have trouble figuring out exactly what I want out of our relationship.

I know in my heart though that I can't expect him to do anything. There was a girl that he liked before he went into the Games who he's now mentoring, and he developed feelings for one of his allies when he was in the Games last year. So I know that no matter my feelings for him, I can't expect anything until he figures out his feelings for Terry and Elizabeth. And even if nothing arises romantically, I'll be forever grateful that I was able to call him my friend.

On the other hand, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if something romantic became of our relationship. I mean, he's already pretending to be the father of my child, so if anything, the two of us having a real relationship would be beneficial for everyone, especially Ross. How great it would be if his parents grew up really loving each other. More than anything in the world, I want him to grow up with a normal family- no fear of the Hunger Games or which parent he's staying with that day. I just want him to be happy, and I would do anything to achieve that.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Reapings to bring you some fluff. Don't think that the time skip means that the Reapings won't be finished, because the next chapter will be District 7.

This is the shortest chapter I plan on ever uploading to this story- the shortest by a long shot. I just wanted to get something out to you guys after so long.

Thank you all for being patient. It means a lot.

Questions!

1) Did you miss me? (Haha)

2) Shipping Fenton with anyone? Alicia? Terry? Holding out for Elizabeth?

-No one says no to Gaston!