"This is like the fifth day of interviews," Frank groaned as he laid his head back against the wall. His entire body felt exhausted from all they had done the past few days. They had fun at the party, and Frank even got drunk. He didn't really remember anything after that, other than waking up at Lupa's place with Hazel snuggled against him on one side and two of Lupa's dogs on the other.

From there, it was a mixture of training and press work. Every fighter, current and old was being interviewed for the anniversary event. Frank wished that he was an exception. He would wake up early to go to the gym, train all day, and then shower just in time to be interviewed by the press. His grandma kept lecturing him for bringing home fast food.

"At least you're not a champion," Hazel commented. Frank smiled slightly, and his gaze moved to the side. Piper and Lupa were huddled around Annabeth and giving the champion a rundown of the interviews she would have to do that night. It seemed like the champs didn't have a moment to rest between interviews. As soon as the final question was done, the next interview would begin.

The champions also stayed longer than everyone else as well. They didn't want to leave her alone, so they all volunteered to trade off staying until Annabeth was done. So far, Reyna had told them to go home each night and stayed. Frank would probably end up volunteering sooner or later.

"Do you want any snacks?" Frank asked as he looked at Hazel. "Or just something to drink?"

"Water please," Hazel answered. Frank nodded to her and smiled. He walked out of the room. Frank's outfits had gotten progressively less... fancy as the week went on. His first day of interviews had him wearing a dress shirt and nice slacks. On the second day, he retained the dress shirt but put on blue jeans. Now, he wore blue jeans and a hoodie.

He did have a dress shirt underneath, though. It was just wrinkled. He was sure that he could smooth it out before he was caught for an interview.

On the bright side, they were given food and drinks for the interviews. It was hot and fresh and left out on a table for anyone to grab what they wanted. And it was gone within ten minutes of Frank getting there, so he had to be quick about it.

As Frank was walking, he saw his teammate out of the corner of his eye. Reyna had two sandwiches tucked into the crook of her arm and had two bottles of some kind of soda stuck in her jacket pocket. She didn't make it more than five feet before an interviewer stopped her.

Frank stopped walking. He knew that he couldn't just interrupt the interview. Hopefully, Reyna would see him there and know that he was nearby for moral support. Reyna looked at the interviewer and stopped walking.

"Reyna, how are you doing today?" the interviewer asked, a small smile on his face. Behind him stood a woman with a camera, and it looked like they were rolling.

"I'm good," Reyna answered after a few moments. "I didn't think I had an interview scheduled until twenty minutes from now."

"You don't, but I wanted to get a word with you," the interviewer replied. Frank didn't know the man's name, but he knew the guy dealt with some of the more popular fighters and the champions. "Tell me about what happened with Bryce Lawrence."

To Reyna's credit, she held a perfect poker face. Although, her shoulders tensed slightly. The reporter dug deeper, "How can you act like that when you know people look up to you?"

"That was harsh," Frank muttered softly to himself, but he wanted to speak up louder.

"I made a mistake," Reyna breathed after a moment. "I know better, and I know that people look up to me. I also learned that you can't always look up to your heroes. They will let you down. So I hope anyone who I let down can learn from my mistake and know how to act in a situation like that."

"I regret that I-"

"Are we on the apology tour now?" Clarisse interrupted as she seemed to appear from around the corner. Frank frowned as he watched the scene. Mostly because the camerawoman seemed to turn before Clarisse had even spoken. That was odd.

"I regret that I punched Bryce," Reyna repeated as she looked directly at the camera.

"Punched a defenseless guy because you can't take on anyone in a fair fight," Clarisse taunted. Reyna finally turned her head to look at her. "I bet you wish that was me."

Reyna looked at the interviewer again, but he seemed more interested in watching Clarisse than continuing the interview. Clarisse stepped closer to Reyna and spoke, "Don't have anything to say?"

Frank was not about to let Clarisse get Reyna riled up again. He stepped forward, but Reyna just shook her head and turned away. Clarisse immediately grabbed her arm.

Reyna jerked her arm out of Clarisse's grasp. She looked ready to say something. Instead, she turned and continued walking.

"Running away like always!" Clarisse called after her. Frank quickly moved to Reyna's side.

"You good?" Frank asked softly.

"I'm fine. Just want to eat," Reyna said as they made it back into the room they were staying in. She dropped off a sandwich and a drink on the table, presumably for Annabeth. Reyna moved to sit down on the couch in the room and unwrapped her sandwich.

"Were they out of water?" Hazel questioned.

"No," Frank answered as he looked at her. "Sorry. I just ran into a small problem."

"Clarisse was looking for a fight," Reyna muttered as she grabbed the other soda out of her pocket and carefully rested it between her legs. She opened the soda and took a sip. "I can't wait to punch her teeth down her throat."

"It was weird, though. That camerawoman was already turning. I didn't hear Clarisse coming, and I was closer to the corner," Frank said. Reyna stopped with her food halfway to her mouth. "That sounds crazy, right?"

"No. It doesn't," Reyna grumbled. She lowered her sandwich and laid her head back. "I have no doubt Clarisse was in on this. She needs all of the attention on our fight."

Reyna bit back her next words and stared up at the ceiling. Hazel spoke, "Should we tell Lupa?"

"I don't care," Reyna said as she closed her eyes.

"Tell me what?" Lupa questioned as she turned towards them. Annabeth glanced at them in concern as she grabbed the sandwich and soda that Reyna had left for her. She sat next to Reyna, who didn't move.

Frank slowly looked at Lupa and spoke, "Well, Reyna was being interviewed by this reporter that only really talks to champions or like the most prominent of fighters. No offense, Reyna."

Reyna shrugged. Frank continued, "He asked Reyna about her being arrested and how could she be a good role model if she's going to do something like that. Clarisse interrupted her in the middle of her answer and tried to start a fight again."

"And you said that the camerawoman was already turning towards the corner where Clarisse was coming from, right?" Hazel asked. Frank nodded.

"I could be imagining it," Frank began. Reyna shook her head but otherwise remained silent.

"It almost sounds like a set up," Piper began. Hazel nodded her agreement, but Frank couldn't shake the feeling that he was reading too much into it.

Lupa looked between them. Then, a look of anger came to her eyes, "Was it Rodriguez?"

"Yeah," Reyna muttered.

"I'll have a talk with him," Lupa said. She turned and walked out of the room. Reyna's eyes flickered up, and she looked surprised. Then, she looked back down and finished her food. The rest of the room was silent.

"You doing okay?" Annabeth questioned as she practically devoured her sandwich.

"Yeah," Reyna answered. She didn't even look up at her. Instead, she stared at her drink. "It's just Clarisse being Clarisse. I'm over it."

Annabeth nodded and finished her sandwich. She glanced at the time and stood. Then, Piper and her walked out. Frank sighed and looked towards Hazel, a smile already sprouted on her face as he watched her.

"Ready for our face off?" Hazel questioned as she looked at him.

"I am so ready for this week to be over," Frank said, but he still held a big smile. Hazel smiled as well. "I guess I'm excited. It's going to be exciting finally seeing Ethan face to face. I need to avenge my loss."

"You're going to do great, Frank. I know it," Hazel encouraged. She leaned on him.

"Thank you," Frank said as he gently leaned on her as well. "I should get ready for my next interview."

"Mine's in five minutes," Hazel said. Reyna handed her the rest of her soda. "Thanks."

Reyna nodded and stared down at her phone, scrolling through it. Frank focused on helping Hazel prep for her interview, which really meant just letting her bounce off small speeches to him. Frank just did his best to relax.

His own interviews were in the back of his mind. He was more concerned about his upcoming fight than answering properly. Frank wasn't good at the whole PR side of the fighting business. It was nice to have Octavian for that.

In the interviews, he didn't have a buffer to keep him from saying something dumb. And it was live. Frank groaned as he thought about it. This week will not end. At least he had Hazel to help him through it.