Isabella Disney-Busattil, District Eleven female (18)

Sometimes it was just weird being with my father. I knew he loved me and he knew I loved him but it was just… there was no one else in the world like my father. We'd never been able to figure out what caused his "total alexithymia", as the doctors called it. To me he had always seemed like that was the way he was supposed to be- it was the only way I'd ever known him. But the more I spent time with people outside my family the more I learned that my father just wasn't like any other human. All the parts of love that you felt instead of showed could never be there for him. He chose to love me anyway and in his own way that was much purer, since he didn't get any warm fuzzy feelings from it, but sometimes it was like cuddling a lizard. It was different from cuddling a cat. Maybe not worse but undeniably different.

"It's not really that useful," I commented as Dad and I went through the motions of practicing hand-to-hand combat. I'd already been training since I could walk and there wasn't much left that Mom and Dad could teach me. Really we were just spinning our wheels.

"It's good to be with you, though," Dad said. I could see him trying to figure out something else to suggest we do. He wanted to hang out with his daughter but he had no idea what the cool kids did or even just what the human kids did.

"Let's see if Mom can take a break and come get lunch with us," I said. As much as Dad knew I loved him, he was always more comfortable when Mom was around. She told me once she had some experience with people like him because Whyte's little brother Kanu was autistic. That wasn't exactly the same as Dad but it gave her a little idea at least. And of course she married him and they'd been together twenty years so obviously they got along.

"Hi, honey!" Mom almost cooed when she saw us coming. Mom may have fought in the Hunger Games four times but with me she was a normal dorky mom. She would play with my hair or kiss my forehead or buy the wrong band merchandise because she forgot I liked Megaheart the pop band and not "Megaharp" the acoustic four-string quartet. And of course I wore the Megaharp shirt for a week so she wasn't sad.

"How are you doing? Is anyone giving you trouble?" Mom asked as we gathered at the table after filling our plates at the buffet.

"Well, you know, the Careers were mad I didn't join them, but they were kinda distracted. Beth didn't join either and both the Ones are really weird so that's a bother."

"Remember we said maybe you shouldn't train too hard when people are watching," Mom said.

I rolled my eyes jokingly. "Yeah, they'll think the kid of two Victors isn't trained at all," I sid.

"At least they won't know what weapon you use," Dad said, happy (in his own way) that we were talking about something he could contribute to.

"If I looked at me I wouldn't guess I used an axe," I said. I looked at the visible but not jacked muscles on my arms. "I'd guess I used a sword like my mom." Mom looked like she was going to cry, even though she was smiling. Sometimes I felt almost guilty I was such a cheerful person. This was so much harder for both of them than it was for me.

"Do you all want to come over after work?" I asked as we were getting up to leave. "I thought maybe we could have kind of a sleepover out in the lounge."

"That sounds great, sweet pea!" Mom said as her face lit up. "We can order pizza and watch your silly romance movies."

"It will be very romantic," Dad said, so earnestly mom and I both tittered a little. We can do all the cool sleepover stuff. Play truth and dare with my dad, give my dad a makeover, talk about cute boys with my dad… I was sure he'd love all of it.

Zebulon Charles, District Twelve male (17)

"Hey. I have a confession to make," Sky said after training one day while we were both hanging out in the Twelve lounge.

Oh my gosh did she kill a guy? This was the Hunger Games. It was probably something horrible.

"I'm not really deaf," Sky said. "I'm just hard of hearing."

"Oh, is that why you can talk so well? Not trying to be rude, but I thought deaf people talked funny since, you know, they can't hear it," I said.

"Exactly! It's kind of rude that more people haven't realized that. Have all these people never seen a deaf person?" Sky said.

"So why fake it?" I asked.

Sky shrugged mischievously. "It gets me out of a lot of annoying things. If I don't like someone I can pretend I didn't notice them calling me. People tell all sorts of juicy secrets because they think I can't hear them. That sort of stuff. But I thought you'd guess it eventually so I might as well tell."

"You gonna tell everyone else?" I asked. I was a little surprised by it, but we'd managed to get ourselves into Isabella and Mike's alliance. Mike was… Mike, but Isabella was a huge contender. She could definitely do better than two Twelves. And I was really excited to hang out with Beth. They lived in Four like I'd always dreamed out. It seemed so weird to me that someone from Four would volunteer for the Games. Four was already paradise if you asked me. But maybe it wasn't as great as I imagined. Probably it wasn't- grass is always greener and all that.

"I guess I should. Be kinda rude to lie to my allies. I lied to everyone in Twelve but I have standards," Sky said.

"You overheard any cool stuff in training?" I asked.

"My gosh you would not believe how much trash the Careers talk about each other as soon as they're out of earshot," Sky said. "Charm hates everyone, everyone hates Majesty, Laken thinks Marley barely even belongs here, Charm especially likes talking trash about Joseph since he's not aggressive, and Marley actually doesn't talk any trash. She likes to sing to herself which would be really creepy if it didn't seem like I wasn't on her radar."

A minute after that there was one of those awkward pauses where a conversation has died and you don't know how to keep it going. "So, what are you gonna train in?" I asked just to make it less painful.

"Probably just plants and shelters. I'm boring," Sky said.

"I know some stuff about that. I can come with you," I said. I was hardly a rugged outdoorsman but living in a poor part of Twelve, I was used to going out and foraging for food. Once in a while I went out farther than I thought and had to camp out when darkness came. Maybe I couldn't make a waterproof shelter but I could make a water-resistant shelter, and that could make a big difference in a damp or chilly Arena.

"Cool, that would be great!" Sky said. "See, between all of us, maybe we can get somewhere. Isabella and Beth can fight, Mike can fly around bright lights, you can make shelters, and I can lie! We're unstoppable."

Sky Larch, District Twelve female (16)

Our alliance was interesting. Some of us were normal, like Beth and Zebulon. Then there was Isabella, who was a celebrity but otherwise the most approachable of us. Then there was me, a fake deaf poet. And then, doing the great service of making me look normal, there was Mike.

"So, I thought we could play a few games and get to know each other," Isabella said as we lurked in the Twelve lounge, since it was the only District where both members were in the alliance. We were surrounded by more junk food than any of us but Isabella had ever seen.

"Starting with everyone's favorite: two truths and a lie. Everyone know how to play?" Mike asked. It was completely bizarre that it had been Mike and Isabella who started the alliance. They were like lifelong friends even though they'd just met a few days ago. But of course Isabella could pick from just about anyone she wanted. Naturally she would shoot down the lame Career alliance and pick a moth instead.

"Ooh, I'll go first," Beth said. "One, my favorite animal is a serval. Two, I have five big brothers but they didn't teach me how to fight. Three, I was actually the third pick to volunteer but the others got hurt."

We all took our guesses, politely not picking the third.

"Ha, tricked you. I really was the third pick," Beth said triumphantly.

Mike went next. "Uh… I live in my mom's basement, sometimes I cosplay as a human, and I have a radio show called "Hey, it's Mothman!" After we all guessed he revealed that he really was a basement-dwelling weirdo but that his show was actually named "Mothman in the Morning."

"I've been to every District, I once smoked a joint at a party but my mom found out because I doused myself in perfume trying to cover up the smell, and I have a pet bearded dragon," Isabella offered. She was a little embarrassed when most of us correctly guessed the bearded dragon was a lie.

Zebulon stepped up to the plate. "I ate raw squirrel once and somehow didn't get sick, my favorite Tribute ever is Shogo Hara, and I keep my hair like this because one eye is smaller than the other." He pointed to his emo half-bangs. I already knew the second was true and most of the others also guessed the first one was the lie.

"My turn," I said. "I once convinced my friends that diamonds are just coal that's been blown on, I'm deaf, and my favorite color is red."

"One," Isabella guessed.

"Three," everyone else guessed.

"Ha ha, every one of you is wrong."

Beth Crissino, District Four female (17)

My friends would have been horrified at my alliance. It kind of just happened. Mike came up to me to see if I'd join him and Isabella and I was kind of so surprised I went with it to see what would happen. Then Sky and Zebulon joined and I didn't have anything against them so I was fine with it. So now I was allied with a Victor's daughter, a moth, and two skinny Twelve kids. Well, variety is the spice of life.

It was Isabella's idea that we all learn how to swim. As the two trained Tributes we had a lot more idea of what it took to win the Games and what kind of things Gamemakers liked to prey on. It didn't take a genius to see learning to swim would be a good idea.

"I have literally never done this before," Mike said as he dipped a foot into the pool, wearing ridiculous floaties on his arms.

"I've swam a few times," Zebulon said, paddling around.

"Look at Mr. Fancy Pants here who didn't spend his entire life in the Seam," Sky grumped from her perch gripping the edge of the pool.

"What, moths can't swim?" Isabella teased.

"It weighs our wings down," Mike said.

"You don't have any wings," Sky said.

"Yeah because I tried to swim once and they got weighed down and fell off," Mike said.

"Swimming isn't as bad as it looks," I said as I started the lesson. "The good thing is that most people naturally float. If you're really really muscular you can sink but none of us should have to worry about that."

"Wow, roasted," Sky said, flexing her tiny arms.

"I dunno I dunno I dunno about this," Mike said as his face hovered just above the water.

"I know it feels weird but if you don't move at all you'll float," I encouraged him.

"I guess…" Mike said. As he slowly stabilized he removed one floatie and then the other, floating in the water like an almost-too-heavy bobber.

"This must be a dog paddle," Sky said as she took on the natural swimming stance untrained people gravitated toward. Her own talking distracted her and she sank and had to stand up on the bottom of the shallow end where we were practicing.

"Once you start getting it you can start watching your breathing," I said. "You want to breathe out when you push up and breathe in as you're coming down. If you hit the water with full lungs you won't sink and if you breathe out at the top of the stroke you won't get water in your mouth."

By the end of the day everyone could at least float. It felt good to be able to help my alliance be better. Even though we'd just met, we felt like friends. We got along together great, even though I worried it was just because we were all trying to make good first impressions and eventually we'd argue about something and split up a little. I just didn't want to be the one that started it. I liked all my allies and I wanted us all to get to the end. I knew that wasn't possible but I just wasn't going to think about it yet.

Mike Mothra, District Eight male (16)

It was crazy how close Isabella and I were. We'd met on the train when I bumped into her in one of the hallways (in my defense, the hallways were really narrow and the train was rocking a lot) and we'd been together ever since. Drone said I should train more. I could see what he was saying but I didn't think I was going to learn much in just a few days and my allies were just so much more interesting. Besides, I'd learned how to float, so that was something.

"So what's the coolest place you've been in Panem?" I asked.

"I really like Four and Eleven since I'm biased, but Ten was really cool. It's just so flat. You can see for miles and all you see in all that space is thousands and thousands of cows. Not the whole place, of course, but in the stockyards."

"Woah. I wonder if any of those cows are still alive. Weird thought," I said.

"I'd be a vegetarian but they just taste so good," Isabella said.

"Hey, you met the rest of the Careers. What are they like?" I asked. I'd been trying to meet all the Tributes and at least get to know them a little but I had a feeling if I went near the Careers they'd swat me.

Isabella wrinkled her nose. "They're weird. They make us look normal. It's a hard year for the Career Districts."

"Yeah what's with that one guy from One?" I asked.

"I don't think there's anything not with him," Isabella said. "I heard they tried to diagnose him with something but could only come up with 'crazy'."

The next day I spent some time with Sky. She was just as cool as she seemed.

"My favorite poems are limericks. I like the silly ones," I said.

"I like them too but I like the dirty ones," Sky smirked. "They're not for mixed moth company, though," she added chastely.

"What kind of cool stuff happens in Twelve that doesn't happen other places?" I asked Zebulon.

"A lot of people starving and lots of poor people," he said.

"Egad," I said, unsure what else to say.

"It's not all bad, though," Zebulon said. "We have really cool music. I haven't heard any of it in the Capitol. They seem to like fancy synthesized music here but in Twelve we like banjos and stuff we make out of whatever's lying around."

"I can play the spoons," I offered.

"You'd fit right in," he said.

"You seem like such a happy guy," Beth said when we hung out. "I hope you always stay that way."

"I was happy in Eight, I'm happy here, and I'll find things to be happy about in the Arena," I said.

"That's the way to be," Beth said. "If more people in the Capitol were like that it would be a better world."