I wake up in the middle of the night to find that once again, I've been crying, my breathing is labored and I'm sweating. I look over at Cato and he's sleeping soundly, he's even snoring a little bit. I carefully lift his arm off of me and slide slowly out of bed while trying not to disturb him. I walk over to the bathroom, shut the door behind me and strip down.

I turn on the shower as hot as it will go and step right in and realize that I'm shaking. I try to get a hold of myself as I wash all of the sweat and tears off of my face and body. Even though I'm all clean, I stay in the shower for what feels like ages. I eventually get tired of standing up and just sit right down on the floor and let the water block out my vision and thoughts.

I just listen to the water until I've finally stopped the shaking of my body and am ready to go back to bed. I pull myself off of the floor, turn off the water and step out of the shower. I allow the built in dryers to dry me this time because I'm too exhausted to do it myself. I tiptoe back into my room and silently open my drawer and put on fresh pajamas.

I lay back down next to Cato and he instinctively pulls me right up to him in his sleep. I just listen to him breath and the sound of his heartbeat as I try to fall back asleep. The lack of sleep eventually wins out and I'm pulled back into the darkness of my dreams.

I'm woken up by the sun and Cato is, once again, on top of me but I just let him stay there and wait for him to wake up. He eventually does and looks down at me and smiles. "Good morning" he mumbles as he wipes his eyes getting adjusted to the sunlight. "Morning" I reply back, waiting to see how long before he realizes that he's slowly squeezing the air out of me.

"Did you sleep well?" I ask him with what little breath I have left. "Oh! Sorry!" He exclaims as he realizes what he's doing and rolls off of me. "Its fine" I say with a laugh. "Oh, and I slept very well. Thank you." He replies. "But you didn't. Did you?" he says while looking me over. "More or less" I shrug and look away from his gaze.

He puts both of his hands on either side of my face and gently forces me to look at him. "Why didn't you wake me?" he asks concerned. "I don't know" I shrug again. "You were sleeping so peacefully, I didn't want to disturb you." I finish.

"Hey, we're going to make a deal." He says stern but gently. "What kind of deal?" I ask cautiously. "You're going to wake me up whenever you have a nightmare." "But!" I start to interrupt. "No buts" he says while staring me right in the eyes. "Do you understand?" he finishes. I simply nod in response.

"Alright." He says as he pulls me into a hug. He lets me go after a few seconds and holds my head and kisses my forehead as he pulls away. "I'm going to go get ready in my room." He says. "And you should do the same" he adds as he glances at the clock. "Ok" I mumble as I pull myself up off the bed and walk to the bathroom.

I don't bother with a shower because I took one just a few hours ago. I do brush my teeth and splash some water on my face though. I study myself in the mirror for a few seconds and notice that I have very noticeable dark bags under my eyes. I sigh and look at all the different buttons on the wall to see if any will give me what I'm looking for.

I eventually find a pink one and press it. A robotic arm pops out with a tube of concealer in its hand. I take it and dab some of it under my eyes to hide the darkness, knowing that it makes me look slightly weaker and I can't have the other tributes thinking that I'm weak.

I walk back out to my room and pull out my training uniform from my dresser and put it on. I'm pulling on my boots as I attempt to walk down the hall to breakfast. I plop down next to Cato and fill the biggest cup I can find full of coffee. I have it chugged before we even begin eating. I eat nothing more than an omelet and some fruit.

I'm busy working on my third cup of coffee when Cato stands up "You ready to go?" he asks. I finish the rest of what's in the mug and nod and head towards the elevator. I'm silent as we ride down to training but I know I'll have to start putting on an act so as to not look weak and tired.

Luckily, the caffeine kicks in and I'm not as exhausted as we start training. We wield some more swords, throw some more knives, beat up some more trainers and fly through the obstacle courses before we're called to lunch.

Once again, we file into the cafeteria and receive our food then sit down at the tables. This time, I'm stuck between Marvel and the District 4 boy. I think his name was discuss the alliances that we want to form and when we're going to form them.

Cato is supposed to talk to Thresh before he goes into his session and I'm supposed to talk to the boy from District 3 on the interview night. We finish our food and sit and wait for our names to be called to go into our gamemaker sessions. Marvel is called in first, followed by Glimmer a few minutes later.

I'm busy wondering what on earth her skill is; she's probably going to flirt with all of the male gamemakers. Cato is called next and he stands up confidently and walks towards the sliding doors back to the gym. "Hey, good luck." I say to him as he walks in "You too" he replies as he disappears.

It takes him a little bit longer than the others, but my name is finally called. I take a deep breath and walk through the doors. I see that they have some targets set up for me already. They must have been watching me during training.

I pick up as many knives that I can carry and tuck them into my clothing anywhere that they'll stay. I even put two of the small ones into my ponytail. I begin by throwing 5 knives while standing at the line of the range, and then I decide to get a little fancier. I start throwing behind my back and with my left hand, still achieving perfect hits.

As I'm throwing, I'm trying to think of a big finale. I look over at the wall and see the climbing net and I get an idea. I take 2 more knives and tuck them into my boots, and I begin to climb the net. I get about 12 feet up and turn around to locate my targets. I take a mental picture of where they're located and close my eyes so I don't forget.

I take a deep breath and back flip off of the net and I send the two knives flying simultaneously into the dummies in mid air. I land firmly on my feet and take a bow as the gamemakers applaud. I walk back to the elevator with a very confident and proud smile on my face.

I ride the short distance up to our floor and step out to be flooded by my mentors and Kish. "How'd you do?" Kish squeals excitedly in my ear, practically rupturing my eardrum. "Fine I suppose." I say as I rub the ear he shrieked into. "I'm sure they loved you!" Enorbia says while gleaming. "You'll get a good score for sure." Brutus says gruffly as he slaps me on the shoulder.

I notice Cato sitting on the couch by himself and walk over to join him. "How did yours go?" I ask cheerily. "Not bad" he says with a smirk. "I bet I beat you though" he finishes with a grin. "Oh, well we'll see about that later on won't we?" I return cockily. In my head I know that he probably did pull a bigger score than me, but a girl can hope can't she?

The rest of our afternoon is spent watching TV, spitting off of the balcony to see if we can hit anyone below, and taking a nap on the roof. When we finally wake up, it's dinner time, and when we walk downstairs, everyone is waiting on us to eat.

"Sorry, lost track of time." Cato says bluntly as he takes a seat. I silently sit down next to him just as dinner starts being served. We have a five course meal consisting of various vegetables and bread, meat that tasted like a combination of pig and cow, fruit that I've never seen before, and two desserts. The fruit is actually pretty good and I ask an Avox for another serving.

I'm just about finished when Kish yells from the living room that they're about to announce the scores. We all gather on the couches and are sitting on the edge of our seats in anticipation. Suddenly, the capitol anthem plays as the seal of Panem flashes on screen for a few minutes. Back home and in all of the Districts, this would be a required program to watch so that's why they flash the anthem for a few minutes so that they get everybody's attention.

Finally, Caesar Flickerman appears onscreen in his midnight blue wig and dazzling suit. "Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen! Earlier this afternoon, our tributes for the 74th Annual Hunger Games had private sessions with the gamemakers. We are about to reveal the scores given to the tributes based on their performances." He says excitedly.

"First, we have Marvel, from District 1 with a score of 9!" he shouts. "Now we have Glimmer, also from District 1 with a score of 9 as well!" he finishes and I snort knowing that I was probably right about her skill. "Next, Cato, from District 2. And Cato pulls a" he pauses for effect and Cato is almost falling off of his seat. "10!" Caesar shouts and Cato lets out an excited "Whoo!"

"Also from District 2, we have the Lovely Clove." He says as I'm biting my nails and I have my knees pulled up to my chest. "Clove has a score of, 10!" he finishes. "Yes!" I shout as I fist pump the air. "Good job you two!" Enorbia says with excitement. "Your sponsors just multiplied by twenty fold!" Brutus says as he glances at his phone that just beeped. "Thanks" I say with a grin from ear to ear. I knew that they liked me, but a ten is fantastic!

We turn our attention back to the screen and watch the other scores being announced. The rest are averaging around the 5 range. We're all surprised when the little girl from District 11 gets a 7 and her teammate gets a 9. "Did you ever talk to him Cato?" I ask. "Yeah, and he turned me down, but it's his loss. Just another kill." He replies with a shrug.

The tributes from District 12 are last and I'm expecting to see like 3's and 4's, but lo and behold, the boy gets an eight. "Eight!" Cato exclaims. "Thinking about letting him in?" I ask "Yeah, I was toying with the thought before because he could lead us to the girl, but now, definitely." He says with a nod. "Alright, you talk to him before the interviews. And make sure the girl isn't around." I finish and Cato nods ion response.

"Finally, from District 12, Katniss Everdeen with a score of" Caesar looks down at his paper and does a double take. "11!" he shouts. "What!?" Cato erupts as he jumps off of the couch. "How did she, of all people, get an 11?!" "But she's so measly and puny!" I exclaim in disbelief. "Well, one thing's for sure" Cato growls. "She's definitely not getting in with us." He finishes. "Good. I'm going to kill her myself." I say with a smirk.

We finally calm down enough to head to bed. I repeat the routine yet again, plop on the bed and wait for Cato. I wait 20 minutes and he still hasn't come in, so I get up and peek into the hall to make sure the coast is clear before heading into his room. I crack open his door and look to find him sitting on his bed staring into nothingness.

I step inside and close the door behind me with a click and walk over to sit next to him. "You ok?" I ask as I sit down. "Yeah, just thinking." He replies not taking his eyes off of the window. "Thinking about what?" I ask as I take his hand to try to get him to look at me. "You know what." He says solemnly. I do know, but I just don't want to think about it at all.

Only one of us can come home. And now I'm getting too attached and I can tell he is too and that's not what we need right now at all. "Hey" I say as I take hold of his face and turn him to look at me as his blue eyes pierce into my soul. "Don't worry about it right now, ok?" I say quietly. He nods gently and pulls my forehead to his lips to kiss me.

He pulls back and lies down, taking me with him. I pull the blankets onto us and I snuggle up next to him to get comfortable. He pulls me into his chest in a hug and rests his chin on the top of my head. I place my hands gently on his chest and close my eyes as I drift off to sleep feeling his heartbeat.