Hector Brennan-15 (District 5 Male)

Ok, so I hate to admit this, but I can't help but envy Shirley right now. I mean, sure, he's in a world of trouble. Even if you ignore all of the stupid shit he pulled during the reaping, which is more than enough to guarantee that he's as good as dead. He also spit in Sabastian's face and took a couple of swings at Aurelia before being wrestled to the ground and sedated by our peacekeeper escort.

At this point, it'll be a miracle if he survives training with his attitude. Never mind the bloodbath. However, despite all of that working against him, he's still the luckiest person on this train.

Why? Because he doesn't have to sit here and listen to Aurelia's comically bad accent while he's trying to eat dinner. Not that I'm doing much eating mind you.

He also doesn't have to put up with her and Sabastian asking pointless questions that he has no intention of answering.

Seriously, if I have to sit through one more round of twenty questions with those two morons and Aurelia's obnoxious accent, I'm going to lose my shit.

And don't even get me started on how painful it is to sit here staring off into space while she butchers my name over and over and over again.

My name is Hector, not 'Ector, as she insists on calling me. Hec-tor. It's six letters, two syllables, and pronounced Hector. The H isn't silent!

My dads' gave me the name, the least she can do is make an effort to say it right. Is that really so much to ask? Seriously?

I mean, I know that I probably shouldn't let it bug me this much. It's not like she's doing it on purpose or anything. It's just the way she talks. But I can't help it. And if I wasn't trying to convince the two of them that I'm so terrified and out of it that I'm incapable of holding a normal conversation, I probably would have bitten her head off because of this.

Then again, it's probably a good thing that I haven't. Because, as annoying as Aurelia is — and she is stupidly annoying — she's also my mentor. She may be a babbling idiot who can't pronounce my name right with a voice that's so annoying that I seriously envy the deaf. But she is my mentor. And the last thing I can afford to do is piss her off.

So, I have to walk a fine line, and that's perfectly fine with me. I've been doing it for most of my life, and I've gotten pretty good at it. I've been getting myself into and out of impossible situations for years. And, If you ignore that whole disaster from a few weeks ago with Peacekeeper Jackson's son, my success rate is pretty impressive if I do say so myself. Why should the Hunger Games be any different?

I mean, sure, the scale is a thousand times bigger, while the penalty for failure is death instead of a public whipping. But it's still, at its core, something that I should be able to handle if I keep my head down and my mouth shut until the time is right.

"'Bastien, dear, could you cut me a piece of ze red velvet cake, please?" asks Aurelia.

Her annoying voice snapping me out of my stupor and drawing me back to a reality where I've been pushing peas around on my plate in silence while she and Sabastian make small talk over dinner while ignoring me.

Which is exactly what I was hoping they would do.

"Of course," he says, reaching around my plate to pick up the cake and cutting her off a small slice before sliding it onto a plate and passing it over to her. Again, without so much as a glance in my direction.

"Thank you, 'Bastien," she says, picking up her fork and cutting a small piece of the end, and placing it in her mouth. "I love red velvet cake, but it's just so rich," she complains, setting her fork back down on her plate and pushing it away from her with a sigh. "I just can't eat it."

Then why did you ask for it?! I scream to myself, doing my best to keep my eyes glossed over and my face blank as she rambles on about how great the cake is and how she wishes she could eat it before the conversation inevitably shifts towards Shirley and the Games.

This is when they start to pay attention to me again. And, after a few minutes of Aurelia complaining about her rotten luck to have gotten stuck with a brute like Shirley, as well as her good fortune to also have a normal tribute like me, the two of them finally turn their full attention towards me.

"So, 'Ector, I know zis probably goes wizout saying, but you need to do your best to avoid Shirley once we get to ze Capitol."

"Why?" I ask, my voice low and with no emotion as I continue to stare down at the mountain of peas on my plate.

"Because he's a ticking time bomb with a massive target on his back," says Sabastian, his tone cold and indifferent. "And trust me, you don't want to be anywhere near him when that bomb goes off, or when he finally gets what he has coming to him."

"In fact, we both zink that it would be in your best interest to lay low and let him take all ze heat," says Aurelia, her words both impossible to understand yet somehow super obvious.

"If that's what you think is best," I say, stringing together my first multi-word statement since boarding the train.

"We do," they say in unison, both of them looking at me.

"Ok, then. Do you have any other advice for me? Besides avoiding Shirley and laying low, I mean?"

"'Ector, my dear, we 'ave a lot of advice for you. Ze only question is, 'ow much of it will you be able to 'andle given your current state?"

Maira Renault-12 (District 12 Female)

"I don't think that Sextus likes me very much."

"I don't think he likes either of us very much," says Ash, setting her spoon down next to her still mostly full bowl of soup before pushing her rolling chair away from the table and across the floor with a giggle. "He's not a very friendly person. Is he?"

"No, he's not," I whisper, dropping my fork down onto my plate with a loud clink before pushing myself away from the table and sliding out of my chair. "I just wish I knew why he doesn't like us. That way, we could try to fix whatever it is so that he would."

"There's nothing wrong with us, Maira," she says, her voice soft and quiet as she jumps out of her chair and rolls it back over to the table before moving around to the other side where I'm standing. "If anyone has a problem, it's Sextus. Not you or me."

I wish I could believe that, and I might be able to if it was just Sextus who didn't like me. But it's not. It's everyone, including my mom and dad, that I've ever met except for Ash and my best friend, Carly. And even I'm smart enough to realize that when that many people don't like you, you're the problem.

But I'm not sure I should tell her that. Partly because she might actually be right when she says that she's not the problem — And partly because I'm afraid that I'll push her away if I complain too much. And I don't want to do that.

Being a Hunger Games tribute is already scary enough with her as my friend. I can't imagine how much worse it would be if I had to go it alone — Especially with someone as mean and scary as Sextus as my mentor.

Then again, maybe she would understand? She did say that she's used to being the odd one in her little circle of friends. Didn't she?

No, it's too big of a risk. The last time I opened up to someone because I thought they might understand, she ended up making fun of me. It took me months to get over that, and I spent most of that time crying my eyes out every chance I got. And I can't afford for that to happen again. Not here. Not now.

My chances of winning the Hunger Games are bad enough already. I don't need to make them worse by driving away my only friend. At least, I think she's my friend. Maybe?

Or, is she just being nice to me because I'm the only person on the train who will talk to her? Is that it? Is she really my friend, or is she my friend until we get to the Capitol and she has better options? Is that all I am to her? The best of a bunch of bad options? Or worse, the only option?

"I know that look," she says, pulling me out of my pit of despair and back to reality with her words and a gentle shake. "Is everything ok, Maira?"

I don't — I don't know what to say? Does she really know what's going on? Or is she just trying to trick me into saying something stupid or offensive, so she has an excuse to abandon me like everyone else does? And if she does know, will she be more offended if I lie about it, or less? I don't — I don't know what to say.

So I do the only thing I can think of, I cry. I slide down onto my knees, crawl under the table, curl up into a ball, and cry. I don't mean to, and I definitely don't want to, but it's the only thing I can think of to do.

"Hey, Maira, what's wrong?" she asks, dropping to her knees and crawling under the table to check on me. "Was it something I said?"

"No," I sob, my answer coming out in short, ragged breaths as I try and fail to stop crying so I can talk to her. "It's just … it's just … I'm scared," I finally say, the tears flowing freely down my face as my eyes get all red and puff up like a balloon. "I thought I was over it. I thought I had talked it all out with my friend Carly before we left. But I'm still scared."

"Of what?" she asks, twisting herself up into a sitting position and looking down at me her big, sad eyes.

"Everything. Nothing. I don't know."

"You want to know a secret?"

"What?"

"I'm afraid too."

"You are?"

"Of course, I am. I'd have to be an idiot not to be afraid.

"You want to know another secret?" she asks, waiting for me to shake my head yes before continuing. "It's ok to be afraid, especially in a situation like this. But you can't let your fear control you. You can't let it stop you from living.

"A friend … a very special friend … told me that when she was trying to convince me to sneak out past the fence with her to look for rocks. I didn't understand what she meant then, but I think I do now."

"That … that makes sense," I say, using the sleeve of my shirt to wipe the tears from my eyes before reaching out and using the sturdy leg of the table to pull myself up into a sitting position like Ash. "But how are you supposed to keep your fear from controlling you?"

"I don't know," she admits, smiling down at me reassuringly. "But you'll be the first person I tell when I figure it out.

"Until then, we'll just have to work together to keep each other strong. If I see you slipping, I'll help out, and you can do the same for me."

"You would … you would do that for me?"

"Of course, I would. What are friends and allies for?"

Cypher Diamantis-12 (District 3 Male)

I wish I could figure out why Oz is being so nice to me all of a sudden. I mean, he was being nice to me before, but the last few hours have been — I don't know — different. It's almost like he genuinely cares about me.

He's still asking the same super personal and slightly invasive questions. Which is annoying as hell, don't get me wrong. But the way he's going about it is different. He's not being pushy about them or demanding answers, which is a nice change of pace from what I've had to put up with from my mentor Callidus and his stupid cousin Numerius.

He's also opened up a lot more about himself. He even told me about his rocky relationship with his parents — Which seemed a little odd at the time, seeing as Numerius had just told everyone that I have problems with my family too. But in hindsight it actually makes a ton of sense.

He was looking for someone who would understand what he was going through when he told me how he and his dad have never seen eye to eye on anything — and how nothing he does is ever good enough to live up to his impossible expectations. He was looking for a kindred spirit when he mentioned that he never gets to see or spend time with his mom because she's always working or sleeping.

And that's what he found in me. Someone who genuinely understands what he's going through — because I'm going through the same thing.

All of which makes it pretty hard for me to believe that Oz is anywhere near as bad as his dad tried so desperately to make him seem. Heck, knowing what I know now, it almost makes me wonder if his dad wasn't trying to sabotage him and ruin his chances of winning the Games.

I mean, I know that seems crazy. But, based on what Oz has told me, it also wouldn't be out of character for him.

Then again, there's also a small but real chance that Oz's dad was telling the truth, and his son is lying through his teeth. It's not a very good or likely chance, at least in my expert estimation, but it is possible. So, as unnecessary as my heart may think it is, I do have to be careful.

That's why I'm sitting here, alone in my room, considering Oz's offer of an alliance instead of talking strategy with him and Callidus in the lounge. Because I'm still not sure I can trust him. I want to, I really do, but I can't seem to shake this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that he's playing me.

I mean, the logical part of me knows that he's probably not. In addition to being a great judge of character, I'm also entirely too smart to let someone as transparent as Oz get one over on me like that. But still, I can't shake the feeling. So, I told him I would sleep on his offer, much to Callidus's annoyance. So that's what I'm going to do.

Though, I am having a little trouble with that last part. It's still way too early for me to even think about going to bed. Even if I do have a lot to sleep on and the biggest day of my life yet to look forward to. I'm just not tired.

So, I decided to kill a little time by reading one of the books in my room — which seemed like a great idea, until I realized that none of these books are worth the paper they're printed on.

So, instead of reading, I decided to do something a bit more fun. Which is why I'm sitting here at my little desk, trying to take apart the alarm clock next to my bed with a butter knife I had an avox bring me and a pair of tweezers I found in the bathroom.

It's not an easy job, though it would be if I had the proper tools. But it does help me clear my head. And right now, a clear head is what I need. After all, I have a life-altering decision to make and only a few hours to make it.

Helena Valentine-18 (District 2 Female)

I wish this train had a gym. That way, I could do something constructive with my time instead of sitting here listening to Bellatrix and Alexander talk strategy while Adrianna reads a book. I mean, I could go work out in my room. Do a few push-ups, some crunches, maybe a few bodyweight calisthenics. But I don't want to.

What I want to do is talk strategy with Bellatrix and Alexander. I have a few questions I'd like him to answer. As well as a few suggestions that might help Bellatrix, the self-proclaimed leader of the career alliance, not destroy said alliance before it ever has a chance to form.

The only problem is, I don't know how to tell them any of this. I've never been — good — at talking to people. I've never needed to be. I don't have any friends, my parents have never had an honest-to-god conversation with me, and everyone in the academy, including most of the instructors, was afraid to talk to me. So I never had to learn how to hold a conversation.

As a result, I've spent my whole life letting my skills do the talking for me. And they've always done a great job of it. That's why I'm sitting here on a train speeding towards the Capitol, where I belong. While dozens of girls who talked a big game but didn't have the skills to back it up are sitting in Two where they belong.

But none of that matters now. It's in the past, along with everything else I've ever accomplished. The future is what matters, and if I'm going to make that future the one I've spent the last ten years dreaming about, I have to find a way to overcome my anxiety and hold a conversation with my district partner and my mentor.

Why is that so hard for me to do? Why is it the one thing I know I have to do that I'm honestly terrified of doing? Why isn't this as easy for me as everything else in my life has been?

Is it because I'm a failure? Were my parents right? Have I really wasted the last ten years of my life clawing my way to the top of the mountain only to discover that I'm incapable of taking the final step now that I'm here? All because I can't talk to people?

Maybe I really am broken. Maybe I really am weak.

No, I refuse to believe that. I'm not broken, and I'm not weak. This is just one more obstacle for me to overcome on my way to the life I've always wanted. And I will overcome it. I have to.

Failure isn't an option for me. It never was before. And it's not going to start being one now.

You can do this, Helena. All you have to do is stay calm and focus.

Ok, here goes nothing. I think, standing up and slowly but confidently making my way over to where Bellatrix and Alexander are talking. My hands shaking softly with every step as I try and fail to control my nervous tick as I come up beside them and wait patiently for a break in the conversation.

"... how I would recommend you approach the first half of day one. Focus on combat and evaluating your allies for potential — oh, hello Helena."

"Hello, Alexander," I say, nodding politely before turning my attention towards my very annoyed-looking district partner. "Hello, Bellatrix."

"Hello, Helena," she says, her tone dripping with anger and sarcasm as she rolls her eyes in annoyance. "Is there something we can help you with?"

Ok, Helena, you can do this. Just breathe.

"Hello?! Earth to Helena, come in, Helena, are you there?" she asks, giggling softly at her own stupid joke.

"Bellatrix," snaps Alexander, his tone soft but forceful as he stares her down for a second before returning his attention to me. "Is everything ok, Helena?"

"Yes," I say, my voice cracking ever so slightly as I do. Drawing a concerned look from Alexander and yet another eye roll from Bellatrix. "I just heard the two of you talking and thought I might. ..."

"Might what?" asks Bellatrix. "Come over here and bore us to death with your top-of-the-class level insight on things?"

"No. ..."

"Or maybe you want to correct us? Is that it? Do our plans not live up to the exacting standards of perfect little Helena Valentine?"

"That's not why I'm. ..."

"Then what is it, Helena?" she growls, her face twisting in anger. "Why are you bothering us? You had your turn with Alexander, and now it's mine. It's not my fault you were too busy sulking to take advantage of it."

"You know what, never mind," I say, clenching my jaw down tight and fighting back the urge to punch Bellatrix in the mouth as I storm out of the parlor car and back into the silent and welcoming confines of the sleeper car.

I quickly make my way down the dimly lit hall and into my compartment, stopping just long enough to slam my palm down onto the lock button before tearing across my room towards the small dresser tucked away in the far corner.

Once I'm there, I rip out one of the drawers and sift through its contents, coming back with a pair of comfortable-looking cotton shorts and a tank top before slamming the drawer shut and walking over to my bed.

"Well, that could have gone better," I growl, plopping down on the edge of the bed and kicking my shoes off before peeling myself out of my reaping clothes and hurling them into the far corner next to the dresser.

"What in the hell was I thinking?" I ask, sliding the soft cream-colored tank over my head before sliding off the edge of the bed and pulling up my shorts before dropping down to my knees and stretching out into a forward-leaning plank.

"You have to be better than that tomorrow, Helena. You have to find a way to talk to your district partner without getting flustered," I growl, pushing up off my knees and silently counting backward in my head from one hundred as I hold myself up in the plank. Letting the slow, enjoyable burn of my core muscles straining to hold me up relax me.

Sentri Baroslav-16 (District 9 Male)

I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. Pretending to be someone I'm not when I'm around the people I actually care about is one thing. But being forced to do it for two people I genuinely do not like in Nyxeris and Keiji, as well as someone that I sort of like but don't necessarily trust in Sedge, is another thing entirely.

I'm also having trouble remembering which Sentri I have to be at a given moment. I mean, the guy I'm supposed to be when I'm training or talking with Nyxeris is different from the one I'm supposed to be when I'm with her husband, Keiji. And both of them are wildly different from the Sentri I am when I'm with Sedge.

Trying to keep all three of them straight makes my head hurt. I'm just not used to juggling three completely different personalities like this. And having to have them all on standby at all times is just so — so frustrating.

It's still doable, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. And I have never been good at dealing with things that frustrate me.

That's why I'm glad it's finally time to go to bed. I'm exhausted, physically and mentally. My brain feels like it's about to explode. And I've been about five minutes away from snapping at somebody — it honestly didn't matter who — for the better part of the last few hours.

I wasn't actually going to snap. There was never any real danger of that. But I did feel like it might be a possibility, and that's enough for me to be concerned. I can't afford to snap right now, not when I'm about to be thrown into the Hunger Games. Not if I want to have a chance to survive.

No, I have to keep it together. I have to keep playing my role like I always have until it's safe for me not to. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to keep my head down. Speak only when spoken to. Avoid drawing attention to myself. And do my best to find an ally or two that I think I can trust to watch my back in the arena.

Sedge would be a decent option for that. He seems to be relatively level-headed and semi-trustworthy. Which is all I can honestly hope for in an ally, that they won't lose their head in a crisis or stab me in the back at the first opportunity.

I don't think I could ever fully trust Sedge, but I don't have to. Being able to trust him not to cut my throat while I'm sleeping is good enough for me. And I'm confident that he's smart enough not to do that as long as being my ally is in his best interest.

More importantly, he's the only person I'm likely to meet in the Capitol who I can sort of be myself around. And he's already dropping hints that he's open to an alliance.

The fact that he hasn't come out and just asked me point blank to be his ally is a little concerning, but he could be waiting for me to make the first move. I'm not sure. And the only way for me to be sure is to ask him myself.

So, I guess that's what I'll do. I'll ask Sedge to be my ally. But I'll do it in the morning over breakfast, hopefully before Nyxeris and Keiji join us. That way I won't have an audience to laugh at me if he turns me down.

Lizbeth "Liz" Tulle-17 (District 8 Female)

My mom would be absolutely appalled at how little I managed to accomplish today. I mean, I did make some progress on my plan for the Games. I spent nearly two hours going over stuff with Dayana and Garron — though Dayana was the only one of the two who seemed interested in doing anything of value.

All Garron wanted to do was stare at Pallas and make inappropriate comments about her after she left the room to get away from him. Which was uber-creepy and wrong on soooo many levels it's not funny. But at least Dayana was there to rip him a new one for being a disgusting pig.

And speaking of Palls, on a much less disgusting and creepy note, I also officially asked her to be my ally. Though, that part would actually be a bad thing as far as my mom is concerned.

It was more or less a formality. I had already made a very big and public show of asking her to be my ally. But I wanted to make sure that she was still on board with the idea now that she'd had a chance to think about it. And she was. She actually seemed surprised that I hadn't changed my mind about it, to be honest.

Not that it matters. We're allies now, that's going to piss my mom off royally, and I'm ok with that. Pallas is a pretty cool if slightly standoffish chick who enjoys some of the same underground punk stuff that I'm into.

She's not into it nearly as deeply as I am, which is fine. For her, it's more of a fun little social taboo that she enjoys in small, safe doses than it is a way of life like it is for me. But she and I did have a lot of fun jamming out to the recording of my band's last concert that Gibson gave me before I left.

We didn't accomplish anything while we were jamming, but we didn't need to. We already have a plan for the first half of the first day of training. And planning any further out than that is a waste of time. So, we didn't bother. Instead, we spent some time getting to know each other over some kick-ass music. It was fun, and we both enjoyed every second of it.

Which is good because it'll probably be the last fun either of us gets to have until after the Games. And then it'll only be one of us that's having fun. The other will be dead.

I hate to think about that. The idea of dying now when I have so much left to do in my life is terrifying. So, I'm doing my best not to think about it.

Instead, I'm laying here in bed with a set of cheap headphones Dayana found for me and Pallas to use earlier jacked into the entertainment system on the wall behind me, jamming out to my music while the world around me slowly fades to black. My mind filled with hilarious and terrifying visions of the fresh hell that awaits me in the Capitol.

I'm just about to fall asleep. I can feel myself slipping away as my eyes start to flutter closed. And then I hear a scream.

A loud, terrified, stomach-churning scream that causes me to shoot out of my bed. Ripping my headphones out of the wall and bathing the sleeper car in the sweet dulcet tones of Gibson raging against the stupidity of the world as I tear out of my room and run headfirst into Dayana as a second, slightly muffled scream comes screeching out of Pallas's room.