Author's Note: Both Aces and Gale are seventeen and Katniss is fifteen, Posy is fourteen. Prim is eleven, and Vick is four. Also, Rooba is merchant for this story, just cause it works better.

"Now, today after training they'll asses each of you privately. You'll both get a number correlating to how good you are at whatever you show them. Sam, I think it wise for you to try to get somewhere around seven. No less, and no more than nine. We don't want you to seem like too much of a threat but also not too weak." Haymitch says, looking at Sam seriously. He then turns to me, brushing his hair out of his face.

"And you girl. Get something low. Maybe a four or something. But not too low or you won't get any sponsors. Try not to seem too good or they might give you a seven or an eight, which would end your innocent act." He instructs. I nod my head and push the fruit around my plate.

What was I going to do? Throw some knives? That's not very impressive. But they don't have cleavers, and it feels wrong using an axe when another girl did the same not too long ago.

I want to be unique.

Is that so wrong? When soon I could be dead? Must I be such a carbon copy of everyone else?

We go down to training again, the third day in a row. I do the same as I did the first day, minus the knife throwing. I've heard enough of Haymitch's yelling.

We eat lunch, and I wonder if maybe I should be eating more in these days before the Games. But then I think of how I mostly had enough to eat every day, and in there I will have most likely nothing. In a way, I am preparing myself in the matter of food.

After another hour of training they make us sit together in a waiting room off to the side that I hadn't noticed before. The girl from One goes first, Emerald, I think her name was. One is odd.

I sit back and close my eyes, hoping to catch maybe a few minutes of rest. That's definitely something you want to stock up on before the Arena.

And before I know it, an Aces Smith is being called into the training room to show off her skills of survival and murder.

Murder. Because that's what I must do in a day or two.

I walk in and take a deep breath. My eyes flit around the area for what I should do, and I have to hold back a gasp when my eyes catch on a gleaming meat cleaver. Just like I used at home.

My eyes widen and I walk straight over to it, grasping it firmly in my hands.

And then Haymitch's voice worms its way into my brain, and my small smile drops.

Right.

Here goes…

I pick up the cleaver, but pretend to drop it. I cringe and look up at the game makers.

"S-Sorry."I stutter, hoping to sound incompetent.

They seem to have lost interest, which means ill most likely be getting a low score no matter what I do. I shrug and walk over to the targets, throwing the cleaver towards the board and missing by a few feet.

I hold back a snicker when I hear more than one of the men sigh in irritation.

Let's have some fun, shall we?

I grab it up again and throw it, but it ends short and doesn't go closer than a few feet to the targets.

I throw it around some more and once I realize that they are occupied with conversing and eating, I grab it and look up at them, making sure they don't see that I'm not as bad as I seem.

I whip the cleaver around, my fingers sliding across the smooth metal as it spins through the air and hits the dummies in the head, handle sticking up towards the sky.

"You may be dismissed." Someone says, and I look up to the overhead ledge where the men sat.

I turn on my heel and walk out, wondering if anyone had seen.

I sit on the couch with my knees drawn to my chest as we wait anxiously for the scores to be announced.

"Don't worry, Aces. I'm sure you did just fine, dear!" Effie coos as she sits down next to me.

"You can say don't worry when this score doesn't affect your life." I say. Sam comes in and sits down just as the screen comes to life.

Caesar Flickerman's face appears on it and he smiles under his smock of red hair. He jokes around in between the reading of each score, and I feel even more sick as he finishes with District Ten.

And then before I know it, my face is on the screen, and before I can pray once more a big silver five pops up next to my head. I breathe out a sigh of relief. I look to Haymitch for approval, I suppose, and he nods his head once.

I did good.

I could win.

"Alright, Effie thinks it would be best if Aces went with with her first for four hours or so, and Sam comes with me. Then we switch."

"Why?" Sam asks.

"So that we can each devote our full attention to each of you. Also, Effie has to work on different things with Aces than she does with you." Haymitch explains.

So I go with Effie, and she shoves my feet into about ten different shoes with different heights. I'm worried I'm going to accidentally break my ankles before I go into the arena, and when I tell her this she reluctantly gives me shorter shoes. She tells me to blush a lot, and keep my head down, and to look up through my eyelashes, and to smile all the time.

To seem sweet and innocent, she says. I just do what she says.

After four torturous hours of walking on stilts with books on my head I trade places with Sam, and I give him a pitying smile and walk into the room he just left. Haymitch sits me down and asks me example questions of what I might have to answer.

Stuff like, 'what is your favorite thing about the Capitol?', and I say 'the carpet in my room.'

And then he asks me why I volunteered for that girl in my District, and I know he's only asking because we both know Caesar will, but I blush all the same. He gives me a funny look and leans closer.

"Answer this one truthfully right now, Aces. We might be able to use your answer to your advantage." He says, looking at me expectantly. I sigh and look down at my laced fingers.

"Because I like her brother." I murmured.

"What?" He asks. I sigh again and look up awkwardly at the ceiling.

"I have a crush on her older brother." I say, louder. It's silent for a moment, before he starts laughing. I look back at him and glare.

"What's so damn funny?" I demand.

"You like Gale Hawthorne?" He says.

"Yes, what's so funny about about that?" I ask angrily.

"Nothing, nothing… It's just that he's a Seam kid, and you're… Well, the granddaughter of one of the most townish woman." He says.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know."

He puts his finger on his chin and leans back in thought.

"Although, this could actually work very well for you! How much would you say you like this kid?" He asked me. I blushed again.

"A lot, I guess."

"Okay, so when Caesar asks you why you volunteered for that little girl, you're going to tell him it was because you are madly in love with her older brother, and you couldn't bare to see her go in there and get hurt, and for him to lose his little sister. You got that?" He asked. I nodded my head.

I didn't want to say that. It wasn't exactly how I had planned for Gale to find out about my secret crush on him. Although, I've liked him since I was eleven, so I suppose that's my own fault for not telling him sooner. I guess I just figured that Peeta would tell him some time if I died in the arena. When we turned twelve and had to go to our first reaping, we vowed to tell the other's crush that said person really liked them if they were to get reaped and killed.

So if it was Peeta here instead of me, I'd probably have to tell Katniss that Peeta's been in love with her since he was five.

I'm sure that would have gone so well.

Note the sarcasm.

"Alright. I think that's all I can help you with. Just make sure to seem as innocent and incapable as possible up there." He says.

"I will. Thanks, Haymitch." I say. He nods awkwardly and shoos me out.

I'm met by Effie and Sam, and she takes us down to our stylists where we all split ways.

I groan inwardly as I remember my first encounter with my makeup team and Jannette. I walk in and lay down on the table, where they get to work on stripping me of hair again and rubbing my skin down with oils and lotions.

And then Jannette sits me up and is wrapping my hair up with blue pins and pearl bands until my hair was up in a messy updo with red curls framing my face and a small amount of hair cascading down my back. She hands me a black dress that reaches just above my knees and slowly fades into orange which then fades into red at the bottom with little sequins, so when I move too quick I look like I'm a slowly dying ember.

She applies thick dark red lipstick to my lips and puts pink eyeshadow on before handing me a pair of red sparkly flats.

"There. You look beautiful now!" She coos, and I frown.

"Oh, you look wonderful, Aces!" Effie swoons as I walk over to her and Sam.

"Have the interviews started yet?" I ask. She nods.

"But don't worry, they're only on District Four!" She squeals. I roll my eyes and join Sam at the end of the line. He's wearing a red and orange blended button up with a black tie and slacks.

"Are you worried?" He whispers. I shrug.

"Nah. Just nauseous." I joke, smiling lightly at him. He laughs and agrees.

I listen to all of the interviews, picking up do's and don't's and picking out who to stay away from in the ring.

I was happy to miss districts One and Two, and half of Four. The Career Districts. Although, it could have been good to hear them talk about stuff to get tips maybe on how to outlive them. But who knows. I'll probably lose quickly, anyways.

My mind drifts off to what the arena might be like, not for the first time.

"And from District Twelve, ACES SMITH!" Caesar's voice yells excitedly, pulling me from my reverie. I blanch and stand there for a moment, before Sam pushes me forward.

"Go. Don't worry, you'll do great." He murmurs, and I pull a smile onto my face.

"Hello, hello!" Caesar says, motioning me over. "How are you, come, come, sit!" I sit down in the chair he points to and he sits in the adjacent one.

"I'm great, Caesar. I've never been better! The beds here are great!" I say, giggling at the end, "And how are you, Caesar?" I ask sweetly.

"Oh, so polite! I am great as well. Isn't she just a dear?" He asks the audience, and the crowd roars in cheers and approval.

"Awe, thanks, Caesar!" I swoon.

"No problem, no problem. Now. Let's get down to business! What is your favorite thing here in the Capitol?" He asks, leaning forward with (probably fake) interest.

"Well, I would have to say that it would be the carpets you all have. It's so incredibly colorful, and soft!"

"Do you not have carpet in your house?" He asks, and I have a feeling he's stepping into dangerous territory.

"Oh, no, my Grandmother says it hurts her sensitive skin, you see?" I lied. No reason to get into trouble for speaking about how poor the Districts are.

"Ah, yes. Do you have any hobbies, Aces?" He questions.

"Hmm. Yes, I like to read, and… Sew. And I help around the house a lot." I lie again. How am I supposed to sound "innocent" and "incompetent"?

We talk some more, like my favorite food, or my friends back home in school. And I can tell the three minutes are almost up, so I have a feeling I know what's coming next.

"So, Aces. I think we were all… Touched, by your volunteering for that little girl. Who was she, exactly?" He asks softly. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, and when I open them I can practically hear the silence.

"Well, I don't really know her. In fact, I've never talked to her before after the Reaping. She's just a really sweet girl who's never done anything wrong in her life, I'm sure. She wouldn't have made it very far in these Games, but then again, neither will I. But I don't have much of a life back home as she does. She's got a pretty big family." I say. Caesar nods his head sadly.

"Well, don't write yourself off so soon, Aces. I for one would like to see you come out of this thing! Anyways. I have, just one last question." He says, and I smile sweetly.

"Whatever could that be?"

"If you say you never really knew this Hawthorne girl, then why ever would you volunteer to fight to the death for her? Sure, you said she wouldn't last and didn't deserve it, or had a family, but you fit into all of those categories from what I see. Except maybe the first one." He says, winking at me. I blush and look off to my left.

"Ooo, you're holding back! Tell us, tell us!" He insists. I sigh and look down at my clasped hands in my lap.

"Well… You see Caesar? I said before that Posy has quite a large family. She has Two younger brothers, and an older brother." I start, and take another deep breath to try and calm down, but it doesn't really help.

"But that's not all you have to tell us, is it, Aces?" He asks slowly, prompting me to continue. I shake my head and sigh.

"No. I-" I look up then, out at the audience and every person on the edge of their seat. I think of everyone back home who is watching this from the square. I never told my grandma, but I know she knows; she's too smart to not.

I think about Gale, and how supremely mad he will be when he hears this.

"I… I've loved her older brother since I was thirteen." I say, and the buzzer goes off.

The crowd starts screaming. I shoot Caesar one last smile, and his face looks slack with shock. I take a sigh of relief because I don't have to answer any more questions, and I know I won't have to see-or deal with- Gale's rage and fury, because I won't be going home.

At least I don't plan on it. If I do, great. Right?