A/N: okay so here's the next chapter! I put it up pretty fast lol, cause I really wanted to continue while I was inspired. Hope I didn't disappoint :) Next chapter they'll arrive in the Capital, and meet the stylists ooohh. Read&&Review! :D

Gale

My name. They called my name. As my feet move forward, I try to make sense of what just happened.

First, Effie saying that I'm still eligible, and Peacekeepers moving us into roped sections by our ages.

Second, someone unaffected by the Quarter Quell is called for the girls, so I begin to think maybe it's not such a big deal, and I won't get picked after all.

Now, I'm almost to the stage, and I see Katniss, limp in her chair, with him trying to awaken her frantically. Somehow this snaps me out of the daze I've been in and I walk as fast as I can, determined to make sure she's alright. Once I get there, however, she's come to, and is looking around dizzily.

Then she sees me. Our eyes meet for one second, and in hers is everything I need in the world, everything that holds me here.

She mouths, "oh no," and I give her a grim smile and mouth, "oh yes."

By now I am on the stage, and I tear my gaze away from hers. Instead I look into Mira's eyes; I notice they are green and wonder absently how that came to be. I shake her hand, and then we are escorted to the Justice Building, to say our goodbyes. After a few minutes, my mother bursts through the door, on the verge of tears, with my siblings right behind her.

"Gale, Gale I love you!" She sobs into my arm.

"Mother you have to be strong! Do not leave the kids! Katniss will help you if I, if I can't anymore." I said quietly. I turned to Rory. "You know how to use the weapons, but don't go into the woods alone yet." I could see he was about to protest, so I added, "Rory, you are much too small, and you can survive if you help Prim with her goat; she'll give you some cheese and profits."

"Don't go brother!" little Posy cried when the Peacekeepers came to take them away.

"I love you!" I shouted to them as the door closed. I had returned to myself, when Posy had yelled that. I shouldn't have to go, I should be able to stay here. These Games were so cruel, and unfair. There had been so much talk in the mines lately; I was not the only one who wanted an uprising. My legion of sorts was more than frustrated with the Capital already, and wanted to do something about it.

Next to enter was, to my astonishment, Katniss's friend Madge. I had hardly ever spoken to her, and wondered what she could have to say to me. I lifted an eyebrow as she walked toward me.

"Gale, when you're in the arena, don't … lose yourself. Show them that they don't own you," she whispered.

"Why would you tell me something like that?" I responded hardly.

"Because this may be the last chance I have to talk to you, even though I've wanted to for years. I wanted to tell you that I... I..."

"You what, Madge?" I said more softly.

But then the Peacekeepers took her away, and I was left alone and confused. I didn't expect any more visitors, though, so I allowed my mind to wander over the last year, since Katniss's return...

Our first Sunday back in the woods, I felt that I should have been furious with her. Felt that she had betrayed me, for Peeta. I constantly had to remind myself that, for betrayal, love must be requited. She hadn't even known how I felt about her, still didn't. She just loved me as a friend. So I felt that I should have been furious with her, but couldn't bring myself to be.

I paced anxiously at our spot, the spot where we had shared goat cheese and bread just the morning before the Reaping. When she finally arrived, I had a speech planned for her, but as soon as I saw her through the trees, I lost all thoughts and ran to her, picking her up in a bear hug.

"Oh, Gale," she had whispered. "I missed you so much."

"I know," I replied quietly. I set her down, and she told me everything about the fabricated romance with Peeta, and how she had to maintain it because the Capital audience had to believe that she had been driven mad by love for him. I listened patiently the whole time. I hadn't been bothered by the blond boy, until the last question I asked her. "Do you love him?"

Her response had taken so long, I thought she might have fallen asleep, even though her eyes were open. "I don't know, Gale." Seeing my expression, she added, "I don't know, and I'm sorry! I'm sorry I can't tell you if we have a future together, or even a possibility of one!"

"It's alright. It must be better, this way. We don't have to worry," I'd said gruffly. She nodded, and we'd began our hunt. Things hadn't been the same with us since.

Katniss

Gale.

Gale could not have been picked.

My best friend, my confidant. Sentenced to death, basically.

I hardly remembered the ceremony. Effie read the Quarter Quell, and it seemed like I barely had time to register that Gale was entered before Peeta took my hand and he was picked. I knew that I had fainted, in a way, when his name had been called. I hadn't lost consciousness, exactly, just control of my muscles. It had only lasted a moment though, because then Peeta was shaking me "awake" because we had to go into the Justice Building to wait out the tributes' goodbyes. They seemed to fly by, and soon we were on the train, Gale and Mira in their rooms, leaving me, Peeta, and Haymitch alone.

In order to keep my mind off the inconceivable, I thought about the girl, Mira Knoff. I'd never met her before, since she was a merchant girl. I wondered if she'd had many friends, and if any of them had said goodbye to her. She seemed tough; she hadn't cried at all since receiving the news.

With a start, I realized that Peeta's hand was still around my own. Of course, this was to be mandatory for the weeks to come. We had to appear in love for the cameras. He and Haymitch seemed to be having a discussion, so I tried to focus on the words.

"...look tough. Girl might not last long though. No weapons experience," Haymitch was saying. I realized they were talking about Gale and the girl tribute. "Boy though, he has a chance. Strong, good looks, and from what Katniss said, he can hunt. He could last."

I felt my spirits lift slightly at what Haymitch had said, that Gale might survive.

"You really think so? You think he can make it?" I whispered. Both Peeta and Haymitch stared at me, Haymitch thoughtful and suspicious, Peeta trying not to look hurt.

"If he focuses, and does well in training, yes I think there's a chance..." Haymitch said reluctantly. I wondered why they were acting so strangely all of a sudden. "In the meantime though, you and Peeta definitely need to work on your act. You two barely looked like friends on the stage, let alone lovebirds. Pull it together, Sweetheart. You don't want the Capital taking it out on your friend in the arena, do you?"

"No. We'll work on it, right Katniss?" Peeta responded before I could open my mouth. I nodded dumbly.

"Well, go on then! Leave me to my drinks."

I started walking to my quarters when Peeta grabbed my hand. "Can we talk?" he whispered. I smiled a little.

"Of course." He lead me just a short distance down a narrow hall to my room. Just like last year, after he had covered for me with the red-haired Avox girl, he leaned against my door frame, demanding that I pay attention to him.

"Katniss, I know that you don't feel the same for me as I do for you," he began, "but, especially now, when we have to act like we did last year, don't you think we should at least be friends? Not just holding up a pretense, but real, true friends. If you don't want to I completely understand." He had been looking at the plush carpet as he spoke, but when he looked up at me, his blue eyes were burning with an emotion I could not place. Remorse, longing, tenderness? I couldn't be sure.

His proposal struck me in a way that it shouldn't have. I shouldn't have felt bad for not loving him, but I did. As I searched for words, it was all I could do not to start crying into his shirt, to my embarrassment. "Of course, Peeta. Being friends would be great right now; I really think I'd need it. Thank you so much," I whispered, my voice unsteady.

He smiled down at me happily, and went to his room. I debated going into mine, but decided that I needed to go see Gale.

Peeta

Walking down the hallway to my room, I felt exceptionally happy. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I had been able to convince Katniss of our friendship, that it would be alright for me to talk with her regularly. I was ecstatic.

Ecstatic, and exhausted. Nightmares had kept me awake for the past three months. I'd been dreading facing another arena, even if it wasn't my own life at stake. I sank on to my bed, reluctant to fall asleep, but unable to keep my eyes open. I thought of Katniss, of Gale, and of the girl Mira.

I realized with a start that I knew her. Mira Knoff was in my "circle" at school; we ate lunch together, and talked between and during classes. She hadn't spoken much, so I'd never paid her much attention. My eyes had always been focused on someone else...

It was with these thoughts that I fell into unconsciousness.