AN: I may have some explaining to do. Basically I stopped writing for like three months to get my UCAS application out of the way. The good news for you guys is that I've officially applied to university to do English Literature and French, so I'M BACK. Y'know because I have such a large readership that I'm sure you're all missing me... Ahem...

Sorry about any inconsistencies, I've tried to get rid of them all but I'm conscious a few may remain. Let me know and I'll fix them, I lost the document with my first chapter then forgot I could just read it on here until literally five minutes ago. Enjoy.:)

Chapter Two

"Let's have a look," Minerva took Annie's timetable from her hands as they walked out of the arena and back into the hall. "We're together with Finnick after school from five until seven every other day. Weird. They must want us to volunteer this year. I wonder which boys we're with," she looked around thoughtfully.

"What are you girls whispering about?" Casio said brightly as he approached them - almost too brightly. Without giving them time to answer, he ushered them to a quiet section of the room. "You may have noticed that you two are with Finnick after school. After seeing you in training and from your progress throughout the year, we thought that you two, along with Tobias and Curtis, would hold the best chances at bringing us a Victor. We will be making this week very hard for you and testing your abilities. We will push you to breaking point. The two who prevail will be our tributes this year and we are confident that one of you will win. Don't let me down, okay?" The two nodded enthusiastically, earning a rare smile that even reached Casio's eyes.

Most of the time, Casio Abate wore an odd expression; a mixture of concern, determination, and disapproval. He didn't really take the deaths of innocent children to heart. If they didn't survive, they weren't good enough and they hoped for better luck next year. Yet, with unexplained pressure coming their way from the Capitol, he was experiencing a newfound drive to win deep within him.

"I'm feeling good about this, Casio," Finnick clasped his hand around his old teacher's shoulder. "And, wow… That Cresta girl. She's one to watch, seriously… She crept up on me," he paused and shook his head incredulously. "I mean, she actually crept up behind me, jumped on my back and took my knife."

"She's a very talented girl," Casio agreed. "She's strong yet slight, she's no more than a hundred pounds yet she can throw off a boy twice her size and escape. She's very quick, too."

"From what I've seen, I'm impressed. I think we have our Victor," Finnick smiled, watching Annie at Mags' survival stations intently.

Minerva nudged her. "Sex god staring at three o'clock," she joked.

"I think he's sore that I kicked his ass," Annie joked back. She returned her attention to the knot she was trying to make. With an exasperated sigh, she placed her length of rope back on the table.

"Don't give up, Miss Cresta!" Annie looked up to see kind, old eyes smiling at her. Mags untied the rope with shaking yet deft fingers. "These little knots might seem pointless now, but just you wait until you want to set up a decent shelter, or fashion a fishing pole."

"I'll work on it, Mags. Can you show me how to make a net?"

"You're going to need to be good at knots to make nets, but sure," Mags smiled politely and began working on one, with Annie studying her methods carefully. Upon deciding it was too difficult and definitely not her forte, Annie moved on to a table full of plant cuttings preserved in glass cubes. She began sorting out the poisonous from the edible, only having to look in a reference book three times. Minerva was still at the knot station and seemed to have made a net trap.

The bell rang signalling a short ten minute break and Annie headed outside to clear her head in the cool summer air.

"You okay?" Minerva asked, sitting down next to Annie at the base of a tree trunk.

"Yeah, I'm feeling slightly pressured. Finnick's constantly staring at us, so is Mr Abate…" She sighed. "I really want to go into the arena and fight, you know? I want to be enough."

"I'm so nervous," Minerva admitted, then hurriedly added, "But don't tell anyone I said that!"

"I won't, Minnie. I'm scared too, but I feel like I can do it."

"You really want to fight that bad?" Minerva whispered.

"I really do. I was born to do it! I'm ready and confident. I want to bring Four a Victor," she grinned. "I really want to."

Minerva smiled at her and the conversation slipped into that of 'normal' teenage girls as Anastasia joined them – not that those really existed outside of the Capitol. There were rumours circulating that Tobias, one of the students that was in the running to become a tribute and whom Finnick had been keeping an eye on, was secretly seeing the mayor's wife, Juliana. It was fairly obvious as he couldn't stop accidentally slipping her into conversations, but now that it was more likely for Tobias to be reaped the girls discussed what would become of their relationship. The bell rang again and Annie made her way to the assault course for individual training.

During normal school time, two students would share a room containing a virtual assault course, but now that the class had been divided into private sessions with Mags or Finnick or time training by themselves – or apparently, some had just been sent home and deemed to be not good enough – there were enough rooms for one course each. This was Annie's first time alone so she selected a medium difficulty setting and put on a pair of goggles that transformed the room around her to look like an enclosed section of the arena. She attached metal clips to her shoes, belt, sleeves and collar. These acted as sensors to track her movement but would also send out electric shocks as she received blows from her opponent. On this setting, she was pitted against a past tribute from Four that had made it to fifth place; she killed him quickly with a virtual axe but was surprised at how hard she'd been working. When she caught her breath, she turned the difficulty up a notch to the next level. She vaguely recognised the face of her new virtual opponent but couldn't recall a name. This time, it took longer to kill her and she was temporarily offset by a blinding pain on her arm as the virtual tribute slashed her shoulder with a knife. In retaliation, she plunged her sword into the girl's stomach and watched her face twist in pain as she finally died. It was alarmingly realistic, but Annie knew she had to get used to it. She worked her way up through the settings to the hardest, when she was faced with Finnick.

"Of course," she scoffed. Even made of pixels he was damningly gorgeous and wore a charmingly arrogant smirk. Seeing him made it difficult to act without hesitation, knowing the real, very much alive Finnick was just a few doors away. Nevertheless, she struck him with a dagger and he put up a long, difficult fight. She was writhing in pain from his trident and trapped under a net but one fluid movement with her knife set her free and she stumbled towards him and stuck her weapon into his heart. Finnick Odair fell to the floor and the boom of a canon sounded in the distance.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she removed her goggles and went back to the main hall. A video of her performance in the assault course would be sent to Casio and he would probably watch it tonight. If that wasn't enough to send her to the arena, she didn't know what would be.

"You doing okay?" Finnick ran to catch up to her as she was walking to the bleachers. Annie looked at him quizzically. "Yeah, fine… Did you just leave your class behind?"

"You're our star player, of course I did. I just wanted to see how you were doing," he smiled sincerely. Annie mentally told herself to be nice; he was looking out for her after all. "Thank you, Finnick. I'll see you tonight for our after school session," she smiled tentatively. He grinned and nodded, "Right, cool. Catch you later, Annie!" He ran back to his class as Annie realised that was the first time he'd said her name, and she quite liked it.

Annie allowed herself to take time out until lunch, seeing as she'd just killed the Capitol's sex bomb, Finnick Odair, albeit virtually. She watched Curtis train with Finnick and Minerva practice with Mags. The rest of the class could either be on the assault course or have been sent home. They would keep a selection of second-best students in case one of the prime candidates got injured. Finnick had been responsible for more than a few broken arms, and indeed broken hearts. Annie guessed that there would be ten people as back-ups, so eleven of her classmates had been told they weren't needed. That must have hurt; to have been training all their lives and told a week before the moment they'd been working towards that they weren't enough… Of course, there would be some very happy families. For some, it meant that their whole family had made it through the academy without being reaped. In District Four, however, the honour of being a Victor – or merely a tribute – was emphasised pretty much from birth. Annie was a victim of this doctrine, without even realising that she had been subject to such brainwashing. She was determined to win for the glory and honour of being titled 'Victor'.