I'm so sorry I haven't updated in almost a month. School let out and I went on a 2-week vacation with my family (it was a blast, by the way)! Yay! Now I have some more time so I can get these chapters in more frequently (hopefully). Stick with me!

"Good lord! Floyd! Faye! I couldn't believe that was you up there!" Effie was saying excitedly, being nice to them for once. "You guys looked so awesome that I thought they had tossed you in the trash and replaced you with models!"

Oh well. Nice enough, when it comes to Effie these days.

I silently tugged my tributes into the elevator and punched the 12 button three times harshly. Effie gave me a stern look but kept her mouth shut. I just wanted to get up to our floor without having to deal with jealous mentors or tributes downstairs in the Training Center. Once we were up there, though, away from all the media and crowds, I grinned and gave them the talk they deserved to hear.

"Wow! You both looked stunning!" I congratulated. Floyd seemed surprised that such a compliment that was directed to him. Faye... well, Faye didn't have a sour expression on. Maybe a small smile? I couldn't tell. It could have been the lighting. "I didn't think anyone in all of Panem could have thought of that costume on you. And it happened. Now you have an advantage. Let's make good use of it." I paused for a second, then asked, "Who were your stylists? Where are they?"

"Still downstairs, I think," Floyd said. We all glanced at the elevator door. "Whoops."

So Effie had to go back downstairs and pick up the stylists, who didn't seem to mind that we had totally forgotten about them since they had gotten lots of attention. When they came up and I glanced at the two people behind Effie, my mouth nearly dropped open. I didn't really see who was Floyd's stylist, just Faye's. Why? There were two reasons.

Reason #1: He looked like Cinna. A lot like Cinna. Not just like, "Oh, he has the same hairstyle," alike, but very alike. He had Cinna's almost-slim nose, nearly same sturdy body shape, and the exact same amazing green eyes.

Reason #2: He was kinda hot.

A weird feeling I've never felt before waved through my body that moment. It was kind of... tingly. And my lips couldn't help smiling at him when Effie introduced me to him as Anthul. Normally I would have thought of that as another weird name but now I had different thoughts. Anthul implied strength. It had an intelligent and God-ish sound to it. The name kept ringing in my ears.

I couldn't even remember Floyd's stylist's name.

I practically had to pry my eyes off of him to get ready for dinner, which Effie said was to be in an hour so we could watch the recap of the parade in time afterwards. My smile hadn't come off as I walked to my new bedroom with my duffel bag.

When I locked myself in my room, I sighed in a - wait, had I just sighed happily? What was I, crazy? The guy hadn't even laid eyes on me for longer than two seconds. I forced my smile off my face and set my alarm for a half hour, so I had enough time to make myself look presentable for dinner.

Instead of taking a short nap, as I had intended, I ended up staring at the colorful ceiling with glow-in-the-dark star-shaped stickers on them. That tingly feeling still hadn't gone away. All because of Anthul.

What the heck.

I tried to think about what made him look hot to me. His physical features was surely not too attractive to other girls; in fact, he seemed like one of those normal guys who hardly ever got secret admirer notes. He wasn't that cute either, at least not the pretty cute. He wasn't a "rugged" kind of hot either, thank goodness. Rugged, to me, is just no. So what made me...

Have a crush on him?

I almost gasped at the thought. Girls, mainly town girls, in District 12 had crushes when I was in school. They changed their crush practically every week, or was that what I had imagined? Will I not have a crush on Anthul in a week? I couldn't tell.

Suddenly I felt like someone had punched my stomach. Peeta. I had turned down Gale, my childhood best friend, for Peeta. The one who had died for me. And now I was throwing that away for some guy. Tears sprung in my eyes at my confusion but they wouldn't spill over. The image of Anthul in my mind cleared my vision though. How did that happen?

The sound of the alarm startled me. Had I been daydreaming for half an hour? Seriously? I hardly ever daydreamed for a minute in my whole life, let alone half an hour. And in this situation. I literally kicked myself for doing so; I was not used to this.

During my shower I picked my scents carefully. I wanted to smell nice enough to not smell like a dead fish but not completely drown myself in perfumes either. For my shampoo I picked a cheap baby shampoo. No scents at all. For my body I mixed the smell of lavendar with forest, which reminded me of the woods. I loved that smell. And I was grateful I had rubbed it on my body and not my hair or I'd be tempted to sniff my hair all night. My body was a good distance from my nose. I dipped my feet in warm water with rose petals in them and deep conditioned my hair with a lychee-scented conditioner. And for the facial cleanser I used something that smelled like green tea.

Very neutral and natural.

When I came out it took less than ten seconds total to completely dry my body and detangle my hair with the Capitol's bathroom machines. I rubbed a teeny bit of coconut oil in my hair to make it look natural and not desert-dry. I slipped on a pair of underwear and put on a clean gray padded cami. It was soft and tight. I looked in the full-length mirror and decided to go to dinner with more than half of my body's skin showing. After some thought, I made up my mind that just underwear was too weird so I put on a pair of black skinny jeans. After looking in the mirror again and being satisfied that my slim, slightly muscled arms were showing, I headed for dinner, my hair swishing around my shoulders in a nice way.

"Katniss! Did you forget your shirt?" Effie exclaimed as soon as she laid her eyes on me. Her, Floyd, and oh God, the two stylists were there.

I raised my nose an inch and scoffed, "You don't make the rules here, Miss Trinket."

Effie clucked her tongue and shook her head. Floyd smiled and his stylist, what's her name?, gave me an approving look. Anthul hadn't even glanced at me. I gritted my teeth in frustration.

"Well." Effie sighed. "I don't know when Faye and Haymitch are gonna show -"

"Haymitch is dead, remember?" I said sharply.

Effie gasped. "Oh my. I'd forgotten. Katniss, they've set a date for Haymitch's funeral. It's a week from tomorrow at District 12. You're invited."

"Who's organizing it?" I demanded, my tone staying the same.

To my pleasure and surprise, Anthul looked at me deeply and answered. "Cinna, Vivia, and I are organizing it. Portia wanted to as well but of course she was forbidden."

"Ah," I said lamely. His eyes hadn't left mine yet. I felt paralyzed.

Faye showed up. "Well, what are you all waiting for? Let's eat!" She and Floyd dug in.

"Right," I mumbled. I hadn't even sat down yet. Luckily, there was an empty chair next to Anthul. I dove for it and tripped. "I'm fine. I'm fine, really," I said as Anthul helped me up. His hand on my back felt like electricity. "Thanks." After that I couldn't meet his eye. For the whole dinner. Which was a shame because his eyes were so beautiful. I'd realized that while Cinna's had a sort of enchantment to it, Anthul's was sort of mysterious. You couldn't really tell what went on behind those gorgeous eyes.

When everyone finished their plates, we moved over to the TV room. The flat-screen TV was new; I heard it wasn't even in stores yet in the Capitol. It was so big it took up almost a whole wall, and it was so clear too. If turned off, it was nearly transparent except for the frame. If turned on, you couldn't see the wall behind it anymore but you somehow got the feeling it was still there. I couldn't imagine how it worked and didn't bother trying to.

"Sit," Effie spoke up. Everyone was just standing around awkwardly. I looked around and saw just a couch, a velvet armchair, and a tiny red loveseat. Effie took the armchair, Faye, Floyd, and Vivia, Floyd's stylist, plopped down on the couch, and Anthul settled down on one side of the loveseat.

Which left me no choice but to sit next to him.

I didn't really want to. I mean, I did want to, but I was afraid to. What if did something embarrassing, like I sit down so hard he bounces up? Or burp? I gnawed my lip nervously and stayed standing up.

"Well, well, well. I never thought you'd be so shy to take a seat, Girl on Fire," a voice said behind me. I swirled around and found Cinna at the doorway. He raised an eyebrow. "Scared of my nephew?"

His nephew? Oh, his nephew! Anthul was Cinna's nephew. Cinna was Anthul's uncle. No wonder they resembled each other.

Although this was already in my knowledge, I asked tentatively, "You're related to Anthul, Cinna?"

Anthul chuckled. His eyes twinkled at me, which almost gave me a heart attack. "You knew that."

I neared death again when he smiled. "Sit down, Katniss." He patted the seat next to him.

Well, I didn't want to sit down. The loveseat was... a loveseat. And it was so tiny, I wouldn't be able to sit without my whole left side touching his right, which I didn't think I'd survive through.

But stupid me, I took his offer. And of course, my body felt sparks when our bodies made contact. Anthul smiled at me again. "This is comfortable enough, isn't it?"

I lied by nodding.

Effie turned to the right channel for the opening ceremonies recap while Cinna took a place on the edge of the couch. I pinched myself for not taking that spot earlier, but my position didn't turn out to be bad. I wasn't squished with Anthul, I was close to him. That was a whole different matter, and it put me in a glowing mood.

I didn't remember much of the Tribute Parade recap except that District 12 looked so much better than from what I remembered. Everyone cheered when they came on view, and Faye and Floyd accepted congrats.

When it was over, everyone got up and headed to their rooms for the night. Halfway down the hall, I noticed there was someone behind me.

It was Anthul.

In my opinion, he looked so much more attractive in darkness than in light. I couldn't resist turing around and staring at him.

"Hi," he said quietly, way before our silence became awkward. He took a step closer to me. "I just... wanted to say goodnight."

"Oh," I said just as quietly, my voice cracking. I reminded myself to breathe, but it was difficult. He was so close to me. "Um... thanks. Goodnight."

He nodded, then leaned towards me a little. I froze, not knowing what was coming next. He whispered in my ear, "Next time, hurry and beat Effie Trinket to the armchair so you don't have to be embarrassed sitting next to anyone so close." He turned around and left to his room.

I stayed rooted to my spot, full of emotion but also emotionless at the same time. It was a long time before I finally went in my room.

Just a reminder, it's the reviews that keep me going and I haven't been getting too many of those. It doesn't matter if the review is good or bad, just gimme your friggin reviews! And uh, thank you very much for reading! I really, really appreciate it =)