Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games, I only own the characters I create like Lily, Brandon, Rue, and any others I create

New Friendships and love

Lily's POV

Once I was back on the train, I decided to see who these kids were.

"So, what are your names?" I asked them. They looked confused, then they realized that I wasn't paying attention during the Reaping.

"I'm Kyle and this is Max." the one who had asked for the alliance stated. "Our mother won the 78th Hunger Games, Amelia Heartford." He added with a smile. I smiled in return. I looked back outside to see the boys were still in front of the cameras. I saw there were a few that were just stuck there in the middle of it all, only about three though. Oh god, why am I the one who has to do this. I looked at my mom. She was just as annoyed as I was, she nodded once, then I walked back out of the train.

"Hay" I yelled loudly, now I had everyone's attention and oh my god, the cameras weren't taking pictures! "we gotta go. Your parents are waiting for you to get your butts on this train!" gosh boys were idots. Then all the boys started to come towards the train ready to get on. Finally!

I moved inside quickly and told my allies to meet me in the t.v. room after they changed. I walked out of the hall pulling Sunny and Rue into my room. They were both surprised, I looked over at Sunny who was blushing.

"Why are you blushing?" I asked her. She came over to me,

"Kyle" was all she said, and I already knew what she meant. She had a crush… On Kyle. Oh great.

"Ok, get changed. There are clothes for each of you in the dresser. Dress comfy though, were in for a long night." They both ran to get changed. Sunny took the bathroom, then Rue asked me to help her change. She wanted to be careful with Anne's dress,

"Lily" she said quietly,

"Hmm, ya sweetie" I said in reply.

"I'm scared"

"Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you." I smiled at her, but she still looked worried.

"No, about all the boys, I saw them outside with the cameras. Even Bran… He was even posing. I'm confused." She said looking at Anne's dress, I gave her some gray sweat-pants and a blue t-shirt for her to wear today. I found my favorite clothes, a pair of black checkered sweat-pants and a gray t-shirt. I looked up and saw Rue staring at me. She still looked confused,

"What?" I asked her looking at myself in the mirror, thinking something was wrong with what I was wearing.

"Your pretty, and I don't know why he did that to you." She said quietly, she looked away. Then there was someone knocking on our door. Sunny had just come out of the bathroom, she was wearing the same clothes as me. I smiled at her, her blonde hair was even pulled back into a lazy pony-tale just like mine.

"I got it!" she yelled to me as she ran towards the door. When she opened, she slammed it in whoever's face it was. I heard yelling on the other side. I raised my eye-brows,

"Brandon" was all she said. I stormed over to the door and opened it quickly. He was standing there with a huge smile on his face. I glared at him, and his smile seemed to waver.

"What do you want?" I half yelled, and he smiled even wider, I looked around the door and saw that there were a few other boys standing in the hall-way smiling with Brandon. Then I saw Roy, Kyle, CJ, and Max were walking down the hall, probably looking for us, we told them to meet us over a half an hour ago. Roy's face hardened when he saw me trying to get the unwanted boys to leave.

"What are you doing here" Kyle asked the boys, his face was menacing, he was watching Sunny and assessing her to see if she was ok. Sunny walked out of the room to stand by him, she kissed his cheek as a thank you. He gave a weak smile and was blushing. I smiled at Sunny and she smiled back.

"Why are you even with them?" one of the boys asked, "They're obviously weak." He said gesturing to Sunny. I already knew what was going to happen, I jumped in front of Kyle just as his arm swung toward the boy. He tried to stop but it was to late. I took the punch hard to the right side of my face, I'll give him one thing, he's strong. His face was shocked as were the other boys standing around me. Next thing I knew Rue was outside of the room crying next to me. I felt around in my mouth, I could taste blood, but I still had all my teeth. I hugged Rue to calm her down, but she was all hyped up now.

"Talk please?" she begged me, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm fine, see" I told her calmly, if some of the boys weren't shocked before, they were now. I looked around me.

"So we're weak, are we?" I asked, "Because I don't think you could have taken that" I looked away from the boys to my alliance, Kyle still looked shocked and Sunny was crying. "let's go guys. Kyle, I'm fine, really. I've had so many punches thrown at me during training and I miss um' sometimes. It's ok." He seemed to relax a little bit. I began to walk away when someone grabbed my wrist. I turned to see Brandon smirking at me. This kid was starting to drive me to insanity, I glared at him, than thank god my mom walked down the hall-way. When she saw me trying to get out of Brandon's grasp she ran down the hall.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, I could tell she was trying hard to keep the snarl out of her voice. Brandon looked nervous, but only slightly, I jerked my wrist back,

"It's time to go." I told my allies, they all nodded, then walked away, except for Roy. He kept his eyes on Brandon, then he motioned for me to walk away. I didn't want to look back, so I didn't, I ran to the meeting room and looked at my allies, five people all together. Two kids that were twelve and three that were fourteen. All I could think about was that these weren't very good odds. A minute later, my mom walked into the room. She looked at me and mouthed now. I got up off the couch and walked with my mom to a private meeting room. It was usually used for the mentors to meet and talk about their odds for victory.

"What happened between the two of you today?" she asked me, referring to Brandon, I didn't know where to start, so I launched into the entire story, from the moment I walked into school. All the time, she waited silently, she nodded frequently, and then other times she looked like she wanted to use his head for target practice.

"Lily, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I'll talk to Peeta, and the event that just occurred has me a little worried. Even though killing those of your' District isn't required, no one knows that it won't be done." I looked at her with a new found respect, if she treated all her Tributes this way, I think they would have died happy, at least until they were made into a sculpture by their murderer for the Capitol. I was about to reply when Effie knocked on the door, then opened it

"Time for dinner, Lily your' allies are already in the dining room." I was surprised, how did she know who my allies were. I looked at my mom and she shrugged, which meant I thought she had the right to know.

I walked slowly to the dining room on the train, prepared for the worst. When I walked through the door I saw there was more than one table, there were quite a few, most of which were currently being pulled to the center of the room to accommodate the other male Tributes that were not my allies. Then in the corner of the room, my group waited patiently for me , I smiled and walked over to meet them. The second I sat down there were an Avox to serve me my first course. I looked up at him and smiled. He looked confused so I said

"Thank you." He gave a tennitive smile. Growing up, my mom taught me to respect any Avox I were to meet. They were traitors of the Capitol, so they were friends of mine. This one looked fairly young. He had long brown hair with golden eyes, he wasn't from the Capitol, maybe District 6. I gently touched his arm, years ago I came up with the idea. I told the Avoxes to tell each other as well, however they communicate, because their voices were taken away. Every time I touch their arms it shows them that I am their friend and that I care about them. The boy smiled and slightly pulled up his sleve, I saw what he wanted me to see. There on his arm was his name, Jacob, District 6 was scralled quickly next to the name. I smiled up at him brightly and touched his arm again.

"Hi Jacob, take care ok?" I told him lightly, he smiled and nodded, he gave the slightest touch on my arm before he left. The others hadn't noticed, Sunny was talking to Kyle, more like flirting. Kyle had the slightest blush on his face and I laughed, he looked up at me and sighed, I smiled at him kindly before he returned his attention to Sunny. Even if we weren't strong in numbers, we still had our relationships.

"Lily Hawthorne, you have a call from the District 1 train." The intercom rang loud and clear. Then the entire car went quiet, everyone was staring at me and I smiled as I walked over to the phone. I knew exactly who it was. I hadn't talked to him since last year, and I was worried to call him in case the announcement had done something to damage our relationship.

"Hello." I said calmly,

"Hay Lily" he chimed in, in his angelic voice, it practically made me melt. I sighed dreamily,

"How's District 1, Holt?" I asked him. Holt has been my best-friend outside of my district for as long as I can remember. We used to play while the Games went on, he was my first crush and he still is. I know what you're thinking, 'wow she can't make up her mind.' But I didn't know how Rory felt till quite recently, even Holt knew how I felt, I always thought of Rory as a brother rather than a boyfriend.

"Ehh, same old same old. How are your' Tributes this year?" he asked me, I sighed and he heard it.

"I don't know, watch the replay and you might understand better, it's kinda hard to explain. But here's a clue, every kid and mentor in the dining car is staring at me like I'm insane!" I heard him laugh,

"Wow, I'll let you go then. Oh, can't wait to see you again. Bye." My heart was fluttering, this was amazing, and I couldn't stop smiling.

"Who was that?" Sunny asked, after I returned to the table, all eyes were still on my.

"Holt." Was all I said, and I heard her laugh a little,

"Wait, did he ask any questions about us?" she gestured around the table.

"No. He said hi, and that he coul…" I stopped, there were to many people listening right now. "I'll tell you later, let's go watch the replays." I stood up from the table and went to the room with the biggest t.v. I have ever seen in my life, and sat down. I turned on the t.v. there was a brief overview of the Reaping, it showed all the Tributes and first up was District 1. They cut it off though, now it was time for the actual replay. I looked and saw all the others filing into the room and taking their seats. I noticed I was sitting as close to the T.V. as possible. Ha ha, oopsie. My group had gathered around me and were awaiting their competition to be introduced. I grabbed Rue and put her in my lap, CJ sat right next to her. I looked back at the T.V. and the Reaping replays had begun. The Capitol symbol flashed across the screen, then it said District 1.

"Hello, how about we switch things up this year." The capitol attendant stated, "boys first." He rummaged around for a minute, there were a lot of slips in the bowl. Then he found a good name,

"Holt Fedrick" he called loudly and everyone cheered, my eyes were glued to the screen. Then I saw him, he was about 5'8 now but he had a slim build, but he was muscular it was just well fitted, they didn't bulge out of his skin. He did have the same hair though, dark brown with eyes as blue as the oceans surrounding District 4. He smiled at the cameras,

"Ok, this year the Capitol has come up with one question for the Tributes. Holt, your question is… What is the most outrageous thing you have ever done?" I waited for the answer, I never knew him to be unintelligent or rash, he always thought about the situation before he reacted.

"I fell in love," my heart sank, with who?

"I don't see how that's a bad thing, why don't we bring her up here." The crowd cheered, I saw tons of girls adjusting their clothes and hair.

"You can't do that." He said, his voice strong. The attendant looked confused, WE ALL WERE!

"Why ever not?" he asked, his accent coming full blow.

"Because, it's outrageous because… She doesn't live in this… district…" I heard everyone gasp, and I was one of them. The attendant looked stunned,

"Which district does she live in then?" he asked trying to hide his shock, and not succeeding.

"12" he said with a smirk, "we've been friends for years, and this is my way of telling her. Bye Lily." He smiled at the camera. I gasped again, then everyone was staring at me again. I ran to the phone and dialed the District 1 train.

"Hello, District 1 tribute train, Mr. Gates speaking. How may I help you?" A man asked in a Capitol accent.

"Hello, this is Lily Hawthorne, I would like to speak to…" I turned to look at the T.V. better, there was a girl with fire like red hair standing very close to Holt on the stage, then he pushed her away, I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, ummm, Holt Fedrick." The man gave a huff before answering

"Ok one moment please?" he said clearly frusterated that I was calling. Looks like he saw Holt's announcement.

"Hello?" Holt asked me, I felt a rush of heat to my face.

"Ummm, hi." I said, embarrassed, I wish I hadn't called. This was way to embarrassing.

"Oh, hi Lily, I guess you were watching… Sorry…" He trailed off.

"Don't be sorry, I thought it was sweet." I said kindly, "Thank you." I heard him let out a sigh of relief as well, and I giggled,

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be, ha ha. Well, if your fellow Tributes are anything like me, they're staring at you right?" he asked I looked around, a lot of Tributes were staring at me, oh well let them stare, I was happier than I have been in a long time.

"Ya, they are." I said quietly, wishing I was with him right now.

"Ok, bye Lily… Love you. Bye." He quickly hung up. He was never one for confessing feelings. I hung up just in time to see the end of the District 11 Reaping. They must have cut some parts out, or else it would have taken much longer. Then District 12 flashed across the screen, then I saw Effie pulling my name out of the bowl and calling me to the stage. I looked completely kept together, than it all went down hill.

Crying was never a part of the plan. But I looked broken, then the phone rang,

"Lily Hawthorne you have a call from the District 1 train." I stood up and walked over to the phone, still watching my reaction on the screen.

"Hello?" I asked, I already knew who it was, Holt.

"What happened, who broke your heart, is he in the Games, I'll rip his face off!" he sounded so angry, then I remembered, anything that hurt me would anger him.

"Holt, I'll tell you about it later, at training. There are to many people here, and I only want you to know everything about it." I told him in a small voice.

"Ok, the second we get into training, we break apart from our districts and our allies and meet up at one of the stations that has less Tributes there." He said, he seemed calmer now that I told him that I would tell him later.

"Bye, love you." I said calmly to him. He was so quiet, that I thought he hung up. I waited but there was no answer,

"Thank you." He whispered, "I love you to." Then he was gone, somewhere on the District 1 train, away from me.