Hi again! :D
Still don't own anything, sadly.

Trey pulled me into his arms and hugged me tight. "It's going to be alright," he whispered in my ear. I couldn't help but shiver. He kissed me on the cheek, and that made the shivering worse. But I kind of liked it.

I must have fallen asleep at some point, because when I peeled my eyes open, I was alone on the bed. I had never felt so lonely.

That was when I saw my pillows. They had been artfully stained from my excessive amount of makeup, and I took comfort in the fact that I had finally done something that I had set out to do. It was a pleasant thought.

As I stood at the sink washing away my racoon eyes, it was impossible not to think about the days to come. Would the other tributes be awful? I imagined some of them would. From what I remember from the videos, they looked pretty nasty. In it to win it, as they say. I didn't blame them. If my parents hadn't been hurt by Peacekeepers, I would have tried to win, too.

That was when I realized that I'd forgotten I could actually take a shower here. I had spent a good ten minutes cleaning my face when I could have just hopped in the shower. I turned to face it, trying to make sense of all the buttons. I pushed a bunch of random ones, not really caring how it turned out. Apparently, I'd done something right, because I got hot water and soap that smelled of lemons. It was cool, because I only had to stand there. I didn't even have to hold the soap by myself.

When I got out, I kept with the theme of just standing there while my hair was dried and sorted out by another machine. It even pulled my blonde hair back into a ponytail with an elastic band. I couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy that we didn't have these in the community home.

Before I could begin my day's worth of wallowing in self-pity, my prep team came in and dressed me in my outfit for the next three days in the Training Centre. Luckily, it was plain; a black tunic with a brown sash and brown polyester pants to match. I got to wear black combat boots. There was an embroidered version of District 10's symbol above my heart in red. It was cute.

As soon as my team left the room, I grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the strings of the embroidery off. No one needed to remember me.

That was when I couldn't wait any longer to go eat, I decided to take it upon myself to go find Greyson and have breakfast with him. I knocked on my door, and he answered immediately. I sighed in relief; he wasn't dressed in the same outfit as I was. He had a tight, blue shirt on with the red embroidery over the heart. It was paired with black pants and combat boots that were similar to mine. It was funny to see him in combat boots, because they're something he would have never considered otherwise. Plus, they looked weird on someone who used crutches.

I smiled at him and we walked together to the dining room.

Even though I was trying not to talk to the mentors, it was kind of hard to sit at a table with them and not make casual conversation. When Greyson and I had walked in, Chelah and Peten looked up from their coffee, but then back down into their cups. It seemed that they had had a disagreement. Probably over something pointless, like who got to be served breakfast first or which one of us tributes would survive longer.

I sat down next to Chelah at the large oak table with Greyson on my other side. She handed me a plate and motioned to a buffet table that was overflowing with food. I shook my head. What did I care if I was strong enough for the Games? I decided instead to just drink hot chocolate and to pick off Greyson's plate. He made a face, but didn't complain.

"So," Chelah began awkwardly.

"So," Greyson managed, even with his mouth full.

"Training starts today. Try to learn some stuff," Chelah continued.

We both nodded half-heartedly. Like either of us had a chance. A boy with a limp and a girl who didn't want to live anyway? We'd be gone by the end of the bloodbath.

Then we sat for another five minutes in silence.

"Good talk," I said, standing up. "I'll just be on way now. Greyson?" I turned to him, offering my hand. He rubbed his stomach then stood up, taking my hand.

"I guess I can be done eating," he grumbled. I couldn't help but laugh. That was when Besia stormed into the room.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU CUT ME OFF!" She was screaming her head off at one of the Peacekeepers.

"I'm sorry," he replied calmly, "but this year, I've been ordered to keep your hot chocolate consumption to a minimum. You were buzzing off the walls last year and drove President Snow insane."

She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. With a flick of her wrist, Besia dismissed him from the room.

Throughout their exchange, I'd leaned my head on Greyson's shoulder, trying not to laugh. I could feel him inhale sharply and hold his breath, so I imagined he was doing the same thing.

Besia walked over to me and grabbed my arm. I assumed it was time to go. The three of us walked to the elevator, with Greyson and me feeling happy and Besia with a raincloud over her strangely coloured head.

After an exhilarating elevator ride, we were left unceremoniously by Besia to find our own way to the Training Room.

We took a few wrong turns, but eventually Greyson and I found ourselves in the right room. It had been awkward, though; we'd walked in on a meeting for recovering drug addicts and some mentors discussing their tributes, both by accident.

Not surprisingly, we were the first two tributes to the Training Room. I checked the clock on the wall; it was only 9:00. Training was to start at 10. So we sat at opposite ends of the space right near the door and watched as the tributes shuffled into the room. An Avox came up to me and pinned my district number to the back of my shirt. I guess there had been no point in ripping out the embroidery. Oh well. We all sat in the same area, but not speaking much. No one sat together except for the Careers, who were laughing loudly. If I had to guess, I'd say that they were only trying to intimidate us and there wasn't actually anything funny. They must be nervous, too. After all, only one of them would survive, if that. My money was on the huge one, or his tiny partner. I didn't care about their names. The pair was acting weird, as if they wanted to hold hands or kiss or something. I think I thought that because something about the way the big guy looked at her that reminded me of Trey, even though Trey was much less muscled. I shook the thought from my head and focused on the instructors.

The last tributes to walk in were District 12. They were dressed in the same outfit. I silently thanked my prep team for not making go through something like that.

The head trainer, a lady whose name started with an 'A' or something, told us the rules. We were to go around from station to station as per our mentor's instructions. Each station taught a different skill, from knot-tying to sword-fighting. No attacking other tributes. Pretty simple stuff. I'd gathered that just from looking around the room and common sense.

I looked at the other tributes. Everyone looked slightly on the tense side. I was pretty average in height back home, but here I was one of the taller girls. No match for the huge guys though. There were three or four gigantic boys.

When the lady let us go where we please, I noticed that Greyson went to tie knots. I would guess that he was thinking survival over killing. By myself, I headed over the axes and decided I might as well learn something in these last few days of mine. The Careers followed me, and were handling the weapons with ease. I just practiced smacking the dummies with whatever part of the axe came in contact with them. Sometimes it was the wrong side, or even my arm, but I didn't really care. I was having a decent time just beating it up, but that can only last so long.

I didn't do much all morning. By the time it was lunch, I just sat at a table that was further away from everyone else, including Greyson. I sat and picked at a piece of bread while staring at my boots.

After lunch I did random little things, like making fires and climbing the rock wall over and over again. I was bored out of my mind. I didn't care enough about any of this. I couldn't believe that I had to endure another two days of this crap.

By the end of training the third day, I couldn't help but think about how much Theranne would like learning about these things. Of our group of friends, she enjoyed learning the most, and she got the best grades in school. The stations like edible plants made me think of her. Then the camouflage station reminded me of Rilee and how much he enjoyed art. I was surprised that I actually missed home as much as I did. No, I reminded myself, it's your friends you miss. Not the community home, or the other people, or school, or even your parents. I couldn't help but be proud of my parents for standing up against the Capitol, though.

On the last day of training, all the tributes had a private session with the Gamemakers after lunch. Everyone had an idea of what they would do, except for me. I hadn't really accomplished much during my time there. The tributes were called in order of their districts, with the boy going first, then the girl. I went in after Greyson, not having a clue what to do.

As I approached their table, the man who sat in the centre said, "You may begin." His words are slightly slurred, and it's obvious that they'd all been drinking for some time now. They probably lost focus and interest after District 4. That was how I made my decision. I planned on blending in, so I decided I would climb the rock wall.

I scaled in under a minute and rang the bell. Then I jumped from the wall to the floor and began rolling around like a ninja. This was the most fun I'd had so far! I pretended they weren't watching me, which was more or less true anyway. I threw a knife at a dummy then smacked him over the head with an axe. I rolled back to the other side of the room again and painted some swirls of green and brown on my arm. I would try to keep those on; they looked kind of cool. That was when the Head Gamemaker dismissed me. I walked out of the room, admiring the work of art on my arm.

I walked back to the elevator by myself, but found that Greyson had waited there for me. We rode up together.

"So, how'd it go?" he asked me.

"Ehh, it was fine. I didn't know what to do, so I just ran around and random things." I decided honesty was the best policy in this case. "What did you do?"

"Not much," he responded. "I made a fire and hung some plants over it."

I was honestly confused. "Wait, how? What?"

He laughed. "I made some knots and hung them from the ceiling. Then I attached a little net that I made and put some berries and leaves over it that I knew were edible. I made a fire under them and then I ate the concoction." He smiled at me.

I laughed. "Well that must have been interesting to watch. Did it taste any good?"

"Nope," he responded, still smiling.

"No to what? Your demonstration being interesting to watch or the concoction tasting good?"

"Both," he said, and we laughed.

We decided that we had about an hour until going to dinner was necessary, so the two of us sat in his room and talked about how much we missed our friends back home.

After about an hour and a half, we walked to the dining hall on the tenth floor. I knew that tonight we'd get our scores, so everyone inside would be on edge.

When the doors were opened, Trey was standing there. He smiled at me and gave both me and Greyson hugs. It was sweet.

We went to sit down. Besia was making faces at her mug. When I gave her a funny look, she stuck out her tongue and said, "Coffee. Decaf. Yuck."

Chelah had waited for us before they started to eat, along with our stylists and prep teams. Peten, however, was shovelling soup and bread in his mouth. "And they finally show up," he muttered with his mouth full of food.

We went and sat down, and began to enjoy the different courses that the Avoxes brought us. There was fish soup, pork, mashed potatoes and other foods that I hadn't really indulged myself in since we were here. I'd been sticking to minimal food, but tonight I decided to eat some of the stuff that was put on the table. It was really good.

"So, were you two complete idiots today?" Peten asked us, pointing between the two of us with his fork.

"Peten, be nice," said Chelah, her forehead crinkling. "I'm sure they were fine."

"Actually, it sucked. I just made some ropes and a fire, and ate some food," Greyson said. "I'm hoping for a two, at best."

"Oh come on, I'm sure it was fine. They might interpret that as resourcefulness," said his stylist, a woman with deep blue scales. I realized with a jolt that I didn't know the names of any of the members of either of our prep teams, or our stylists. They must have mentioned them, but I didn't commit the information to memory. I also realized that I didn't care. I was going to die anyway; did they expect me to say their names as my final words? Ha, no.

I decided to pipe in. "I climbed the wall and rolled around like a ninja. I also drew this," I said, pointing at my arm.

"Lovely," said a voice behind me. Trey.

"Go back to the kitchen, boy, or you'll have your tongue cut out. And I'll do it myself," said Peten. Woah. Obviously Trey had been annoying them before we walked in. Typical of him, really. Trey didn't go back to the kitchen, though. He came and stood next to me instead.

Chelah sighed. "Let's just turn on the TV and watch the scores, okay? No one needs to be injured on our second last night together."

It's also my second last night alive, I thought to myself. My eyes slid up to meet Trey's. I could tell from the way that he was blinking back tears that he was thinking the same thing.

Only one chapter left, guys! I hoped you've enjoyed it.
I'm not sure why, but I just really like the idea of Seyrin not caring about people's names, hahah. You might have noticed ;)
Review, please? Let me know what you think! :)