Thank you so much for the reviews. Some people even pointed out some stuff to me I didn't realize before. I will try to fix it, thank you.

Chapter 5

Saturday and Sunday passed too quickly for my taste. Prim and I just sat in my room, enjoying each others company. We would always get up to go make cookies or anything else we craved though. I also had to leave for about an hour Sunday to help my mom out of a fit. But to be honest, I could spend an eternity just talking. As long as it was with Prim.

Sunday evening came along and Prim just stopped mid-sentence, "What's wrong Prim?"

"I don't have anything to wear to school," she frowned and bit her lip. I looked her over; she was still going by wearing my over-sized t-shirts.

I get up to my closet and throw open the doors, "See anything you like?"

She wrinkles her nose, "No offense Nicky, but I don't really want to go in public wearing boy clothes."

I nod, of course. Prim always had an eye for fashion, "Do you want to check my mom's closet? She's bound to have something from the 'old days' that will fit you."

She smiles and nods. We quietly enter my mother's room. She has just fallen asleep after her exhausting fit and we don't want to see how she'll react if woken.

Prim walks to the closet and throws open the doors. I watch as her chin literally drops. I take a peek inside myself. My mom always just goes around wearing sweatpants and baggy t-shirts. I laugh as Prim starts to fake hyperventilate. "Nicky, you never told me your mom had all these clothes!"

I shrug, "I didn't know she did."

Prim automatically goes for anything glittery. She likes to wear things that attract attention to herself. She puts on a blue glimmering dress. In it are swirls of green and a small trace of white. It reminds me of waves washing up onto a beautiful beach. The dress suits her. She twirls around in it, "Is it too much?"

"Of course."

She smiles brightly, "Perfect, no one will be able to look away."

I nod in agreement, "No one."

We both hear a rustling from my mom's bed. She wakes up and looks around the room in half of a daze. Then her eyes fall on Prim. They grow wide and she starts screaming. Just full on screaming. Whatever's going on in her mind, it scares her. "Why Finnick? Why would you do this to me? I can't do this again! Your suppose to protect me Finnick!"

My face grows white. She's calling me Finnick again. I grab Prim's hand and rush her out of the house. Just as I shut the door behind me I hear my mom's words, "You're going to have to kill her eventually! It's her life or yours!" since her words seem to have stopped, we stay seated on my front porch. I'm completely embarrassed by my mom's behavior and am trying to think up an apology. Not even a minute has passed when I see my mom through the kitchen window. She looks very panicked and runs for the knives. I look at Prim. She's still trying to figure out my mom's outburst so I know she hasn't seen what Annie plans next.

There's no time to explain, I just pick Prim up and run into the near woods with her. She protests and tries to escape my arms, but I'm too strong for her. She finally stops struggling when a knife sticks into the tree right where we were a second before. Yes, my mom thinks she's back in the games.

I think hard. What triggered this? She looked at Prim… now she's trying to kill her. Then it hits me. The dress. I remember my mom telling me years ago that they put her in a special outfit per district right before they sent her off to die in the hunger games. The waves on the dress represented the ocean in District 4. In seeing the dress, she thought a new hunger games had begun.

It seems like my mom has stopped hunting us, but my legs won't allow me to stop. I just keep running, I have to protect Prim. It's not until she's yelling at me half an hour later that I put her down, "Nick, she's gone. You need to rest, and then we need to go back to district 4."

I put her down on a log and start to catch my breath. With my adrenaline pumping and my speedy running rate, we must be about 8 miles away from home. I sit down next to Prim. "Maybe I should go back to 12."

I feel my heart die inside, "Why, are you sick? Because if you're sick, I can help you get better. We have a hospital in 4 you know."

She timidly laughs, "No, I'm not sick. Nick, don't you see? Your own mother almost killed you all because, well because of me." she looks at the ground ashamed, "It would be better if I wasn't around."

I start to choke. I want to cry. Cry. How manly. I finally manage to swallow my upcoming sob and start to speak, "You can't go back. How would that be any better? I mean, you just got here."

She grabs my chin and forces me to look in her eyes, her voice takes a soft, comforting tone, "Nicky, Nicky, Nicky. It's not like we wouldn't see each other again. I'd see you every Friday night, on the train. You'd be safer with me gone. And my family, well they could stop wondering where I am, they probably think I'm dead." She turns away from me and mutters to herself, "I should be dead."

I wrap my arms around her and she buries her face in my chest. She starts crying. "Prim, don't you ever say that. If you died… well, if you weren't around, I. I wouldn't have anything to live for."

She coughs out another sob, "Yeah right. You seem to really enjoy yourself in the Capitol. I mean your life seems like an on-going party. You get to go to parties."

I sit there, she's referring to the party I entertained at on Friday, "Wait, you think I like that?"

She starts crying again, "Well, why wouldn't you? Surrounded by women, that's what every guy dreams of, right?"

I laugh, "Most guys, yeah. But I think something about it not being a choice kills the thrill. Do you really think most guys dream of living the luxurious life of prostitution?" I look into the trees; my eyes are starting to water.

She sits up. My shirt is soaked, and the pure look of pain in her eyes finally forces a tear to roll down my cheek. "Do you want to know a secret?"

"Secrets. That's what we live for isn't it? I mean we keep the secret of the Capitol. We keep secrets from our own families, telling them were going to a friend's house or camping, every weekend." I laugh and chant the little rhyme Prim told me a couple years back, "Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone." Yes they hurt everyone.

I look at Prim, she looks even more upset now, "Never mind Nicky." She looks down and twiddles her thumbs.

"I'm sorry Prim, what is it?"

She looks up at me, "It's not important, to be honest, I already forgot what I was going to say."

Now it's my turn to grab her chin and force her to look into my eyes, "Prim, you might be a good liar. But you should know by now that you can't hide anything from me."

I set her off. She's got her head in my lap and she's crying again, "I don't want to lie anymore Nick. I can't do this anymore. It tortures me."

I help her sit back up, "Okay, then don't lie anymore."

"It's not that easy, you should know that."

I look down at my fraud of a purity ring. No it really isn't that easy. "Okay, then a compromise. We don't lie to each other. We don't keep secrets. Anything you need to get off of your chest?"

I really don't expect her to say anything. Like I said, she can't hide anything from me. I am shocked by the amount she says though. She takes a deep breath and starts talking nonstop, "I really don't like to be what I am. I'm tired of acting older than my years. I only get good at what I do because I don't want to have to think about it. I cried myself to sleep every night until we became friends and started talking on the phone. Sometimes I still cry myself to sleep. I throw up every Saturday morning. Josh is obsessed with me. I'm drop dead afraid of what more he might do to me. I want people to look at me as beautiful because I feel rejected. I ran away from home because I'm weak. I'm afraid the Capitol will kill my family. I can't swim. I'm terrified of water. I'm afraid the Capitol will one day drive me in on the train and never let me home again. I'm afraid the Capitol will do that to you; take you away from me. I wanted to runaway into the wilderness with you, but I don't want our families to be killed. I am mad jealous of every girl you entertain. Sometimes I pretend Josh is really you. I sometimes-"

I have to stop Prim. I put my hand over her mouth and try to take it all in, especially the last four sentences. My mouth moves to create words, but no sound comes out. I finally manage to say, "Wow."

"I'm sorry, I said too much. I should've kept that to myself," I can see a faint blush behind her cheeks, "including the last part."

I shake my head, "No, keep going. I want to hear more about the last part."

She frowns, "Nicky, you're not very nice did you know that? You sit here teasing me after I just bore my heart out to you. I'm sorry, I really am. Maybe we can be friends again some day, but for right now-"

I grab her face with both my hands and kiss her. At first she seems shocked, but then she kisses me back. I pull away to catch my breath. A split second later she is kissing me again, I can feel the urgency behind her kiss. The desire. I know it was more of for her need than anything else. She wasn't trying to be 'entertaining', she wasn't practicing. I know that the way she kisses me now, she has done for no Capitol man before.

Yay for love! Review if you're with me! If you're not, review anyways. By the way, the cereal represents innocence.