It's late in the afternoon Thursday and I wish we didn't have to go yet, but we've seen every inch of the arena and we finished the nightlock scene hours ago. I lay in bed trying to respond to the latest comments on some of my videos, but I can't concentrate. I'm still too excited.

Orion's in the bathroom finishing up with his hair. I wish he could leave it blonde a bit longer, but he has an image to maintain and he refuses to be seen without his characteristic auburn locks. The only exception to that is, of course, in the arena and in video format.

After I read through the same comment for the fourth time I give up and toss my tablet aside. Burying my face in the pillow, I think back to my favorite scene in Katniss and Peeta's love story, when Katniss was trying to figure out how to get to the cornucopia to get medicine without Peeta stopping her. What perfect timing her sponsor had! It was the sweetest most heartbreaking thing I'd ever seen.

And Orion and I got to live it out!

When he stared at me behind my fingers cupping his mouth, I almost changed my mind. I'm sure Katniss must have wavered too, seeing his hurt.

Squashing the pillow in my arms, I squeal into it.

"Ready?" Orion asks, walking out of the bathroom with perfectly coiffed and utterly not blonde hair.

I nod and jump off the bed trying not to sigh. At least I requested plenty of pictures of him as Peeta.

In the hovercraft, I turn in my seat and look out the window. Here I felt so close to the Victors and now it's like I'm leaving two close friends. I shed a tear and quickly wipe it away before Orion can see but I'm not the only emotional one. A few children openly cry and there are other passengers staring intently out the window or snapping some last shots of the arena.

Exhausted and emotionally drawn, I close my eyes and lean back into my seat. When we land Orion wakes me. It's cold outside the port but my driver is already waiting for us and he ushers us inside the toasty car.

He drops Orion off at his house and I kiss him goodbye. As we drive away I feel forlorn without him. He's been at my side constantly for the last three days and now that he's gone I don't know what to do. I won't be able to see him this weekend since we're both going to have to catch up on the assignments we missed this week.

I arrive back home just in time for dinner. After freshening up a bit I go into the dining room where my mother and father are already sitting.

"Hello Darling," my mother says.

I walk over to her where she stands up to give me a quick hug. My father kisses me on the forehead before I sit down myself.

Seeing her cue, Cassie, one of our live in Avox servants, brings in the meal. I'm unsurprised at its contents but raise an eyebrow at the quantity.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"
"Are we on a diet?"

My mother looks toward him too and I can tell that she's also confused.

"I'm not going to lie to either of you," my father starts.

My heart sinks as the first thing that pops into my head is that he's become bankrupt, but I can't believe that's true. My father's store is one of the most popular in the Capitol. I try to think of any other reason we would lose money but I can't find any. My father is very shrewd and most all of his investments flourish.

On the other side of the table, my mother looks like she's about to cry. My grandmother always told me that I looked like her when she was younger but I can't see it myself. She's a very beautiful woman but we have very different styles. She uses her makeup to highlight her best features and to mask any less than perfect ones. She could get her face done, but she doesn't like the idea of going under a knife. Besides, she likes her natural face.

When I used to wear more makeup like her we did look somewhat more similiar, but after Cinna's popularity, I started going for his minimalist look. It's actually like Orion's original style, only he wears a bit more.

My father's face is blank, as if he's in one of his business meetings. As usual, he doesn't wear any makeup and I can see every inch of his chiseled features and yet I cannot fathom what he's thinking or feeling.

"Since the Hunger Games three months ago some of the Districts have begun to dissent, including District 4."

"What do you mean, Dear?"

"I don't understand."

"You mean that they are rebelling?" my mother asks.

"No," my father assures us. "But they're upset."

"But why?" I ask.

He shrugs his shoulders.

"Who can say. But it's been going on for a while and it doesn't seem like they will back down. I've already begun stockpiling food in our home. You cannot tell anyone about this."

"But how do you know, Dear? Maybe you're just blowing things out of proportion."

"Jason told me."

That quiets my mother. Jason, my producer uncle, always tells us any significant news and he's never wrong. How can he be when he is the eyes and ears of all of Panem?

"Well, I'm sure that everything will be taken care of. We've had peace for nearly 75 years and I'm sure that once those dissenting Districts remember this they will resume their place."

My father and I agree with her and I turn to my meal. I feel much better. My father is an overly cautious and suspicious man. Sure, maybe we'll have a little less food for a while, but pretty soon things will work out.

The only thing that lingers in my mind is why a couple of the Districts would be upset, but nobody knew why they rebelled all those years ago either. But surely they are reasonable people, much more reasonable than before at least.

I'm barely full when dinner ends, there is absolutely no food left over, but I console myself thinking that it's another similarity I now bear with Katniss. Little food in the Games and not much more in her District, although, now that she's a Victor she probably has just as much food as anyone in the Capitol.

"Hum, it's like we've switched places!"

This revelation leaves me feeling strange and I don't know what to make of it.

I soak for ages in my bath and everything since dinner flows out of my mind. By my bedside are already my sleeping pills with a glass of refreshing water. When I was younger, and maybe braver, I would sometimes lay in bed for as long as possible, trying to fall asleep on my own. A couple times I did, but most often the anxiety attacks would come and before they got too bad I would jump up, chug down my pills and fall blissfully into a dreamless sleep. I only have one friend who dreams. She tells them to us and I must admit I'm a bit envious. I must have had them too, those few times I was able to sleep without my pills, but it was so long ago I can't remember any of them.

After I've settled down into a comfortable position, I swallow the pills and instantly feel drowsy. Facing the ceiling, I try to focus on the dancing flickers created by the electronic candles in my room. A few minutes after I fall asleep, Cassie will come in and turn them off.

I try to think about Katniss and Peeta, hoping I will dream of them, but when I wake in the morning I know I've failed.

It's nine in the morning when my tablet pings to tell me I've received an email. Sitting up, I yawn and stretch and rub my eyes to get myself fully awake.

Pulling the covers off, I get out of bed and walk over to my tab. As I suspected, it's the final edit of the video Orion completed last night.

I download and watch it. It's pretty much the same thing as the disc they gave to us and which I showed my parents last night, except some parts have been shortened and others drawn out. At the beginning and end of the clips though, I give a quick run down and then recap.

I save the best news for last.

"The hint for next week's video is red hair. I'm sure most of you already know what I'm talking about," my prerecorded self says with a wink.

Orion coughs in the background.

I love it, it's absolutely perfect, as always. I go back to a scene showing Orion and pause it long enough for me to give him a quick kiss. Then I call him up to thank him and wish him a great day and just to hear his voice, before uploading the video to my channel and preparing for the rest of the day.

I change into a casual, comfortable outfit for home and after breakfast get down to doing my homework. I take it in thirty minute increments before taking fifteen minute breaks. Any longer than that and I wouldn't be able to focus. Who could?

During my last break before lunch, my tab reminds me I need to call Finnick's agent to reaffirm our interview this Wednesday. She's a sweetie, really, but oh so very absentminded, even with her tab. She cheerily assures me that she's remembered and that he'll be delivered to my house at 10 AM on the dot Wednesday morning. I thank her and try to go back to my studies but it's hopeless.

Although it's my third interview with him and I have Orion and love him to death, it's impossible not to love Finnick. He's the most beautiful person in Panem and everything about him is poetry. The day he gets into a long lasting relationship every girl will cry.

Unconsciously I stroke my hair. I let it grow out a bit for the reenactments but I have to go get it trimmed again and redyed. I wonder if Finnick will like it. He must know I modeled it after his.

During lunch, another relatively meager meal, I remember what my father said about some districts rebelling and how seafood may not be on the menu for a while. Maybe I should ask Finnick about it. Not on camera, of course, but off the record.

I spend about another hour doing as much work as I can before I can't stand being cooped up in my house any longer. I shut off my books until tomorrow and make an appointment with my stylist. He sets it for 3, giving me time to change and do my makeup before dropping by Eternal Youth to try out the outfits I bookmarked in my father's catalogue.

They're all perfect and I pick one, a turquoise and orange tightly fitted dress, to wear to the salon. My stylist, Zeus, compliments my new outfit before getting to work. He fills me in with all the latest gossip I missed since Wednesday. During a lull in conversation, when he's too caught up in his work to do anything else, I check my channel and find that over 50,000 people have already viewed my video. Most of the comments gush about how authentic we look and how they can't wait to go themselves and how they can't wait until next week for the interview. Some ask if I can get an interview with Katniss and Peeta. I tell my viewers that I did try, but they turned me down, but the next time they come round the Capitol I'll try again.

While I'm still replying to another comment, I get a text from Andy, one of my best friends, asking where I am. I tell her and she promises me they'll meet me here.

When Zeus is finished, I marvel at him, calling him the Cinna of hair and kiss him on the cheek before I go out to my friends, who have already gathered around the salon. They crowd me, kissing my cheeks and hugging me. My girls! I didn't realize till now how much I missed them!

"I saw the video. You were so cute!" Penelope says.

"Yeah, but next year bring us too! Not just Orion!" Andy says.

I laugh and apologize and we walk over to a cafe to order some drinks and talk.

Penelope, the tallest and thinnest of us, shows off her figure with a white dress as tight as mine, if not tighter. I think she looks sort of like a classy mummy, especially with her long, thick black hair and shimmering gold jewelry, and I'm sure that's exactly the look she was going for.

Andy is much more colorful. She goes for a different color scheme every day. Today she's purple. Purple pants, purple top, shoes, lips, eyeshadow and lashes, nail polish, and even hair. It must be exhausting but she always pulls it off and looks fabulous. The times when we sleep over at her house she's always in a transitional state.

Daphne, the quiet one of our group, loves to blend in. I don't know where she does, but she always manages to find some hole in the wall store where she buys earthy, dull colors that match her brown hair. She's one of the only people I know who doesn't dye her hair and I love her for it. She never changes, kind of like Orion, and makes me feel safe and grounded.

"So how was it?" Andy asks.

"It was amazing! I got really into it. Seriously, you have no idea how many times I cried. It was the best reenactment ever!"

"I wish I could already go!" Andy says. "But my mom says not until the break!"

"Did you keep the outfit?" Penelope asks.

"Of course! Handmade by Cinna? I'm keeping it forever!"

"You should get him to design something for Daphne," says Penelope.

"Hey, I like my clothes."

"We do too," she reassured her. "But it's nice to change it up every now and then."

Daphne just took a sip of her tea.

"And the cave!" I continued. "It's so tiny and really, so romantic! No wonder they were kissing all the time in there! You can't help it! It would bring anyone together. Orion was so tender and he looked so sick that I almost believed he was really dying!"

I tear up just thinking about it.

"Oh, Helena," Penelope squeezes my hand. "Don't worry, it was just pretend."

"Yeah, but I understand, it must have been rough, even with the fun," Andy says.

As time passes by, I realize that it's dinnertime and almost invite them over to my house, but I'm too embarrassed to, what with the rationing. Luckily, Andy invites us to her place instead. I let my mother know and when we're seated at dinner I see that her family has not skimped out on anything at all.

I knew Daddy was being over the top, I think, as I cut into my steak.