"She would never listen, she left it all and headed towards the light." — Imagine Dragons, Curse

Finnegan walks back into our district's apartment with a shaky, but triumphant smile. This warms me inside, he's certainly made my job of keeping him alive, a job I assigned myself, a little easier.

I can spend the rest of the day relaxing whilst we, we being me, Finnegan, Coco, Selene, Finnick, and Finnegan's stylist, mine was busy again, awaited the broadcast to the entire nation of Panem about all the tributes' training scores.

And so I do, spend the day relaxing, that is. It's the calmest I've actually felt since my name was pulled from that reaping bowl last Sunday.

I spend the afternoon lounging around, occasionally talking to Finnick, Coco or even Selene.

I don't see Finnegan all day, though, until a short while before the broadcast begins.

'Want to go to the roof?'

He seems to appear from nowhere and I jump from the slight shock.

'Wow, no need to scare me,' I sigh. 'But of course.'

Finnegan smiles and we both get the elevator to the 12th floor, then walk up the stairs to the roof.

'What is it with you and roofs?' I say and laugh.

'I used to sit on our roof a lot back at 4 and watch the sun go down on the horizon just above the sea.'

I nod. 'The sunset was lovely.'

'It was,' he looks around himself, at the tall skyscrapers that surround us, the bright lights which dazzle and colourful signs which line the buildings, most advertising the upcoming Games, encouraging citizens to take part in the Games and sponsor the tributes. I shudder.

'Why do you come up here, though? We're in the Capitol, not back home.'

He looks thoughtful for a few moments. 'That's true,' he says. 'But it's still the same sunset that they see from back home, at 4, isn't it? It's the same sun which warms my family back home, right?'

I tilt my head to the side. 'Well, yeah.'

'Exactly. It feels like as though I'm somehow, I don't know, connected to my family and friends back home by watching the sunset here. They are seeing exactly what I am.'

I take this into consideration. 'So, will you feel connected to them when you watch the training scores tonight? Because they will be.'

'No. That's different.'

'I understand what you mean a little.'

We don't speak for a while and just watch the sun dip lower and lower behind the huge, majestic buildings of the Capitol. The broadcast begins at half 7 so we still have a little time.

'Do you do this everyday?' I ask.

'Do what? Seek you out for a chat?'

'Well, no,' I grin and try not to blush, feeling stupid for blushing. 'Although you do seem to be doing that a lot since we've been here.'

'You're nice to talk to,' Finnegan says, and I can feel my cheeks heating up again, so I whip my head away, to glare instead at a potted plant beside us. 'But yes, I do come up here everyday that I can since we arrived to watch the sun.'

'Is it some routine of yours? Are you superstitious you'll get bad luck if you don't?' I still stare at the plant, afraid I'm as red as the tomatoes they eat so often here in the Capitol.

'I'm not superstitious, but I guess you could say it's routine by now. I've watched the sun go down every day now for a few years. I don't know how many.'

'That's cool,' I say. 'Why didn't you just come down to the beach instead of perching on your roof?'

'Oh, come on, everyone knew the small beach down where you always went was yours, Finnick and Annie's territory.'

'What? Really?' I ask, startled.

Finnegan laughs at my expression as I whirl around to face him. 'Of course!'

I turn back to see the sun's position, and notice it's nearly completely gone now, beneath our horizon.

'We'd better go in now, Coco'll have a fit if we miss the broadcast,' I say with a slight smile.

But as we make our way to our room I realise exactly how easy I find it to relax around Finnegan. Surely this is just a strategy of his, he's had it planned out with Selene, no doubt. Get the enemy to feel completely relaxed around yourself, then as soon as you're in the arena, STRIKE. I'm scared at how easily I've forgotten the situation I'm actually in, so I reassure myself of the deal I've made with myself.

Protect Finnegan.

For as long as possible.

Until you die.

Preferably suicide.

Preferably not using one of the Capitol's weapons.

Preferably, my own way.

I know that if I did commit suicide in the arena, the Capitol would try to cut it out. They'd view it as defiance, refusing to do things their own way.

Which is exactly what it shall be.

Exactly the way I want it to be.

District 1.

Jacob Hammersmith. The score of 11.

District 1.

Ruby Diamandis. The score of 10.

District 2.

Zamuel Loker. The score of 8.

District 2.

Thamilia Jacobs. The score of 10.

I'm about to switch off about there, Selene's making frantic notes anyway, not that I'll ever use them, nor will Finnegan. But then I remember the sly smiles exchanged between the District 3 tributes so frequently during training, and pay attention.

Both of 3 receive a mediocre score of 4, which makes me scratch my head.

What the heck have they got planned?

Are they pulling the "weak" technique?

Do they have hidden strength?

I remember what their district's trade is. Technology.

Will they be using this to their advantage?

We can only wait and see.

I can only hope at least one of them will give something away during the interviews tomorrow evening.

And now it's time for District 4.

'District 4,' Caesar Flickerman announces, and I feel a shiver run through me from my expectations. But what do I really expect? Well that's just another question to add to my list of questions I've wondered about, but will probably never obtain an answer to. You can't just look these things up in a book or something.

'Absidee Odair,' he says in what seems like the slowest voice I've ever heard. Is he drawing this out on purpose, making a meal of every syllable of my name, especially the 'Odair', or is it just me? I have no idea.

'The score of...' he hesitates for a moment, and I feel like I might scream from anticipation.

'9.'

'What?!' I say out loud.

Everyone seems extremely happy with me, although Selene seems to be plastering a fake smile onto her face. I want to tell her that she needn't worry, but I resist the temptation.

I'm so surprised with my score... a 10!

A 10!

The number 10 rolls throughout my head and I have mixed feelings, feelings of pride, among others. Emotions I can't even put a name to.

'Well done,' Finnick grins widely at me and slaps me on the back. It must seem to him that I must have some faith in myself to be able to put the effort in to get that score, instead of just standing like a stone in front of the Gamemakers. Or at least, that if I didn't have faith before, I would now. Faith that I could actually win these twisted Games.

And I have to admit, for a second after they announced my score, I felt like I could win. But then I realised I was just being selfish, and I had a promise to stick to. And if I ever did win these Games with Finnegan no longer breathing, I'd never be able to live with myself in peace. My conscience would nag and nag and nag until I finally snapped.

And then what would happen?

Caesar proceeds to announce Finnegan's score. He must've left quite a pause between mine and Finnegan's scores, as it feels like ages since my score was announced.

'Finnegan Goldsworth,' Caesar says. 'The score of... 9.'

I smile at him. That should gain us enough sponsors.

9 is a good score, and the average for a Career.

But I know that, like me, Finnegan only attended the mandatory training sessions back in 4, so a 9 is extremely good for us.

I go to sleep that night with one happy thought bounding across my mind.

Finnegan can win this.

He can win this.

Take care of my family.

Everyone will be okay.

Everyone will be just fine.