Thanks you whoever my first viewer is! I want to get you to the good part, so I'll go ahead and give you this.

My parents open the door to my room. "We should have prepared you for this! I thought for sure someone would volunteer..." my father rants. My mother and I sit together just listening because we know he has to get it out of his system. When the peacekeepers come in, I give them one final hug and wave goodbye. I don't make any promises about coming home, but maybe Vincent and Ares can help me. We can all come home after all.

On the other hand, if I'm not helpful to them, they might not ally with me. It's not like they know me. Tributes have refused to ally with their district tributes before. I'll just have to find a skill. I did have a relative way back who was in the Hunger Games. She had been really good at throwing knives, but she didn't win.

I'm lead to the train station where there are a billion more cameras. I try my best to look brave, because I know no one will believe me if I try to look weak. I get on our luxurious train. Mari, Vincent, and Ares sit there as well as a man who I recognize as one of our past victors. His name is something like Lawrence, Lance, Lee... "Hi," he says, "I'm Liam Horace." I manage a weak smile. He's twenty five-ish and has an overpowering kind of personality.

"Nice to meet you," I say, "My name's Crystal." "I assume you know Vincent and Ares. They seem about your age," Liam continues. "No actually," I say, "I'm home schooled. I live across the district from everyone. My parents were the youngest people I knew until today." "Really?" Vincent joins in, "You're the kind of girl who catches a person's eye. I'm surprised I haven't ever noticed you around the district." "Well I'm never really around the square or anything," I say.

As we speak, I take in their appearances. Liam is tall with dark brown hair and a dark brown beard. He's really gruff looking, but his pale blue eyes have a spark of a kind personality. Ares is tall with bright blue eyes. His hair is pale blond, almost white. His features sharpen in just the right places, matching the compliment Mari gave him earlier. Vincent is shorter. He has red gold hair that's straight except for one little curl at the side of his forehead. Ares is obviously the more attractive one, but I'm more drawn to Vincent. There's something in his eyes, something that's trying to tell me something... "Crystal?" Vincent says, snapping me out of my reverie, "What are you looking at?" "Oh," I say, "Just looking at the train car."

We continue talking, sharing who we are, where in the district we come from. It turns out that Vincent and Ares don't know each other. They don't live near each other or have the same classes, so they're about as isolated as me. Here anyway. They do have friends back home.

Soon, lunch is served and we go to our rooms to check them out. We spend most of the time chatting about life. That evening after we all head to bed, I hear a knock at my door. I open it expecting to see an Avox or Mari. But there stands Vincent. "Sorry if I woke you up," he whispers, "But I have to ask you something."

My heart begins to race. I can't explain why. I've never felt like this before, but my giddiness prevents me from doing anything other than letting him in to sit on one of the plush capital chairs. "So what's on your mind?" I ask.

"I've been worried about the games. I mean, I've trained my whole life and I was planning on volunteering this year anyway, but I feel like I need some strategy."

"Oh," I say. I feel a wave of disappointment wash over me.

"So I figure we ally with Ares. That way, maybe we can all come home."

"Vincent," I start.

"So what do you think Crystal?"

"I like it, but-"

"Good, so we can ally with the other careers and-"

"Vincent! Don't you think it's a little early to plan? And don't we need Ares anyway?"

"Well, we do, but I was hoping we could talk just between us. I thought you wanted to."

"I do, but I don't want to talk about strategy. We've been put in an awful situation and I don't want to think about it more than I have to. I want to talk to you about things like you, not the Games."

Vincent comes over to sit next to me on the bed. He runs his fingers through a lock of my hair and a feel a jolt of excitement followed by goosebumps even though it's warm in my room.

"Crystal, I really like you and that's why I'm strategizing. I want us to be able to come home together."

"Okay," I murmur.

"I guess we should be off to bed then," Vincent says. He kisses my forehead and walks out the door.

"Wait!" I frantically whisper.

"Yeah?" he asks.

"Don't tell anyone you came in here," I warn.

"Of course not. This is our little secret."

As he walks away, I stare after him. I crawl under the covers and think about how, since it's the first time I've met anyone I'm not related to under sixty, it went really well.

Vincent's face swims around my mind while I fall asleep and I dream of being home again with him by my side.

Check out my poll about the Hunger Games. -Theuglyduckling492