I'm so excited about Catching Fire. Have any of you seen the trailer? I had to rewatch The Hunger Games after I saw the trailer, it made me so excited!

Mari pounds on my door. I open my bleary eyes and crawl out of bed. Today is the day of my interview. My prep team is there immediately. They begin to clean me and wax me and beautify me in painful ways. They let me wear normal clothes to breakfast, but as soon as I come back, they force me to get undressed again, so they can continue their work.

In another few hours, I'm ready for Aliana to see me. She comes in and does my hair. She makes it intricate but recognizable. The locks fall in curls around my shoulders and she adds lavender jewels to bring out the dark brown of my hair that is so unusual for District 1. My dress in lavender to match the jewels in my hair and my shoes are lavender sandals that lace up to my mid-calves.

When I take my seat behind the stage, I remember that for this, I have to go first. Me, then Ares, then Vincent. I feel uncomfortable not being next to both the boys from my district and I look forward to going back to my soft bed without all the capital people watching to see what I'll say about killing and dying.

Florence begins to talk to the audience. I tune out but my name catches my attention. "And now let's hear from Crystal Baker!" I shakily stand up. My palms are already sweating and I feel shocked at my nervousness. Florence is a really cheerful person and nothing I say will matter. I'm going into the arena, I already have an alliance, and what capital citizen doesn't like a good career?

I walk onto the stage and smile at the numerous capital citizens who spent both my parents' yearly salary to get here, to see me answer a bunch of ridiculous questions. "Hello, Crystal," Florence greets me.

"Hello, Florence."

"You've got a brilliant dress on, why don't you tell us about it?"

"My amazing stylist, Aliana, made it. I absolutely love it! As you might know, it's rare to have dark hair in District 1, and the gems really bring out the rarity in my hair. I love being unique."

"Winning the Hunger Games would make you unique. Do you have any strategy planned?"

"Well, Florence, I'm obviously going to be a career. And let's just say that I have a skill worthy of the career pack."

"What's this skill?"

"You'll just have to wait and see what I can do. But if you sponsor me, you can keep me alive and maybe see more of it." There. That should get me something.

"Spoken like a victor. And I'm sure I speak on behalf of Panem that we'd like to see this amazing skill."

"And I would love to have the honor of another interview with you, Florence."

She laughs. "You flatter me."

The buzzer goes off. I walk back to my seat. "Let's hear it for Crystal Baker!" Florence's voice carries over backstage where the tribute chairs are. "And our next tribute is Ares Killian." Ares walks on stage. I scoot over a chair and lay my head on Vincent's shoulder. I need a little extra energy. Just thinking about the Games worries me. I'm not the usual bloodthirsty, trained-since-they-were-born career.

Ares finishes, so I scoot back over and let Vincent take his turn. The interviews finish much faster than I thought they would. When we go back to our rooms, Aliana helps me get the jewels out of my hair and I strip off the dress. I put on a pair of comfortable capital pajamas for what could be the last time. My eyes flutter closed in a really feminine way and I wonder if I'll ever get out of this. Will I ever get married? Will I ever have kids? Will I ever see District 1 again? Will I go home with Vincent and Ares? Too many grave thoughts fill my mind as I fall asleep. I shouldn't be here. Why am I here?

-Theuglyduckling492