They finally walked out of our room feeling like the whole world is much better. I was happier… I had a reason to live and more importantly, a reason to die. I'll either live to see the revolution and take place in it and see it succeed, and be happy with Annie and our child one day, or I'll die protecting Katniss Everdeen and helping her to change this country, and one day Annie will find another man and she'll have a child and a family, and who knows, maybe I can keep Mags alive in the arena too until they send their hovercrafts.

I memorize Plutarch's plan.

Today I have to appear to Katniss Everdeen just like everyone in Panem knows me. Not the real me that my family and my district's people know, but rather the disgusting creature Snow created: The capitol's playboy who looks at women seductively and speaks to them with a seductive purr, and who probably runs around shirtless the whole day. And that until we get into the arena, then I'll be only me, I'll protect the girl who gives this country a hope. Me appearing like just another pretty boy and the others also acting normal to her was part of the plan of making her feel like nothing is wrong… nothing is going on.

Mags, Beetee and Wiress of district 3, the two morphling addicts from district 6, my friend Johanna and Blight of district 7, Cecelia and Woof of district 8 and Chaff and Seeder of district 11, know about this plan and they're with me. Our plan is simple: Katniss Everdeen is the most important one, is the mockingjay, but the rebels' plan also revolves protecting me and Peeta Mellark. Alma Coin, the president of district 13, who I know now to exist underground of the old one, decided that Katniss is the head of the rebellion, and Peeta Mellark plays a double role, as long as he is protected Katniss will go along with the plan, but also he's smart and he can be convincing in front of the cameras, he'll probably be our man in the media. I'll play the role I played in my district: One of the people who suffered the most and every time the people will hear my story, their rage towards the cruelty I met will lead them on. Katniss and Peeta themselves, though, do not know of the plan.

After the three men leave, Senthia enters my room.

-"Hello Senthia."

-"Hello, Finnick. You're good?"

-"Couldn't be better. Preparing to meet death like a gentleman."

She looks at me with sorrow. Senthia Brooks is 41 this year. She was my stylist once and we saw each other every year when I was a mentor, and here she is; my stylist again. Can't say we're friends, yet there is a bond between us. She is not a bad woman; like that Cinna, she's simpler than most capitol people.

-"I'm sorry, Finnick." She whispers.

-"I on the other hand, am not. Death is a much better fate than some other things."

She knows about my forced prostitution.

-"Yes… of course. Okay, shall we start?"

-"Sure."

-"We're preserving the pretty boy aspect." I understand this phrase immediately… it was said to me only 10 minutes ago by Plutarch Heavensbee. It means one thing: Senthia knows, and she's on our side.

-"Okay. How?"

-"Put this on." She throws at me… a huge golden net.

-"And what else?"

-"Just this." She says and blushes.

-"Ugh Senthia… this is disgusting, I'm sorry."

-"Believe me I wouldn't put you in this if it was my choice. Now, I'll get out of here and you tie it around your… waist area… until you feel like it's appropriate." She's still blushing.

I smile, amused. In the first time Senthia was my stylist, I was a child, so it was easy for her to be professional. Now I'm not only 24, but also a legend of being a sex symbol has been drawn around me it's so hard to work professionally around my naked body.

She's out of the room and I take my clothes off. I stand in front of the vertical mirror and look at my body… the reason behind my curse. Why couldn't I be repulsive? I hate my body.

I go to the bathroom and take a warm shower dropping the sorrows and despair of the last few weeks away… I dry my body and my hair and finally get out of the bathroom and stare at the net. That's disgusting! I can't even put on some underwear! Whatever I do with that net some parts will still be showing! I sigh really loud and start tying it around my waist.

I tie it around my waist for minutes and still feel naked. Alright I give up… I call Senthia in and she looks at me and says," That's good."

-"It's awful! I feel naked!"

-"You're not naked. It's tied well around your hips."

-"I feel like a bimbo."

-"I know you and I know you're not a bimbo, but that's the image we're trying to draw, isn't it?"

-"Can I at least put on some underwear?"

-"This ruins the whole idea. You're not a good looking fisherman this time, you're purely and utterly a sex symbol."

I sigh. If it weren't for the cause of the rebellion that I draw a pseudo-image in the mind of Katniss Everdeen and everybody, I'd never wear this.

-"Just stand in your chariot and look around you with carelessness and power. Imagine that you're Poseidon passing by the people of the sea… they wave to him and cheer but he's just too powerful a man to show any care."

-"Yeah, kind of my thing, Poseidon. They don't allow weapons on chariots, am I right, Senthia? Because a trident would be perfect with this." I say and she laughs, although I'm kind of serious. A trident… my thing. It's the only thing that would make this outfit bearable to me.

I go to the ground floor of the remake center trying to be unnoticed in this… total and utter… scandal.

-"Hey Finnick! Gotta love your outfit, bro."

-"Shush… Johanna! I'm trying to be invisible. This is disgusting. I'm feeling like I'm going to be naked in front of a crowd."

-"Oh I wish it was me, darling, I could care less how much they see of my skin as long as I'm comfortable."

-"Oh, I bet they don't." I say, joking. Johanna is not repulsive… as a matter of fact she's not bad at all.

-"Very funny, Odair. Now be careful, you might catch cold."

-"Thank you very much. I'm trying to meet Katniss Everdeen. A fireplace would definitely minimize the cold, huh?"

-"Ah, fire girl. If only I had Cinna and Haymitch, four years ago, I'd be in her place by now."

-"I bet any designer is a much better idea than your miss Tree Dress."

-"You bet. Just go to the girl's chariot and do your thing. Ah, and one of those guards gave me those for the horses… have some. I don't care about their stupid horses, if we're going to die, I'll rip all the good things away from them before I get out of here."

Sugar cubes. Johanna Mason, I'm grateful. It's silly to say, but whenever I felt like the pressure was too much, I had some and tied knots, and I felt like the world is a little better. Today I'm happy, but I consider that horrible "outfit" some kind of pressure, so I take some from her.

-"Thanks, axe girl."

-"You're welcome, trident boy."

I walk to the chariot of district 12 trying to stay unnoticed. There is Katniss Everdeen… she'd just arrived, she too, although her outfit was not half as bad as mine, was trying to stay unnoticed.

Alright, let's pull the alter ego. I lay my body on her horse and start chewing a sugar cube, she turns around and sees me, uncomfortably close to her. I must look silly. With my fake seductive voice, I say, "Hello, Katniss."

It's as if I knew her for long… I feel like this girl was the person inside me for years… the rebel I longed to unleash but preferred to protect the people I love. I would never regret that choice, though.

This time, she was in a completely black outfit and half a black crown, this time, her make up was not simple or girly, it was that of a charmer: Her eyes surrounded by black shadows given extra attraction. Well done, Cinna.

-"Hello, Finnick." She says. She was trying to be casual and simple, but I saw deep discomfort in her eyes.

-"Want a sugar cube?" I offer to her, not telling her the effect they can have on the feelings. After all I'm trying to pretend I'm a person who cares for nobody's feelings.

-"They're supposed to be for the horses, but who cares? They've got years to eat sugar, whereas you and I ... well, if we see something sweet, we better grab it quick." This is only my own version of what Johanna just said.

-"No, Thanks. I'd love to borrow your outfit sometimes, though."

Shame.

Isn't she kind of too young for such an outfit and make up? I'm sure there's more to that outfit than it looks… I'm sure because I know Cinna. This is going to be her next fire outfit, no doubt. So what are you, Katniss Everdeen? Are you really the fire girl everyone in the districts is ready to follow or is it just the wits of Cinna and Haymitch?

"You're absolutely terrifying me in that getup. What happened to the pretty little-girl dresses?" I say it and I wet my lips with my tongue a bit. Ugh… I must look like a prostitute. But isn't that exactly the effect we want?

I notice a bit of disgust in her eyes and I can understand why. I look like a prostitute.

-"I outgrew them."

Alright, let's reach for the next disgusting level. I hold her collar with my fingers and say, "It's too bad about this Quell thing. You could have made out like a bandit in the Capitol. Jewels, money, anything you wanted."

I say it, dropping my expectations: If she's not killed by the capitol earlier to avenge all the trouble she'd caused, and of course, if there was no plan to rescue her from the arena, one day she'd be just like me: Forcibly sold in order to protect her sister she volunteered for, her parents of they're not dead and that hunter who held her sister back at the reaping, they tried to convince people he's her cousin but who is this stupid, really? And maybe even the Mellark boy, if she does have the slightest feeling for him, even a fraternal feeling.

She understood what I meant. Yet, she doesn't know I was forced. Perhaps she thought I was saying she'd do that by her choice in order to earn more money.

"I don't like jewels, and I have more money than I need. What do you spend all yours on, anyway, Finnick?"

I remember every time I was offered any money from someone. I refused; I'd rather die than have something from them. I asked for their secrets, instead, and now I know much, much more than Coriolanus Snow would allow me to.

"Oh, I haven't dealt in anything as common as money for years."

-"Then how do they pay you for the pleasure of your company?"

It kind of broke my heart and offended me… but no, I started this, and she only doesn't know. One day, she'll be told. One day, she'll know she was wrong about me.

-"With secrets." I tell her the truth. Now, next level.

I lower my head to reach to her length, making my lips and hers really close. Fine, let's pretend I'm seducing her.

-"What about you, girl on fire? Do you have any secrets worth my time?"

She blushes, and I'm laughing on the inside. I hate to be like that to her, but it's still kind of funny. I remember her avoiding Mellark's naked body in the arena, and it makes it funnier.

"No, I'm an open book, everybody seems to know my secrets before I know them myself."

Right, girl on fire. Right now, there is a plan to rescue you, your lover, me and some others from the arena to lead a rebellion, and all you know is nothing. For how accurate what she said was, I smiled.

"Unfortunately, I think that's true." She has no secrets for me, after all. I look aside and there comes Peeta Mellark in a similar ensemble.

"Peeta is coming. Sorry you have to cancel your wedding. I know how devastating that must be for you."

I say it from the heart and I know it's been devastating… for Mellark, not her. He loves her, but I don't think she loves him back. I know it's devastating for Mellark because I had to do the same one day: put my life… my happiness on hold in order to be a part of somebody's plan.

I walk away eating another sugar cube knowing she must hate my guts by now. And Mellark… he must have thought I was trying to steal her away or something.

I walk to see Mags and Johanna talking. They're the only two people I'm truly comfortable with here. Johanna is dressed as the usual tree, and Mags is wearing a wide mermaid dress that looked old fashioned but elegant. It was golden to match with my net.

-"How'd you do with fire girl?"

-"Awful. She hates my shadow. God, standing there and talking like that… maybe there is a little bit of a prostitute inside me after all."

Johanne laughed, but Mags looked at me with pity. She knew I joke about what saddens me the most.

Mags looks much better than before now that she knew the rebels' plan to rescue me. She's probably hoping for the same as me: One day I'll get a happy life… my own "Happily ever after" with Annie. Now she has a reason to die for. What she doesn't know is that I intend to keep her safe in the arena too if I could. This woman gave me her life… it would be only a despicable thing to do to let her die in order to protect myself.

-"And what do you think of her?"

I think for seconds.

-"I think she's got much more fire than anybody thinks."

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

For the next days, I was trying to know Katniss Everdeen better and better. In the training center, I waved my trident and hit my targets with it with no real effort. A trident is a part of me… it obeys my brain just like my hands or my feet do. This is it, really since the day Annie's father made me my first one. I trained with knives and spears sometimes, but the trident was different. Also I spent a lot of time at the edible plants' section; I know my own skills, but who knows what the arena will be like?

As for tying knots, I was even better. I once turned my head to see Katniss Everdeen try for what felt like an hour to solve one, it was an easy knot I did several times, but maybe not for someone from another district. I stood behind her and put my arms around her, finishing the knot in a minute. Trying to look more sarcastic as she turns around to look at me, I pick up another piece of rope, and do a more complicated knot and tie it as a noose, and pretend to hang myself with it to amuse her. How much does that reflect my desire to die? Not much, not that I finally got a hope in life.

She walks away rolling her eyes. I laugh after she walks. I think it's working right till now.

I walk to Mags in the archery section and say, "Yeah, I wish the same too."

-"What?"

-"To be able to shoot arrow like fire girl? Maybe she'll teach me sometimes."

-"You're still doing good with her?"

-"Couldn't be better. Or should I call it worse?"

Mags laughs. Hours later, we went to lunch. I sat with Mags and Johanna and exchanged a few sentences. And hours after lunch, I introduced Mags to Katniss and left them alone. From the look of it, Katniss loved Mags much more than me. It seems to me Mags wasn't told to fake a personality to Katniss.

It wasn't long before Katniss went to the archery section. I started watching her; the fixed targets seemed like no challenge at all, so the trainers started launching fake birds for her to shoot. She was terrific. Eventually everybody stopped what they were doing and started watching her like I was.

One of the following days, I went to her in the archery section.

-"So, girl on fire…"

She turns to me, looking startled even before I really open my mouth. Whoa, I've been awful, it seems.

-"You were fantastic with that shooting." I say, smiling. I find no reason for constantly mocking her. She must trust me at least.

-"Thank you." She said, still cautious.

-"Any chance for me to get an hour of your time? I've mastered trident and a lot of other things, except bow and arrow. If you do, I'll teach give you an hour of trident training."

-"Sure." I'm not sure if she's starting to trust me or she just wanted to explore a new field: My trident.

The final day came fast and I'd prepared nothing special for the game makers, I'll just shoot a few targets with my trident. I go in there and there is a target shaped as a human. "Take that, Snow" and I shoot. I do it only for 15 minutes and go out. It was pretty good, though; I didn't miss once.

I follow Mags back to our place, and there she sat with Senthia and our district's escort, Elize.

-"So, what did you do?"

-"Some trident. You?"

-"Knots and fishhooks. I don't think it really knocked them down."

I laugh. Mags talents are very useful, but not too impressive to people like the game makers… people who want gore and death. Well maybe except Plutarch Heavensbee, if he wants all this to stop then he must be a little better than the others to say the least, right?

Minutes later, came Haymitch Abernathy. But before he enters, he orders Elize who opened the door for him to get him a bottle of wine. She seems irritated but she does it.

-"Hello, everybody."

-"Hey Haymitch."

-"So, Finnick, I needed to talk to you really quick before she comes." I figure he's pointing to Elize; he must have sent her away on purpose, then.

-"Is there something wrong?"

-"Not really something wrong… just something you'll have to do for me."

-"Sure, what is it?"

-"From what Katniss has said to me till now, you've done your part quite well. She doesn't like you, she only thinks you're the pretty capitol boy. She won't trust you in the arena, she'll probably kill you from the first sight. But on the other hand, she trusts Mags."

I sigh. That seemed like an obvious flaw in our plan: How to get a girl to trust me in the arena if I keep acting stupid towards her?

-"Take this." Says Haymitch.

He hands me a golden bracelet. It wasn't just a bracelet… it was shaped as Katniss' famous Mockingjay pin… the sign of the rebellion.

-"This is mine. If you show it to her in the arena, she'll figure out you're her ally… you're trustworthy. She'll know I gave it to you and pre-arranged the alliance. I also asked Johanna Mason to help her, and you know Johanna, she was not comfortable with it but she agreed. Katniss wants Beetee, Wiress and Mags as her allies, so, whoever from the alliance will be capable of bringing them to her will. The others know what to do. Do you, Finnick?" He looks deep into my eyes.

I think for seconds and Mags looks at me in concern. Senthia looks down, with a similar expression.

I'm important, but Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are more important to the cause, and Mags is more important to me.

-"I'll guard your star crossed lovers with my life, Haymitch."

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.