"So quiet. Is this dress not to your liking, Girl on Fire?" Cinna asked me, offering me a small smile. I returned the smile, gracious for his support. Cinna knew me well, and the fact that he could tell how I was feeling no matter what made me smile.

"I love the dress, Cinna. It's more beautiful than I could ever dream, as always," I said, holding my dress' skirt with an even larger smile on my face.

"But?" he asked.

"But… it's almost here again. And it's just now hitting me that I'm going to die," I responded softly, my head lowering itself.

"Is that all, Girl on Fire?" Cinna questioned me, rearranging some of my curls. I glanced at the dress, unable to look Cinna in the eye. The dress was my wedding dress. It was cruel of the President to "request" that I wear it, but I couldn't complain. That would mean a worse death in the arena than the one they probably already had planned out for me.

The dress had poofy sleeves and a poofy skirt, and I felt like a princess in it. But it reminded me too much of when I found out Peeta was faking his love for me. And it reminded me of how unsure I had been. How unsure I became even now when I thought about it too much.

"The dress…"

"He loves you, my Girl on Fire. Just tell yourself that, and believe it," Cinna muttered, still musing over my hair. "Don't spin until I tell you to."

"Okay, Cinna, but why?"

Cinna grew angry. "It is not fair, Ivy. None of this is fair, and you deserve so much better," he said. "I'll meet you out there after the interview."

With that, Cinna left the room. My shoulders slouched forward in sorrow over him leaving. Why did he leave me? He knew that this was when I needed him most. And his anger frightened me. I wasn't scared that he would hurt me, but I feared that he might get himself hurt. I didn't think things would end well for him if he went around telling the Capitol people that these Games were "unfair".

I glanced at myself one more time in the mirror before walking myself down to where the tributes met before interviews. I stopped in the doorway, my mind flashing back to the interviews before my last Games. I had been so different then. I was wearing a beautiful dress and worrying over tripping. And I was frightened about telling the world about my crush on Peeta. Cato had walked up to me, and Peeta had touched my arm as he dragged me away from Cato.

Sometimes I forgot about Cato. Forgot that he was dead. It was easier to pretend like those people had never existed instead of deal with the horrors surrounding their memory, but now that I was reentering the Games, all those memories began to flood back.

"Hello, Ivy. Love the dress."

"Thanks, Finnick," I muttered, my voice cracking against my will.

"Are you ready for these lousy interviews to be over already?" Finnick asked me, crossing his arms over his chest that seemed to want to break free of his tight white shirt. "All these people already know us, right? We should just enter the arena tonight."

"No," I replied too quickly.

"Oh? Are you scared, Girl on Fire?" Finnick asked me, trying to keep his tone joking. I could easily sense the heaviness in his tone that he was trying to hide. He was worried?

"I'm terrified," I said without shame, looking him in the eye. I saw Finnick's eyes glance over my shoulder, and I turned around to see Peeta speaking with Johanna behind us. I looked back to Finnick, who was glancing at me with a sad smirk on his face.

"Should we join them?" he asked softly.

"I… uh…" I stammered out as Finnick grabbed my arm and tugged me towards them. I didn't want to speak to Peeta. I had just started to trust him, but it was hard when I could see him standing so close to the girl that had stripped in front of him.

"So, Katniss? She shoots the arrows too?" I heard Johanna ask Peeta.

"Yeah, she does. What about you? Any friends back home?"

Johanna smirked at Peeta, "Not anymore."

"Oh, boo hoo, Johanna. Just because you've scared off your last sixteen boyfriends," Finnick joked. Johanna turned to glare at him, but in a friendly way that only she could do. She told Finnick to go screw himself before looking at me. Her glare deepened when her eyes rested on my dress. Was she jealous of it?

"Your stylist made you wear that?"

"Well, the president requested that I did," I muttered, suddenly feeling self-conscious. I crossed my arms over my body as I glanced at Peeta, who was blushing. His eyes glanced sideways at Johanna, and I found myself biting my lip very hard to keep from saying anything to him.

Johanna's hands reached up to fluff my sleeves. She looked me hard in the eye and said, "Make him pay for it." She then stomped away, brushing at her face as she went, leaving me confused.

"So, that's it, huh?"

I looked up at Peeta.

"That's the dress?" he asked. My eyes went from him to my dress then back to him. I realized that he wasn't looking at me. His eyes were distracted, fluttering.

"Yeah, this is it."

Finnick began to grow awkward next to me, as if he could sense tension between us. Suddenly he cried out, "Mags!" He jogged off to his fellow victor and gave her a large hug.

I looked back at Peeta, "Is something wrong?"

"We need to be very careful tonight," Peeta said. "Be as careful as possible, Ivy. Please."

"Alright, but why?" I asked.

"I can't say," he whispered.

"I can't believe you."

"What?" he asked, finally focusing on me.

"Why don't you trust me? You expect me to trust you when it comes to our relationship, but you and Haymitch can't trust me enough to tell me what's going on?"

"If you truly trusted our relationship, like I do, then you would trust that I'm doing the right thing keeping anything from you. I'm only trying to protect you," he snapped.

"You trust our relationship?" I asked. He nodded in response. My voice suddenly got very quiet as I whispered out, "When was the last time that you kissed me?"

Peeta's eyes grew wide. "Are we talking about this now?"

"When else am I supposed to talk about it?" I said, trying to stop tears from falling out of my eyes. "I'm going to be dead by tomorrow night!" Peeta grabbed my hand and pulled me to the side where there were a couple chairs for tributes. He sat us down, still holding my hand.

"Ivy, you know me, and I know you. You love me, and I love you. We kept each other alive last Games. We trusted each other."

"I know," I interrupted, finally finding the words to describe what I've been feeling this past week. And now that I found them, I was going to say them, "You saved my life. But this is a different kind of trust, Peeta. This trust is me not even knowing whether or not you love me because you're distancing yourself. I… I'm sensitive, and I'm incredibly weak. And I know I'm a lot to handle and not as attractive as Johanna. I'm very clingy, and I have a temper. But I love you, Peeta. And I was beginning to think that you maybe really did love me too."

"But, Ivy! I do love…"

"But you're actions aren't matching your words!" I said, tears sliding down my cheeks into my mouth. Finally I had realized why something wasn't right. Why I didn't trust Peeta. "And I think… I think that you have to prove it to me again that you love me. And I guess this is your lucky day if you don't love me…. Because I'm letting you go."

"Ivy, please! Just listen to me…" he started desperately.

"I'll try and act for the cameras. And I love you still," I leaned in and kissed his cheek, tasting salt from his tears. "But I can't just wait around for you and allow my heart to get broken by you day after day after day."

"Ivy, I do love you! I'm protecting you."

"No, I'm protecting me."

"Don't go."

"Then stop me," I said, standing up. "Tell me what's going on."

Peeta's eyes closed, and he sighed, "I can't."

"Good luck with your interview, Peeta," I cried as I walked away. His hand latched onto mine before I left and pulled me back onto the chair next to him. His hand reached up to my cheek, brushing the curls that Cinna had so carefully placed to the side.

"The last time I kissed you…" he started. I pursed my lips, waiting for his answer. After a moment of hesitation, Peeta leaned forward, pressing his lips against mine for a brief second. He pulled away, keeping his hand on my cheek. I wished I had kissed him back. I wished he had kissed me longer. I wished I had actual let him go instead of lying to him about how I felt, how I would always feel.

I kept my eyes closed and said, "It was before we were reaped. The last time you kissed me." I looked away before opening my eyes. "That was the last time."

I stood up and walked away, trying to remain smiling for the sake of the cameras, but I knew I wasn't fooling anyone. I looked utterly heartbroken; I could feel it in my whole being. Peeta was soon to follow me, being smart enough to know that the act wouldn't work if we didn't stick together. He held my hand, and we watched the interviews.

"Remember our interviews last year," he started, "when I was asked about Katniss."

"Of course I do," I answered.

"I never got to tell you about her, did I?' Peeta asked.

"It must've slipped your mind," I said, a little too harshly. Peeta chuckled a little. His hand squeezed mine tightly, though I kept my fingers loose in his. Why did it have to be him that I fell for? He makes everything so difficult.

"I was just too embarrassed to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"The day I kissed Katniss… well… that was the day I stopped seeing her," he said.

"What?" I exclaimed, finally looking him in the eye.

"Well, it was around then. That one day when you told me I could 'bother you again' was the day I realized just how much I liked you. I knew that I had feelings for you, but I didn't know the extent of them. Haymitch knew too. But I thought you were done with me. You ignored me so much, Ivy. So, I asked to be friends, thinking that would be best. You didn't seem to like that idea too much, so I assumed that you hated me. Haymitch would insist otherwise, but I never believed him." His eyes found mine. "What could an old drunk know about love?"

"More than we could both guess," I muttered. Finnick was going up for his interview at this point. Wild cheers were heard from the female citizens and a few males.

"On the train we seemed to reconnect, and I thought finally we could work it out. But then came the engagement. And Ivy, I would've married you right then on that stage or at that party. I still would marry you, right now. But after that night, you shut me out again. The hardest part was… I never knew why," he looked at me for a second. "And I was too frightened to ask you why." He sighed, "Then came all the Gale assumptions, and I thought we were done for. That's around when I started painting you. I had avoided it to that point, thinking that I would never need a painting when I could just look at you myself. But I had ended things with Katniss, and you seemed to have started with Gale."

"I never wanted Gale," I said loudly.

"Ivy, you've got to trust me. I've only ever wanted you from the first moment I talked to you."

My jaw clenched, and I remained silent. His words wouldn't win me over this time. I had heard enough of his lies to know what to trust.

"Ivy, can't you say anything?"

"I'm sorry, it's just… you've said all this before."

"But now you know the truth."

I let out a breath, trying to hide my tears again. "The truth? How do I know what the truth it? I know that you're a fantastic liar, so what is to say you're not lying right now?"

"Because you need to trust me! Ivy, if you love me and want to be with me, you have to stop acting like a child."

"Ah ha! Now I know that you're not lying there. You've only ever viewed me that way! You and Haymitch both!" At this point, I turned on him and poked him in the chest. Johanna was going up for her interview, and there were loud whistles and shouts from the Capitol audience. "Both of you have never trusted me enough to let me in on your plans! I'm not even a part of your team. Right now forget our relationship and just think about our friendship. How do you expect us to be friends when even the smallest things can't be shared? You two keep everything a secret from me!"

"Because in the long run, this will protect you!"

"From what?!" I screamed, not realizing how loud we were getting.

"Him!" Peeta whispered, his finger pointing at Snow on one of the big screens by where we were standing. My eyes grew large with fear and hatred.

"How will it…"

"I can't say anything."

I rolled my eyes.

"Ivy, I'm sorry."

"I am too."

Johanna came down from the stage, about to go sit in her seat in the audience. She glanced at us, and I knew she knew something was up. Glancing around at all the other victors, I could tell they all thought something was up too. Peeta and I needed to stop.

I leaned in close to him, whispering, "If you need to say anymore, do it later. Right now we're drawing too much attention."

Peeta's fingers stroked my cheek, his eyes holding my gaze. He smiled. "I think I've made myself clear. I think it's up to you now." My body shivered under his touch, something that it hadn't done in a long time. I felt my stomach bubble in an excited way, and I hated Peeta for making me love him like this.

I kept looking at Peeta until it was his turn to go onto the stage. Then I missed his presence next to me and wished that we had never met and that I had never fallen in love with a boy who would break my heart over and over again.

*A/N Sorry, I honestly hate this chapter, but I feel like it was crucial to the story to set up how Ivy and Peeta are around each other for the Games. Plus, I needed to set their feelings straight for me too, as I was wondering where their relationship was going. Well, anyways, don't give up on the story because of this chapter because I don't like it either.*