"Is everything sorted out?" Danielle asks. We nod.

"Dale!" Danielle yells. A man that looks like he's in his early twenties walks into the main room and sits down next to Danielle.

"Hi, I'm Dale, your trainer," he says, introducing himself. "I won the Hunger Games five years ago when I was eighteen. I'm here to help you through the processes before the Games begin and to give you tips on how to win."

He pauses before asking us how we feel about it all. Nick speaks up first.

"Well, it isn't a very pleasant feeling," he says. "We're probably much worse than the other tributes."

"We'll probably only have these few days to live," I mutter.

Everyone looks at me.

"That's not true," Dale says. "Not only do you have to kill, but you have to be good at survival. You two seem smart enough. You should be fine in that aspect. The only area I'm worried about at the moment is how you will defend yourself and kill others."

"You two should pair up together and look out for each other," adds Danielle. "This year there will be an announcement at the opening ceremony tonight. As your trainers we have the opportunity to tell you or keep it a secret until it is revealed publicly tonight. We have decided to tell you beforehand. This year the game makers are allowing two victors from the same district."

"So does that mean if we stick together, Nick and me, we could win?" I ask.

"It strengthens your chances of winning," Dale replies. "To be able to do this you will both have to agree on whether or not you will defend each other and help each other through tough times. I will leave that decision up to you and you can discuss it after. Now I have a few questions for you both privately. They're sort of like a little test on your survival skills."

I leave the room with Danielle. We go to the second main room and close the door.

"Dale will ask the questions as he's your trainer," Danielle says. "I want to know what's going on."

I'm silent, I can't possibly tell Danielle. She wouldn't understand. Maybe she would. Maybe she can help me.

"I'm also here to talk to you about any problems you may be having," she says. "Like a counsellor."

"Nick just confessed something before." I say. The words hardly come out. It feels so weird talking about it, probably because I've never talked to anyone about any of my problems. Suddenly it all comes out at once.

"Isn't that good?" she asks.

I nod in agreement and then say, "I just don't know how to act."

"Act like yourself, do what you want," is all Danielle tells me. "So, how do you feel about killing people?"

"I don't want to kill people," I reply. "If it came down to killing someone to save my life, yeah, I guess I would try and kill them. I don't really have much chance of living though. The other tributes are probably much stronger and smarter than me."

"You've got Nick though," Danielle reminds me.

"He can't protect me all the time. It wouldn't be fair. I don't expect him to risk his life for me. And what would happen if he's badly injured and someone comes to kill us? I'll have to defend him and

I'll barely stand a chance. I would be putting both his and my life in danger."

"Okay," Danielle says. "There is a chance of both you and Nick winning. Just try your best and I'm sure that you'll work out some strategies to win. You need to know about how the next couple of days are going to go before we move onto anything else. This afternoon we will arrive at the Capitol and you will have a professional team of stylists to dress you up for the opening ceremony tonight. That will take a couple of hours. After the ceremony you will be escorted to your floor of the tributes tower. Because we are district twelve we have the top floor. We will then watch the reaping's before getting some rest for tomorrow. We will wake you at about eight in the morning but feel free to wake up earlier. You will then have a full day of training. Tomorrow night will be free to discuss how to survive in the arena. The next day you will still have training in the morning and then the personal training sessions in the afternoon. Then you will be prepared for the final ceremony where they hold interviews. You will have to try and answer the questions as thoroughly as possible. The next morning you will be taken to the arena and in the afternoon the Hunger Games will start."

My stomach lurches as I start calculating.

"I've only got about three days to live," I whisper.

"You've got your whole life to live if you win," Danielle reassures me, but it doesn't work.

"That's the thing," I say. "I won't win."

The room goes silent. Then Danielle whispers in my ear "I know you can."

Just then Nick comes in.

"Dale wants to see you," he says flatly. The conversation they had must of been pretty bad if he seems so, different, not himself.

I walk out into the room Dale's in and sit down. The door automatically shuts behind me.

"I have a few questions for you," he says. "These are survival and fighting questions, to see how I think you will cope in the games. If you had no food, what would you do?"

I swallow hard and then tell him my answer. "I would make sure that I was as far away as I could be from another tribute that would kill me. Then if I had a weapon that could be used for hunting I would attempt to use it. If I had no weapon I would try and make a net or a trap from resources in the arena."

"If you were in a forest arena, what would you do to try and find out what was going on elsewhere?"

"I don't know. Listen for any signs of fighting, or even footsteps coming my way. Wait, I could just climb a tree and hide myself while I'm up there. Then I could get a pretty good view of what's going on."

"Would you make allies with anyone?"

"I'd probably make allies with Nick. If there are some nice people in training I might possibly make allies with them. I wouldn't make allies with the Careers, you know, districts one, two and four. For all I know they could be pulling me into a trap."

"If someone came running up to you with a knife, what would you do?"

"I would try and stay calm and find something to block it. Then I would run and try and block the knife if they threw it. If I had a weapon, when the knife was out of their hands I'd try and kill them with the weapon."

"Good, from what you've told me you'll be pretty good at surviving out there," Dale says. "I doubt you'll be one of the first tributes gone. You might even win. We all know you're capable."

This comment makes me feel a bit better. Suddenly I hear shouting. I wonder what's going on. Danielle and Nick come and join us. Nick looks as clueless as I am but Danielle and Dale seem to know what's going on. We look outside and then realize. We've arrived at the Capitol. We go over to the window and start waving.