DO YOU EVER HAVE ON OF THOSE MOMENTS when somebody else is more enthusiastic about an idea than you are?

Aphrodite stands in front of me excitedly, and I cannot really respond to her idea at all.

"An actress?" I splutter. I really don't know what else to say. Aphrodite nods and her brilliant blue eyes sparkle. She is so excited that she cannot stay still.

"Yes! Can't you just see it," she says grinning. I don't really know how to put my head around it.

No, I cannot make out what she sees.

I blink twice. "What do you mean by...actress, exactly?"

"Well, you can convince people, right?" Aphrodite says. "I can see it right now in the training centre," She looks out to the distance and I try to follow her gaze. "You've fallen onto the ground, helpless and weak-"I cringe a little at the thought"-and with one swipe from your opponent you could be gone. They raise their weapon, about to swing...

"Then you start screaming in alarm! And they panic and...are you imagining this?" I frown and nod. I can imagine it, and I don't think I like it. "And then, your opponent turns around and at the last minute...-"Aphrodite has a pregnant pause to add to the dramatic effect. I wait for the ending, hoping I will understand her imagery more.

She makes hand gestures indicating explosions. "-BOOM! You lash out and defeat them!" She finishes, beaming at me.

I stare at her blankly. She is painting a large image there, an image that I still do not really understand. It doesn't help that she keeps adding random colours to the picture; what might look like a masterpiece to her looks like a big jumble of colourful ideas to me.

However, she does seem enthusiastic at working and at least she actually has an idea of what to do with me. Although I don't see the overall painting yet, I still nod and pretend to show the same eagerness.

I clear my throat. "Well that does seem very...different. But may I ask, uh, how is this similar to convincing people?" I ask. Aphrodite points a finger at me and nods.

She sits back down and crosses her legs. "My dear, that is a very good question," Her eyes look at me seriously. "What are you doing to the opponent?"

"Making them panic?"

She tilts her head to the side a little. "Yes...but no. What are you actually doing?" I bite my lip, was this some sort of trick question?

Screaming? I want to say, but I know that it is not the correct response, or the answer to her question to be exact. If she thinks that I'm following through with her, I'm actually not. I frown and rack my brain for more thoughts. Acting like I am scared? Trying to scare them?

Trying to imitate the sound of a battle cry?

I purse my lips together and give her look telling her I have no clue where she is coming from. Aphrodite sighs.

"You're pretending to be scared, aren't you?"

Yes, I get that part.

"But what are you scared of?"

I frown, still unsure. Aphrodite sighs again and gets up.

"Nothing!" she exclaims. "You're scared of nothing! Because there is actually nothing behind them that is scaring you."Her answer doesn't make anything clearer. She places her hands on her hips."You're acting like there is, but there isn't! And that makes them turn around even though there isn't anything there, which means..." She gestures, trying to encourage me to finish off the sentence.

"Which means...that I am convincing them that there is something behind them!" I say catching onto I know I've finally gotten something right because Aphrodite beams at me and says "Exactly." Her painting is still unclear, but I am starting to get the picture.

"I just know that you can pull this off," She says while ordering some food for herself. I fiddle with my hands for a few minutes before remembering about the upcoming interviews.

"Aphrodite?" It's the first time I have actually addressed her with that. I realise that I've only ever called out to her by other things like 'Ms', and saying her first name out loud seems strange to my own ears. I feel like I should be calling her something else other than just 'Aphrodite'.

However she seems unfazed at me calling her by that name, and she turns around as she holds a cup of tea in her hands. "Yes Piper?"

"When will the interviews be held?"

She puts a hand on her hip and tilts her head slightly. "Well you have at least a week of training sessions...and then you have the examination..."

I bite my lip. "Examination for what?"

"Oh every tribute has to do it," she says. "You'll just be scored on how well you battle in a little test that the game makers put up and all the tributes get put into two teams that go against each other."

That means there'll only be six people per team.

I feel as if that amount of people isn't enough, but I suppose they expect you to be strong enough to not have others to help you. So in the game maker's eyes, six people might be too many for us. I just hope I'm not on the opposing team of the victors or career tributes.

"And then the interview will be after that?"

"Yes," she sips her tea. I stare at the cup in her hands. My mother used to drink tea.

I once wanted to try some and she let me, but I hated it. It had been flavourless and I had asked her how she could have liked it. She had laughed and said that I would like it one day, maybe not now but when I'm older.

"Why?" I asked looking up at her.

"Because you will learn to grow into things more as you mature," she said stroking my hair softly. I didn't know what mature meant, but it sounded like a big word. I wondered what it was like to be 'mature'. It sounded pleasant. "And when you do like it we can have a little 'tea-party' together," she smiled. "That would be nice, would you like that?"

I beamed back at her. "I would!"

We never did have that 'tea-party', but I can just imagine what it would look like. Nothing too fancy, but mother would have set out her best tea set of blue. We could have some lovely fruit and sit down together on the porch of our house, seated on two old chairs and a little table. And I can see my mother smiling and offering me some tea.

Aphrodite stops drinking from her cup. She must have seen me looking at it because she offers me some, "Would you like some tea?"

It takes me a moment to register back into reality. "I would." I say.

She hands me another tea-cup with some intricate floral design on it, very fancy indeed. She also puts some fresh berry muffins onto the table which I take. We have our little snack in silence, because I'm too busy in my own thoughts and Aphrodite doesn't make any attempt to start a conversation. I am satisfied with the taste of the berry muffins so I decide to eat another one, but the cup of tea remains full.

My mind travels back to my mother's words. 'Mature'. I knew what it meant to act mature, but I didn't know what it was like to be mature. I know everybody tells me that I am, but do they really know that? I suppose that if I see that I have gotten used to things then I must be a proper grown up.

So looking at Aphrodite as she drinks from her cup, I drink too. The tea is still warm, but I find it rather tasteless despite the amount of sugar I have added to it. It's still bland and I don't like it all.

I suppose that it might be as well if I don't like tea, but there's only one thing that comes to my mind. I still feel like I haven't matured. I still haven't grown into things. And with that it leads me to the conclusion that I only know to act mature, not be it.

So I have already passed the test, act and pretend to be something you're not. Maybe Aphrodite was right, I can pull this off. I might have more skill to this and I just underestimated myself. Maybe I really can do this, because it does seem like a really good plan.

Though I don't really know about the idea of being something that I'm not. But then what other choice do I have? It seems like this is the only thing that might keep me alive and if not it might help to make me seem more , taking another quick glance at my mentor, I sip my tea...

Pretending that I am enjoying the taste even if I still find it a little bland.

Yeah go ahead and sue me, I know I didn't update soon enough -_- but in my defence, I had a lot of assignments and yearly tests to take! I promise you it will never happen again!...but if it does, please note that I only delay things if something is very important

I think I can let you in on a tiny spoiler: Jason comes in chapter 10. Hehe, not going to say anything else

BYE!