In contrast with Laurentia's agitation, Damien looks completely at peace when Simon finally forces us to come out of our rooms. He grins at me as we follow our mentor into the District Five common room.

"How'd it go?" he asks, raising his eyebrows a bit.

"They hated it, I think," I say with a shrug. "It's whatever."

Damien's smile fades a bit as he sees the look on my face. "Hey, it'll be fine," he says. "It's over now."

Simon beckons for us to sit next to him on the couch; in front of us is a large screen displaying the Capitol seal.

"Laurentia should be here," Simon sighs. "I'll go get her. She's not in a great mood."

"Laurentia was pissed when I came up here," I tell Damien as Simon leaves the room. "What did you do in there?"

"Well, the Gamemakers have no choice but to watch us no matter what we do," Damien says, laughing a bit. "So I just let them watch me destroy the whole place. I knocked all the racks over, flipped the tables, all that."

"Why would you do that?" I fume, trying but failing to contain my anger. "This was our one chance to impress them, Damien, and you ruined it!"

"I didn't ruin anything," Damien scoffs. "Did you see the look on Helvius' face? He was going to give us low scores no matter what we did."

I can't disagree with Damien on that one, but part of me still feels like the way I was treated by the Gamemakers is Damien's fault. I turn away to face the screen in front of us.

"What was Sienna planning on doing?" Damien asks me, trying to change the subject.

"She was going to make some animal traps and try some camouflage, I think," I sigh, thinking back to what Sienna told me this morning. "Why?"

Damien shrugs, turning his gaze to the screen in front of us. "Just want to make sure that she's still with us and all that. I just thought it was weird that she wasn't with us at lunch."

I close my eyes. Of course Damien saw through my lies at lunch; I knew he would. "Don't worry, Sienna should be solid," I say, and I hope that I'm telling the truth. There's nothing I can do about it now; it's in Casper's hands, really.

Damien sighs with relief. "Good," he says. "We need to keep her with us or we're in trouble."

I try to keep a smile from breaking out on my face. After spending so much time fighting to get this close to my brother, it feels so good to hear that he actually cares about our little group. Damien wants us to stay together just as badly as I do, and this is the first time I've heard him say it.

Part of me is wary, though. Why is Damien so afraid of Sienna leaving our group? It seems like he only included us girls in his group at first to appease Simon, so why have his feelings changed so much? I know that I've grown closer to Damien this week, but I can't necessarily say the same for Sienna.

Then I realize. Damien cares about Sienna because she's what ties Clay to this group we have. If Sienna leaves to be with Colby and Casper, Damien could be at risk of losing Clay, and that would be a bad situation for him. Right?

No, that can't be it. I'm overthinking everything now like I always do. Damien's worried about Sienna in the same way I am right now; she means a lot to both of us, especially me, and our alliance would be empty without her. That makes the most sense.

Finally, Simon returns with Laurentia, and just in time for the broadcast to start. Laurentia doesn't even glance in our direction as she sits at the far end of the couch.

"Good evening and welcome," The host begins. I recognize the man - it's Ross Carmichael, the Host of the Games. He's a sharp-dressed man, and he's had many female fans across Panem since he started as Host a few years ago. I remember that Martha, my boss back in Five, was a big fan of his, despite his obvious ties to the Games.

"I'm Ross Carmichael," Ross says with a broad smile on his face. "Thanks for tuning in to tonight's show. Now, many fans of the Hunger Games across the Capitol have been following this year's tributes very closely, but with little success! The only glimpse that we've gotten of this year's tributes were at the Tribute Parade, but there is no way to know which tributes have risen to the top of the pack. That is all about to change tonight. That's right: tonight, we will be revealing the scores of this year's Individual Assessments."

The tension in the room is palpable now; I glance over at Simon and I'm surprised to see such an intense look on his face. He's staring at the screen with his eyes narrowed; the tense expression on his face makes me nervous just looking at it.

"As we all know, each year the tributes are assessed by a team of Gamemakers to evaluate their abilities in survival and combat," Ross explains. "For the tenth year in a row, assessments were conducted by the immensely talented Helvius Athanasios, this year's Head Gamemaker."

I shiver a bit at Helvius' name. My fate is in his hands, and I know that he doesn't have kind plans for me.

"Tributes are assessed on a scale from One to Twelve, with Twelve being the best. With that being said, let's begin!"

Ross moves quickly, and I try my best to remember what I can. Midas is announced first and comes out strong with an 11; Trent is after him, and he scores a 10. Amanda matches Trent's score, while Calista does slightly worse with a measly 9.

I wince at the sudden drop of scores as Ross moves on to the District 3 tributes. Lindsay's brother, Jax, scores a 2, and she only does slightly better with a 3.

"Next up, from District Four," Ross reads from his cards. "Lily Thorsby, with a score of seven."

Simon grunts in approval at the announcement of Lily's score - I wasn't expecting her to do that well, either. In contrast, Lily's twelve-year-old brother is next, and he only gets a 2.

"Next in line is the brother-sister duo from District Five," Ross announces. "They made quite the splash in this year's Parade, so let's see if that paid off in their scores."

"From District Five, Luna Brimstone," Ross reads, "with a score of… four."

My heart sinks into my stomach; Damien sighs from next to me. I tried my best, and it wasn't good enough. I should've tried something else, even just pulling out a spear would have probably helped…

I have no more time to mull over my awful score, because Damien is up next.

"From District Five, Damien Brimstone, with a score of… ten."

For a second, I don't believe my ears. I do believe them with Laurentia shrieks from the far end of the couch. "Ten!"

Damien got a ten - on par with the Careers! My brother leaps up from the couch, almost tackling Laurentia in a hug as the woman begins to weep. I almost jump up to join them, but one glance at Simon takes all of my excitement away. He's staring at Damien, stone-faced; I can tell that something is wrong.

Then I remember - Damien didn't even do anything to impress the Gamemakers. He didn't prove to them that he's as strong as the Careers. Maybe I could hope that they found his fiery spirit to be entertaining, but I know that's not the truth. Simon is telling me everything he needs to with his eyes. The Gamemakers are targeting Damien by giving him the same score as the Careers; if they didn't hate him before, they do now, and they'll be hunting him down.

"Don't look so excited," Damien says to me, rolling his eyes at me as he sits back down. I choose not to respond.

By the time we focus back on the broadcast, Ross has moved on to the District Seven tributes. Damien excitedly crosses his fingers next to me. "Eleven for Clay," he says half-jokingly.

"Next up, from District Seven, Sienna Manilowe," Ross reads, "with a score of… five."

"Not bad," Damien says with a shrug. I cross my arms, trying not to look upset. I know it's not a competition between us, but it hurts to know that I'm the weakest member of our alliance. I want Damien to feel like I'm contributing, not that I'm dead weight. Was Sienna really that much better than I was?

"And next is her brother, Clay Manilowe, with a score of…eight."

"Nice," Damien cheers, but I feel even more dread than before. Damien and Clay deserved the same score, and Damien should know that. They sparred together all week, and they were evenly matched the whole time. Clay's lower score just further proves the theory that Helvius is targeting Damien.

I'm encouraged somewhat as the District Eight girls don't do very well - one of the girls scores a four, while her sister only gets a one.

The boys from Nine are next. I frown a bit when I see Colby's face on the screen - part of me hopes that he tanked the assessments, but I know he didn't. Turns out, he must've done something right, because he ended up with a seven. Casper, on the other hand, only gets a five to match Sienna.

The siblings from Ten are next; just like the pair from Four, the sister is much older than the brother, but the age difference doesn't look as severe. Neither of them do very well; the brother only gets a two. The sisters from Eleven don't do well either, and the two boys from Twelve are the worst of the night, with one of them scoring a one. The broadcast ends after that.

It seems like Laurentia wants to talk after the broadcast, probably to celebrate Damien's score again, but I don't feel like talking. I shut myself in my room.