Simon gives me a special serum to flush the drinks from Laurentia out of my system; once I'm sent to the stylists, I wish he hadn't. Lavinia is just as passive-aggressive as ever, but I barely have the mental energy to care.

"Here we are," she says, moving my hair out of my face when she's finally done with my look. Her monochromatic assistants stand wordlessly behind her. "You must feel beautiful."

I don't. Lavinia looks extremely proud of herself as she sends me away.

I tug at my dress as one of Lavinia's assistants leads me down a hallway. It's a hideous yellow color - just like my Parade outfit, I think it's supposed to be based on lightning, which has nothing to do with District Five. At the very least Lavinia could have chosen a nicer shade of yellow, but whatever. Maybe it's in style in the Capitol.

The assistant leads me to a door, pushing it open and sending me through. Most of the other tributes are already here, and they're standing in a line against the wall.

"Name?" A woman asks, walking up to me. She's dressed in all black and is wearing a headset, so she must be working here.

"Uh, Luna Brimstone."

"Your spot is marked against the wall, Luna. Make sure you are standing there when the theme song begins or there will be… consequences."

I shudder a bit as the woman steps away, rushing over to one of the boys from Twelve who's just arrived.

A girl steps out of line and walks toward me. My heart drops - it's Sienna. She's dressed in a horrible green gown with ruffles along the bottom, but she somehow makes it look like the most elegant dress in the world. Her stylists took my braid out of her hair and restyled it away from her face; it looks spectacular.

"Good morning," she says with a small smile, her eyes drifting around the room behind me.

"Morning," I echo. "You ready?"

"As ready as I can be," Sienna says with a sigh. "But, Luna before we go on, I need to tell you something. It's urgent."

I nod, pulling Sienna further away from the line of tributes. What could possibly be so urgent that she needs to tell me now?

"The plan is off," Sienna mutters to me, glancing over at the other tributes. "I don't know what's gotten into Colby, but he's gone all psycho on me. He wanted me to stay the night in the District Nine suite and everything last night, and then in the morning he completely freaked out and told me I had to leave!"

I try to act as shocked as possible at this news. "That's horrible," I say; inside, I'm cheering. "I'm sorry, Sienna."

"It's whatever," Sienna shrugs with a sigh. "I should've known better than to trust him. We are all competitors, after all. And Colby wants to win, that much is obvious."

I glance over Sienna's shoulder. Most of the other tributes are lined up now, preparing for their interviews. Towards the back of the line, I see two boys with scarlet hair. They're watching the two of us intently as we talk.

"I just can't believe he would treat me like that," Sienna says, hanging her head down. "Like all those nights we spent on the roof were just nothing to him!"

"It's okay," I say, pulling Sienna into a hug. "Maybe this is a good thing. It's better for us to know this now than later in the Arena."

"Right," Sienna says, dabbing at her eyes to avoid smudging her makeup.

"It's better for us to stick with our brothers," I tell Sienna. "That's what everyone else here is going to do. It just makes the most sense."

"Okay," Sienna says with a nod. "We need to play that up in the interviews. Let them know how strong we are in our alliance. Maybe that'll get us sponsors."

I hear the sound of a woman's heels clicking on the floor, and Serena Li appears behind Sienna. Her eyes flash in recognition when she sees me; for a moment, I see panic in her eyes, but she masks it with a smile.

"Ladies, it's time to get in line," she says, playful yet stern. "Come on, Sienna."

Serena pulls Sienna away, and I follow them to the line of tributes, where Damien is waiting. Just like in the Parade, we seem to be matching. His suit is the same hideous yellow shade as my dress.

"What was that about?" Damien asks, raising his eyebrows at me as I approach. "She looks like a mess."

"Be nice," I scold him. "She was friends with one of the boys from Nine, and he completely freaked out on her this morning out of nowhere."

"She should've known better than that," Damien scoffs. "She knows all of us are going to die eventually, right?"

"Shut up," I mutter. We're interrupted by Ross Carmichael's theme song - the trills of the live trumpets are so strong that they reach all the way backstage. We can hear the crowd cheering; who knows how many people are here.

A man dressed in all black taps a screen at the front of the line, and it flickers to life. On-screen, we watch as Ross steps onto the stage.

"Thank you, thank you!" he cries as the crowd goes wild. "Welcome to you all!"

Ross has been the Host of the Games for years now, and he clearly knows what he's doing. According to Laurentia, he's one of the best interviewers the Games has ever had, and he always seems to ask the questions that the Capitol wants the answers to. That doesn't matter much to me, though. Tonight, his hair is dyed his signature color, orange, while he's opted for an all-black suit.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome our first guests of the evening," Ross says with a grin. "You know and love them; from District One, it's Trent and Midas Diamanti!"

The crowd roars as Trent and Midas appear; confidence radiates from the boys as they cross the stage. As the interview progresses, it becomes clear that they've been preparing for this for a very long time - they seem to have the perfect witty answer to every one of Ross' questions. For some reason, it seems like Midas is answering most of the questions; Trent looks fairly disinterested in the whole process.

"Now, boys," Ross says, lowering his head a bit. "You both are very special, as you are our only set of twins in the Games. But the question still remains… who is older?"

"Oh, Ross," Midas says with a bright smile. "We shouldn't say, really… it would just lead to more comparisons between us…"

As he talks, Midas' hand snakes behind his chair and he points at himself, much to the amusement of the audience.

"Those bastards," Damien mutters, pulling my attention away from the screen.

"They're putting on an act," my brother seethes. "Midas is the confident one with all the answers, and Trent is the quiet one, but they're making him look like he's the smart one. If Trent looks like he's above the whole thing, people think he's smarter than he actually is."

It's clear that Damien is right. I shake my head - why didn't we think of something like that? Is it too late to change our plan?

Yes, it's way too late. We have to stick with what Simon and Laurentia have taught us; it's too late to shake things up now. You never know with Damien, though…

Amanda and Calista are called to the stage next, and they're just as prepared as the boys were. I watch them closely, frantically trying to pick up as much as I can to mimic in my own interview. I only see one moment of weakness in their interview - when Ross asks the girls if they have a 'special someone' back home, the girls hesitate instead of jumping straight into an answer, and Calista watches Amanda, waiting for her to respond.

"Of course not," Amanda says after a few seconds, her confidence returning to her face. "Find someone who's worth either of us and then we'll talk."

The audience roars at her response. Calista laughs at Amanda's response; I might be the only one who picked up on Amanda's hesitation, as I was the only one who overheard them on the roof last night. After a few more questions, the girls are ushered off stage.

"Next up, from District Three, please put your hands together for Jax and Lindsay McBride!" Ross calls, and the pair from Three are brought on stage.

Poor Lindsay - she looks terrified under the bright lights of the stage. It looks like Jax is no more prepared than she is - the two of them aren't even able to stop their voices from shaking as they answer Ross' questions. I take mental notes as the siblings stumble their way through their interview. Be confident, Luna. Don't let them see your weakness.

The siblings from Four are brought on stage next, and Damien and I are led to the side of the stage. I try to keep my hands from shaking. Next to me, Damien's face is blank; he must be nervous, but he's doing a good job of hiding it.

I take deep breaths as I hear the girl from Four talking. She's doing almost all of the talking - her brother is only twelve years old, and he must be absolutely terrified. Honestly, that might work in their favor - maybe people will feel bad for him.

Come on, Luna. This is it. Your one chance to make an impact… this is life or death.

"What a lovely pair," Ross chirps as the kids from Four step away from the stage. "Next up, you all remember them well from this year's Parade… please welcome our tributes from District Five… Luna and Damien Brimstone!"

A/N - Thanks to everyone who got this story to 1,000 views yesterday! Much love :)

~S