The audience gasps and the cameras are on my face for a split second backstage, showing my rapidly blushing face. But before Remus can continue the conversation with Sawyer, the buzzer goes off, signaling the end of his time and the interviews. Sawyer waves to the audience before walking off towards us.

"Oh, he's smart! This is priceless," Haymitch bursts into hysterics as Sawyer approaches while I'm frozen to my spot.

Nobody thought that Sawyer was talking about little Etheria when he made the comment so he must have been talking about me. I try to sort through all of my thoughts but the thing that bubbles to the surface the fastest is anger. I squeeze my fists together as a still-laughing Haymitch forces us all into the elevator, pressing the top floor. Nobody dares to say anything although Sawyer keeps glancing at me and Etheria and Hops look back and forth between the two of us. I avoid everyone's eyes, even as Haymitch claps Sawyer's back as the doors open revealing what looks like a large living room.

"Welcome to the penthouse suite!" Effie is there to greet us and that's when I can't hold it in anymore.

I shove Sawyer against the wall and he rams into one of the stands holding a glass shatters against the wall behind where I'm holding Sawyer.

"What the hell!" I clench my teeth together and I can feel my entire face heating up, my head feeling like it might explode any second. "You had no right!"

Haymitch pulls me off of him, holding me back. "Calm down sweetheart. He helped you out."

"He made me look weak!" I glare at the both of them.

"He made you look desirable. You should be thanking him. Your prickly cactus routine is only going to get you so far." Haymitch finally releases me convinced that I'm not going to attack my fellow tribute.

"This is unacceptable behavior. Now I'm going to have to find someone to clean this up!" Effie throws her hands in the air, stomping out of the room again. It seems I have a knack for clearing the room of Capitol escorts.

"Isn't attacking your fellow tribute against the rules?" Hops asks.

I look over at Sawyer and see that there's blood running down his hand and I feel the guilt rise knowing it's my fault.

"Who's gonna tell?" Haymitch gives him a look that makes the large boy squirm. He shakes his head frantically signaling that it wouldn't be him. He slowly inches out of the room a safe distance from Haymitch before quickly walking away down the hallway.

"Besides," Haymitch is back to me. "How do you know the Capitol won't think he's talking out the little one," he tips his thumb toward Etheria.

"They showed my face on the screen," I grumble, crossing my arms.

"My dad said boys have cooties," Etheria recites like she might actually believe it.

"They sure do, hon," Haymitch pats her blonde hair and goes towards the cabinet in search of something, probably a drink. Etheria goes down the same hallway as Hops.

I let out a deep breath, turning to face Sawyer who's looking down at his shoes. His hand is a mess and with us having to showcase our skills for the Capitol starting tomorrow, I was feeling even worse.

"Come on," I grab his bloodied hand in mine and drag him with me to find a sink.

"There's first aid kits in the bathrooms!" Haymitch calls out, his head still in the cabinet. At least he cares enough to tell us.

I find a room that appears empty. It must be either mine or Sawyer's. I pull him into the connected bathroom and make him sit on the toilet seat. I dig through the cabinets and find the first aid kit. I don't know what most of the stuff is. It doesn't look anything like the supplies Nana has, it's all in weird jars and packages. So I just grab the bandages and one of the jars that says it's for cuts.

I work in silence, turning on the sink and washing the blood off of it. It doesn't look like any of the glass was still in the cuts so that was good. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Sawyer watching me. What do I say to a boy who claimed to maybe sort of like me in front of the entire country who I then proceeded to literally attack and injure?

"I'm sorry," I tell him, keeping my attention on his hand. That seems like a good place to start. I stick my finger in the gel and rub it over his cuts.

"It's okay," he tells me. I finish wrapping his hand, taping off the end of the bandage.

I don't want to ask him if what he said was true or not. If it was, it would make it that much harder to even think about killing him. And if it wasn't, that would mean that everything he says is a part of the games and I don't think I can handle that either.

Sawyer flexes his hand and smiles. "Thanks."

I frown. I open my mouth to tell him it was my fault in the first place so he shouldn't be thanking me but I don't. The less we speak to each other the better.

I leave the room, deciding this one is his, and go to find the other empty room but instead run straight into a slightly tipsy Haymitch in the hallway.

"That the boy's room?" He glances at the door I just came out of .

"I bandaged his hand," I mumble, still upset at Haymitch for being okay with the whole thing.

"You should play along. Or at least give hints here and there. The Capitals gonna wanna see this whole 'star-crossed lovers destined to fail' thing plays out and send you two to the games to kill each other off."

"You don't sugarcoat anything do you?"

"You can't just draw and bake your way through this, sweetheart," he snorts.

"I have other skills!"

"Sure you do." I expect Haymitch to say more but he just walks off. I guess the conversation is over.

I think about what Haymitch said. The Capitol wants entertainment and Sawyer definitely gave them that. But I didn't want to pretend for them. They've already taken everything. I don't want to give them more.

I change out of the dress, leaving it in a pile on the floor, and slip on whatever I grab first out of the closet. The bed is just as comfortable as the one on the train, if not more so and I sink into the mattress into another dreamless sleep.

My eyes open and I immediately turn to the side, expecting to see Dani's sleeping form across the room but I'm alone. If I were back home, I'd be helping Dad in the bakery or maybe going out hunting with Mom right about now before school.

There's an outfit laid out for me on top of the dresser. It's a black and gray t-shirt and leggings with boots that have extra support on the inside. These should be easy to move around in.

Effie is back to her bubbly self at breakfast. I do apologize to her for causing a scene, and she quickly accepts, chalking up my behavior to the excitement of interviews.

"Alright children!" Effie stands at the front of the table as we eat. "Today is a big big day!"

I hear Sawyer snort from across me at the table, and Hops doesn't even try to hide his smile.

"Your performances are going to be televised to all of Panem!" Effie looks so excited and I want to throw up.

"Performance?" I blanch.

"Not actual performances. You're just gonna be tested on a bunch of stuff in a big arena while the Capitol watches."

"But they haven't taught us anything," Etheria pipes up.

"They don't care," Haymitch shovels a forkful of eggs in his mouth. "You'll have an hour where they give you the basics but they just wanna see what you have to offer. You'll get to train more after they vote."

Haymitch wasn't kidding when he said they would give just the basics. All of the tributes gather around the trainer, who introduced herself as Atala. She makes us all stand there and watch short tutorials on each of the different skills we would need to show off. Some of the videos were so short it only included what we would have to do. Like the flora and fauna station. It just showed us how to work the machine to identify the different plants and animals but no information on those plants and animals themselves.

Once we had run through all of the videos, Atala lets in a group of cameramen. She explains that they're here to get footage to see how the tributes interact with each other. The Capitol probably wants to know what alliances are forming so that they could vote for groups that are more likely to stick together. I had no interest in forming any alliances, and there was no way I would get a spot with the careers. But if the past games were any indication, even your allies would turn on you the first chance they got. I would rather be alone from the get go. Outside of the training sessions we wouldn't know how the other tributes perform in the showcase. They'll only be shown once live so we won't even have a chance to watch a recap.

I wanted to get some practice in on some of the things I was less familiar with at whatever station I would be able to avoid the cameras. I'm sure they'll be most interested in the careers anyway. So the first thing I decide to go to is the knot tying station. There's nobody else there at the moment. Most of the tributes flocked to the more impressive skills like knife throwing and hand to hand combat.

I study the digital guide on the table, showing me how to make the different kinds of knots I might need in the arena. It takes me a couple tries but eventually I'm able to make one that the guide said would be good for securing things together.

"You wanna see the ones I use for snares?" Sawyer sneaks up behind me and I jump, the rope flying out of my hand. He catches it, handing it back to me.

"Come on, I'll show you," he grabs my hand but I snatch it back, looking around to see if the cameras are watching. They're focused on the tribute working on his archery skills but one of the assistants glances over at us. I wait until he looks away before facing Sawyer again.

I watch as Sawyer expertly crafts a snare using one of the pillars as a base. He guides me through the different knots for the different parts of the snare, making do with whatever we can find in the training center to set the trap.

"An voila!" He stands, looking proud of himself. "Nice." He holds his hand out for a high-five and I give it to him. If I'm being honest, the whole thing was pretty impressive and it was definitely something I would be able to use.

Sawyer grabs a small sandbag from the corner of the room. "Would you like to do the honors?"

I take the bag from him, testing the weight in my hand. I would say it's about the same size as a large rabbit we'd encounter in the woods. I toss it right into the center of the snare and it triggers it, the sounds of the rope tightening against the bag echoing through the center. I step back, tripping on Sawyer's foot and he has to grab my waist to keep me from bringing us both down.

I think we're both in shock by the unexpected turn of events because we're sort of frozen, waiting for the other to pull away first.

The shuffling from behind is what breaks me out of my thoughts and I turn my head where there's now a camera pointed at us a couple feet away. I push myself away from Sawyer, straightening my shirt.

"Um," I point to the snare. "It worked,"

I don't know what to feel about it all. I know I felt something, but I had never had any experiences with boys and I didn't know if the feeling I got when his arms were wrapped around me from nerves or if there was something there. But this was neither the time nor place to explore it.

"Yeah, it did," Sawyer rubs the back of his neck. "But I'm sort of a pro by now so that's to be expected." He gives me a cheeky grin and I'm not sure if it's for me or the cameras but I don't care. It breaks the tension between us and I laugh, shoving him away from me playfully.

I'm careful to keep my distance from Sawyer and the cameras for the rest of the session, which means I don't get to practice with the bow or the knives, but I wasn't too worried about that anyway.

I'm busy tapping away at the flora and fauna station when I feel someone walk up next to me. Assuming that it's Sawyer, I'm ready to move on to somewhere else, but instead, it's Hops. I haven't gotten much of a chance to talk to him or Etheria since we've all been reaped, but he was well liked at school.

"Hey, Willow," he comes right up next to me in front of the digital station. "What are you up to?"

"Just brushing up on plants." I continue with the exercise, swiping to sort the safe plants from the poisonous ones.

"You're really good at that," Hops steps closer. "I only recognize the ones we carry in my parent's shop."

"I'll help you," I offer. If he does make it into the games, it would really suck if poisonous plants are what do him over.

Hops takes over the station, sorting through plants and asking me if he's not sure. He's able to finish without mistaking any of the poisonous plants.

"I did it!" A smile lights up his face and he hugs me before I realize what's happening.

"Yeah," I pat his shoulder, stepping back. "Good job."

His eyes flicker behind me before they're back on my face. He reaches up, pushing a strand of the hair that had fallen out of my braid behind my ear.

"What are you doing?" I frown, leaning away.

"I…um…" Hops glances behind me again. I follow his gaze to see another one of those stupid cameras pointed at us.

I turn back to Hops and see the guilt swimming in his eyes. I scoff, pushing him away. "What are you playing at?"

Hops sighs, running his hand through his blonde locks. "I just thought that if they thought we had something, like you and the other kid, then maybe I'd actually have a fair shot at being chosen. This is literally life or death, Willow. I'm just trying to make it out of here like everyone else."

I shake my head, pushing past him. "I don't need to be a pawn in your games too."

A buzzer goes off, signaling that our two hours have passed. Atala informs us that they would try to increase difficulty if it seemed like we were doing well in a particular skill so the Capitol could see us being challenged. Then she dismissed us to the waiting room where we would be called in one at a time to showcase all of the skills back to back.

We sit there for a long time, the number of tributes in the room slowly dwindling. Nobody seems overly nervous, the careers are joking with each other while everyone else seems to keep to themselves. I do notice one of the tributes from eleven keeps looking around, her knee bobbing up and down. I think she's twelve years old, the only one from this years pool. Despite her being only a year younger than Etheria she seems smaller. I wonder what her district thought when she was reaped.

Eventually it's just Sawyer and me in the room but I don't dare look at him. I don't know if we're friends, enemies, or somewhere in between, but there seems to be something there.

Someone comes in the room asking for the second female tribute from twelve and I stand and follow them out of the room, down a long hallway past the training center. We pass through a couple more doors before I'm blinded by a light. It looks like a miniature version of the training center but with a platform above that runs all the way around the room where people are watching live. I can also spot some of the cameramen from before filming.

Everyone blurs together like a disjointed rainbow but if I stop to focus long enough, I can see the way their eyes light up as they watch me.

A voice comes in through an intercom instructing me to start on the flora and fauna machine. I feel off being watched like this but I keep reminding myself that it's for Dani.

I'm able to sort through the plants fairly quickly but not without some mistakes. I don't recognize some of the plants that aren't native to district twelve. It's not like I've ever needed to know them. But I do avoid every poisonous plant so that's something.

Next, I'm on to ropes. They're messy at best but they get the job done. I accidentally add a few too many loops on some of them but practicing on Sawyer's snare earlier really helped.

I should have at least tried out the hand to hand combat during training. I couldn't do anything more than dodge my virtual opponents advances but luckily before they could punch me in the face, the buzzer goes off and the digital man I was fighting dissipates.

Knife throwing doesn't go too horrible. My first attempt, the handle hits the board and it clanks onto the ground. My second attempt is much better, and I hit the board right on the corner. My third attempt is a little closer to the center but not by much. Spear throwing goes about the same. My first throw wasn't quite hard enough so while I hit the board, it doesn't impale it and simply bounces off the target. The board moves slightly closer and coupled with my harder throw, it hits the board, sticking out at an angle.

The audience has been cheering for me after every event but even I can tell the cheers are getting more dull. I know they're looking for something more exciting.

The voice over the intercom announces the last skill, the bow and arrow, and I'm grateful to almost be done. I pick up the metal bow and the pull feels heavier than my own but I would manage. I hoist the quiver across my back and step up to the line. I take a deep breath, knock my arrow, and shoot, hitting the target right in the middle. A small section of the floor rises up and digital renderings of birds start flying through the air. Their chirping sounds bring me right back to my woods and I start shooting every one that flies past. I'm so focused on the birds that I forget where I am and start to have fun, until the buzzer goes off again and the birds are gone. I'm not in my woods and I'm back in that cold gray room.

There's a moment of silence and then the audience erupts into cheers. The voice on the intercom dismisses me and I drop the bow in my hand, walking right out of the room. There's another attendant waiting for me who takes me straight to the elevator that leads to our suite. When I get there, everyone is waiting at the dining table.

"Now what?" I ask Haymitch. We're still waiting on Sawyer.

"Now we wait." He says. "Nothing more you can do so I wouldn't worry about it. They're voting tonight and the entire country will find out tomorrow during the official tribute parade."

"That's a little dramatic," Hops comments. I was still upset about the stunt he pulled today but I agree with him.

The elevator opens again and Sawyer comes out looking exhausted. He sits on my other side.

"So when do we find out?" I pick at the food that sits in front of me.

Haymitch shrugs. "Same time as everyone else, I'm guessing." He puts down his fork and reaches for his bottle. "Look kids, I don't know any more about what's happening at this point than you do. This part is all new to me too."

It's clear he's done talking about it and that there's nothing left to do but enjoy the luxuries of the Capitol for as long as we can before our fates are decided tomorrow. For all of us, tonight is probably the last decent night that we have, either becoming collateral damage for Capitol entertainment or continuing on to the games with the knowledge that it could have just as easily been us that didn't move on.

"Let's watch the official broadcast!" Effie turns on the television hanging on the wall.

Remus Flickerman sits at a table in front of a screen. He shows a picture of each tribute and then a memorable moment from their interview. It takes a while to get through all twenty four of the tributes but when it's our turn, they show Etheria lighting up when talking about her dress, Hops telling some joke, me mentioning what I told Dani, and Sawyer confessing his crush. I feel myself tense again at that but have no time to rehash it before Remus introduces the voting.

"Remember folks, you can vote for one female and one male tribute for each district. Just press the number for the tribute you want to see in the one hundredth Hunger Games! Voting ends at midnight," he announces. "And don't worry! You won't have to wait too long to find out. We'll be revealing your picks live at the tribute parade tomorrow!"

The screen shows all of our photos at once with numbers next to them and a countdown in the corner to see how much time is left.

"We'll then! I suppose that's that," Effie turns the screen off. " I want everyone to get plenty of sleep!"

It's clear that none of us are in a particularly chatty mood, and we all go into out own rooms as soon as Effie deems it's "appropriate."

I hadn't been paying too much attention to my own room when I first got here, but now my head feels a little more clear. I pick up the remote that hasn't moved from the bedside table and press one of the buttons. It moves my bed up and I press the button right under it to return it back to its position.

One of the other buttons lights up the walls around me, filling my room with ocean sounds and a scenery of the beach. The gentle waves crashing against my floor. I press it again and this time my walls look like my woods, right down to the birds and the wildlife sounds.

Well, it wasn't exactly like my woods but it's close enough that I almost feel like myself again, and I'm able to relax enough that I'm not thinking about what could possibly await me tomorrow as I drift off into sleep.