"There has been a situation in room twenty five in the school sector," her manager was telling her, while shoving the cleaning trolley in her direction. "Please take care of it? Don't forget to put on the protective gear. They say it might be contagious, so better be safe than sorry."

The situation, as it turned out, was a children's class that was having a bit of trouble digesting its lunch, but truthfully, the whole place was a mess. The tiny chairs, supposed to sit beside the tables, were scattered all around. The small amount of toys, pencils and paper supplies were also laid everywhere. And to top it all off, there was the occasional vomit topping.

Eliza took a deep breath, putting on her goggles and mask, wondering to herself what kind of evil she'd been up to in a past life to deserve that kind of outcome.

It's not like she hated cleaning, but Mindy had been right all those weeks before. Eliza's initial dazzle with District 13, with its lovely three meal a day plan and mold free bed, had been progressively fizzling. It all started a few days ago, when she was sent to clean a room on one of the lower leveling floors, that was probably the filthiest place Eliza had ever seen in her entire life.

"I know it doesn't look good," her manager stated at the time, once she opened the door with a special key to let her enter, "But we gotta do what we gotta do. Don't forget to save what you can in the containers, like I showed you the other day. It's good fertilizer that shouldn't go to waste, and it is important to gather as much as possible without chemical residue first."

"What do they even do here? I didn't know you had cattle this far down."

"It's not for animals."

Eliza thought she had misunderstood until her manager continued.

"It's for insubordinates."

"Insubo-? You keep people in here?" She dropped the mop she'd been holding by accident and only then did she spot the shackles glued to the wall, barely visible with all the residue scattered around.

"Well, I guess only when there's a good reason for it, don't you think? But it's none of our business anyway. Please ring for Joshua when you're done. My shift ends in an hour. I doubt you'll be done by then."

Eliza had forced herself to work then, despite the urge to sit down and cry. She was thankful for the protective gear, that at least covered her whole body and face, but it wasn't enough for her not to shiver once she started to shovel the human excrement inside the containers.

Up until then, she'd thought training was the worst she could count on, which was not all that bad since she was finally starting to get at least some of it right. Her classes, on the contrary, only seemed to become more demanding as time went by. She was already studying as much as she could afford to, even her off days were spent on it, but apparently nothing was enough to get her on the same level as the other 13s.

And now she'd finally come to realize her co-workers were not exactly excited to go easy on her either. First, what she'd called the Dungeon of Horror, and now, The Vomit Explosion. They might as well drop her out of a ship back on District 12 and have her sweep up the ashes and bones all alone.

More than two hours after she'd gotten to the classroom, once she'd finally used enough bleach to get the smell of vomit to leave the air, she got out of the room, struggling to keep the trolley moving and hold the stationary boxes she'd collected with her other arm. She looked for the closest hallway cabinet to store them in, finding one a few doors down.

Eliza just wasn't prepared to find someone passed out inside of it.

"Oh, what—" She spotted a pair of legs outstretched on the floor first, and only then did she recognize her, "Katniss?!"

There was a grumble in response.

"Are you ok?" Eliza dropped down on one knee to check on her, "I'll call someone, just give me a sec—"

"No! I'm fine!" She said, sitting up and swiping a hand over her face, only then taking a look in Eliza's direction with a frown. "What are you doing here?"

"Me?" She mirrored her expression, "I was just putting these away." Grabbing the boxes she'd brought once again, she set them on the designated shelf. "What happened? Are you sure you don't want to call a medic or—"

"No, I was just having a nap." Her tone was grumpy, as she scratched her head and then sent her hands to straighten out her messy braid. "What time is it?"

"Ah—it's somewhere around five." Eliza had checked the wall clock just a few minutes before, making sure she'd finished within schedule. She still had to change her clothes and shower, and had to be quick if there was a chance to enjoy the little she had of free time in between work and dinner.

"I still have time, then," Katniss said, laying back down. "Close the door on your way out."

Eliza didn't really know what to do, but leaving her alone to sleep on a closet floor didn't seem the kindest.

"Why don't you come and hang out in the lounge for a little bit? Maybe your sister's there." She put a hand on Katniss's shoulder, hoping to sound friendly.

The glare she got back almost made her leave and shut the door all at once. It's not like she was excited to take care of Katniss Everdeen either.

"I don't want to be around other people. All they do is stare."

Eliza pondered on what to say for a little bit, pretending to be busy with a box of pens that needed organization. "Well, usually the lounge is not that full this time of day. And it's mostly people from 12 gathering there. I think the others...are starting to avoid it because of it, actually."

That tiny hint of segregation seemed to get Katniss's interest, by the look in her eyes. But she still didn't move.

"Look, I've yet to change and speak to my manager. Once I do that, I'll come get you, alright?"

She left before giving her a chance to say anything back, taking one last look at the number on the closet door, and rushing to meet Joshua to punch out. In a few minutes, she'd returned the cleaning trolley and walked a few doors down to the wall communicator, to let him know she'd finished.

"You're twenty minutes overtime," his voice came through the stereo in its usual robotic tone. "Should I deduct that on your leisure time?"

"I just took longer because it really was a mess." Eliza noticed how pathetic her voice sounded, as if she was begging him for mercy.

"Fine, but be careful about it the next time." After the familiar sound of her code being marked on the other side of the pad, Eliza rushed to her long awaited shower, all the while thinking about what could have been going through her head to ask Katniss to hang out as if they were old friends.

They weren't old friends. They were barely even acquaintances. And back in District 12, even long before Katniss volunteered for the Games, Eliza had always gotten the feeling she wasn't very fond of her.

Sometimes she caught herself thinking about it. They looked alike, with the same height and similar hair, as well as the similar malnourished figure. But that was also the staple for most of the Seam's population. If anything, Eliza was the anomaly by having more brownish eyes instead of gray. However, in many other ways, even though they'd grown up living so close to each other, she had turned out very different from Katniss. Eliza couldn't be further from having the courage it took to go beyond the fence and learn how to hunt and fend for herself.

Moreover, she was also sure she would have died in the arena within the first few minutes of the Games, but a part of her wasn't at all surprised that Katniss had survived until the end. She had always been so fierce, even in the tiniest details. And that didn't change once she was back from the Capitol, even in the way she tried her best to sway in between the Peacekeepers. The moment she stepped in front of them to defend Gale would forever be engraved in Eliza's memory, as much as the whipping itself. Katniss had shoved her out of the way, as well as a few other people, in order to get to the Peacekeepers, screaming for them to stop. Eliza could feel the scream she'd kept stuck in her throat, with her mouth open and her body frozen in place with fear. She'd hated herself for her inaction then, but at least Katniss was brave for the both of them.

When she marched back to the closet where she'd found her sleeping, this whole initiative of inviting her for lounging sounded increasingly like the recipe for social disaster.

"You came back? I thought you were ditching me." Katniss grumbled, getting up.

"No, sorry, I—I just really needed a shower first."

Katniss nodded, following Eliza out of the closet.

"You're Eliza Burrich, right? From the corner on the third street?"

"Yeah, I...so you remember me?"

"Sure," she said with a shrug. "We went to school together, didn't we? For a while?"

"Yeah. But I left at fourteen, and I was a year above you. I thought you wouldn't remember."

She nodded back, but didn't say anything else.

"Look, Katniss, I wanted to say..." she started, doubting until the last minute if she should even mention it, "I'm really sorry about the baby."

That got a double take out of her, with the eyes that had looked otherwise unbothered flickering for a second. Eliza scolded herself once again, thinking she'd done better stirring away from that kind of painful subject.

"The baby...sure, thanks."

They didn't say anything else for at least one corridor and two elevator stops, and Eliza started to understand what Katniss had meant about people staring. Every single person that walked through them made a point of doing it for at least a few seconds.

"So, do you sleep in the closet often, or was that more of a one night stand?" She asked as an attempt to distract her, and get away from the previous conversation topic. Of course it didn't have to be such a stupid way of putting the question, but apparently she knew of no other way to deal with awkwardness than sinking herself in it even more.

Katniss shrugged again, "Sometimes. It's usually available."

Once they finally got to the lounge area, Eliza almost sighed in relief at the sight of Primrose studying at one of the tables, sitting next to Rory.

They walked in their direction, Primrose lifted her head, both happy and surprised.

"Katniss!" She exclaimed, pulling a chair next to her for her to sit, "I can't believe you actually came here!"

Eliza sat across from them, slightly unsure of what she should do. Maybe give them some space? She had forgotten to grab her textbook from her room, so there was not really anything to keep her busy. Thinking about it, it was the perfect excuse to get her quietly out of there and—

"You don't know it either!" She heard Rory complain loudly. "But you were making fun of me just now!"

"I thought I did! Hurgh, I keep getting different results," Primrose complained, furiously erasing the pencil markings on her notebook. "Maybe Katniss knows this? Did you see anything like this in your class?" she asked, looking back at her and pointing at the textbook.

"You think so? I've been to, like, two classes up until now." Her tone was grumpy, and she didn't bother raising her eyes from the hem of the sleeve she was playing with.

"Is it math?" Eliza asked, getting closer to Rory and taking a peek at his textbook.

"Yeah," he answered with a pained sigh, "I don't get any of it."

She took a look through the pages, searching for the explanation portion. "Hum... Did you read this before trying the exercise?"

"Every time I do, I understand nothing. Prim said she knew how to do it and was going to explain, but apparently not."

Primrose blushed heavily at the comment, "You don't have to be mean about it!"

Eliza had another look through the pages, "I think the way it is written is a bit confusing. I have the same problem with my textbooks. Can I use your pencil?" Rory placed the pencil in her open hand, failing at concealing the look he gave to her fingers.

"So, here's what you need to keep in mind..." Eliza scribbled on the page, crossing out the portions of redundant text and explaining the steps one at a time from the beginning. Rory and Primrose listened closely, and even Katniss seemed to take an interest, peeking over her sister's shoulder. "I'll solve this one as an example. Can you hand me your notebook?"

They spent the next twenty minutes going back and forth on the nuances of equation solving, despite Rory's occasional complaint about not seeing any evident use for it in his daily life. They'd lost Katniss's interest somewhere along the way, but at least she was still sitting with them.

"How do you know this so well?" She asked once Eliza corrected Primrose's notebook one last time. "You just said you left school early."

"This is still the easy part, and I always liked math." Rationally or not, Eliza felt a tinge of self-consciousness. "Also, we just reviewed this last week, so it was still fresh, I guess."

"Do you also like geometry?" Rory asked with an hopeful smile, that uncannily accentuated his resemblance to his mother, "I'm struggling with a few things here..." He took another one of his textbooks and opened it in front of Eliza.

She read through the pages he indicated, and repeated the same process as before, resuming her scribbles, this time reviewing the Pythagorean Theorem. Both of them listened, though Eliza noticed Rory's attention beginning to falter at every minute that passed.

"I finally got one right at first try!" Primrose said, after trying the first exercise.

"I think I got it too. It's 10, right?"

"No, 14."

"Damn it!"

"Hey! Language." Gale said, suddenly standing next to them and flicking Rory on the side of his head. Eliza tried to cover up the quiver she felt at his presence, as he walked further, taking the seat next to Katniss, who'd been taking a nap on the table for the past ten minutes. Eliza caught a glimpse of him nudging her gently to wake her up, and quickly swayed her eyes back to the fascinating triangle shapes in Rory's textbook.

"You know," he started, scratching the side of his head and sparing a side eye in his brother's direction, "I asked Gale to explain this to me yesterday, but when he tried it, he said it was wrong and that we should tell the teacher."

Eliza snorted, covering up her smile with her hand.

"Why do you keep making fun of us for not getting it? You didn't get it either!" Primrose complained.

"Yeah, but at least I don't act all smug like I know things, as Gale likes to do."

"What are you saying? Say it again." Gale asked, reaching for the eraser on the table with a swift hand gesture, and throwing it at Rory's forehead.

"I was telling Eliza she is much better at this than you." His face contorted in a mix of fury and excitement, and he threw the eraser back in his direction with haste, hitting the wall behind him instead.

Gale rolled his eyes, glaring at her as he put the eraser back on the table, "You're stealing my brothers away, have you noticed?"

"Don't blame me, I did nothing."

"That's actually a great idea. You'll be my new sister." Rory stated simply, but then followed it up with, "You don't have any siblings, right?"

The question lingered in the air for a few seconds.

"No, I don't have siblings." Her voice cracked when answering, and she knew it was impossible the others hadn't noticed it, as she was looking down at her nails.

"Ok, so it's a deal! From now on we—" Primrose gave him a slight tap on the arm, as Gale interrupted with a sharp "Just shut it, Rory."

The air shifted, and Eliza scratched her neck in discomfort. The bad feeling she'd had about all of that gathering ended up having nothing to do with Katniss, after all.

"We should be going up for dinner, anyway." Katniss stated, getting up.

Eliza followed them absently, and probably for the first time in her life, hunger was the last thing on her mind. Once they got nearer one of the elevators to the other compartments, she finally took her opportunity, "I have to go grab something. I'll see you around."

She walked as if there was no way to get to her bedroom fast enough. It was interesting how social interactions or cleaning a room full of vomit could be equally taxing, given the right circumstances.

"Hey," Gale called a few feet behind her, as she stopped in front of the elevator, the others already walking far ahead, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, sorry, I didn't want to make things weird."

"You didn't. I'm sorry about Rory, he has no idea. I'll talk to him." His voice lowered, as he got closer to her.

"No, it's fine. It's not like it's a secret or anything, I just... It's just weird to think... You know, just that…nevermind."

Her breathing faltered once again, just like before, and she rushed inside the elevator, the minute the doors opened.

"I'll see you," she tried to give a smile in goodbye, but by the look on Gale's face, it didn't really land.

"You can always come tonight, if you feel like it."

As the elevator doors closed, his tone and the worry on his face put a strain on her heart.

It would be much easier to let go of you if you stopped doing things like that.