"Allow me to tell you of an ancient proverb: Mieux vau de la cervelle que du muscle. Better brains than brawn."

Cordelia "Cordy" Simmons, 15, District Three Female

June 22, Year 78

District Three Institute of Science and Innovation

Cordelia Simmons listened intently to the instructor, taking careful notes. Other students were watching the clock restlessly, waiting for that hand to strike twelve and for the teacher to finally let them go home.

Something the teacher said piqued Cordelia's curiosity and she started to raise her hand, but quickly lowered it when she remembered what time it was. She learned the hard way that asking questions right before class ended often resulted in class being dismissed late, which resulted in dirty looks and flack from her peers. Instead, she starred the area in her notes as a reminder to research the topic later.

As soon as the class was dismissed, Cordelia began packing her belongings, making sure she had everything for her upcoming lab before leaving.

Notebook? Check.

Googles? Check.

Lab coat? Check.

Grandpa's watch? Still broken but safe in her pocket. Check.

Cordelia closed her bag, satisfied, before thanking her instructor for the class and departing the classroom, intent on finding a nice, quiet place to go over the day's notes and homework for the next hour or so until she had to head to her lab.

"Hey! Cordy!"

Cordelia nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Pixelle May's voice come from behind her. She turned around and saw Pixelle quickly making her way towards her. Her braid bounced on her back with her stride. Cordy slowed down and allowed her friend to catch up with her. "You want to go have some fun?"

Cordelia anxiously glanced at a nearby clock. "I have lab in an hour…" she mumbled.

Pixelle made a big show of rolling her eyes. "Oh, come on, Cordy! Don't be such a bore. It'll be fun, and we'll be done in time for your lab!"

Cordelia thought about it for a moment. Pixelle May's idea of fun usually involved sneaking into one of the Institute's laboratories to perform her own biology experiments. She was very reactive and eager. Caesium was the element Cordelia used to describe her sometimes and honestly had a way of causing Cordelia's anxiety to spike with her constant energy. However, Pixelle took Cordelia under her wing when she first entered the Institute, when she was considered too weird for kids her age and too young for her fellow classmates, one of the side effects of skipping two years of school and going straight to higher education. As nervous as Pixelle made her at times, Cordelia longed for companionship and was honestly grateful for the older girl's strange attempts at friendship, which was why she went along with Pixelle's antics. Still, Cordelia would have been a terrible friend if she didn't at least try to talk some sense into Pixelle, as futile as that was.

"Remember what the lab tech said last time?" she asked quietly.

"Oh, that's easy!" Pixelle replied. "We just don't get caught this time!"

At the very least, Cordelia couldn't say she didn't try. Pixelle must have taken her silence as agreement and took her arm, pulling her towards the direction of the labs.

Honestly, could it really hurt to see what Pixelle had come up with this time?

Perhaps it could have hurt. It could have hurt a lot.

Cordelia glanced nervously at the door, acting as both a lookout and a lab partner respectively. Occasionally, she'd give the clock a glance. Fifteen minutes until her lab. She'd have to leave soon if she wanted to get there and get set up in time. She fiddled with the edge of her lab coat, picking at a loose thread. She glanced over to Pixelle and bit her lip when she saw that the older girl was nowhere near done.

"You're doing it again," Pixelle said, not looking up from her work.

Cordelia blinked and realized she was muttering chemical formulas under her breath again, something she often did when she was nervous. "S-sorry," she mumbled.

Pixelle just waved it off. "It's fine, Cordy. Just relax. You'll have plenty of time for that lab of yours. Just bear with me a little bit longer. Can you pass me the luminol?"

Cordelia nodded and quickly yet carefully found the bottle that was nearby. "You're experimenting with blood?"

Pixelle hummed affirmatively. "I'm trying to see how these blood samples react to certain chemicals. Technically, it's nothing we can't already read in books, but it's so much better seeing it all in person, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah, it's what makes labs so fun. We can read all we want in books, but something about seeing it in person, or even being the one to make those discoveries in the first place, it's incredible. However, my grandad isn't going to be happy with us if he finds out we were in here. You know that, right?"

"Would he even be surprised at this point?" Pixelle finished cleaning the blood off of a slide and put a few drops of luminol it. "Besides, great scientific discoveries aren't made by following the rules. Mind getting the lights? This is going to be so cool."

Cordelia frowned. "There are other people in here."

"It's fine!" Pixelle reassured her. "It's only for a few moments."

Cordelia opened her mouth to protest, but quickly shut it again. She learned a long time ago that there was no arguing with Pixelle in regard to these kinds of things. She mutter a quick apology under her breath to the people already in the lab, walked towards the light switch, and flicked it off.

The shouts of protests and curses echoing through the lab bounced around Cordy's ears and made her wince.

"Cordy! Come look at this! Hurry!"

Cordelia quickly walked towards where Pixelle was eagerly leaning over the seemingly clean slide, which was now glowing softly. "Amazing! Even though I washed away the blood, it still glows! Did you know that this is how peacekeepers find blood at crime scenes?"

Cordelia nodded. She winced a bit as the light was flicked back on by a grumbling scientist. "Yeah, the luminol reacts with the iron in the blood to create that glow. It's actually pretty easy to synthesize here in Three. You just need to take a 3-nitrophthalic acid, heated with hydrazine in a high-boiling solvent, and as the water evaporates, it forms 3-nitrophthalhydrazid. Then you-"

"Then you reduce the nitro group to an amino group with sodium dithionite using a transient hydroxylamine intermediate, and voila! Luminol." Cordelia looked up and nearly squeaked. Her grandfather, Cable Simmons, a prestigious scientist, and head lecturer at the Institute, was standing in the doorway, arms crossed, a half-amused, half-disapproving look on his face. "Girls, what have I said about sneaking into the lab?"

"I just wanted to see science in action, Professor!" Pixelle protested. "Did you know that luminol is how they find blood at crime scenes?"

Cordelia's grandfather nodded. "Yes. Did you know that blood can easily be cleaned up with hydrogen peroxide?"

Pixelle nodded. "Because of the catalase in the blood, right?"

Cordelia's grandfather nodded again, his smile widening. "That's right. It's why people use it to get bloodstains out of clothing and other fabrics. Now, I think you've both done enough unauthorized experimentation for today. And Cordy, I believe you're late for a lab."

Cordelia winced a bit and nodded. "Sorry, Grandad…"

Cable waved her off. "It's quite alright, Cordelia. The lab was canceled anyway. The assistant went home sick."

This made Cordelia frown even harder. Unlike most of her peers, she hated it when classes and labs were canceled. It didn't happen very often, but when it did, Cordelia mourned the lost opportunity to learn. "So, I guess that means that's it for today then…"

"Not necessarily. I am actually on my way to teach a class, and given the size of the lecture hall, there are bound to be several open seats. Would you two care to join me?"

Pixelle gasped with joy. "Really?"

Cordelia smiled. "Thank you, Grandad! Thank you!"

"Of course, this comes with the condition that you don't sneak into the lab and mess with blood samples again."

Both girls nodded and after cleaning up, followed Cable to the lecture hall. As they passed by the physics lab, they waved at Cordelia's mother, who was working on some experiments of her own. She looked up, smiled, shook her head, and waved back. Pixelle squeezed Cordelia's hand. "See? Fun!"

"We could have gotten in serious trouble," Cordelia replied.

"Maybe, but we managed to experiment without the help of an assistant! Think of how much more we can do once we advance further in the Institute! Think of how much we can do! Our future's pretty bright, I say."

Cordelia thought about this. "Brighter than neon," she agreed.

"I ain't scared of death! Hell, if anything we could go head-to-head and I'd win!"

Rhys Marcel, 17, District Three Male

October 15, Year 77

District 3 Market Division

Rhys Marcel ran as fast as his legs would carry him, occasionally checking to make sure that Zander and Quinn were still behind him. They were, along with three peacekeepers.

"I told you this was a bad idea!" Quinn called out breathlessly. "I told you! I was like, 'Hey, maybe we shouldn't do this! We could get arrested!' And you were like 'We'll be fine! It's not like we're going to get caught!' Look at us, now, Rhys! Look at us now!"

"Oh, come on!" Zander shouted back. "Don't be such a buzzkill!"

"I am not a buzzkill! I'm just sensible. Unlike you two!"

Rhys just laughed. "The chase is the best part! Enjoy it! Besides, it's not like they'll catch us!"

They turned down an alleyway, only to find that there was a wall at the end. "Uh oh!" Zander gasped.

"Hang on!" Quinn called back, exasperated. "I got this!"

Quintin rushed ahead and kicked over a stack of crates that were sitting in the alley, then used the crates to give him a boost up and over the fence. Rhys hung back a bit, pushing Zander ahead. "Keep going! I'll be right behind you!" The Peacekeepers rounded the corner, one of them reaching for their gun.

"Crap!" Rhys thought.

As soon as Zander was over the fence, Rhys kicked one of the crates towards the peacekeepers in an attempt to trip them up before going over the wall himself. Bullets slammed into the stone wall behind him but thankfully didn't pierce it.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" Rhys cried as he turned the corner and kept running. He quickly caught up to his two friends. Zander was as pale as a sheet. "They have guns! Holy fuck! We're screwed! We're so screwed!"

"Whose idea was this, anyway?" Rhys cried.

"Yours, dumbass!" Quinn retorted. "All yours! This is your fucking problem! You and Zander come up with these bright ideas and don't think of the damn consequences!"

"You agreed to this bright idea!" Zander reminded him. "Now shut up and run! We're almost there!"

A few more streets, a few more turned corners, a few more jumped-over walls, and the three boys sighed with relief when they heard the peacekeepers pass by their latest turn. "I think we lost them," Rhys said. He pulled off his mask and slipped it into his bag. The gloves he was wearing followed. Zander and Quinn followed suit. The three boys took a moment to catch their breaths, then found where they had ditched their school uniforms in favor of ratty old clothing that they wore for the "heist," as Rhys called it.

Then, almost out of nowhere, Rhys lost it. He doubled over and started laughing hysterically. Zander gave him a weird look, then he too dissolved into laughter.

Quinn placed his hands on his hips and gave the two a disapproving glare. "What the hell are you laughing at? We could have been killed? Killed! Dead! Six feet under! Riddled with bullets and dangled over the justice building as a warning to others!"

"But we weren't!" Rhys replied between laughs. "Wow! That was so much fun! Aren't you glad we ditched school today? I mean, sure our grades will drop a bit but if we pass this upcoming test, it'll all balance out in the end, right?"

"If you pass," Zander pointed out. "Dude, when was the last time you bothered to study?"

Rhys scoffed. "I'll have you know that I happen to be quite good at cramming the night before. I'll also have you know that Quinn here has caught more mistakes with Mr. Edison's grading than anyone else."

Quinn rolled his eyes. "Bold of you to assume I'll help you again after you almost got us shot!"

"Nice job on the masks by the way," Rhys replied sweetly, completely changing the subject.

"Yeah, whatever," Quinn retorted, waving him off. "You realize we'll have to burn all of this right? We'll have to burn everything. They'll be searching houses and everything!"

Zander rolled his eyes. "I doubt they'll be searching houses over a few worthless trinkets, and yes, we'll burn everything and ditch the trinkets. Then we'll have money for days! We'll be fine, Quinn. Now watch my back while I change back into my uniform."

The trio watched each other's backs as they changed out of their half-hearted disguises and into their more suffocating uniforms. Then, they slipped the evidence into the beat-up bag that Quinn had secured for the job, if only so they could unceremoniously burn it afterward. Thankfully the black market had an incinerator to dispose of evidence, garbage, and other…things that Rhys preferred not to think about.

Rhys handed the bag off to Zander for disposal while he led Quinn to where the fencer was. Quinn was never a fan of the black market. It was prone to being raided by Peacekeepers, and he was always worried that the trio would be there at the wrong time and wind up arrested, or worse. For Rhys, however, that risk was just another part of the fun.

"So, what are you going to do with your share of the cash?" Rhys asked.

Quinn shot Rhys a quick side-eye. "Pay my bail," he replied dryly.

Rhys laughed. "No, seriously, what are you going to do with it?"

Quinn sighed. "I don't know. Slowly give it to my parents. That way I can help out a bit without tipping them off to anything. If they found out what I was up to, they'd kill me."

"Relax," Rhys replied with another laugh. "They wouldn't kill you. Not right away anyway. See, they'd kill me first for 'dragging you into this,' then they'd kill Zander for good measure, and then they still wouldn't kill you. They'd simply maim you."

"You shouldn't sound so matter-a-fact about that…"

Rhys patted Quinn on the back reassuringly. "Hey, man. Think of it this way. What the Peacekeepers or our parents don't know won't kill us."

"Sure, buddy. Sure."

Rhys handed off the trinkets to the fencer, who examined them for a few moments and then frowned. "No one's going to come looking for these, right?"

Rhys shook his head. "Absolutely not."

"Because I heard gunshots earlier. Sent the whole market into a panic for a moment."

"It was the principal of the matter. They were probably stolen in the first place. We just stole them back! Don't worry, Numi, we shook our tails before we got here."

The fencer looked at him for a long moment, before rolling her eyes and setting the trinkets aside and handing Rhys some money. "Take the cash and get going. If you three get caught with your uniforms on, that's only going to bring issues to us."

Rhys gave her a mock salute. "Yes, ma'am! Have a wonderful rest of your day!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Rhys and Quinn departed and went to go find Zander. They found him by the incinerator, pushing the steel door shut and wiping his hands clear. "Done and done," he said with a grin. "Did you get that stuff sold?"

Rhys held up the money triumphantly. "Ta-da!"

Zander pumped his fist in the air. "Yes!"

Rhys quickly divided up the money evenly between himself and his two friends. He then split his own share into three portions, putting one portion in one pocket and two portions in the other. "Mind if we swing by my neighborhood before we head back to school?" he asked. "There's something I need to take care of."

Zander shrugged. "Honestly, I may fake a headache and sign myself out. I'm eighteen now. I can do that. Your place is on the way home, so I'm down."

"So, you went from skipping class to full-blown ditching?" Quinn groaned.

"Sorry for not being in the mood for fifth-period English."

Rhys chuckled. "Can't say I blame you there. Sentence diagramming. What a pain!"

The trio exited the black market and started the long walk towards the neighborhood that Rhys called home. As they walked, they laughed, joked, and overall passed the time with idle conversation. Whatever annoyance Quinn had, whatever bravado Zander and Rhys had, it had dissolved into a sense of normalcy. When they reached Rhys's neighborhood, he motioned for his two friends to take cover somewhere. He then pulled a crumbled envelope out of his pocket along with the larger portion of his share and stuffed the bills in before slipping the envelope on the front porch of his neighbor's house.

Rhys then knocked on the door, leaped over the porch railing, ducked for cover, and waited. A few moments later, a tired-looking woman in her twenties opened the door and upon seeing the envelope, bent down and opened it. Her eyes lit up upon seeing the contents, which made Rhys smile. The woman looked around for whoever might have placed the envelope down, but after a few moments of searching, she immediately went back inside. "My neighbor's got a three-year-old with pneumonia," Rhys explained to Zander and Quinn once they started walking again. "She was running low on cash to pay the healers. What I gave her should be enough. The rest is going to my parents. To help make ends meet and all."

Zander frowned. "You're making me feel bad for how I was going to spend my portion."

Quinn smiled. "That is a very kind thing to do. I was going to give my portion to my parents as well, but I'll set some aside. If your neighbor needs more money, let me know."

Zander shrugged. "I guess I'll do the same. Never say I value a hot date more than a little kid's life."

Rhys grinned. "Thanks, you two. I appreciate-" He did a double take. "A hot date? Are you serious right now?"

Zander shrugged. "What? What's wrong with a hot date? Money impresses people. You know that."

"I do but…that's…okay, no, it's fine. It's perfectly fine."

Quinn chuckled at this, which sent all three boys into hysterics.

Rhys's grin reappeared, wider this time.

Times may have been tough in Panem, but he had his friends, and in the end, that's all he really needed.

I won't be able to do much writing the next week...or posting for that matter so I decided to be nice and give you this one early! Thank you to NostalgicPride for Cordy and explosioncat for Rhys! Cordy's faceclaim is Allison Harvard and Rhys's faceclaim is Marlon Pendlebury! Both were such joys to write, and I'm so excited to explore them more!

I am also pleased to announce that both this story and Cursebreaker have playlists now! The links are in my profile (you'll have to remove the spaces) so go check that out! A Single Moment's playlist will be updated as the story goes on so don't forget to check back in regularly. For example, I'll be adding the tributes' theme songs as they are introduced! If you want a proper song list (what song goes to which character/moment), DM me and I'll send you a list!

Next up is District Five, where we will be meeting Leonie and Vaughn! (skipping District Four for now but we'll get there, I promise!)