"Then from out of the blue and without any guide, you know what your decision is which is not to decide."

Tal "Tali" Comgan, 15, District Eleven Female

April 25, Year 78

District Eleven, Region Eight Education Center

Just two more days.

Tal Comgan only had to keep up the ruse for one more day, and then she would have been home free. The pressure would have been off for the next eight months.

She had watched several of her siblings navigate the complicated social landscapes of her district and region, with mixed results. Most of the children were not in school during the harvest season, and how long that was depended on whatever region one resided in. Tal's region had the longest harvest season, around eight months as they harvested crops that were in season almost all year, and her school year was short. Friendships and friend groups had to happen fast, and once you were in, you were in forever.

Tal thought she could easily navigate this, even as her soccer friends and reading group friends spit off into separate groups. Then, a messy breakup resulted in some serious beef between the two groups right before harvest leaving little time to pick up the pieces.

Her best friend, Tamarind, had chosen soccer, and her other close friend, Paisley, had chosen the reading group, effectively ending that friendship and leaving Tal stuck in the middle. With any hope of compromise dashed, Tal knew she would have to choose, but how could she? How could she choose between her friends?

After eight months of compilation and stressing, Tal decided that she wasn't going to choose. She would split her time between both friend groups and make sure that neither knew what she was doing. She would create excuses, and have her siblings vouch for her. Jora, who had been burned by the social landscape, was more than happy to help with this.

And it worked.

Now, Tal lounged around in the grass with the latest recommendation and loan from a member of her reading group. It was a fairy tale from long ago, about a girl who entered a mystical labyrinth to save her baby brother, who had been abducted by a goblin king who had become infatuated with her. Her soccer friends were safely at practice, having been fed the excuse that Tal had a family emergency and would be late. Her reading group knew she would be leaving earlier to help look after her younger siblings, where she would join her friends at practice. A change of clothes was safely stowed away in her locker.

All was well.

Until it wasn't.

Paisley looked up from the book she was reading, eyes wide and face broken out into a grin. "Wow, so this was the twist of a lifetime!"

"What book are you reading?" Tal asked.

"It's a murder mystery thriller," Paisley replied. "It's a cat-and-mouse game between a detective and a serial killer."

"Doesn't knowing who the killer is take all the fun and suspense away?" A younger member of the group, Ben, piped up.

"If done right, no," Paisley explained. "Knowing who the killer is and what they're doing, and seeing how the detective can piece everything together can be even more fun."

"That…makes sense, I think. I've never read any stories like that yet, so I can't form an opinion."

Paisley grinned. "Well, once I finish this book, you are certainly allowed to borrow…it…"

The group was distracted by the sound of the door to the school opening with a heavy clunking noise. All eyes fell on the girl slowly exiting out of the school, face pale and hand clutched to her stomach.

Tal's blood went cold, and she immediately raised her book to hide her face as Tamarind let the door shut behind her.

Please don't look over here, she silently pleaded to whoever was listening. Please don't say anything. Just don't do anything, please!

No one was listening that day, and Paisley just had to open her mouth. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked bitterly.

Tamarind's head snapped towards the group. "Passing though. Not that it's any of your business, Paisley."

"You look sick," Ben said carefully.

"Yeah, I'm not feeling well, so I'm headed home. And I'll be letting Tal know." Her last words were said in a taunting manner, to let the group know that Tamarind had allegedly won that particular battle.

Tal jolted with panic and tears began to well in her eyes as the eyebrows around her began to knit in confusion and all eyes fell on her.

Tamarind's face also began to melt in confusion, then horror when she realized who everyone was staring at. "Tali?!"

That was how it all came crashing down. Tal tried to explain away her actions, trying to convince everyone that she just didn't want to pick sides, but the more explaining she did, the angrier and more betrayed everyone began to look. Suddenly, everyone was back on the same side, but Tal was not on that side.

As soon as Tamarind stormed off, Paisley took Tal's book from her and closed it. "I'll return this to Berry for you, Tali. It's probably best that we call it here for today." She didn't sound angry anymore. She just sounded hurt and disappointed, and that was somehow worse.

"Paisley, I…" Tal tried to choke out, but Paisley just shook her head and walked away. Tal looked between her group, and the retreating Tamarind, before racing after the latter, hoping that she could salvage something, anything.

"Tamarind, wait, I can explain!" she called.

Tamarind stopped. Her face was still pale from illness, but slightly flushed with anger. "You already explained, Tali, and no offense, but you didn't do a good job with it."

"Just, don't tell the others. Please, I… I just…"

Tamarind shook her head. "I can forgive you joining another group. I can forgive you hanging out with my ex, but do you want to know what I can't forgive? You lied to us, Tali. You lied to all of us, for months! You lied to everyone. I just…" Tamarind choked back a sob. "Look, I'm not feeling well and I can't deal with this right now. I have to go." And with that, Tamarind quickly walked away.

And Tal was left alone.

She attended soccer practice that afternoon, but someone from the book club had to have snitched on her, because everyone was cold and closed off towards her. When she tried to attend book club the next morning, she found that the meeting location had changed and no one bothered to tell her.

"You made your choice," was what she was told when she tried once again to plead her case to Paisley after finding her before school.

"You made your choice," was what Tamarind told her when Tal ran into her in the hallways.

"Go hang out with your other friends."

What other friends? Tal thought sadly. Word had traveled fast about her betrayal. No one would even look at her.

The next day, Tal woke up long before the sun rose and went to the orchards for the harvest, her mind racing.

Once again, things had fallen apart, with no time to pick up the pieces, and as much as Tal wanted to blame Paisley for opening her mouth and Tamarind for getting sick, she knew she had no one to blame but herself. She had tried not to choose, and that resulted in her choosing no one, whether she wanted to or not.

Still, there was a glimmer of hope. Things didn't cool down between the two groups over the last harvest season, but maybe they would this year. Maybe things would cool down enough to where they would understand. The lying part, Tal knew would take a little more time to get over, but maybe they would understand the position Tal was in, having to choose between her two passions, her two loves, and her two friends.

Maybe then things could be patched up.

So as Tal climbed that first tree, she let herself hope.

As fleeting as that hope was, it was all she had left.

"Can we speak in flowers? It will be easier for me to understand."

Florin Cassia, 18, District Eleven Male

June 12, Year 78

Cassia Butcher Shop

Florin Cassia waited in the butcher shop, heart aflutter with excitement. A single sunflower sat in a nearby vase, ready for his latest love. She was as gorgeous as the sunrise and as kind as a gentle breeze. As much as he loved Baylor, the fleeting spark he felt with him was just that, fleeting. Clementine, on the other hand, was his muse, his inspiration, and he could see himself loving her for a long time.

"Ugh, again?"

Florin's musings were interrupted by the shrill sound of his younger sister, Ayla, squawking in protest at the sight of the flower in the vase. She learned long ago what the sight of the sunflower in the vase meant. Florin always gave sunflowers to his new loves. They symbolized new beginnings, after all. In a world as harsh and cold as this one, the new and unexplored was a rare kind of beauty to most, one that Florin kept finding, but rare all the same.

"Yes, again," Florin retorted. "And yes, I already gave Baylor that poem I wrote him, as something to remember me by. He simply nodded and told me he'd see me in class tomorrow."

Ayla scowled. "How do you do it? How were you blessed with the powers of promiscuity while being able to stay friends with some of your exes?"

Florin shrugged. "The world may never know." He truly didn't intend to leave broken hearts in his wake. He wasn't trying to be mean, or manipulative, or cruel. In fact, he tried to be just the opposite. His mother taught him to be kind and caring, and so Florin tried to seek out the beauty of the world and bring a little joy along with it. Unfortunately, as good as his intentions, his affections were fleeting. As quickly as he fell for someone, someone else would steal his heart away, and it simply wasn't fair for his current love. So, he wrote them one final poem and moved on.

"Who is it this time?" Ayla sighed.

"Her name is Clementine Lavida," Florin replied. His lips curved upward into a soft, gentle smile. "She came into the shop last week to order pork intestines. As slimy and vile as those things were, one look at her and that friendly smile made it all worth it. It was time to bid Baylor farewell and prepare to win Clementine over."

"Let me guess," Ayla sighed. "With a poem?"

Florin chuckled. "However else?" The metaphors and similes were already dancing gracefully in his mind the moment she left the store, and it didn't take long to compose the perfect poem for her. It took him longer to find the perfect sunflower in the meadow, between evading the Peacekeepers, who would have shot him for so much as looking at it wrong and examining each and every specimen until he found the perfect one.

It was fresh, and vibrant, and would look stunning in Clementine's dark hair.

Before Ayla could say anything else, the door to the shop opened, and in walked Clementine Lavida. Florin's smile grew wider when he saw her enter. Ayla just shrugged and gave her brother a playful punch on the arm. "Well, don't let me keep you. Good luck, Florin!" She had returned to the back of the store before Florin could come up with a witty retort.

Instead, he turned his attention back to Clementine, his heart once again aflutter. "Good afternoon, Miss Lavida," he said jovially.

Clementine giggled, a beautiful thing that was. "Good afternoon, Mr. Cassia," she replied in an equally formal tone. "What was that about?"

"Just some light teasing from my dear younger sister," Florin replied. "What might I interest you in today?"

"A pound of chicken necks, please," Clementine replied, placing a coin on the counter.

"One pound of chicken necks, coming right up," he said, before entering the back and getting the necks ready. He quickly packaged them up, adding a few extra necks on the house, then brought them out.

"Thank you," Clementine said with a smile as Florin cleaned his hands in the nearby sink. "So how had your day been?"

"Even better, now that you've graced it," Florin replied, looking behind him with a soft smile.

A blush spread across Clementine's face and a shy smile brightened her face. "You're so sweet," she said as Florin dried his hands on a nearby towel. He handed Clementine the necks.

"Might I ask you a favor, Miss Lavida?"

Clementine's smile grew curious. "What do you need?"

"I've been writing a poem for a special someone, and I need to run through it first. Care to be my audience?"

Clementine shrugged. "Sure. I have time."

Florin cleared his throat and began to pour his heart out, reciting the poem he wrote himself, the poem he read aloud until he knew it by heart. Florin described the constellations in her eyes, the springtime in her smile, and the joy her kind spirit brought to those around her. He made sure she knew how special she was, and how bright the world was with her in it.

When he finished, Clementine was blushing, her eyes wide with awe. "That's…" she breathed. "That was a beautiful poem, Florin. Absolutely wonderful."

Florin chuckled. "I'm glad you like it. I wrote it for you, after all."

Her wide eyes grew even wider, the blush deeper, and her shock evident. "Y-you did? I… I don't know what to say, I…" Clementine was rendered completely speechless.

"You don't have to say anything," Florin replied gently as he pulled the flower from the vase. "I was hoping to watch the sunset over the orchards tomorrow night, though. I planned to pack a picnic basket, but it's just not right to have a picnic by yourself. Do you care to join me?"

Clementine opened and closed her mouth several times, blown away by Florin's words and proposal. It took a few seconds, long seconds, but seconds all the same, for her to find them again. "Yes! Yes, I would love to join you!" She carefully took the flower and held it close to her face, inhaling the blossom's sweet scent. "Thank you, this is… Wow, you're so sweet!"

Florin chuckled. "So are you, Clementine. So are you."

Clementine carefully placed the flower in her hair, and it looked stunning, as Florin knew it would. "So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow," Florin replied with a wink. Clementine grinned and picked up the meat. She bade Florin farewell and practically skipped out of the store.

Florin watched her disappear into the street and gave a soft sigh. The already good day had indeed been brightened.

"And how long will this one last?"

Florin jumped, startled by Ayla's sudden reappearance. He turned around to see his sister standing with a hand on her hip and a snarky smile on her face. He gave her the best stink eye he could manage. "I'll have you know that I can see myself with her for a long time yet, little sister."

"That's what you said about Theo!"

"Well, this time I mean it!"

"You said that too!"

Florin sighed, unable to resist smiling at his sister's antics. "Well, this time, I really mean it. Now shoo!" He ushered her back to the back of the store, enduring her cackling as she did so.

This time, he really meant it. Clementine was his new love, his muse.

As long as someone didn't come by and steal his heart, he could see himself loving Clementine for years to come.

She was just that special.

Thank you to goldie031 for Tali (FC: Georgie Killick) and illegalcryptid for Florin (FC: Kolcce)! I loved these two so much! They both serve as reminders that as harsh as the world of Panem is, these kiddos are still teenagers and still have teenager problems to deal with on top of everything else. Unfortunately, Tali's plans to patch up her friendships will be derailed, and time will tell if Florin's latest relationship holds up, especially once he leaves for the Capitol, but it's going to be so exciting to see these two grow! I will be updating the playlist at some point tomorrow morning hopefully!

We're so close to being done with intros! Next time, we will be meeting Amoransia and Cole from District Twelve! I plan to have a brief reaping interlude, and then we'll be in pre-Games! See you then!