Kallik- District Two female (18)

It was definitely Trydan who was the most excited for our shower. All of us were excited, but he was something else. It had been hard for him, living in filth. He came from an urban District where everyone had clean running water and he was also just a fastidious sort of guy- the kind my grandfather would call a "fussbudget". So the rest of us let him go first and sat around talking mostly minutiae and a little strategy.

"Maybe I can find a sharp shell and shave my legs," Taylor said.

"That's pretty conform-y for an emo," Val cracked.

Taylor scrunched her face at him. "I shave for me, not anyone else," she said.

"Anyone else?" Yarrow asked curiously.

"I'm thinking a man," Taylor answered the discreet question about her preference. If I hadn't known her better, I would have thought she was embarrassed. She stumbled a little as she went on. "It's kind of silly, but if I ever had a kid, I'd want to do it the old-fashioned way."

"No kids for me," Yarrow said with no hesitation.

"I'm not sure," Val said. "The world could definitely use some more of me in it."

"I want a big family," Leo said. "And if I win I can even be a househusband!" He turned to me. "How about you?"

Taylor stood up. "Just grabbing some water. I think we're almost out," she said as she left.

"I'm not sure either," I said. "With the world… how it is, it's pretty scary. My people are disappearing fast and that's sad, but I'm only going to have a kid if I want one, not out of duty, you know? Guess I'll see where life takes me."

"Shower's open!"

Trydan came damply through the trees and sat down with us, smelling of vanilla and lavender.

"Oh my God, I want to drink you like tea." I realized too late how it sounded. "I mean, because of the smell. Oh, they're definitely going to use that footage."

"I'm certain they're airing that time I tried to hop over a stream and totally wiped out," Yarrow said.

"Remember that first night when you and I were sleeping so close I woke up with my hand in your pocket?" Val said to Leo.

"No regrets. It was cold," Leo said.

"Weird to think that all of this can be anything they want," Trydan said. "They could cut it so we're all horribly mean to each other, or that any two of us are in love- or more than two of us- or that we're all best friends."

I'd thought about it myself. I could put my best foot forward all I wanted, but what the people back home saw was all up to the Capitol. I didn't think I'd done anything to make them mad…

"One of us is definitely the villain," Yarrow said.

"Probably Taylor just because she's goth-y," Val said.

"She's not even that mean. Just really sarcastic," Trydan said. "But it's pretty funny what she says so I'm not even mad."

"Speaking of…" Yarrow got to her feet. "I bet she snuck into the shower while we were all talking."

"See? She didn't lie," Val said. "She said she was going to get water."

Trydan's interview, unedited: I am a new man. You don't have curly hair so you don't get the pain. So much gets in there. I pulled a dead bug out of it in there. But now I am showered and I am reborn.

Octavia's interview: I don't want to do an interview right now because I'm really tired and you're going to do that thing where you take everything I say out of context to make it sound like I said something stupid, like honey is vegan. Oh, no.

Octavia's interview, edited: Honey is vegan.

Virgo Charleston- District Ten female (18)

I knew there was an alliance. I just knew there was an alliance somewhere. All the votes recently had been really clear-cut, whereas the first weeks were all over the place. And they were for people most of us liked, so it wasn't a coincidence. It was for strategy and I was pretty sure it was a collective targeting. I also guessed that the last few eliminations were people who weren't in the alliance, and that included me.

Alara was the first one I spoke to. She was probably the closest to me in the tribe. We weren't best friends or anything, but we were close in age, we both loved animals, and a lot of the others had already grouped up. She was a bit bossy, if you asked me, but she was cool overall. When I saw her carrying a handful of clothes toward the river, I volunteered to help.

"I suppose this far into the Games, I should start thinking about alliances," I said after some small talk so it didn't seem totally suspicious.

"It does seem like the councils are a lot more decisive lately," she agreed.

I slipped some socks over my hands to rub them together and grind the dirt out. "I think there already are some," I said. "You think so?"

"Oh, definitely," Alara said. "Enzo and Rowena, of course, and I think Lana might be with them."

"It's a big alliance," I said. "There were five votes for Amberlynn. Of course some of them might have been coincidences."

I tried to look like I wasn't watching Alara's responses carefully. Was she in the alliance? If so, she hadn't told me. I couldn't blame her for playing the game, but I thought I'd be a good ally. Or did she think I was in an alliance and I was feeling her out? Or were neither of us in an alliance and we were both about to scare the other off.

"No matter what, I think we should get rid of Cactus," Alara said. "He's not a team player."

It was definitely true. I didn't mind that he'd taken one of our hammocks to make himself a tiny shelter. He left us the pillows and other stuff, and everyone had their quirks. He didn't like sleeping so close to other people and that was understandable. It wasn't great for me either, but I could make it work.

"Who do you think's going to win?" I wasn't even trying to throw off suspicion and change the subject. I was just honestly curious.

"I mean, I hope it's me, but maybe Dorian?" Alara said. "He's strong but not scary strong, and he's friendly and not too intimidating. Good all around player. If it was a real Games, though- Persi. I think she'd be scary in the Arena."

"Oh, definitely," I said. I'd seen her game face in challenges. If actual life and death was on the line, I was pretty sure she'd shoot Lana execution style and walk away.

With Enzo I could be less cautious. He wasn't dumb- far from it, with his chemistry skills- but he was an opener book than some.

"Okay, so there's definitely a big alliance," I said as I gathered wood with him. "Any ideas who's in it?"

"Yeah, there's totally an alliance," Enzo said easily. He seemed to suddenly catch himself. "I wonder who's in it."

Two options… Either Enzo was in it and didn't want to tell me, or he thought I was in it and was trying to see how much he knew. It was like the schoolyard game I used to play where we all sat in a circle and looked at each other, and if someone winked at you, you were out. There was only one winker but everyone was afraid to look at everyone else, because no one but the winker knew who it was.

Dorian's interview, unedited: I told Cactus he shouldn't vote for me since we're the two strongest so if I get voted out he'll be the next target. We'll see if that plays out.

Taylor's interview, unedited: Hey, did you all know it's pretty rare to be allergic to lavender? I'm a special snowflake, all right. Thank God I noticed my arm was a little itchy before I smeared it in my face.

Alara's interview: It sucks not knowing what I can say to my tribemates. There are so many secrets and everyone's a suspect. Virgo was asking me about it and I just don't know what's safe.

Alara's interview, edited: Virgo has so many secrets. I don't know what's safe to say to her.

Almost all of the votes are in, but there's enough room the loser could change, so here's a fun chapter. Everyone drop in what you all called that game as a kid, lol. I usually knew it as Frogger, but it was also Winkum, and once at summer camp it was a walking variation named Sapsucker