So, my name just got called. Marvelous. Fucking marvelous. This is so fucking fantastic. All the girls around me began backing away, clearing a path for me to walk up to the stage. Puff looked at me expectantly, beckoning me forward. Suddenly, I remembered a conversation I had had with myself about what to do if I ever got picked. I began to cry. Not real tears, but I wanted everybody watching to think that the whole situation was too much for me. Continuing with my act, I slowly made my way up to the stage. Puff looked at me encouragingly, but I refused to look at her. Instead, I just stared at the ground in front of me and sobbed. Puff gently put a hand on my shoulder to comfort me, but I could practically feel that cold smile on her face. If only I had an axe on me.

"And now for the gentlemen!" exclaimed Puff. That stupid, shrill, perky bitch. I knew I should be focusing on keeping my act going, but just hearing her voice brought hate-filled thoughts to my head. There weren't many people who could actually make my blood boil, but the sound of her voice alone could make me cringe. I absolutely hated that woman. "Wyatt Nell!" I didn't actually know the kid, I'd never even heard his name before, but I began crying even harder and louder, as if the name had some sort of meaning to me. My crying was extremely obnoxious, and probably drew a lot of attention away from Wyatt. Of course, I couldn't tell, my eyes were still firmly fixed on the ground in front of me. Man, this charade required a lot effort.

I decided to actually take a look at my soon-to-be competitor, Wyatt. He was about my height, blonde too. He had short, spiky hair, and his eyes were green. He was actually pretty cute, but he shouldn't be much of a problem in the arena. I could tell right away that he wasn't a lumberjack, his arms lacked muscle tone. I figured he was probably from one of the richer parts of town with one of the cushier jobs. Wyatt turned and looked at me and Puff looked at us expectantly. I had no clue what that bitch wanted, but Wyatt figured it out. He stuck out his hand and I meekly shook it. "Excellent!" my blood curdled, "Happy Hunger Games everyone! And may the odds be ever in your favor..."

I sat in my room flipping a piece of wood I broke off of the bench I was sitting on. I wasn't expecting any visitors, so I figured I could quit my act for a bit, it annoyed the hell out of me acting like that. Normally, if there was one thing I didn't want to be thought of, it was being weak. But for the Hunger Games, appearing weak could help me win. The only year I had actually watched the Hunger Games carefully was the year that Aaron had been reaped. I had noticed that some of the weaker kids survived longer because the Careers didn't focus on killing them. Some of these kids could just float into the top eight because no one bothered to kill them right away. I figure if I act weak enough, I could make it to the top eight or top seven, then I could up my game and only have to deal with a few more people. And if I could get my hands on an axe and kill the few people left, I could win. I could actually win.

The door to the room suddenly burst open and the Peacekeepers ushered someone in. I quickly dropped my piece of wood and began to cry, as if I had been doing that this entire time. I was getting pretty good at crying on cue. "Oh honey, stop your damn crying. You may be fooling' everybody else, but you sure as hell ain't fooling me." I looked up to see Kalkaska, the old woman from the Val, looking at me. Since she obviously wasn't going to buy my act, I immediately stopped my crying. "Why are you even here?" I asked. I had known her for a long time, and I had traded with her often, but I certainly didn't expect her to come and visit me. "Well, I figured that someone should," she replied, before sitting down next to me on the bench. "I think you've got a good strategy. Most people in the district won't figure it out, and certainly no one in the other districts will. I think it could work. You're handy with an axe and with knives, you know how to climb trees, you're a fast runner, and I don't think you'll let the situation break you emotionally." She was right, I was all of those things, I could win. "I don't have much time left. I just wanted you to know that you have someone here rooting for you, and to reassure you that you can win." Kalkaska nodded and repeated "Oh yeah, you can win." I leaned over and hugged her. It was probably the most affection I had shown anyone in a long time, but she deserved it. I felt her tense at first in surprise, she certainly wasn't expecting it, but she hugged me back. "Aaron would be so proud of you..."

The door burst open and Peacekeepers rushed in to pull Kalkaska out. The Peacekeepers wanted to drag her our, but she stood up and pushed the first man who came up to her. "Get the fuck away from me, I can leave on my own..." she said rather rudely as she made her way out of the room. The Peacekeepers slammed the door behind her. I smiled at Kalkaska's brashness. She was one of the few people in this district that I actually liked. I picked up my piece of wood and went back to flipping it.

Later, Puff escorted Wyatt and I toward the train bound for the Capitol. I decided that I should at least try to tolerate Puff. It'd be a lot easier to focus on my act if I wasn't plotting various ways to murder that vile woman. Her clothing choice wasn't helping her today. She was wearing a particularly obnoxious ensemble: a large, fluffy neon purple (yes, neon purple) dress with a large, tight neon orange belt that had a large golden hoop buckle, rings on every finger, a blue and yellow flower necklace, and long dangly earrings that fell all the way to her shoulders. Her hair was as puffy as ever, and still that awful neon orange color. "Just wait until you see the food we have prepared for you." she said as she led us onto the train. We were led into a room with a wide array of food from the Capitol. I was truly taken aback by the wide array of food in front of us. The furniture was elegant as well, not even the mayor of our district owned this type of stuff. "Not something you see every day, is it?" commented Puff in her awful shrill voice. Calm down Johanna, you're stuck with her for awhile, might as well tolerate her. "Your rooms are right over here. Your mentors, Flip and Brittany will be here to help instruct you shortly." And then she left (thank God), leaving me and Wyatt to sit staring at the food, not sure what to say, what to do. I figured I might as well start getting Wyatt to think I was a worthless ninny, so I started crying. Wyatt looked over at me and pulled me into him, resting my head on his shoulder. He was comforting, and while I was crying on the outside, I was laughing on the inside. He was actually buying my act.

Flip and Brittany came in, and Wyatt let go of me, but I continued to sob. They sat down across from us. I don't remember anything about Flip's Hunger Games, but I did remember Brittany's. Brittany won by joining the Career Alliance, and she betrayed them right after the Cornucopia bloodbath. No one saw it coming, and she killed all five of her allies in ten seconds. With her Career Alliance gone, she was able to hunt down the few remaining tributes and win. She won the year before Aaron was reaped...C'mon Johanna, forget about him. I tried to push thoughts of Aaron out of my head, but then I realized that thinking of Aaron made it easier for me to cry. So instead of pushing him out of my mind, I replayed the moment when Caesar Flickerman announced to the world that Aaron had died over and over again in my head, and suddenly he tears came really easy. I looked up to see Flip staring at me in bewilderment, "Look. You need to calm down," he said, "I know this sucks, and that you don't want to be here, but if you can't pull yourself together you're going to be the first one to die once the games start."

I was actually counting on the opposite, that my weakness will keep people from hunting me down right away, but I didn't say anything. Instead, I tried to pull myself together, as if his words actually had meaning to me. "So how do we get sponsors?" it was Wyatt who asked. Wyatt actually had a decent chance at getting a sponsor or two, he was pretty good looking, and if he was at least a bit handy with a knife or something..."That was the first thing we wanted to talk about." replied Brittany, "Now, do either of you have any strengths?"

"Well, I worked as a butcher, so I know how to use knives. I don't know how to throw them all that well, but I bet I could learn pretty quickly. I also know how to start a fire." Flip and Brittany both seemed please by Wyatt's response. He definitely could pick up a sponsor or two. "And what about you?" Brittany looked at me. Well, I can climb trees, I'm a fast runner, I'm great with an axe and pretty good with knives, I'm pretty smart, and I must be a pretty good actor since I'm completely playing all three of you. Of course, I didn't say that. Instead, I replied meekly, "Well, I can run sort of fast, I guess."

"And you also seem to produce a large amount of water from your eyes." scolded Flip. I pretended to take offense to his comment and increased my crying. "Being an asshole about it isn't going to help her," chided Brittany. I was actually starting to like her a bit. "Yeah? Well it doesn't matter, she's absolutely hopeless." Flip shouted. Boy, will he be in for a shock later. "Let's just focus on Wyatt," Flip said to Brittany, as if neither Wyatt nor I could hear. Brittany looked at me sadly before turning her attention to Wyatt. I think Wyatt might have looked at me sadly too, until he was bombarded by questions about his abilities by Flip. Since I obviously wasn't going to be part of the conversation, I picked up two salads and left. Flip didn't even seem to notice my departure. On the way to my room, Puff was coming in the opposite direction, carrying what looked like a hot cup of tea. Since we were in a tight hallway, I figured I could get away with something like this just once. I pretended to look distracted as I 'accidentally' bumped into her with my shoulder. It caused me to drop one of my salads, but the payoff was worth it. Puff let out an awful scream as her tea spilled all over the front of her dress. Since her job was to cater to us, she couldn't cuss me out like she probably wanted to, but her eyes were filled with hate as she glared at me. "Sorry," I quickly lied, trying to keep from smirking. Puff must've realized what she looked like, because her demeanor instantly changed. And suddenly, she looked all perky again. "It's okay, should come right out." she smiled, before walking down the hall. But I heard her say under her breath, "Dumb bitch. Ughh... Calm yourself, Puff. She'll get what's coming to her when the Games start." God, I hate her.

I went into my room and plopped down on my bed. I quickly ate my salad (it was really good), and started flipping my fork. We were going to be at the Capitol soon, and I only had a few hours left to be myself. Then I had to act as pathetic and weak as possible to get everybody to overlook me. These next few days at the Capitol were going to be Hell. But those few days could determine whether or not I win, so I had to do it.

There was a sharp knock at my door. "We're almost at the Capitol, and Galoriah wants us all up front so the people can see us." It was Wyatt, and it took me a couple of seconds to remember who Galoriah was, I was so used to calling her Puff. Time to start my act. I got some water from the sink and splashed it under my eyes to make it look like I was crying before stepping out to see Wyatt waiting for me. He seemed pretty nice, it was a shame that he was going to die, possibly at my hand. But I reminded myself that I couldn't develop any sort of emotional attachment to anyone, that would just make it harder for me to kill them later. Puff ushered us to the window where crowds of people waved at us as the train pulled in. I couldn't help notice that Puff changed her dress, I smiled to myself. I stared out at the people and waved meekly, trying to make myself look scared. I was already getting sick of acting like this. These next few days were going to be excruciating.