After hours of being bored out of my mind in my room, I was finally released. Marcus led me into the Observatory Room without a word. I was immediately overwhelmed with the smell of body odor and clean-shaven wood. The structures that were displayed around the room were crowded with people. I couldn't believe that any of them could actually see.

I walked over to one without as many people around it. It was just a simple line of monkey bars. They were slightly rusted on the bottom, but besides that, they seemed like a harmless addition to a play-set. Any eight-year-old would be ecstatic to get their hands wrapped around them.

"I wonder what'll be under it," I muttered under my breath.

"That's a good question." I nearly jumped out of my skin at the voice. I turned and practically smacked Aster across the face. I held my hand back before I could.

"Jesus," I breathed, "you scared me."

Aster's cheeks flushed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to."

He started walking to the other side of the room. After a moment of hesitation, I followed. Aster stopped in front of a campfire. Next to it were buckets full of liquids. If we could touch it, people would poke and jab at it like toddlers with play dough. The obligation of everything being off-limits, though, made these mysterious liquids a waste of time. I was ready to go, but Aster refused to move.

"One of these will be under the monkey bars," Aster said. He pointed at one of the buckets, which was filled with a faded green color. "My bet's on this one."

I nodded. It looked sickening enough to distract someone from climbing their way past it. All we needed to know was what it would do, and if it was deadly.

After looking at them for a little longer, we made our way to all the other displays. We stared at large walls and images of bugs. I shuddered at the pictures. Even if they weren't real, they still disgusted me. I turned away and found interest in the people who were shaking hands, showing their promises of an alliance.

Are you thinking of making an alliance with anyone? Jen's voice and mammoth teeth dug into my brain. I didn't really think I needed help. Working with people wasn't always a walk in the park for me.

I was starting to have doubts, though. If I could barely hold my stomach by looking at a couple of bugs, then I would need a little help to survive. Especially now that Marcus was pressuring me to survive.

"What do you want to look at next?" Aster asked. He had analyzed practically everything in the room and was apparently getting bored.

I glanced up at his lopsided smile. "I want to look at some dinner, I'm starving."

"I heard that dinner is soon," Aster said. "Apparently it's the best food you'll ever taste."

I snorted. "The best food I'll ever taste is my brother's lasagna when I get back home." Even though it was just the box kind, Caden was always proud of it.

"I'm not so sure." He grinned. I never realized how straight his teeth were. They weren't pearly white, but not butter-yellow, either. Just average.

"Well, I'm positive." I pulled my hair up with my hair tie. Aster chuckled and turned to look at the walls one more time. I would've protested, but there wasn't really anything else to do. So we stared at some rocks.

"Tributes," a voice boomed through an invisible loudspeaker, "please exit the training room and enter the eating hall at this time."

The voice clicked off. I shot up to my feet and broke out into a run. I was starving. The food had to be awful, though. No matter what Aster said, it had to be. It would match the place.

I kept sprinting, a sour taste forming in my mouth. I thought about all the possibilities of gross food that they could have available. My stomach churned in disgust.

It was the best food I had ever tasted.

I popped another piece of meat into my mouth and groaned. The flavors danced on my tongue and the heat warmed my body.

"Do you like it?" Aster asked. He was sitting across from me. It was as if he was watching a baby take its first steps.

I was only sitting with Aster because one, he was pretty much my only friend and two, I either smart-mouthed everyone else, or they were scared of me. Hey, it was a talent.

I rolled my eyes. "Nope, it's awful." I made a gagging noise. Aster smiled as his eyes filled with amusement.

"Get used to it." He grabbed a piece of seafood and sealed it behind his lips. "We'll be eating like this for a couple more days."

I grinned. Two days of being able to eat whatever we wanted without the EatWell controlling our diets? It was a dream come true.

I realized how quickly everything was moving. Tomorrow there was going to be the Welcoming Ceremony, where we were all introduced. An outfit was supposed to be placed on our door in the morning, which we would wear and show off to our audience. Some werejaw-dropping, while some looked like a cat was strangling it.

Then we'd be saying goodbye and heading to The Pestilention.

"I'm not wearing a dress tomorrow," I muttered. Aster raised a brow.

"Well, I certainly won't be, either." He stood up with his cleaned-off plate."If you'll excuse me, I'm going to get thirds."

I was finished and stuffed by the time Aster came back. His plate was piled with desserts. Aster slid a snickerdoodle on my plate. I gave him a silent thanks and popped the soft dough into my mouth. It was still warm and there was a perfect amount of cinnamon. My mouth pleaded for more as I washed it down with a soda.

I placed my cup on the table. "We're going to be so fat after this, aren't we?"

"Isn't that the point of feeding us?" Aster asked. "To fatten us up before the course?"

"Sure, but that'll give me such a huge disadvantage." I leaned back in my chair.

"It shouldn't hurt the disadvantage I already have."

"You, having a disadvantage?" My mind couldn't comprehend what could have made Aster say that. "I'm going to be dead in three seconds if you have a disadvantage."

Aster chuckled. "At least I get to hang out with a friend before I die."

It was silent for a minute as I grabbed another cookie from his plate. We nibbled on the desserts, wishing that they'd last forever. Wishing that we could just sit and talk while eating good food forever.

"Hey, Aster." I felt my weight shift uncomfortably on the chair. I didn't even realize what I was saying until it blurted out of my mouth. God Kat, please don't.

"What's up, Kat?" Aster asked.

"I was just wondering if you'd think of being my partner during the course?"

Aster's eyes turned dark. He dropped the food that was being held by his forefinger and his thumb. My body started to feel cold. I swallowed the lump in my throat. Everything about him suddenly went from happy-sunshine-and-rainbows to I'm-going-to-kill-you. Was I seriously that bad?

"I have to go," he said. Aster pulled his chair back and lifted himself up before walking out of the hall, closing the door behind him.

I slid down in my chair and sighed. Great, just what I needed. To lose my only friend. I snatched a lemon bar from Aster's abandoned plate before leaving myself, feeling worse than I had before.

Not really an accurate song for this chapter, but here's Fight song by Rachel Platten.