All lectures forgotten, I'm soon with Cinna to get ready for the tribute parade. He preps me and puts me in a black dress with dark makeup and my hair wavy and down.

I walk over to the chariot assigned to Austin and me. When I get there, I pat the black horses. "How'd we get here, huh?"

"Willow," I hear a voice call out, and when I turn round, a semi-nude man is in front of me.

"Hello Finnick," I say, sarcasm dripping off my tongue.

"D'you want a sugar cube?" He asks me, tossing one of the many in his hand in the air then crunching it in his mouth. "There supposed to be the horses but who cares? I mean, they've got years to eat sugar whereas you and me when we see something sweet we better grab it quick."

"Shame I won't be grabbing you then, a bit too sour for my taste," I reply silkily.

Finnick smirks and I continue. "But I would love to borrow that outfit someday."

This is something of a joke, since all he's wearing is a fishing net that's strategically knotted at his groin so he's not naked. "Well you look pretty terrifying in that get up," Finnick laughs. "What happened to the pretty little girl dresses?"

"What happened to you wearing clothes?" I raise my eyebrows.

He leans close to me and smirks. I beg myself not to back away, despite the amount of uncomfortable I'm feeling right now. "I'm sorry you had to cancel your wedding. Now you, you could've made out like a bandit in the Capitol. Jewels, money, anything you wanted."

Maybe he does talk a lot of waffle, but he's right about something. Austin and I'd wedding was cancelled because of the Quell. However, I decide to say something different.

"Well I don't like jewels and I have more money than I need, so... what did you so with all your wealth, anyway?"

"I haven't dealt in anything as common as money in years," Finnick says.

"Then how do people pay for the pleasure of your company?" I didn't mean this to be genuine, in fact I'm not even enjoying myself, but he answers anyway.

"With secrets," he says, leaning close to my body. I roll my eyes openly and he chuckles. "What about you, girl on fire? You have any secrets worth my time?"

He leans back and I scrutinise him with a raised brow. "I'm an open book. Everybody always seems to know my secrets before I know them myself."

"Unfortunately, I think that's true," he smiles mischievously then pops another sugar cube in his mouth and walks away. "Austin," he says, meeting my fellow tribute as he walks towards me.

"Finnick," Austin nods, but he turns his attention to me almost immediately. "What'd he want?"

"To know all my secrets," I smile, almost laughing.

"It's time to get in line," he says, matching my smile. I take his hand just as I hear the intercom.

"Tributes mount up, tributes mount up."

Our chariot is decorated with white roses that, thank goodness, don't reek. And Cinna joins us as we walk up to it.

"No waving or smiling this time," he orders us. "I want you to look straight ahead as if the audience and this whole event is beneath you."

"Should be easy," I'm not sure where this sarcastic mood has come from, but I don't really care.

"Press this when you're ready," he hands me a button that I assume will make Austin and I burst into flames.

I take the button from him and nod.

We mount our chariot just as District One (Cashmere and Gloss) pull out of the tunnel. Brutus and Enobaria go next, then Wiress and Beetee... Finnick and Mags...

Finally, District Eleven (a woman apparently called Seeder and a man called Chaff) pull out and then we're next. I breathe a heavy breath, and this time it's me that grabs Austin's hand to steady myself as the horses start to move.

We come out the tunnel to an enormous amount of cheers. Staying true to Cinna's word, I keep my head high and my eyes don't wander.

I watch as we parade down the street with drummers on either side, then enter the circle where we go and wait for President Snow. When we're circling it, I look at the snake that likes blood and roses. He looks at me.

I force myself to hold my gaze as his eyes bore into me. He narrows his eyes and I clench the button in my hand. Then I press it.

All at once, my black dress bursts into red and orange flames and the same with Austin's suit. I hear the people in the crowd shout, clap and whoop louder. But I hold the President's gaze. He gives me a small nod and turns away as my chariot stops.

I look away from the snake. The snake that's brain will be whirring right now, exstatic about fantasies in which I die.

☘︎☘︎☘︎

"Nice job, way to make friends out there, you two," Haymitch claps us as we enter the tribute centre. He's standing by Chaff and Seeder from Eleven, and as we enter, the three of them come over.

"Well we learned from the best," I say in a somewhat sarcastic manner.

Haymitch clearly knows these people from Eleven, because next thing I know, I'm getting introduced to them.

"I'd like to introduce you two to some special friends of mine," he smiles. "This is is Seeder and Chaff from District Eleven."

Suddenly, Chaff lunges over and kisses me full on the mouth. I lunge back as Austin gives a look somewhere between jealousy and amusement. Haymitch and Chaff are both laughing.

"Yeah, he's very friendly, er, don't invite him over, he'll drink up your liquor," he finishes, grabbing my arm and nodding to Austin. "I'll see you guys soon. Let's get some of that makeup off you and talk about these other tributes."

"These tributes are crazy," I hiss to him.

"Nah, not all of them, he's a good guy," Haymitch motions back to Chaff. "Carry on," he salutes a peacekeeper as we get in the lift.

I was hoping to have a quiet, silent and all round okay journey up in the lift. I got none of this.

A tribute that Haymitch hadn't mentioned to me walks into the lift, but I know immediately who it is.

The first clue is that she's dressed as a tree, and that's District Seven (lumber) for sure. I also know her name. She's called Johanna Mason.

I know her because she certainly left a lasting impression on the games. At the start, she pretended to be feeble. She cried, she screamed, and she basically was written off as one that would be easy to weed out. She can kill viciously.

We also stand on some common ground. Her main weapon is an axe, the same as mine. I don't know if this is making her admire me or feel threatened of me, but I don't really care.

"You guys look amazing," she comments.

"Thank you," I say, frowning.

"My stylist is such an idiot," she snarls, snapping bracelets off her wrists and letting her hair fall free from her clips. "District Seven, lumber, trees, urgh. I'd love to shove my axe in her face..."

I raise my eyebrows into my hairline. I've thrown an axe at someone, and it's still tearing me up inside. Now she's talking about doing it for fun? Because she wants to?

"So, what do you think? Now that the whole world wants to sleep with you?" Johanna's voice pulls me back into the conversation.

I instantly rush to my own defence. "I don't think that the whole world-"

"I wasn't talking to you," Johanna turns round, cutting me off quickly.

Who does she think she is? "I wish I wasn't talking to you."

She rolls her eyes and asks. "Can you unzip?"

She turns her back to Austin, holding her hair out the way. I raise my eyebrows at Austin but, albeit unsurely, he reaches his arms forward and unzips the costume.

She rips off her tree costume, gradually revealing her whole naked body. I clench my jaw and avoid all eye contact with Austin (who I'm mildly annoyed at) and Haymitch (who seems close to bursting out laughing).

She turns towards us as she completely rids herself of the costume, kicking it across the lift. She looks at us for a couple of seconds, then the lift doors open. "Thanks," she says, swinging herself round the door. "Let's do it again sometime!"

I widen my eyes as Haymitch says, "thank you," with a smirk on his face. "Johanna Mason, District Seven. You two should hit it off, Willow, since you fire the same weapon."

"If you think for one fucking second that I'm going to make her my ally-"

"Just saying," Haymitch holds his hands up, chuckling. He treats it like a joke, but I know the truth.

I've only seen a handful of the victors in person, and spoken to even less. But judging by Finnick, Chaff and Johanna, I'm going to go through hell and back to try and make allies here.