Training starts the next day.

During breakfast Effie, Haymitch and I talk tactics. First Effie congratulates the two of us for making such an impact. I am sad that we did not look as good as Peeta and Katniss did last year; they looked great with both Cinna’s talent and their own chemistry. Haymitch seems more like a fatherly figure to me, but even that is a stretch. My father is much kinder than Haymitch, and since my father remains sober most of the time he also looks better. Also, I barely know Haymitch. After Effie’s comments on the parade, we begin to discuss how we should act in the training. We don’t have a mentor, so it’s up to us. Effie gives suggestions, but she doesn’t have our experience. She is, however, in charge of getting us sponsors, which is normally the mentor’s job.

“I want you to make friends with as many people as possible,” Haymitch tells me. “We need a lot of allies. I’ll go for the older ones: Beetee, Wiress, maybe I’ll try to even get Enobaria on our side. You talk to Johanna and Finnick. You could try talking to Cashmere and Gloss, but I’m not sure I trust them.”

I am not sure I trust Finnick or Johanna, though. Johanna has used up her innocence tactic; I don’t know if she will be a valuable member of our team since everyone knows she is ruthless. Or maybe I’m just kidding myself so I don’t have to talk to her. I am a little confused, though. I would have thought Haymitch would want us to ally with the other rebels, if there are any among us. Maybe that is what he is saying, but he is saying it in a way that Effie will not catch on.

“Can I try to ally with Seeder and Chaff?” I ask.

Haymitch nods.

“They can’t really refuse you.”

Cinna and Portia come in when we are almost finished eating and hand us training clothes. They are simple; they look very similar to the ones I wore last year. I go into my room and get changed. When I come out again, Haymitch is changed too. Effie has a mockingjay pin in her hand. She pins it onto my shirt.

“I’m so glad we managed to get this back!” she exclaims.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a shame that that girl last year had to die. At least her badge didn’t go to waste!”

With the realisation of what she means, I almost feel sick. This was Katniss’s pin. Does it mean nothing to Effie except that it’s pretty?

The pin would, however, show other rebels that I was one of them.

Effie rides the elevator down with us to the gym, but Haymitch does not let her come in with us. There are very few people there, and we arrived just as Atala starts to give us a brief description of each station. I can’t use my climbing skills to impress the gamemakers this year, so I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet. I wonder what some of the older tributes are going to do, like the morphlings. Most of them have no skills, or if they do then the showed them off last time they were in the Games.

I am not sure what to do, so I go to the archery station first. I wonder how Katniss felt when she picked up her bow and arrows. I try shooting a few targets, but am not very good at it. I give up and move onto another station.

Seeder and Chaff are not here yet, but Finnick and Johanna are. I see a bit too much of Johanna; each time I see her she is wearing fewer garments. I keep feeling Finnick’s hand on my waist, seeing him wink at me, feeling him knock into me accidently-on-purpose. I don’t feel like talking to naked Johanna or creepy Finnick.

I go over to the knots and snares station. A really old woman from District 4 is there. She ignores almost everything the instructor tells her, and keeps making fishhooks. She’s really good at it, making them out of almost anything. I remember how Katniss set a trap last year, and I wish I could do something like that. I explain to the instructor what I mean and he nods and tries to teach me. Suddenly, I feel arms hugging around my waist. I’m sick of this.

“Please stop,” I say softly, angrily. I put Finnick’s arms away.

The instructor is not supposed to get involved with the tribute except to teach us skills, so wanders over to the old lady and attempts to make her create a snare. I glare at Finnick.

“I just want you to-” he stops to think of the right words. “Like me.”

“Why?”

“I’d like to ally with you.”

I snort. “Why didn’t you just ask in the first place?”

He gives me a wry smile. “Most people tend to think my body talks better than my mouth.”

“Would “most people” include thirteen year olds?”

He laughs. A genuine laugh. Not some fake seductive one. “I didn’t think of that.”

He reaches his hand towards me and I flinch a little. It wasn’t necessary though; all he does is touch my pin. It’d subtle, but I understand. He is a rebel too.

He introduces me to the old woman, Mags, who is his District partner. The three of us agree to be allies. I like Mags, she seems selfless. I worry that I will want to protect her in the arena, though. I also worry that she will try to protect me. I hate the thought of people dying for me, whether it’s Katniss, Thresh, Mags, anyone.

I have achieved part of what Haymitch told me to do, but not all. Seeder and Chaff have arrived now, so I go to talk to them. Seeder hugs me tightly and apologises over and over that she did not stop me from coming here (not that she could have done anything about it). She asks me to ally with her before I have a chance to say anything, and of course I agree. Chaff already has wandered off, but he and Haymitch are friends so I hope that Haymitch will talk to him.

Over the next two days, I talk to a lot of the tributes. I don’t dislike any of them; I actually end up liking a lot of them. I still do not know what to do for my private session, and I still have not worked up the nerve to talk to Johanna.

I sit in the room that we wait in before our private sessions. I am shaking and nervous. I hate going last. District 12 goes last for everything, and I hate it. I don’t like waiting; it makes me more and more nervous. The only plus side to waiting is that I can think of what I’m going to do.

The District 7 male tribute is called and Johanna is left alone. She gets up and sits in the empty seat next to me on my right. Haymitch nods at me from my left. He has managed to ally us with Beetee and Wiress, as well as Chaff. He knows that this is probably the last chance I’ll have to ask Johanna.

“Don’t be nervous,” she tells me.

I’m glad she’s making conversation as I wouldn’t be able to. She is a lot less scary with clothes on.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do, though,” I say.

“Me neither,” she grins at me. I grin back. She seems nice. “Tell you what, do something that will scare them. Or impact them. Something that will pull their heart strings. I’ll do the same.”

“Okay,” I agree.

“Johanna Mason, District 7!” calls out a peacekeeper.

“Good luck!” I tell her.

“Thanks, you too.” She stands up. “By the way, would you mind being my ally?”

“Sure!”

Haymitch nods his approval. Then Johanna is gone. I wonder what she is going to do. I have a bit of an idea.

I keep waiting and soon Haymitch’s name has been called and I am the only one left. I wonder what he is going to do. I have formulated exactly what I am going to do, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave me a 0 for it,

When my name is called, I stand up and walk as calmly as possible into the large training room.

Since I won the Games last year, I have been having singing lessons. My singing teacher generally only taught me acceptable songs, but I managed to persuade her to teach me a couple of forbidden songs, like the Hanging Tree and the Meadow Song. I decide to sing the Meadow Song.

I turn to face all of the gamemakers.

“Deep in the meadow, under the willow

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow…”

I turn away from them and walk over to the plant identifying station. I keep singing.

“Lay down your head, close your eyes…”

I look through the plants. There is a specific one that I’m looking for.

“And when you wake up, the sun will rise…”

I find it. Circular white flowers with purple seeds. Arrow shaped leaves that remind me of Katniss. She is named after this plant, after all.

“Here it’s safe, and here it’s warm,

And here the daisies guard you from every harm…”

I walk back over to the gamemakers cradling the katniss. I get as close to them as possible, which is difficult to do with a force field between us (which I do not think was there last year). Although they are listening, I am no longer singing to them. I am singing to Katniss herself.

“And here your dreams are sweet,

And tomorrow brings them true…”

A single tear drops from my chin to the floor.

“Here is the place where I love you.”