"The Training Centre is built with twelve floors, one for each district," Effie told you now as you entered the elevator with her. "Since the both of you are from District 12, you two get to live in the penthouse."

You were still in a daze as you recalled everything that happened today--from the moment you were called up and flashed off some of your skills with a blade to outshining everyone else in the tribute parade, and even to the point where Peeta had to compliment you and make you feel all warm and light inside. Giving Peeta's hand a gentle squeeze, you all rode up the elevator and then exited on your landing, your eyes widening in awe at the luxurious space that laid in front of your eyes.

"So this is the living room--" Effie began, turning back now to see both you and Peeta staring in amazement. "I know, I know!" she cried. "You'll be living here for a while, so do get used to it while you can."

You nodded as you let your eyes wander. This place truly was amazing--very different from what you were used to back in 12. Yet the horrible underlying truth of you possibly dying in this very same place kept bugging you...though you managed to push it down and banish it from your mind for now.

"I can just feast my eyes on this all day," you whispered to Peeta, turning slightly to see his eyes sparkle in awe.

Peeta nodded. "Yeah. This would beat my own house any day."

Effie smiled as she saw the both of you still holding hands, smiling at each other. "Well, you two look pretty cute," she gushed. "Anyway, why don't you two get changed? We'll have ourselves some dinner afterwards for our grand splash at the parade."

Reluctantly, you agreed as you let Peeta's hand go, and you went to the left where your quarters were waiting for you. A plush bed, not unlike the one on the train, was placed in the middle of the room. You spotted a few lamps here and there, a fireplace on one wall, and a window just on the other side of the room. Your eyes fell on a small remote controller, which laid on the side of the bed, and hesitantly you went over to it, picking it up gingerly. It felt a little bit heavy in your hand, but you could manage the slight weight in your hand like it was nothing.

Curiosity overtook you as you scrolled through the different options and pressed one random one. At once, the scene on the window changed from a night sky to the city streets, where people in the Capitol were strolling around and talking among themselves. You changed the scene again, and there came a desert looming in your view.

Finally, you changed it one more time...and your eyes laid on a meadow.

Being from town, you never had much time to explore much of your district. Town was a busy place to be anyway. But you have been to the meadow once or twice with Peeta before, and every time you went you always saw him in a different light. He was your best friend, but under the sun he became someone more than that. Would he think the same way of you if these memories ever come to surface in his brain?

Eventually, you turned off the settings, and the window revealed to you the night sky once more.

Off in the corner you saw a door leading to a huge lavish bathroom. Excited, you ran inside the bathroom and marveled at the sight of the tubs and showers and high-tech beauty things in there. District 12 didn't have much hot water for baths unless you boiled some yourself. And there were even soaps of different scents! You quickly took off your costume and hopped into the shower, trying out practically every different soap under the warm water that ran from the shower head above, and you imagined it to be like a warm rain back home.

Exiting the shower after half an hour, you quickly got changed into a casual outfit--a blouse with track pants and your hair loose and damp behind your back--and made your way to the dining room.

You were surprised when you got there to see Haymitch, Effie, Peeta, Cinna, and Portia sitting around the table and chatting among themselves.

"Ahh, there's our wonderful girl on fire!" Haymitch said jovially, and you only smiled.

"I suppose you can call me that," you replied lightly, helping yourself now to the wonderful arrangement of food in front of you and even helping yourself to a glass of water. Being in that chariot burning as bright as a bonfire definitely made you feel thirsty and parched. As you brought up a piece of steak to your mouth, Peeta caught your eye and gave you a shifty smile, which you returned.

"Alright, so, to business," Haymitch said. "First of all, you both start training tomorrow, and this lasts for 3 days until you have to give the Gamemakers a demonstration of what you have learned. Do you two have any special skills you want to share?"

A chunk of steak was still stuffed in your mouth as Haymitch asked this question, and you painfully swallowed it down in an attempt to answer his question. "Uh...I don't know..." you murmured. "If only Katniss was here! She'd be a great contender with her bow and arrows!"

At the mention of Katniss's name, Peeta bolted up in shock. Immediately, everyone turned heads.

"Peeta?" you suddenly asked in surprise. "What's with--what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" he asked incredulously. "(Y/N), why the heck are you doubting yourself? I've seen you handle knives and blades before. You're stellar at that! Why would you bring Katniss to the picture?"

"I don't know. She's a fighter, she is," you simply retorted. "She'd stand a better chance than me." Then you sighed as you glanced down at the rest of your dinner. "I don't know why I did what I did. I'm an idiot, doing something for her sister."

"No you're not," Cinna assured you. "You risked yourself to save someone you barely knew. What did you get in return?"

You gave this some thought. "Just new-found respect from Katniss. I mean, I barely talked with her before the reaping."

"And you gained a friend in light of that," Peeta reminded you. "You're right. She's got fire, and she's got talent. But I know you'll pull through." He reached over again and squeezed your hand, which unfortunately sent another wave of butterflies floating through your throat.

"What about you, Peeta?" Haymitch asked him. "You got anything?"

"Not really," Peeta shrugged. "Unless you count baking bread."

Haymitch shook his head. "No. I don't."

"He can throw flour, though," you recalled. "He can lift some pretty heavy sacks back in the days working with his father in the bakery."

"Uh huh. I wouldn't be too surprised to see sacks of flour lying around in the arena," Peeta retorted.

Now you stared at him in shock, yanking your hand away from Peeta's. "What's up with you, Peeta?"

"I don't stand a chance in the arena, (Y/N)!" Peeta shouted finally.

"Oh really? Well, you never know if strength is needed for hand-to-hand combat," you spat. "If I get jumped, I'm dead!"

"But you won't! You've got skills with weapons! I'm just lacking that! And what with you and your fighting attitude, you'd stand a better chance!" Peeta cried.

"Peeta, (Y/N)'s right," Haymitch said in a bored tone. "Hand-to-hand combat is really important once you get into the arena. In the case you can't get a weapon, a knife or spear or something, strangling someone would definitely be your last resort. (Y/N), I know you're good with knives. How good, really?"

"I...I can throw them and they'd stick somewhere," you shrugged. "I just need to work on aim."

"See? You could get somewhere with that!" Peeta said. "I have to work from scratch! I'd never get anything down in three days time!"

"Yes you can," you assured him. "There's a reason why we're given three days. We'll get to learn something useful. The difference between life and death lies in these three days, right?"

Haymitch only chuckled at your argument. "(Y/N), I can only say you'd be a better mentor than I," he joked. "These three days aren't only just to exercise what you already know. It's a chance for you to learn something new. They will definitely come in handy once you get into the arena."

"Yeah. As if," Peeta grumbled. "You just said you didn't stand a chance. Now you sound like someone who wants to win this thing!"

"For District 12, I'd do anything!" you cried. Why was Peeta suddenly yelling at you all of a sudden? You hardly had a fight in...forever. The two of you just kept glaring at each other until Peeta sighed and put his hands up in the air.

"I really don't know where this is going right now, but I am done here," Peeta finally said, getting up and tucking his chair in. Just as he turned away, he then yelled over his shoulder, "She has no idea. The effect she can have."

With that, he walked away and back to his room.

"How the hell is this happening to me?!" you screamed. "I was only trying to help him, and maybe we could both have one single mindset and one goal of representing District 12 as victor of the Games! And what did he end up with?" You groaned in frustration and slammed your fork and knife down.

For a moment, the entire table fell silent. Then Haymitch cleared his throat.

"I'll go and talk to him," he finally sighed, walking away from the table after taking another drink from his wine. The sound of his footsteps faded away, and soon you were left with Cinna, Portia, and Effie.

"Were you and Peeta...friends?" Portia asked you.

You nodded, alarmed at the question. "Yeah, we...we've been friends since we were children. And we barely argued till now."

"Something tells me he's just not ready to go into the arena yet," Cinna eventually concluded. "I mean, there's a lot on the line. You both know that."

"I do! It's just...I don't know what I was thinking anyway, bringing Katniss into the discussion," you groaned. "Is something wrong with me?"

Tense silence followed for about five seconds before Cinna cleared his throat.

"(Y/N), you want to talk?" he asked. "Like, alone?"

You shook your head. "No, I don't. It's just...argh, it would be hard to tell you right off the bat," you said. "Peeta and I...we've come a long way. I'll admit that. Eleven years of friendship has lead to this moment when we have to face the truth, only one person can come out. But even before the Games, I don't even know why, but I started developing feelings for him, and now that this happened I don't think he'll ever take me seriously on any day if I ever get the chance to confess to him! Why do feelings have to be so hard to deal with?" you finished, close to tearing your hair out.

Another tense silence followed. Then from afar, Haymitch returned to the table.

"(Y/N), I don't know what happened either, and Peeta refused to tell me," he finally reported. "I mean, I tried to get him to talk to me, and he just shut me out."

"Then I'll go," you said. "It's about time we'd just make up."

"Good luck," Cinna murmured, giving your shoulder a quick pat.

You nodded as you stood, balled your fists, and headed towards Peeta's room. You weren't surprised when the first thing you saw was Peeta's dark yet noticeable form slumped on the bed, and you could even make out his quiet breathing as he stared off out of the window.

"Peeta? It's me," you spoke up. "Look, I'm sorry for everything. I really am. I shouldn't have messed this entire conversation up."

Peeta stirred at your voice, but did not move.

You tucked your hands into the pockets of your track pants and shrugged. "But if you don't want to forgive me, I understand. Only one comes out, after all." As you turned to leave, Peeta's voice cut through the tense silence.

"No, (Y/N). I'm sorry," he murmured. "I shouldn't have yelled at you. And I know how hurt you are..."

You turned back now to see Peeta sitting up on his bed, his blue eyes piercing into you with hurt.

"I...it's just that I don't want to see you hurt," he finally said.

"Then what was that about you not standing a chance?" you asked, a slight hint of bitterness evident in your voice.

Peeta laughed sadly. "If I die, and you go back...well, you'd be more of worth to everyone than me."

"I disagree. You're more likable," you smiled back.

"It doesn't matter. It's just...I don't want to hurt you. I wanted to give you all the hopes of being a victor, and you--well, let's not talk about you. Can we just put this behind us? Do you forgive me?" he finally asked, standing up and approaching you with his slow steady footsteps.

For a moment, you felt your heart about to burst. What would it take for you, on your very first argument with Peeta, to see some reasoning in his apology? As you looked back at Peeta, you saw the sadness and anger and concern in his eyes, and you nodded, feeling tears leak out of your eyes.

"Yeah. I do," you murmured, reaching your hand out again for Peeta to take it, which he did. A smile soon appeared on your face as you intertwined your fingers with his, glad that your friendship hasn't exactly been ruined.

"Hey Peeta? (Y/N)? You okay in there?"

The sound of Cinna's voice made you giggle.

"Yeah! We're alright!" you called out.

"Get some sleep you two!" Effie eventually cried. "You have training starting at 10:00 sharp, so don't delay! Get rested while you can!"

You felt the handhold loosen, then completely break off as Peeta gave you a smile. "So...see you tomorrow?"

You nodded, smiling back at him. "See you tomorrow."

With that, you headed back into your room, eventually falling asleep to some very confusing thoughts. Peeta bolted up to Katniss's name, and eventually he fell back to talking with you about you...almost like he had a history with Katniss. No, of course he didn't. He never mentioned anything about her to you anyway, except for him eating the squirrels his father bought off of her. Was it possible, then, that he liked her?

But then you felt a slight pressure on your hand, like Peeta was still holding onto it in comfort, and you shook your head. He said he wouldn't do anything to hurt you.

Little did you know he wouldn't even keep his promise.