"Ladies and gentlemen, let the 74th Hunger Games begin!"

Crowding around the small television in my house, I sat at the edge of my seat in fear, my hands clenched together. Delly, in the meanwhile, bit her lip, her eyes never leaving the screen. Yes, I invited Delly here to watch this with me. I can't stand seeing my daughter, her friend, at the edge of peril. Of course, I still had to worry about Peeta at the same time--what if they do end up killing each other?

"How could he just do this?!" Delly screamed randomly, making me jump. "How could he just divert his feelings for Katniss? Did he really love her all this time? And I thought he and (Y/N) would make the best couple!"

I only nodded solemnly as I heard Delly cry. True, I've seen (Y/N) and Peeta at ease with each other all the time. Being best friends, it was expected. But Delly had a point--every time I saw the two of them together I could have sworn they had a chance at being way more than friends. The way Peeta looked at her in the eye...the way they held each other's hand...would they still have a chance at that, now that Peeta claimed to love Katniss?

For the time being, though, I didn't dare say anything. Both of our eyes were fixated on the screen, giving us a good view of all the tributes standing on their metal plates. After a while, I saw my daughter now, her knees bent in preparation to sprint from the plate when the gong sounds, and I smiled. Here was my daughter, standing so strong now with a high training score under her belt and such a determined face set to the Cornucopia--and I couldn't be prouder. Whether she dies at the Cornucopia or not, I'm glad to have raised her to become who she is.

The gong finally sounded now, and she scooped up a loaf of bread and a sheet of plastic, then she ran for a backpack, engaging herself in a fight with a boy from 9.

"Give it!" I heard her mutter, kicking him in the gut and away from the bag before he coughed up some blood and dropped. I saw her eyes widen now as she turned face to face with a Career tribute--and suddenly...I'm scared. For a moment, I thought she would actually make it out of the bloodbath alive...but what if she doesn't?

"CLOVE?!" I heard her scream, edging closer to a bow and a quiver of arrows, quickly slinging those on as another tribute--another boy, not Peeta--screamed out to her, "What are you standing there for?! Run! Go go go!"

To my surprise, she obeyed, running away with the girl, Clove, and a few more people in the group. But before she could make a few steps out, a hand pulled her to the ground and flipped her over.

"Prepare for your demise," another boy, I think from 5, growled at her.

"NO!" I screamed, running to the screen, unaware of Delly's blank stare at me as I watched my daughter up close nocking an arrow and shooting it into the boy's heart.

"I don't think so."

Then she picked herself up, retrieved the arrow...and ran off with the Career pack.

"You really think she took Peeta seriously? That he really loved Katniss?" I asked Delly, turning back to her and returning to the couch.

"Well...his eyes always seemed to glaze whenever we mentioned her name," Delly recalled, running a hand through her long blond hair. "But being the good guy he is, I know he didn't mean to hurt (Y/N) intentionally. Yet I've seen her in great depression before. Remember when...your husband died?" she asked quietly.

I nodded. "Yes. She and I...we were devastated. But we kept each other going," I recalled.

"This is different though. This is the whole idea of love," Delly murmured. "If Peeta really broke her heart, there will be NO WAY their friendship would be regained. It's a close to zero chance."

"What is a close to zero chance?"

Another voice joined us, and we turned to see the Everdeen family and the Mellark family join us.

"Oh, hello," I smiled. "Oh, we were just talking about--"

"(Y/N) and Peeta?" a young man I recognized as one of Peeta's older brothers interrupted. "Oh. We actually just finished watching the bloodbath."

"Do you think she made a good choice, joining the Careers?" I heard Prim--the girl who my daughter ended up volunteering as tribute for--ask Katniss.

Katniss's eyes clouded with conflict as she tried to think of a good answer for her sister. "She did volunteer for you for a reason, Prim. And if staying with the Careers ends up being a good choice for her, then yes. But if they kill her in the end, then no."

"I...I just don't want her to die," Prim whispered, hugging Katniss hard. "She did save my life after all."

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you earlier," Katniss murmured into Prim's ear. "It was a shock for me when I found out you have been reaped. One out of thousands! I mean, how?"

Prim shook her head in wonder. "I guess that question will always repeat itself," she eventually admitted.

"And what do you think of Peeta's confession for Katniss?" I asked them all finally. "Personally, if you ask me, I think he made the biggest mistake of his life."

"JUST HOW could he DO THAT to her?!" Delly finally shouted, and I jumped again, temporarily forgetting that she was still there. "They had a lot of chemistry going on. I knew it! And to think that he would betray her and profess that he loves Katniss!"

"I was a bit angry myself," the baker admitted. "I always had a gut feeling that he liked her. He must have, the way he kept squeezing her hand and talking with her and everything. They seem so easy with each other, it's a wonder they still haven't got together."

"What say you, Katniss?" Peeta's other brother asked her.

Katniss gave it some thought. "I remember being completely flustered when he said that," she said quietly. "Like, it was completely unexpected. It honestly took quite a turn. But I don't even talk with him. In fact, the only time he helped me was when...my father died in the mines."

Tense silence filled the room for five seconds, with the only sounds coming from the TV as the tributes continued fighting at the Cornucopia.

"It was a long time ago," Katniss recalled. "I was 11 when my dad died. My mom was a wreck, and Prim...she was only 7 years old and already suffering a great tragedy. The Capitol gave us a sum of money in hopes that after our loss we would be able to find a job, but to no avail. My mom had withdrawn from the world and the only thing I could do was sell our things for cheap. Even so, we couldn't get by and soon we were suffering, and I knew if we can't get ourselves together then Prim and I will be sent to the community home and I'd lose my mom forever."

After hearing the complete story, I couldn't help but feel really sorry. I thought I suffered worse when my husband died, but now I thought differently.

"Katniss...I'm sorry about your father," I spoke up, offering her a small smile which she returned.

"Thank you. It was for the best," she eventually said. "But since then, I couldn't figure out how to thank him. It was a debt that could never be repaid. I'm sure he forgot it though, if you think he's going to manage better with (Y/N)."

"You don't have any feelings for him, do you?" the baker asked her gently.

Katniss shook her head. "No. I've never talked with him and I don't have the intention to. Not that it's a bad thing, but I don't know how to start a conversation without being reminded of that incident." She fell silent, sipping on her tea that I just brewed for the group. "Truth be told though, when I saw (Y/N) on the day of the reaping...I knew she stood a better chance. Seeing them together that night of the interview made me smile. I thought they would be the better couple than me and him. But whatever made him do that?"

"To weaken her," I realized. "To make sure the Capitol supports him and not her."

Delly gaped. "That's just selfish!"

"I would agree," the baker nodded. "Let's just hope that...he didn't just make the biggest mistake of his life."

As the days flew, (Y/N) seemed to be managing well with the Careers. One of them seemed to be getting really close to her though, and I wondered if he somehow had a thing for her. With every passing day they seemed to grow close, like friends, before she was forcefully separated after the tracker jackers attacked and she went with Rue, from District 11, in the end.

"Peeta, out of all people?!" Delly cried incredulously. "How could he?! He can't just hurt (Y/N)!"

"The rest of the Careers probably didn't know," Prim noted softly. "They didn't know that...she wanted to still be with him. Maybe that Career did. The one that she grew close to."

I nodded in agreement, gazing in awe at the screen. Love can do some funny things to people, and it seemed like the boy who was pining for my daughter has become distraught without her as the days flew by. Suddenly I wondered if she had forgotten Peeta completely for him...but no. She still loves him, as she told Rue, regardless of the whole tracker jacker attack.

"He wouldn't intentionally hurt her," one of Peeta's brothers noted. "Peeta, I mean. But if this is the Hunger Games, you can't take chances like that, especially since you've been threatened to be killed."

"I just hope they can grow back together," Prim eventually commented sadly. "I don't know either of them well, but...I am rooting for them. I know they'll have a chance to be together."

I nodded and smiled sadly. "I hope so too," I whispered to Prim, glancing back at the screen where (Y/N) and Rue were planning to pull of a huge heist against some of the other non-Careers, praying that she might have a chance to get out of the Games alive.

If she and Peeta can, against all odds.