I hated being styled. It's bad enough that I have to spend hours upon hours becoming 'perfect', but now they won't even let me have my usual prep team. As soon as we got here we found out that because there were so many of us, we would only have one person per tribute to prep us, and then we were all whisked off into separate rooms. The Capitol has decided that we cannot have anyone who has worked with us before, as they would show us too much bias.

The woman I have is very nice, though. Her name is Nicole, and she has hair dyed a shade of red that instantly makes her stand out. She's very talkative, even as she's doing my makeup she's complaining about how she isn't allowed to do anything extravagant, instead having to bring me into 'beauty base zero' - looking as if I have no makeup on, but are perfect anyway (which takes a surprisingly large amount of makeup).

As Nicole doesn't expect me to talk back, I take this time to let myself drift back into thinking about everything that happened in the last 24 hours, given how hectic it was. After watching the reaping of all of the other districts who looked as shocked and upset as we were at the announcement, we went to bed. After 7 hours of staring at the ceiling, we were all shoved out of our room by peacekeepers to have more instructions. Everything is essentially the same, but the interviews are working differently. As there are 60 tributes, each of us are having 10 minutes as an interview, and it is spanning a full day, with 20 minute gaps every 5 tributes.

60's definitely a lot to stand out in, so whatever we do, it's got to count.

Oh, and they want all of us to perform something new, not what the Capitol has seen before. And I'm not allowed to perform with Scott.

Possibly the last time I'm ever going to be allowed to perform, and they're not going to let me perform with the love of my life.

A very loud "All done!" shakes me out of my thought and I see Nicole give me a quick smile before bustling out of the room, clearly trying to hurry up the process. With only one prep artist, it's taking at lot longer than it normally would.

Almost as soon as the door shuts, it's opened again, and a young woman bustles in, holding a large and heavy-looking clothing bag containing what is to be my outfit for the chariot race. The woman looks incredibly smart, but not over-the-top in her fashion choices, so I really hope she's done the same for our outfits. I don't think any of us will be able to forget the outfits of three years ago when our poor tributes were sent out in bejewelled rubbish bags to try and convey that our district could turn anything into treasure. It did not look good.

The woman smiled at me. "I'm Brytanie, and I'm going to be your stylist this year." She thrust the bag at me. "I'm afraid we don't have much more time for introductions, but why don't you go and put this on, and then I'll explain the concept."

She smiles and gestures towards a curtain in the back of the room, so I duck behind it to get changed. As I open the bag, I fall in love. Inside is a simple blue suit with a white shirt, but the blue is such a deep, regal colour and made of an almost velvet-like material - it looks like the actualised form of twilight. The shirt it satin, and it's simple design compliments the rest of the outfit so well. Blue leather boots then complete the ensemble I hastily put it on and step back outside. Brytanie looks impressed.

"They sent me your measurements, but I didn't think it would fit so flawlessly. Now," She gestures over, "Come and stand in the mirror, I have a few final touches to make."

I carefully walk over, making sure not to wreck the outfit. For the first time I see myself in the mirror, and I almost gasp at how well the makeup makes my features shine, making me look powerful. As I'm busy gawking, Brytanie ties a rope quite tightly around my neck and shoulders, and only then do I look behind me, to see the cape that flows behind me. It hits the floor and trails even further back, stopping about a foot and a half behind me. The cape is made of a slightly stronger velvet-type material than my suit, but is exactly the same shade. But covering the cape were thousands of tiny jewels, in different greens, whites and blues, to make up hundred of small peacock feathers shimmering down the train.

All of a sudden Nicole comes rushing back in, makeup and feathers in hand. Down the left side of my face, she draws tiny, shimmering feathers to match the cape and delicately threads a few feathers through my hair in such a way that, rather than looking garish, they looked sophisticated and subtle.

Brytanie walks over to me.

"What do you think?"

I look back at her in utter shock. All I can say is, "It's beautiful. I ... I look beautiful."

Brytanie smirks at me, as if knowing all along what my reaction would be.

"As you've probably guessed by now, it's meant to imitate a peacock, most regal of all of the birds. One, because it shows the great luxury and wealth that comes out of district one. Two, because it reminds the Capitol that you are Capitol royalty."

"Thank you so much, Brytanie. I really can't thank you enough."

I go to hug her but she pushes me back, giving a small laugh. "As much as I appreciate the sentiment, we wouldn't want to ruin all of Nicole's hard work, now would we?"

I laughed as well, before Brytanie pushes me out of the doors with a last message. "Now go knock 'em dead."

I look up into the foyer and instantly saw Scott on the other side of the room. I walk towards him as quickly as I can with the cape, and he does the same. He's wearing the exact same as me, but his blonde hair makes the feathers stand out even more, and he looks amazing.

"Scott," I breathed, reaching for his hand. "You look amazing!"

"As do you, Mitch."

We stare into each others eyes until we hear our names being called. We turn and see Maddie gesturing us over, telling us to get ready on the platforms. The horses this year are pulling open platforms as normal chariots wouldn't have enough room for all of us. We walk over and see the other three already there, Leo in exactly the same outfit as Scott and I and the girls in a very similar variation. However, their hair is down and curled with feathers brought the whole way through it, and are wearing a twilight blue dress that had many layers of soft tulle making a knee-length skirt. Their look was completed with ballet-style pumps.

As Leo and Kasey step onto the platform, Little Allie hurriedly pulls me closer and excitedly points over to the other chariots.

"Look Mitchy, there he is!"

As I follow her pointing hand, I see Yoongi by the district 7 chariot, wearing a suit that seems to have been crafted entirely out of delicate origami folds.

I look back at little Allie, almost jumping up and down with giddyness.

"Can we go say hi, Mitchie. I mean, I know he's in the same situation as us, but that doesn't mean I can't be friends with him, right?"

I simply gaze down at the innocent girl with a new hope in her eyes, not wanting to crush her dreams just yet.

"I'll introduce you, but not now. We need to get ready now."

Both of us step onto the platform with Scott following. One of the stylists then hurries on after us, putting all of us in the right place. By the time he is done, all of us stand in a circle, facing outwards, with all of our capes trailing into the centre, forming an intricate kaleidoscope of bejewelled feathers. It looks truly beautiful - they really thought this design through.

"Now," Maddie starts, standing next to the platform, "When you go out, you do not smile and wave like others will. You're the first out, so you've got to make a statement. I want all of you to look regally out at the people, as if they are your subjects, and you will all hold hands in the ring, as a show of solidarity with each other. We really want this to make the right statement."

All of us nod grimly in response.

"Just remember when you get to the top, turn and face the president out of respect. You will then resume your formation on the way back down."

Just as Maddie finishes speaking, the loud voice of the host for the games, Maddy Flickerman, crackles into life, sound blaring over the large hall.

"And get ready for the first chariot; Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the tributes from District One!"

The horses start to move and we are suddenly dragged out into the daylight, all of us clutching onto one another just to stay upright. There is a roar from the crowd as the jewels on our capes catch the sunlight and form a radiant shine around all of us. The five of us stand in our places, looking out at the crowd as they cheered us on. I can hear all of the other districts emerging, a fresh set of cheers for all of them, but don't dare look for fear that it would ruin our image.

We finally reach the end of the parade isle, and all carefully turn around without messing up the placement of the capes while all of the other districts arrive one by one. Maddy Flickerman stands on the balcony above us, giving commentaries on all of the districts, pointing out the beautiful creations of the district 4 sea nymphs and the perhaps predictable sparkling coal miners of district 12.

Finally all of the districts are lined up, and Maddy speaks once more to the crowds.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please be upstanding for your President, Lara Snow!

Every Capitol citizen rises out of their chair as a woman walks out onto the balcony, arms warmly outstretched in greeting.

"Welcome, to the 500th hunger games!"