| " T R I D E N T . " |

___♔___

I turn around and sigh. He has a look of confusion, hurt, and anger on his face.

"What is it, Bane?" I ask.

"Who are you?" He ignores me, and turns to Triton. Triton steps forward, and wraps and arm around my waist, making Bane send a furious glare to him.

"I'm Triton from District one. I'm a friend of Lana's." Triton says firmly.

"Yeah, friend," Bane scoffs.

"Why do you care?" Triton raises an eyebrow.

"Because she's my district partner. I'm supposed to protect her, so it's my business just as much as it is yours." Bane replies.

"Well, I'm not going to hurt her. I might be a career, but I would never hurt her." Triton chuckles, sending chills up my spine.

"Whatever. C'mon Lana, we're going back to our living quarters." Bane snaps. I shake my head.

"I came here to get my mind off of everything. Going back now wouldn't help me at all. I should at least learn how to kill before I die in the games." I say, narrowing my eyes at the boy.

"You won't die in the games, Lana. I'll make sure you get home to your family." Triton says softly, but loud enough so that Bane can hear him.

"That's my job. And sorry, but we're not allies with you." Bane spits, and grabs my arm. He pulls me out of Triton's grip, and down the hall.

When we get into the elevator, he lets go of my arm. I try to ignore the pain that erupts from where his grip once was. And it was most definitely going to leave a bruise.

I ignore him when he tries to talk to me. Once the elevator door opens, I walk off, and slam my door behind me. I lock it, and put on my pajamas, ready to sleep through the rest of the day.

___♕___

Unfortunately, I only got three hours of sleep. Besides everyone knocking on my door and yelling for me to come out, I slept soundly. But I had to get up from my bed because today we have to go to a tribute dinner in the grand hall.

It's supposed to be a friendly dinner, but I know it's for the tributes. It's to see who are your allies and who are your enemies. But thankfully, it's not televised. It's only for the tributes. Mentors and Escorts aren't allowed to come. No one else can accompany us, other than the avoxes that will be serving us.

A man walks into my room, and I immediately know who he is. My stylist. Farrah, Nina, and Vaux are my prep team, and they have already 'prepared' me for my stylist. But he looks like someone I know or have saw before . . .

"You look like Cinna, the stylist from the seventy-fourth and seventy-fifth Hunger Games." I say out loud.

"Well, that's because I'm his son." He says with a smile.

"I didn't know that. I'm Lana." I say, holding my hand out to him so he can shake it. He takes my hand, but doesn't shake it. Instead, he places a single kiss on it. He looks back up to me, and gives me a warm smile again.

"I'm Aven. It's nice to meet you, Lana." He replies.

"Okay, so you're supposed to make me pretty, right?" I ask. He shakes his head.

"I make an impression. You're already beautiful, so a little makeup should do it." He adresses. I can't help but blush.

"You ready to see your outfit?" He asks, and I nod. He takes me to a different room, and pulls out an outfit. It's black leggings, a blue blouse, a cream scarf, and a leather jacket. It's perfect, and fits my style exactly.

"I love it!" I gush.

"Here are the shoes." He says as he shows me some black pumps with a bow on them. They show my toes, and the bow is right on the thick separating strap. They're absolutely gorgeous.

"Now go put it on so I can do your hair and makeup."

I nod, and walk into the bathroom with the clothes and shoes. When I put them on, and look in the mirror, I can't help but smile at my reflection.

"Come on out." Aven says.

"How does it look?" I ask when I step out of the bathroom. "Does it make my butt look too big? Do my toes stick out too much? Does-" He cuts me off with a laugh.

"It looks perfect, Lana. You have nothing to worry about. Now let's get started on your hair and makeup." He advises.

He sits me down in a chair, and starts with my hair. He gives me a princess bun, and lets two stray curls roam down either side of my face. With my makeup, he gives me winged eyeliner with a nude brown eyeshadow, red lipstick, mascara, and a little blush. Once he's finished, he lets me look in the mirror.

"I look . . . " I start, trailing off.

"Amazing." He finishes. I smile, and nod. "Now lets get Bane in here. He's your escort to the dinner." Aven says.

He leaves the room, and a few minutes later, Bane walks in. He's wearing a black button up shirt, and blue jeans with boots. His hair is swept to the right, framing his face.

"You look gorgeous." He says with a grin

"Thank you. You look handsome." I reply, smiling slightly. I loop my arm through his, and we leave the elevator like that.

As soon as we get into the grand hall, every tribute stares at us. Great.

Some of them shoot glares at us, while others send us a smile. I sigh in discontent.

I furrow my eyebrows when there's a tap on my shoulder. I turn around to see a girl that's a couple years older than me. I know who she is. She's Laila from District five, a girl that I saw on the Reapings. Her parter is Nason, and he's absolutely terrified of her. I could tell by the way he kept his distance and would send worried glances at her, even though he was both older and bulkier.

"Hi, I'm Laila. You must be Lana and Bane." She says with a smile.

"That's us." Bane nods.

"Well, if that's so, let's go meet the career pack. It's slightly bigger than we thought," She announces.

She's in the career pack? Okay . . . She leads us over to a group of people that are standing in a circle, all of which are ingulfed in deep conversation.

"Okay, guys, back it up. These are the tributes from District two, our last allies." Laila says loudly to the group. They all turn and look at us.

I see some familiar faces. And Triton. There's Jonah, Raley, Triton, Laila, Bane and I. Six careers, but I'm prepared to change that. Triton smirks.

"Hey Lana." He grins.

"Hi." I wave, but Bane shoves me behind him.

"Oh, both of you knock it off. I want to meet her," Raley says as she shoves Bane away from me. "Hi, Lana. I'm Raley, this idiot's District partner." She says, shoving a thumb in Triton's direction. I giggle.

"I'm not an idiot. If I was an idiot, I wouldn't be able to throw a trident." Triton rolls his eyes childishly.

"Whatever," Raley says, then turns back to me. "So, let's talk romance. You, Bane, and Triton are in a love triangle, right?" She questions, wiggling her eyebrows.

"They're both just my friends. I only just met them." I shake my head.

"Well, they want to be more than just friends." She chuckles.

"How do you know?" I ask, tilting my head to the side in confusion.

"Well, Triton has been constantly talking about you since he met you earlier. And I can tell by the way Bane looks at you." She says. "Anyone with eyes can see it."

"They don't like me that way. I just want to be friends." I say. Raley turns around, and cups her hands around her mouth.

"YOU JUST GOT FRIEND ZONED!" She yells at Triton and Bane. They hold their ears, and look confused. She bursts out laughing, before falling on the floor, clutching her stomach. Jonah walks over to me.

"What is that about?" He asks, referring to Raley.

"I have absolutely no idea."

___♕___

Throughout the dinner, Triton and Bane sent each other glares.

What is up with them?

After it was over, the careers asked us if we wanted to join them in training, and of course we said yes.

I take off my scarf, jacket, and pumps when we are inside the training room. "You train first, Lana. We'll watch for a while." Triton says with a wink.

The rest of the careers, including Bane, sit down, and watch me closely. I grab a knife, and twirl it around my fingers. I smirk at the careers, before swiftly turning, and throw the knife into the chest of the dummy. I turn around to see everyone shocked. Except for Triton. He has a slick smile on his face.

"Trident." Jonah yells out. I nod, and grab a trident.

"Where is the target?" I ask.

"The right shoulder." Raley says. I nod, and focus my attention onto the dummy. In a moment, the trident lodged itself into the right shoulder of the dummy.

"Holy shit!"

"Oh my god."

"How?"

I give them a smirk. "Hand to hand combat." Bane says.

"With who?" I ask, turning back.

"Triton." Raley answers. I nod at Triton, and he takes off his jacket and dress shoes. We walk over to the mat, and the others follow, leaning on the rails.

"What are the rules?" Triton asks.

"No severe harming. No hair pulling. First one to tap out loses." Jonah replies. We nod in response as I straighten up my shirt.

"Shake hands." Raley says. We shake hands, and back up to the rails.

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

I step towards Triton quickly, and throw a punch. But unfortunately, he catches my hand in the air, before he could take the punch. He smirks at me, and twists my hand. I scream in pain before kicking his shin. He yelps, and I punch his side with all of my strength. In a swift movement, his foot jerks under my feet, sending me to the ground.

"Get up!"

"C'mon, Lana!"

"Finish it, Triton!"

"Lana!"

He is about to punch me in the face, but I roll over, and he punches the floor. I tackle him, and straddle his stomach. I punch his jaw, and hold his arms down next to his head.

"Tap out." He sighs.

I smirk, and get off of him, and hold my hand out to help him up. He smiles, and grabs my hand. When we get out of the ring, they congratulate me on my win. Except for Bane, who left.

Maybe he didn't want to see me in pain.

No, that's not it. But what if Raley was right? What if Bane and Triton do like me?

Well, that changes everything.

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