I awake at midday and the first thing I see when I crawl out of my tent, is Marina sitting by the lake. 

I feel a lump in my throat when I see her. She seems more relaxed than the night before, and that gives me courage to walk up to her. 

As I get closer, I see that she's making a net and I awkwardly squat down beside her. 

"Um, hi." I say, cautiously. 

She looks at me, and I see that her eyes are red and she has dark circles under eyes: she's been up all night crying. 

"Hi yourself," she says, lightly, and pats the ground next to her, inviting me to sit down. 

There's silence as I watch her deft fingers make knots for the net. 

Then: 

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

We both glance at each other, surprised. 

I cough awkwardly, "You go first."

She raises an eyebrow but then shrugs, "I don't like people hugging me unless I initiate contact first."

"Umm, so you..." I say, trying to order the words into a language I can understand. 

"I don't like people hugging me by surprise, basically," she explains. 

"Sorry," I says quietly. 

"I should have told you," she says, "But I honestly never thought someone would come up and hug in me the Games. The only person who ever hugs me is my girlfriend, Ariel."

"You have a girlfriend?" I ask. There's a strange feeling in my throat, like there's a lump. And there's an emotion I've never felt before. It feels that something inside of me has just been crushed. "You never told me," I accuse. 

"You never asked," she smiles wistfully, "But, yeah, make that another thing I never told you." We sit in silence again, with me unsure of what to say, but then she looks at me and asks, "Did I tell you that Murdoch was Ariel's brother?"

"No?" I ask. The surprise is evident in my voice. She falls silent, concentrating on her net, but then I blurt out, "Wait, so if Murdoch's your girlfriend's brother-"

"Was." She corrects, quietly, and I feel instantly guilty. Though referring to Murdoch in the past tense means that there's one less person I need to kill to become victor. 

"Then your girlfriend..." I trail off. I can't imagine what a hard time Ariel has. She's lost both her girlfriend and her brother. 

Marina smiles a sad smile, "I said I would look out for him. I promised her that one of us would be making it home." She looks at me, and her smile drops. There's a sad but determined look in her eyes, "And I intend on keeping that promise."

"But-" I flail, unable to state the obvious: if she comes home, I'll have died. 

She sighs, "Face it, Marvel. All of us have got people we want to come home to. I have a girlfriend. You have your family-a mother I know for definite wants to see you win." She flashes me a sympathetic smile, "Clove has a brother. She told me this morning that that's the reason she volunteered. She wants to win so that the two of them can live in a nice house together and be rich, not having to worry about money and food. Apparently, her brother was the little boy who was reaped too. Cato volunteered to protect him. Those two really have had bad luck."

She sighs and I follow her gaze to the camp, where Clove and Glimmer are arguing, arms gesticulating wildly. Peeta and Alvis are talking quietly. Cato is nowhere in sight. 

"Glimmer has family to come back to too," I say quietly, thinking of Moonshine. 

Marina snorts, "Yeah? Well, she doesn't act like it." We watch as Cato saunters out of his tent, stretching, only to be greeted immediately by both girls. There's some shouting and then Glimmer storms off into the forest. 

"She's acting like we're in some romance show, rather than the Hunger Games," Marina says drily. 

I shrug. 

"I can understand Cato and Clove's relationship," Marina continues, "I mean, they knew each other, and were probably together before the Games."

"Wait, they were?" I ask. 

She raises an eyebrow, "Seriously, Marvel? How oblivious can you get? Pay more attention." She shakes her head derisively, and then says," So, yeah, I can understand why they'd want to continue their pre-existing relationship despite the life and death situation. But Glimmer?" She laughs.

I frown, watching as Glimmer now comes out of the forest. She's in tears and is unfortunately making a beeline for me and Marina. I sigh, knowing she'll probably take it out on us. I know from experience how spiteful she can get when she's upset. 

"But, I suppose," Marina continues, making her net, "It just goes to show that we're kids. We fall in and out of love, we laugh, we mess about. We're just children. Just children who are trying to get home."

I glance at her, "You know, I never really thought of it like that." I say, and it's true. I only entered the Games to being honour to my District. To make my mother proud. It never occurred to me that me, Marina and every other tribute in this arena are just children fighting each other to survive. 

But I have no more time to ponder this, because just at that moment, Glimmer makes her grand entrance. 

"Well, well, well," she says. She's attempting to drawl but it's marred because her throat is chocked up from crying, "If it isn't the two lovebirds."

"Sorry, who are you talking to?" Marina asks serenely. 

"Um," I flail my arms wildly. My face is red. I really don't want to make Marina's girlfriend back at home any more mad that she already is. She's probably watching me, making sure that I don't make a move on Marina, "Glimmer, we're not-"

"A friendly word of advice Marvel," she says, as if the pair of us haven't spoken. Her eyes dart meaningfully between us, "There can only be one victor. Don't get too attached." And with her wise words said, she holds her head high and stalks over to where Peeta and Alvis are talking. 

There's a stunned silence. Then Marina and I look at each other and burst into peals of laughter. But as happiness takes over my need for oxygen, I realise that Glimmer is right. I do like Marina. But if I'm win, Marina must die. 

I stop laughing and stare at her, as she continues to giggle away, trying to memorise her long dark hair and sparkling green eyes. 

Because I know, if I'm to win the Games, I will never see her again. She catches me staring at her and stops laughing. She then stares back at me-her green eyes fixated on mine. I blink and look away, too embarrassed to say what I'm thinking. 

Then she says, as if she knows what I'm thinking and wants to change the subject, "Here, let me show you how to make a net."

"Why?" I ask. 

She smiles, "Because we're allies, and," she shrugs, "It might come in handy in the future."

***

A few hours later, after I'm able to make a good net, I go and help Alvis with the mines. He's de-activated the mines under the plates we came up in into the games, and his plan is to move them around our food store and activate them so that if anyone tries to steal them, they will de-active a mine and get blown into the air. 

Sounds like a simple yet fool-proof plan, right? Except for one thing-the poor kid hasn't the strength to lift, yet alone drag, even one. Which means the task is down to me, Cato and Peeta. 

Peeta, amazingly, can lift 4 at once. I mean, seriously, these are heavy. I can just about do one and Cato two, but Peeta has the strength of an ox. Is this how he got his 8 in training? With super-strength?

As I glance around at my allies and am once again struck by how dangerous they are. Peeta has strength. Alvis, his brains. Marina, her trident. Clove, her knives. Cato, his sword. And Glimmer...well, she has been known on occasion to be accurate with that bow and arrows of hers. 

With the exception of Alvis, and possibly Glimmer, they could all kill me in a heartbeat. 

It's a good thing I know how to throw a spear.