"Are you crazy?" Effie snapped at Katniss with a harsh glare, pacing the room.

"I just got mad." Katniss sighed as she faced forward. Zoya walked in, handing Peeta a cup of hot chocolate with a roll on the side, because he'd mentioned how it was his favorite part about being at the capital this morning, as she passed him and took a seat on the other couch.

"Mad? You realize that your actions reflect badly on all of us. Not just you." Effie continued on with her lecture, looking at Zoya with a scoff, "And what are you doing here?"

"Kid from my district through a mug at me." Zoya said, pulling her collar down to show the covered gash on her neck, "Figured if Katniss and Peeta wanted to throw anything at me, they'd have done it by now."

"A mug?" Peeta gapped at her.

"The two of you are trying to change the subject!" Effie cut the pairs conversation off, pointing at Katniss with a serious look, "You have humiliated all of us."

"They just want a good show. It's fine." Cinna defended Katniss from the other side of Zoya. Peeta caught Zoyas eye, nodding to her neck in questioning. Zoya shrugged like it didn't bother her, when in reality she'd just been numbed on some capital medications so it wouldn't hurt anymore.

"How about it's just bad manners, Cinna? How about that?" Effie asked him in disbelief with a scoff, the elevator doors opening as Haymitch walked in. They all went silent to watch his reaction, not sure which they'd get. Then he began to smile, flashing a thumbs up as Katniss grinned.

"Nice shooting, sweetheart." Haymitch complimented Katniss, taking a seat and reaching for the glass on the table.

"Should have aimed for their heads." Zoya spoke up, resting her feet on the table.

"Zoya Butterfield!" Effie scolded her quickly with wide, terrifying eyes behind her abnormally long blue eyelashes, "How could you say-"

"How could I say what? That it would be fair for her to kill someone that is putting her in an arena to be killed by other people? Sees more then fair." Zoya waved her off, reaching forward to take the white wine bottle Haymitch was nurturing, "Have a drink, take a breath, sit on down, relax a little."

"What did they do when you shot the apple?" Haymitch asked Katniss with a laugh.

Katniss blinked, "Well, they looked pretty startled."

Cinna gave a loud laugh.

"I could imagine so." Zoya had to snort herself.

Haymitch laughed alongside the pair, "Now what did you say? 'Thanks for..'"

"Your consideration." Katniss finished for him with a small chuckle.

"Genius!" Haymitch announced, "Genius."

"I don't think we're gonna find this funny if the Gamemakers decide to take it out on-" Effie began before Haymitch cut her panicked rambles short.

"On who? On her? On him? I think they already have." Haymitch spoke to her like you would a child, a small nod to his head, "Loosen your corset, have a drink. I would have given anything to see it."

"Peeta." Zoya spoke up a second later as all their eyes turned to him, "What damage did you do?"

The projector in the living room overviewed the distract tributes numbers on what they revived after showing their skills to the gamemakers. Rated on a scale of 1-12, 12 being the highest. The Carrer tributes did well, as they usually do. Rue, the small girl from distract eleven, got a 7. It wasn't a high number but it was better then some of the others, even though she was the smallest and youngest. The girl from Zoyas district, the one that was kind enough to her not to throw a mug her way, got a five. It was a terribly low number, but Zoya knew they didn't have many resourced to show intelligence in the training room.

"From District 12. Peeta Mellark." Ceaser announced over the projector film, Peeta moving to the edge of his seat to watch, "A score of eight."

Peetas stylist' and Effie all began to cheer for him. Peeta grinning, Zoya looked over and had to smile herself, more so at his reaction. Haymitch congratulations him, but it was clear everyone in the room was more focused on how low of a score they would give Katniss. Zoya could imagine they'd been petty enough to say 0, or 0.2 if they were feeling witty.

"And finally, from District 12, Katniss Everdeen." Ceaser spoke up again, the entire room going silent as they watched. Zoya could see that Katniss had a small sense of worry behind her eyes, though she'd been trying to hide it with a lifeless stare, "With a score of...eleven."

Gasp and yells went through the room immediately, the two tributes and two winners all gapped. No one had an 11 last year, nor did they Haymitch's year either.

"Outstanding! Eleven!" Cinna smiled wildly as everyone cheered around her.

"Congratulations." Peeta gapped at Katniss.

Zoya rose, her hand traveling over Katniss's head, "Looks like you'll be a tough one to kill, won't you?"

"How would I know?" Katniss asked her with a faint grin, "I thought they hated me."

"They must have liked your guts." Haymitch admited to her with a half smile. Peeta was patted on the shoulder by Zoya, his head turning to see her give him a smile, a wink, and a small thumbs up in congratulations, before she was hurrying back off to the district 5 floor, where she knew who was coming for her.

"Hi." Peeta spoke later that night when he heard the elevator doors open. He wasn't able to sleep after the scores, nor could he at how fast Zoya had left the room. Something was off, he figured she'd show up late at night, like she always did.

Zoya walked toward the kitchen, the small light only lighting up the small area Peeta was working in. As she got closer, she realized he'd had different paints spread infront of him, "What are you doing?"

"Couldn't sleep." he told her honestly, eyes flicking up when she walked closer. Now apart of the small light, he saw the faint looked of tiredness and sadness across her face, "You?"

"I didn't want to stay in my district apartment." she said, taking a seat and looking at the painting he'd done. He was good, too good. Like something that would be hanging on a capital members wall, she'd seen so many people of the capitals walls by now to know they like these sort of painting, "You're a painter?"

"Well, no. I decorate the cakes in the bakery sometimes." Peeta admited to her, his fingers coated in different shades of color, "Where'd you come from?"

Zoya exhaled, "President Snow is angry with me. He thinks i'm not mentoring my tributes and focuses on you and Katniss too much. And he's right."

Peeta looked up at her at the last sentence, because he'd suspected it, but never mention it, "For Haymitch, did you tell him that?"

"Sure, that's the main reason I'm here. But he's perfectly capable now." Zoya spoke without meeting his eye, sadness across her face as a gentle sigh left her lips, "President Snow doesn't like me much, Peeta."

It was hard for him to believe why he could hate Zoya. The rest of the capital loved her, cherish her, treated her like royalty. He liked Zoya too, she'd easily been the person here that he felt most comfortable with. Sometimes her attitude came off the wrong way, but she had a big heart and knew what to say. There wasn't much to hate, so he couldn't imagine how Snow could hate her, "Why would he not like you?"

"Snow likes violence, he likes to see blood." Zoya met his eye now, sadness and ashamed dancing within the darkness, "When other people win, there's always a lot of fighting, a lot of killing. My way was quick, it was easy. I only slaughtered one person, it wasn't good enough for him. He hates that I won that way, meaning he hates me."

Peeta set his paintbrush down to look at her better, "You're a good person."

"What?" Zoya asked him, because she never said she wasn't.

"You're a good person, that's why you killed people in a less violent way. The way he wants us to win isn't you, and I think that makes you a good person." Peeta spoke to her softly with a small nod. His tone was comforting, like he could talk her down from any terrible issue. And then he smiled at her, "You're the only person here I think truly knows what is right and wrong, and I think you have a lot of plans on how to change it."

Zoya cracked him a smile, "I feel like dying."

"It would be such a shame if you did." he said back to her, keeping his focus on her to watch every single emotional start to leak from her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Zoya apologized as she turned her head away, whipping the few tears that fell from her eyes, "You're about to go into the Hunger Games and i'm crying."

Zoya felt his hand wrap around her arm, her head turning when Peeta pulled her around the table to stand by his side. A reassuring smile on his face, "Wanna see something?"

Zoya didn't say anything, letting him hold her hand as the paintbrush began to run across her knuckles, the coldness of the paint districting her.

•

kylie speaks

IDK IF YOU NOTICED
BUT PEETA AND ZOYA
HAVE SUCH SIMILAR
INNER THOUGHTS WHEN
IT COMES TO PEOPLE
HATINH THE OTHER! IF YOU
GO BACK AND LOOK AF ZOYAS
THOUGHTS WHEN KATNISS
TELLS HER ABOUT PEETA MOM HURTING HIM AND
THEN PEETAS THOUGHTS ABOUT SNOW HATING ZOYA-
YES!