I wake up to the sight of Arbor in a rocking chair. I jolt out of bed and stare at him. “What the hell are you doing in my room?” I ask him. “You were screaming. So I stayed with you,” he told me. I run over to him and hug him tightly. “How many days until the arena?” I ask, diverting the subject of him spying on me in my room the whole night and watching me sleep, not truly wanting to hear the answer if it was really soon. Which it probably was. “Just a few more days,” he tells me. I inhale and take a deep, cleansing breath. I can’t believe this is actually real. The odds of me getting picked were incredibly slim. But I got picked. And I’m in The Hunger Games. For real. But strangely, I feel ready-ish. Ready to fight against Aurelia Beauport, my greatest enemy. If you mess with Arbor, you mess with me. And no one, NO one messes with me. One of my mentors, Rowan knocks on the door. “Up, sleepyhead!” She shouts to me. Evidently she doesn’t know Arbor’s in here so when she sees him on the bed, she is very startled. “Oh…” she says. “No, we’re not—“ I tell her quickly. “I heard what happened in the training center,” Oakley says, appearing behind Rowan. They’re scary when they’re confronting me, I’ll tell you that. Oh shoot. Did the other tributes tell their mentors who told mine about the kiss? My face turns pink and rosy while Arbor becomes pretty pale. “Uhm,” I say, unsure of what to do next. My mentors were blocking the doorway, so there’s no way that Arbor and I could get out. “Well, I guess that means that you will just have to avoid the Careers, since they’re out to get you. And definitely avoid 10. They’re livid about this, although they don’t even know what you did! Little do we, either,” Rowan tells me, setting the stage for me to tell her. Not a chance. I don’t want anyone else knowing. I’m just relieved that’s what it was, not the kiss. I hear Arbor exhale and I do the same. “Oh, um, I just had… talked to her. And I guess she thought I was rude or something,” I say. Arbor snorts and I step on his foot. He stops smiling, although I’m almost positive he’s internally cackling. “Hmm… I see. Well, those Careers can be pretty arrogant and cocky so I can definitely see that happening.” Oakley says, fairly unaware that that’s not what happened at all. “The arena’s coming up!” Rowan says. “Yeah, thanks for the reminder.” I say, staring down at my feet. “Attitude!” Rowan scolds, while Arbor quietly lets out a laugh. “Well, before the games, you have a few more days of training left, so get ready to go down to the Training Center!” Oakley tells us. “Copy that,” Arbor says, and salutes Oakley as he walks out of my room. As everybody leaves, I open the wooden dresser in my room. That’s when I find the letter.
