Okay, so this is my first story, so I'm super excited about it! But please, no flames, because I'm new! And yes, the name Azula is from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Azul means blue in Spanish, so the name is connected with water. That's also why Azula shoots blue flames. I let my friend read this chapter before I submitted it, and she asked me what Azula meant, so that's why I'm telling you.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games. I don't own this story either, even though I wrote it. What, you think I'm some sort of child genius? I don't know how to reserve rights on something.

"ViVi, wake up, it's Reaping day, you have to get dressed," Azula screams from the doorway. She's right, of course, but I need to be rested if I do end up going to the Capitol, but that's not going to happen. I know the girl who is going to volunteer this year is one of my old friends from elementary school, Remora Phillips. Even if Azula or I get reaped she'll volunteer, so my father and I can breathe easy another year.

I jump out of bed and go downstairs. After eating, I rush upstairs to take a shower. I dry my hair and brush it as I put on my underclothes. Sitting on my bed, I call Azula upstairs and ask her to mermaid-braid my hair. She obliges, sort of unwillingly, but she sits down on the chair by my bed and starts braiding. It takes her at least twenty minutes, because my hair is waist-length, but when she is done I thank her and slide on my knee-length sea-green dress that matches my eyes perfectly.

"I know exactly what Marlin will say about your dress!" Azula teases, who I share a room with. "Oh, you do, do you? Well then, spit out what you think Marlin will say about it," I ask. She hesitates, and I smirk, but then she smiles triumphantly. "Oh, I know exactly what he'll say, or at least something close to his exact words. He'll be all sappy, like 'That dress is beautiful, but not as beautiful as you are!' I bet you a hair ribbon he'll say that," she says confidently.

I shrug, because only he would say something like that, and then I head to the twins' room to fix their hair. They're both too young too young to be reaped, but they are smart enough to realize something bad happens at the reaping, and whatever it is it scares them. They insist I do their hair today to calm them down. I knock gently on their door, then open it and enter quietly. The twins are on the floor doing a puzzle that Marlin got them for their birthday. When they see me, both stand up so quickly Coral steps onto the puzzle, effectively breaking it back into a million pieces. She starts to cry, so I go over and hug her.

"Stop crying, kiddo, it's alright. We can fix when we get back from the reaping,'' I say. "Can you do my hair first,'' she shout, trying to be louder than the noise coming from outside the window. I nod, and then laugh because I know who is making the noise. "It's Marlin on his moped, ViVi," Pearl shrieks with obvious delight. Both of the twins adore Marlin. We quickly hatch a plan to act like we didn't hear him arrive, and then I start to braid Coral's hair.

"I want to how long it takes for you to fix it. Can I use your watch, ViVi?" Coral asks. I take off the watch Marlin bought for me for my birthday last year and set the time. She pushes the start button, and I finish French-braiding her hair a few minutes later, weaving in a green ribbon through it as I do.

I fish tail Pearl's hair next and I am just putting in the hair band the door swings open and Azula steps in. After clearing her throat, she says in a deep voice "Announcing his royal highness, victor of the 58th Annual Hunger Games, District 4's very own Marlin Shores." She steps to the side, bowing and sweeping her hands toward the doorway. Marlin steps into the room, looking like an idiot waving with his hand cupped like a princess and wearing a ridiculous grin on his handsome face.

The twins gasp and start clapping. He laughs, walks over to hug them, and then kisses me on the cheek. I blush and look at Azula, who is frowning as much as one person can possibly frown. Marlin is her idol, and she has a big crush on him. It doesn't matter though, because he's my boyfriend, and he's way too old to marry her, in my opinion, at seven years older. Besides, if they did get married, she'd have to stand on a stool for the kiss-the-bride part.

He steps back to look at my dress. "Your dress is a beautiful color, but not as beautiful as the color of your eyes," he says. Azula smirks and I roll my eyes. He turns and sees the look on her face before she can turn her smirk into a smile. "ViVi and I made a bet that you would say something like that. You owe me a hair ribbon, ViVi!" she says. He whispers to me that he'll buy me another ribbon to replace the one I just lost loud enough for Azula to hear. "Marlin, you don't have to buy me another one. I couldn't care less about that ribbon,' I say.

"So, Marlin, are you mentoring this year?" Azula asks. "I would mentor if you or the twins were tributes. It might make me try harder to bring home a victor. But no, I think Finnick and Mags are mentoring this year. I think I'm mentoring next year,' he says, shrugging. Azula looks pleased that Marlin cares about her so much. I make a mental note to tell Marlin to watch out for her.

Marlin taps my shoulder and leans down. "If you're done thinking about how hot I am, I have something to ask you. Could we talk in private?" he whispers in my ear. "That wasn't what I was thinking about, but okay." I tell Azula to help the twins pick out what they're going to wear to the reaping before following him to my bedroom.

I sit on my bed and Marlin sits on my floor. "You know, my chair isn't going to bite you if you sit in it," I say jokingly. "Yeah, your chair doesn't have teeth, but your carpet is soft," he counters. "Wow, that's a good one! I think I'll write it down in my book full of great compliments given to me by Marlin Shores. It'll definitely make the top ten. Your carpet is soft," I say sarcastically. "Oh, and since when did the great Victoria Marino get a job as a lowly critic?" "I got a job as a lowly critic when I started dating you." That shuts him up real quick.

"So, you wanted to ask me something, right?" I ask, going back to the original subject. "Oh, yeah," he stammers, turning beet red. "Before you go on, I would like to point out that your face looks like you sat in the sun all day without any sunscreen. Okay, ask away. But I want to know why you had to ask me in private," I say. "I don't want your sisters to hear," he says. "If you didn't want my sisters to hear, you should have knocked Azula out before we left the twin's room," I point out. Azula is very nosy, and he knows it. "That's fair enough. Now, if you would please stop talking, we've only got an hour until the reaping," he says

He takes a deep breath to collect his cool, then starts speaking. "Okay. This is your last reaping, and I don't have to worry about you getting reaped anymore. And believe me, I worry about that a lot. I told Remora what I was planning to do, and she promised me she would volunteer for you if you got picked. I didn't want to do this before today, because I was afraid something would go wrong, you would get reaped, nobody would volunteer, and then you'd die in the games and all I'd be left with is memories of you," he says quickly.

"After today, you're finally safe from the games, and I don't have to worry about losing you forever," he says. My stomach twists into knots. Does he really love me that much? He stays silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. All of a sudden, he looks up at me, the expression on his face unreadable. "Victoria Marino, will you marry me?"