Alright. I finally did it. First chapter done. VICTORY!

Eugh, I rewrote this chapter at least ten times, and I'm still not convinced that it's as good as it could be. Either way, I figured I might as well post this and fix the mistakes later.

Anyway, so, uh, first chapter. Boom. Here ya go.

Disclaimer: I have not, nor will I (most likely) ever own the Hunger Games. BUT technically, since Suzanne Collins killed him off, I should own Cato.

Chapter 1 - Moving

I don't want to move! I don't! I don't! I desperately want to scream out the words and attack the shabby wall of my house.

Old house, I correct myself. Of course, I don't want it to be my 'old' house. I want it to be my current one. I want to remain living here, just around the corner from my friends, in the far edges of District Three. I don't mind sleeping on the small mat in the corner of our single room so that Grandma can take up the bed. I don't mind using the small the small planks of wood roughly tied together as a table. I don't mind working at the factory and building small, useless appliances for the Capitol every day after school. I don't mind how our money slowly trickles down with each coming day because Grandma's too weak to work. I don't mind how the healer in the corner of town is slowly running out of herbs for medicine for Grandma's aching bones.

There'll be another resolution somewhere out there. One that doesn't involve moving away to the other side of District Three. I'll take anything but that.

It's selfish, I know. Desiring my own needs over my Grandma's. Moving to the Victors Villages will be a good thing for her. No more shabby, half rotting walls. No more panic attacks over the occasional rat that runs by. No more smoke drifting from the factories through the open window. No more worrying about the state of the house.

Instead she'll have the house almost equivalent to the luxurious ones from the Capitol. Pretty gardens tended to daily by workers with an eye for detail and beauty, one of the telephones that were once only glimpsed at when made during work, now for our own personal use (not that we'll be able to call many people on it), almost fresh, clean air. Far better than what we already have. Far better for her.

I sigh and lift up the small cardboard box I've been given to store my possessions in, not that there are many of them. A few clothes and a small elastic band for a friendship bracelet that Cora, Harley and I each have. We were five at the time, it was the best we could find.

Harley and Cora. Yet another brilliant reason for me not to leave. My best friends. The Victors Village is up the opposite end of our District. What we see of each other will be the rare moments that they can get off from work in order to take the two hour long walk to the main town, and when Grandma's well enough for me to leave her and go down on to them on my own.

"Adelina?" Grandma's soft voice calls from outside the house.

I adjust my grip on my box, debating whether or not it'll be worth spilling its contents do I'll have the extra time it takes to repack. "Coming," I call back, deciding against it and bidding the inside of our house a final farewell. Probably the last time that I'll be seeing it.

There's a small group of people crowded outside our house by a small car that's going to ever-so kindly save us from what would be an extremely long walk to the Victors Village. Looking around, I spy Grandma in the middle of a circle of women, all vying for the space to give her a proper goodbye and thank her for anything and everything nice that she's ever done for them. Cora and Harley's parents are among them, never straying too far from her as they wipe away the occasional tear that threatens to fall.

My own farewell party is not as extravagant. Cora, Harley and her little sister, Jenna, who clings onto her arm as if it's her lifeline. That's all. Of course, the copious amount of tears that run down Cora's face is probably equal to those from Grandma's group, and Harley would probably be the same if she weren't placing all her focus into getting her arm out of her sister's clingy grip.

"We're going to miss you so much!" Cora wails, throwing her arms around me. "You promise you'll visit, right? Of course, we'll take every opportunity we can to visit you! But just in case we can't do it all that often, you need to come down too."

I've no doubt that if Harley hadn't finally released herself from her sister and come over to pull my best friend off me, Cora would continue her little rant and squeezing me until she cut of my breathing.

"Okay, Cora, calm down," Harley smiles at our friends antics. "You," she points to her sister, "Go away. I'm not having a group hug." We both give a small laugh at Jenna's sulky expression as she stalks over to her parents before Harley turns to me. "And you, stop looking so sad. Look at this place! No offence, Ada, but it's a dump. And you've seen the Victors Village when we go to the reapings. How big are those houses! And I bet that inside they're even better. You are so inviting me over. Look on the bright side, that place is so luxurious people would kill to live there..." Harley trails off awkwardly, realising her mistake a second to late. Thing is, people have to kill to live there.

"Sorry," she apologises, looking down at the ground, "I didn't think."

"It's alright." I don't make any move to comfort her like I normally would. Maybe my time in the arena has burnt that ability out of me. Now whenever I see someone sad around home, all I'm able to think of is all the worse things that I've seen happen. It sort of cuts off my ability to say anything nice without seeming inconsiderate to their situation. "Anyway, I'll, uh, see you soon," I give a fake grin as I reach out to hug Harley in a desperate attempt to make the situation lees awkward.

"Yeah, you better visit soon," she flashes a shaky smile as her eyes grow shiny with fresh tears.

"Oh stop it," I laugh though I can feel my own voice cracking slightly, "Why are both of my friends such cry babies?"

"Well stop making us sad!" Cora replies, leaping into my open arms with out a second hesitation.

I quickly wipe away the tear that's slipped from the corner of my eye, flashing them both a grin as Grandma, having finally broken free from the crowd of old friends, waves at me to hurry up. "Well, I'll miss you both."

Harley laughs. "I think you'd better hurry. The driver's been here for nearly an hour, I think he's getting really annoyed."

I have to force myself not to reach over and give them both a final goodbye like I so desperately want to, and settle on smiling and hurrying into the car before I run back to them.

"Bye," I wave as the car speeds off the second that Grandma closes her door.

"Try not to be too sad, Adelina," Grandma gives my hand a comforting squeeze, "It's not the last time you'll see them."

No, I really hope it's not.

Our house in the Victors Village is the fifth one to be occupied, and quite possibly the nicest house I have seen. Four bedrooms. A large dining room. An extravagant lounge room. A clean and pristine kitchen, stocked with rows upon rows of fresh food. One room is bigger than my entire house.

Barely an hour after we've unpacked our boxes the sound of a doorbell sounds and it takes Grandma and I, so unused to hearing one, a minute to realise that it's from our own house.

"You stay there," I tell Grandma, who's rested on one of the chairs in the lounge room, already trying to stand up, "I'll get it."

"Hello?" I say as I open the door.

"Hello Ada," is the response from a familiar voice. Just the sight of them causes my face to light up in surprise.

"Adelina, who's that?" Grandma calls out from the lounge room, peeking her head out through the doorway to see, her eyes widening when she sees the visitor. "You're Wiress, I assume," Grandma says.

My old mentor smiles. "That's me."

"Please, come in. Adelina's told me so much about you. I can't thankyou enough for what you've done for her," Grandma gushes, rushing in from the hallway to push the door open further. "Would you like anything to eat? Drink? Anything I can do?"

"Oh, no thankyou," Wiress gives her an apologetic smile, "I'm just stopping through. I was wondering if you and Ada would like to come to my house tonight for dinner. There will be a few others there, it'll be a god chance to meet the neighbours."

Grandma gives her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I don't think I'm up to going out tonight. Really I'm just looking forward to a long sleep tonight. But I'm sure Adelina will be more than happy to go. Maybe I'll come along another time?"

"Sounds good," Wiress smiles in response, "My house is right next to yours if you ever need anything."

"We'll be sure to drop in some time," Grandma says before bidding Wiress goodbye and closing the door.

Grandma's asleep in her room by the time I leave for Wiress house. Her own room. We used to share the one, but this house has far more than necessary. It's actually rather annoying.

"Ada," Wiress greets me with a hug the second she opens her door, leading me into the lit house, "Come in." Wiress house is almost identical to mine; the only difference is the decoration, filled with pictures of family and friends. "Everyone's in here," my old mentor says as she leads me into her lounge room where three other people sit seated on the leather couches. I know one of them, but the others are strangers. I scan their faces quickly, desperately trying to remember their names and how they one their games.

There's District Three's first victor, Tanian Helt, who won the Thirty-Second Games by hiding in the trees, only coming down to gather food and collect a small pile of rocks that he later dropped on the head of the girl from District Four to win.

Next to him I spy the cold grey eyes of Lillias Jenner, the victor of the Sixty-Third Games and possibly the only one of us who won using the brute force so often connected to the Career tributes. The year she won was one of the first that I watched. Lillias was in one of the lucky years when the Gamemakers were lenient enough to place a few important and useful clump of wires in the Cornucopia for us tributes who knew how to put them to good use. She had no trouble with using them to strangle the tributes that she caught.

And next to her, Beetee. The only person in the room, aside from Wiress, that I can actually talk to with some ease. Also the only person who hasn't got a permanent death glare etched into their face as they stare at the coffee table in front of them like they're trying to set it in flames with the intensity of their looks.

Wiress clears her throat, gaining the attention of the room. Beetee, suddenly aware of my presence, sends me a warm smile before saying, "Ada, glad you're here. This is Tanian," he points to the sixty something year old man who gives me a nod in response before returning his gaze to the table, "And this is Lillias," the brunette gives me a one over with her gaze, as if she can see through me. Judging by the look on her face, she doesn't like what she sees. "Lillias, Tanian, this is Adelina."

"So this is the fourth tribute," Lillias sneers, her lips twisted into a mocking smile. Tribute, I notice her words, not victor. It makes sense. Four people won and I got out without killing anyone. Some people find that that means I'm not a real victor. I'm fine with that. I just want them to settle their opinions on it so they can move their focus off me.

I don't respond, half because I'm unsure of what I'm supposed to say and half because I'm hoping that she'll drop the subject.

No such luck.

"It's a real pity, you know. I do think that you could've won without the entourage; it would've been more entertaining. Of course, I suppose it would've been hard for you to take down that brute from Two. I doubt you could've. I suppose that it was the best you could do."

It's going to be a long night.

I wrote this all in the time space of two hours. My head hurts.

I'll probably update sometime next week. I have heaps of homework that I have to before I can write the next chapter. I've put it off long enough. History, Art, Science, English, French, Japanese, Drama, Music, and Algebra is finally catching up to me... Wish me luck.