A Part to Play // Hunger Games

23 // Not Again

Breakfast was warm and cozy, filled with laughter and good food. All three Victors enjoyed their time spent together.

After eating, the girl returned to her room to change, for she had promised Turner to go surfing with him after her run with Josh. They would usually have their morning run really early, but as it was the girl's birthday, both of them decided to sleep in a bit, adding to the fact that they had a nightmare-free night, which was, on itself, extremely rare, leading the both of them to leave for their run after breakfast, also deciding to go farther away from the Village as they usually would.

***

"Morning Tur." The girl called, closing her back gate to the beach, making her way towards the tanned, blonde man.

"Hey Ari, ready to get surfing? Oh, and happy birthday, by the way." The older man replied with a small, excited smile, loving to spend time on the beach, especially with his friends, which he now had.

It turned out that the only thing missing for the three previous acquaintances to become real friends was a little external push that in that case was given by the two youngest Victors, by inviting all residents of Victor Village to supper every week. Villòn had stopped going after the second one, not actually liking any of his neighbors, but they didn't really care, as the old man was always crazy drunk by the middle of the night.

Turner had taken to himself to teach the young girl how to surf, meeting her on the beach a couple of times a week. He couldn't exactly complain about her, as she was an exceptionally fast learner and really fun person to be around. Besides, the girl wasn't half bad at surfing, which made the lessons a lot easier for the both of them. They always had a great time.

Aria got up on her board laying belly down, swimming over, towards the sea, ready to catch the wave she could see coming. As the youngest Victor stood on her board, surfing the wave, she could feel the salty air on her hair and face, smiling brightly at one of her favorite activities ever since she first tried it. The girl couldn't help falling in love with the feeling of freedom that the sport brought her.

All that time in the beach had also given the youngest Victor a nice tan, which was appreciated by the previously very pale girl.

***

She and the older Victor spent hours under the sun - with sunblock, of course, wouldn't want to get burned - surfing wave after wave, swimming in the cold, blue ocean until almost sunset. The sky was already a warm mixture of orange, yellow and pink when the Victors left, each to their own houses to get ready for the not-party that would be going on later that night.

After a nice, warm shower, the young girl changed into a cozy and homey outfit and went down to help Josh with the preparations, as the other Victors would be arriving soon. Dania had made the girl a cake while she was out surfing, and left it in her fridge, for them to sing happy birthday later.

One by one, the other Victors made their way to the fourteen year old's house, all with smiles on their faces, congratulating the girl for being able to survive Snow's sabotages for a whole other year. It was becoming a totally new game at that point, the president trying to get the young girl cornered as she outsmarted and humiliated him every time. It was very amusing to her fellow Victors.

The six non-grumpy residents of District Five's Victor Village had an incredible evening together, dancing, singing bad karaoke, eating, and laughing with each other. It was truly a night to remember, for all of them, getting the Victors to forget about the reaping happening in the morning.

***

However, morning had to come, and with it, the day every Victor all around Panem dreaded most: reaping day. The start to a brand new edition of the Hunger Games, and on this edition, Aria was a mentor. She had seen her friends do it the previous year, but that didn't mean she was any less terrified or any more ready to do so herself.