Aspen was guided off to a small room where she sat on a couch by herself. There were two peacekeepers outside of the door acting as guards. Not even Michael Wilson was in the room with her.
She sat on the red velvet couch, her knees up to her chest and her face resting on the top of her kneecaps. She tried to suppress the sounds her stomach was making. She wasn't hungry, just nervous.
Then, Aspen heard a strange knocking on her window.
She picked herself up off of the couch and pushed the curtain out of the way. When she did, she saw the one and only Gale Hawthorne trying to get in. Aspen quickly undid the lock and opened the window, pulling Gale inside.
"What the hell, Gale?" She asked the boy. After a few grunts and finally making it into the room, Gale spoke up.
"I had to say goodbye." He said. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and shaking her head.
"I don't get it. How did you know I was in here?" She asked him.
"I watched them pull you away on the tv. As to what room you were in, I kind of took a lucky guess." He said. She shook her head again.
"You're an idiot." She said, hugging him. He closed his eyes and hugged her back tightly, his hands gently around her waist. His hand made its way up to her hair as he stroked the back of her head.
"I don't know how much time we have." Aspen said, turning around to glance at the door.
Gale looked at her. He looked at her face and how beautiful she was. He admired everything about her, everything from the baby hairs that messily stayed there across her cheek to the single freckle on her nose, just in case this would be the last time.
"Run away with me." He said, thinking out loud. Aspen let out a sarcastic chuckle.
"I would. And I really, really want to, but they already put a tracker in my arm. I kind of punched one of the Peacekeepers in the dick on my way here and tried to take a run for it." She admitted. Gale let out a laugh.
"I love you." Gale told her. He didn't know if it was fair to say that to her or not, but he had to tell her.
"Yeah. I love you, too." Aspen told him. She was a little confused. She didn't know if he meant as a sister or more. Frankly, she didn't know how she meant it, either.
"What about Katniss? Are her and Prim okay?" She asked. Aspen watched Gale look down, avoiding her eyes. Well, that's not good.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Prim was chosen. Katniss volunteered in her place." Gale informed. Aspen let out a weak sigh, starting to pace.
"Listen, as long as you get your hands on a sword and Katniss gets her hands on a bow and arrow, the two of you will be fine." Gale said, trying to calm her down. Aspen shook her head.
"There's twenty four of us, and only one of us makes it out alive." Aspen said, turning to look back at him. He saw her eyes went watery, and he just wished he could be in her place instead of her. He couldn't lose Aspen.
Just as the girl finished her sentence, she heard people walking outside of the door as if they were about to come in.
"You have to get out of here." She told Gale, who started to panic. She tried to push him towards the window, but he grabbed her face.
And then he kissed her.
This is the moment Aspen realized when he said "I love you", he meant it as more than friends. Now, she was starting to think she did, too.
"I had to do that once." He said, pressing his forehead up against hers. The footsteps started up again, and Gale turned toward the window.
Aspen ignored the tears that kept wallowing up in her eyes as she shut the window behind him, locked it, and gave him one last glance before rushing to sit back on the couch.
She made it just in time, because someone opened up the door and looked at her.
"Are you talking to someone?" The person who walked in asked Aspen. She put her head down and didn't turn around to look at them.
"I was just talking to myself." Aspen said. She heard the deep voice let out a chuckle, and then she felt the couch dip down.
Turning her head to her left, she saw a handsome man sitting next to her. He was wearing a dark gray suit, the smell of a strong cologne now filling the room.
"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Blanchard." The man said. He smiled, and Aspen noticed his teeth were straight and white, almost perfect. He put his hand out for her to shake, but she didn't take it.
"Who the fuck are you?" She asked. When he put his hand down, Aspen noticed the surprised yet entertained expression on his face. She looked down in embarrassment.
"Leave us." The man said, motioning towards the Peacekeepers at the front door. They nodded their heads in their helmets and shut the door, not moving from the outside of it to guard it.
"Sorry." Aspen mumbled, knowing her language would probably be "inappropriate".
"Don't sweat it. It's nice to have someone around here who's not afraid to let things slip every now and then. It's refreshing." The man said.
Aspen unfolded her legs and sat up more straight on the couch. She didn't want to make a bad impression, just in case this guy was someone high up in the Capitol or even in the games. Plus, he was being nice.
"My name is Charles Montgomery. I'm Jayson Montgomery's son." Charles said. Aspen kept her eyebrows furrowed, not knowing who Jayson Montgomery was.
"Jayson Montgomery, one of the gamemakers." Charles said.
Hearing "gamemakers", something clicked in Aspen's mind. She didn't like the gamemakers, knowing all they did was create chaos in the arena.
She quickly got up off of the couch, not wanting to be sitting next to a gamemaker's son.
"Relax, Aspen. I'm not my father. I'm just here to sponser you." Charles said.
Aspen was very confused. She didn't know what this guy's deal was, or why she even needed a sponser.
"Sponser?" She asked. Charles let out another chuckle.
"Just, sit down. Relax. I snuck you in some food, too. You can eat while I explain everything." Charles said.
Now, Aspen didn't want to sit anywhere near this sketchy man, but she was hungry. So, she sat back down on the couch and braced herself as Charles slowly pulled out a bag of chips and a granola bar out of the pocket of his suit. He placed it down onto the couch in between the two. Aspen, hungry, started eating right away.
"I knew your father before he was chosen for the Hunger Games." Charles said. Aspen stopped eating, staring at him.
"You're lying. You're like, 20. My dad was so much older than you when he was alive." She said. Charles nodded, understanding where she was coming from.
"He was friends with my father before he became a gamemaker. You're dad became kind of like my mentor. My father wasn't always around and we never got along. But with your dad, he was like my second father. He cared." Charles said, now looking at the ground. Aspen's eyes were watering a little bit. She knew how loving and caring for everyone her dad used to be.
"Why are you telling me this?" Aspen asked.
"I want to sponser you. You have something in you no one else here seems to have. They already put a tracker in you after that stunt you pulled, didn't they?" Charles asked Aspen, glancing down at her arm.
She pulled her hand out of the bag of chips and put out her arm to show him the small incision. He ran his thumb over it, giving her a look of sympathy. Aspen pulled her arm away, not wanting his pity.
"I own a few companies for Panem, too. The people in the Capitol respect me. I'd be a great sponsor for you." Charles informed the girl.
"You said your dad's a gamemaker?" Aspen asked.
"Yes, and I know what your thoughts probably are on gamemakers. But I can promise you-" Charles started, bud Aspen cut him off. She didn't really care. Well, she didn't like it, but that's not what she was trying to get to.
"So you probably have a good amount of authority at the Capitol. You can get and do things no one else can." Pen suggested. Charle's eyebrows furrowed.
"Um, yeah. I guess so. Why?" He asked.
Aspen rolled up the chip bag and put the protein bar on top of it, looking up at Charles again.
"I'll let you be one of my sponsors on two conditions." She said, emphasizing the two. She wanted to make sure Charles understood she wanted more sponsors besides just him, even though she still didn't fully understand what having a sponsor meant.
"Go on." Charles said, intrigued.
"I get to see my friend Katniss Everdeen immediately." Aspen said. Charles grew confused.
"Katniss...that name sounds familiar." Charles said, not really understanding.
"Her sister Prim was chosen at the District 12 reaping. Katniss volunteered in her place." Aspen said. Charles nodded, remembering watching that earlier on tv.
Then, he wondered how Aspen knew that. If she was in District 3 and Katniss was from District 12, there's no way of knowing anything about the District 12 reaping unless Aspen was there. She couldn't have been, since she was here.
"How do you know that?" He asked. Aspen looked down at the ground. She cursed at herself in her head.
"You know what, I won't ask any questions. What's your second condition?" Charles wondered.
Aspen waited a second before answering, thinking long and hard. Then, she spoke up.
"Katniss makes it out of this alive. Even if that means I have to die." Aspen said.
Katniss had Prim and her mom. Aspen? She had her mom who she fought with all the time. Her mom didn't even visit her to say goodbye. Clearly, Katniss was the one who needed to survive.
"Aspen...you know I can't do that." Charles said. Aspen just shook her head.
"Then I'll find my own sponsors." She told him. Charles sighed.
"Being a sponsor helps both me and you, not just me. Besides, even if I wanted to I don't have that authority. The best I can do is give you and Katniss an upper hand." Charles told her. Aspen shook her head again, knowing that wasn't good enough.
"I can't live if Katniss died and knowing I could've saved her. Katniss has a family and a role here. I have nothing." Aspen told Charles, raising her voice a little and beginning to talk more stern.
Charles shook his head, thinking for a moment. He knew there was no way in convincing Aspen out of this.
"This is that spunk, that..fire I see in you." He told her.
"Do we have a deal or not?" Aspen asked, tired of talking.
Charles thought some more. There was no way he could keep Katniss safe, but he didn't want Aspen to know that.
"Aspen Blanchard, we have ourselves a deal." Charles smiled, putting out his hand for her to shake.
This time, Aspen took it.