The 70th Hunger Games: A Little Love

Chapter Fifteen

Dear Diary,

I wake up the next morning to the tip of my nose feeling wet and cold. Sitting up, I look around me. Sparkle, Dez, Cicero and I are all covered in this small, white coating. Wait, Annie. Think. You've seen this before. I touch the soft white coating that lays on the ground and all around me. As I touch it, the soft white material sends shivers up my body, and I feel a small spike of pain when the small cuts on my hand brush against it.

Snow!

I've never seen it back home, but I remember learning about it in school. I knew in some of the other districts, they got it. And it used to snow near me, but I guess when it started getting so hot, it stopped snowing. The main reason I even knew the name for it is because there's a song the kids at school sing about our president, President Snow. It goes a little something like this:

Old, white and cold is he
The president of this nation be
Frosty, icy and cruel is he
President Snow likes to L-I-E

It's like a distant memory in my head, that song, because as soon as they heard us singing it, they banned it. Even though we were young and merely copying the older kids in school, we all got a slap on the wrist and an assembly with the principal about talking bad about the president.

I look around me at my fellow tributes, still asleep. My fingers were freezing. Literally. When I touched them to my cheeks, it sent shivers down my spine.

"Hey guys, guys, it's snowing. We should take cover somewhere!" I shout, shaking Sparkle softly. As if the sky heard my demands to take cover, it started snowing harder. The snow came down in blankets, prohibiting me from seeing anyone besides Sparkle, who was groggily getting up. I went to Cicero next, barely missing his hand as I stepped in the abyss of white.

"Cicero," I shake him, my cold fingers going to his cheek to wipe off some of the snow that was piling on his face. Thankfully I've learned enough about snow to understand that heat melts it, so the heat of us breathing in and out while we slept protected our faces from being completely smothered.

As Dez gets up and runs inside the cornucopia with Sparkle, Cicero still isn't waking.

"Come on Cicero!" I shout, shaking him slightly. Looking around anxiously, unable to see anything, I pull his body close to me and kiss his cheek where I had wiped off some of the snow. My warm lips connected with his cold skin, and instantly, a shock went through my system. Not because of chemistry, but because of how cold he was.

There.

He was up.

"Come on, you're gonna freeze out here!" I helped him up and we dashed for the inside of the cornucopia. Unsure of how long this snowstorm might be, I grabbed our dwindling bag of apples before ducking into the protection of the cornucopia.

I found Sparkle, Dez and Cicero shivering and huddling for warmth. They instantly welcome me in, holding me tight to try and warm me up. But as they held me, I couldn't help but think of Finnick, out of this arena. What did he think of me kissing Cicero? I hope he didn't take it too personally, that he didn't think I just did that to everyone. I'm just, well, I'm just trying to survive here.

I pull out of the hug, offering them the bag of apples that I snatched before coming in to the somewhat closed off space. "I figured a lot of the food in packages might be able to withstand the snow, but these wouldn't. Do you guys want any?" My teeth chatter as I speak, the fact that we're inside not doing much to help. Everyone reaches gratefully for the apples, taking one and starting to eat.

I look around the barren cornucopia. There wasn't much to burn, if we wanted to make a fire, besides a bow, but I'm not even sure if it's made of actual wood, or just metal that looks like wood. Even then, that's not enough to start a fire.