I don't write about adolescence. I write about war. For adolescents.

No one knows what to do with you, girlie.

I'm very hard to catch," says Rue. "And if they can't catch me, they can't kill me. So don't count me out.

You're hideous, you know that, right?

Something small and quiet, like a match being struck, lights up the gloom inside of me.

They're betting on how long I'll live!" I burst out. "They're not my friends!" "Well, try and pretend!" snaps Effie. Then she composes herself and beams at me. "See, like this. I'm smiling at you even though you're aggravating me.

We sit in silence awhile then I blurt out the thing that's on both our minds. "How are we going to kill these people, Peeta?