It's a small world after all ~ Perry/Open

How was this happening? There were twelve districts in Panem. Twelve. So how was it possible that Mel should be going back to the one district she was most afraid of returning to in such a short period of time? Okay, so maybe District 4 wasn’t as frightening physically as District 10 (Mel had no desire to run into Peacekeeper Johansson for a second time), but at the moment the prospect of running into the boy who had kissed her-kissed her!-was much, much scarier than a peacekeeper. In fact, the only thing that made Mel leave the train (besides the fact that it was broken down and wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while) was her desire to see the ocean again.

Ever since her first visit to District 4, Mel had been trying to forget what had happened, since there was really no point in dwelling on it. But that was rather difficult, seeing as it had been her first kiss, with a great boy, who she had expected never to see again. And now that Mel was back in District 4, she couldn’t decide which feeling was stronger: the desire to go looking for Xander, or the urge to run and hide on the off chance that they should happen across one another.

The more Mel thought about it, the more she became convinced that it was highly unlikely she would even run into the boy for a second time, so she might as well just not even think about it no matter how much she may or may not have been hoping to see him. The reality was that it would be much better if Mel didn’t see him again, because either a) he had looked for her at school and realized that she wasn’t from District 4, or b) he hadn’t even bothered to look for her, because he didn’t even care to find her, and had forgotten all about her by now. Neither of those choices was particularly appealing, so Mel decided to just not even think about it, and instead focused her attention on her journey from the train to the beach.

Finally the ocean came in sight, and it was just as amazing as Mel remembered it being. The blonde couldn’t resist the temptation to get a bit closer, so she pulled off her shoes and began walking through the sand, careful to leave several feet between herself and the water hitting the shore. She wasn’t eager to fall in for a second time – this time she might not have someone to help her. But right, Mel wasn’t thinking about that.

After several minutes of walking, something in the sand caught the fourteen year old’s attention. She paused and reached down into the sand, only to find a tiny shell. The girl held it in her hand and examined it with wonder. She’d heard about seashells, but like the ocean, she’d never actually seen one before. Her curiosity spiked, Mel held the tiny shell up to her ear to see if she could really hear the ocean. She couldn’t. Frowning, she shook the shell and held it up to her ear again. Maybe it was broken? Or maybe she needed a different kind of shell?

Perry pulled himself out of the cold sea onto the fishing dock, carrying his newest prize: a conch shell roughly half the size of his head. He had seen it underneath the dock the previous day, when he and River were putting the fishing boat away. He was determined to retrieve it the next day, their self-assigned day off.
He boarded Quinnat's Pride and grabbed his soft beach sweater, which was hanging on the boat's wheel. He pulled it over his head, and warmth rushed back to his skin. He sat on the deck of the boat and picked up the conch shell, admiring it in the sun.
It was white on the outside, but faded to a bright pink on the inner coil of the shell. He smiled as he placed it to his ear, and heard the ocean echo inside it.
Perry looked up and saw a peculiar sight on the beach: a shoeless girl was walking a pretty good distance away from the water, and looking down at the sand. Perry stepped back onto the dock and headed for the girl, shell in hand. As he got closer, he noticed her picking up a tiny shell. She held it up to her ear, and a disappointed frown crossed her face. Perry quietly laughed to himself, and he finally approached her.
"You'll never hear the ocean with that little thing. You need one of these." He said, holding the conch out to her.

Lucy watched the boy approach the blonde girl from behind the nearby tree. They were both holding shells- him a huge conch and her a flat, strange shaped thing.

“You'll never hear the ocean with that little thing. You need one of these.” the boy said to her.

So, they were doing the old trick of the coast- listen to a shell and you could hear the sea. The girl must be new to District 4; all of the children in the District- including Lucy- had done it many times before when they were younger.

The boy held it out to the mysterious girl, not noticing Lucy as she gave a small sob behind the tree. Her best friend, Eleanor had played in the Hunger games two years ago after her name was read out at the reaping. She had died on the second day. Now, Lucy was alone, and every day it crushed her.