Chapter 6: Tributes

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A/N: Hey guys. I know the votes are not at the minimum point yet but there's a 4-months-non-stop-major-exams that will start late July...this month do I will be writing this chapter...long...very long and this would be the last time I am going to write before October. Yep, this book is officially on hold. But don't worry if I can, I will try to write...secretly.

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ĶĔŃ's POV

I squinted my eyes at the female figure that stood at the entrance to my room. I rubbed my eyes and took a closer look.

"Mr Ken Austin, it's almost noon. When are you going to eat your breakfast? Or should I say Lunch.." Ashely teased as the closed the door behind her. She opened up the curtains in my room and let the golden rays of the sun entered my room. Wait...did she say its almost noon?

"What?! NOON?!" I gasped as I looked at the oval-shape wall clock on the wall opposite my bed.

11.37a.m... Almost Noon...

'Yep, sleepy pig. Now get ready everyone is waiting for you' Ashley said as she walked out of my room, slamming the door behind her.

I dashed to the bathroom and ran into the shower. The shower here is...strange... It have endless panels of buttons each with different labels.

You could choose different temperature...blah blah blah... I just randomly pressed a few buttons and get in. The water temperature just perfect and suddenly while I was enjoying the temperature, the water slowly turned soapy.

Well, the whole shower thingy was cool. I didn't even have to move. I dried myself with soft furry towel and picked out an outfit for the day. I make my way to the closet and took out a plain Orange Tee and a baggy brown trousers. Yea... I don't have a sense in fashion. Well, that's a girl thing anyway so I don't quite care. I left the room and close the door quietly and made my way to the dining cart.

Everyone was sitting at the big table and chatting away. I walked briskly to the table and muttered an apology for keeping them waiting.

"Nah... It's okay. I'm not quite hungry anyways. I don't mind" said Jannie.

"Well, I am... lets dig in!" said Ashely as the reached for the food.

Everyone was eating and I noticed that ever since I arrived the table, Jade was suddenly quiet. She didn't make eye-contact with me so I think she's still shocked about yesterday night...about what I said.

Even though I missed breakfast, I wasn't in the mood to eat much. I don't know why but i lost appetite.

I grabbed a bowl of cereal with milk and started to eat. Everyone was eating, nobody talks. This gave me time to plan about the games. I was too busy planning in my head, that I did not realised that everyone was done with their lunch. My planning rudely interrupted by Ashley telling us about the reaping.

"So... are you guys ready to watch the reapings of the other districts?" she asked, smiling.

I nodded my head and looked at Jade who turned her head to Ashely after seeing me looking at her. Someone's secretly admiring me. I smirked. Jade nodded and we followed Ashely to a room.

I guess that is especially for watching reapings as it have a big flat screen TV attached to the wall and a big black leather sofa in front of it. There is a big rectangle shapped table between the tv and the sofa and on it was some refreshments and even pizza....hopefully the pizza here will taste much better than the ones they make back at home.

I flopped onto the sofa as Ashely and Jade sat next to me. I was surprised when Jade sat next to me while Ashley sat at the other far end. Jannie came in and sat next to Ashley. Jannie reached for the remote and on the television and also something they called the 'air-conditioner' it's something that cools the place down.

We started with district 1. The mascot was different from Jannie... She wore black high-heels but slightly lower than Jannie's. Her hair was white and she wore heavy makeup which made her face look as white as her hair. She was wearing a long sleeve with black and white stripes and wore a long black jeans with white spots. She practically looked like in the late 40s to early 50s. Lets just call her Madame Zebra.

Madame Zebra said something...blah blah blah....capitol.... blah blah blah hunger games. Then, there came the moment we've all been waiting for...she walked over to the glass bowl with the girl's names and reached deep inside it and when she pulled her hand back up, three slips of paper came along with it. She threw back two of them and walked to the mic with that slip of paper. Two luck ones' names just went back in the bowl...what luck... while one unlucky one's was in her hand. Well, except for this district...and district 2 and 4. They think that it is an honour to be in the hunger games. So it's two unlucky ones and one lucky one.

She opened up the slip of paper and read out the name...

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Dawn's POV

I wonder how's Jade doing right now...is she scared? Is she confident? Or maybe she's crying? Is she eating or is she training to starve to death?

My fellow orphan friend was in the hunger games... I leaned against the tree and closed my eyes, absorbing the dreamy melody of the lovebirds. I was in the woods... I've been here since she left for the Capitol. I don't want to go home. It just that it isn't home without her. I've lived with her all my life...without her, it's like a part of me is gone. It's only the woods that brought us together. When she's sick, I would come here. And on normal days, she would.

About once a week, we would come here for a picnic and spend the night here. We built a small hut in here. Sometimes I just wished that we could just hide here and shut ourselves out of the world and enter the world of ours instead... where there's no hunger games... no killing and everyone is happy. But there are things that we want but we can't have it. That's life for me.

Crak..

What's that?

Crak... Crak...

Now, I'm sure I'm not imagining it...

Crak...

It was getting closer to me... It sounded like ... beside me!

I turned my head to the side quizzically...

A peacekeeper?

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Jade's POV

"Lena Jefferson"

I wasn't surprised when I saw a muscular 12-13 Year Old Girl walking up to the stage. District 1 was very strict about fitness and ability to kill. Obviously, that is not a finalised tribute. Apparently, there would be several volunteers eager to take her place.

As expected, there were countless amount of volunteers and a girl named 'Jean Herbs' got re-selected. As for the boys, A guy named 'Martin Bricks' got re-selected.

Same goes for District 2 and 4.

District 2 = Lily Woods and Fred Henson

District 4 = Anne Fluff and Thomas Jackson

I didn't really care about the other districts but one particular district caught my attention - 11

A handicapped girl named Alice Shay, aged 15 was reaped and was immediately volunteered by her sister, Samantha Shay, aged 14. We could all see the mixture of worries and shocked on Samantha's face when Alice was reaped.

Her hand immediately shot up among the crowd as she yelled out

"I volunteer!"

We watched the final reaping of 12 and off the television. Just as we got up from the sofa, the window in the room displayed the mighty Capitol. We, finally arrived.

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