"Yo, Cato! Come here," my best friend, Josh, yells at me. I start to run to him but gradually slow down. I notice there is a girl with him. She is from the academy. She is beautiful- tall, slim, tan, long dark, brown hair. I hope she isn't reaped. "Cato, stop fantasizing and get over here. The reaping is going to start in five!" I make my way to him.
"Hey, Josh! Hey, your name is Clove, right?" I make some small talk. Josh runs off to talk to some other kids.
"Yup, you're Cato, right? I've seen you around the Academy," Clove replies.
"I've seen you around, too. Planning on volunteering?"
"Nah, I'm going to wait 'til I'm 18," she says, bravely. Josh comes back.
"Sh, it's about to start!"
Josh punches me. "Hey, what was that for," I scream at him. He punches me again in the exact same spot. I'm rubbing my arm now.
"That was for taking your sweet time, and the second one was for screaming like a girl when Tilly is talking." Clove hushed us.
"Sh, people are starting to stare." I looked around and notice people staring.
"Happy Hunger Games," Tilly Curk says in her ridiculous capitol accent. This year, she has gotten even crazier with her outfit, or should I say costume? She's wearing grass green tights, a neon purple dress that makes her look fluffy, a skirt the color of rust, and to top it all off, bright pink heels. Wait, let's not forget her bright pink hair.
Right now, we are watching a video on why we have the Hunger Games and the pictures of District 13, which is supposedly gone. The video goes on for what seems like forever, but it's finally done.
"Okay, now, that's finally done. Let's get on with the tributes! Ladies first," Tilly says in an annoyingly high-pitched voice. "Does anyone volunteer?" We wait for a while, and no girls volunteer. Tilly makes her way to the two glass bowls in front of the stage, dips her hand in and slowly brings it out. "Clove Rogers."
Gasps come from a couple people, which might be her family. I look around and find my little brother, Jacob, holding back a little girl who looks just like Clove.
"No, Clove, don't go," the little girl screams. I look at Jacob and see he has calmed her down and is whispering words into her ear.
Clove plasters a smile onto her face and bravely walks up to the stage. I know deep down inside that she is scared, so all I do is smile back at her. This whole time, Josh has been completely emotionless. Suddenly, his eyes start watering up.
"Dude," I whisper. "Everything is going to be fine. She can win this." He nods and goes back to being emotionless.
"Now for the gentlemen," Tilly says once Clove is on stage. She does the same thing as she did for the girls. I don't worry about Jacob because this is his first year, so what are the odds of his one slip being pulled out of all the other slips in the bowl? When no one answers, she pulls out a name from the boys' bowl.
"Jacob Hadley."
