Five Feet Of Fury (THE HUNGER GAMES)

CHAPTER TWO

Unfortunately, reaping day came fast for Amy-Jean but there was no delaying the inevitable.

It just took one moment of her eyes blinking before she awoke to early rays of sun shining in through the thin curtains and Lynn shouting up and down for everyone to get changed then report downstairs to eat then get brushed up for the horrible reaping.

Amy-Jean rolled over and groaned into her pillow after a moment of wallowing in her self-pity, forced herself to get up and swung her legs out of bed so that they were dangling over the side of her bed.

She scowled at her legs, always hating that they were never long enough to reach the floor.

Looking across from her, Amy-Jean could see that Clara was already awake, her bed neatly made as she fished around the closet they shared, probably for her reaping dress.

Amy-Jean rubbed her sleepy eyes and stood up, joining Clara at the closet who had managed to find her clothes, a simple blouse and a black skirt that reached just above the knee.

"Good morning." muttered Amy-Jean towards the younger girl who murmured a very quiet "good morning" back towards Amy-Jean who pulled her dress from the closet and stared at it. Lynn had bought it for her fifteenth birthday, Cal and Max had also pitched in which had warmed her heart slightly.

It was slightly old fashioned but with a charm. It was also the only dress she owned as she was usually clad in practical clothes for moving around and farming.

The dress was a pale orange colour with a collar and buttons, it was short-sleeved and reached to the middle of her thighs. It was a child's dress due to her unusually small stature but nonetheless Amy-Jean treasured it and found it extremely bitter that the first time she had the opportunity to wear it was during the reaping.

Lynn's persistent yelling cause her to snap out of her trance and hastily pull the dress on which fit her perfectly as it did the day she'd received it. 

Amy-Jean smoothed out the slight creases she had in the skirt of the dress and quickly looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was messy and her eyes were still very tired looking with some darkness under them but her dress made her look different.

Prettier.

She was once again snapped out of her trance of staring at herself in the narrow mirror by Lynn pounding on the door.

"Clara!" Came her firm voice, "Amy-Jean! Downstairs please girls, set the table please."

Clara who has also finished getting changed obediently put down the brush she had in her hands and walked over to the door and quickly disappeared out of view. 

Amy-Jean was left in the room as she struggled to brush her hair in record time for Lynn not to be mad at her. Ignoring the sharp pain, she forced the hairbrush through her hair quickly and quickly patted it down, satisfied with it looking decent enough.

Throwing down the brush on her unmade bed, Amy-Jean rushed downstairs.

As she reached the bottom of the spiral staircase, Amy-Jean was greeted with the familiar sound of the busy kitchen with children milling around, Lynn giving out orders and the toddler loudly babbling about something incoherent and getting louder and more frustrated when no one knew what he meant.

Wordlessly, Amy-Jean took her usual place at the table which was empty save for Cal who sat in his usual place opposite and slightly to the right of her. 

They made eye contact when she sat and exchanged nervous glances, she noted his pale appearance and sleepless eyes.

As usual, Lynn managed to get all the children under control and sat around the table as she bought out their breakfast which consisted of the rations of cornflakes they would get, milk and a variety of fruit which was actually only apples, grapes and oranges.