A/N: Just a quick Everlark drabble for you!


The Square is big, but not quite large enough to fit everyone in District 12. Even though the Reaping-age population can fit into the area, their families and friends are directed to side streets.

I stand quietly in the section of sixteen-year-old males along with some other merchant kids I've seen sometimes in school. We exchange curt nods, but we're silent because we know that when one of us is Reaped, it's final. I don't care for anyone enough to volunteer for the Hunger Games in their place. It may sound selfish, but bonds only go so far.

Besides, no one would volunteer for me, so we're fair.

I try to act respectful as Mayor Undersee greets the District and goes through the pre-Reaping proceedings - explaining the Games, playing the video, and introducing the past Victors of the District, or, in our case, Victor, singular. I look away as Haymitch Abernathy staggers onto the stage, clearly very drunk.

After the Mayor and our escort manages to calm Haymitch down, the Reaping starts for real. Effie Trinket is bubbly as ever as she announced "Ladies first!" and draws a name. As she opens the slip of paper, my heart aches for Katniss Everdeen.

Katniss is from the Seam, and… I think I'm in love with her. There's just something about her that I can't help but notice. I've never gotten to talk to her, though. Why would she be interested in me? The miners and the merchants don't mix, and she probably has a boyfriend anyways. I'm not sure, but I've seen her with a handsome Seam boy a few times.

"Orchid Cole!"

I can't help but breathe a sigh of relief when Effie calls a name I don't recognize, and the Reaped female walks timidly out of the eighteen-year-old female section. She's definitely from the Seam, with her brown hair, gray eyes, and skinny body. She seems to have some muscles from working in the mines, though, so maybe she has a chance.

"Are there any volunteers?" Effie asks when Orchid reaches the stage, but of course there are none.

"Alright, then, let's reap the boys!" Effie exclaims, and my heart rate quickens as I am filled with a sense of dread.

"Peeta Mellark!"

That's me.

My feet guide themselves towards the stage as my heart drops into my stomach, filling my body with numbness. Tears prick at the side of my eyes, but I try to blink them back. Now is not the time to cry.

That's all I can think of as I climb the steps to the stage, my mind still at a halt. I face the crowd, trying to appear stoic as Effie asks for volunteers, but all I can hear is silence.

"Well, District 12, here are your tributes!" Effie babbles, excitable as ever. "Orchid Cole and Peeta Mellark! Tributes, shake hands."

I take the Seam girl's hand and shake it, Orchid's mouth in a straight line. I think she's doing a lot better than me at hiding her feelings.

I never got to tell Katniss, I realize as Mayor Undersee starts reading the Treaty of Treason.

She doesn't know me. She won't visit me because she has no reason to. And now that I've been Reaped, I've lost my chance.

A single tear trickles down my cheek.