I walk alongside my family until my best friend Rachelle meets me.

"Hey!" She says. I recognize her voice. We've been friends for a long time.

"Hey!" I say.

"Happy birthday!" She tells me as we head to the Reaping.

"Yeah, thanks." My stomach is churning nervously as I stand with all the other 11 year olds. We watch the yearly video, and then the drawings come.

I can hear her swishing her hand around in the girls bowl, drawing out the tension. I feel like screaming. "JUST PICK ONE ALREADY!" But I don't. That would be awkward. Especially if she picked me.

After what seemed like forever, the Capitol representative draws a slip. "And our girl tribute is… Elizabeth Sawyers." I freeze. I just got called. Out of all the other girls that had their names in so many times, I had mine in once and I was chosen.

I slowly make my way through the crowd to the stage, then up it to wait for the male tribute. Again our representative swishes her hand in the bowl for what seems like forever. Then she takes out a slip. "And our boy tribute is… Rylee Stuart."

After a minute or so I start to hear footsteps coming up to the stage. By how deep they sound I can tell that he's probably older than me, maybe fifteen… Soon he is right in front of me, and I give him a nod.

We shake hands as instructed, and then we meet our mentor, the victor. Then, the reaping is finally over. Someone rushes to my side to help me, but I shake them off and tell them i am perfectly capable of walking on my own, thank you.