Chapter 1- The Reaping

I wake up to the sun shining through my window. Today is the Reaping for the 74th hunger games. I am set to volunteer today alongside Marvel, my training partner. We are both 17 and have trained since we were 8. He specializes in spear throwing and my thing is archery. Although it isn't our strong points we can both hurl a knife with pretty good accuracy.

I roll out of bed and saunter over to my wardrobe, I grab my reaping dress. The dress is a very light beige with ruffles at the sleeves. I slip on white sandals and head downstairs. For the Reaping I let my hair flow naturally down my back, the curls sway gently as I move.

I get downstairs to see my mother, father and older brother Resin eating breakfast. I sit down and start to eat a roll, cheese and some apple. After breakfast we head down to the Reaping. No one says anything the entire journey.

My name is in the bowl 25 times, for tesserae. We get to the justice building and a peacekeeper pricks my finger for blood as usual. I wonder over to the 17 year old section and wait eagerly for the Reaping to start. The district 1 escort struts onto the stage in her ridiculous capitol get up. I don't know her name, and I don't plan on learning it either.

The crowd falls silent, I glance around and observe everyone. Most children have a look of eagerness on their face, they are surely planning on volunteering. Others have a look of hope and fear, not a good look for district 1. The escort strode over to the female Reaping bowl after the pointless capitol made video about the dark days and history of the games and swishes her hand around in the ballads.

After what seems like hours, she pulls out a ballad, unfolds it and reads out the name. As soon as the name is spoken I lurch forward and yell the glorious words " I volunteer as tribute!".

I parade myself up onto the stage with a proud expression painted on my face. I reach the stage and swish my hair around, plastering a glowing smile over my perfectly sculptured face. Most people in District 1 say I'm undeniably pretty, I have a sexy body and I'm often described as "lush". I smile angelically at the cameras, I know this will be broadcasted all over the capitol. It's best to try win over sponsors now.

The escort asks me what my name is, "Glimmer Belcourt" I reply still holding my smile.

After she declares me as district 1's female tribute she wanders over to the boys reaping bowl. She swishes her hand around in the ballads and pulls out a piece of paper and yells " Copper Orion".

What a ridiculous name, naming him after a brown metal. Before Copper can even breathe Marvel yells the exact same glory filled words as me " I volunteer as tribute". He struts to the stage bearing a large grin and announces himself as Marvel Sanford. God, I really do hate his confidence it gets so annoying. It's only occasionally he gets on my nerves but that's mostly because I've had a thing for him for about 2 years, not that it matters now. Marvel and I shake hands and are taken inside the justice building. My parents walk into the goodbye room and embrace me in the tightest hug I've ever experienced. Before they left they gave me a ring with a black jewel as my tribute token. Resin didn't visit me but I didn't really care, so we boarded the train and zoomed off to the Capitol.

The train was luxurious, it had chandeliers and furniture like the things we made for the capitol and had amazing decorative work. Cashmere and Gloss our mentors, showed us to our rooms. They were amazing, my room had a shower with so many buttons, a huge warm bed and a wardrobe full of glamorous clothes. I'm sure Marvel's room was identical. I took a quick shower, got changed into a sweater and shorts and went to the living room to watch the reapings.

Marvel, Gloss, Cashmere and I sat in the living room and watched the reapings. We watched how I'd taken complete control of the stage and cameras and how Marvel had lightened the mood with his confidence. Gloss and Cashmere told us that we had surely guaranteed some sponsors just from the reaping. District 2 were great tributes, a boy named Cato volunteered for the games. He was huge and very muscular for an 18 year old, he had a spark of evil in his eyes as he stood dominantly on stage. The girl was very small around 15, she looked sadistic and malicious as she stood on the stage, she had a fairly muscular build as well and she too had a hint of evil in her eyes. We were told by Cashmere to become allies with these two which I had no problem with. Districts 3, 4,6,7,8,9 and 10 were nothing. District 5 had very smart looking tributes especially the girl, although she was very scared. Her hair was fire orange and she had a strange face like a fox. The boy from district 11 was massive, he was surely bigger than Cato. His muscles were probably the width of my thighs. We were told to try make an ally out of him. The girl was nothing special, a 12 year old with pure fear in her eyes. District 12 was different. A 12 year old was reaped, she had long blonde hair like mine in 2 braids. Her name was Primrose. She had slowly started to approach the stage when a girl around my age leaped from the crowd, and volunteered for her. No one had ever volunteered in12. Katniss her name was. She had chocolate brown hair and a build slightly identical to mine. Primrose was her sister. The male tribute seemed too buff to belong in district 12. He was muscular and had a fairly large body. His name was Peeta.

Marvel and me now knew who to ally with, so the reapings were turned off and we headed to dinner. At dinner there was every food imaginable, the only thing I'd seen before was bread.

After a plate full of food and a bowl of dessert, we headed off to bed. After all there was a big day ahead.