"Primrose Everdeen," Effie Trinket called loudly into the microphone. It was stone silent, just like every other year. But this year I felt everyone's eyes dart to between me and my little sister, my precious, little duck.
She walked out of the crowed to go up to the stage.
My feet were moving before I knew it, and next thing I knew I was saying, "I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!"
The crowd was even more silent than before, if possible. The only noise was Prim's screams, begging me to stop and her hands clinging to my arm, too strong for me to pull free. Her grip was suddenly released.
"Up you go, Catnip," Gale said, as he carried Prim off my arm to my mother.
Gale, my best friend, my hunting partner. I meet him a few years ago in the woods. I had found one of his snares and he thought I was stealing. When he asked me my name he thought I said Catnip. After a while we became friends and shared our secrets, and I got a nickname.
I was going to leave him all alone in this. We had promised each other that if the one was reaped to keep the other's family alive. And now Gale was going off to the mines in a few months, since this was his last reaping, with six people to take care of. I know I should, but I can't bring myself to ask him to abandon my family for his, and I know he never will.
"What is your name, dear?" Effie asked me.
"Katniss, Katniss Everdeen." I replied my voice quiet, but strong.
"Well I bet my buttons that was your sister!" Effie exclaimed, "It's lovely to have you dear."
"Now for the boys," Effie Trinket chirped, with her high pitch Capital accent that Gale and I had been mocking only hours earlier. She reached her long, pale fingers in and pulled out a scrap of paper.
"Peeta Mellark."
I breathed in relief, but froze when I remembered who this boy was. He took a beating to give me a loaf of bread, the same bread that inspired me to learn to hunt, and the same bread that took me to the woods where I meet Gale.
Peeta began to walk up to the stage and a figure caught my eye. Gale was walking forward in the crowd. I suddenly knew what he was thinking and cursed him under my breath. I tried to make eye contact but he wasn't looking at me on purpose, I knew it. We know everything about each other.
"I volunteer." Gale called, striding past Peeta, his gaze shifting to mine. He knows what he has done is unforgivable, but he knows that now I won't want to kill him for more than a few hours.
"And what is your name?" Effie inquired.
"Gale Hawthorne." Gale stated not looking at her but at me.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Effie called, "Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne, the tributes of District Twelve!"
The crowd stayed silent, and brought their three fingers to their lips and then in our direction, a gesture of respect in our District.
"Hey!" Our mentor, Haymitch, walks up on to the stage, clearly drunk out of his mind. "I like you two," he babbles. "You've both got a lot of… Spunk!" And with that he falls off the stage. Great, now District Twelve is the laughing stock of Panem.
Effie asks us to shake hands just as all the tributes do every year. Instead of shaking my hand, Gale reached forward and pulls me closer, holding me close in his strong arms. Then he breaks away and turned us both toward the audience, and holds our hands in the air. Then the peacekeepers swept us away to the Justice Building, breaking our hands apart.
