Chapter One

I wake up to the irritating voice of my mother, yelling at me to go and fetch the bags of flour from the basement. A loud groan erupts from my throat as my fingers stretch seeking the digital clock on my bedside table. Blinking in red lights were the numbers 8:00.

"8a.m? Oh come on!"

I prop myself on one elbow with the glowing light of the dawn's sun shining through my window right in my eyes. Next, time I'll remember to close my curtains before I sleep. It's annoying to have the sun straining my eyes the moment they open. The moment I stand, I feel an instant pain in my stomach, like something is eating away the flesh inside, leaving it empty. Scared and anxious are the first two words I think of. There can only be one cause of this empty pain. The reaping. Today is the day of the reaping.

I slide into my sneakers and fetch my sweater knowing that the cellar will be cold. I had just started marching down the stairs when I hear my father calling my name

"Good morning Peeta" he smiles. There is a hint of sadness in his voice. A hint of concern and I know why. The reaping which will start six hours from now. We head to the square at about 1:00, and attendance is mandatory. Even if people are sick, or crippled, they would still have to attend or else face the consequences of being punished. I hate the Capitol for this. The stupid, idiotic Capitol people and they're stupid, ugly faces. Forcing us to participate in this so called "holiday". Everyone in District twelve is terrified of this doomsday. You become eligible for the reaping the day you turn twelve.

Every district in the nation of Panem is required to offer up one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve to eighteen and force them to participate in the Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. At the age of twelve, one slip of paper with your name is dropped into the draw. At thirteen, one more is added making it two slips and so on until you reach eighteen, the final year of eligibility when you receive seven slips.

But if you were in desperate need of food, you can sign up for tesserae. For every tesserae you sign up for, you would receive a limited year supply of grain and oil. The only catch is that your name would be added once more into the draw for each tesserae you sign up for. I can think of one person that will sign up for as much tesserae as she can get… and I start to worry.

"Morning dad." I grumble and turn away. I love my dad, but I don't want to get too emotional right now. Anyways, my names is only five in thousands of slips.

After I fetch the bags of flour for my mother, I decide to decorate a few plain cakes left for me to dress up on the kitchen counter, so that I could take my mind off of the Reaping. As much as I enjoy decorating them, I have no idea why we sell all these fancy cakes, almost no one in District twelve can afford them. District twelve is the poorest and hungriest of all districts, making the death of starvation a common factor.

It is almost about 12:00 when I'm finished decorating the cakes. I must have decorated about 23 by now with fruits and creamy sugar. Wow, who knew it would be hard and painful just to dress up a few cakes? I laugh at the pathetic thought and rub my sore hands caused my continuously squeezing out the icing from a tube. Huh, these cakes are better than usual. Then, I hear someone. Stomping towards me. I don't have to turn around to know who it is.

"Peeta! Why aren't you changed yet?!" yells my oh-so-annoying mother.

" I was decorating the cakes you left for me, and I'd appreciate it if you would just say thank you for once." I grumbled. God, this woman. I swear she doesn't't care about anything but herself.

"So, what?! You're an energetic sixteen year old boy! You should have been done hours ago! Now hurry up and go get changed you useless creature!"

As I turn and head for my room, I roll my eyes and mumble whatever under my breath. I hope she saw that. I've had to put up with her all my life and I don't think I could live with it anymore. I can't wait till I move out. I grin at the thought of freedom and slam the door behind me. Just, as its about to shut, my two older brothers come in after me. Rye is the eldest, he's nineteen years old. Rye, is named after a grain that is very important in the winter. He looks like my mom; brown hair, stocky build, green eyes, but he is in no way like her. He's my favourite of the two brothers, treats me nice, just like my dad. He can be a bit overprotective sometimes though. He has a girlfriend a year younger. Her name is Ceres. I like her, she's like a sister to me.

The second eldest brother is just two years older than me, Emmer. This one's annoying. He always gloats, always whines, always nags and he's really vain about how he looks. But surprisingly, he's mother's favourite. It's no wonder He can't get any girls. He doesn't really look like mom or dad except for the brown-ish brown hair. You would think I wasn't even related to him.

I look a lot like my father. Medium height, stocky build from lifting all those bags of flour, ashy blond hair that curls over my almond blue eyes. My dad's my role model, he's kind and charming, knows how to cook some great tasting food too, especially bread.

"Hey Peeta," Rye says. I can see in his eyes he's worried for us. He looks at my body, from head to toe, probably wondering why I'm not changed yet. "Let me help you prepare."

I nod in agreement as I glare at the other one, my other brother, wondering why he's here. He's already wearing his reaping outfit; a blue striped polo and black pants, reaping day clothes. Hey look! He even gelled his hair flat to make himself look pretty.

"What?" Emmer grunts.

"Why are you here? You don't even like me and your already dressed. Why don't you just go and look at yourself in a mirror or something?"

This seems to have pissed him off. I could tell because of the way his eyebrows crunched together and the way his breathing got heavier. He walks toward me staring intently in to my eyes and my fists clench together ready for a fight.

"Hey! Back off!" Rye steps in front of me and shoves him out of the room.

"Thanks" I mumble.

"What are brothers for?" he smiles

"He's your brother too."

"oh yeah. I forgot."

I grin at my brothers reply and wait patiently as he fetches my reaping day clothes. I slip into the outfit he brings back and I'm surprised that he gave me one of his favourite shirts and black pants. A white polo with an almost invisible mocking jay print on the upper right of the chest area. The black pants has the same print in black embedded on the back pocket.

"Thanks, Rye. Really. You didn't have to" I say. I look at myself in the mirror and notice that I don't look to bad. In fact, I look great.

"Haha, no problem. After all, the shirt really makes your eyes pop!"

We both laugh at his remark then suddenly the topic turns serious.

"Good luck today Peeta." he gently places his hands on my shoulders. "May the odds be in your favor. Your name is only five in millions of slips. I know it won't be you."

He looks me in the eyes for a moment, and then I could see it. He's worried. He's scared. He's full of doubt. And then, I nod and hug him, not wanting him to worry about me. I have a strange feeling inside. That today, the odds will not be in my favour.

We break of our embrace and meet up with the rest of our family. Everyone is tense. The clock strikes one and we leave the security of our home, heading to the town square to attend the Reaping.