Rory woke up early, and once she was ready ran upstairs to see her mother asleep in her room. Rory's first instinct was to yell, but Rory didn't and instead starting shaking Lorelai, who was peacefully snoring.

"Mom!" when Lorelai didn't budge, Rory raised her voice. "MOM! It's seven fifteen!"

Lorelai rolled over, frowning, barely opening her eyes, "it's six o'clock."

"No, it's seven fifteen!" Rory grabbed the fuzzy alarm clock from Lorelai's nightstand. "See?" Lorelai yawned, and got herself out of bed.

"I can't believe its seven fifteen… why didn't my alarm clock purr on time?!" Lorelai said, barely believing.

"Mom, we've got thirty minutes till the Reaping and you know we can't show up late! Do you know what happens to people who show up late to the Reaping?"

"They don't get picked?"

"They're the ones that do! Come on, Mom!" Rory groaned, dragging a sleepy Lorelai to the bathroom to get ready.

Finally, after a painful fifteen minutes, Lorelai and Rory were well on their way to the center of District 1, doing their best to avoid Rory's grandparents, Emily and Richard. Lorelai and Rory were on the poorer side of District 1, and on top of that, Lorelai had had Rory when she was only 16. Rory and Lorelai loathed seeing Emily and Richard- well, at least Lorelai did. So the two did their best to hide.

Lorelai went off to be with the parents, but she quickly found that instead of being split, this time 'round the kids and parents were clumped together, which confused her.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Reaping of the 100th annual Hunger Games!" Lorelai quickly realized that they'd picked Lane Kim's mother to be the host of the Reaping. Perfect. Mrs. Kim hated most people- but especially Lorelai. Well, she didn't hate people, she was just always… harsh. "Today it is the fourth quarter quell, where we will be having eight contestants of any age competing per district!" Lorelai mumbled to Rory over Mrs. Kim's next sentence, which was, "We will also be having eight contestants from the capitol entering our competition."

"What if Emily and Richard get in the competition?" Lorelai spoke with a low voice so only Rory could hear.

"Mom!" Rory snipped, clearly trying to avoid getting in trouble with the Peacekeepers. Lorelai shut her mouth, keeping her eyes on Mrs. Kim.

"For the boys," Mrs. Kim had a harsh look as she walked to the glass ball. "Christopher Hayden," Lorelai saw Christopher, and memories flooded back to her. Lorelai hadn't seen Christopher in what seemed like forever. "Richard Gilmore," Lorelai's heart sank. Her father was old, and wouldn't do very well in this competition. It'd be like Mags… "Dean Forester," Lorelai didn't recognize the boy, but he was good looking, with longer brown hair and a charming smile. The other names didn't stand out to Lorelai. There was the regular charming volunteer, but this one was not good looking.

Finally, Mrs. Kim moved to the girl's bowl, and Lorelai grabbed Rory's hand, holding it tightly. Rory had been safe for four years, surely she'd be safe this time. No. "Rory Gilmore," Lorelai didn't want to let go of her daughter's hand, but had to break free as Rory reluctantly walked up to the stage. "Sookie St. James," Sookie, Lorelai's best friend, walked onto the stage, with an unsure smile. "Emily Gilmore," Dear Mother of God. Lorelai could barely believe it as her rich, proper mother walked silently onto the stage, with her signature grim gaze. There was one name left. But before Mrs. Kim could even pull it out, Lorelai spontaneously shouted, "LORELAI GILMORE!" raising her hand up to the sky. Everyone went silent. They must've not expected her to move a muscle- to be the last surviving Gilmore. They were wrong.

"Why would you do that, Lorelai? You should've stayed back there!"

"And watch you all die? Mom, why would I ever want to do that?"

"I don't know, you're always selfish like that!"

Rory watched her Mom bicker with her grandmother, uncomfortable as usual. They'd been arguing like that for what seemed to be forever, over one same subject- Lorelai volunteering as tribute. The thirty minute train ride seemed so much longer thanks to the two.

Rory rolled her eyes, before walking over to find Christopher having a beer with Richard. Of course, they've only been on the train for ten minutes and they're already having a beer.

Rory found herself all to herself, so she sat down on a couch and fingered through a book of former tribute's stories.

"Watcha reading?" Rory swiveled around, only to find the tall, cute boy from the Reaping. Dean, she recalled.

"Whatever this is. I mean, I know what it is, I just don't know what its called…" Rory avoided looking towards his eyes, trying to keep her gaze just at his chest.

"Cool," Dean smiled, before going to sit down. He stopped himself, though, "mind if I sit?"

"Go ahead, it's a free world. Well, it's not a free world. But- I guess in some ways it is," Rory shrugged. Dean grinned, sitting down a bit away from Rory. He grabbed the remote, and turned on the TV in front of them. He put on former Hunger Game matches; Rory recognized the video as the seventy-fourth game- one that turned out as a close victory from a Peeta Mellark.

Rory's eyes were soon peeled on the book. The chapter she was on told the tale of the seventy fifth game, which was another Quarter Quell. Finnick Odair won that one. Amazingly, Finnick wasn't a bad author. But reading about the games made Rory even more nervous. She wasn't meant for intense physical activity, let alone a deadly game where half of the people would do anything to kill.

"You okay?" Dean's voice startled Rory in the middle of her thoughts, but she quickly turned to him, and nodded, with a smile. Dean was nice enough, she decided. He'd probably be a great ally to have, with him being so tall and athletic looking.

"I'm fine," she replied, "a bit nervous, I guess."

Dean shrugged, "So am I. We aren't exactly going to a party."

The two were silent for a second, before Rory spoke up, "Are you excited to see the Capitol?"

"I guess. I've never really thought of the Capitol, too much, though," Dean shrugged. Rory nodded. Neither had she- Rory had always been too busy trying to finish school with high esteem to daydream.

"I get that," Rory said, "who'd want to go the Capitol after seeing the suffering in some Districts, anyway?" Dean looked down, with a smile.

"You're just as nice as they said," he grinned, looking down at his lap.

"What?" Rory asked, confused, "What do you mean, they said?"

"Some of my friends," Dean laughed, clearly a bit embarrassed, "think you're cute."

"And you wanted to, what, see if they were right?" Rory frowned, really confused.

"Yeah," Dean looked up at her, with a smile, "they were right." Dean got up, leaving Rory confused, but smiling.

Lorelai walked over, with a frown on her face, "my mother is despicable! I try to tell her, 'Mom, I just couldn't leave you guys!' And she says, 'Lorelai you should've stayed,' and all that bullshit!"

"A boy likes me," Rory stared at the floor, confused but smiling.

"Man, Emily needs a life!" Lorelai exclaimed, clearly expecting a response.

"A boy likes me," Rory grinned.

"Rory?"

"A boy likes me."

"Hello? Earth to Rory?" Rory turned to Lorelai, now frowning with a bit of fear.

"A boy likes me!"

I hope you like it! New chapter should be up soon-ish.