I woke up to see my sister Katie saying my name in her sing-song voice.
"Wake up Rue," she began. "mother wants you to come to the living room. She wants to talk to you about something. I asked her why, but she wouldn't tell me."
I sighed, getting up slowly. "Alright, can you tell mother that I'm coming please?" I asked. Katie nodded and left the room.
I looked around and saw that my youngest sister Anne still sleeping away, snoring slightly. A quiet chuckle escaped my lips as I carefully slid out of my bed trying not to make a sound and headed to the living room if you can even call it that.
I saw my mother waiting for me. She looked anxious, scared even. There were heavy bags under her eyes from what I presumed and hoped were from sleep deprivation and nothing else.
"Rue," she began. "you are 12 now, so you have to listen to me very carefully, okay?" I slowly nodded in response. "Okay," she began again.
"It's about the hunger games, isn't it?" I said. She nodded, tears starting to fill her eyes.
"Yes beautiful." She responded through tears. "I will teach you how to get passed the entrance and what to say, okay?" I nodded again.
"But when will I be taught?" I asked. "I have to go to the fields and school."
She paused. "I will teach you during the night when your sisters are asleep." She responded, tears streaming down her face. Mother pulled me into a hug, I hugged her back. I admit I started to cry to. When she pulled away, she wiped some of her tears with her worn dress.
"Now, I suppose you should go off to the fields." She said. I nodded and went back to the room me and Anne shared to get dressed for the day.
"What did mother say to you?" Katie asked as she came to me.
I forced smiled and replied with "You will find out when you are my age. You still have three years left." She then pouted and crossed her arms.
"No fair, I want to know to." I couldn't help but giggle a little. I then gave her a quick hug which she returned with a quiet huff and I went out the door, to the fields.
"Have you heard the news?" Kaylen asked me as we made our way to the fields.
I shook my head. "No, what's the news about?" I asked.
She looked at me like I had two heads. "The news about next week? You haven't herd?" I shook my head again, even more confused.
"The picks for the hunger games are next week Kaylen. You can't leave the area where the video will play or you'll end up like Judie. Dead." I replied back to her, shivering at the memory of the peacekeepers.
"Well, since you don't know, I'll tell you. The news is that the person who doesn't get picked for the Hunger Games gets not only gets a year's supply of sugar and oil but a one whole box containing razzberries and strawberries!" my eyes widened at this. No one in district 11 has tasted razzberries or strawberries before and lived. Those who did were publicly executed, like my father was.
I must have had a big goofy smile on my face because Kaylen giggled slightly.
"My goodness," she began "I actually made a Rue smile! And a goofy one at that! Now Nate really owes me half an apple!" I felt a bit of warmness come to my face and looked at her with even wider eyes.
"You made a bet with Nate to see if I can smile? And for half an apple at that much?" I said. She giggled again and was about to say something when a peacekeeper approached and stood in front of us.
He looked down at us and stared for what seemed like forever until they finally spoke up.
"You two ladies are lucky I am feeling nice today, otherwise I would have told the head of the fields that you two were late." He moved his head to me and added an especially you to the end and walked off.
I looked back at Kaylen who looked terrified. I took her by the hand and led her to the usual strawberry patch we tendered to. We didn't talk to each other for the rest of the day, except for the occasional small talk and the messages we sent to the peacekeepers when they couldn't see us from the Mocking jays.
A/N: sorry if the story sucks, I really tried. Also, this is the first fanfiction that I am writing so bear with me, okay?