Don't count me out
Prologue
My name is Rosaline Sarlin, I'm sixteen years old and living in district 2 all by me, and this is my story.
I stood there with Cato in front of my house, usually my father would have tried to chase him away but since he died there was no one to chase boys away. My father was born in district 2 while my mother was born in district 12. I took after her in most ways; I have her dark black hair and her simple grey eyes. The only difference between me and her was I had my father's attitude and was a hard worker; I was constantly trying to win everything. My mother was killed by peacekeepers when they found out she escaped district 12 to bring me here, my father died from an illness. Cato has always been there for me and no matter what Cato was my good friend and that's all he was, I don't have feelings for him and I don't know if he has feelings for me. Today was a different kind of day because there seemed to be a tension in the air not only between us but between everyone; it was the 74th annual hunger games reaping today. Neither of us wanted to be picked even though Cato's parents wanted him to because we have been trained basically all our lives for it. I was wearing a simple white and grey dress that my mother wore when she had to go through the reaping process years ago, she was 18 when my father was picked, he was also 18 and the chances of him winning were slim to none but he did win and he ended up meeting my mother when he was traveling on his victory tour. He was in district 12 for two days and my mother and he had got engaged, apparently they knew they were right for each other right away and they had to get engaged secretly because it wasn't allowed for marriages to be between two people of two different districts.
I was in the middle of thought when Cato touched my arm and said
"Let's go, it's time for the reaping."
I nodded and followed him to the town square, even though we made masonry/textile items for the capitol we weren't the richest but we were better off than any of the lower districts. I was soon herded away from Cato and put into a group of girls my age. I looked at all the confident people, I didn't get much of a chance before I heard the openings from our district escort, and she was wearing a blue outfit with crazy blue hair to match. Great a crazy escort. Enobari our last victor was announced and she took her place in a chair. First the escort who I discovered name was Marion said in her capitol type voice
"Welcome to the 74th annual hunger games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"
She then walked over to the girls bowl and said her in annoying capitol voice
"Ladies first."
I took a deep breath as she made a big show about putting her hand in the bowl and grabbing the name on the very bottom.
"Rosaline Sarlin."
Everyone looked at me as I made my way through the crowd to where the peacekeepers led me up to the stage; I stood up there and hoped that Cato wasn't the other tribute.
"Cato Hadley."
My heart sand when I heard his name called, I would be forced to fight to the death in an arena with one of my best friends and he was my enemy. This couldn't get any worse.
