She heard her name, but it took a few seconds before she realised that they had called her. Suddenly the stage seemed miles away, and she knew that this could very well be the last time she was in her own district. She'd been trained since the age of five to fight in the games, and had been encouraged to volunteer this year, but she had been reaped instead. Something of an honour, apparently. She wanted to wait though. Next year would have been her year. But that was too bad. No one volunteered to take her place. Not one person. At least she had a chance of winning, she was what they call a 'career', but it depended who else was chosen. And besides, nothing in the games was ever certain.
"Get it together!" She felt her hands shaking slightly as she mounted the steps, guided along by her districts Capitol representative; Ursula Peacock, who dressed like the bird who shared her name. Ridiculous, really. But what else could be expected from the Capitol residents?
Now that they were calling the boys she had a chance to look around, and found herself standing taller, straighter, and maintaining eye contact with the crowd, but no one seemed to look at her. Why? She wasn't sure. Then she saw him walking towards the stage. She hadn't been paying attention, and had missed the huge boy lunging forward to volunteer. She felt a stab of fear as she recognised the boy. The boy with the sword he was called. She had seen him at training; he was a year older than her and amazing with a sword, not to mention his fighting skills. She was as good as dead. Yet, she smirked at him when they shook hands as though he should be the one who was worried.
They were ushered back into the justice centre, where they said goodbye to their families. Her family acted as though they would never see her again, and she thanked them very much for their support before asking them to leave before their time was even up. And because she didn't have any real friends, she spent the rest of the hour sitting alone, while her fellow district tribute probably had a whole procession of people wishing him good luck, promising to see him again, telling him how to kill her.