Hey, thanks for reading this fanfic! This is what I think the Hunger Games would have been like if Foxface (my favorite character, not including Finnick) had been the main character. So, I realized that I had to give her a name, but I didn't want to confuse you guys, so her name is Fox Carter. Not too different. NOW READ, PLEASE!
-MagnusBaneLover-InsideJoker
I rolled out of bed groggily in the morning and decided to get dressed. Choosing the most practical outfit for the day wasn't difficult at all. Since it was reaping day I would have to wear something nice, unlike my usual simple (but comfortable) black shirt, brown pants, and sturdy green boots. I sighed and pulled out a yellow dress and, as my sisters would call them, "cute" black shoes. My red hair I left loose and wavy so it flowed down to a point a little below my shoulders.
I walked down the hall and heard my family talking over each other as they ate breakfast. I came in and saw my older sister, Cari, my younger sister, Maxandria, my twin brother, Kent, and my dad. They were acting like it was a normal day- a good-luck family reaping tradition- by talking loudly and eating a lot. The only thing different was everyone's clothes. Cari was wearing a floral print dress, white sandals, a butterfly headband and her blond hair was tied back. Maxandria wore zebra print dress, shoes, earrings and hat. She had put her dark hair in two loose braids. Kent and Dad were both wearing button-down shirts and khakis.
"HHHEEEEYYYYY, FFFOOOOXXXXX!" Maxandria, I called her Maxi, yelled. Everyone else repeated the greeting at varying levels of enthusiasm.
"Hi." I said quietly. As the only soft-spoken person in my family, I was looked down upon. I was the most intelligent; however, my family doesn't seem to care about intellect. They only wanted to see PHYSICAL strength and agility not mental.
I sat down to eat and thought about the probabilities of me ending up in the Hunger Games. When I had turned twelve, we were facing a hard time. My mother had died of an illness, the District 5 Plague (named because it was an illness only gotten in our district), and my three siblings had all fallen prey to it, too. Dad and I had to get the money to get their medicine, so we could stop the sickness before it took them like Mom. Dad's salary covered it, but we didn't have money for food. I had to but my name in five more times to get tesserae for my family, since the other kids were too weak for the Games (because they were recovering from their illness). We decided to keep doing that, because since I had already done it once, why did all of my siblings have to do it? In other words, they cared about me the least.
My name was in the bowl thirty times this year.
"Are you okay, Fox?" Maxi was looking at me in concern. I smiled and nodded my head. She smiled back at me and turned to Kent. Cari's name was in the bowl six times, Kent's was in four times, Maxandria was in once.
Out of all my siblings, I have to admit I loved Maxi the most. She was so sweet and wild, a little ball of energy. The rest of us are more beaten down, weary and cynical from years of totalitarian government. She still had creativity and enthusiasm, though she was far from innocent. You could tell from that spark of rebellion and mischief in her eyes, that sarcastic twinge in her voice, and that mysterious smile and one raised eyebrow that she wasn't completely ignorant to the ways of the world. And that's what made me love her.
"Fox! Get up, we're leaving!" Cari barked at me. I scrambled up, and then promptly tripped. Kent and Maxi caught me as Cari breezed past us whispering "Klutz!" in a hostile voice.
"Sometimes Cari can be so vicious, and then other times she is so nice. I just don't get it!" Kent said shaking his head.
"Don't worry about it, Fox. She's just stressed." Maxi smiled at me. I smiled fleetingly and we started
to walk down to the reaping.
As we walked down we saw grim faces and hugging families. I waved to my best friend, Sean. He winked back at me. Sean Hollie, besides Maxi and (on a good day) Kent, was the only person who could make me laugh.
We finally got down to the Center and signed in. We all got placed into lines based on our age, last name, and gender. I stood between two girls I went to school with, Lux Cantra and Verena Ceden; we exchanged smiles and nervous glances. Then we heard a voice. A Capitol voice. Oriana Slotan, our district escort. She was positively gruesome, straight from the Capitol, with bright yellow hair, purple skin, and strange exotic clothing.
"Welcome, one and all! This marvelous day has arrived, when we pick two tributes to represent their district in the Hunger Games! Before they get picked, I just want to say good luck and I hope you get what you want!" Oriana said. This was her usual spiel, ending as always with her "catchphrase" that for some reason always left shivers down my spine.
Oriana moved to the huge glass bowl, girls first. We waited, waited, waited, and held our breath. She pulled out a slip of paper. She opened her mouth and said a name. A name I expected, yet dreaded came out of her mouth.
"Fox Carter."
Whenever I had seen people get picked as a tribute they always have a delayed reaction, a small moment of weakness. However, that didn't happen to me. The minute my name was called I walked up to that stage. No hesitation, no weakness. That was the message I wanted the sponsors to get.
"Now for the boys!" Oriana said, cheerily. She reaches into the glass bowl and pulls out a slip of paper. "The lucky boy who will be in the Games with this beautiful girl is… Sean Hollie."
"No." The small whisper of a word falls out of my mouth. I'll be competing in a battle to the death with my best friend. Sean's face is as shocked as mine as he climbs the stairs to the stage.
"Shake hands, you two!" Oriana's high, accented voice is more annoying than ever now that I know the stakes are so high.
I shake the hand I've seen doing countless things over the years. I've held this hand, I've high fived this hand, I've watched this hand write, work, and do other countless things, this is the hand of my best friend in the whole world. And the person who must die if I am to live.
Thanks so much for reading my fanfic! Review please!