AN: Hi! so this is my first fan-fiction! I hope you guys like it!

UPDATE 10/19/13: I originally wrote this and posted it like 2 years ago, but I have just recently gone through it and changed alot of things.

Disclaimer (honestly i dont know if they are required or not, but i see everyone else putting them so just to be safe): I am not Suzanne Collins. I do not own the Hunger Games.

Back hand-spring.

Today is the reaping.

Aerial.

I'm not nervous. I shouldn't be nervous. I can't be nervous. There's no reason to be nervous. I am one of the lucky kids in District 9 who doesn't have to sign up for the tesserae.

Just five entries. I will be ok.

Back walkover.

Cartwheel.

Ok I guess I am a little nervous. Every 16 year old should be. Heck, every child from 12-18 in Panem should be scared out of their witts today!

Well maybe not districts 1,2, and 4.

I step off the matt in the school gymnasium, and quickly change out of my sweaty clothes and into my pink blouse and black pants, and head over to the Computer Application Facility that my uncle is the manager of.

Computers.

That's district 9's industry.

In the beginning, the Capitol gave all electronical responsibilities to District 3. But as the people of the Capitol became so tech-savy, computers became more and more complicated. The demands for newer, faster, and better computers became too much for just one district to handle, so they gave us the industry of everything that has to do with computers. Computer production, applications, special-effects, you name it. District 9's industry before that was plastic-production. I guess the Capitol thought it would be easy to just make it themselves.

I walk into the warehouse and i see my uncle helping out a few of his employers designing an update to a computer application. This is one of the things I like about District 9. And computers. In some other districts you are just forced in to work at whatever your industry is. Like 12 with their coal mines. Or 8 with their textile factories.

But here, there is a wide-range of jobs involving the computers, especially since the snobby Capitol people just keep demanding more and more advanced computers. They want a computer that they can fit in their pocket. They want one that will talk to them. And so on and so forth.

Anyways, at least here in District 9, people can chose what kind of job they want in the computer business.

Choice. Huh. That's something you don't get often in Panem.

"Hi Uncle Dom" I say from across the room.

He looks up. "Oh. Hello Jennifer."

"I just wanted to know if you needed any help before the Reaping?"

"No. I'm fine. Shouldn't you be headed home to get ready? You only have a little over an hour."

I look at the clock on the wall. 12:55.

Shoot.

This always happens.

Anytime I step on that mat, and I do what I do what I love more than anything else in the world, I get so caught up in the moment and lose track of time.

It's so relaxing. That's why I went there today, I was freaking out about the reaping. I could clear my mind.

I definitely did not plan to be there that long. I had to have been there for at least 3 hours.

I say good-bye to my uncle and head to our house. It's not too far of a walk since the Computer Application Facility is right next to the upper-class neighborhood of District 9.

I approach my house and walk in. I give out a little sigh. I do just about every time I enter this house. It feels empty. Like, no one has ever lived here before. I mean, it has furniture, a TV, and pictures on the wall, but it's just missing that homey feeling.

There's not much I suppose I can do about that. It's just me and my uncle that live here after all, and he's at work a lot of the time.

I'm very grateful for everything my uncle has done for me. He took me in when my parents died so I wouldn't have to go live at the horrid community home with all the other parentless children.

I was only 7 when they died. You know, District 9 is supposed to be one of the safest districts in Panem. There's not a lot of crime that happens at all. However, my parents weren't as lucky as the rest of our district. When they were out one night, a person tried to mug them. My parents resisted, but the guy had a weapon and actually killed them.

I notice tears on my cheek. I frown. I need to keep my emotions in check. It was years ago.

I quickly wipe away my tears and go to my room. I open my closet, and look over my options. Being one of the richer ones in my district, and the fact that my uncle only has one other mouth to feed, we are often left with extra money, which my uncle uses to by me an infinite amount of clothes.

I decide to wear the dress my uncle bought me for my birthday last year. A knee-length soft-pink fitted dress with dark-green spaghetti straps and a matching dark-green horizontal line at the waist.

I look at myself in my mirror. Brown skin. Dark brown curly hair that falls to just under my chest. The green from my dress matches my eyes perfectly.

I fasten my mom's pink diamond pin she gave me right before she died in my hair. There. I look decent enough.

I look at the clock again. 1:30. I can hear my uncle coming in the house now. I make us some sandwiches out of the left over deer we got from the butcher yesterday, as my uncle quickly throws on some decent looking clothes. We sit and eat our sandwiches chatting about the new computer application he was working on with his workers this morning.

Soon we only have five minutes until we have to go, so I rise from the table and start towards the door. I stop when I realize that I don't hear my uncle's footsteps behind me. I turn and see him staring at me and smiling proudly.

"What?" I ask, somewhat annoyed, even though he hasn't done anything to upset me.

"Nothing. It's just you've grown into such a beautiful young lady and I am very proud of you," he says sweetly.

I beam at him. "Thank you! Now, we should probably get going before the Peacekeepers have to drag us there."

My uncle quickly loses himself in the crowd of worried parents and children under 12, as I go over to the area marked "16" and look for some of my friends.

"Jen!" one of my best friends Lara calls. She is wearing a very pretty ruffled yellow dress. "You look gorgeous!"

"Thanks! You too! I'm so scared, I've been shaky all day," I say, as I look around anxiously through the crowds for my other best friend. "Where's Britt?" I ask Lara.

Lara and I look around for a moment until we find her, flirting with a group of boys we hang out with.

Our friends turn their attention to us as we approach them. I notice some of the guys are staring at me, but it doesn't make me uncomfortable. I am used to guys staring at me at school. I know they think I'm pretty, I have just never thought much of it.

"Jen, you look amazing," One of my friends, Josh, exclaims. Then he blushes. I don't think he meant to say that out loud.

"Thanks," I say, grinning at him. That only makes him blush harder.

"Sexy," Eric, joining the conversation, says with a devilish grin.

I roll my eyes. Eric is probably the funniest guy at our school. He also has more confidence than anyone I have ever met in my life.

"Shut up Eric!" I exclaim, and slap his arm.

"Ouch!" he says with mock-pain. We all laugh.

I glance up at the stage, and see the reaping is about to begin. I see two mentors taking their seat chatting with the mayor.

Sparky, our district's escort walks up to the microphone, and asks for our attention in his silly, super hilarious Capitol accent. When everybody is silent, he begins by saying how great it is to be here. Then he turns the microphone over to our mayor, so he can talk about the history of Panem.

Like every year, I tune out the history lesson, and just stare at Sparky and wonder why he chooses to look so odd. He has bright-orange skin, red eyebrows, and neon-yellow spiky hair. He is wearing an electric blue, plastic-looking jumpsuit. I will never understand how this considered acceptable in the Capitol because to the districts, these people just look so bizarre.

Sparky takes the microphone again and says, "Let's get down to business then, shall we?" He pauses for a minute and then shrugs.

Wait. He wasn't seriously expecting an applause, was he? This is District 9, not a Career district.

"Well then. Let's start with the ladies."

My stomach fills with butterflies, and I'm getting really nervous. It can't be me. I don't want to die. I love my life too much.

Sparky digs his hand into the first glass ball. "Jennifer Liverlyn!" Sparky exclaims, as if he was just told he was going to get lifetime supply of flashy jumpsuits.

Well, at least someone's happy about this.

AN: Well there you have it, my first chapter to my first fan fiction! I hoped you like it! I'll update in a few days! Ok! Well until next time! :) :) :)