I watched my mother's face closely as we walked to the reaping. Her eyes were hardened with strength, and I knew that even if me or my little sister got picked, those eyes would not shed a tear. This was it. I held my sisters hand as we walked to get our blood samples taken. A single tear dropped out her eye when I kissed her cheek and told her to stand with the other girls her age. I walked over to my age group, the girls 15's, and spoke to my best friend.
"Good luck Glorious." I said to her.
"You too hun, stay safe okay? If you get picked-" she started
"You'll volunteer. And If I get picked-" I continued
"I'll volunteer." She finished.
I nodded, then took my place and shut my mouth.
"Well, well, here we are again." Goldilocks Mirren, the Escort of District 1 called out. "And before we begin, might I say, may the odds be ever in your favour!" She added with a hint of excitement. "Now, as always, ladies first." She said before dipping in her hand the bowl that held my name on a tiny slip of paper 34 times, along with every other girl's name standing in the square.
"Glitter Tracey!" My name was called. And the odds were definitely not in my favour.
Then I remembered- my best friend- Glorious- and me had a pack, if one of us got picked, the other would volunteer in their place. I turned around and looked at her, but her mouth was sealed in a straight line. She wasn't going to do it. She was going to break the pack. I was furious, I was ready to scream out, call her an idiot, slap her until she fell to the ground. But before I could even open my mouth, a peacekeeper grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the stage. My sister. My wonderful, shining sister was crying. Why wasn't Glorious doing something? Why wasn't she keeping our pack that had held us together for the past 3 years? That's when I could finally start screaming- the dryness went away from my mouth. "YOU IDIOT" I screamed "YOU DIDN'T- WHY? WHY?" I said, and my voice was breaking as tears flew out my eyes. She didn't even shout sorry. She didn't even cry. Her face stayed in a perfectly motioned straight face, showing no emotions. I glanced at my sister, who was screaming at Glorious too. She knew about the pack. That's what had stopped her worrying about me all these years. Glorious' name was only in there once, so there was always a low chance of her getting picked and me having to volunteer. But the year we made the pack we both only had our name in once. So that's why we made the pack. It just helped us. It helped our friendship. But now. She was betraying me. I saw my sister run over and grab Glorious' hair, pulling it and screaming in her face. Glorious simply pushed her off and faced the front again.
"Hello Glitter, and may the odds be ever in your favour" said Goldilocks, the escort.
"hmph" I mumbled.