SHIMMER GOLDBERG'S POV
The sound of geese honking and taking off wakes me up. Who doesn't know that I supposed to get my beauty sleep? Especially today since I'm volunteering this year. Even the goddamn birds should know that. I grab one of my knives that I stole from the training academy from off of my bedside table and put on my gown and run outside.
One goose drops dead with a knife in its stomach ten seconds after I step outside. I smile. Right where I was aiming. The other geese fly away, terrified. In just a few short days it'll be a human that drops dead from my knife, and the others will be running away too! That'll feel amazing. And no more dummies! Real human blood instead of just the unsatisfying sand that spurts from the dummies after my knife makes contact with their face. I'm so pumped.
I go back inside and back to sleep for a few more hours 'cause it's fricking quarter after five in the morning.
My alarm wakes me up again two hours later. I stab it sending sparks everywhere. I won't need it anymore. Avoxes will wake me up in the Capitol. The other careers will wake me up in the arena. And after I come home, I'll be so rich, I won't need to go to school 'cause I don't need a job. Screw making dumb couches for the Capitol and crap. I'm even more excited now.
I pull on my outfit for the Reaping, just a purple skirt, nothing special. After that, I fly down the stairs, shove a muffin in my mouth, and head out the door, saying bye to my parents. I don't have a whole lotta friends 'cause they all went to different academies to train for the Games after middle school. They're still training while I'm in all my glory this year. Ha! Suckers! I smile as I walk past some idiot in a navy blue shirt with gold stripes. He's kinda hot, but he looks scared and pale as hell and he doesn't even notice me until I'm already a few yards past him.
Our escort whose name is too dumb for me to remember steps up on stage after the mayor finally finishes the overly long Treaty of Treason. I almost fell asleep even with my adrenaline. I snap awake as the escort reaches into the ball.
"Carly Zekstrom!"
I've been waiting for this moment for so long. I raise my hand into the air and shout:
"I volunteer!"
I trot past all of the other girls smiling 'cause I know they're jealous 'cause I beat them to volunteering. At least most of them are. I don't care. I get up on top of the stage and stand smiling confidently.
"And who do we have here?" The escort asks.
"Shimmer Goldberg, this year's future victor!" I say into the mic.
"Awesome, let's give it up for Shimmer!" The escort says to the crowd.
No one claps.
"Assholes," I think.
Escorty goes to the boy's bowl now. He pulls out a name and he doesn't even get to read it before... no way...
It's pale-faced scared boy from earlier.
"I volunteer!" He shouts. It doesn't sound strong like mine.
I'm so shocked, I can't process what's going on until we get onto the train.
AARON BRODERICK'S POV
I wake up at five AM to get in some extra reps at the training center. I have to get up early, but since it's a Saturday and practically everyone in the District sleeps in, it is worth it to have the time . I feel like we're too privileged here in District One 'cause you hear about what it's like in the outer Districts and they don't have much. Anyways, I've been working with one-handed weaponry since I was eight and could handle a machete. My weapon of choice now is a scimitar and I consider myself pretty lethal. I can slice up dummies for days but I don't know if I could ever bring myself to do that to a real person. My father believes I can, however.
I haven't been very close to my father since I turned eighteen. He won the Hunger Games back in his day. Even my older brother won the Games a few years ago. It's my family's sort of policy that when you turn eighteen, you volunteer and win the Games. It's not that I won't go out there because I doubt my own skills, it's just that I believe killing is such a wrong thing to do. Some people would probably kill for their father's respect, but I think no one needs to die for that reason, if you catch my drift.
I don't know why I train if I don't plan to go into the arena, but I guess it's fun anyways. I unwittingly scare away some geese as I approach the academy, and they honk like crazy and probably will wake someone up, so I hurry into the building before anyone comes outside and figures out it was me who aroused the geese. The trainer gave each student some keys in case we want to come in early like I am now.
I enter the academy gym and I'm alone. It's always so much better when you're alone, 'cause it's just you and your thoughts: entirely focused. I set my time limit to seven AM and grab my scimitar and immediately start doing my thing, slicing up the dummies. They restock on dummies every Sunday, so we're running a little low. I only slice up a few rounds of them before I move to the bench press, then the treadmill, and finally the punching bags. I hit the showers afterwards and then pack my bags and head home.
By the time I'm home, my mom is up and making breakfast, which is some awesome-smelling pancakes and bacon. She welcomes me home and tells me she laid out some clothes for me for the Reaping. I walk upstairs to my room to examine the clothes. The shirt is a long sleeve navy blue dress shirt with gold stripes and some standard black pants. I throw it on and head back downstairs to meet my family for breakfast. My sister who is sixteen is talking to my father about how bad she wants to volunteer two years from now. She constantly asks my brother what it was like in the arena. Frankly, it gets kind of annoying.
"Morning, Aaron." My father says as he notices me.
"Morning , Dad." I reply
"You ready for today?" He asks.
"I don't have the energy for arguing again right now," I say in attempt to stop what's sure to follow.
"Come on, Aaron!" Says my sister.
"Don't you start on me too," I say to her.
Everyone in my family then proceeds to start chanting my name for the purpose of either encouraging me or pressuring me. I'm pretty sure it's the latter, although tone suggests otherwise. However, my family has some talented liars. When my dad was in the Games, he deceived his fellow careers by killing off the strongest one when nobody was looking and then killed off three of the standard ones in a 3 vs. 1 fight. It was smooth sailing after that.
I shrug off all of this "enthusiasm" and when they ask me for the billionth time if I want to volunteer, and I say okay using my lying skills just so I can get them off my back. I skip breakfast just to be away from them and meet some of my friends, over by where the Capitol is setting up the stage in the town square. I stand in their group and say hi and then just sort of phase out and stare off into space thinking about what if my family expects me to volunteer just because I said I would. My father would be ashamed of me and my brother and sister might stop talking to me for awhile and whatnot.
These thoughts occupy my mind for the time it takes for the Capitol to set up the stage and test the mic and crap like that. I'm kind of freaking out internally right now. Lots of kids notice me and one blonde girl even smiles. I appear weak right now. I calm myself down somewhat by doing math in my head and taking my mind off the situation.. My friends disband after we get our blood scanned by the Capitol. I go stand over by the other eighteen-year-olds and pick at my cuticles while the mayor reads the Treaty of Treason.
"Welcome, District One! It is time to select the pair of tributes to represent you in the Hunger Games this year!" The escort, Leporis Honeyman, says very excitedly.
"As per every year, we shall begin with the girls!" He says as he walks towards this huge glass ball that contains tons of paper names that serve no purpose because some yahoo always volunteers.
He moves his hand around in the bowl to mix up the names before drawing a slip from the bunch.
"Carly Zekstrom!" He enthusiastically shouts out before...
"I volunteer!" Immediately comes out from the female crowd.
It's the blondie that was smiling at me earlier when I was worried. She scares me a little even though she's only fifteen.
Leporis goes over to the boys bowl after no one claps for blondie whose name is apparently Shimmer. Her parents must have class. I got distracted there for a minute, Leporis is drawing from the bowl. I look into the stands where my father and brother are staring intently on me. I start sweating. Leporis opens his mouth to read the name. I can't help what comes out of my mouth next. They'll hate me.
"I volunteer!"
I immediately regret it. But it's too late now. When I shouted the volunteer out, it didn't sound convincing so I have to look strong now. I stroll casually up to the stage. Shimmer's jaw is practically dropped.
"Aaron Broderick," I say into the mic before Leporis can ask.
I look into the stands to my father and brother who are smiling and clapping. The look on their faces ALMOST makes me feel like I did the right thing. I wave to them goodbye and then I walk into the Justice Building with Shimmer who is still in awe. So now, the Games have officially begun. But now I'm faced with a choice: come home to my family, or die with my morals. It's eating me now, just as it had for years. Except now, it's reality.