Iris
Far too excited to stay in bed any longer, I pull on my dressing gown and walk into the shower. My Mother walks into the kitchen about an hour after I awoke; she pours a black cup of coffee and takes a seat in front of me. I look up from my breakfast of yogurt and honey, a strand of damp hair falls across my face.
"I'll plait it for you properly once I'm dressed, Iris." Mother says between sips, I sigh and trudge out of the kitchen. A black scruff of fur launches at me and knocks me over; I scream and kick the dog away.
"Idiot, I just got clean!"
"Don't hit my dog!" A voice shouts; something heavy jumps from the top of the stairs and lands next to me. My brother, or as he wants to be called, the stunt man of District 2. I have no idea why my parents named him after the god of dreams, my brother spends roughly three hours sleeping, the rest of the time he's fighting with anything that moves. Including me.
"If you don't want your dog getting kicked, keep the flea ball away from me!" I snap, shoving him away and racing up the stairs. Just a typical day in our household.
"You'd better remember our agreement!" He yells at me,
"Only if you remember yours." I say sweetly, slamming my bedroom door shut. I open the double oak doors of my wardrobe and scan for my outfit. It's probably the most expensive dress in our District; made of flawless silk, it hugs my figure in all the right places, making my hips look smaller and my short legs, longer. I slip it on and look at my reflection in the mirror; I look like a goddess. Exactly the look I was hoping for. This dress was specially designed for me and was shipped all the way from the capitol. Our family is really important and we get some of the finest things in Panem. Someone taps at my door, I call for them to come in and my Mother sits on the bed beside me. She brushes my long, silky brown hair and begins to braid a few small strands that are pinned to the back of my head. Something light and gold is placed just above my forehead and Mother hands me some gold bangles.
"Is it Greek again today?" A cheery voice asks, my Father, mayor of District 2.
"I'm always a Greek goddess, Father; my name is Iris after all." I leap from my bed and wrap my arms around his shoulders, I have to stretch on my tip-toes because my Father is so tall and I'm small. He smiles and hugs me tightly,
"You look wonderful my little rainbow goddess. I just wanted to say good luck my darling, I have to go and greet our escort, and the crowds are already arriving." My father exits the room as quickly as he entered, my Mother right behind him. I love my name; it's the most beautiful name ever. When I was six, Mother explained what my name meant; Iris is a Greek goddess, she's a messenger goddess. I instantly started trying to look like her; I would stare at the tatty pictures in old Greek mythology books for hours. Not to mention rushing around delivering messages from one trader to another, it's a good job I'm good at running. I really enjoy learning about gods and goddesses they are so interesting, me and my brother, Morpheus, are named after minor gods who didn't really do very much, but I still love reading about the few things they did do. It's kind of a tradition in our family to be named after things in Greek mythology, even though we are not Greek, my Mother is Hecate, Father is Eros and my grandfather's name was Ares. Even Morpheus's stupid mutt is Cerberus, which didn't take much thought from my pea brained brother. I spend the rest of my time putting gold eyeliner above my dark brown eyes and painting my lips a soft peach colour. I brush bronzer across my cheeks with a sigh, I am so pale, and it really ruins the whole exotic goddess look. Iris isn't pale in her picture; she's tanned and beautiful and has black hair whereas mine is just dark brown. I hear shouting outside my room and I know I'm late, I'm always late. I grab my gold sandals and rush down the stairs, quickly ushered into a car. We are really lucky to have one of these, it costs a lot of money and is only used on special occasions plus my family has to arrive in style as we are so important in the District.
I stand beside the other 15 year olds gazing at our marvellous stage. My Father has just finished his speech about the treaty of treason and the District escort is walking to the massive glass ball. Only now do I think of my agreement with Morpheus. If my name is pulled from that glass bowl my brother will not volunteer, but if it isn't, he will volunteer and win the hunger games. I know he can win it; he's strong and always knows who to bet on every year. I've lost too much money to count on stupid bets with him. Morpheus is 18, so he won't have another chance at the life of a victor, whereas I have three more years. I can't help but pray my name will be pulled out as I do every year; I want to be a victor more than anything else.
"Selene Grain," Anger burns inside me. It should be my name, why is it never my name? I have wanted my name to be pulled for three years. It's not fair; this is my year, I just know it.
"I volunteer!" I know it goes against my agreement but I don't care. I want to be a victor.
"You little Bitch, Iris, our agreement!"
"It's void." I say with a light laugh and before anyone can stop me, I race up onto the stage. Our escort grins and gives me a big hug, her blue hair tickles my neck and when she breaks away there's a faint smell of blueberries in the air. Wow, how did she do that?
"What's your name darling?" Electra asks, grinning down at me.
"Iris Gourde, miss Electra." I reply with a smile, Electra beams at me. Manners are very important to the capitol folks.
"Your District two girl tribute, Iris Gourde." Electra walks to the boys bowl and pulls out a name, there's a commotion in the crowd below and a tall, muscular guy strides forward. I gasp in shock, Morpheus storms to the stage giving me an evil grin. Electra drops the slip of paper,
"My name is Morpheus Gourde and I volunteer."
"Well, there we have it District 2. The tributes for the 68th hunger games are a brother and sister duo." Father rushes forward from his seat.
"Let's not be hasty, you both can't volunteer."
"Tell that to her, we had an agreement, her name wasn't read out and I said I wanted to be a victor. I won't get another chance UN like her!"
"I got impatient, you've had years to volunteer yet you never did. I saw my chance and I took it, you're just jealous you never thought of that." Morpheus raises his hand but quickly drops it. He would bring shame to our District if he dared slap me in front of the cameras. I give him a sly smile, knowing he can't touch me. Morpheus and I have quite a reputation for fighting. When we go to our school for training, me and my brother always end up in a scrap, kicking and punching. One of us always ends up getting a black eye. I give the crowd a wink and Electra takes me into the justice building where I await my visitors.