Ugh, what is that pounding going on? Opening my eyes more I could see that the clock clearly says 1:30. Overslept… again. Quickly I get up and rush over to my door to see my mother standing there with a disapproving look on her face.
"Serena," She starts off, "You were supposed to be up at 11."
"Sorry mom." I tell her, still half asleep running my fingers through my hair.
"No, c'mon Serena. You know better than this. Today is reaping day and you have a lot to do in half an hour!" She half screams at me.
"Alright." I tell her as I shut the door in her face and as I do I can still hear her lecturing me on the importance of reaping day. Knowing that I have to get going to the middle of town soon I walk over to my closet and pick out a nice little dress with matching heels. I quickly change and then slip on my heels and head for the powder room. Applying my make-up within record time and then I'm ready to go.
"Eric?" I question, wondering where my brother is. It is his first reaping after all. Finally he pops up, looking all perfected for his first reaping. Noticing how nervous he looks I walk up to him and tell him everything will be alright and that after the reaping we'll all go out as a family and go to the nicest restaurant in town in celebration that we didn't get chosen. Then again though, we are from District 2, which is known as a career district. The career districts usually train from an early age until they are no longer eligible in the competition in special training centers just for the games. Usually these districts also volunteer because they think they are all so special and above all the others. Glancing at the clock I can see that if we don't leave within the next three seconds we're going to be late. Hurrying I push my brother out the door and then hastily follow him. We walk in silence until we actually reach the sign in part. We go our separate ways and wait in our assigned spots until the ceremony starts. Suddenly a female voice comes over the speakers.
"Hello everyone! Welcome!" She exclaims over the microphone. As she continues on with the speech about the uprising and all that other good stuff I completely zone out. "Now, time to pick the lucky tributes whom will represent the glorious District 2." She tells us as she makes her way across the stage, her heels clacking with every step she takes. Reaching into the big glass bowl she moves her hand around all the little slips of paper like a shark circling around its prey. Finally she reaches down and grabs a slip and walks over to the podium.
"Serena van der Woodsen!" She exclaims as she scans the crowd. Wait, Serena van der Woodsen. That's me. She finally spots me and motions for me to walk up to the stage. "Serena van der Woodsen everyone!"
"That's me…" I keep repeating to myself as I slowly make my way to the steps and carry myself up onto the stage. She quickly walks over to me and grabs my arm then leads me over to the boys glass bowl.
"Sweetie," She starts, "You need to pick a boy tribute." She tells me. I look at her like she's crazy. There was no way I was going to pick a poor unfortunate soul to compete in these games with me. "You need to pick one now darling." She tells me. That's when I realize that everyone else in the crowd has been staring at me.
"Alright." I whisper quietly as I reach my hand into the glass bowl. I pick up a slip and open it up, reading the name typed out on the thin sheet of paper. Eric van der Woodsen. My very own brother.
"Eric van der Woodsen!" The woman squeals in her high pitched voice. I pick my brother out immediately and see him getting escorted up to the stage by peace keepers. "Now, are there any volunteers?" She asks. The crowd has cold and distant looks on their faces as I look about them. No one budges. "Okay then," She announces, "Well here they are!" She says as she grabs both of our arms and raises them up, just like victors. Next thing I know, I'm getting taken into a building and put into a separate room from my brother. I still can't believe that my brother and I are in these crazy games together.
"You have three minutes." I hear a voice say outside the door. Just then the door flies open and my mother rushes in.
"Serena, listen. I know how unfortunate this is for our family but I know that both of you can't come out alive. I'm just praying that at least one of you do." She explains to me as I listen patiently.
"Mom I understand." I tell her as I hug her for one last time before a peace keeper comes in to escort her out of the room. This thought still hasn't completely sunken in that I might have to kill my brother and he might have to kill me. A while later the same women comes crashing through the door telling me it's time to leave. I get up quietly and follow her out to a carriage pulled by four white horses. We all sit in silence until we get to the train. She explains that the ride shouldn't be long because we don't live that far away from the capitol and that the train travels at very high speeds. My brother and I take seats next to the window and wait as the strange woman goes to get our mentor. It seems like ages before someone re-appears through the train door.
"Hello darlings, this is Misty and Gage. They will be your mentors for the games." She explains to us and then with that she leaves. Misty is a short, blonde haired woman with hazel eyes while Gage on the other hand was much taller but he also had blonde hair but with blue eyes.
"So," Gage starts off, "Ellie tells us that you're siblings." That was her name. Ellie. "Well, we're here to help you in any way that we can."
"Thanks…" I hear Eric mumble. Looking over I see a tear escape from his eyes. He always was more emotional than I was.
"Serena… Serena?" Misty asks me finally snapping me out of my trance. Looking at her I can see she sees the despair in my eyes. "Don't worry dear. We're going to do our best to make sure you get as far as you can." She continues on. I manage to get out a thanks to both her and Gage.
"Serena, look." Eric tells me, keeping his eyes glued on the TV in the train compartment.
"It's the other tributes." Gage states as he reaches for the remote to turn up the volume. Suddenly two men appear on the screen and they start reading off the names of the tributes. The one with the blue hair starts off with District 1.
"And now the tributes, starting with District 1, we have Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass. District 2, Serena van der Woodsen and Eric van der Woodsen. District 3, Georgina Sparks and Carter Baizen. District 4, Penelope Shafai and Nate Archibald. District 5, Nelly Yuki and Louis Grimaldi. District 6, Isabel Coates and Trip van der Bilt. District 7, Poppy Lifton and Aaron Rose. District 8, Vanessa Abrams and Scott Rosson. District 9, Bree Buckley and Gabriel Edwards. District 10, Agnes Andrews and Ben Donovan. District 11, Hazel Williams and Damian Daalgard. And finally from District 12, Jenny Humphrey and Dan Humphrey. What do you think about this group Cyrus?" He asks as he turns towards his partner.
"Well Caesar, we have two pairs of siblings in here this year. Also this is a quarter quell which makes it even more interesting than previous years." He says as he turns from his partner to the camera broadcasting this all over the country of Panem.
"Well there's your competition." Misty tells us as she grabs the remote and turns off the TV.
"Most of them didn't look like that big of a threat." I tell the other three sitting around near me. Misty and Gage exchange looks. "What?" I ask both of them.
"They might not look like big opponents but they definitely have the potential to be. Most people in these games aren't what they always seem to be." Gage warns Eric and I. Not being that interested in this I start paying more attention to my surroundings. I noticed that Eric was focused on what they were both telling him about opponents, weapons, shelter, etc. Stuff I should probably be listening to but I just can't. Getting up because I can't sit anymore I go and walk over to the window and that's when I see it. We've arrived at the capitol and I turn around and wave Eric on over to see it with me. Both of us stand there just taking in the view and seeing how different things are from District 2 and the capital. Even though District 2 is considered a wealthier district it's nowhere near the capitol. That's when I hear the two mentors talking about their memories. The first time that they both saw the capitol for the first time, the parade, the interviews, the actual games, and that's when I realize that this could actually be a great experience for me, even if I did die. The train slows down as we pull into the station and as we do we're greeted by many crazy looking people. Many with different colored hair, strange glitter tattoos on their faces, many with extremely long eyelashes too.
"And we're here!" Ellie exclaims as she enters the room joining us by the window. "It's quite marvelous isn't it?" She asks us, sincerity in her voice.
"Yes," I tell her, "It is quite marvelous." Suddenly, I feel a burst of confidence and am actually looking forward to this. Ellie taps my shoulder and motions towards the door, indicating that it's time that we got off. While stepping off the train I smirk to myself, thinking that this would be easy…