Chapter 1
"See that little girl?" My dad says pointing to a girl wearing a red paid dress, and two braids. She looks like she could be my age. I look back to my father. "I wanted to marry her mother, but she ran off with a coal miner."
I'm confused. "A coal miner? Why did she want a coal miner if she could've had you?" I ask.
My dad smiles. "Because when he sings," My dad pauses. "Even the birds stop to listen."
"Peeta! Come down hear and get to work!" My eyes open, and I jump out of bed. I don't want to make my mother angry. I get dressed quickly, and run into the bakery. My family owns the bakery in District Twelve. My dad pats me on the back as I start to bake. As I bake, I think about my dream.
I was five years old when my dad pointed her out the girl. Her name is Katniss Everdeen. It was the first day of school when my dad pointed her out to me. Later that day, when we were in music class, our teacher asked who knew the Valley Song and Katniss raised her hand. Our teacher had her sing for us, and all the birds outside got quiet. After that, I knew I was a goner, like Katniss's mother.
For the past eleven years, I tried to work up the nerve to talk to her. The closest I've ever came to was when we were eleven. Katniss had just lost her dad to the mines and she was struggling to provide for her family, it was raining outside and we left the kitchen door in the back of the bakery open.
I was in the kitchen looking out the door while I worked. Then, I saw her, Katniss was standing outside in the rain. Her cloths were soaked. She stood there for a while, then looked through are trash bin, outside the bakery. I cringed hoping my mother wouldn't notice. Katniss lifted the lid of the bin. She was looking for anything worth money or food.
I looked away. Katniss must be starving if she was looking through our empty trash bins for food. Her little sister, Prim and her mom were probably starved too.
"Move on!" I heard my mom scream. I looked up to find my mother in the door way of the kitchen, yelling at Katniss. I walked slowly to my mother. I stood right behind her and looked over to Katniss. My mother yelled some more rude things and put the lid back on.
My mother didn't like people from the part of District Twelve called the Seam, because they were so poor. Katniss was from the Seam. I watched as Katniss walked away from the bin.
My mom looked at me and pointed inside. I ran to the fire and dropped some bread in. She walked to the fire. "You burned them!" my mother yelled. My older brothers, Rye and Graham looked away. My mom took a rolling pin and struck me with it along my check bone.
I walked out of the kitchen door while my mother yelled "Feed it to the pig, you stupid creature! Why not? No one decent will buy burned bread!" I started to tear chunks and toss them to the pig. The bell at the front of the bakery rang. I looked back and my mother wasn't there. Katniss was sitting by the roots of a tree. Without thinking, I tossed the loaf of bread in Katniss's direction. I swallowed hard and went inside.
I watched as Katniss took the bread and ran off, toward the Seam. I smiled. Good. Now she will have something to eat. But soon regret filled me, and should have gone out into the rain and gave it to her. That would have been a lot nicer.
The next day I passed her in the hall. I was with my friends and didn't acknowledge her at all. After school, when Katniss was going to get Prim, like everyday, I watched her from across the school yard. Our eyes met for just one second. I turned my head away embarrassed I looked back from the corner of my eye. Katniss bent down and picked a dandelion off the ground.
The bell in the front rings, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Hello Gale." my dad greets. At the sound of his name, jealousy fills me. Gale is Katniss's best friend and hunting partner. He lives the Seam too. Almost everyone from the Seam have dark hair and grey eyes, and so Gale and Katniss do resemble each other. They started hunting together when Katniss was twelve, Gale is two years older than me, so he was fourteen. Gale makes me jealous because everyone in town think they are perfect for each other, that they will grow up, get married, and have three kids with dark hair and grey eyes.
"Hello." I hear Gale's voice say. "I have some meat, if you'd like to trade today." Katniss and Gale trade what they hunt, for whatever is valuable to them at the moment. I walk into the front of the store, to watch the conversation.
"Alright then, what do you have?" my dad says.
"I've got two rabbits and a squirrel, sir." Gale says politely.
My dad rubs his chin. "I'll take the squirrel, you take the rabbits home."
"You can have the rabbits, I'm going hunting again today." Gale says.
"I'll take the squirrel, Gale." my dad says. I smile, because my dad is such a great person. My dad hands Gale a loaf of bread. "Good luck today." Gale hands him the squirrel and walks out of the bakery.
My dad wishes everyone good luck, today. Today is the Reaping. The day two teenagers will be picked from each district in Panem to go into The Hunger Games, as punishment for a rebellion that no one alive today was involved in.
There were originally thirteen districts and the Capitol. But the uprising ended in the destruction of District Thirteen and the deaths of countless lives.
The Hunger Games is an annual fight to the death. It begins with the Reaping, then the tributes are taken to the Capitol, and prepared for the fight. There may only be one winner, or, victor. The victor will be interviewed, and taken on the tour of the districts, then they will be mentors for the next tributes, and the cycle will start over, and over again for the Capitol's entertainment.
People from the Seam, like Katniss and Gale, have is worse. There is a program called a tessere, where you can put your name in the Reaping bowl again for food. So the poor have their names in way more times. I wish Katniss good luck. I know she signed up for tesserae multiple time just this year.
I sigh and continue to work until my dad calls me to get ready for the Reaping. Where my fate, for this year will be determined.