~A sleepover- London's POV~

I take my duffel bag and garment bag into the dark Academy with me. The District 1 Academy for the Preparation of Tributes closes at 8:30 sharp most of the time, but tonight is a special night.

It's the night before the reaping. Which means that the two tributes designated to volunteer are invited for the annual Training Center lock-in the night before the reapings. We can invite whoever we want and do whatever we want, whether it be training (the intended purpose) or partying or whatever, without any adult supervision.

I've never been invited to one, but that's okay because this year I'm one of the people hosting it. The boy who is volunteering alongside me is named Charm Spalding. I can't say I particularly like the guy, but that's probably a good thing.

When I walk into the half-lit Training Gym, Charm is surrounded by girls that he talks to happily. I roll my eyes. See, unlike him, I decided to use this night.

I invited my 16-year-old best friend Mage, the Victors, and the Trainers. This is my last shot at making sure everything is perfect before I have to do it for the entire nation. Charm can do whatever he wants with those girls, but I'm making sure that everything is set for my time in the Capitol.

I do my make-up in the mirror, putting on the dress I intend to wear for reapings. I'm going to use this as a dress rehearsal.

I'm looking up to do mascara when I feel a strong hand on my shoulder. I look up.

"Hi Uncle Cord," I say, smiling.

"Evening London," he says. As a Head Trainer, my Uncle is tough as nails, but as a person, he isn't all that bad.

"Thank you for coming."

"It's an honor."

I go back to doing my make-up as more people arrive. Mage is the second to come, and she helps me adjust my dress so I look the best I can. At the sight of a bunch of adults, Charm and his girls move to the library. Good riddance.

When the clock strikes 8:30 and the doors are locked, I turn to my small group of mentors and trainers, keeping Mage tight by my side.

"Thank you all for coming," I say, trying to sound powerful. "As you know, I'm going to volunteer for the Games tomorrow, and I need all of you to make sure that I'm as ready as I can be for it. So, I want to run a kind of dress rehearsal. I need you to play the parts and give me tips." Sounds simple enough.

"We can do that, kiddo!" shouts the Victor of the 63rd Games. Gloss and his sister Cashmere will forever go down in history books as the first sibling-duo to win back-to-back Games. Dutch Krietzer, a pretty crabby but wise man who is almost 70 now, was close to it with his brother, but Osmium died in the Games after his. We just went in-depth into the 20th Games in our Games History class.

His sons, Sprite and Scotch, are Trainers along with a guy in his 30's named Fortunado Davison, and all three of them showed up today to help me. Incense Thantos (she was recently married), who won the 51st Games, is there, as well, along Briar-Rose Karenbauer, Victor of the 68th Games, with other assorted Victors and such. Mage is training hard and aspires to volunteer for the 75th Games, when she's 18.

The only problem with that is that 75 is a Quarter Quell year, which means anything could happen. Maybe she can get to volunteer for the 74th, if she really excels.

"So," I say, "Can we start with the reaping, please?"

"Of course," says Incense with a gentle smile.

"Oh, I'll be the escort!" says Gloss, beaming. He runs up to the front and says, "Okay, places everyone!" He points to Mage, "You're going to be reaped!" He points to me, "And you're going to volunteer to take her place! Got it!?"

Both of us nod.

"So, how does this smile look?" I ask, flashing them my most dazzling volunteering face. It feels a little ridiculous, but I'll do anything I can to win the Capitol's favor.

My uncle Cord puts a finger under my chin and tilts it upwards. I raise my chin higher and keep the same smile on. "Thatta girl," he says, smiling at me, "Chin up, always."

"Try a wink," suggests Briar, which I do, though I don't wink very well with this heavy make-up. Everyone laughs. "Don't do that after all," says Incense, laughing.

"It was worth a shot," Briar says, shrugging.

"I think that's good," says Sprite, "Confident and sassy with just a twinge of arrogance! They'll have no choice but to love you from the very start!" The others nod in agreement.

I beam and Fortunado adds, "It's even better when the smile is in your eyes."

"Keep it there, and you're bound to steal the show. Steal the show for the reapings first, then for the chariot rides, and then the others will have no choice but to make you their leader!" Gloss shouts. The other agree quickly, and I smile even wider.

But, I've studied up on my Games theory. Many tributes, especially from 2 and from 1, are killed because of their own arrogance. It happens at least once a year, and all I can do is keep my head from swelling too much and acknowledge that there will always be a chance that I could die. And it could even be for a dumb reason, if I lose my mind! I have to keep myself calm, cool, and collected.

Gloss, with a Capitol-like wave of his hand, silences the Victors and Trainers to start the "reaping."

"Welcome, welcome, one and all!" he says in his best woman-Capitol voice. Everyone laughs, even the stone-faced Scotch. "Today's quite a special day! The reaping of the 73rd Annual Hunger Games!" The group cheers, Mage and I hollering gleefully with them.

"To begin today's ceremony, I've brought a very special video, straight from the Capitol that loves you!" Briar lets out a scoff, and is elbowed gently by Incense. Suddenly, Fortunado starts the voiceover, in his best President Snow voice. "War. Terrible war. Widows, orphans, a motherless child… This was the uprising that rocked our land." We all watch, impressed, as he recites the video seamlessly. When Fortunado's finished, Gloss does a little Capitol-like squeal. "Ah, isn't that just wonderful!?"

We clap politely, like District 1 tends to do during the reapings.

"Well, without any further ado, let's find out who our courageous tributes are going to be this year!"

"It's up to you whether or not you wait for her to ask for volunteers," says Briar quietly.

"If you go up really early, people take that as a sign of nerves," says Uncle Cord.

"But if you wait, they also take that as a sign of weakness or nerves," Fortunado says.

"Ahem, the girl's name is…" He pretends to pick a slip of paper and read. He looks over at Mage, obviously forgetting her name. "Uh… Female McBlondie!" Everyone laughs loudly as Mage walks up the imaginary steps. "Do we have any volunteers?"

As soon as the last syllable of the question exits his mouth, I shout in my assertive voice, "I volunteer!" and power-walk as gracefully as one can power-walk to the "stage."

"Why, it seems like we have a volunteer! Quite a find young lady! Tell me, what is your name?" he holds an imaginary microphone to my mouth.

I smile, holding my chin up high, and say, "London Prior!" in as enthusiastic of a voice as I can.

"What a charming one we have here! Give it up for London Prior!" Everyone goes nuts like usually happens in a reaping.

When the noise dies down, I tilt my head to the side curiously, "How'd I do?"

"You were a real winner," says Sprite.

"People will be bound to sponsor you," Incense says, nodding in approval.

"I would've sponsored the crap out of you," says Mage, smiling.

"Alright, I already know what to do for chariot rides, so how about while I'm all dressed up, we practice interviews?"

"Sounds good to me!" says Mage, smiling.

"Damn, I left my midnight-blue suit at home," says Gloss, snapping his fingers. We erupt into little giggles.

"I think I can do the interviewing," says Fortunado. He pulls up two chairs, holding an imaginary-Charm's imaginary hand up in the air. "Everyone, Charm Spalding!"

He puts down the hand as imaginary Charm walks off the "stage."

"Next up, we have a real beauty… London Prior!" The others clap as I walk on the stage, one hand on my hip, a dazzling smile on my face.

"Chin up," says Uncle Cord. I do as he says.

Fortunado takes my hand and kisses it like they tend to do in the Capitol. Then he sits and I sit with him, looking to the Victors and trainers for approval. I don't see any criticisms, so we keep going with the interview until we estimate the allotted time's been up.

After interviews, I'm able to change into comfortable clothes for my favorite part of the Games: training. This is the part that really matters. It's the part I'm going to spend the rest of my night on. I go to each other weapons stations, each with a trainer or two to help me. At each station I go to, there's someone there to offer advice on how to tackle training.

The most common advice I get is to flaunt my skills, prove that I'm a leader and that I'll be the one taking charge of the Careers. There is no need to hide my love of the hatchet, or my skills at any other weapon. I'm from One, the richest District out there except maybe Two, but we're still pretty close.

I can do whatever I want, Training is my Game to play and it's mine to win.

I train until I sweat, take a quick break for some water and a couple of crackers. Then I keep at it. Soon the older Victors and Trainers are out cold, leaving me with Briar, Fortunado, and Gloss.

I grab a spear and toss it as hard as I can, while Gloss watches.

"Where's your sister?" I ask. I thought she would've liked to come.

"She's out. Out at the Capitol. They needed her there for… Something. It was… It was important." He throws a spear at a dummy and it goes clean through the heart with a loud noise.

His power amazes me. All I can say is a dumb, "Oh."

I take a bow, shooting it straight at a dummy. Bow and arrows were always my worst when it comes to weapons. Charm and his girls reappear in the Weapon's room around midnight, so I go into the library to study up on Games theory. After a quick search-through of the many books, I decide it's time for me to finally go to sleep.

Excitement and nerves keep me awake and beaming, so it's a lot of tossing and turning. I can't believe that this is going to happen!

Soon, though, the exhausting training catches up to me and I find myself unable to stay up a second longer to think about it.