A.U- Thank you for reading this story! In this story, Gale and my OC get reaped for the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Reviews and suggestions would be welcome!

Chapter 1

As soon as the first ray of sunshine entered through the small window of the room I, Brooke Harris, share with my sister, Aria, I woke up. I walked towards the room my two brothers, Robb and Bran share and saw my little brother Bran fast asleep. I walked to the kitchen to find my big brother, Robb eating stale bread for breakfast.

"About time you got up! Have some breakfast. We'd better get going soon." He said.

I ate some bread and quickly dressed in my usual gear, my worn in, supple leather boots and my baggy brown pants and black shirt. We both wore our jackets and began walking towards the gap in the fence. Once we'd made it to the other side, we made it to the hollow tree where we kept all our weapons. We grabbed an axe and spear each and I strapped my belt of knives. We began walking towards the groove of trees where we usually cut down firewood.

"Thanks for not inviting Aria!" I said.

"I promised you a long time ago that this day would always belong to you and me, remember? And I never break my promises." He replied.

"I love you, Robb"

"I love you too, Brookie"

I laid down my spear on the ground and began climbing the tree with my axe. I chopped down quite a few branches and made my way back down within a few seconds.

"I swear to god, you're like one of those monkeys we read about" Robb said.

"I find it insulting that you would compare me with an animal."

"It's supposed to be a compliment, Brooke. Accept it"

I stuck my tongue out at him like a little child and away for a while as he began chopping those branches into sizeable pieces. I quickly caught 3 squirrels and 4 rabbits with my knives. I walked my way back towards Robb and began skinning them.

"Always through the right eye. Impressive, little sister."

"Well, it's my signature style" I said with fake cockiness.

He laughed and got back to chopping the branches. After he finished, he packed them away into a bag.

"I'm all done here, Brooke. Did you finish skinning those animals yet?"

"Yup"

"Let's go fishing then."

We walked towards the stream and quickly undressed until we were in our undergarments. We stood there still and patient with spears in our hands waiting for the right moment to strike.

"So, when's the wedding?" I said. My brother Robb was getting married to his fiancée Jayne. I was afraid of losing the one person who I loved the most. Don't get me wrong, I love my other siblings too but we both shared a special bond. We even looked alike. The Seam look. Brown hair and grey eyes. We both looked like dad while Aria and Bran looked like mum with their blonde hair and blue eyes. My mother fell in love with my father during high school. When he died in one of the mine explosions, she completely spaced out and never fully recovered. It took her a year to come back to us, even partially. She looked after Aria and Bran while I helped Robb look after the financial sphere of the household.

By the end we'd caught about half a dozen fish each. We quickly plucked some thyme and rosemary from the herb brushes we'd found a few years ago. We then began walking back to the district to trade our findings. We hid our weapons back in the hollow tree.

"Let's keep two rabbits, two squirrels and a half a dozen fish for ourselves, okay?" I asked Robb.

"Okay"

We then began walking towards the bakery to trade a squirrel. I opened the door to find my best friend, Peeta standing in the front of the bakery.

"Hey Peet!" I said.

"Brookie! What a pleasant surprise."

"I have a squirrel that might interest you"

"And I have a loaf of bread that might interest you"

"Thanks Peet! A trade well struck!"

I heard his mother screaming at him in the background. She was always mean to Peeta and his brothers. I wonder how on earth Mr Mellark, who was kind and gentle, married that woman. The number of times I'd seen the bruises on his face after she had hit him were too many to count.

"Oh crap! I gotta go, Brooke! See you later! And try to make an effort to look ladylike" He said grinning.

"And you try to….look less floury!"

He chuckled and said, "See ya, Brookie"

"Bye, Peet!"

I ran out of the shop to see my brother sitting on the bench.

"Let's go, Robb! Lots to trade!"

We walked our way to the Hobb, the illegal market of our district. We sold most of the firewood to Lommy except a bit for our house. My brother tapped my shoulder while I was haggling with Lommy over the amount of coin he owed us. I was the best at haggling while Robb never haggled.

"What?" I snapped at him irritably.

"Our cousin is here" he said pointing to my cousin, Katniss. My mother, Evanora, and her mother, Theodora, were sisters. The shock that came to my grandparents after my aunt married Mr Everdeen was picture-perfect according to my mother. They had never expected their younger daughter to follow in their eldest's footsteps.

"So what?" I snapped and went back to haggling. After we agreed on 20 coins, we walked towards Greasy Sae, the soupstress of the Hobb as I liked to call her, to trade our game. We saw Katniss and her best friend, Gale Hawthorne, sitting there, sipping her new concoction.

"Hello, Greasy Sae! Might I interest you in two rabbits and half a dozen fish?" I said with my usual charming voice that I saved for the beginning of my trades.

"How about I give you 5 coins and throw in two bowls of soup?" she answered.

"Looks like we have ourselves a deal" I said and handed her the meat while she gave me the coins.

"Hello Robb, Brooke" Katniss said.

"Hello cousin" Robb and I greeted.

"Let's go, Katniss" Her friend, Gale, grunted.

"Well, bye!" Katniss said and began walking away.

"Someone's grumpy" I muttered to myself.

"He's always grumpy during this day. Can you blame him, though?" Greasy Sae said.

"Guess not" I answered.

"How many slips have you got in there, Brooke?" she asked.

"Fourteen", I said, doing the math in my head.

"May the odds be in your favour, child." She answered. We finished it and went over to the clothes stall to buy a few for Aria. Most of her clothes were ragged and handed down from me. After a few more trades, we began making our way back home.
"Take off your shoes" my mother instructed as soon as we entered the house.

"You", she said pointing to Robb, "Go wash up while you" she said pointing towards me, "Go take a bath. I've laid out a dress for you."

After taking a bath, I saw that my mother had laid out one of her old dresses from her Apothecary days, a beautiful purple one. I quickly pulled my wet her into a bun and looked at the mirror. I didn't look like myself; I looked beautiful, with my mother's pale skin and my father's hair and eyes. I walked out and saw my little sister Aria, look close to tears. It was her first reaping.

"Ari, calm down. You won't be reaped, I promise. You only have one slip in there."

"Okay"

We ate 3 of the fishes we'd caught today and ate half of the loaf of bread. I held Aria's hand and began walking toward the town square where the reaping would be held. We walked past the bakery when Peeta came out.

"Wow! Brookie, you look like a girl! And you look adorable, Ari" he said.

Aria began giggling and I silently thanked him for easing some of her tension. We walked over the lines and got our fingers pricked.

"Ari, walk down to the twelve year-olds section, okay? I'll find you as soon as this is over."

"Okay" she mumbled and began walking to the front.

"Good luck, Peet" I said and hugged him.

"You too, Brookie. See you after this, okay?"

I nodded and walked to the sixteen year-old section and saw my friend Elli biting her nails. She was the seamstress's daughter and hadn't taken any tesserae. She was almost as safe as my sister.

"Stop biting your nails, Elli! Trust me, we won't be reaped!"

She was just about to answer when our escort, Effie Trinket bobbled onto the stage on feet-high heels.

"Happy 74th Annual Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favour! We have a special video brought to you all the way from the Capitol!" I zoned out and started searching the family crowd for me brothers. I then found Robb clutching Bran's hand and rolling his eyes at the screen. I ignored the urge to laugh and found Peeta in the section of sixteen year old boys. He was gazing lovingly at Katniss. I was the only one who knew that he'd had a crush on Katniss since as long as I can remember.

"Well, wasn't that wonderful?" she said. Our only living victor, Haymitch, then bobbled up on stage drunk off his wits and hugged Effie. He then collapsed onto his seat. Well, this reaping has atleast been interesting so far.

"Ladies first" Effie said in an exited, cheery tone. God! How can she be so happy to select kids to send them to slaughter? Does she even have a brain?

Not me! Please don't let it be me! I thought. It wasn't, it was the one person I didn't think I'd have to worry about. It was the one person whom I thought was safe from this monstrosity.

"Arianna Harris"

Aria nervously began walking to the stage with tears in her eyes. I broke out of my daze when I saw the first tear fall. I knew what I had to do. There was no way I was letting my sister go into the Games if I could do anything about it. I began shuffling through the crowd not caring if I had hit anyone. I ran towards her and pushed her behind me.

"I volunteer" I said with such anger and determination in my tone, I didn't know I possessed it.

"No! Brooke! No! I won't let you do this!" Aria sobbed into my skirt and wouldn't let me go.

"Let me go, Ari"

"No! I won't let you do this"

Peeta came through the crowd and carried my sobbing sister towards my brother.

"Up you go, Brookie", he said, his voice cracking at the end.

I walked towards the stage trying to keep my face emotionless.

"What's your name, dear?" Effie asked excitedly. I bet she loved the drama and the attention our district was getting now that we'd had our first volunteer.

"Brooke Harris"

"I'd bet my buttons that was your sister. Don't want her stealing all the glory do we?"

I glared at her and she turned away. Haymitch thankfully bumbled onto the stage at the same time. "I like this one! Got lots of…spunk! That's right! More than you!" he said pointing towards the camera. He can't possibly be addressing the Capitol, can he? At the next moment, he collapsed off the stage and had to be carried away on a stretcher.

Effie then began walking towards the bowl which contained the boy's slips. Please not Peeta. I thought desperately. It wasn't.

"Gale Hawthorne"