Notes: Like everyone else recently, I have been caught up once again in the Hunger Games. While rereading the first book, Katniss mentions a Game from when she was younger where a female Tribute dropped her token on the ground before the gong sounded. I found that part interesting and wanted to expand on the character.
Warning: Language
Summary: Katniss mentions a Game from when she was young where a female Tribute drops her token on the ground before the gong sounded. That was Camellia Galvan, a young girl from District Seven, whose life was normal. Until everything changed. This is her story.
Disclaimer: Technically I don't even know what I own here. I guess Camellia's name and family, though she is mentioned in the first book, though not by name. I guess I know the little details of Camellia and her family.
Reminder: Please review!
I awoke to the siren that blared just before sunrise. It signals for all the people in District 7 to wake up and prepare for a long day in the forest, cutting down and planting new trees for the Capitol. It also signals for children to get up for school.
"Camellia, make sure Grover is awake!" Mom calls from the kitchen.
I force myself out of bed. Grover is my thirteen year old brother who can sleep through anything. Both my other sisters, Holly age eighteen and Caroline age nine are already awake. I make my way to Grover's room in the dark. The trees that cover most of Seven also surround the houses, so only on the brightest days do we get any sun.
I open his door, but he is already awake, which surprises me. Grover has been known on more than one occasion to sleep through the siren, which is surprising because it rings throughout the entire district.
Grover and I look very similar, despite the fact we're brother and sister. We both have the same dark brown eyes with matching dark brown hair. Caroline looks like us as well. Holly, however, got our fathers 'from town' red tinted blonde hair. Strawberry blonde, he calls it.
But the fact that Grover is awake doesn't surprise me. I know he is worried about the Reaping that is going to take place a week from today. The Reaping is for an event known here in Panem as the Hunger Games, where to show they are still in control the Capitol takes two children known as Tributes from each of the twelve districts and places them in an arena and forces them to fight to the death. Because he is thirteen, the odds are in his favor. His name is only in the reaping twice, because Holly and I refuse to let him take out any tessera.
"Come on," I tell him. "We have to get ready for school." I don't want to talk about the Hunger Games. We still have one whole week until our escort, Shae Thacker, comes and takes two of us away to the Capitol. Now is not a time for worry, but of soaking up the time we might have left.
We move through the small cottage together and find mom and Holly in the kitchen. Holly is washing sheets and mom is hurrying to make what little breakfast she can before she and dad have to head into the forest to work. In District 7, all men and women over the age of 16 have to work either in the forest clearing and planting trees, or in the mills producing paper so we can send lumber and paper to the Capitol. Until the age of 16, children are required to go to school and learn about the work we will soon be required to do.
The sun begins to rise and mom and dad take off for work. They had to be there before sunrise ends or they can't work for the day. School didn't start for another hour, so I helped clean up the breakfast dishes.
There was a knock on the door. I grabbed the bag full of nuts and the two coins sitting by the door and was greeted by my friend Tara Ackerman. Tara only had her mother, along with her five brothers and sisters. Her father had been killed when Mill B had exploded due to faulty wiring. At least that was the official determination. There were rumors that some of the men were talking of a rebellion against the Capitol. A few days after we learned of the rumors, the mill caught fire, hit some of the chemicals and caused the building to explode.
Tara's mother, Erika, had a hard time feeding all of them. It was easy to starve to death in Seven. It was the second most common cause of death, though it was never listed on the official reports; the Capitol didn't want to hear about the problems the districts were having. Instead, the medical reports would read sickness, aging, or heart or brain complications. But never starvation.
Because of this, every night when there were only a few guards on duty, Tara snuck into the forest and hunted small birds with her slingshot. Weapons were illegal, but many of the kids had handmade slingshots because they would be called in to scale the high trees with small branches and get rid of nests, and a skilled kid with a slingshot could hit a tracker jacker hive from ten feet. Tara would then keep some of the birds to feed her family, and sell the rest to buy what they needed. Tara had been my friend since we were small, about six, so when she came to us and asked if we wanted to by birds or plants that she gathered, my parents took her up on her offer.
Tara was from the eastern side of Seven, so her eyes and hair were of a lighter color. Everyone from Seven, given the few with strawberry blonde hair, all looked the same. Unlike Grover, she had a reason to worry about the Reaping. I had my name in seventeen times, but Tara had her name in at least forty. The odds were not so in her favor.
She holds up a small bag without a word. I hand her the coins and the bag of nuts and she goes off without glancing back. She has to be quick because there are Peacekeepers all over town. I would have time to talk to her in school.
I help Caroline into her coat and she, Grover and I head to school. I drop Caroline off at her room, see Grover makes it to his and slid into my seat at my classroom. My other friend, Cherry Burrell, is already sitting in her seat. Cherry is actually from town, so she has strawberry blonde hair, like Holly. Her parents own the jewelry shop. They mostly make wedding bands, but the district Seven escort Shae Thacker and many of the Peacekeepers liked to special order items before each Reaping, so it helped to keep them in business.
Mrs. Overstreet is passing back our tests from last week when Tara slips into the room and slides to her seat on the other side of mine. I am grateful to see she hasn't been caught because hunting is illegal in Seven and is punishable by public execution. Just last year an older man was caught picking nuts off a fallen tree during work. Work and school got out early the next day and we were forced to watch as they put a bullet in his head.
"How were your weekends?" Cherry asks as Mrs. Overstreet walks by with a stack of tests
"The thunderstorm Saturday helped." Tara shrugs as Cherry's mouth drops open. While I understand Tara's predicament, Cherry does not.
"You could get caught!" she says in a harsh whisper just as Mrs. Overstreet places our tests face down on our desks.
"We'll starve. Either way, I'll die." Tara mouths back.
Not only are Tara and Cherry from different parts of Seven, but they are also polar opposites. Cherry has a deep desire to follow rules and please everyone while Tara looks out for her family and friends and can't bring herself to care about anyone else.
They are staring daggers at each other as I turn my test over and see a red 10 at the top. I smile as I slid my test away. I was smart, and I did well at school. I dreaded next year when I would be forced out of school. I wasn't naturally a strong person. I like learning too much to be happy chopping and planting trees for the rest of my life. Mom tells me that it won't matter, I'll get strong enough eventually, this was the one instance I wish I had been born in town, because then I could become a teacher. But since I wasn't, I would follow in my parents' footsteps like a good daughter.
Mrs. Overstreet begins class and the Arias boy comes in late. She gives him a stern look and he blushes as he hurries to take him seat. Tara follows him as he makes his way to his seat. I make eye contact with her and she raises her eyebrows quickly, twice, with a smirk. I bit my lip to keep from laughing and focus my attention to the teacher.
