I was walking to school the day my life changed. I had a test that day, and I had to keep going over the information I'd learnt the night before.

Bagels are savoury, doughnuts are sweet, I thought, over and over again. I live in the district of Panem responsible for grain and bread-making, but I still got confused between bagels and doughnuts.

My mother is a bitch. She says if I don't work harder, I will never get a good job. I think I will just move to the Capitol and marry a rich man, but she says no rich man in the Capitol would ever marry some bread-girl from District 9. We are sort of a laughing stock in Panem, because we are one of the few districts with an obesity crisis. I know they are starving in some districts, but we have so much bread and cake here, it's difficult not to eat and eat.

I was a bit resentful about even heading to school, because it was the day they would call out the tributes for the Hunger Games, and I know in other districts all the kids get the day off. It was not fair. I wanted the day off. We only got a half-day, and even though it is always great, I wanted more. I hate school, and I had made plans to go joyriding with my best friend Sonya, who had just gotten a car for her sixteenth birthday. The day they pull out the names of the tributes is always a great day, because I love half-days. I know my name might be pulled out and all, but what are the chances, seriously?

As you may have guessed, they were actually very good.

When I got to school, I saw my boyfriend, Tokyo. I am in love with Tokyo, I swear to God, he is the best looking man you've ever bleeding seen. I would just do him all day long, but the teachers would give out to me if I did.

"Hey Tokyo," I said.

"Hey Yustina," he said, and we started kissing each other.

Then I heard my teacher's stupid voice, moaning at me. "Stop that behaviour right now!" she said. "You have a test in three minutes! And if you fail it, you have no hope of ever making it in District 9!"

I rolled my eyes and stopped kissing Tokyo. "I'm COMING," I said, being really cheeky.

My teacher is basically a nun, she's also a big moanbag and a slut. Also, by the way, Tokyo is not Japanese, he is Chuvash like me and everyone else in District 9.

"Get into the classroom now," said my teacher, and I went in. I took out my pencil and my crayons and my teacher began handing out the tests.

When I got mine, I almost cried. I knew nothing.

What the fucking hell was cesnica? And puri? And brown bread?

I looked around the class. Everyone else was writing, really, really fast. They obviously knew what this stuff was.

I looked down at the paper again, and I laughed. There was this bread called pumpernickel on the page, and it was very funny, because it sounds like it should be a bit rude, like it's really another word for a willy, and not a bread. I remembered everything about it though, which was lucky. I remembered it because I'd laughed when I heard the name in class too. It's a leavened bread, from Eastern and Central Europe.

Everyone stared at me, and I saw my teacher was very angry. "Yustina! Go home now! I will not have you disturbing the rest of the class! You have failed your test!"

"God, I was just laughing," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Don't be so rude!" snapped my teacher.

"Don't be so stupid," I said, standing up. "You're disrupting the class more than I did, bitch."

I started to walk out of the class, and then she shouted, "I hope your name gets called out for the Hunger Games later on."

A cold chill went down my spine, and I turned to stare at her. Our eyes met for like, ten minutes or something, and then I left, to go get ready to go out with my friends.