Chapter one – the morning.

"Skyler! Breakfast!" I heard my brother shout.

I lazily turned over and sat up, I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked around my room. I stood up, changed out of my pyjamas and put my hair in the pony tail I normally put it in. I glanced outside my window. It looked about 10am and reasonably sunny…10AM! I was late! I quickly changed out of the clothes I'd put on and put my school uniform on. I was about to run downstairs when I remembered what today was.

Oh no.

I stopped mid-step, fear having taken over me.

Reaping day.

That was why Mason had called me so late. I walked backwards into my room and took a few deep breaths. I then started shaking. I hated reaping day, especially this year.

This year I had turned 15, which meant I was more likely to be picked. Last year my sister was chosen and she died in the games, but in the arena…she wasn't exactly quiet about her hatred towards the Capitol. She was quite outspoken about it, always shouting and talking about how stupid the games were, how much she hated the Capitol, what she would do and say if she was victor. Then of course, because of this, she was killed by a falling tree. Although she was out of the picture, her family weren't...which meant the Capitol now hated our family, which consequently meant we were targets …so…no, the odds were not in my favour this year.

My brother, Mason, was 18. He was exempt from the reaping this year due his building job, a few kids were selected each year to build a new victors house in district 7, and because it needed to be finished by the end of the games, they were exempt from the reaping. These kids were the best, high-scoring and most physically fit in district 7. The Capitol made them do it for free so it wasn't that much of a privilege, it was just a different way for the Capitol to subtly punish children by slave labour. I still felt jealous that he wasn't in the reaping though.

I forced myself to get changed into my best clothes. A white button up top and black trousers with black shoes. I tucked my shirt in and then, finally, went downstairs.

I found Mason in the kitchen with mum and dad. No one was talking. I imagined they were too worried about me to talk. I sat down next to my brother and he gave me a sympathetic look. He passed me a plate with eggs on it and I ate it all in a matter of minutes.

The reaping was at 11:30am. I had about an hour and a half to kill, to spend worrying. I possibly only had an hour and a half left in this house. I hated that thought. I hated being here knowing it was my last time. So I went out. I went to the mirror in the hallway and checked my reflection. Brown/gingery hair, green eyes, pale skin, about 5ft 5 and reasonably skinny. No, the odds were not in my favour. I was small for my age, and I wasn't strong. I wouldn't last two seconds in those games.

I opened the door and left. I just walked. I didn't want to talk, I didn't want to laugh, I wanted to be alone. After about 10 minutes of walking and worrying I stopped at a tree and sat under it. I sighed and leant my head back, closing my eyes.

"Hey" a voice called from above.

"Whoa!" I said jumping up.

My close friend, a lad called Jamie Smith, jumped down and put his hands up in surrender.

"Sorry…didn't mean to scare you" he said gently.

I shook my head "it's ok…but…why were you up in a tree?" I asked.

"Why else? It's reaping day, I didn't want to bring my family down, so I came out here to be as miserable as I wanted" he said, lightly, it was odd to hear him joke and be depressed at the same time.

Jamie was about 5ft 8; he had jet black short hair that he wore messy and brown eyes.

I nodded in answer to what he said.

"You?" he asked.

"I didn't want to be in a house I may never see again" I told him truthfully.

He sat down under the tree and motioned for me to do the same.

Jamie and I started off as normal distant friends. We sat together at lunch a few times when our other friends weren't there and chatted occasionally in shared classes. However our friendship began to change when I started getting bullied. There were three girls who bullied me and had caused me to go home crying more than I care to admit, either physically or emotionally hurting me. One day I was being picked on by them about my appearances in the cafeteria and it was getting way out of hand. Just when it was becoming really bad, just when one of the girls was about to slap me, just as I was about to cry, Jamie stood up next to me and said:

"Leave her alone, stop being so pathetic and pass the time without being a disgrace to humanity"

He then took my hand, picked up my tray of food and walked out of the hall. We went to a secluded corridor, sat down against the wall and he passed me the tray. We spent the whole afternoon skipping classes, talking lightly about the upcoming games and anything that came to mind. He walked me home and then after I thanked him profusely for what he did today, he hugged me and left. We became much closer then.

"So, odds in your favour?" he asked.

"Nope…my sister…" I said trailing off.

"Huh, guess they're not then" he said sadly and remembering last year.

"You?" I asked.

"No, I had to put my name in for the tesserae…they're not in my favour either" he admitted.

"Oh" I said, it was normal for people to put their name in for the tesserae in our district, it's just my family didn't because my parents were managers of the factories in town.

We remained silent for a while, just liking the calm company and the quietness of what was probably our last hour.

"Well…let's hope neither of us gets picked ey" he said later standing up and lending a hand out to me.

I took it and he pulled me up.

"Yeah, let's hope" I said.

We walked to the justice building together in silence, just before we were about to depart ways he turned to me and hugged me.

"Good luck" he said meaningfully.

I hugged him back.

"You too" I said in the same tone.

We departed ways and I went to sign in. They pricked my finger and I stood with the rest of my age group.

We didn't have to wait long for Payton Hunt to appear on stage. He smiled and tapped the microphone.

"Welcome everyone to the reaping of the 46th Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favour! Let's begin" he said, clearly wanting to get straight to the point.

I looked over to Jamie, he nodded and smiled sadly at me, I did the same back before turning my attention to the front.

After the Capitol video was shown, Payton turned to us and said clearly: "Girls" before digging his hand in the bowl.

I then noticed someone stood next to me and nudged me. I looked left to find my best friend Cameron Thorne. She had been through everything with me, I mean everything, we had been best friends for about 9 years. She knew all about my sister and the bullying, she even knew about Jamie (and had a few theories as for why stood up for me, not that I agreed with them). She knew everything about me, and I knew everything about her. We were best friends.

"Good luck" she whispered.

"You too" I whispered back, she smiled sadly before turning back to the front.

Payton rustled around for a while before pulling a single slip out. He walked over to the microphone and clearly read out:

"Skyler Jones" and looked out to the crowd.

My stomach jumped. I knew the odds weren't in my favour but I didn't think I'd actually get picked. The people parted out of the way for me and before my brain registered what I was doing, I was walking up to the stage. I climbed the steps shakily and went to stand by Payton. This could not be happening, this was no simple drawing, this was rigged. It can't have been chance that the sister of the girl who spoke so badly about the capitol was picked today. I bet only my name was in that bowl. It was certain I was going to be picked out today, it was pre-destined by our friends in the Capitol.

"Now for the boys" he said, not wasting time.

He dug around and picked out a name.

"Adrian Adams" he read out.

He was in the year above and he looked just as scared as I did. He made his way up to the stage and stood there shaking. Adrian had blonde hair, brown eyes and was much taller than I was.

"Well, shake hands" he said shortly.

I turned to Adrian; we mirrored each other's scared expressions. We shook hands and then turned back to Payton.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, our tributes for the 46th annual hunger games! Skyler Jones and Adrian Adams" Payton beamed out.

People clapped solemnly, no one was happy about this. They never were. But I had been picked, and I wasn't going to make it out alive.