A/N: While re-reading this, I realized that Lilly sounds a hell of a lot like Prim. But, she's not. Lilly is bitter and she is nothing like Prim's happy character! i didn't even mean to give them both flower names, I just like the name Lilly. Sorry if this bothers you, it was an accident!

I do not own the Hunger Games! I do own Isaac, Isabelle, Lilly, Sammy, Zoe, William and the other children. I also own the plot.

I woke up, and waited for my brother to wake up in the bed across from mine. Every morning, for as long as I could remember, I woke up first, and then a minute or two later, Isaac would wake. This morning, it was no different. But, this was a morning like no other. It was the reaping. We woke up at 3 in the morning to talk, so that our little sisters and brothers wouldn't hear us.

"Isabelle?" He whispered into the darkness.

"Here. Let's go."

I slid out of bed and onto the hard wooden floor. Beside me, Isaac was doing the same thing. Together, we crept downstairs and out into the warm, peach colored early morning. We sat in the grass, outside of the shack we called a house, where we lived, Isaac and I, my dad and eleven brothers and sisters.

Carefully, Isaac and I counted up the number of times each of our siblings were in the Reaping. Six out of the twelve of us are in the Reaping, and Isaac and I made sure most of them didn't have to take out tesserae.

"Okay," I whispered, "I'm in…let's see… I'm taking tesserae out for all of us, that's 14 people… I'm in…90 times." My voice broke. "Ninety times." Isaac hugged me and continued our count. "For the girls… okay, Zoe's in… she only took out tesserae out for three people… right?"

I nodded. The tesserae food wasn't nearly enough to survive on. To get an amount of food to actually feed someone, they needed to have at least three servings. And that wasn't even a cup of grain. I've heard that tesserae in other districts was better, but for now, we're all stuck in Eleven, where you starve to death surrounded by orchards and farms.

Quickly, we finished counting each of our siblings' name slips. Zoe had 20, Lilly had only 2. Isaac had 90 like me, and William had 16, and Sammy had his name in only once. Only us older kids, Isaac, me, Zoe and William took out tesserae, and then only Isaac and I took out the full amount.

We both knew that even if Zoe, or William, Lilly or Sammy were called, we'd take their place. So, in reality, if any of 112 slips were pulled, I would be going and if any of 108 slips were pulled, it would be Isaac.

The odds were definitely not in our favor. I knew that there was a very, very high chance that either Isaac or I would be going in.

Behind us, a door creaked. Lilly and Sammy were standing on the porch.

"Lilly!" I exclaimed. "Sammy! It's three AM! What are you two doing up?"

Lilly gave me a look. Although she was only thirteen, her eyes made her look older, they gave her a tired look that one usually only sees on adults. It made me sad looking at her. She was made to grow up much too fast last year, after Mom died.

"Isa, you can't volunteer for us." She whispered. "You can't."

I looked at Isaac, who simply shrugged and studied Lilly and Sammy on the porch.

"Lilly, we have to. We can't let any of you die. We can't."

Sammy started to cry, and sobbed, "But-but-but what if you d-die?"

Isaac stopped looking at them and glanced over at me. It was my turn to shrug. In a calm voice, he answered Sammy. "If we die, Zoe and William will look after you. They're old enough."

Lilly's face hardened and she stalked back into the house. I thought she was mad, but realized I was wrong when I heard childish whimpering noises to coming from the house. Standing up, I took Sammy's hand. "C'mon Sammy. It's too early for you to be awake. You go to bed and when you wake up, we can make pancakes for breakfast, okay?" He nodded and quickly walked back inside. Isaac followed him, motioning for me to comfort Lilly.

"Lil? You there?" I whispered into a dim corner.

"No."

"Lil, we won't get reaped. Promise."

"You can't promise something like that. Are you the Capitol?" She asked, her voice full of spite.

Where did my innocent little Lilly go? I wondered. Sometime, when I wasn't watching, the little girl with blonde curls had changed into this tired, bitter girl.

"Okay, Lil, I can't promise that I won't be reaped, but, if I do, I promise that I'll try as hard as I can to win."

"Isaac too?" She queried.

"Yes, Isaac too. Now, let's go to sleep, okay?

" 'kay." She whispered, and trailed me up the stairs to the bedroom all us kids shared.