"Cordelia!" Finnick called after you. You smiled as the best looking boy in all of District 4 jogged up to you.
"Hi Finnick" You said once he was close enough. "How are you?" He asked,
"Good, and you?" You asked "Pretty good I'm just back from the Capitol." Finnick said you smiled unsure of what to say to this gorgeous creature making small talk with you. "Listen I was wondering if maybe you still had some of those stinger shark teeth."Finnick asked,
did he want a souvenir from you? Don't be stupid he never showed any romantic interest in you. You had become something of a local celebrity after killing a sting shark when your family's boat capsized. Sting sharks were Capital mutts that were sharks with sting ray tails. They were put in as a precaution so people of District 4 would not escape by swimming away.
"Of course I do, would you liked one?" You asked proudly.
"Actually I was wondering if you could make a necklace for the female tribute this year. You know something special; you of all people could inspire a young woman to be brave." Finnick said warmly.
"Sure, I could do that are you making something for the male tribute?" You asked
"Oh yeah I was thinking about it, maybe a knot bracelet." Finnick said "Great idea!" You said way too enthusiastically. "Thanks, well I was actually on my way to see Annie, but thank you so much!" Finnick said
"Sure thing" You said feebly as he ran towards Victor's Village. It must be nice to live in those houses. Finnick never treated you like a close friend or even a little sister or anything. He was a just a friendly local celebrity and basically a rock star in the Capital and you were just a minor town celebrity.
You went into your small little beach house and started stringing stinger shark teeth together. It was a tedious task to get your mind off the reaping tomorrow morning. You held up your necklace when you were done and examined it. A lot of sharp teeth strung tightly together, it was certainly a fashion statement.
You crawled into bed and thought about who might get reaped this year. Hopefully no one you knew. Of course, the Hunger Games are something you would wish onto no enemy. You drifted off imaging different town people getting reaped and how they would react, it wasn't very pleasant and your dreams were restless.
The morning of the reaping came. You put on a navy tank dress with short sleeves and a loose skirt with a low back and modest front. Reaping Day was no time to look flirtatious, you thought as you tossed aside some other dresses.
You put the necklace into the pocket of your dress; you would visit the tribute and offer it to her as her token after the reaping.
You breathed a sigh of relief you were 18, this was your very last reaping. Your luck had gotten you through all these years, just one more time and you were free. After this you would not have to worry.
Maybe you could get out of here and get a job at that Capital Resort that you worked at in the summers. You taught magenta colored people how to breast stroke and synchronize swim and surf. Frankly, nothing really helpful likes butterfly of freestyle stroke or how to fish. All you taught was just frivolous fun.
You walked into the square and waited in the back with the rest of the older girls. You walked up to your friend Galia, you two weakly smiled. The square was quiet; no one was in the mood to talk. A tall violet skinned eerily skinny woman walked on stage.
"Welcome everyone! I hope you are all happy to start the 74th Hunger Games!" She announced every word she said seemed to pain her and by the end of the sentence she looked woozy but she continued on with the typical Capital propaganda.
'Why are we dying for a war we had nothing to do with?' thought, this is insane. All you could focus on was her flat and angular body. In addition to having no stomach her bust and behind were almost totally flat, you wondered if she had surgery to make her skinny and they sucked too much out. Did that sort of thing happen? Maybe she was just born skinny.
"Cordelia Meade!" Your ears perked up suddenly the skinny lady was calling your named to come onto stage, you looked up at the screen. Your face was on it. All you could hear was the sound of your heart beat thumping in your ear, after your name was called instinctively almost mechanically you walked on stage, you felt suddenly so conscious of the hand me down white flat sandals you were wearing. How juvenile they must have looked. You stood on stage, your long tight curly brown hair brushing against the back of your dress as you marched up. You could only imagine how you must have looked, like a deer in headlights. Luckily your face betrayed your emotions and you had a stoic expression.
You kept a steady expression on your face. "Edward Teach!" You heard the woman called out; a small boy walked on stage unlike you he looked horrified you walked over and shook his hand.
Before you knew it you were rushed out into a back room. You reached in your pocket, and put on your necklace. 'Might as well' you thought and reminded to chuckle about the irony of making your own token if you ever got out of this.
Galia and Marina and Gil your three best friends walked in Galia sat next to you and held your hand Marina walked up to you and smiled reassuringly "Hey you killed a stinger shark, these other tributes, they don't have stingers and teeth, you will be back before you know it." Gil said in a determined voice "Delia, you're not going to die you are going to come back. We all know how tough you are. You were the strongest swimmer and fisher we love you so much. We're going to miss you." Marina reassured, Galia looked at your necklace,
"Is that your token?" She asked, you nodded, she grinned "Be sure to tell everyone how you got that, sponsors will line up out the door to sponsor you." She said with a smirk "Thank you mentor Marina. You are such a pro." You said, she grinned a peace keeper came in, that was quick. "Take care of yourself and be courageous! We are all rooting for you!" Galia yelled as they were pushed out the door.
Nobody else would come, your parents died a few months back in when your boat went under. The same storm that made you lost at sea for 2 days and forced you to kill a stinger shark. Death at sea is a common fate in District 4. No one denied it was tragic, but it was a part of life here.
You walked onto the train and were sitting across from Finnick and Hook, who won the 59th game. Hook, Annie, and Mags usually took turns mentoring and Finnick was usually there every year helping however he could since he was the best at rounding up sponsors.
Hook had won in a tropical rainforest arena by tangling his enemies up in nets and strangling them with rope. He also used a machete. It was similar to Finnick but he lacked the 'visual' appeal. He had wide brown eyes an clock shadow on his face.
You all watched your reaping and a few others, damn that boy in district 1 was cute. Your reaping surprised you, the look on your face was hard and determined and a few times you were staring into the camera, like you were staring everybody down.
"Cordelia, nicely done with the game face!" Hook said putting his hand on your shoulder. You looked down, that was your look in the face of death.
