Chapter One
I wake up. Crap. Reaping day. I groan and fumble into my clothes. I eat a small breakfast (trust me when I say small). I whistle to myself as I walk around town. I decide to talk to Blossom. Turns out, I didn't need to. She found me.
"Happy Hunger Games!" She imitates Uvania Lockry, our escort. "And may the odds-"
"-ever be in your favor!" I finish, laughing. I think of the slips with my name on them. I shake my head. The odds were NOT in my favor. I mean, I have a 7 person family, not counting myself! And I'm 16, so I have like 32 slips in there!
"How's Azalea?" Azalea was Blossom's sister who was really sick. Seriously, she can't sit up without throwing up.
"Worse." Blossom said sadly. We kept quiet for a second. I hear footsteps and turn around. A relieved smile graces my lips. It was Dylan. My best friend and crush.
"Hi Dylan." I smile. He smiles. His smile warmed me up. Is that strange?
"Hi Kari." Dylan waved. We go to the baker's. We saved up for a long time to buy a decent piece of bread. Of course, going into the woods illegally helped us earn more money and feed our family. We each bought a loaf of bread.
"Crap. Time to go home. See ya Kari and Dylan." Blossom waved and disappeared. Dylan turned to me.
"Guess you have to go too?"
"Yeah, don't you?" I replied.
"Guess so. Bye Kari." He walked out. I sighed, longingly. I loved Dylan. But I didn't have the guts to tell him. I trudged home.
"There you are!" My sister, Jazmin said. My other sister Ashlee and my brothers Bennett and Alec were all dressed up.
"Quickly!" My mother rushed me in and helped me dress into a nice dress. She made my hair and we ran into the town square. We signed in and took our places. Jazmin was 14, Ashlee was 12, Bennett was 13, and Alec was too young. I see Uvania Lockry in her bright blue wig with too much makeup and an outfit that was supposed to be "fashionable." Yeah right. It looked like fashion threw up on her. Basically, she looked really horrible and weird and Capitol-like. Which is an insult.
The mayor reads the speech that I zone out on. I mean, I hear it every year and have it memorized by heart. I'm not gonna listen to this again. He then introduces our victors. This year's mentors are Thalia Hariton and Garrett Rensky. Then, Uvania steps up.
"Happy Hunger Games!" She says in her annoying Capitol accent. "And may the odds ever be in your favor! Ladies first!" She picks a name from the girls' ball.
"Karina Lovsky."