Disclaimer: Not Suzanne Collins. Y'see, she can publish books. I on the other hand am just a kid of a certain age.
Okay… enjoy!
The top of my lip sweats. My palms itch. I'm staring at the twelve-year-old section. I'm actually staring at someone in the twelve-year-old section. Karma. This is her first reaping and I think I'm going to pass out. She on the other hand looks perfectly fine, but I'm in the thirteen-year-old section, so it's hard to tell.
She's looking at a group of girls who are whispering to each other in disgust. They're disgusted by her, but she shares the same look on her face. When they turn around, she points her finger into her mouth and pretends to gag.
Man, I love her.
"Ladies first!" Effie Trinket squeals and plunges her hand into the girl's sphere. I'm sweating buckets and mustering "Not Karma. Anyone but Karma." to myself. Well, let me tell you, the next words that come out of Effie's mouth almost make me laugh at the irony. Then I remember what this means.
"Karma Bentee! Karma!" Effie yells.
"What?" Karma says back, making it clear that she wasn't listening. "Who said my name?" she raises her well-used fist.
"Yoo-hoo!" Effie sings. "You've just been selected as the female tribute!"
"Oh. Well great!" she says sarcastically. "I just can't wait to die." I know she's trying to sound strong, but I hear her voice wavering slightly. She walks up to the stage, her hands on her stomach as if she's about to vomit. I think I might too.
"Let's give a round of applause everyone!" Effie squeals. All of District Twelve claps slowly, hesitating at first. Effie pouts. "Yes… now on to our male tribute!"
She dramatically plunges her hand into the ball and reads: "Augustine Powers!"
Oh. No. suddenly my mind goes back to two months ago. Back when Karma got into one of her many famous fights. Two sixteen year olds- one of the being Augustine- were picking on Karma, tugging her hair and spitting on her.
"Hey!" She'd yelled. "You'd better watch it unless you want be to rearrange both of your faces… actually, that might actually help you both get a date, so I'd be doing you two a favor."
"Oh, yeah?" the other one said cracking his knuckles, "Looks like this little girl is full of some hot-air."
"Let's knock some of it out, shall we?" Augustine said. His friend nodded and they got closer to Karma.
Well, by the time she was done with them, listing all their injuries would take a week. It's be easier to just say she broke their faces, escaping with just a small cut on her cheek. Her ring on her right hand helped her with that, and she hasn't taken it off since.
I snap back out of my flashback when I she Augustine walk onstage, still sporting two black eyes. The look on his face was unmistakable. You're first, it said. My mouth knew what to do before I did and before I knew it, I was flailing my arms around screaming "Wait! I volunteer!" I run to the stage and push Augustine off muttering "Get off." to him. When he falls on his face, he curses.
"My name is Casey! Casey Lankan!" I scream into the microphone.
"Wow." Effie says. "First Miss Katniss Everdeen and now you… Casey. District 12 really starting to understand these Games."
Karma is staring at me like I'm crazy, and I don't like it. After Effie acknowledges us one more time, the Peacekeepers take me to a room where my friends and family have one hour to say goodbye. First comes my friend, Edwin.
"Why did you do that?" He yells. "Do you just want to die? Is that what you want? 'Cause I swear I can kill you right now!"
"Calm down. That guy, Augustine, he was going to kill Karma." I say.
"So? She'll have to die for you to live, man." He says. "And, besides, why do you care?"
She'll have to die for me to live. The thought dawns on me and I suddenly I hate myself. "Get out, Edwin." I say, putting my face in my hands as I hear him walk out of the room. None of my family comes, but I didn't expect them. None of them like me. I was the unwanted child. For the next fifty eight minutes that I have alone, I do what I know I can't for my short- because I know it will be short- life. I cry.
I'm able to choke up the rest of my tears before the Peacekeepers take me to the train. I look around for Karma and find her struggling with another pair of Peacekeepers. They are trying to hold each of her arms, but she's twisting and yelling, "Don't touch me!" and I hear her mutter "Idiots." under her breath,
I see Katniss and Peeta- our mentors- board the train, hand-in-hand.
When the Peacekeepers show me my room on the train, I shut myself in, playing the events of they day over and over again. It feels like I've only been in here for a few minutes, but I must've been here for hours because Effie knock on my door and sings, "Dinnertime!"
Unwillingly, I leave my room and follow her to the dining room. Before I open the doors, I smell food that's unfamiliar to me. The smell is unbelievably sweet, so I push open the doors and scramble to the first open chair that I see. I look around the table amazed- there isn't this much food in the world!
Then, Karma walks in, wearing an old T-shirt and sweatpants that are twice her size. She must have convinced the Peacekeepers to let her bring some clothes from home, which is almost impossible. Anyway, she stops in her tracks, her mouth hanging open.
"Yes!" She yells. "This is enough food to feed the whole district!" She takes a running start and jumps five feet in the air, landing perfectly on a chair. Katniss and Peeta smile. Everyone is looking at Karma. Everyone obviously loves Karma's attitude- everyone but Effie, who has a thing for table manners apparently.
Karma sits down and helps herself to a part of some circle food with cheese and crust on the outer edge. She takes a huge bite and moans in delight. "What is this?" she asks to nobody in particular.
"Pizza." Katniss tells her.
"Oh. I like it." she whispers in a weird voice. Then she starts laughing to herself.
"So," Peeta says, "We'll be starting training tomorrow, so we were wondering who you wanted for a mentor."
"Actually," Katniss says, "Maybe you can take K-"
"Casey? Okay." Peeta says. He has an exited tone in his voice that I can't help but notice.
"Well I was going to say Karma, but okay." Katniss says. "So what are your guys' specialties?"
Karma shrugs and says, "I don't know."
"What?" I say, before I can stop myself. "That's insane. You can punch someone across a field, you know every single pressure point on a human body, you're the best wrestler in the twelve, thirteen, and fourteen year-old age group, and you always make it a habit to stab things with any sharp object you find. Not to mention that you also turned Augustine into a human… this:" I point to some bread that's tangled and crossed in weird directions.
"That's called a pretzel" Peeta says. I look up and see him laughing silently to himself and know I said too much. I panic and look over to Karma. She's looking at me in a twisted, creeped out look.
"You wrestle?" Katniss asks, oblivious to what just happened, "So does Peeta! Could you show us a few moves?"
"Well, actually," Peeta says, "It's about 7:30. Let's have thirty minutes to talk to the… tributes in their rooms." Without getting my "OK," Peeta grabs my wrist, walks to me my room and opens the door, still smiling. We walk in and he shuts the door behind him.
"I'm going to ask you the same thing that Haymitch asked me two years ago." He says. "How long have you liked her?"
"Wh- what? Who? You mean Karma? I don't like her! Pfft!" I say. The only problem is, I'm a terrible liar.
"How long?" He prods, grinning. I sigh, already defeated.
"Just three years." I say blushing like a tomato. "How did you find out anyways?" I ask.
"I'd know that look anywhere. It's been plastered to my face for the past fourteen years." he says. Oh yeah, Katniss. "What are you going to do?" he asks.
Suddenly, I know exactly what I want. "We're going to be the last ones standing. Then, she's going to win. I don't know how, but she is." I say.
"You sure?" He asks.
"Of course I'm sure. I wouldn't make a plan to die unless it was for someone who I care about."
"Okay, then let's go. If she's going to win, then you're going to have to now each other pretty well." He grabs my wrist- again- and pulls me to Karma's room. He opens the door and pulls me inside.
"Katniss, Love," He says, "Come outside, I need to tell you something."
"Uh, okay." She says. Peeta winks at me and gives me the thumbs-up sign before closing the door and leaving us alone. I'll get him. I turn around slowly, facing Karma.
"Hey," I say awkwardly so that it comes out like "Heyyyyy…" I cough. "Peeta thinks we should- uh- get to know each other before the Games."
"Okay," she says, hesitantly, "Sit down." She pats a spot on her bed and I sit there, crossing my legs. She does the same.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" She asks.
"Uh.. Who's in your family?" I say, "Like siblings or parents or… something."
"Well, I have a dad, a mom, two older brothers, and six younger brothers. Oh! And my mom hates me." She says.
"Why?" I ask.
"She thinks I should act like a 'girl'. You see, her definition of a girl is somebody who gossips and giggles and wears skirts and doesn't spit for distance. But do you know what? My personality doesn't say weather I am a girl or not, they way I was born does." She says, anger rising in her voice. "She thought that if I acted like a 'boy' then I had to look like one; she cut my hair while I was asleep."
I look behind her head and sure enough, it was shorter than most girls' hair in District 12. Most girls in District 12 never cut their hair, but Karma's was right above her shoulders. I always thought she did that herself, but I'm kind of happy knowing that she didn't.
"Oh… I'm sorry for bringing it up. Uh so how's life in the Town? Being from the Seam, I wonder constantly." I admit.
"It's horrible. We're the poorest family, and technically, we're not even supposed to like in the Town because of how little money we have. Everyone in my house wants to go to the Seam, but my mother insists that the Town will improve our 'image' or something. Ugh"
"Wow, she seems like quite the parent." I say, sarcastically. "So if she's so bad, how did you end up like you did?" I ask.
"Nine boys in the house. She was outnumbered. And nobody in my house even likes her." she says.
"Not even your dad? Doesn't he love her?" I ask.
"Don't tell me you believe in that fairy-tale junk too!" she yells.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Love doesn't exist. It's just something people say, a myth." She says.
Then, my heart feels like glass that's about to shatter. Any chance I had with her was completely ruined.
Because if the one you love doesn't believe in love… how are they supposed to love you back?