As I made my way to the stage, the look on Lavender Dillywood's face was pure excitement. She was district 1's escort, and anyone who knew my family would understand her excitement. A member of my family has been in the games consecutively for the last 5 years. We were even before that, but ever since the 50th quarter quell when my oldest sister whom I never met lost to Haymitch Abernathy. Which was a huge surprise, since he was from District 12; one of the poorer districts, and had absolutely no chance of winning. Well he beat the odds for sure, but now I have a dead sister I never met. My family decided to mourn her death and call it quits for a couple years. It took 9 years for the mercer family to get back in the games. So far they have all won, and now it's my turn. I am actually glad I was picked, I was going to volunteer anyone, the whole family has talked about it, I am ready, and have a better chance this year then my twin brother does. He needs more time to train. Which is surprising, since he's a guy and all.
"Isn't it just terrific, another Mercer!" Lavender yells into her microphone, her voice is just aggravating, and very unpleasant. Knowing I will be stuck with her for the next few weeks is what scares me the most not the games.
"Well I very sure everyone knows you are darling, but please say your name either way" Lavender says. She has such an odd way of speaking, her grammar is terrible, and at times she makes very little since.
"Cashmere Mercer" I say, loudly and proudly. I look up at the crowd and try to find Gloss, he is in the section where they keep all the 13-16 year old boys. We are both 14, but we turn 15 on may 19, in exactly 10 days. I will be in the arena on my 15th birthday.
I finally find my Gloss he is staring at me, I can see it in his eyes, he's scared for me. Even if he knew this was going to happen either way "I'm a mercer, I'll be okay." I mouthed to him. "I know" he mouthed back. Gloss is my twin brother, he's my built in best friend, he's my life, and he's all I have had since our mother died. Sure I have other siblings but ever since she died I've only noticed Gloss. My Gloss. As I start to come back from my thoughts, I realize Lavender has wasted little time.
"Boy time for the tribute" she shouts. Gosh her grammar is already annoying me. She picks the name out of the huge bowl and steps to the microphone. Please don't be Gloss, please don't be Gloss, please please please. That wasn't in the plan, and It wasn't. A little boy around 12 makes his way up to the stage. He looks little and scared beyond belief. As he walks up he starts sucking on his thumb and staring at the ground. I soon realize that his name is Orville Diamond, his name is so unique but not common for district 1, usually it would be the other way around. I start to drift off, thinking of all the crazy names of all my siblings, most of them were a bit off the wall, but others not so much. There was Scarlet, Opal, Dean, Hollis, Cyprus, Lennox, and of course Gloss and I. Okay guess we all have pretty odd- All of a sudden I'm stopped mid thought, to two words. "I volunteer". Those words frighten me more than I thought they would, only because I'm afraid that those words are coming for Gloss. Even apart of me knows it isn't him, he cares for me as much as I care for him, he would never do that do both of us. I scan the crowd, and there he is standing with the other boys, scared out of his mind. of course, even if he has nothing to worry about, he has always been the worrying type. I have always been the tough one out of the two of us. I was also the older one. This means, 1. I have major bragging rights, and 2. I'm the boss.
I scan the crowd again look for the volunteer, and there he was making his way to the stage. As I see him my mouth almost drops. It's Dixon Fanly, the son of a victor who won the games around the time of my father's games, maybe even consecutively. He was a tall young man around 6'0, he was strong, and quite attractive. As I began to think of his looks, and his family and how nice the guy really is for volunteering for a young little boy, I become very terrified. What if I don't win, this guy has it all. "Get your act together Cash" I think to myself. "You are Cashmere Mercer, the brutal beauty, you will win" and from there I stand straight and look forward. When it is time to shake Dixons hand, I turn to him and give him a very stern look. He looks at me like I'm crazy, I just roll my eyes. "I'm in it to win it" I mouth to him, he mouths back "I know." What? I say in my mind if he knew why the heck did he volunteer, does he not get he is now my biggest competition?! I become frustrated with the whole situation and almost storm off into the building behind us when Lavender grabs are hands, holds them up in the air, and right as she is about to speak the mayor grabs the microphone and says "I present to you the District 1 tributes of the 64th hunger games!" he says proudly. He must be tired of her grammatical errors as well. As we walk in, and they start leading us into the rooms where we meet our family, I start to give myself a pep talk quietly. "You are Cashmere Mercer, you are brutal, you are beautiful, and you will be the winner of the 64th Hunger Games." As I start to walk up the stairs I hear something behind me. "yes your Cashmere Mercer, yes your Brutal, yes your Beautiful, and I promise you that I will give all that I have to make sure you win the 64th hunger games" at first I thought it was Dean, my older brother and also one of my mentor, but his voice was never that assuring. I turn around and standing right behind me with a huge grin on his face is Dixon Fanly, the other District 1 tribute.