Chapter 1: The Day Before

Hi! So, I'm Hannah, and this is my first fanfiction. I really hope that you like it! Reviews are very much welcomed!

Lauren's POV

I woke up so early that it should have been illegal, jolted from my beautiful dream world into the awful reality of District 7.

Ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating. District 7 isn't all that bad, at least, not compared to what I've heard about some of the other districts.

I quickly dressed and tiptoed past my sleeping parents. Work would start for them soon enough, and when you worked as hard as we did, you needed all the rest you could get.

I walked towards the school in the weak morning light, arriving just as the gong called all those over 18 to work. Joining the stream of tired students, I quickly made my way to my first class and sat down at a desk near the back.

School passed quickly enough. It was easy to do well, once you mastered the trick of giving teachers what they wanted. It also helped that none of my friends had the same classes, making me far less distracted. Once the final gong tolled, I once again merged with the river of people making their way to the forest. It didn't take long for my friends to find me.

"LAUREN!" Jim yelled, running over and scooping me up. He placed me on his shoulders, our agreed-upon signal for where our small group would meet. Since I was short and small, and therefore easy to carry, and he was practically a giant, and strong too, it was easy for the others to spot us. From my vantage point atop his shoulders, I could see the rest of our friends making their way through the crowd towards us.

"Jim! Lauren!" called Julia, the first to emerge.

"Hi Jules!" I responded, grinning down at my best friend. I opened my mouth to ask how her day had been, but we were interrupted by a group of boys bursting in on us.

"DARREN HAS ARRIVED!" yelled Darren.

"What about us?" asked Walker.

"Oh yeah. The Joe's are here too."

"I object to that." said Moses, giving Darren a small shove.

"And I'm not even called Joe!" added Joey indignantly.

"And what about me?" asked Brian.

"You don't count." I shot at him.

"At least I don't need a step stool to help me get onto my chair."

"At least children don't run away when they see me."

"That's because they think that you're one of them"

"Children, children, settle down!" Jim boomed.

"She started it!"

"And I'm finishing it." Julia cut in. Brian and I stuck our tongues out at each other, but stopped verbally attacking.

By the time we reached the checkpoint, our entire group was assembled. We formed a ragged line and presented our identification cards to the bored Peacekeeper.

When it was my turn, I stepped up and handed him the card. He looked it over and then consulted the sheet he held in his other hand.

"You're in Area 18 today, in the-"

"Yeah, I know. In the Watch Tree."

"Fine. Here are your bow and arrows. Next, please."

I sighed, grabbing the weapons, and started off down the path through the trees that would take me to Area 18.

"Hey Lopez, wait up."

I spun around and groaned.

"Please don't tell me that you're at Area 18 too?"

Brian grinned evilly. "Yup."

The rest of the way there I ignored Brian's friendly taunts, knowing that that irritated him the most. When we finally reached our destination, I set off for the Watch Tree with a quick "Bye.". I found it, the one tree with a green marking instead of the usual yellow, and quickly began to climb.

I was always assigned to the Watch Tree because of my size. Though I could use an ax proficiently, it was so huge to me that I tired quickly, so they stuck me up in a tree with a bow and arrow to spot and get rid of potential threats to the workers. Once at the top, I found a comfortable enough branch and settled down. To pass the time, I threw pine cones at Brian. With the addition of the new, fresh workers, more trees fell and soon the air was rich with the heady scent of pine.

Every once in a while I would spy a wildcat or wolf prowling along the edges of the Area. In those instances I would send an arrow speeding into the wild animal, and the workers would take it to the supervising Peacekeeper, who would bring it to the butcher, and it would eventually end up as part of our meager rations. Other than these few times, I really had nothing to do but sit on the tree and watch the workers scurry around below me.

I saw Brian, face serious, muscles straining as he swung his ax into a tree trunk. Brian had nice muscles. He was actually quite handsome.

Wait, what? No, no no no no no. This was Brian. Brian. My friend. That I love/hate. That's it.

But that nagging little voice in my head wouldn't go away for the rest of the day.

Brian's POV

The gong sounded, and we straightened up, wiping sweat from our brows with the hems of our shirts. From the corner of my eye I saw Lauren scurrying down from her tree, bow and arrow slung over her shoulder.

I had long ago realized how beautiful and generally perfect she was. Now the only problem was convincing myself that I didn't love her. Which I didn't.

"Hey, ready to go to the meeting?" her voice startled me out of my reverie.

"Sure. Let's go." I responded, and we walked back to the checkpoint, handing our tools to the Peacekeeper.

We made our way to the hill just next to the woods. On the crest of the hill sat a tree. A tree that, at the moment, was surrounded by our friends. Lauren and I merged with the group.

After everyone arrived, we formed a circle and sat down.

"Ok, guys. Tomorrow is going to be a bad day." Julia started.

"The Reaping." Dylan added softly.

"Yes." Julia continued. "And I know it's going to be horrible. We all do. But we have to stay strong and stay together. Don't give the Capitol the satisfaction of scaring us. Whoever gets drawn out of that ball will be drawn, no matter how much we panic. Just hope that it isn't one of us. If it is, remember: There is absolutely no volunteering. We all swore that we wouldn't volunteer years ago. Honor that promise. Now go home, we have a long day ahead of us."

You could always count on Julia for a good, inspiring speech.

We split up with muttered goodbyes, subdued by the thought of what we faced tomorrow.

I walked back to my cabin near the edge of the woods, sorting my thoughts. I had already decided that I couldn't think about who would be chosen. I couldn't handle that kind of speculation. Instead I thought about Lauren. Her smirk as she insulted me, her graceful figure as she drew that bow. Her, sitting under the tree next to Julia, her face stoic and beautiful. But I didn't love her. Of course not.

The last thing I thought before I fell asleep was how perfectly her hand would fit into mine.