I do not own Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins does, and I would really like to steal it from her. Bring out the throwing knives….POW?

Chapter 2- Katniss's POV

"I volunteer!" I yelled. I ran up to the stage, and Prim was crying.

"No, Katniss, no! Don't do it!" she clung to my arm, and Gale ran up to the stage to pull her off of me. She screamed the whole way back to my mother, trying to kick her way out of Gale's arms. It killed me to watch her in pain.

"So?" Effie asked. "What is your name?"

"Katniss Everdeen." I washed my emotions in a fake waterfall of confidence and spoke surely, trying to sound nonchalant.

"I bet my buttons that was your sister!" Effie laughed. "Well, on with the reaping!" she waddled toward the boy's glass ball.

All the sudden, Haymitch Abernathy stumbles onto the stage, and slaps me on the back. "I've been watching you from the crowd!" he said drunkenly. "I like you! You've got spunk! More than you! More than you!" I will never get the chance to know if he was defying the Capitol, or mocking the crowd, because he passed out drunk and rolled off the stage, I know we are the laughing stock of Panem now.

I look down at my boots, worn and leather. I wore them even though they didn't go with the green frock my mother gave me to wear. The supple look of the leather calmed me, and I took deep breaths.

I didn't get it. Prim was twelve! Just twelve! I did everything I could to protect her, like forbid her to take any tesserae, and wait till the last possible minute to turn her slip in, because the top ones always ended up on the bottom somewhere. She had one slip in the ball. I hated myself for not protecting her fully. But, I took her place. I was protecting her.

I wasn't paying attention to Effie or the world at all. I wasn't meaning to listen to the name of the person that was going to the Capitol with me. But it got into my mind anyway.

"Gale Hawthorne?" Effie read. Gale walked up the steps, and I could tell he was trying to do what I was doing: act nonchalant.

My eyes got wide, and I was getting ready to bawl. I didn't care anymore. My best friend just got picked, and whether we liked it or not, either one of us or neither of us was coming home alive.

The anthem played, and Peacekeepers came to escort us to the Justice building, I had only been in there twice; once to receive a medal for my father's death, and a second time to sign up for tesserae. They put us in separate rooms, and I stroked the velvet on the seat I was sitting on, waiting for my first guests.

I decided that I would do one of three things if Gale was murdered. A: Go on a rampage to avenge his death, succeed and win the games. B: Go on a rampage to avenge his death and get killed. C: Commit suicide.

It was in that second I realized I loved him. It felt good to admit it to myself.

My mother and sister were the first to come. I took Prim in my lap.

"You shouldn't have done that for me." Prim said.

"I needed too. You know it. You would have tried to help the wounded, and that would have made you vulnerable." I said.

My mom put her arms around us.

"You can't leave again, Mom. Not now that Gale is going with me." I said. I was talking about when my father was killed. She went into a sort of trance, and wouldn't get out of bed for months. I thought we were going to starve, until I was reminded that I could hunt. It scared me silly to think about what would happen if both Gale and I died, and nobody would be there to provide meat.

"I didn't mean to. It was an accident, I was so shocked…" my mother sighed.

"Well you can't do it! Gale's brothers might be able to get some meat for you while we are gone. Ask them about it at home, okay?" I watched her nod, and I brushed a strand of loose hair out of my face.

"Promise you'll try to win, Katniss." Prim said.

"I will." I said, even though I was thinking, What about Gale? I kissed her forehead.

She smiled weakly, and left. I was met with my next guest; Madge Undersee, the mayor's daughter.

"Hi." she said sitting next to me.

Madge and I were good friends. I talked to her at school, and she sat with me at lunch. I didn't except her to come though.

She put something in my hands. I looked at it. It was a small circular gold pin with a mockingjay on it. Mockingjays were something of a slap in the face to the Capitol. During the Rebellion, they made lab generated birds called Jabberjays that could remember and repeat human language. After the Rebellion was over, the Capitol put the Jabberjays in the woods expecting them to die out. Instead, they mated with Mockingbirds. The Mockingjays can't speak, but the cam repeat whole songs if they like voice enough. They'd sing for my dad.

"Make this your district token. Please." Madge said, holding my hand.

"I can't…" I mumbled.
"You can. Here." she took the pin and pinned it to the front of my dress.

I gave her a small hug, and then she was gone. I felt alone.

A/N: I didn't put this in Chap. 1, but since Peeta didn't get picked, I wanted to have him in at some point. Although I am on Gale's side, Peeta's personality is a critical element in the original books. Also, does anyone know what the time lapse between HG and CF is? And not between releases, within the story line. Review!