Twenty four hours. I convince Fey to go down to the lake with me. It's not that great of water, but the trees around it block it from the town. The dam is a few miles out but the smell of trees overwhelm me. The water lapse around my arms. I really need to touch up on my strokes. It's been forever since the water was nice enough to get into.

My stomach is growling so I drag Fey home with me. How long has it been again? I try to convince mom to let me make dinner. I can't.

Six hours. Mom has the water warm for our baths. I try to be quick so I'm not stuck in a ice bucket or luke warm water once the heat has left. I put my hair into braids while I let it dry. Then there's a grey bag on my bed. Confused, I look inside. I pull put a red dress. It falls to my knees and the sleeves are short.

"Do you like it?" I hear my mom ask.

I turn around seeing her in the door way.

"Why?" I ask, forcing the words out.

"Your dad and I saw your name on the voting list," she says.

"Mom."

I hold back the tears that are trying to come out. She goes off to help Fey and I slip into the dress. My hair's dry so I take out the braids leaving my hair with waves. Then my mom comes in and starts pulling my hair halfway up. On an ordinary day if she tried to do this I'd brush her off. Instead, I allow her to do my hair without complaint. Fey meets us at the door with my dad and we go to the center where the Justice Building is.

We go sign in and I hug Fey before I go into the area roped off for sixteen year olds. I doubt I'm going to be the tribute, but I'm still anxious. A video explains why we have to participate in the games. I could recite every line at this point. The District 7 escort walks onto the stage. Lillian Bauble is a woman with powder white skin, deep green lips, and large lime green hair with a gaudy green outfit on. I wonder if the people in the Capital know how horrendous they look to us in the districts.

"Now to pick the female tribute," Lillian smiles, her hand reaches into a glass ball and pulls out a single sheet of gold paper. "Emilie Wood."

There's no way I could be tribute. I'd think everyone would have chosen someone that would have a chance of winning. Guess they decided to get rid of the weak link. Once I get onto the stage I realize I'm trembling. I'm not cold. Instead, I try to stand as still as I can.

"And now for our male tribute," Lillian continues. Her hand goes into the other glass ball and pulls out another gold slip of paper. "Elijah Fenmore."

Fenmore, the name's familiar. Why? A boy walks towards the stage from the back. He's pale, with dark brown hair and wears a light blue button up. It's killing me not to know where I know his last name from.

"I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!" A voice screams out. Someone rushes in front of Elijah.

"I volunteer as tribute," he states again, more calmly.

Then I realize I know where I've heard Elijah's last name from. The Peacekeepers escort a reluctant Elijah back into the roped area. The other boy looks just like Elijah, just taller, with a white shirt, and has flecks of lighter brown in his hair. Tributes aren't too uncommon in Seven, but they happen more frequently in 1, 2 or 4.

"Lovely!" Lillian says as the new boy walks onto the stage. "And your name is?"

"Henry Fenmore," he responds.

"I bet that was your brother!" Lillian continues.

Henry doesn't respond.

"District 7's tributes!" Lillian beams into the microphone.

The mayor then walks up to the microphone and reads the Treaty of Treason. I'm not listening to a word though. Because I'm going into the arena with Henry Fenmore.

Henry Fenmore's my best friend. Or was, to be more accurate. I was thirteen when I first met him. It was raining and mom had me run a lunch down to dad while he was at the lumber yard. He usually does the distributing. Lucky there's a small building that holds his office so I dropped it off. Mom had given me two of the cookies I'd made. Admittedly, they were stale. As I started to take one out of the bag, I saw him.

He was piling a couple of logs onto a cart. His jeans were soaked with mud on the bottom and his jacket didn't look very warm. I rushed out into the rain by his side. He wasn't a merchant kid but he wasn't on the dirt broke side either. He was like...me. Not better but not worse than everyone else.

"Hey," I said through the rain.

"Hi?" He said, confusion was laced in his voice.

"Rough day, huh?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Emilie by the way."

"Henry."

I tossed him the bag of cookies. He looked at me as if I would take them away.

"You're welcome," I said. With that I left.

We ended up being in the same year. My mom said we were inseparable at one point. Even if the cookies I made had to be stale to eat, Henry still enjoyed them. Everyone teased us after a while, that we would get married or crap. After the Reaping last year, he started slipping in and out of my life. Mostly out, but I'd gotten used to it. And now I'm going to have to kill him.

Once the mayor finishes the Treaty of Treason, we're taken into custody. I'm put into a blue room that has white wood furniture and everything else is a shade of deep blue. I sit on one of the couches and sink into the blue velvet. There's an hour for me to say good bye to my friends and family.