Part I

I'm seventeen or was seventeen. My name is Arkam. Arkam Huntington son of the respected lawyer Harvey Huntington, my father used to work for President Snow. My parents always wanted me to be a lawyer, but all I did was to disappoint them. I wanted to be an artist. A painter to be exact. I painted everything that I saw, my favorite thing to paint was the tributes before the games. Not just portraits, I loved to paint their outfits, their chariots and especially the interviews. My parents could not understand why I did take this much interest the tributes. I think my parents thought that I was nuts. Especially why couldn't I find a girl to settle down with. All of my friends were finding, or had found someone. I just could not find the girls inside the capitol attractive. I think it is the crazy fashion that goes on inside the city. I guess that light green skin and pink hair is just not my type.

Me and my friends Carnia Fieldcrush , my friend Root's actual name is Roothervalski Lambskin we just call him root because is shorter than Roothervalski and is describes his IQ pretty well. And then we have Anastasia, my oldest friend. I have known her for ages, she was like a sister to me. It actually kills me that I never got say goodbye to her. We were to off to the center square to see the tributes arrive in their chariots and watch Cesar Flickerman interview them. After the interviews we placed our bets on which we thought would tribute should win. As always I brought my sketch book to make sketches of the tributes as I always did.

Cesar gave a short opening speech in his blue suit with matching eyelids and lipstick. The first tribute to be interviewed was a tall muscular guy from district one. His name was Arim Mink. He had blue eyes and straight blonde hair and was one of the tallest tributes this year. It appears that he volunteered for a stranger, just because his brother volunteered the year before. The result of his interview gave the impression that he was a "bad guy" or some sort of a ladies' man. The type that girls I my school would just flock around. Afterwards it was time for his co-tribute from his district. I could not hear her name or get a good look of her because was to busy finishing my sketch of Arim and my friends could not stop talking about where to put their bets. Then Felix Cooper-Hays from district 2 was up to be interviewed by Cesar. Felix has the typical look of a career, whit big shoulders and a very athletic look with dirty blond hair that went down to his shoulder. I thought this guy was perfect for a caricature, so I don't really remember what his appearance was like. I gave him a kind of cartoony look with a big head and a short tiny body in a peacekeeper uniform, because that was what I expected he wanted to be before he was reaped.

When I was done, Cesar was halfway through interviewing a small long brown haired girl. Her name was Mathilda. She had green eyes and looked like a mermaid. She was very attractive. Both young and lethal. She wore a green and blue dress that had a floating effect in its texture. It looked like it was flowing water that was covering her body. After her interview Braiden and his friends came up to us. Braiden is Anastasias ex boyfriend. He doesn't really like us, because he thought that she and Carnia are dating. But there are not, they are just friends.

Braiden came up to us with his crooked smile, which I was the reason for because I had punched him in the face for picking on Root in school. "Hey! What are you losers doing here?" He said with a grin on his face. "Minding our own business and tying to enjoy the interviews" Carnia said. "Can't you and your goons just leave s alone?" Anastasia said with irritations I her voice. "Why? So you and your boyfriend can be alone? Braiden answered with the same irritating crooked grin on his face. "Maybe, are you jealous because don't have a hot boyfriend? Anastasia said to him as she took a step closer to Carnia just to prove a point. Braiden had just opened his mouth when I said: "why don't you just do like the train and leave? After a few seconds of serious thinking he just replied with a simple "No".

"Why don't you just go throw rocks at some mutts or something like that" I answered and felt the irritation growing inside me, like a burning fire. "What are you going to do to me I don't leave? Sketch me to death, you sure can't hurt me! You can't even beat a mockingjay in arm wrestling" he said with scorn in his voice.

The last thing I can remember after that is how Carnia and Root gripped my arms to prevent me from jumping on him. "Oh so you have your girlfriend fight your battles for you, Ana" He said as he was laughing at us in the face. "At least I choose my friends with concern, and you have nothing to do with my dating life, do you hear that Braiden!" Anastasia said, and you could really hear how angry she was right now. "Yeah yeah" Braiden said as it was nothing. "I came here to invite you to a little competition" he said, trying to sound as important or formal as possible. "Let's make something fun or this year's games, let's we all make our bets on one tribute each and all the money in a big pot, winner takes it all and loser gets nothing." "That sounds a little vague, even for being you. What's the catch? Carnia said. "There is no catch, but if you want to raise the stakes fine for me" Braiden said with a grin on his face. "What are the stakes?" Root asked. It was the first time he opened his mouth since we left our home. "If me or one of my friends win I get to take Ana here on a date, If one of you win… hmm… we leave you alone for the rest of the year. How does that sounds?" "Deal!" I said without thinking. "Hey!" Anastasia shouted as she hit me with her hand. "Good, since you seem so impatient to make this bet. Let's make the it a little more interesting. We meet back here tomorrow before they are releasing the tributes training score. " Braiden said as he made that luring smile as always does when he has something going . "Seams fair" said Carnia as they shacked hands. After that Braiden and his friends left us. I stared at them as they made their way through the crowd and then diapered behind a fountain that was placed on the square for the interviews.

"I think he is going to cheat" I say, as I turned around and looked at my friends. "Me too" Root said. "Me too but I don't know how. Let's just watch the rest of the interviews and then decide what we will do. And Ark, what did you think? How could you allowed him to do that? I'm his price… How did that happened? " Anastasia said as she looked at me. "I don't know. I didn't think that one through. Don't lie and tell me that you don't like it. I have known you for a time and know you like that kind of attention." I said and look at her and give her a smile. "Yeah, but still…" Anastasia said as she blushed and looked at her feet. "Oh for god sake, he was your boyfriend and you dumped him because he cheated on you" Carnia said with irritation in his voice. "So? That does not make his less attractive, does it?" Anastasia said, still looking at her shoes. "It kind off does, for a normal person at least." I said as I tried to make eye contact with her. "Shut up, like you ever had a girlfriend" she said as she gave me a big smile.

We stood in silence as we watched the last four interviews. The first tribute from district eleven was a young buy around the age of fourteen. He was thin and had black hair that went down to his shoulders. But by the looks of it he looked as he was a good runner though. The girl form district eleven was a small girl by the age of 15 with dark skin and long curly black hair. I think her name was Mia. Mia Hart. I can't remember the tributes from district twelve. I did not pay any attention. What is the odds that district twelve should win. The barely didn't survive the first two days in the arena. I was lost in my thoughts. Which tribute should I put my bets on? It's hard to choose. It is many good promising ones this year. I just hope I make the right choice. I had just forgotten everything about my sketches and the reason why I was there, more than just hanging out with my friends.

"Okay, that was it" Carnia said as he turned around and looked at us. "Who looks most promising to you? Anyone you recommend? "I said and looked around. People and started to clear out the square. "The guy from district 2 looks cute" Anastasia said with a dreamy on her face. "Who do you think Braiden and his goons will bet on?" Root said. "Probably one of the guys fro, district one, two or three" I said. "As always" Root filled in. "What do you think Carnia?" Anastasia said as she bent over to tie her shoes. "I think Ark and Root are right. And I think that Braiden is going to cheat somehow." He said as looked serious at us. "We can't let him win then" I answered. "Right, and we really need to be careful as me make our bets. We need to be sure. I think we have to spy on the tributes training session that is tonight." Carnia said. "And how shall we do that?" I said as I turned to him. "We need to sneak in to the Training Center. Tonight." He finished.