Celeste's POV

When we got to where they were holding the reaping, almost the whole district was already there. We ushered Michy and Prim through the sign in line, and made sure that they stayed together when they went to stand with the other kids.

Katniss and I stood together and watched as the mayor walked onto the stage with Effie Trinket and a drunken Haymitch.

I silently laughed thinking about how the Capitol would react when they saw Haymitch.

After the Mayor said a few words, Effie came up did her usual reaping day routine.

"Ladies first!"

She stuffed her hand into the giant sphere that held the names of all of the girls in District 12, some a lot more then others.

She pulled out two pieces of paper and read them aloud.

"Michelle Jones and Primrose Everdeen!"

The names echoed through my head as saw a path form for my sister and her best friend. Holding hands they made their way to the stage.

How can this be? Their names were only entered once.

Katniss and I exchanged looks and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. Screaming for our sisters we ran after them.

When the Peacekeepers tried to hold us back, we screamed something that shocked everyone, even me, "We volunteer as tributes!" We yelled.

The Peacekeepers moved out of our and we shoved our sisters behind us. When Michy and Prim resisted, screaming and clinging to us, Gale came and carried them to where our mothers were standing.

Katniss and I walked onto the stage and stood next to Effie.

"Well isn't this a surprise! What are your names, ladies?"

"Katniss Everdeen."

"Celeste Jones."

"I'm guessing those were your sisters then?"

"Yes." We said in unison.

"Well let's give a big round of applause District 12's first ever volunteers!"

For a moment, there was only Effie's clueless clapping, but then I saw a motion in my peripheral vision. And soon it spread all through the crowd. They put the three inside fingers of their left hands to their lips and raised them towards us. A sign of farewell.

Tears started forming in my eyes, but before they could fall Katniss grabbed my hand, and a found a new source of courage.

"Now the boys!"

She stuck her hand in the boys bowl and pulled out two pieces of paper and read them aloud:

Peeta Mellark and Benjamin Maroon.

Benjamin Maroon? Of all the boys in the district, Effie had to pull out his name. This day just gets better and better.

The boys get to the stage.

"Go ahead, shake hands."

We shake their hands and are escorted into the rooms where we get to say our last goodbyes.

Saying good bye to my mother and sister was the most painful thing I could ever do. And that's saying a lot considering I was about to fight to the death with 47 other tributes including my best friend. I made sure to tell my mom not to let Michy put her name in more than once. I did not want something like this happen to my sister again. Especially if I wasn't going to be around to save her.

With a struggle, the Peacekeepers took them out, and aloud Gale to come in.

He tackled us in a huge bear hug. After a minute, he let us go, but held on tight to our shoulders.

"You can win." He told us.

"Gale-" Katniss started.

"I'm serious. Katniss you have to get to a bow."

"They may not have a bow."

"Then make one. Celeste if you can't get a knife, use sharp rocks or something."

"Ok." I said halfheartedly.

"Don't be like that. Just remember to stick together, you're all you've got. You can do this."

And with that he gave us one last hug before he left.

At this point it almost hurt to keep myself from crying. Katniss came over and hugged me tight.

"Stay strong Celeste. Try to be as emotionless as you can until we get on the train."

"Easy for you to say. You rarely ever cry."

"That's because of the things that keep me strong."

I thought about that for a second. The one thing that before I met Katniss, the only thing that made me even remotely happy was Michy. I remembered all the times that I had to toughen up for her, and suddenly, I wasn't crying anymore.

I smiled at Katniss, and together we walked with the Peacekeepers and our fellow tributes to the train station.