AN: Sorry my chapters are so short I'm balancing school and lacrosse and homework and everything so cut me some slack please. Give me constructive criticism!


He looks down at the sand near his feet, "Yeah but forty something versus eight or nine? I mean someone gets picked every year, don't they?"
"Well yeah, but that doesn't mean it will be you." I say, looking up into his green eyes, and I slip my hand into his.
He squeezes my hand slightly, and returns my gaze. "Its going to be someone, might as well be me, huh? Not like anyone really cares about me."
"What about me?" I frown, "I care about you." I say softly, then I pull my hand from his and turn around. "The reaping is going to start in half an hour so you might as well get ready." I mumble, then start to walk back to my house. That is, I would be walking back to my house if he didn't wrap his arm around my wrist and spin me around.
"Look, I'm sorry, and I honestly don't want to be in a fight with you on reaping day, just incase... something happens." He says, almost all in one breath, "And I care about you, too." He adds softly.
I cant help but smile a little, "That's nice and all, but we still need to get to the reaping," I say with a small smirk, hiding how much what he said really means to me.
"Alright, let's go." He said, then wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and we walked together towards the reaping.


As I stand in the crowd I look around, scanning the heads of everyone. Eventually I see Percy standing with all the guys our age, he's making fun of the speech that our escort makes every year, and I can't help but laugh a little. He looks back over at me, and mouths something that I couldn't catch, I was about to mouth something back when the escort walked over to the giant bowls.
"Ladies first!" She exclaimed, reaching her hand into the ball and swirling it around, coming up with a single piece of paper. "Annabeth Chase!" She calls out, my vision tunneled. I stand there, my mouth gaping a little, then start to walk forward slowly, trying to keep tears out of my eyes.
"My I think we have a fighter ladies and gentlemen!" The escort proclaimed, then made her way over to the bowl filled with boy's names. She reached in and pulled a piece of paper out, "My! This is odd, two siblings!" She started,"Malcom Chase!"
My eyes dart out into the crowd and I see Malcom, his face cold, angry, and probably even scared, too. He walks forward to the stage, and stands next to me.
"My! you can see the resemblance!" Our escort said in her annoying accent, "Now, are there any volunteers?" She asked.
I looked out into the crowd, doubting anyone would volunteer, but then I hear someone yell, "I volunteer!" My eyes dart to where I heard the voice come from, and I see Percy stepping forward, and the crowd parting away from him.
Malcom steps off of the stage as Percy walks up, "And what's your name?" The escort asks and hands him the microphone.
"Perseus Jackson." He says, his facial features are similar to how Malcom's were, but theres something else, determination.
"Ladies and gentlemen this years tributes for district four!"