(Authors note: I keep forgetting to add the disclaimer and stuff, so just to say I own nothing, it all belongs to Suzanne Collins and J.K Rowling.)
Katniss POV
I went into the square and spotted the girl again. She didn't see me; she was busy climbing the tree next to the stage. I carried on and was sought out by Rory Hawthorne. He reminded me of his brother who was, at one point, my best friend. Gale. I missed him sometimes. Every time I saw Rory, it brought back a memory of being in the woods.
"And may the odds…"
"…be ever in your favour!" The sweet taste of a berry bursting on my tongue was almost too much to bear. I smiled and his worried frown lifted at the corners slightly.
"Katniss, I'm worried. What'll happen if I get chosen?" he said "Mum's so ill at the moment and the others aren't old enough to hunt for food yet!"
"Rory, they'll be fine." I reassured him "If you get chosen, I will look after them, I promise." He nodded and relaxed slightly. Then he stiffened again.
"What if we both get chosen?"
"Then Peeta will look after them. He can bake and I have taught him how to hunt, so he can get a little bit of meat for them. Okay?"
"Okay. I'm coming to get some bread in a minute. I just need to check my snares. Bye…" He wandered off, preoccupied with keeping his family alive. I carried on. Half of my family were dead. Dad was killed in a mine explosion and Prim…well Prim was killed in a bombing in the Capitol. Mum couldn't face coming back to a place where Dad and Prim could never return, so she stayed on as a nurse in District 13. I came back to 12 with Peeta. The only things I have left of Prim and Dad are a bow and a quiver of arrows and Buttercup. I keep the bow and arrows in the usual tree stump. Buttercup still hisses at me occasionally, but we have come close to friends now. I'm so glad I didn't manage to drown him all those years ago. He keeps me company when Peeta's working late in the bakery. Speaking of which, I opened it up and soon a steady stream of customers are coming in, buying Peeta's iced buns and loaves of bread. The bell on the door rang and I looked up to see Pip come in with the Firewick girl. I smiled at them both.
"Two cookies please." Asked Pip. As I was slipping them into a bag, I asked the girl what her name was.
"Rhexia. Rhexia Firewick." Her voice was low, and fire raged in every syllable. I handed Pip the cookies and they left quickly. How I was going to get through the next two weeks, I did not know. I guessed I would just have to watch and wait.
The day of the reaping dawned bright and clear. I swung myself out of bed and slipped my feet into my hunting boots, reminding myself irresistibly of that time two years ago when I was out to meet Gale. The time before I was Mockingjay, before Peeta. Before Prim's name was picked. I crept out of the house to the meadow.
The wire fence was long gone.
"Katniss?" I turned to see Rory standing with a dead rabbit in his hand. His face broke into a grin. "I was worried that one of the Peacekeepers might be around. You know, to stop someone from escaping." I nodded and grinned back. Once I had retrieved my bow and arrow from the hollow tree stump, we slipped silently to the place where he usually set snares to catch unwary animals. The second we entered, I could sense something was wrong. Rory stood still, looking around with a brow furrowed in concentration. He suddenly took a step back and started to drag me back to Victors Village.
"Peacekeepers!" he hissed. I didn't need telling twice. We ran silently through the trees, to where the old hiding place was. Rory leapt up into it and I followed. A second later, two burly men in white thundered past. They skidded to a halt a couple of metres from our hiding place.
"I know I saw someone." One of them insisted.
"It musta been the light." The other said dismissively "We'd have seen 'em running into the district."
"I suppose…" the other man didn't look convinced. They wandered off, back into the woods. Me and Rory looked at each other and let out a sigh of relief. We slid off the rock shelf and looked around furtively to see if there were any more lurking around. We couldn't see any, so we took our chances and ran. I skidded into the doorway of my house in the Village, with Rory right behind me. Peeta was painting in the kitchen. He didn't seem surprised to see us panting with a dead rabbit dangling from Rory's hand. I still had my bow and arrow. We collapsed into seats as he put the kettle on.
"What happened?" he asked arching an eyebrow.
"The Peacekeepers nearly caught us. They're patrolling the woods to make sure no-one escapes!" I was getting my breath back now, starting to feel more angry than scared. The clock on the side read 11:04. We had two hours and fifty-six minutes to ponder upon our fate. Peeta relaxed in the company of Rory, which I always thought odd. He had never been able to relax around Gale. Then again, they were always fighting for my attention. We sat around the kitchen table, laughing and having a good time. I almost forgot all my worries about being picked as a tribute. Almost. All too soon, it was half past one and Rory left to get ready for the reaping. Peeta and I went upstairs to change. I slipped into my red dress that had been altered slightly from my first interview. It had been made slightly bigger, for one thing, and longer to cover more of my legs. Peeta was wearing his suit and trying to do up his tie. He was looking slightly annoyed with it. I stood in front of him and gently eased out the knots he had created. I tied it for him, cool fingers weaving it through the loop. He smiled at me gratefully once I had done it.
"Well, we need to look our best if we're going to the capitol." He reminded me with a rueful smile and a shrug. I smiled back, just as the clock tower in the square began to chime. We hurried down to the square and signed in. We were separated and I was herded into the area for eighteen year old girls. It was my last year of being eligible and I hoped against hope that neither me nor Peeta would be picked. There was utter silence as Effie Trinket tapped her way onto the stage.
"Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favour!" She walked across to the glass ball containing the girl's names.
"Ladies first!" she trilled, thrusting her hand into the ball. She rummaged around for a while, before drawing out a slip of paper. I crossed my fingers.
"Azalea Birchmore!" a fourteen year old girl with sleek black hair stepped up, looking as white as a sheet.
"Vanessa Sleet!" The girl left the safety of the fifteen year old area and ran up the steps to the stage daintily, tossing blonde hair over her shoulder as she went.
"Adina Riverbark!" she started, then seemed to recover and made her way up. Three down, three to go.
"Savannah Claypool!" A ripple of astonishment went through the crowd. No-one saw that one coming. She lives in the posh part of the district. She's the mayor's, sister's daughter or something I think. We were all holding our breath, waiting for the last two names.
"Rhexia Firewick!" I winced as she woodenly climbed the stairs to the stage. One name left. Effie pulled out a final slip of paper and smoothed it out. I held my breath.
"Our final female tribute for this year is…Katniss Everdeen!"