Im sorry that i havent been able to update! alrighty well here's district one! Im sorry that its super long, but i really wanted to develop the characters in their reaping chapter or in their train ride chapter. (remember, districts 1-6 reapings, and then 7-12 train rides) ok, well enjoy! please review!
District 1:
Diamond Brooks P.O.V:
Light slowly seeped into my room, every minute a darker part of my room grew brighter and brighter until my entire room was lit up and I could see everything. Today was the day. The only day of the year that everyone cowers in their beds, refusing to get out of them. Reaping Day. If Skye, my younger brother, Emerald, William or Skylark, my best friends, were reaped today, I would be volunteering for my own death. It's not like I'm not prepared, or wouldn't fight to come back, I just don't like the idea of these "Hunger Games". Especially when mere children, only 12 or 13 year olds are sent away, who have no chance of coming back unless they're really lucky. That's my hatred towards the Games, but besides that, I think they are a perfect road to fame, fortune, and honor. Who wouldn't want that? "Diamond! Are you awake yet? C'mon get up!" My younger sister Marceline yelled through the door. Despite her age of only ten, she was quite the hothead.
I groaned, and rolled out of bed. How late did Dad work Skye and I last night? Till the wee hours in the morning, preparing us for this "big big day!". Sometimes he sounded like such a capitol mentor. "I'm awake! Thanks for that lovely wakeup call, Marceline!" Couldn't just once I have a light tap on the door and my well behaved sister calling through the door, "Oh brother! Are you awake? Get up, please!" I don't think I've ever heard the word please come out of Marceline's mouth unless she's talking to Mom or Dad.
I could hear her skipping down the hall as she called back at me, "Your welcome! Now get up, breakfasts getting cold!" At the thought of food, it gave me enough energy to drag myself out of bed, pull on a t-shirt and saunter down the hall, where I walked into the dining room and plopped myself down on one of our red cushy dining chairs. I rubbed my hands together as the scent of frying bacon and pancakes reached my nose, drifting from the kitchen.
"Yeah, breakfasts getting cold. Nice lie Marceline." She was sitting, ever so innocent, across the table from me. She broke out into a smile, and nodded down at her empty plate.
"Hey, I haven't even eaten yet, and I knew you wouldn't have gotten out of bed otherwise. Works everytime. Works for you, works for Skye…" At that moment my brother Skye, who is only 15 came into the room and noticed that breakfast hadn't even been served yet. He groaned and sat down next to me. "See? I told you!" Marceline sat in her glory while Skye whispered something into my ear.
"Seriously? That's that third time she's done that to me this week!" He groaned and set his head down on the table, mumbling, "I hate little sisters sometimes."
The smell of bacon and pancakes grew more intense and our mother, Mirabel walked through the kitchen doorway holding plates of steaming bacon and pancakes. My mouth started to water, and I could tell so was Skye's. Even though he was still half asleep on the table. Mom noticed and barked, "Head off the table, Skye!" He groaned and managed to lift his head again.
I had already started eating, shoveling the food into my mouth. I glanced across the table and Marceline was picking at her food. "What's wrong?" I asked through a mouthful. She didn't reply and just kept cutting up her pancakes, but never taking a bite. I decided it was nothing and kept eating.
Just as fast as the plates came, Mom whisked them away and yelled through the kitchen door, "Get ready for the Reapings! You've got 45 minutes!" I chuckled under my breath, like it was going to take me 45 minutes to get ready…
Shine Starling P.O.V
Finally. The day I have been looking forward to all year. I had finished eating breakfast at least an hour ago, and the Reapings were in 45 minutes! My heart wouldn't stop pounding, because I knew my destiny today. Volunteer, and then win. Quite simple, but yet so hard. I already had by dress that had rubies sewn into it on, and my red high heels were sitting by the door ready for action. At the moment I was puzzling over how I could do my hair and makeup. I decided to leave it down, going to the natural look, and then little makeup. Eyeliner, mascara, and eye shadow. Simple. I couldn't believe how fast time went when you were making yourself look beautiful. 45 minutes had passed, and I hadn't even noticed. "Darling! Are you ready?" My father called up the stairs. I slipped on my high heels and walked downstairs. My father's eyes went wide, and my mother gasped. "Oh, you look amazing!" Dad exclaimed. He was just as excited as I was.
"He's right, well why don't you head on down to the square and we will meet you there, okay?" I nodded and headed out the door. But before I could leave my mother stopped me and put something around my neck, "Your token for the games…" Then she pushed me out the door. I could tell she was holding back tears. Something told me she wasn't too keen on this whole volunteering idea. I started to second guess myself, Do you really want to do this? No. Shine, you are volunteering, and you are winning. And that was that, no more distractions. When I reached the time square I was surrounded by my group of friends all chattering at the same time.
"Whoa, you look astounding!" Butterfly announced, her dark hair billowing in the wind, it matched perfectly with her little mini dress she was wearing. Black was definetly her color.
"You can say that again!" Flight agreed, she was wearing dress pants and a revealing shirt. I didn't like the pants too much, but it went with her hairstyle. Cut short from a prank some of the guys pulled on her.
"You look astounding! Oh so, astounding!" Flare exclaimed, obviously taking Flights "You can say that again!" literally. She was always so hyper, I was surprised to see her red hair tamed down into loose curls and a flowing green dress that showed off her height.
The only friend of mine who didn't speak was Songs, who was practically an identical twin to Butterfly but her eyes were a darker blue, and she talked much less. But when she did speak, you had to listen because it was worth hearing. She had a knee-length blue dress on with music notes on the bottom trim, going along nicely with her name. She nodded and smiled at me, signaling that she agreed, I did look great. This was one of those times Songs was my favorite. "Thank you, but don't you think we should be getting to our place? It looks like Juan is about to start!" They nodded and we shuffled towards the section labeled, 17.
Like any other year, Our Capitol mentor, Juan Heely took center stage and we all recited Panem's anthem, the mayor recited the boring history of Panem that we all knew by heart, and finally Juan took the stage again and announced, "Now, for the Reapings of the 125th Hunger Games!" The entire square burst out clapping and cheering. This wasn't the fake applause that the lower districts showed off, this was real stuff. "Ladies first!" He sauntered over to the glass ball and time seemed to slow down while he was pulling the little slip of paper out. Once he read the name, and asked for volunteers, I had to be the first one he would see. "Our District 1 girl tribute is…Songs Lince! Any volunteers?"
My mind was in a whirl but I still got my hand up there fast enough and yelled, "I VOLUNTEER!"
Juan's face lit up and he asked, "What's your name then?"
"Shine Starling!" I started blowing kisses to the crowd, and waving. It's all a show, right?
Diamond Brooks P.O.V
When I heard who was the girl tribute, I racked my brain to see if I could figure out who she was. I didn't have time because literally 2 seconds later someone volunteered, and I heard her name and knew exactly who it was before I even looked up.
"What's your name then?" Juan asked.
"Shine Starling!" I looked up and saw her in a ruby colored dress, matching heels and her hair down and it just so happened that the light hit it just so perfectly you could see every highlight and wave. It shined just like her name. I'd seen her at school before but she was a year older than me, and she was dangerous. I had seen her training with her dad while I was out training with mine. I didn't have a crush on her, I just thought she was pretty, and dangerous. Everything I like in a girl.
"Alright, well onto the boys then!" He casually went to the ball with all the boy's names in it and read out one. "Diamond Brooks! Any volunteers?" Nobody did. My mother must have kept Skye's mouth shut or he would have volunteered for me. I walked on stage, my legs like jello. And as quick as that we were pulled away into the town hall. I was placed in a blue velvet room, with crystal ceilings and murals as walls. I didn't have time to admire them because my mom and dad came in, my mother's eyes were red and wet with tears, my dad looked prouder than ever.
Mom just hugged me and sobbed onto my shoulder, and Dad said the most unsensitive thing ever. All he said was, "I wish you could have had the chance to volunteer." Thanks Dad. No, Win it. Or Please…come back. Fight as hard as you can.
The next person who came in was Skye, Emerald, Skylark and William. We all embraced and Skye said to me, "Mom wouldn't let me volunteer…" I hugged him telling him it was alright.
Skylark and William just stood there and silently cried, William managed to say, "We didn't volunteer because we knew we couldn't handle being split up."
"I understand, but you guys don't have each tell me why you didn't volunteer. I'm ready to accept my fate." They all nodded and left the room. Except for Emerald. She hadn't even said a word. "I promise I'll come back."
She nodded, and with one single tear dripping down her face, she leaned down and kissed me straight on the lips. I didn't think she had ever thought of me that way, and I had certainly never thought about her that way, so I pushed her away.
We broke apart and she whispered with that tear still dripping down her face, "You better be good at keeping promises." With that she left the room, and the Peacekeepers came to take me to the train, and all I could think about was Shine.
