Chapter 4
It took me a while to write this chapter and it was still fun to write. The reaping is in this chapter get ready for emotions! Good luck!
Last time: "Oh no...maybe I should go over to the bakery." She says.
"No it's fine, just leave them alone for a while." I say and she nods.
The rest of the week goes by quickly. On Friday Rosie comes up with the idea of hosting a dinner for all our friends who are entered in the reaping. Sort of a good luck dinner. Of course I think it's a good idea but we have to talk to dad. When he comes down for breakfast, I make him pancakes and then me and Rosie talk to him about it. He agrees that it is a pretty good idea but he doesn't want anything to do with it incase he actually has to mentor one of the kids, he doesn't want to know them before hand because it would make everything harder, which is fair so he decides to stay in his room as long as I make him some food. Obviously I agree as long as he's out the way. On Thursday and Friday I work at the bakery. They are never open the weekend before the reaping at all but they are open on reaping day. Only in the morning though. Each day when I've come home from school and gone to the bakery, Evelyn has been there, with Masan. Atleast he's found someone to talk too.
On Friday, me and Rosie ask around at school to see who wants to come to our little get together on Sunday. By the end of the day we have enough people. We have: Delly, Rye, Gale, Rory, Katniss, Prim and River who all said that they would be able to make it. We asked Ria but she said that she wouldn't be able to come because she is working and then has to take care of her dad. Rosie also tried to get me to ask Gina but I don't particularly want her glued to me all night. We decide to leave it at that and focus on what we are going to do for the night.
On Sunday, me and Rosie spend all day, tidying and cooking. Rosie goes out to buy us some alcohol because we threw it all away earlier in the week. She comes back with one of the carts outside the hob. I hear the front door bang open and she falls in, carrying a crate off what looks like whiskey. "How much did you buy?" I shout, running through the hallway to help her up off the floor.
"Enough for everyone." She says as I help her to her feet.
"Yeh but how much?" I ask, she's finally on her feet and we work together to rid her body of the dust that's settle on the floor and the alcohol that came out of one of the bottles that smashed on the floor. Luckily only one smashed. Unluckily it all went on Rosie.
"Well there are 3 more crates outside." She says.
"Don't you think that's a little too much?" I ask.
"Well if we have too much then we can store it in the basement or take it back or something." She says slowly. "Now can you help me bring the rest in, the first crate didn't go very well."
"Yeh you sort this one out." I point to the one on the floor. "And I'll go and get another one." I'm about to walk out the door but I spin around at the last minute with a thought. "Did you get anything other than alcohol because Prim and Rory can't drink it." I ask.
"Yeh there's a 5th crate full of orange juice, apple juice, lemonade, cola and something else, it's at the back of the cart." She says and I walk out the door.
After everything is clean and set up and all the food is cooked, me and Rosie run upstairs to get ready. We told everyone to wear formal clothes so me and Rosie are doing the same. The only difference is that Rosie knows a completely different version of formal than most people in district 12 do so I have to specify district 12 formal to her before I end up seeing her in some stupid Capitol dress that mum bought her. I dress in some new jeans and my new orange button down shirt. I pull on my better looking pair of boots. I only have 2 pairs that I like. The rest of the shoes I have are all Capitol shoes and are horrible and are all in a big black back in the bottom of my wardrobe. Then I leave my room and walk over to Rosie's room. I knock. "Come in." She says and I walk into the room. She's dressed in a light purple dress with long sleeves that stops about an inch above her knees. It has buttons from top to bottom and is finished off with a big thick black belt and some flat pumps on her feet. "You look lovely." I say.
"Thank you and you look very handsome." I smile.
I'm quickly brought back to the reason why I originally came here. "Is there any chance that you could do something about my hair?" I ask her. My hair has always been hard to tame. It's very curly and it needs cutting.
"Well mum taught me how to cut hair, I could cut it for you, then try comb it down for you?" She suggests.
"Yeh sure." She pulls out the chair from her desk and I sit down.
"You probably don't want to get it on your shirt though because you will be itching all night if it gets inside your shirt." She says and I strip off my shirt. It still feels rather strange to sit infront of my sister without a shirt but she's probably used to it by now, she's actually walked in on me in the shower before now and I don't wear a top to bed and she'd sneak into my bed sometimes a couple years ago.
10 minutes later my hair looks presentable. I pull on my shirt again, just in time to hear someone ring the doorbell. "Come on." I say to Rosie and we walk downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs, she walks into the kitchen to check everything is ready and I walk to the door. It's Rye. He smiles at me. His smile is so weird to see now. Since his mother died, he hasn't smiled at anything. Suddenly his dad pops his head round the corner of the door. "Hi Peeta, hope you didn't mind that I showed up?" He asks politely.
"No of course not, I think I made too much food anyway, I was very nervous about today. This is the first time we have had guests in this house except from Capitol people." I say laughing. "You two look good by the way." Rye is wearing a pair of jeans and a black sweater, I can't see what's underneath and Masan is wearing a pair of posh black pants and a white button down shirt.
"Thanks Peeta, you look good too." Rye says.
I move aside so that they can walk in. "Just walk down there and Rosie will show you to the dining room. There's drinks while you wait for everyone else." They smile and continue on into the kitchen. I stick my head out into the victors village and look around. I can see Delly walking through the victors village gates holding a box. I step out and run to help her. "Delly!" She looks up and smiles. "What's in the box?" I ask, I stop when I'm infront of her and give her a hug.
"I brought you a cake. A thank you for doing this." She says handing me the box.
"Well thank you for the cake." I look down to her for the first time and see a big fluffy coat that was probably made by her mother. I can see the bottom of a white dress, poking out of the bottom and some flat black shoes on her feet. I walk her back to my house and just as we get to the door, I hear someone shout. "PEETA! DELLY!" I spin around and so does Delly. River is running towards us. His jacket flying in the wind behind him. When he reaches us, he takes a moment before speaking. "Hi." He says.
"Why did you run?" I ask him.
"I don't really know." He bursts out laughing and I pull him into my house. I'm letting all the cold air into my house and I need to shut the door. "Just go down there and Rosie will show you to the dining room. Rye and Masan are already here." I say and they walk off.
I pull my jacket off the hook and step out the door. I pull it closed and sit on the step outside. A couple of minutes later, I hear talking and then laughing. I look towards the gates just in time to see Gale and Katniss walk through them. Prim and Rory follow and then Evelyn brings up the rear. I smile and stand up. Prim sees me and waves to me. I wave back. They make it to the house in no time and I show them to the dining room. When Katniss walks past me I notice her for the first time. She looks beautiful. She's actually wearing a dress. Her dress is dark green and is long sleeved. It just drops to below her knees and it's finished off with her hunting boots that disappear up the dress. Her hair is in it's usual braid down her shoulder. She catches me looking at her. "Don't even start!" She hisses. "Gale has already been laughing at me for wearing a dress."
"No... I..." She's that beautiful that I'm speechless. Everyone looks up at me and Rosie coughs behind me before patting me on the back. "I think you look beautiful." I say quietly. She smiles and looks down. I see a hint of red in her cheeks and I take her fathers hunting jacket off her.
I notice that Prim is wearing an old dress of Katniss'. It's yellow and stops just above the knee. She is also wearing her usual everyday boots. Her hair has been left down all natural. Mrs Everdeen on the other hand is just wearing a knee length skirt and a white button down shirt, also wearing her everyday boots.
Once everyone is seated and has a drink. I leave to get the first course of food. If I've learnt anything from my mothers ways, it's that a proper meal, has 3 courses. Most people in the seam don't even get one course so Rory and Prim have huge smiles on their faces when I tell them that they have 3 courses coming. Katniss has a scowl on her face though which makes me laugh a little. She doesn't like people feeding her but I bet when she starts eating she will forget about it. It's not like she has to eat it all anyway, she can eat as much as she wants.
For the next hour and a half, we all work together to eat all the remaining food. Eventually we all give up and there's still atleast one more serving of the main course for everyone but no one else wants to eat. "What about Dad?" Rosie asks.
"What about me?" I hear from the doorway. I spin around to see my dad standing there still fully dressed.
"We where just gonna ask if you wanted more food. We have some left." I ask.
"Actually I was just gonna go for a walk into town but will you save it for me? I'll warm it up when I get back." He asks.
"Yeh sure, we are all done eating anyway." I say and he smiles.
"Great! Well I'll be going." He starts walking out the door.
"DONT BUY ALCOHOL!" I shout to him just before I hear the front door shut. I trust him to not buy alcohol but I just felt the need to remind him. With the reaping tomorrow I know that all he wants is a drink. "If he comes back drunk then I'm gonna lock him in his room." I say to Rosie and she starts laughing.
"He won't go down without a fight you know?" She says with a smile on her face.
"Yeh I know." I reply.
"So what should we do next?" Rosie whispers to me whilst everyone else starts talking again.
"Music and drinks?" I ask and she nods in agreement. We stand up and walk around the table to clear the plates.
Rosie walks out and brings in the radio. She has to bang it on the top a couple of times but eventually it starts the music and everyone cheers. We bring in the remaining crates with the drinks in and place them on the table. Then we tell everyone to get up and we push the table against the far walk so there's room to dance or something. I walk out the room and get a tray of glasses for the drinks but when I get back people have already started drinking them out of the bottle. I laugh and walk over and grab a whiskey. I take a sip. It burns going down but I get past it and take another sip.
Surprisingly the first person to get up and dance is Katniss. She looks around the room whilst swaying her hips to the beat of the song, looking for someone to dance with her. Her eyes lock on mine and I shake my head with a smile. She narrows her eyes. "Come on Peeta, you know you want to." She says with a seductive swish of her hair. It doesn't go very well and she gets her tatty beaded bracelet caught in her hair. I walk over and untangle it from her hair but as I'm turning around she catches my arm. "You don't have a choice now." She says with an evil smile.
"Oh no." I say with a smile.
"Oh yes!" She wiggles her eyebrows and then pulls me along with her in a circular motion. Our feet glide together to the music and she laughs when she stands on my foot. I wave it off like it's nothing which causes her I believe that she can stand on my feet so she puts both her feet on mine and latches onto me really closely. The song turns slow and I start to move my feet. It's harder with someone standing on your feet but Katniss isn't at all heavy so I don't mind it as much. I close my eyes and let the rythm move my feet. With her head against my chest and the music playing and me holding her close and her not pulling away in disgust, I can honestly say I've never been happier.
After a couple of minutes, someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn my head to see Gale standing there with a smile on his face. "I think I can take it from here." He says and I hand Katniss over. She cuddles into his chest instead and I pick my drink back up. I watch them spin around the room until the song changes again. It's not a slow song any more it's very bouncy. I smile and start to tap my feet on the floor to the music.
Within seconds I'm up on my feet and dancing along to the music by myself. I pull my drink up to my lips to find it empty. I think it may have started going to my head already but normally I wouldn't be stood up dancing by myself to a song I don't know. I stop dancing, only to walk over to the drinks and pick up another Whiskey. When I turn back around, Rosie stands there with a new bottle of whiskey. "You wanna dance?" She asks me.
"Yeh." I reply and we start to spin around the floor, dodging Gale and Katniss as they dance past us. We do a switch off in the middle of the song and Rosie spins past Katniss who pretty much jumps into my arms. I catch a glance at Rosie out of the corner of my eye. She's just latching onto a drunk Gale when they music gets going again. "This party is amazing Peeta!" Katniss says excitedly. They smell on her breath is definitely whiskey.
"You're amazing!" I say without realising.
"What?" She asks with a smile.
"Nothing!"
"You said I'm amazing!" She bursts out laughing. "You're lying! I get it now." I just smile.
The song ends and me and Rosie sit back down. Delly and River get up to dance alongside Gale and Katniss.
At 9:02, almost everyone is drunk except Rory and Prim. Prim is asleep on one of the chairs. I'm surprised she's able to sleep with how loud the music is. "Peeta!" I hear from behind me and I spin around to see Mrs Everdeen standing there. "I think I'm going now! I need to get Prim home! She's tired!" She's trying to shout over the music and I can just barely catch what she is saying. "I talked to Katniss and she wants to stay for while but Prim needs to sleep for tomorrow!" I nod. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow and good luck." I nod again and she walks over to Prim. I see her shake her and she sits up. Prim smiles at me and they leave.
I walk over to the radio and switch it off, everyone looks at me. I turn to Rory because he's the only one of us that isn't drunk. "Rory, do you know how to build a fire?" I ask.
"Yeh why?" He asks in reply.
"Because I may need your help." I turn to everyone else. "Let's take this party outside." They all cheer and we leave through the back door.
It takes half an hour but eventually me and Rory have set up a little camp site in my back yard and got a bonfire going to keep us all warm. "So does anyone want marshmallows?" I ask.
"I've never had a marshmallow!" Katniss says, slurring her words.
"What! Well you must try one!" I reach behind me and grab the bag of marshmallows and a stick from the pile beside it. I stick the marshmallow on the end and hang it over the fire until it goes a nice brown colour and hand it to Katniss. Her face turns from confusion to delight in seconds.
"That is the best thing I have ever tasted!" She exclaims and I laugh. "Can I have another one?"
"Of course you can." I roast her another one and hand it to her. Then I roast one for myself. "So does anyone know anything we can do?" I ask.
"I thought you had the night planned?" Gale asks.
"Yeh I do? I just wondered if anyone has any suggestions?" I ask.
"We could play strip poker!" Delly says excitedly.
"Really Dell?" Rosie asks.
"Yeh, I've never played it before, I read about it but never played it."
"Have you ever even played Poker?" I ask.
She looks confused for a minute before finally finding her answer. "No..."
"Then we can't play it." I say.
"We could play strip cards!" She says. "I just made it up now in my head... We all get a card and whoever has the lowest has to take off a piece of their clothing and everyone else except from the person who has the highest has to take a drink."
"Yeh that doesn't sound too bad." I say. "What do you say guys?" I ask everyone.
"Erm... I'm not playing!" Rory says.
"Yeh me neither!" Masan adds.
"Well then you two can watch if you want?" They both nod. "Okay I'll go and get the cards!" I run inside and grab the cards out of a drawer in the kitchen. When I get back outside, Katniss, Gale, Rye, River, Delly and Rosie are all sitting in a circle and Masan and Rory and watching by the fire. I join the circle and place the cards down. "Right I'll deal them and you can't look at your card until everyone else does!" I say and they all nod.
I hand them all a card, face down infront of them. "Right turn them over!" I turn mine over. 7 of hearts.
Delly: 5 of clubs
Rosie: 9 of diamonds.
River: 4 of spades.
Gale: 10 of diamonds
Rye: 6 of clubs.
Katniss: 2 of hearts
Everyone laughs at Katniss. "Katniss Everdeen we need a piece of your clothing!" Delly shouts. "Everyone else but Gale drink!" I pick up my whiskey an take a large gulp. Katniss pulls off one of her shoes and places it in the middle of the circle.
Second round:
Delly: 4 of hearts
Rye: 3 of spades
River: 9 of clubs
Rosie: 10 of hearts
Katniss: 11 of hearts
Me: 2 of clubs
Gale: 6 of diamonds
"Peeta Abernathy! We need a part of your clothing!" Rosie shouts! "Everyone else but Katniss drink up!" I take off my left shoe and place it in the middle next to Katniss'
The game finishes when someone is only in their underwear and by the time the game has finished I only have my jeans and my underwear on. Katniss is in her underwear and her right shoe which looks strange. Delly still has her dress on. Gale is wearing his top and his underwear. Rosie is wearing her dress. River is almost fully dressed. Rye however is the one that finished the game and he just sits there in his underwear with a huge smile on his face. "Now we all have to dance around the fire in our underwear!" Delly screams.
"Dell? I love you but that's insane!" Rosie grins. "Insanely good! Come on girls!"
"YEH!" Katniss screams and jumps to her feet. She deposits her leftover shoe into the pile and Delly and Rosie strip off their dresses before they all run over to the fire and start dancing around it singing a song I've never heard before. Obviously I'm laughing. I stand up and look to the guys. "Come on guys!" I shout and follow the girls.
"YEYYYY!" Rosie shouts when I arrive their. "PEBBLES HERE!" She runs off and starts dancing around like a fairy. Delly follows her. Katniss stands there and looks at me with a smile on her face. "You know you're actually very good looking!" She looks down at the floor. "Did I just say that?" She says under her breath. "Sorry!"
"It's fine, you're not too bad yourself!" I say and grab her by the waist. I pull her up and swing her over my shoulder.
"HEY PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN NOW!" She laughs.
"Nope!" I shout and carry on dancing around the fire with Katniss over my shoulder. Rye, River and Gale join us. Gale and River have both stripped down to their underwear too so I'm the only one wearing more than underwear. When I put Katniss down she looks at my pants. "Hey it's a bit unfair that you get to wear them and I have to look like this!"
"Then maybe you should wear some clothes!" She smiles and runs back to the pile of our clothing. She comes back a second later wearing my bright orange long sleeved button down shirt. It's very big on her and she has to role up the sleeves. "I meant your clothes."
"They're still clothes!" She shouts. I smile. I'm in no fit state to object and she actually looks kind of good in my clothes.
The rest of the night goes by in a blur but a fun blur. The next thing I remember is waking up. I'm outside in my back yard next to a burning out fire. It's cold and I'm only wearing my pants. What the hell happened last night. My head hurts like crazy. I put my hand to my head and find that someone has tried to put my hair in a pony tail because there's a bobble in my hair and it's sticking up. I sit up and look around. This place is a mess. There are bottles everywhere.
Katniss is lying beside me in my orange shirt that I remember putting on yesterday but I don't know why she's wearing it. Her hair is fanning out in the grass behind her and she still has a bottle of whiskey in her hand, most of the whiskey has spilled out onto the grass. Her dress and shoes are in a pile about a metre to my right, along with someone else jeans, another dress and a deck of cards.
Rye is lying not far from me, he's only wearing his top which I guess explains the jeans. I recognise the dress as Rosie's who I'm guessing is in the house. I don't know where everyone else is or what time anyone went home. I lean over to Katniss and shake her shoulder lightly. She let's out a little moan. "Where am I?" She crokes out.
"My house." I say and she turns to me with narrowed eyes.
"What time is it?" She asks.
"I don't know I haven't checked yet."
"My head is hurting." She drops the whiskey an puts both of her hands on her head. She pulls away for a second and looks down. "Wait, why am I wearing your dress?"
"I don't know, I don't remember what happened last night."
"Where's Gale and Rory?"
"They went home I guess. It is the reaping today." I say.
"What!" She shoots up but takes a second because I her headache. "Oh god! I totally forgot about that, I need to get home to Prim." She attempts to stand up but I have to put my arms out because she falls backwards onto me.
"Are you sure you don't want some help?" I ask.
"No." She pushes up off me and I push her too her feet. This time she stays. She walks over to where her dress is and tells me to turn around whilst she changes my top for her dress. I feel my shirt thrown at me head a minute later and I laugh. "Can I turn around now?"
"Yeh." I turn around and slide on my shirt. "Good luck today." I say to her.
"Good luck to you too Peeta. Thank you for last night. I'm guessing it was fun and I miss fun. It's been a while since I've had fun." She says with a smile. "It's been a while since Prim had fun too."
"No problem." I say and she leaves. I stand up and walk into the house. The clock reads, 7:23am. Great that gives me time to tidy up before my father kills me.
12:00 comes in no time and me, Rosie and dad are all dressed and ready for the reaping. Rye went home not long after Katniss and me and Rosie worked together to get the place clean before dad woke up. I'm dressed in a black button down shirt and dark jeans that Rosie picked out for me. She's dressed in a nice pink dress with some flat shoes and dads dressed in a white button down shirt and some blue jeans. Me and Rosie both look like crap because of last night and dad looks really tired. We are waiting for Mum to come and escort Dad to the square. I don't know why she still does it every year but she still feels the need to.
"When do you think she will come?" I ask Dad.
"Couple of minutes." He replies.
"I think I might come with you, get there early, I can't sit around here." I say.
"Yeh me too." Rosie says.
"Ok." Dad says and the conversation is over.
Mum shows up 5 minutes later. She looks a mess, like she's being crying all morning. Her wig is lop sided and Rosie goes to straighten it up for her.
"Everything's gonna be okay mum." I say to her with a smile.
"I guess your right, there's not many slips in them bowls that say your names but I will never forgive myself if I pull one out."
"You're not going to Effie, it would be pretty hard, there's loads of slips in them bowls." Dad says.
"Yeh okay, come on there's a car outside." Mum say beckoning dad forward.
"Mum is it alright if me and Rosie come too or are we not allowed in the car?" I ask.
"No it's fine, Dan's driving us anyway, come on." We walk out the door and I lock it. Me and Rosie both have our keys incase something happens. Well Rosie has dad's because we haven't had one for her made yet beside whenever she is over she just uses dad's anyway.
When we get in the car, Dan looks at us. "So the kids are coming in the car this year?" He asks mum.
"Yeh."
"Okay that's fine, I'll just drop them off at the square before I take you round the back of the justice building." Mum nods and we are off.
In 10 minutes we make it to the square. It's full of people around the square but the actual square itself is almost empty. None of the kids have shown up yet. I open the door and step out, Rosie follows. "Good luck you guys!" Mum says.
"Yeh and we love you." Dad adds.
"Thanks guys. I'll see you in about 2 weeks dad." I smile trying to give them both some hope that we won't be picked.
"Bye." I shut the door and Dan drives off. I turn around to see a lot of the people around the side looking at me. Nobody in the whole district rides in a car unless they are reaped for the hunger games or is a victor so I guess it's strange for them to see us get out of a car. I smile and lower my head, taking Rosie's hand and walking away. I'm about to sign in when Rosie takes me hand. "Could we just wait a second so that we can say good luck to everyone? I don't think that we would get much chance in there." I look down at her. Her face has gone pale and she's shaking.
"Are you okay?"
"No I'm freaking terrified!" She says. "I've never seen one I these things never mind been in one."
"Everything's gonna be okay Rosie. They're going to take some of your blood to check if it actually is you then you have to stand in them roped off areas and then Mum will read some names and I'll see you later okay? I promise." She nods and I hug her.
10 minutes later everyone starts to arrive and I catch sight of River in the crowd. I run up to him. "Hi Peeta." He says.
"Hi... I wanted to know if you remember what happened last night. I woke up this morning in the back yard with Katniss and Rye."
"Really?" He smiles.
"Yeh."
"Well I remember that we had a bonfire and we played strip cards- a game that Delly invented- then we danced around the fire in our underwear and Katniss ended up wearing your shirt. There was a lot of drinking and at one point you attempted to climb one of the trees in your back yard but Katniss shot up past you and you slipped and fell. Then me and Delly left and she slept at mine because her mum couldn't see her drunk."
"What the hell is strip cards?" I ask.
"Erm... Everyone gets a card... The one with lowest number takes of a piece of their clothing and everyone else except the person who got the highest number takes a shot." River says.
"And we really did that?"
"Yeh even Katniss and Gale." He says sounding surprised.
"Why is that surprising?"
"Because as I heard, Katniss Everdeen doesn't like seeing naked people. But they joined in."
"Okay. Anyway good luck today."
"You too." He walks off.
I turn around and bump straight into Rye, who stands with Masan and Leaven. "Hi Peet. Good luck today." He says.
"Yeh you too." He walks past me and Masan and Leaven follow him.
Delly comes by next and I give her a good luck. She returns it of course and I notice that she looks like she's been crying. I don't ask her about it though. I feel Rosie take hold of my hand and I grab onto it. I can feel the dread setting it and I'm suddenly really scared about today's outcome.
5 minutes later I see, Katniss, Prim, Evelyn, Gale and the rest of the Hawthorne's walking this way. They all stop to say goodbye to everyone. Katniss and Prim hug their mother and the Hawthorne's have a group hug.
I wave to them and Gale waves back. The rest of them just look at me. I turn to Rosie. "Are you ready to sign in?" I ask.
"I think so." She says and I squeeze her hand before leading her to the sign in table.
I hold out my finger whilst holding Rosie's hand with my other one. The woman at the desk pricks the tip of my finger with her needle and places my finger on a sheet of paper. I see her scan it. "Peeta Abernathy. Go ahead." I walk past the desk and a peackeeper escorts me to the 16 male section.
"Rosalyn Abernathy. Go ahead." I hear from the desk and turn around to see Rosie being escorted to the 16 female section. I catch her glance and smile at her. She takes her place next to a girl from the seam.
The sections fill quickly and the reaping begins. The mayor talks first about the victors from the district. Dad's the only person on that list but he seems to find enough to say about him. My name comes up and so does Rosie's. When the mayor finishes, dad walks out and takes his seat on one of three chairs. One for him, one for the mayor and the other one, mum sits in. When the mayor leaves the microphone, mum stands up.
"Welcome, welcome, to the 74th annual hunger games. First a message... From the Capitol." She turns to the TV. 'War, terrible war...' I drown out the sound of the video. It's the same one every year... How the war killed many people blah blah blah.
When the video finishes mum turns to us again. "I just love that!" She smiles. "Anyway. First the girls." She walks over to the female bowl and I tighten my hands into fists. Please not Rosie, not Rosie. When she gets back to the microphone and opens the slip of paper, her face softens... It's not Rosie... Thank god... But who then?
"Katniss Everdeen." I hear mum say. Oh no... I feel a tear fall from my eye as I catch sight of her walking through the crowd.
"NO!" Someone shouts. It's a tiny voice that I recognise as Prim. "KATNISS NO!" I watch as Prim runs out and tries to grab hold of Katniss but she is restrained by a peacekeeper.
"Prim! Get back in line!" Katniss hisses at her.
"No! I VOLUNTEER! I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!" Prim screams at the top of her lungs.
"NO! NO PRIM NO!" Katniss is shouting. I can hear the desperation in her voice. The peackeepers around Katniss restrain her as she tries to get to Prim who is being escorted to the stage. I hear footsteps behind me and see Gale walking out of his section. He grabs Katniss around the waist and pulls her up and over his shoulder. She's pounding at his back but he isn't going to let her go.
"Well!" Mum shouts. "What an interesting turn of events." We all watch as Prim is escorted up the stairs and takes her place next to Mum. "What's your name dear?" She asks.
"Primrose Everdeen." Prim squeaks out. She's crying.
"So that was your sister?"
"Yes."
"Anyway now on with the reaping. Now for the boys." She walks right and sticks her hand in the reaping bowl. When she pulls it out she walks back over to the microphone. This time her face doesn't soften. This time it holds pure dread. It's me. I know it is.
"P- Peeta Abernathy." She says. The crowd around my thins out as everyone moves away from me like there's a bomb attached to my back. I walk through the crowd and bend under the rope. 2 peacekeepers escort me to the stage and I walk up the stairs, taking my place next to my Mother. "Now as usual we have to ask is there anyone who would like to volunteer for Mr Abernathy." I don't expect anyone to say anything but surprisingly someone does.
"Yes! I do! I VOLUNTEER!" I hear. Gale walks, once again, out of his roped area and walks straight to the justice building steps without the peackeepers. "I volunteer for Peeta Abernathy."
"Okay, Peeta back down you go. Young man come up here." I can hear Katniss screaming in the crowd. She runs out but one of the peackeepers catch her. I walk down the stairs and face Gale. "Come say goodbye to me?" He asks.
"Of course." I reply and he walks past me. I reach the bottom just in time to see Katniss break free from the Peackeepers hold and run for the steps. I catch her around the waist and hold her back.
"Let me go!" She shouts at me.
"No, I can't. Wait for the goodbyes!" She looks at me and doesn't even hesitate to throw her arms around my neck and soak my shoulder with her tears.
"Okay our tributes from district 12. Primrose Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne. Shake hands you two." I hear mum say. All I can see is cloudiness as the tears spill over my eyes and into Katniss' hair. 5 minutes later the justice building doors close and they are gone. I stand there with Katniss in my arms as the crowd thins out.
I know this chapter was probably shorter than the others and you probably expected the reaping to be longer but i thought it would be better shorter and faster. Next chapter is the goodbyes!
Please review and tell me what you thought!
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