At my house, the dinner before the reaping is always "special" as my dad calls it. We talk about who we think will get reaped and who has the best chance of winning, mentors and such Hunger Games talk.
Tonight the waiters serve pork and a green tinted soup. I pick around at my meal until my mother asks about my day, "Well honey, how was training."
"Fine." I tell the dinner plate.
"What's wrong Clove."
"I had a bad day alright!" I storm out of the dining room and sprint up the spiral staircase to my bedroom. When I'm there I fling myself onto my bed and lie there till I fall asleep.
The sun on my face and the smell of bacon wake me up the next morning. Then only after I've finished filling up on my bacon and egg breakfast I realize that today is the reaping.
I sit at the edge of my bed and wonder how the day will play out. I see that at the other side of the room my reaping dress has been laid out on the side of my desk chair. The dress is a shimmery sliver, the only color besides black, white, and brown that I can stand, and it looks to only have one sleeve. I stop wondering and decide to try the dress on. It fits perfectly and it falls right above my knees. It does only have one strap and it almost looks like what they used to call a "prom dress". The dress was made in the Capitol, so it probably very expensive, and just like my mother to buy expensive clothes for one occasion and wear them once.
Right after I finished examining my new dress, my mother pops right into my room and is almost ecstatic about me trying on my reaping dress. "Oh, you look fantastic in that dress, I had it specially made for you. But more importantly how do you like it?"
"It great Mom. Thanks for getting it for me." (I try to make my mom feel like I don't hate completely her.)
"Well its great that you like it. Lunch is at noon so come down then, ok?"
"Got it." I return. I decide to go to the library on the other side of the estate. Even though I don't read, the second floor of the library has a view of District 2's Capitol Square.
On my way to the library I weave my way through the people waiting to see my father and through the maids and groundskeepers trying to keep the estate spotless. On any other day but today I would usually try to cause some trouble and spill a pitcher of orange juice on the carpet or something of that nature but today is the reaping so I try to be on my best behavior. When I arrive at the library I open the ten feet tall doors and silently walk inside. No one besides my dad ever comes in here do everything looks like it hasn't been used in fifty years. There are huge bookshelves full of ancient looking books. I walk across the big tall ceilinged room to the six feet tall windows overlooking the square. The only reason I ca me here was to see the lame peacekeepers set up the "decorations" for the reaping.(personally I think they're cheesy) Right now two of them are decorating the white marble Justice Building. Four of the peacekeepers are struggling to put up one of the big banners that display the Capitol seal. I hear breathing and I reach for the knife in my belt. "They're ridiculous, aren't they Clove." The voice I can only know is Cato's.
I turn around and try to slash him with my knife but he's to quick. "It's not very nice to sneak up on someone." I say in a playful tone. "But, on other terms are you ready to go to the Games?"
"Yea, I'm really excited. But I wish you could go with me it would be really fun to be a tribute with you." Then as soon as Cato says that the grandfather clock in the corner of the room chimes it's little song and bongs twelve times, signaling that it is time for lunch. I invite Cato to eat with us and he gladly accepts my offer.
On the patio overlooking the pool and the mountains, Cato, Mom, Dad, and I sit down for lunch. For this meal our servers bring each of us our favorite sandwiches, my favorite is a BLT. It is awkwardly silent at the outside table until I look up for a second and Cato and my eyes meet for a second and looks at his sandwich and pushes back his chair and stands, which cause my whole family to look at him. As he starts to walk away he says, "Thanks for lunch. I gotta go and get ready for the reaping, bye Clove."
I walk to the fifteen-year-old girls section and look for Cato, he's right next to the stage ready to volunteer when another boy is reaped. Then Baleana, District 2 very own escort comes onto the stage with her eight inch heels click-clacking their way to the microphone set up in the center of the stage. She reads her speech and takes her seat on the other side of the stage so she doesn't have to sit next to the victors of District 2. I see Brutus whisper something to Enobaria and she laughs really loud. I almost laugh when Baleana shoots her a dirty look. Then Mayor Penson gives his speech about the Capitol and other boring subjects.
I have this sudden impulse to get closer to the stage, so I slip out of the roped off area and sneak around the corner of the Justice Building and stay hidden, until Baleana says, "Ladies first." and I know that my time is coming. "Topaz Sparkle Shimmer."
I sprint up to the stage and say "I volunteer!"
The crowd gasps because I'm not old enough to volunteer, so I'm pretty much breaking the rules (which I'm used to). I scan the crowd and I see that Topaz has not even gotten out of the roped area, but she and Nollie are definitely steaming.
To brake the now near silence Baleana says in her disgusting Capitol accent, "What's your name and age sweets."
"Clove Ashwind. 15." I say in a semi-proud voice.
"We'll lovely Clove. Lets move onto the boys." Baleana says as moves to the boy's ball and picks out a name. "Mason Hartwhig"
Cato almost casually walks onto the stage and says, "I volunteer." and no one says anything and all they do is clap for him, even Topaz and Nollie.
Then they lead both of us into the Justice Building.