Chapter 4: District 1
Quinn:
The town square was buzzing with excitement. People made last minute bets on who would be reaped, and who would volunteer first, and throngs of teenagers talked excitedly about the days upcoming events.
Quinn stood alone under a large oak tree located in the corner of the square. The sunlight glimmered through the leaves, throwing dappled light across her face. She watched as a child, probably in their first year of having their name in the Reaping ball, cried into their mother's chest. Pathetic, she thought. She had heard that in other districts the Reaping was feared. Quinn thought this preposterous. Being able to participate in the games was a huge honour here in District 1, after all, 1 does have the largest pool of victors, she thought.
She emerged from where she lurked and made her way over to where she was required to stand. Just as the last people fell into place, the mayor, escort and numerous past victors made their way onto the stage. The mayor approached the microphone and welcoming the residents of District 1 to the Reaping, began to read from the long list of victors.
He then handed the microphone over to the escort, a tall thin man with a pointed red wig, tight suit of the same hue and orange-tinted skin.
"What a pleasure it is to be back here again! For those of you who don't remember, or may be new this year, I am Scorpii Ivory!" He said, sounding very enthusiastic, "Now let's watch a very special film that was sent here straight from the Capitol!"
The film began to roll, and when it finished, a round of applause echoed throughout the square.
"Now to see who will have the honour of participating in the 98th annual Hunger Games!" Scorpii said, receiving a cheer from the crowd. "As is traditional, ladies first!"
He walked toward the large glass bowl and reached an orange hand in,
"Dorothea Greenlaw!" He called.
The crowd parted and a tiny, twelve year old girl emerged. Her almost white blond hair was tied ponytails on either side of her head and her skin was so pale it almost seems as if she was dead.
The crowd let out a groan of disgust at the clear weakness the girl possessed. She could never be a suitable tribute.
Once Dorothea had taken her place on stage, the escort made his way to the boys' reaping ball.
"Whytt Rudolphine!"
When the District saw their male tribute, they let out shouts of outrage. Another twelve year old. It is fairly rare for those in their first year to be reaped, let alone two from the same district. It seemed outrageous.
Scorpii greeted both of the young children and then speaking directly into the microphone said the five words that everyone was waiting to hear,
"Do we have any volunteers?"
All hell broke loose. The seventeen and eighteen year olds all ran to the stage hoping to be the first ones up, thus being the new tribute.
Quinn leapt onto the stage, pushing a frightened looking Dorothea aside. Her reason for entering the games was so much more complex than just honour.
Quinn was somewhat of an outcast among her neighbours. She had fallen pregnant two years ago, at the age of sixteen, and for this was shunned by the rest of her district. She believed that if she won, she could bring herself redemption. And anyway, she thought, if I don't win, so what. I don't have anything to live for. Either way, this is the best solution imaginable.
She glanced to her left to see who her counterpart was, doing a double take when she saw his muscular body and close cropped Mohawk.
Quinn had avoided him for the last two years. Yes, he had tried to talk and interact with her, but she had done all she could to distance her self from him. He was the one who had gotten her pregnant two years ago, and not only had he wanted her to keep the baby, which Quinn refused, he had wanted to raise it with her. Quinn tried to despise him, as she knew she should, but in truth, she had always loved him.
She looked at the ground as Scorpii asked him his name,
"Noah Puckerman," he answered, his head held high.
