IMPORTANT A/N: Suprise! New chapter! I haven't updated in so long that I thought I would go ahead and do the reapings replay without having all the tributes. It actually worked out really well doing it this way so I'm happy with it(: I hope you all are okay with what the way I have portrayed you tributes and if your not, let me know and I'll see what I can do in the next chapter. I also still really need the rest of the tributes. The form for tributes is on my profile, and the list of available tribute spots is in a previous chapter. Hope you like this chapter. Its a bit longer than the others which is good I hope. But anyways, hope you have an amazing holiday! Merry Christmas!

Oh and a special thanks to anyone that has reviewed. It makes my day like ten billion times better when I get your feedback!(:

xoxo,

Nikki


The majority of my afternoon was spent pacing the floor in my new room. I wish I could just shut my brain off and stop thinking for awhile. I'm thinking too much about all the 'what ifs' and I can feel the familiar swell of panic in my chest. I take a couple calming breaths and try to force myself back into the role of the calm confident girl I had been just a few hours ago.

My hands are resting on the vanity in my room as I take a couple deep breaths. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I can't help but stare because I look so... normal. I don't know why this suprises me, its not like I thought I would suddenly look like a killer once I got here. I bring my shaky hands up and twist a stand of my hair out of my face.

I don't mean to sound conceited or stuck up, but I'm pretty. I've even had a fair share of admirers call me beautiful. They all liked my long, tan legs, piercing green eyes, and wavy, light brown hair. It all made me stand out from the crowd of dark haired, pale skinned girls in the Seam. My normally wavy hair is even more defined after I took it out of its braid, and it now sweeps past my shoulders like a waterfall, framing my face and making me look sweet and girly.

I could easily take that route stradegy-wise. I can pretend to be the pretty airhead and join a group of alpha males that will do all the dirty work. I've seen this stradegy used dozens of times with varying success. Sometimes the pretty girl ends up floating along with her alliance, a nonthreat in their eyes, then stabbing them in the back in the final four. Most of the time though, the pretty girl isn't smart enough to carry out the whole plan. She becomes to comfortable, and is disposed of once they've gotten what they want from of her.

I could do it. I could make it to the end without them even suspecting I had a brain in this pretty little head of mine. Do I really want to be that girl though? Constantly relying on my looks and my allies to carry me through the games. No.

Now, I pull my hair up in a harsh ponytail on top of my head. I still look beautiful, just in a fierce and dangerous way.

In this situation, I would be the fatal threat. The ultimate femme fatal. I would be a loner, or possibly the leader of a group of strong tributes. Of course I would be stronger, and everyone would know it. I wouldn't hide my strengths, instead I would flaunt them in an almost effortless way. Everyone would be after me, the strongest competitor, and I would pretend this didn't phase me at all. The only problem with this is that I have a job, and everyone would be looking over their shoulder at every snap of a twig praying that it wasn't me, but being prepared for when it was. I want the element of suprise on my side.

I let my hair fall again with a sigh, but sweep it up into a messy low ponytail this time. For now I will try to be just ordinary. I'll be a pretty girl that's quite and athletic. This will work atleast until I meet the other tributes and decide what to do from there.

Soon I'm called to dinner with Kazran, Yuki, and Smith. I haven't bothered changing out of my green reaping dress and my hair is still in a messy low ponytail. Before I enter the dining room, I throw my shoulders back and hold my head high. I want Smith to know that I don't care what he says because he's wrong. I'm not going to die in these games.

I take the last open seat at the table with Kazran to my right, Smith to my left, and Yuki straight across from me. It's awkward to say the least. No one is talking, we are all just spooning food into our mouths and avoiding eachother's eyes. The uncomfortable silence is broken with an even more uncomfortable conversation.

"So..." Yuki pauses, "Are you excited to see who the other tributes are?"

"Yeah. Thrilled." Kazran mumbles quietly causing me to force back a laugh. Is she really that dense? Why would anyone be excited to see the people that they have to kill?

"I don't know if excited is really the right word." I inform her in a clear voice. She seems suprised that I even spoke, let alone that I sound calm.

"Yes well um..." She tries to continue the conversation, but it's hopeless and we slip back into silence. A few minutes later, I can feel the burn of someone's eyes on me. I look to the side and find that Smith has completely stopped eating and is staring at me shamelessly. How weird can this guys get?

"Can I help you with something?" I raise my eyebrows at him. He just keeps studying me with this look of concentration on his face.

" You will not be training together." He states. This catches Kazran's attention.

"Uh... I thought that was supposed to be our decision."

"Why? Is your decision any different than the one I made for you?" He questions Kazran while still keeping his eyes on me.

"Well. No."

"Okay then. Like I said, you will be training separately. I also expect both of you to be present after dinner during the showings of the reapings. There are some things we need to go over." I've stayed silent up until now.

"Of course. Now if you'll excuse me I think I'm going to go to my room. I'll be back before it starts." I say. I mainly want to use this time to recollect myself before watching the reapings.

When I get to my room, I decide to go ahead and get ready for bed so I don't have to after the reapings. I stride over to the dresser in the corner of the room and yank open the top drawer. I quickly find undergarments and a white nightgown that falls to about the middle of my calf. I jump in the shower and wash my hair, before drying off and stepping into my pajamas. I run a brush through my hair quickly and then leave it to dry naturally.

When I reach the living room, I'm disappointed to find that Smith is the only one there yet. Thankfully he's not staring at me anymore. Instead, he hands me a notebook and a pen, then reaches behind me to hand one to Kazran who just arrived along with Yuki.

"While we watch, I want you to write down the tributes you think are threats or bloodbaths or basically any notes you have about them." He tells us and I walk over and sit in a chair infront of the tv.

While I'm waiting for the reapings to come on, I make a list of all the districts and write "male" and"female" under each one. He wants us to write who we think are threats, but in a game where everyone is trying to kill you, isn't everyone a threat? I quickly go down the list and write "threat" next to every tribute. Then I flip the page and label my paper again.

Suddenly the announcer comes on and a video is shown from district one. This is it, the replay of the reapings has begun. After their mayor speaks and their district escort takes the stage, I start to get nervous. This is a career district and they are most likely going to be some of my biggest competitors. The escort barely has time to reach for the female's bowl when someone volunteers.

The girl that takes the stage is gorgeous and she's definately younger than most careers. She has long, snow white blonde hair and the palest skin I have ever seen. She looks like an ice queen and she has cold green eyes to match. She struts up to the mic with a smug look on her face and introduces herself.

"Jennie Malacox, age fifteen." she provides and smiles cruely, "And I always get what I want."

The way she said it, sent shivers up my spine and I couldn't help but believe her.

Right when she is finished talking, there is a volunteer for male tribute. He is the polar opposite of his district partner. He is very tall and has shoulder length black hair which contrasts greatly with his pale skin. When he introduces himself as Crawn Xeil, his voice is warm and polite which contradicts his icy blue eyes.

District two is similar in the fact that people volunteered faster than the escort could draw a name. The male tribute, Tanoe Zeffer, is a huge burly guy with brown hair and eyes. He is very muscular and could overtake me easily. He's the kind of guy that I would assume would try to win by brute force, but you can't judge a book by it's cover. I will need to watch out for him. The female is obviously a career tribute also, and therefore is a major threat.

The next tribute is upsetting. The girl that was drawn from the bowl is only thirteen and small for her age. She has long, dark curly hair and big blue-gray eyes. You could tell she was terrified because when her name was called, she didn't move. This happens alot, but with her it was different. She wasn't just shocked that her name had been called, it was like she was frozen. I'm screaming in my head for her to move, atleast pretend she's okay so that she might have a chance. She never does. Someone has to carry her onto the stage. I stop watching for a minute because I'm truely horrified and I miss district three's male tribute.

I can already tell that I am not going to like district four's female tribute, and for only one reason. When her name was called, she flipped her black, wavy hair out of her face and said, "Oh! That's my name! Oh well, this could be fun!" and pranced up to the stage. She acted as if this was one huge, fun game. At least the careers understood that this was serious.

Districts five and six weren't very memorable, but that would most likely change once I actually saw them in person. Finally, it is time for district seven. The whole reason I'm here. I'm hoping that he's some horrible guy that I won't feel a single drop of remorse for having to kill. Unfortunately, I'm never that lucky.

When the district seven male tribute is called, I hold my breath. Suddenly the camera zooms in on a tall guy in the seventeen age group with broad shoulders and tan skin. He takes a hesitant step forward and then he realizes everyone is watching him and he tilts his head up a little higher. He's got muscles, but he's not ripped and his dark brown hair is cut short.

His chocolate brown eyes scan the crowd before landing on someone outside the view of the camera's. He gives a sweet, goofy smile and mouths, "It's okay." to the mystery person. But then it's not a mystery because the camera has focused on a women crying her eyes out in the audience. It's obviously his mother. This is just my luck. Of course he's not only gorgeous, he's a nice person. Oh Griffin Alden, if only you knew that everything was definately not okay.

For the rest of the reapings, my stomach continued to churn. The district eight and nine tributes weren't very outstanding, except the district nine female tribute. If I thought I wanted to throw up after I saw the thirteen year old girl and Griffen, it was nothing compared to when they zoomed in on a two year old in the crowd when Brandi Hahn, the district nine tribute, voluntered.

The baby girl in the audience was an exact replica of Brandi. They had the same bleach blonde curly hair and blue eyes. the only differece was that Brandi's hair fell to her waist and she has a huge scar on her face from her eyebrow to her chin. The girl was obviously her daughter, and Brandi had voluntered for the games anyways.

District ten brought another shocked thirteen year old, but this time she has dirty blonde hair reaching right past her shoulders, innocent eyes, and sunkissed skin. She's one more kid that thought the odds were in her favor, but she was terribly wrong. Her district partner, Tyler Rivers, has a round face, longish dark hair, and friendly brown eyes. He's wearing a checkered shirt and a ten gallon hat that makes his overall appearance look like something out of a history book.

Soon we had seen district eleven and all that was left was district twelve. We sat watching our own reapings in silence. It was weird to see Yuki call out the girl's name just how I remembered her doing and it was even weirder seeing myself volunteer. I kept my composure well, and acted flawlessly just as I thought I had. They only show Rosie for a brief moment in the crowd, but that's all it takes for me to feel the tears welling up in my eyes. Then Kazran is reaped and I can see the exact moment that I remember the fire lighting up his eyes turning his scared expression into one that showed he was determined to win.

The reapings are over, and I can finally breath again. The silence is broken by Smith.

"So what do you think? Let me see you lists." He demands. I flip my paper back over and rip out the first list I made that deemed all the tributes a threat. I can hear Kazran ripping his out as well. We both hand them over at the same time, and I watch patiently for his reaction.

"Do you think this is some kind of joke?" He asks through gritted teeth. He shoves our papers in front of him so we can read each other's. I'm not the only one that turned in a fake list to Smith. Kazran's list has all the districts numbered and by every tribute, the word "DEAD" is written in all capital letters, including mine. Next to his name though, the word "ALIVE" is written and underlined heavily.

"Well, I think that in a game where everyone is trying to kill you, everyone is a threat." I explain.

"And if I'm going to come out alive, everyone else will have to be dead." Kazran added. In my opinion, he was right, but it was still disturbing that he had done it.

"Go to bed." Smith choked out trying not to scream at us.

That night my dreams were plagued by district seven male tributes, huge careers, and the word "DEAD" scrawled in big capital letters next to my name.