District One
(Dazzle Sewok's POV)
"DAZZLE!" The scream snaps me out of my daze. I glare at my little sister Jewel. "What?" She giggles. "You were goggling at that girl." I glance across the street again, and back at my sister. It was true, but I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that. "Was not." I smirk. "You so were!" I kick her in the shin. In a flash she has a knife out of her belt and chucks it at me. That's the disadvantage of living in District One. All your siblings are trained with weapons. I catch the knife by the handle at the last second. "Nice try sis. But you'll never be as good as me." I throw the knife into the ground at her feet.
Jewel huffs and storms away, not even bothering to collect her knife. I smirk and turn towards the square. Today was the day. The day I'd been waiting for all my life. I was only 14, but I'd made the male volunteer spot at the training center, beating many people older than me. Finally it was my turn to bring honor to the district, and get out of my neighborhood. We didn't live in a great neighborhood, and I often got into fights with others kids. I beat them easily of course, but once I win the games, I'm going to have a relaxed life.
I turn around and head back to our house. The reapings started in an hour, I needed to be ready. I push open the door and dodge a punch from my little brother Ebony. My family is so violent. "You're late." That cold voice belongs to my older sister Diamond. Our brother Silver was reaped and killed in the games last year. There had been a tie and no one had gotten the volunteer spot. He was a year younger than me, and Diamond blames me for his death. She says I should have volunteered, since I was older, but I couldn't. She knows that. He was only twelve, but you need to have the volunteer spot to volunteer.
I push past her and my other two older sisters and head into my room. I pull on a simple outfit, grey shirt and blue pants and head back downstairs. Diamond is still glaring at me, but my other older sisters glance at me sympathetically. My five younger siblings are all wrestling on the ground, it their reaping outfits. Oh well. They won't get picked anyways. It's my time to shine. As by tradition, none of my family knows I'm volunteering. Diamond will be happy I'm gone, but Jewel will probably miss me. She likes to train with me.
After Diamond gets everyone's attention, we file out of the house and towards the square. All my siblings who are eligible go boldly to their spots, though they know they aren't going in. I fidget with the edge of my shirt as the escort walks on stage. Blah blah blah, speech, video, blah blah blah. She reaches into the bowl of girls names and pulls out a slip. "Pearl Hathaway!" No one bothers to step out of the crowd, since we all know what's going to happen. Sure enough- "I volunteer!" A tough looking girl steps out of the crowd and walks calmly up to the stage.
"And who are you?" The escort asks in a bored voice. "Blackthorne. Kali Blackthrone." The girl responds. I can't keep my eyes off her as the escort bids her congratulations, and reaches into the male bowl. "Hyacinth Manyard!" Silence. Then it dawns on me that they're waiting for me. It's my turn. Right now, the moment I've been waiting for all my life. "I volunteer!"
A/N: Sorry for taking so long. Really, I'm sorry. This is probably one of my shorter chapters, and I'm also sorry about that. I got PMs from some people saying they should be longer, but that's just hard for me, so please don't keep asking me to make them longer. Hope you liked District One at least a little bit…
