A/N: Sorry it's been a while guys, I've been really busy for a while; balancing school and out-of-school activities AND attempting to have a social life is a lot harder than you'd think! I will try to update all my stories more often. But here we go-the fourth chapter. Sorry the reaping is being dragged out, I'm trying to add in as much detail as possible.

Chapter four-The Mockingjay Pin

I walk up to the female peacekeeper and offer her my hand. She pricks it with a needle and harshly shoves my bleeding finger onto paper and logs me into the Capitol database. "Margaret?" she questions. She looks just behind my shoulder at the ever-growing queue. The smallest of the lambs being shepherded by ruthless men with ice-white hearts. She smiles flirtatiously at Darius and then turns her attention back to me. I nod and she replies flatly, "Stay in line and stand with your age group."

I calmly walk through the thick of the crowd to stand next to Delly Cartwright, a girl in my year. I envy Delly. She never has anything bad to say about anyone, and everyone loves her. So how come, even though I am the same as Delly, everybody seems to hate me?

"Hey Madge!" she says bouncing with enthusiasm.

"Hi Delly, how are you doing?" I reply with a fake smile.

"I'm as good as ever! How's your mom? I saw her earlier and she looked a lot better than before!"

"She's great thanks Delly, she's a little bit down, what with it being the reaping, but I really think she's getting better!"

"Oh, hey Katniss, how're you doing?"

Delly suddenly turns her attention to Katniss, who has slid in beside me. Katniss opens her mouth to speak but before she can Effie totters upon the stage and clears her throat, tapping the microphone to make sure it's on.

"Welcome, welcome!" she says in that Capitol accent which everyone takes the mick out of. Personally, I like it. It doesn't suit some people, but as much as I hate to admit it, it works with her. "So, before we begin we are going to watch a short presentation prepared for you by The Capitol!" I really hate the way she pronounces her origin. 'The Capitol!' She makes it sound so amazing, so perfect, instead of revealing it for what it really is. Katniss sighs and turns around to see Gale as the video fills the screens on each side of the stage.

"War. Terrible war. Once, the citizens on Panem rebelled against their leaders in the Capitol. This war killed many men, women and children. These days are now known as 'The dark days.' After the dark days, the Capitol and all of the districts signed a treaty. From the treaty of the treason: In penance for their uprising, each district shall offer up a male and female between the ages of 12 and 18 at a public "Reaping." These Tributes shall be delivered to the custody of the Capitol. And then transferred to a public arena where they will fight to the Death until a lone victor remains. Henceforth and forevermore this pageant shall be known as The Hunger Games."

I look at Katniss to see her laughing, as usual. I look at her questioningly, but she just shakes her head. I let out a sigh and Delly gives me a half-smile of sympathy. She is the only person who knows how much I envy Katniss and Gale. Luckily, Delly isn't a tell-tale. I give her a small smile back and then Effie speaks again.

"Ohh, I just love that!" she says smiling. She meets my eyes and then quickly looks away, seeing the pain she is inflicting by dragging it out. "Right, let's start with the girls then, shall we?" She walks over the first bowl, takes off her glove and puts her manicured hand into the glass container and moves her hand about. She then moves her hand into the swarm of names and pulls out a perfectly folded piece of paper. She wobbles back to the middle of the stage and unfolds the slip that condemns another child to their gruesome end. She clears her throat and speaks out the name that made me heart stop.

"Primrose Everdeen." She scans the crowd looking for her. She is standing at least 5 rows in front of us, but I can still see all of the children around her move away to reveal her. I become frozen to the spot as two peacekeepers take her by the arms and start to pull her up to the stage. Oh god. Why Prim? She's got to be the most innocent, caring child in the whole of Panem! "Oh god," I whisper aloud, and I hear Delly gasp. We both seem to have forgotten about Katniss. Until we hear her scream.

"STOP! I VOLUNTEER!" Everybody gasps as Katniss bursts out the crowd. "I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!" she yells, as if she's scared that they won't hear her. The peacekeepers let go of Prim as Effie claps her hands together.

"Well, I believe that we have a volunteer!" she says into the microphone. She sounds just as surprised as the rest of us. I don't know why, I mean, if my sister was reaped I'd do the exact same thing. "NO! NO, KATNISS NO! PLEASE, NOO!" Prim cries as Gale moves out of the crowd and grabs her by the waist, pulling her to the back before nodding at Katniss, his eyes filled with tears. Prim thrashes about, punching Gale in the jaw and kicking him in the stomach. I run out of the crowd to help him and I grab Prim's arms, stopping her from hurting Gale as she proceeds to kick and bite me instead. I turn my head momentarily to see Katniss on the stage shaking.

"So dear, what's your name?" Effie asks, turning the microphone towards Katniss.

"Katniss Everdeen." She replies shortly, staring at Gale.

"Oh," Effie says, and I swear I see her smile drop, "I'll bet my hat, that was your sister."

"Yes," Katniss chokes.

I see Delly bring her three fingers to her lips and then put them in the air as a salute. Soon, everyone in the square is doing it, even my mother, who has stood up on the stage and moved onto the floor to comfort Mrs Everdeen.

"We'd better move on the boys then."

I have to turn back around and let go of Prim's arms to wrap them around her waist and pull her onto me so that Gale can leave. He looks at me, watching Prim claw at me whilst his eyes water. "Thank you," he whispers to me, and he runs out of the square as a small blonde haired boy called Peeta steps up to the stage.

Mrs Everdeen runs towards me and tries to stop Prims fighting, only to fail and get hit across the face. "Prim? Prim!" she yells over the crowd that's now rushing out of the square. Prim kicks her in the stomach and Mrs Everdeen falls to the floor. "Mrs Everdeen! We need to get into the town hall!" I shout. We shove our way through the congregation using my back as a shield so that nobody else gets hurt by the screaming Prim.

By the time we get to the town hall I have bruises on my arms, legs, stomach and face. We reach the double doors and I put Prim on the floor and kneel in front of her. "Prim? We need to go see Katniss. Can you please stop hurting me?" I say quietly. When Prim finally calms down I stroke her hair and pull her into a hug. "There we go! We can't let Katniss see you break down, can we? It'll just make her more worried," I look her in the eyes and she gives a weak smile, "Now, you need to go with your mom and see Katniss and tell her that you're ok, because otherwise she'll be upset, and we can't have that!" Prim nods and wipes her eyes. "So can you do that for me?" She nods and I give her a smile, a real smile.

"Are you here to see the tributes?" a peacekeeper asks.

"Yes sir, we are." Mrs Everdeen replies, getting a hold on Prim's hand. I stand up with them and walk into the hall.

The first thing I see is white. Everything is white. White and brown. All of the walls are white. All of the windows are white. Everyone's clothes brown. All the doors are brown. The monotonic colours make me feel sick. You'd think they would either make it look posh or business-y. But no. Because District 12 is 'at the bottom of the heap' we get the worst décor in the world. "Miss Everdeen is in the through the door on the left, Mr Mellark is through the door on the right." The peacekeeper says to us.

"Thank you," I say, and I run towards the seats outside the two doors, pulling Prim and Mrs Everdeen with me. I sit in the seat closest to the door and Mrs Everdeen and Prim go in to see her. I pull out a mirror and some concealer and start covering my wounds when I hear a door open. I turn around to see Mr Mellark, the town baker, leaving the room that holds his son, his eyes red. My heart brakes as I watch him sit down on the chairs outside the room and break down. He starts sobbing, his head in his hands. Before I realise what is happening, I find myself sitting next to him, handing him a tissue. "Thanks Madge," he whispers as his wife enters the corridor and Mrs Everdeen and Prim leave the room where Katniss is. "It's no problem sir."

I walk into the room that holds my only friend and she gives a smile. "Katniss I'm so, SO sorry! This shouldn't be happening to you!" I run up to her a pull her into a bone-crushing hug. She accepts for a minute and then pulls away to look at me. "Katniss, I have something that I want you to take with you. Every tribute is allowed a token from their district, and I want you to have this." I open my hand and give her the pin that mom gave to me for my first reaping. A golden mockingjay in flight, with an arrow-my mother's best weapon. "It will bring you luck," I say, replenishing the memory. Katniss looks at me sadly and then stares at the pin. "I can't take this," she whispers.

"You have to. Please, you need to have something to remember us by when you go into the arena. You need to have something to remember your friends by." A tear rolls down Katniss' cheek and she hastily wipes it away in an attempt to look strong. But I know that she isn't. Unlike everyone else in this godforsaken town, I can see all emotion before I even begins.

I hear a weak sob from outside the door. "I'd better go," I say, "I think someone else wants to see you."

"Madge?" she says from across the room as I open the door, "Thank you. For everything."

I step back into the corridor and Mr Mellark steps into the room to see Katniss. I sit back down and put my head in my hands. "Madge?" I hear a small voice and look up to see Gale standing across the hallway from me. "Oh god," he whispers and he walks over to me. "Did Prim do all of this to you?" he asks, moving a piece of my hair behind my ears and looking at the poorly hidden cuts and bruises on my face. I struggle to breathe as he kneels beside me and starts to shake. "G-Gale, don't," I say. He wipes away tears that I didn't even realise were streaming down my face.

"I am so sorry Madge. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't watch her standing up there!" I grab Gale's hand and lift up his head so that he has to look at me. "Gale, its ok. I understand."

Katniss' door opens and Mr Mellark walks out, still sniffling. Gale looks at me and then stands up. "I have to go."

And with that he walks in to see Katniss, leaving alone me once again, to sit and cry.