District Five:

Neal's POV:

Left strike … Lunge... Left strike… Right strike… Lunge … Right strike…

"Neal, stop it and go take a shower! Otherwise, I will come down there with a bucket and soap and scrub you from head to toe! I know you won't enjoy that!" I shivered, since I knew she wasn't kidding. I stopped punching the dummy and wiped the sweat from my brow. Right now, I was in my basement practicing. I liked boxing a lot. It helped me get out a lot of my frustration.

"Just a minute, mom. I'll be right up!" I quickly cleaned up. This room was also the wine cellar and nothing made my mother madder than coming down here to get a bottle of wine and seeing a puddle of sweat.

"Fifty-nine…fifty-eight…fifty-seven…" I rolled my eyes. I wasn't five anymore! I ran up the stairs. My mom smiled and kept cooking. I gave her a big, sweaty hug to get back at her. She squealed and hit me as hard as she could.

"Shower. NOW!" I laughed it off and went up the stairs. My mom could be such a girl sometimes! I hopped into the shower and washed as quickly as possible. Today was Reaping Day, and I just wanted to get it over with. It was my last one and, after that, I had my entire life ahead of me. I would never have to worry about getting reaped again! I went into my bedroom and quickly changed into khaki pants and a blue polo. I could have dressed nicer, but I really didn't want to. The quicker I dressed the quicker it would be over.

I walked out of my room and shut the door. I felt bad for the kids who had nothing to wear for Reaping Day. I always had something to wear…my father was pretty rich, which made me rich by association. It was nice getting what I wanted, but I never really wanted a lot. I just wanted a loving family, food to eat, one or two outfits to wear, and a roof over my head. What more could I ask for?

"Big brother! Wait up!"

I turned around to see my little sister, Hali, running towards me. I picked her up and put her on my shoulders. She was eleven, and a bit too old for this, but I did it anyways. We had the same brown hair, but different eyes. Hers were blue, while mine were auburn. I was the typical district five kid. I had brown hair, brown eyes, but pale skin. Of course, I still didn't blend in.

Most people avoided me because I had an interest in boxing. They thought I was a career. That's another reason I was excited for the Reapings to be over. They would finally realize I wasn't a career and treat me like one of them. I only had one best friend, Leon, and a girlfriend, ReeRee. I also had my family, but sometimes I needed someone besides them to talk to!

I set Hali down on at the dinner table and sat down as well. My dad, John, was sitting as well. My mom served us all up and we ate our fill. We never had to worry about food either. It was a pretty good life, if I did say so myself.

"All right, I'm going to go meet up with my friends. See you after the Reapings," I gave them all hugs. I felt bad for my sister. She had no idea what was going on. My parents sheltered her as much as possible. I didn't think that was a good idea, but whatever…

I went outside and started jogging. I eventually made it to our normal meeting place and they were waiting.

"You are always so slow," Leon laughed, "if you were being chased by a turtle you would be the one to lose," I lightly punched him in the arm and gave ReeRee a quick kiss.

We started walking towards the center, talking and laughing. We never liked to think about what Reaping day had in store for us. We finally made it and split up. ReeRee was a year younger than us. Leon and I stood towards the front so we had air to breathe. We kept talking and laughing until the Mayor started his speech. I listened out of respect. It was about how the first rebellion failed and the Capital was all supreme. We get it. Did they always need to rub in our faces how much we sucked?

I scanned through who the mentors were. They were always the same because we only had two living victors. Memory, who had won a few years ago, and Felix. Memory was petite and pale, but had bright red hair. It was quite unusual for someone to had red hair in this district. Felix was huge and had pale skin and dark brown hair. They complimented each other quite nicely. She was the brains and he was the brawns.

Our escort walked to the ball and dug around for the girl tributes name. He didn't even try to make it suspenseful. Wow, that was a first.

"Paloma Moretti!" I heard a gasp and then a grunt. I looked to my right to see a dark skinned and dark haired girl mount the stage. She didn't look angry, but really annoyed. Just like something came up that ruined something that you were planning to do. She was short, probably around five feet, but seemed to make up for it in her temper. He asked for any volunteers and no one volunteered. What a shocker.

He dug around for the boys name and I closed my eyes. It wouldn't be me…it couldn't be me…

"Neal Dawson!"

It was me.

I put on my best smile and walked to the stage. I could win…right? I knew how to box…I could fight my way to the top. Yeah, I had a chance. I stood proud and kept my smile up. Part of me wanted to cry, but I had to stay strong.

"Any volunteers"

"I volunteer!" I heard someone yell and I gulped. Oh gosh no.

Hali hobbled up to the stage. I heard people laughing and I tried to keep my smile up. She didn't know what she awes doing. I told my parent to not shelter her so much.

"Uh," the escort mumbled, "Sorry, you're a tad too young," he ushered her off the stage and continued the show. I shook hands with Paloma and gulped. I could tell right here and now we weren't going to be getting along. She wouldn't allow it.

Paloma's POV:

I couldn't believe that I was reaped! I could just…just kill someone! Why, why did this have to happen to me! It wasn't fair…it just wasn't fair! Of course, would it be any fairer for some fourteen year old to be reaped. At least I was seventeen and could handle it. Gosh, I hated the Capital!

I stepped into my waiting room and, well, waited. Someone would come see me! At least my family should! I sighed and did one of my least favorite things, thinking. My district partner didn't seem like a complete idiot, but you never knew. Of course, I doubted we would be allies anyways. All allies brought were agony, heartbreak, and frustration. Maybe a little more comfort and protection, but it wasn't worth the pain. I walked over the mirror and looked at myself. I wasn't pretty, but certainly wasn't ugly. I took my brown hair out of its pony tail and brushed my fingers through it.

It never listened to me. I quickly put it back up and walked away from the mirror. I wasn't really presentable for Reaping Day. I was just wearing black boots, jeans, and a red sweatshirt. It was pretty much what I wore every day. I was pretty poor. If I didn't die, then I wouldn't be. There was always a silver lining with Paloma!

I tried to think strategy, but my mind kept drawing a blank. I was never really a "plan" type of girl. I kind of made decisions on my emotions or just on what looked the best at the second. It wasn't the smartest way to live, but whoever said I was smart.

My first visitor was a bit of a surprise. It was Teegan, my only best friend. She was also one of my only ex best friends. She was super sweet, nice, and smart. Pretty much the opposite of me. Blonde and perky, she was loved by a lot of people. The reason we were best friends was because she lived so close by and, frankly, I couldn't help but like her. We used to say we balanced each other out. Yeah, that worked out so well. No big blow out happened, but she started hanging with all those other perky popular girls and forgot all about me…

I'm not going to lie, it hurt. It hurt a lot. What was I going to do? Go cry and emo my face off? No thanks!

"Hey," she mumbled.

"Hey," I said back icily. Then there was one of the most awkward silences of my life.

"So…you were reaped…" she murmured.

"Wow, took a genius to figure that one out," I replied. She looked me straight in the eye and I saw tears in hers. Oh great, here come the waterworks. She started crying and I hugged her and patted her back. Shouldn't this be switched around? Shouldn't I be the one who needs comforting?

Finally, when it was over, she said," Here take this." She threw something at me and left.

I picked it up and saw it was a pink, sparkly band for my pony tail. Did she really expect me to use this as my token? She should have known how much I hated pink and sparkles. I sighed and replaced my worn one with it. I had nothing better to use as my token, might as well humor her.

Next my parents came in and I run into their arms. They both were all ready crying and I couldn't help but start crying as well. I mean, they loved me and gave birth to me! How could I not cry when they were crying? They comforted me and left. It was a nice goodbye.

The next person who came in was the one person I was looking forward to the most. It was my older brother, Dario. He was twenty-two and already moved out of the house. He was my only sibling and we loved each other to death. We had the same dark, curly hair and the same olive skin. The only difference was that he was 5"6', had hazel eyes, and was a boy. The last one was the biggest difference.

He was trying not to cry and he hugged me.

"This shouldn't be happening," he whispered.

"But it is," I said bluntly.

"Just…just try to come back."

"I'll do better than try! I will come back!" We both laughed. One thing we were was survivors. Survivors with quick tempers, but survivors none the less.

"What's this all about," he asked, touching my new band.

"Don't ask. Let's just say I had a very awkward good bye with Teegan." We both laughed and made even more jokes. It was just like we were at home. Finally, the Peacekeepers came and he left. I followed after him and started towards the train. I had to make it home. For my brother, for my parents, for myself. I wasn't a quitter! I would just have to outwit, outfight, and outwin everyone! Easier said than done, huh?

Review! Haha that's always my first word! Tell me what you think about these tributes! I like them, but I like all the tributes haha also, tell me your favorite color! I know that's a very odd request, but humor me!