I wish the wind would carry a change

Looking through the window to a world of dreams

I can see my future slip away

Honey you won't get there if you don't believe

I wish the wind would carry a change

Erika Ryner, 13

District 5 female.

"Are you sure miiss… Thank you so much." the man sitting on the curb takes the wadded up bills with a look of genuine bewilderment on his face. I look around checking for peacekeepers and luckily there isn't one around at the moment.

"It really is my pleasure." I pat him on the shoulder, return the smile and keep walking.

I am thrown into a memory. I am 10 years old. I am sitting in the living room with my parents. The pale blue curtains clash with the floral print couch and it makes it somewhat somber and gloomy. They were talking about the people of district 5. They were being so unfair and cruel even and I just couldn't take it anymore, so I thought I would chime in. I guess I've never really understood how a human being could look at another one and decide they are less.

"We have more than enough money for our family, maybe if we don't like the people who are struggling, we could give them money." I suggested.

"Don't be foolish Erika." my mother laughed.

"I'm not being foolish, some people here need it way more than we do." I smiled at my father hoping he would side with me. He didn't.

"Erika, you are being idiotic. We will not help those plebeians. Go upstairs and let the adults talk." He scoffed and sent me running.

I did something that some people would consider terrible next and I've kept up with it until this very day. I took money from my parents and started giving it to the people who needed it. Part of me feels terrible about it, but I also know that it's something that needs to be done.

I shake the memory off.

It's not that people in district 5 are dirt poor because they aren't but I just hate the way the citizens are treated here. My family is one of the few wealthy families in district 5. My parents own a small and well known power plant that brings electricity to the capitol itself. Needless to say, I've always had everything that I've needed. I look at the remaining bills that I have carefully placed in the pocket of my dress and walk towards home. I see the woman that I had given money to last week. She has a child on each hip and looks like she is exhausted. We make eye contact and she starts to walk over to me.

"There is our sweet, sweet Erika!" She comes over and embraces me in a tight squeeze that is almost impossible to get out of.

I hug her back and kiss each of her young children on their foreheads.

"I always love seeing your smiling face, it makes my day." She pokes my nose.

"I have to get home, but I hope you all have a really good day!" I wave at her and continue on.

"So sweet, that one." the woman whispers as I walk away.

Having people in the district adore me can be pretty awkward at times, but I do enjoy it. There is something about bringing a smile to a person's face that I just absolutely adore. People are people no matter how much money they have. Something needs to change and I really believe that I can help move it along. I know I'm young but I am not incapable of making a difference.

It's so easy to lose all the meaning of who you are

What is your definition of a true super star?

Is it beauty? Is it money? Is it power? Is it fame?

Are you in it for the glory? What's the purpose? What's the gain?

Bryce Constantin, 18

District 5 male

"Oh Bryce! It is so good to see you!" One of my moms friends pinches my cheeks.

"It is very good to see you Ms. Donahughe, You are looking good as usual." I shake her hand and flash her a smile.

"How is school going, still all A's" she gives me an expectant look.

"Of course. I'm in the top of my class this year." I am tired of holding this smile.

My mom and dad drag me to these parties with them with all these people pretending like it's the Capitol or something. It gets old.

"Brixon.. oh my goodness I am so sorry, I mean Bryce." A man sitting across the table from me yells.

My parents eyes get wide and my moms smile tightens.

The mention of my brothers name throws me through a loop.

"Brixon! Wake up!" I don't think the sound of my mother screaming for my brother will ever leave my brain. Her high pitched screeching and wailing will be something that I will hear for the rest of my life and it breaks my heart every time.

My family is the wealthiest family in District 5. Being in that position gained my family a lot of respect but being respected comes with a lot of responsibility to keep the respect. My parents have worked hard to get where they are and I am forever grateful to them. They would do anything for me and they never fail at letting me know how much they love me. My mother and father like to keep a good reputation for our family name and we have always done a pretty great job with it, until Brixon got in with the wrong crowd.

"Brixon, please. People are talking and it's not good." my parents pleaded with him over and over again to change his behavior and help upkeep their hard earned respect but he never listened. He was always back out the same night partying, drinking and God knows what else. I tried so hard to help him and convince him to stop but he was beyond help. Our conversations were always the same.

"Brixon, mom and dad work hard to keep our family name a good one. You have to get it together." I would tell him.

"I am not going to base my life around a name Bryce. I'm living my life according to me and that's how it's going to stay. Let people talk. I just really don't care." He would spit back at me without fail.

The morning that my parents found him dead in his room due to an overdose on drugs and alcohol changed everything. People did talk. It wasn't good at all. Not only did my parents lose their first born child, they lost the respect that they cherished so much. Rumors went flying around people started being disrespectful to our family. It was hard to watch people as genuine as my parents lose everything they not only earned, but deserved.

"Smith and Renné have no idea how to raise a child properly. It's really quite tragic." Rumors like this echoed around the town and my our biggest fear had come to light, our family name was tainted.

Over the years, people forgot about Brixon. My father worked and worked. The more money he made, the more respect that he earned and eventually our reputation was good again. It was then that I realized that in order for this to never happen again, I was going to have to become the perfect child. Good grades, good manners, well dressed and well behaved. I became the Golden boy and the apple of not only my parents eyes. I molded myself into the perfect child and put my wants aside for the sake of my family.

I don't think my parents know how stressful it is to be honest. I have always been good at suppressing my feelings and morphing myself into whoever the person I am talking to at the time wants me to be. I am not saying that every single person loves me because they probably don't but I don't give anyone the opportunity to slander me or my family name. I am Bryce Constantin, perfect hair, perfect family, perfect grades, perfect behavior whether I want to be or not.

Erika Ryner, 13

District 5 female.

I love painting. It's my escape really. With the blues, reds, greens and so many other colors I can create a get away and transport myself there in my mind. I am swiping my paintbrush that is dipped into a beautiful aqua color across the canvas creating a tropical oasis where there is only peace and everyone is equal when my best friend enters my room. I wipe sweat off of my brow leaving a trail of paint behind on my forehead.

"Woah, Erika that is beautiful." Tilla says.

We stand back and admire my work in progress together.

"Thank you! I just needed a break from life here." I hug her and we begin to giggle.

"Don't we all." she says laughing.

"Life is so rough at 13." I tease as I pair an outfit together for the reapings.

"How do you feel.." she asks hesitantly.

"I'm nervous. I just love people and the whole thing just gives me the willies really, but if worse comes to worse I will do my best and do what I need to do." I tell her.

She nods her head as if to agree with me.

"I don't know if I could win but how cool would it be if I got reaped and won the whole thing. I could come back home and make a difference, I could help make people's lives better and that's all I really want in life." I think out loud.

"You say that now, but you feel bad when you hurt flies." she throws her head back laughing.

"It would be really scary, but at least it would be a change of scenery I guess." I think at this point I am just trying to convince myself that it wouldn't be so scary. But I am terrified. I am used to people adoring me, not throwing knives at my face for entertainment.

"Well, people love you and I love you." Tilla gives me a quick hug before she scurries out.

I stand back and look at my painting. I would give anything to live in a place where sand squished in between my toes, crystal clear water washed away all my worries and peacekeepers and reapings were a figment of my imagination.

Bryce Constantin,18

District 5 male.

"I would love to dress in sweatpants and a t-shirt and go out and leave my textbooks behind for a little bit. Trust me, but I just can't." I tell my friends.

"I don't know man, it just seems really exhausting." My friend Evan is always concerned. He is the person who truly knows me inside and out but he wishes that I wasn't bound by society and that I could just live my life how I want to and he lets it be known.

"Are you telling me that I'm boring?" I ask pretending to be appalled before crinkling a paper and throwing it at him.

"You're not boring, you're just not you 80% of the time." He says.

"Leave him alone, Evan. He is fine." my friend Naomi is usually the mediator when we get into these conversations. She wants me to live my life to the fullest also but she understands why I am doing what I'm doing.

Most people only talk to me because of my parents money but these two know me as the bryce who doesn't comb his hair to perfection in the mornings, who doesn't always say please and thank you and who doesn't hang out at galas that my parents attend. They get to see the real me. Messy, funny and laid back, but they are the only ones.

"Don't your parents want you to be happy man?" he asks. It's obvious he isn't going to let this go any time soon.

"They do want me to be happy and I am happy most of the time, It just gets old after awhile. I'm eighteen years old, I want to be rebellious now and then, I want to sleep until three in the afternoon sometimes and I want to make mistakes. But I can't right now."

"One day Bryce, one day." Naomi rubs my back.

Holly Fuse, 28

District 5 escort.

The sparkles on my pink pumps remind me of crystallized sugar. I stare at them mesmerized. It's making my sweet tooth go insane. My blonde curls are huge and they would look much better with a tiara in it's rightful place. Right on top of my head. They ushered me onto the stage 5 minutes ago but I hate kids and I don't want to do it. Dirty and gross and I don't want to be touched or breathed on by one.

"Holly. Now." someone yells.

"Argh! Fine." I poof my curls blow a kiss at myself in the mirror and head out.

Children everywhere. Sickening.

"Hello everyone!" I do a princess wave.

"Welcome to your district 5 reapings, let's meet these tributes already." I prance over to the ladies side first.

"Erika Ryner!"

A thin girl with blonde hair that falls in the middle of her shoulders and a few freckles dotted around her face is groomed to perfection but she is letting out a blood curling scream and crying for her parents. Tears stream down her face as the peace keepers lead her up to the stage. Yikes. No babies for me.

"Ummm… Sweetie" I reach out the microphone to her but retract it right away, I don't want tears on me.

"Let's get to the boys then."

"Bryce Constantin!" A mix of gasps and snickers fill the air as his name slips out of my lips. He must be liked. A handsome boy with baby blue eyes, dark hair and the best cheekbones I have ever seen stands there looking stunned. Peacekeepers walk up to him and he just gives them a firm look before he walks up to the stage, he looks scared but he just smiles politely at the crowd.

"Ok, move along you two, give them a hand!"

I blow kisses to the audience and bow out.

Haiiii :)

Sorry this one took me a little longer to get up. I have been pretty busy this week. But these two were so much fun to write and I enjoyed both of them a lot. Thanks for the submissions.

All my spots are filled now, so hopefully I will be updating more than usual and we can get the games started. :)

What did y'all think?

Favorite so far?

xoxo

Jenna