POV – Rachel Malone D4
"Marrian Longe!"
"I volunteer!" I shout. I push a few girls aside to get out into the aisle, trying not to giggle with excitement. I get out into the aisle as the peacekeepers surround me and I start walking very quickly toward the Justice Building's stage.
"Wow, what an excited competitor!" the escort says as I approach her onstage. I strut over to her and grab the microphone.
"Yes, I've very excited!" I yell, followed by a cheer, "My name is Rachel Malone."
The audience seems a little annoyed with all my excitement, but that's not gonna kill my mood. I continue to cheer as I stand onstage in my slim white dress. I put it on to show everyone how good I look. I know I'm hot, what's wrong with showing it off for the whole country to see?
Well then," the escort says into the microphone, "time for the boy."
POV – Colton Graham D4
Seeing Rachel volunteer makes me a little sick to the stomach. She has the same air of excitement as always, except this time it's about killing other kids who are mostly younger than her. We're both eighteen, and this is our last year in the reaping.
Just four years ago, my brother died in the Games. He was Rachel's boyfriend. Well, he was her ex when he died in the Games, because he ended it right before leaving for the Capitol. I can still remember her being so happy and excited for him, while he wasn't excited at all. He was reaped. He didn't want to be a part of the Games. So right then and there, he dumped her. And that's when she angrily dropped the bomb that she had been sleeping with me for an entire six months before that point, and that's when my brother beat me to a pulp before I was carried out by peacekeepers.
After my brother died in the arena, Rachel and I had completely stopped talking. I no longer found her to be the sexy, scandalous girl I had seen her as when she was dating my brother. I saw her as a monster, someone who was too dangerous for me. Looking at her up on that stage in that very revealing dress makes me angry.
I've thought for the past three years since my brother died about how maybe one day I'd volunteer to avenge his death and become the victor. Then I'd live a luxurious life in the Victor's Village, which in District 4, is a wonderful road of mansions that sit with a view of the ocean, just a minute's walk from the beach.
This morning, I decided there was no point in risking it, and that I wouldn't volunteer. But Rachel's decision altered everything. If I'm being totally honest, I want to see her dead. If I have to do it, that's no problem.
The escort calls out a boy's name that's blocked out by the adrenaline suddenly rushing through me. I'm actually doing it.
"I volunteer as tribute!" I scream. Immediately Rachel finds me in the crowd and her excitement is stifled. Her eyes get wide, almost with anger. She hasn't spoken to me, or barely seen me, since my brother died.
I jog up to the stage and say my name into the microphone. She asks us to shake hands, and we do. I smile a little bit to let her know that I volunteered because of her. She does not smile back.
