A/N: This is the fourth chapter of this story I'm working on today! Whew!

District Seven, Willow Birch, 13

My name is Willow. I am thirteen. I live in District Seven. My family is relatively wealthy, since my ancestors worked very hard. Our lumber company is known throughout all of Seven! Most people would be thrilled to have such destiny. But not I. I'm not a very hard worker. I just enjoy a good book better than I enjoy sawing wood or throwing axes. Whenever it is time to work, I hide in the pine forest and read.

I've never been the most popular. I'm always like the shy, unnoticed girl whose nose is always in a book- or reading. I read everything. Boxes of cereal, nutrition facts, slogans on billboards, tiny print on new merchandise, the carved words that nobody can read on the old Grandfather Birch. Nobody tried as hard as I to decode those words. Nobody has asked me what they say. If you'd really like to know, they say Lisa Anne Marie Quicksan the Second ❤ Jonathon Toby Kettle. It took about a week to decipher, including looking through newspapers and many rubbings of Grandfather Birch. But I found the answer, and that was all that mattered.

Today is the day of the Reaping for the 68th annual Hunger Games. Although I'm nervous, I choose not to think about it. Instead, I am going to simply hang out with my family- they're logging, though. Should I log? I always want to help, but my petite frame can't take all the hard work. However, I do have a photographic memory, and that helps when needing to count logs quickly.

I choose to help anyways.

I have a large family. There's Maple, my mother, and Robert, my father. Then my siblings are Red, 19, Juniper, 17, Steven, 13, and little Lily, who is 9. Red and Juniper think they're the best sisters in the history of EVER, so they pay no attention to Steve, Lily, or I. Steve thinks girls are stupid (apparently HE hasn't hit puberty yet) and he keeps to himself. Lily loves me the most of all people, so she always helps me with things.

Like today, the Birch family was stripping logs of bark and grinding bark down into fine dust. I chose a grinding job, and Lily was at my feet, ready to help. She turned the wheel with me, watching the sharp teeth dig into the soft bark with interest. Steve, also a grinder, stared at the sky while he did his job.

Over where some other families worked, I saw my two best friends in the world- Rose Spruce and John Greenman. They'd be so happy to see me today. They think that I never work with trees.

"Rose." My voice was garbled. I tried again.

"John, Rose! Helloooo!"

They didn't see me, simply kept stripping logs of their bark.

I sigh. No use making a fool of myself getting them to notice me. I retired back to grinding the soft bark into dust. Some got into my eye and I sneezed. Bluck. I hate sawdust so much. It had so much more potential as plain old wood- it could potentially be a chair, for example, or it could be used for an hour or so as firewood. It could be made into gorgeous wooden earrings, or maybe a plate. But as sawdust, I did not know where it went. Maybe a food processing plant somewhere in Ten, Nine, or Eleven. Maybe it lit lamps somewhere in Twelve or One or Two for the miners.

But here this sawdust had no use. It was as worthless as me.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Our girl tribute for District Seven is Willow Birch!"

I stared at our escort and her bright orange hair accusingly.

I suppose nobody wanted to volunteer because… well, everybody likes a scrawny little kid going into the Games. It's one less person who could kill off their betting.

Numbly I walk up to the stage and take one last look around District Seven.

TRIBUTES SO FAR:

District One

F- Diamond Star

M-

District Two

F- Eve Glory

M- Justice Wright

District Three

F- Lilicon Jummers

M- Kenji Jummers

District Four

F- Kristine Murray

M-

District Five-

F- Sparkella Munez

M- Jacques Frost

District Six

F- Jacqueline Edwards

M-

District Seven

F- Willow Birch

M- Jack Marko

District Eight

F- Caty Lianne Peterson

M-

District Nine

F- Hydrangea Samson

M- Roland Sanders

District Ten

F- Lily Hoff

M-

District Eleven

F- Saffron North

M-

District Twelve

F- Cloe Berry

M-

So as you can see, all the female spots are taken. Most of the male spots are open, though, so if you'd like to submit a tribute, you'd better soon before we begin training them for the Games!

May the odds be ever in YOUR favor :D

nevergone4ever