"Wiress, I found this." Her grandmother said the morning of Reaping day. She combed out Wiress' dark shoulder-length hair and put half of it in a ponytail before securing a silver ribbon in it. "There. It will match your necklace." They walked down to the town square where Wiress found Julie and Melissa and joined them in line. They gave their names and stood in the eighteen year-olds section.
"There's Sweetie!" Julie whispered in Wiress' ear as Beetee climbed the stage and sat next to the Mayor. She received an elbow in the side for her remark.
"You girls? Girls?" Melissa asked urgently.
"Yes?" Wiress and Julie asked.
"You two know the pact."
"Yes." Wiress said.
"I mean it. Say it. Right here right now." Melissa grasped both of their hands and held them in vice-like grips while staring hard into their eyes.
"If one of us is reaped, the others do not volunteer. That's our pact." Julie stammered.
"Wiress?" Wiress' throat was dry. "Wiress?" Melissa pleaded. Tears came to Wiress' eyes.
"If – you're reaped – Melissa – or Julie – you'll hate me forever if I volunteer." Wiress stammered. "Same if – Julie or I get chosen. We'd – yeah. We don't volunteer for each other." She paused. "Because none of us could live with sending our friends to their deaths."
"Good." Melissa said. She faced forward and gripped her friends' hands again. The Mayor's speech went all too quickly. Eustacia the escort strutted around the stage on her five-inch heels and ridiculous Capital costume.
"Ladies first!" She trilled waving her carefully manicured hand in the reaping ball.
Wiress closed her eyes. Melissa took a deep breath and held it. Julie on the other hand was nearly hyperventilating. Wiress forced herself to take even breaths. She squeezed Melissa's hand reassuringly. Looking up at the spinning reaping ball, she knew that many of the slips in there had her friend's name on them. A tear trickled down her face. Melissa won't go. She thought. Even though, she repeated the pact with tears in her eyes, she knew that her gut reaction would be to volunteer. Melissa had said that she couldn't live with one of them volunteering for her. Yet Wiress knew that she couldn't live with watching her friend going to her death while she stood by and watched.
The reaping ball stopped turning and Eustacia reached in with perfectly manicured nails. Melissa let out a shaky breath. Julie and Wiress gave her hands another gentle squeeze. Wiress took a breath and straightened her posture ready to do what she had to do.
"Wiress Carpenter!" Eustacia called.