Thanks everybody for their kind words! *Sniff, sniff*
And yeah, Artemis Fowl is pretty cool, a kid genius. Kid geniuses are awesome! And Ponyboy is a cool character, though I like Johnny (cause he's sorta cute as in innocent cute) and Sodapop, because he is awesome. Cool characters everybody! I still don't know who Lyra Belacqua is but I hope to find out soon!
District 6: Bianca Vance, Olivia Dean, Robert Swann and Colten James Jr.
"MMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYY !"
My sister comes in looking horrible, her hair is 100 different directions and filled with yogurt it seems. Her eyes have dark bags under them and her skin, usually pure white is smeared with vomit. She looks at me miserably, "I'm not doing ANYTHING Bibi, AGAIN. She has lungs, that girl...I DIDN'T SLEEP YESTERDAY!"
"Oh come on Lily...please," I said and she shakes her head.
"Nope Bianca, I AM going to take a shower for your information, I've got a life and a date today with my boyfriend!" she said and stormed into her room before I could say anything.
I sigh, and go downstairs to see what is happening with my daughter Azure or Ziz. She's beautiful despite her screams. She's got creamy skin, open and curious bright blue eyes. And even a few chocolate brown curls coming out.
"What happened baby?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. Yeah, I was SO NOT ready to be a mom.
She cried even more and then the smell of rotten eggs and spoiled cheese entered my nostrils and I almost choked. Another diaper change. And she was probably hungry too.
I sigh and change out the dirty diaper (we can't afford real diapers, so we just tie blankets instead), putting it on a basket for Lilac to clean later (I call her Lily).
Then I put a new blanket on and fed her with spoonfuls of mashed apples which were a gift from Lilac's boyfriend, whom I have never really met yet. But based on Lilac's description which I find quite exaggerating, she says he's the most handsome, polite and responsible young man ever.
And he's coming today.
I pat Zizzie so that she burps out and then she giggles. She'll be really tomboy when she's big, I can tell. I tickle her and she giggles nonstop and I smile. Then I go to iron and fold the clothes (since Lilac was amazing enough to wash them the night before, poor Lily...) and organize them into baskets.
I go back to see Lilac holding Zizzie and rubbing their noses together which makes Zizzie laugh and clap. "Who's the cutest little girl? Who is? Who is? YOU! And your Auntie Lilac says it! Ugga! Ugga!"
I smile and lean against the door watching them. And then Lilac turns to me and smiles, "Hey Bibi, what are you doing there?"
"Just watching you," I say casually coming over to see them. "So Lilac, tell me about your boyfriend, we need a serious talk."
She sits down, Zizzie playing in her lap and curling her fingers against my sister's long golden hair. Lilac rolls her eyes at me, "Just because you made a mistake Bibi, doesn't mean I am going to make it."
I blush, embarassed but I shouldn't be, in front of Zizzie.
"ANYWAYS," I said, "I think I should know what kind of person he is, his family ties and his job. His home and environment."
"Fine," said Lilac, "you know his name, Nick. Nicholas Dean and his parents are the owners of a shop that fixes equipment. His parents are in charge of it. He has an older brother named Nathaniel who is responsible and has got a full-time job as an assistant to the Mayor. Nick has a half-time job at a local newspaper because he's got to go to school. He's got two little twins siblings, Marcus and Liv, Liv's a really good person and they're both still k-"
"WAIT, you've gone to their HOUSE?!" I exclaim. "LILAC!"
"To visit, their parents are pretty nice folks though they ignore their kids a lot," said Lilac then squeals. "They're coming soon! I've got to change clothes-"
"HOLD ON A SECOND!" I grab her collar. "What do you mean 'they'?"
"Didn't you hear what I was saying?" asked Lilac. "His older brother works full-time, their parents ignore them most of the time, and Nick's going out with me! Nobody is going to take care of them Bibi!"
"But I won't be able to," I say, "I've got to go to the plant in like 1 hour. But...do you think they can take care of Zizzie?"
"I don't know," said Lilac, "now I've got to change!"
She stormed up the stairs and rolled my eyes. Lovesick girls but well, I was one myself. I still remember Zizzie's father, Killian Brooke. Ah, charming and simply lovely. Those letters and gifts...
I ball my fists together, if it weren't for the Hunger Games, he would have been here, watching Zizzie grow and to help me and Lilac. Killian would.
Before I can do anything, the door rings and I rush over to open, nervous to what will await me there.
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"Listen punks, I don't want any trouble," said Nick to us both as we were in front of the door of an abandonned house.
"Are you sure this is the place?" I said looking at it. "It doesn't look really...dwellable."
"It's in real bad conditions," said Marcus. "I agree with Liv, it isn't safe at all! What if it collapses or something?"
Nick snorts and I roll my eyes, "Marcus, you're being over-exaggerated, it won't fall down, this actually looks sturdy."
Nick rings the doorbell and we fall silent as the door opens and a lady opens it. It's actually not a lady but a girl, probably only a year older than Nick but she looks a lot older. Fatigue and work have made some wrinkles around her face. She has heavy dark bags under her eyes and her face looks motherly and mature.
"Oh hello! You must be Nick!"
"Yeah...hi," said Nick shyly. I think he was expecting his girlfriend instead of this girl. The girl ushers us in and we follow Nick inside and sit in the tattered couch.
"Lilac will be ready in a moment, so you two must be Liv and Marcus," she said to us and we nod, presenting ourselves.
Lilac or Nick's girlfriend comes down and I have to shut close Marcus' jaw so that he didn't look too rude. Nick was just as surprised, his eyes widened and his mouth, gaping at her suddenly turned into a smile.
Lilac was GORGEOUS. She had golden blonde hair that streamed loosely down like a waterfall. She has brown eyes which look warm and buttery. Still beautiful, she was thin and curvy. Perfectly tanned and toned.
"NICK!" she said jumping into my brother's arms, I look at Marcus and we do one of our facial conversations. This is how it went:
Me: Gosh, that girl is over-exaggerated.
Marcus: I KNO-OW. But it does fit the description, two over-exaggerated people.
Me: LOL, oh and BTW Marcus, don't drool, it's rude.
Marcus: I was NOT drooling FYI and you think everything I do is rude.
Me: Yes you were and I don't think everything you do is rude, it's basically a fact!
Marcus: No I wasn't and...HEY!
Me: Yes you were and it's just true.
Marcus: I didn't drool and everything I don't do is rude. For example, what we are doing right now isn't rude.
Me: Yes it is, we're doing our conversation meanwhile the main conversation is happening, we're basically not respecting them.
Marcus: But you're doing it TOO, so you're basically being rude right now!
Me: But there's no good reason to respect Nick and his lovesick girlfriend. They need privacy, really.
Marcus: ...you've got a point actually.
"Stop doing faces to each other!" said Nick shaking us awake from our conversation. "Can you hear Bianca talking to you? It's RUDE, BOTH OF YOU!"
Marcus grins at me smugly and I roll my eyes and I say to Bianca the older looking girl, "Oh, I'm very sorry that I wasn't paying attention. What did you say?"
The wom-GIRL smiled, "Don't worry, since I'm going to work...would you mind taking care of Zizzie for me?"
"Zizzie?" Marcus and I say at the same time and a little girl comes running over.
"MUUUMMMMMMYY!" she says as her toddler legs don't get her far and she trips. She has beautiful chocolate curls and big, blue eyes.
"Aww...she's adorable!" I exclaim. I have a weakness for little kids and I immediately pick her up and set her in my lap.
"Yeah, that's a cute little sister you have there," said Marcus petting her locks.
"Er...no, that's my daughter actually," said Bianca and we freeze.
Marcus and I look at each other and he slightly frowns and we started another facial conversation.
Marcus: This girl had-
Me: Yes, Marcus, don't say anything or be ru-
Before I could finish, Marcus asked Bianca: "Aren't you too young to be a mom?"
I kicked his shin and Nick shot Marcus the I'm-personally-going-to-rip-your-organs-out-if-you -ruin-my-date glare. Bianca tried to smile but some tears were coming out.
"DON'T BE RUDE MARCUS!" I said and I apologized to Bianca who was smiling.
"So...are you saying yes?" asked Bianca with hope.
What choice did we have? Marcus just embarassed her and so we just had to do something to apologize to her.
"Sure," I said and Bianca grinned.
"Great! I'm going to go change and NICK," she said looking at Nick sternly, "if you touch my sister in any way that I find inappropriate-"
"I won't Bianca," smiled Nick, "a blood oath from me."
She let them go on their date and soon, Bianca had dressed in her uniform and gone out to the plant. We stared at the little girl who was giggling like crazy.
"Olivia," my brother said, "we just got ourselves in A TON of trouble."
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Brandon and I walked down from the market road, other than selling and trading things, you can actually bargain stuff pretty well, these days, District 6 is desperate.
"We've got some extra coins!" said Brandon. "Isn't that cool? It'll also do good with some of the money I've saved as the newspaper boy."
I smile at him, "We've got enough for your-"
Suddenly, this little girl who is only in diapers starts running around us and hops on a few boxes before starting to climb a pole.
"God that girl is a natural climber," said Brandon. "Should we do anything about it?"
My heart said yes but I didn't want to get in trouble with anybody else. One, they might find out that we live in the forest which is ilegal and we might have to pay a lot of money. On the other hand, they might reward us handsomely. I decided that no.
"No, let's just-"
Then a boy just pushes through us and I hold Brandon so that he doesn't fall and I shout, "HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING!"
"Sorry dude!" the boy shouts back. "Have you by chance seen a little girl with br-"
"Pole," says Brandon pointing and the boy groans.
"GREAT. ZIZZIE, COME DOWN!" he said jumping on the boxes only to fall backwards and to have loads of vegetables on him.
We make him stand up and he looks at us. He's brown-blonde haired with brown eyes and he's panting like crazy. His shirt is smeared with something green-white and he is covered by sweat. His eyes are wide and tired.
"You okay?" I ask.
"Yeah," he panted, "just-just help get that girl here, I'm supposed to take care of her, mind if I get a little lift?"
"Not at all," said Brandon and he hopped up the pole with the help of our hands and he got caught of the little girl, only to squirm down and go down the road.
"Hey guys, I'm REALLY sorry about this but can one of you help chase the girl down? I've been chasing her for 2 hours," panted the boy, "by the way, my name's Marcus."
"Brandon," said my little brother without hesitation. He's innocent, gullible, friendly and social. My Brandon...
"Yeah I guess I can't say no," I shrugged and for hours we chased the little girl around town and people eyed us, the strange trio with weird looks but just ignored us.
An hour later, we were seated in a patch of grass lying there panting when this girl just comes up to us and starts shouting at Marcus. My brain says 'Hot Girl Alert' and my eyes whip to the girl. She is pretty, with neat blonde hair like pasta and bright brown eyes.
"MARCUS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! I CLEANED THE WHOLE HOUSE AND EVEN REPAIR SOME STUFF AND I JUST SEE YOU'RE HERE LYING WITH TWO OTHER DUDES!"
"Calm down Liv," said Marcus, "we searched for 3 hours, give us a break."
"GIVE US A BREAK?!" Liv continued screaming. "ZIZZIE MIGHT DIE! OR DROWN! SHE MIGHT GO TO 2 OR 4! OR WORSE! MAYBE A PEACEKEEPER FINDS HER! OR AN OLD MAN WHO LIKES RA-!"
"Fine," Marcus grumbles, "I'm coming!"
"Where was the last time you saw her?" she asked.
"He went right into that direction," Brandon pointed and Liv gasped, her face white with fear.
"MY, THE RIVER! BIANCA, LILAC AND NICK ARE GOING TO KILL US!" she said running towards it and we ran towards her, but slower since we were so tired.
The river was flowing like crazy and we saw the little girl, A TINY little girl maybe a bit bigger than a porcelain doll hang on a branch to live, she was gurgling and the branch was starting to break.
"ZIZZIE!" said Liv throwing herself in the water, stomach first...that must have hurt. Liv grabbed the girl and put her on her back. She tried to swim against the current or even grab a side but she couldn't. She was drowning.
She looked desperately at Marcus and threw the baby at him which he catched like a professional baseball player. Marcus set it down and Brandon started checking if Zizzie could breath.
As I saw Liv drowning, my heart sank and I just couldn't believe what was happening to me. I was falling in love! I know, it's dumb but yes. I was falling in love with a girl I had just seen 5 seconds ago. Crazy right?
Crazy enough so that I jumped in the river and pulled her out. Liv started sputtering, coughing and then she went unconscious. Zizzie sat down and slept, probably too tired to do anything. I threw myself forward into land where Brandon and Marcus pull me out, soaked wet.
"Thanks for saving my sis...?" he grinned to me.
"Robert," I said.
"Thanks Robert," he said and quickly went over to see how his sister was doing, she was unconscious, she probably still had some water in her and that's what I said.
"You're probably right," said Marcus.
"So don't we have to push the water out?" asked Brandon.
"Yeah...but we have to do it mouth-to-mouth," said Marcus. "Who's willing?"
For a moment, silence crept through us and I was brave enough to save, "I do." Brandon gaped at me since I usually didn't volunteer for things very often.
So what do you think I did? I breathed some air into her and well, I was basically kissing her in normal terms. It wasn't so bad, her lips were soft and impossibly sweet. The next thing that happened is that she woke up...only to punch her saviour in the head.
I fell down and she shouted, "GET OFF ME YOU MORON!"
"He just saved your life!" exclaimed Marcus and started explaining. She then apologized to me and I considered it a step forward.
Then, we waved to each other and we split our ways.
Then, we started running because we noticed that we were almost late to go to Mr. James' house and to deliver dinner.
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It was only a bit for the Reaping, maybe 2 or 3 hours? I came home from the factory, my muscles only growing and bright red. I was freaking tired.
I went up into the shower without waving to anybody, and just went to take a cold shower, since we are so poor we can't afford hot water.
Dad's still working and Mom's still cleaning laundry around the neighborhood and I sigh, throwing today's salary into my savings box. I already have $280.
My muscles crack as I repair some of the broken windows and walls around the house, it's my job to help around and repair stuff. Being a mechanic since you are 7 does help.
The door rings and I grunt, and those two skinny little punks Mom and Dad hired come in with the food, one is soaked wet and one is sweaty.
"You're late," I barked. I don't really want to but I don't like them. I've never had any friends, no time to play or socialize. I'm pure muscle, sweat and blood.
"I-I'm sorry," said the older boy, Robert handing me the hot basket.
I grabbed 20 from my mom's savings and tossed it to the two, "Here, now go!"
The little boy Brandon, picked it all up and they quickly left the house, sly as fox. Then I wait for my parents to arrive home so that we can eat.
When they do come home, we eat in a hurried silence. The food is still hot and warms my stomach for what I have before me. Today I'm volunteering. I'll win and we'll live in luxury! I hate being poor. I HATE working. I almost feel like I'm dying. The fatigue.
And I'm stronger than a bull, I can do it. I have everything I need to do it.
Mom's fingers are wrinkled, full of cuts and blood as she eats, when she touches a spoon she winces or when her fingers make contact with anything. I wish I could help her, but my work says no.
We dress for the Reaping quickly. I grab an oil-stained white shirt and a squared blue coat. Then I put on some jeans, sneakers and I'm all set. My parents are dressed as poorly and simply as I am. And we go down the road to the plaza.
Then we finally talk about some of the town gossip which is the only and best thing to talk about and then we reach the plaza. My parents watch as I line up, a tall 16 year old boy with hard muscles.
Ichigo Caleshun, the Capitol representative smiles at us, she wears dark purple robes and lips that make her look fatter than she already is. Her blue shoes and hat make her look like a clown and her powdered skin makes her look like a ghost.
After she finished her squeaky speech, she starts the Reaping.
"BIANCA VANCE!"
A tall girl with brown curls and looks averagely strong for a woman and somebody from District 6. She goes up balling her fists and trying not to cry. A girl who has blonde hair which I suspect is her sister is crying hysterically, people around her trying to calm her down and a baby starts crying too.
Bianca stands there like a statue, cold but afraid. Shocked and not able to change position. Frozen.
"OLIVIA DEAN!"
A man who is behind the lines starts barking and wants to enter but is blocked and beaten by the Peacekeepers, another tall boy puts his hands over his face so that nobody stares at him crying, and another boy has a pool of water which is caused by his tears.
The Bianca girl probably knows her and she is patting her concerned. They talk to each other while Ichigo continues.
"BRANDON SWANN!"
Brandon? The little boy who hours ago delivered my lunch? HIM? That weasel won't stand a chance in the arena, too small and wispy.
"I VOLUNTEER!"
I whip my head to the familiar voice who turns out to be Robert Swann, his one green eye shining as brightly as the other blue-eyed one. He looks brave but he's trembling like a little girl in the inside.
(AN: Loretta Grayson, have you read Graceling BTW? THIS IS JUST LIKE KATSA (If you've read her before, I recommend it)! She's like my second favorite character! Love the green-blue eyes thing!)
Robert goes up and the girl, Olivia starts talking to him and the boy starts crying trying not to break down, his little brother however, is almost as dry as a cactus from crying.
"BEN GROIN!"
"I VOLUNTEER!" I say surprising everybody. Yes, I need attention. SPONSORS, LOOK AT ME! Two volunteers in a row...District 6 sure has a lucky year.
I go up and wave at everybody, strong as a bull. My parents don't cry but my mom looks worried. Dad only crosses his arms and looks at me as if I were a new invention.
"AND THESE ARE YOUR TRIBUTES DISTRICT 6!"
*Pant, pant* Took me almost half a day! Well, here it is! I hope you enjoy it! I think I'm doing 8 next or 13 or even 12.
Continue being awesome! :3