Success means having the courage, the determination and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.
-George A. Sheehan
Sea to Shore Restaurant, June 16th, 12:00 pm
Penny War (18) POV
District 4 female
"I'm just so proud of you!" mom squeals, reaching across the table of sushi to squeeze my hand. I jerk it away and cast my eyes down, staring at my lap. "My baby girl is volunteering for the Hunger Games!"
"Mom, I told you," I say. "I can't volunteer; I wasn't chosen."
"But the trainer promised you that since Star stole your spot last year, you were guaranteed the spot this year!" dad exclaims.
"Well, I didn't win the practice battle," I mumble, pushing a toro roll across my plate. "Elle Maults did."
"I was under the impression that there wouldn't be a battle," dad says. "I thought it was guaranteed to be you."
"Well..." I trail off. "Do you remember how you told me that I should twist Star's ankle to be picked to go into the Games last year?"
"Yeah, I was there," he says. "What about it?"
"The academy found out about it," I say. "And they took away the instant acceptance to volunteer. Dustin said that since I'm so talented, they would let me compete, but I lost the final round. I didn't know Elle was so good with a sword."
"Well, I'm sorry they're not letting you volunteer," mom says sympathetically.
"You know in my day, there was no training competition like there is now," dad says, taking a sip of his water. "If we wanted to volunteer, we didn't have to ask for permission. We just did."
"Interesting," I say, distantly. "Look, I gotta go. I'll see you after the Reaping."
"Don't you want to stay for dessert?" mom asks. "Your brother said he can get us free ice cream since he works here."
"No, I really have to go," I say, grabbing my backpack from the back of the chair. "I'll see you after the Reaping, alright? Tell Triton I said hey."
"We will," mom says.
I swing my backpack over my shoulder, making a mental note to change before the Reaping. Cutoff shorts and a crop top with sneakers is fine for lunch with my parents, but I need to get more dressed up for the Reaping. But first, I need to go to my friend Shelly's house to propose my plan to her. She's the final word, as the more rational one of the two of us.
While I'm walking to her house, I take a few minutes to really think about this. Is volunteering in spite of expressly being told not to something that I want to do? The more rational part of me knows that as much as I hate it, Elle was chosen for a reason, and the reason was her superior sword skills. But the tournaments are completely biased; you only really win them if you use close range weapons, and while I can handle a spear, Elle's sword nearly split it in half. Had we been distance fighting, I would have won by a landslide.
With these realizations in mind, I decide that yes, volunteering is definitely something I want to do. Elle's victory was completely unfair, and I was never truly given a chance to show what I could do. If Shelly doesn't agree with that, I'll make her. With the knowledge that I'm volunteering, I take the rest of the walk to Shelly's house with a new spring in my step.
Unfortunately, Shelly lives on the same street as Elle, meaning I have to walk past Elle's house to get to Shelly. I'm hoping that she won't be outside, but as luck would have it, she's sat outside in the grass with Coral Ivory, her best friend, except for Star Fire, who almost won last year's Games. Even though it would have been cool to have another District 4 Victor, I would have hated for it to have been Star, and in a sick way, I'm glad that Fenton killed her. If I ever meet him, I'll have to tell him that.
I walk past the two of them, facing the opposite side of the road in the hopes that they won't see me. It's not that I'm scared of them, I just really want to avoid confrontation. But they do.
"Bitch," Coral mutters under her breath.
"Slut," Elle says, disguising it with a cough.
"Excuse me," I snap, looking her directly in the eye. "I'm the slut? Last I checked, I'm not the one that slept with Daniel Lanthair just because we were both chosen to volunteer."
Elle and Coral both stand to their feet quickly, staring at me with venom in their eyes.
"Last I checked, you weren't chosen to volunteer at all," Coral says, smirking. "So how's the view from your high horse?"
"Excellent," I say, shifting my feet. "I'm looking down on you, like I should be."
Coral and Elle stand, jaws dropped, eyebrows raised and staring at me. I take advantage of their state of disbelief to turn on my heel and walk away to Shelly's house. It only takes a moment, and once I get there, I knock on the door. Shelly answers, already in her Reaping garb; a soft white halter dress with pale pink flowers along the waistline. We went shopping for our Reaping dresses together, and I got a similar one in yellow instead of pink.
"Hey, how's it going?" she asks. "I thought we were meeting each other at the Reaping."
"I know, but I had to run something by you," I say, twirling a strand of reddish hair around my finger. "I was talking to my dad, and… And I think I'm gonna volunteer."
"No way!" she says, grinning. "I thought Elle was picked."
"She was," I say, mischievously. "But my dad was telling me about how when he was younger, if you wanted to volunteer, you just did."
"You were supposed to volunteer last year as it is," she contributes. "It's only fair that you go this year."
"Exactly," I say. "Besides, what do I have to lose?"
"Aside from your sanity?" Shelly asks, sarcastically.
I act confused. "What sanity?"
"Fair enough," she says, nodding.
It's my time to shine at the Reaping. It's my time to take back what belongs to me, and nothing will stand in my way.
The Training Academy, June 16th, 1:00 pm
Dustin Zigmund (18) POV
District 4 male
"Fix your footing, Ashley!"
"Nice grip, Melissa!"
"Jessica, try to aim a bit higher."
Even though it's Reaping day, there's always people getting some training in. It's usually the volunteers that are looking for one last session with their familiar weapons and trainers, the backup volunteers that are hoping that we'll pick them last minute and the 16 and 17-year-olds that are already prepping for next year's Games. This year, the backup male volunteer, Douglas Pisces dropped out last minute to run away with his girlfriend, leaving us with no backup for Daniel Lanthair, in case anything happens to him. Elle Maults was selected to volunteer by people with a much higher position than I do, and Penny War, who was supposed to volunteer last year was chosen as the backup.
Today, I was assigned to work with the 17 and 18-year-olds, and with the general absence of Douglas and the current absence of Penny and Star, I'm left with a hoard of aspiring Careers and Daniel.
"Hey, Dustin!" Daniel calls. "Check this out!"
I send an apologetic look to the girls at the knife throwing section that I was helping, and jog over to spears to meet Dustin. He's holding a spear in each hand and grinning ear to ear.
"What is it?" I ask, noting his excitement.
"Watch," he says, simply.
He winds back both hands, still holding a spear in each. He lets them fly at the same time, and the spear in his right hand lands in the middle of the dummy's forehead, and the left spear lands about an inch from its heart. He winces, and then turns to face me.
"Other than being slightly off, what did you think?" he asks, looking at me expectantly.
"Well, if I'm being honest," I start. "It was a little flashy. The one spear to the head would have done the job just fine, and if you showed this to the Gamemakers, they would probably dock you a point for not hitting the heart directly. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah, when you put it like that, it does," he says, smiling. "Thanks."
"Alright guys!" I shout. "The Reaping starts in 45 minutes, so go get changed before the bells go off!"
The dozen or so trainees all swarm to the locker room, but Daniel hangs back for a minute.
"What's up?" I ask. "Why aren't you getting ready for the Reaping? All eyes are gonna be on you and Elle, you have to look your best."
"That's what I'm scared about," he says. "I can't go into the arena with her."
I heard from one of the girls I was helping recently that Daniel and Elle had had a one night stand a few weeks ago, celebrating the fact that they'd both been chosen to volunteer. I had dismissed it at the time as petty gossip, however, the panicked look on Daniel's face tells me that not only may it have happened, but he didn't think of it as a one-time thing.
"Daniel…" I hesitate. "Are you and Elle… Do you have feelings for her?"
"Not particularly," he says, shrugging. "I mean, she's pretty hot, and not all that bad in be-" I cut him off.
"Then why don't you want to go into the Games with her?" I ask. "She'll be a fantastic District partner."
"That's just it," he says, wringing his hands. "Dustin, I'm terrified of her. I feel like I'm going to fall asleep next to her and not wake up. I feel like one day, she's going to get tired of me and poison my water, or give me inedible food. I'm paranoid that the only way I'll make it out is if I kill her before she kills me. But that's ridiculous, right?"
"It's not a ridiculous thought, but it would sure as hell be a ridiculous execution," I assure him. "Elle is not going to kill you, and if you kill her, I'll go into the arena and kill you myself. District 4 has more class than to kill our District partners. Sometimes it costs us or own lives, but we go down with honor; something the tributes from 1 and 2 can't always say."
"Thanks for that," he says, smiling in relief. "I really needed that. I'm gonna go get changed, I'll see you at the Reaping."
"I'll make sure to visit you after you volunteer," I say.
"See you then."
As Dustin heads into the locker rooms, I begin the short walk to the Square, and after getting my finger pricked, I head to the spot with all of the other 18-year-old males. In smaller Districts such as 6, 8 and 12, both genders of each age group are grouped together, but in larger Districts like 4, 10 and 11, it gets too crowded, so they separate it by both age and gender.
Once the rest of the District's teenagers file into their pens, the escort walks up to the stage. She's a pretty young woman with bright turquoise hair, and she couldn't be more than five years older than me.
"Welcome, District 4, to the Reaping for the 227th Hunger Games!" Azura calls into the microphone. Everyone in the audience begins clapping and cheering, and she gives us a moment to calm down. "As always, we should start with the women."
Azura walks over to the girls' bowl and grabs the first slip she touches, knowing full well there will be a volunteer. She unravels the paper and clears her throat into the microphone.
"Blair Cabot!"
"I volunteer!" a voice calls.
"You bitch! I volunteer!" a different voice shouts.
"I'm sorry Miss," Azura says. "But I do believe that the young lady in the yellow volunteered first. Come on up, sweetheart."
Wait. No, no, no. Why the ever living hell is Penny getting on the stage. She wasn't supposed to volunteer, this was not part of the plan. If Penny's going into the Games, we might as well just eliminate the letter M.
"What's your name, darling?" Azura asks thrusting the microphone in her face.
"My name is Penny War!" she shouts, with a big smile. "And I'm going to bring District 4 another victor!"
"How touching!" Azura gushes. "And now, onto the men."
She digs around in the male Reaping bowl for a second, then unfolds the paper, reading the name with a smile on her face.
"Daniel Lanthair!"
Penny volunteered, and now Daniel is Reaped? What the fucking fuck? This is addness. This is utter and coplete addness.
Daniel mounts the stage, beaming, grinning like the cat that drank the cream. As he stands on the stage beaming, I notice Penny glaring at him with contempt. While I was certain Elle wouldn't kill him unless it was necessary, or if he was in pain, Penny very well might. If Daniel goes into the Games with Penny, I'm certain the only way he'll make it out is in a wooden box. He deserves more than that.
"I volunteer as tribute!"
The Justice Building, June 16th, 2:30 pm
Penny War (18) POV
District 4 female
I know I shouldn't, but the fact that neither Elle nor Dustin made it into the Games is hysterical to me. It's just such an interesting turn of events that neither of the planned volunteers made it into the Games. But it sucks to be them; volunteering is something sacred, something meant for only the best. If you volunteer, you're considered one of the best. To me, it doesn't matter that I wasn't chosen. The fact that I had the wherewithal to volunteer without being asked already makes me the best.
On a personal level, I have a certain vendetta against Dustin. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have had to get to the stage before Elle, because it would have been me that was selected. But he just had to open his mouth about me sabotaging Star, and it cost me the right to volunteer.
That's not to say that it's my main goal in the arena to kill Dustin- that's ridiculous, he's my District partner- but if he was in the way of a mutt or another tribute, I don't know that I would push him out of the way.
After I volunteer, the first people in to visit me are my parents and my older brother, Triton. Upon entrance to the room, they're all grinning widely, and Triton pulls me in for a hug.
"Congratulations!" dad bellows, a proud look in his eyes.
"We're so proud of you," mom adds.
"I knew you had it in you," Triton contributes. "Do you have a token?"
"Umm," I hesitate. "I wasn't really planning on volunteering."
Mom reaches into her purse and pulls out a small, round rose-gold object. I cup my hand and she drops it in.
"A pearl?" I ask, rolling it between my fingers.
"It was in one of the oysters from earlier," dad supplies. "You must have left it there."
"I didn't even think to go through them," I say, smiling up at him. "Thank you guys so much."
"Penny, there's not a doubt in my mind that you can win these Games," Triton says, shifting into a more serious mood. "But with Dustin in the competition, it might be a bit harder. He's not just a Career; he trains them. You need to keep that in mind."
"I will," I say, meekly. I had forgotten that he was more extensively trained than the rest of us. The thought of him knowing things I don't almost scares me, but I get over it pretty quickly; there's plenty I can do that he can't. I mean, probably.
The four of us make idle small talk for the next several minutes until a Peacekeeper comes in and gently tells them that it's time to leave. They leave without a fuss, and are soon replaced with Shelly and my other friend, Pearl. Shelly and I share a knowing smile, but since Pearl was working her lifeguard job when I consulted Shelly about volunteering, she's floored.
"What the hell?" she asks, smiling. "I can't believe it, I thought it was Elle!"
"It was," I respond, haughtily. "But hey, it's my last Reaping, and if I didn't volunteer today, I would never be able to. And I'd regret it."
"Fair enough," she says. "I can see why you'd think that."
"Do you have a token?" Shelly asks, reaching behind her hair to unclasp her locket.
"Shelly, don't," I say. "My mom just gave me one."
"Okay," she says, breathing a sigh of relief. "I don't think I could live without my necklace."
"So not to be that guy or anything," Pearl starts. "But what exactly is your plan?"
"The hell do you mean what's my plan?" I ask, rhetorically. "I'm a Career; my plan is to dominate. I'll stay with the others until they get annoying, and then I'll get my shit and run. Nothing's going to stop me from getting back home."
Before either of them can respond, the same Peacekeeper as before ushers them out. I'm not expecting anyone else, but a girl with bright red hair hurls herself at me.
"How fucking dare you!" she screams. "What the hell gives you the right-"
"Elle, please shut the fuck up," I say, falsely sympathetic. "I volunteered, and there's literally nothing you can do about it. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's my year."
"If by some miracle you make it home, I'll kill you myself," she says. Before I have the chance to call for security, she storms out on her own, knocking over a vase on her way out.
The Justice Building, June 16th, 2:30 pm
Dustin Zigmund (18) POV
District 4 male
After volunteering, I'm grateful for the slight lag between getting to the room in the Justice Building and family and friends visiting, because I'm not ready to see anyone. How do I explain to Daniel how I didn't have faith in him to win? How do I rationalize going back on my promise to Nyx and Theo about never volunteering? They both went through the Games themselves, and despite winning, both described it as hell. As for my parents, there's no way I'll make them understand. Not after Dixie.
Growing up, my family was always considerably lower class than most others in the District, but we made do. My sister, Dixie, was determined to bring home the Victor's crown so we could live in the luxury she felt we all deserved. Our parents were disappointed that they didn't have everything we needed, but they supported her decision to train with the hopes of volunteering.
None of us were surprised when she was picked to volunteer. She was a picture-perfect Victor; a trained girl with a brain, a pretty face and a beautiful personality. When she volunteered at age 16, no one in the District was even remotely surprised- people had been expecting Dixie to volunteer since she started training. The only thing that shocked people was her death, placing fourth.
Which is why I'm not the least bit surprised when my parents storm into the room, my mother crying her eyes out and my father with a stern, if slightly disappointed look on his face.
"I can't…" mom sobs. "My little Dustin!"
"Dustin, what possessed you to volunteer?" dad asks. "Daniel was Reaped, there's no rule that someone has to volunteer every year."
"Dad, I know," I say. "Really, I do. But seeing Dan up there… I just couldn't picture him coming home. I know I have a better shot at winning than he does, and I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if he died and there was something I could have done to prevent it."
My parents are quiet, but my mom breaks it after a few beats, speaking with a shaking voice and wringing her hands together.
"We can't lose you and Dixie," she says, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Please, try to come home. We're all broken enough as it is."
"I will, mom," I say, pulling her in for a hug. I feel her tears soak through the front pocket of my blue dress shirt, and I hug her tighter. When I feel her pulling away, I let her go, and my dad reaches for my hand pulling me into a hug of his own.
Before a Peacekeeper comes to inevitably bring my parents away, mom reaches into her purse and pulls out a gold bangle. I recognize it immediately as Dixie's District token from her time in the Games, and while I'd usually protest, I allow her to slide it up my wrist.
"Don't forget about your sister while you're in there," Dad says.
"I won't," I promise.
A Peacekeeper comes in, and so as not to cause a scene, my parents leave calmly. They're almost immediately replaced by my friends Drew, Nyx and Theo, the latter two of which have won the Games previously. Theo won the 216th Games at 17, and is 28 now. Nyx won the 214th at 17, and just turned 30. My only friend close to my age is Drew Redmond, who I'm only friends with from training. I promised Theo and Nyx that I'd never volunteer after hearing their stories, and once I lock eyes with Nyx, she gives me a harsh slap on the face.
"I deserved that," I say.
"Damn right you did," she says. "Dustin, why did you do this?"
A hurt expression settles over her generally pretty features, and I refrain from delivering the sarcastic response that I otherwise would.
"Look, I really wasn't planning on it," I admit. "It took Daniel being Reaped for me to realize that I never should have picked him over Douglas, even if he did elope. Especially with Penny, Dan didn't stand a chance."
"For what it's worth, I think you did the right thing," Drew says. "You have instincts for a reason, and I'm glad you followed them."
"Thanks, Drew," I say.
"So, what's your plan?" Theo asks. "I mean, District 4 has made it to the finale the past five years, so I have faith in you and Penny."
"Careers, probably," I say. "I mean, the Careers the past few years have been impressive, so I don't see any reason not to stick with them."
"What about a strategy?" he asks.
The truth is, I don't have one. Most volunteers get weeks of notice before they're picked, so they get a long time to plan; a luxury I didn't get. I have no clue what I'm in for going into the Games. So I decide to change the topic, ever so carefully.
"How are you here?" I ask. "I thought mentors weren't allowed to visit."
"We're not mentoring," Nyx cuts in. "Coral's mentoring the girl again this year, which is some bullshit, if you ask me."
"Who's mentoring me, then?" I ask, worried. I really hope it's someone good.
"Reef Roman," Theo says.
"Why?!" I exclaim. "He's like 40, why would they chose him over you?"
"Don't be so quick to judge," Theo says. "He mentored Tim last year."
"Yeah, and you mentored Aiden in the Quell," I argue. "Who made it further?"
Before he can rebuttal, the Peacekeeper comes in and leads them out.
I'm half expecting him to return back in with Daniel, but I guess he's too mad to see me. I wish he had come in before I left so I could explain, but I'm counting on Theo, Nyx or Drew to for me. I sit on the velveteen couch for the next several minutes, waiting for Penny's visitors to be gone. Once they apparently leave, the same Peacekeeper comes in for me, and the two of us are led out of the Justice Building.
Well, that was a shit load longer than I thought it would be. Don't get used to it.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to Jms2 for Penny and Fifidear for Dustin!
Questions!
1) Who do you like better, Penny or Dustin?
2) What did you like about them?
3) What didn't you like about them?
4) Any predictions?
5) Out of the 8 introduced tributes so far, who would you most like to see win?
I'm not gonna do Spotlight Stories like I have in my last stories, because that honestly just got repetitive, and it was exhausting trying to get new stories constantly. However, I will on occasion shout out an author. Sooo, guys! IVolunteerAsAuthor. He does really great stories, and when he kills someone off, you'll want to kill him Sapphirina style (Explosions or poison, either works.) If you're a reader that understands that, props. He started his first ever SYOT recently, and updates come so frequently. I have a tribute in the story, so I hope some of you guys read it!
-No one says no to Gaston!