Once when I was working in the woods, a girl who picked fights with me on numerous occasions shoved me under a falling tree. I was pinned to the ground, screaming for what seemed like hours before a few men in another work unit freed me. That's how I feel now, rooted in place, the weight of my name spoken aloud suffocating me.

Surrounding kids part like the sea, making a clear path to the stage. Every eye in the clearing is fixated on my tiny, quaking form.

"You could never stay out of trouble, Johanna," a boy to my left hisses.

A strangled cry comes out of my throat, morphing into a full-blown scream. Peacekeepers mounted next to the stage escort me forward, but I shake their hands off and walk up the steps leading to the podium. Actually, it's more of a stagger. I almost fell on the steps going up to the stage. Numbly, I shake hands with our district's mentor. I think his name is Blight.

"Lovely," Lola peeps. "And now for the boys!"

She chooses a slip of paper from the other bowl.

"Cassius Raven!"

A tall, broad-shouldered specimen strolls confidently up to the stage. I'd put him at eighteen. His skin is tanned from hours in the sun, and his black eyes would be handsome if not for the malicious glint in them.

Lola's smiling like the holidays have come a month early, the unperceptive twit.

"I present to you the tributes of District 7!"

Our escort motions for us to shake hands. Cassius looks to be over six feet, and he crushes my hand in his. Suddenly, he pulls me toward him as if for a hug. I comply, more for the cameras than anything else. He whispers in my ear, "It will be fun to play with the likes of you in the arena."

I realize he's the boy who hissed at me earlier. What a day I'm having.

"I doubt you'll be playing with me anytime soon."

Cassius pulls back from the false display of affection and I stare back at him, unflinching. Blight proceeds to read a speech about how honored he is to mentor this year's tributes, but I don't hear any of it.

I'm searching the crowd for my family and my heart twists when I make out their faces. My mother is clenching her fists so tightly they must be white and my father is openly sobbing. Kaylie looks shocked, dumbfounded. The only person who doesn't know what's going on is Chase. He's grinning at me and waving like he did before the reaping began.

Now I don't have time to return it because Cassius and I are both escorted away, one step closer to the gallows.

The room the Peacekeepers take me to is stunningly beautiful, with richly colored carpets, plush sofas, and blue painted walls. I pace rapidly across the floor, too full of anxiety and other pent-up emotions to sit. The fact that I'm going to the Games doesn't feel real. Could I have been cutting down trees at work only yesterday?

One of the Peacekeepers who tried to shove me onto the stage during the reaping comes into the room.

"You have three minutes," he growls.

I'm a little confused until my entire family bursts in except for Chase. My parents must have decided to keep him at home.

Good, I think. I don't want him to see me like this. I want to remember his wave.

I don't have much time to think about my brother because my mother crouches down, taking me by my skinny shoulders. Her face is still strong, inscrutable.

"Listen, my baby girl. You have an indomitable spirit. As long as you never lose it, you will come home."

She tilts my head up so I am looking into her eyes. Despite my almost imminent demise, my heart feels too full to speak. My father is too upset to say much, only the words "Come back to us, Johanna. We'll all be waiting for you."

I meet Kaylie's kind blue eyes and that's when I feel something inside of me crack. I cling to her like a lifeline as she gently strokes my hair like when I was little and fell multiple times from running too fast around the house.

"My sweet little sister," she whispers.

"Oh, my precious darling. It will all be all right."

I want to stay in her arms forever, this girl who has always been my rock, but the Peacekeeper comes in and starts to pull my family away from me. At the end of the chaos, right as they're being forcibly escorted out the door, Kaylie screams, "Remember, Johanna, no one except you knows your strengths!"

Then the door slams and they're gone. A second later, I'm being walked out to the train that will take my district partner and I to the Capitol, the ruling city of Panem.

I'm again astounded by the sheer beauty of the vehicle's exterior once I step inside. The inside of the train is just as pristine as the outside, with delicacies of every single food group on the table. As someone who's used to being caked in dirt and wood shavings, I feel almost too dirty to be standing here.

Although, I shouldn't be ashamed. Why should the Capitol get luxury while people toil in the districts day and night?

Blight and Lola are seated at the table, along with Cassius.

"Hello, my dear," Lola chirps. "I was just saying to Cassius that everything here is at your disposal- your room is near the back of the train. I was wondering where you were. It took a bit longer than three minutes for you to get out of there. What could have possibly taken you so long?"

"Why are you even speaking to me?"

I've shocked Lola, I know. Cassius, too; he looks like he wants to strangle me.

Not now, Cassius, there'll be plenty of time for that later.

"I was saying goodbye to my family. You know, people who love you, care for you, will always look after you? Oh, sorry, I forgot that you don't have those in the Capitol."

"Young lady!"

I don't care. Damn my silly little escort! Damn everyone in the Capitol! It's their fault I'm even here and not laughing at something funny my little brother said right now! I feel tears starting to pool in my eyes and frantically wipe them away.

"I'm not hungry," I snapped. I stalk off toward the back of the train car and don't hear footsteps behind me until a voice speaks.

"You were very brave back there."

I whip around to see Blight. He doesn't look shocked, only studies me calmly.

"I'm not fond of Lola either. She has no right to be cheerful when the tributes are going off to serve as Capitol fodder."

I didn't expect a mentor to speak like this. Blight's not at all turning out like I expected him to.

"Aren't you going to give me the 'be grateful for the Capitol' speech? 'It's an honor to be participating in the Hunger Games?'"

He laughed humorlessly. "I don't see a point to it. I know you want to be left alone, but I have something for you first."

He's silent for a minute, then holds something out to me. It's a carved iris flower. Right before my mother gave birth to me, my father was outside at a neighbor's garden picking flowers for her. When the birth was over, my mother decided that Iris would be my middle name.

"Where did you get this?"

"Your sister asked me to give it to you as a token."

That's right. Lots of tributes over the years had little mementos from their home district. I once saw a girl drop a small wooden ball while still on her pedestal and she got blown sky-high. Not like I would be stupid enough to do something like that.

"I didn't expect someone who lives at the Capitol to do something nice for me, let alone District 7's mentor," I say bluntly.

Blight laughs a little, but I can tell he's sad. He kneels down so we are eye to eye. It reminds me of my sister so much I start to feel my throat clamp up. No. I won't lose it in front of Blight. He's my mentor and I don't want him to think I'm a pathetic blubbering mess.

"You don't have to thank me, Johanna. It's the Capitol who should be apologizing to you."

Before I can respond, he's gone. I push the door in front of me open and close it quickly to escape any prying eyes. I carefully unzip my dress, making sure to hang it in the full-length closet, and look through the chest of drawers until I find a simple nightgown, although it does have a small bow on each sleeve. It's not until I crawl under the bed's silken sheets when everything that happened crashes into me like I'd been hit full in the face with an axe's handle.

The people who I love more than anything will be forced to watch me die a fast, gruesome death or a painful but slow one in the arena.

You have an indomitable spirit, Johanna.

But I didn't feel strong. I felt like a seventeen-year-old girl who shoved a group of Peacekeepers and screamed at her reaping. The tears I've been holding back since I said goodbye to my parents and sister spill over and I finally let myself sob, regardless of who might be listening.

Thinking of my family is too much. I'm not with them. I should be at home with them!

I bite down on the pillow, my cheeks wet, and scream with everything inside me until I have no voice left. After I have cried myself out, I lie there listening to the rocking of the train and finally fall asleep with Kaylie's token tucked in my hand.

It must be around four in the morning when I wake up. I get out of bed, catching my reflection in the mirror near the dresser. My brown eyes are rimmed with red from all the crying, not to mention the puffiness. My hair looks like a tangled bird's nest. How was I going to face Lola, Blight, and Cassius when I'm this much of a wreck?

I'd best try to get rid of some of the redness, so I go into the private bathroom adjoining my room and turn on the faucet. While I wait for the water to warm up, I wonder about what people's reactions are like back home now that the tributes of the 71st Hunger Games are being taken to the Capitol. I doubt that many people in District 7 will think I can win.

The people of my district think of me as unapproachable, and quite frankly I don't care.

There are only four opinions that matter to me, and I have a token to carry them with me wherever I go. After someone kidnapped my little brother when he was three, I pick the people I trust carefully. They aren't always what they seem.

Suddenly I staggered back so abruptly I almost hit my side on the sink.

Remember, Johanna, no one except you knows your strengths.

That's it! I have both physical stamina and an analytical mind, but I'm going to pretend I have neither! The other tributes won't figure me out until it's too late.

I've left the scalding hot water running in the sink all this time and I turn off the faucet, but end up getting a burn on my hand.

I exit the bathroom without washing my face and look at my reflection again, not with sadness but with determination. I go over to my closet and turn on an overhead light inside the door.

With a silent apology to Kaylie, I rip the beautiful golden dress until the fabric is shredded and uneven. I keep the black flowers along the neckline intact for a reminder of what I came to do.

As for the shoes, I soak them in hot water until their sheen and color is gone. I want the audience to pity me. I want to look tragic. I want people to look at me and say, "Oh no, poor girl... too bad she's going to die."

After the better part of an hour, I am finished.

I am Johanna Mason. I am the female tribute of District 7.

I am strong, but now I must be weak.

For a little while after that, I thought my act was only something I did to survive the Games. I had no idea of all the trouble it was going to cause.