Caspian Delamar,18, District 4 male
I let out a long stretch after I finish wringing up all of my scuba gear and neatly pack it on the small boat I use to navigate the sea yawning aloud. This felt like a long day, heck it was. I've been out in the sea practically all day hauling what I can, just to give my mother a head start on supplies as I'm going to be away for a little while.
This little company was originally lead by my father, it's called "Delamar's Deep Sea Delicacies." It's a business my family owned for generations as I come from a family full of scuba divers. A lot of our very expensive catches went to the capitol but we still usually had a surplus of food left and often gave it out to starving homeless individuals.
I grew up comfortably, I won't say rich because we weren't but we were more fortunate than a lot of the residents in this district and I'm thankful for everything I have. My father continued to successfully run this business for years but it happened a couple of years ago that my father was severely injured by electric Eeels while he was scuba diving and it left him paralyzed from the waist down.
He's not able to do what he loves anymore so he passed on this company to me and I'm very happy here to say the least, I remember even as a kid, I'd go diving with my father and it just seemed like I can hold my breath for an eternity.
Anyways I still have a little bit of time, I'll just pull in my haul and open shop until it's time for me to head over to the academy.
After I open shop and neatly sort out my haul into their respective categories, I start organizing the store for a little while before a customer walks in.
"Good evening! Lovely day today isn't it!" I greet my customer, a middle aged man named Henry who occasionally stops by here for red snappers, he always gets the same thing everytime so I pretty much got it memorized.
"Good evening to you as well Caspian! You're a hardworking young man, you train well but you always find time to maintain your business as well, I'm sure your parents are very proud of you!" He greets me back and I smile.
Well that's true for my father and even my mom to an extent. She expects a lot from me and for good reason. She also had to step up as my father could no longer physically provide assistance and she takes this business very seriously as she should. If she see even one slight imperfection though, she'll call me out on it, it was overbearing at first, it just seemed like whatever I did, it was never enough, but I eventually saw things in her point of view and began to respect it.
"Of course, there's no better feeling than putting a smile on my parent's face while also doing what I love! What'll you be having today though Henry, two red snappers chopped up?" I grin and he nods.
"Ah! I see you memorized my order!" he happily exclaims.
"Absolutely Henry! Hey I'll give you permission to smack me in the face if I ever forgot your order!" I laugh and he laughs along with me.
"Ahaha! Duly noted Caspian, you're volunteering tomorrow huh? You might be gone for a little while or even forever…" he sounds a little more grim but I continue confidently smiling.
"Just going away for a little while Henry. I'll be back though!" I assure him.
"Yeah I'd like to believe that, I saw your fight against Riley though, ha well my son recorded it, you looked phenomenal, he couldn't even land a single hit on you!" He commends me.
"Haha, well those are the results a lot of hard training will get you!" I smile as I chop up his two red snappers.
"Tell you what Henry, I'll throw in an extra red snapper, on the house!" I add before pulling another red snapper out of the ice and begin prepping it.
"Wow that's incredible! I had to scrounge up money just for two of them so this extra one is well appreciated!" He thanks me.
"Always happy to make anyone's day Henry!" I state as I pack up his Red snappers and hand it to him as he hands me the money for the two red snappers.
"Thanks so much Caspian and hey good look in the arena, you're a good man, it'll really suck to lose you." He admits and I nod.
"Thank you Henry, I'll be fine though, enjoy the snappers and the rest of your evening!" I shake his hand and he leaves afterwards.
I continue organizing the shop for a few minutes but another customer enters not giving me any time to gather my thoughts about tomorrow. This customer is a young woman who looks to be about my age if not younger and she's wearing worn clothes and is visibly pregnant, her eyes are also puffy like she's been crying, I've never seen her before though.
"Hi, good evening, how may I help you?" I greet her but she suddenly breaks down crying afterwards and I come from behind the counter to try and help her.
"Hey, you ok? Here have a seat, I'll get you something to drink." I help her sit in a chair and walk over to my fridge to pull out a bottle of water and hand it to her.
"Here you go ma'am." I hand her the bottle of water and she gratefully accepts it.
"Thank you…thank you so much." She sniffs and takes a sip of the water before crying again sinking her face into her hands and I hesitantly put my hand on my shoulder to try and calm her down but to also let her know that I'm here and she isn't alone…
"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry. It's just I have no one… my family abandoned me and I'm just all alone, I have no money, no food, no where to go. I know you have your own problems, we all do, but I just need help and i…I don't know where else to go…" she sniffles.
"Hey…it's ok. I'm here for you ok? If you're hungry, I can give you some food and drinks, what's your name?" I ask.
"Aura…" she sniffs.
" Alright Aura, my name is Caspia. I'll fix you something up, all we have here is seafood though, you don't have any allergies right?" I ask.
"No…I'll appreciate anything…anything…" she cries.
"Ok, I'll be right back, if you need me, just call me and I'll be here alright?" I assure her and she nods before I go into the kitchen area and pull out several pieces of whiting and coat them in breading before throwing them in a deep fryer. I'll make her several fish sandwiches and give her a few bottles of water as well. I'll even give her some money so she can rent out a room for a few days, that's the most I can do though…
My father always told me that if there's a hungry mouth to feed, that they'll be taken care of, wheter they can afford it or not, I'll stand by that until I draw my last breath.
Once I finish prepping her sandwiches I pack them in a bag along with some bottles of water and go into my wallet to pull out some money.
"Hey Aura…" I approach her with the bag of food and her eyes light up as she begins crying again but I hand it over to her and she accepts it.
"Thank you…thank you so much!" She cries and I nod.
"Also here Aura, I know it's not much, but It should be enough to buy some necessities and rent a room for a few days." I state handing her some money and she throws her arms around me hugging me and I do the same.
"Thank you Caspian, I'll always remember this." She sniffs and I nod.
"I can't help everyone, but those that I can…I'll do my best to make sure they'll be at least a little happier." I assure her and she hugs me again and kisses me on the cheek.
"You're so sweet Caspian…this world needs more people like you." She wipes her eyes.
"I'll be away for a little while but if you need anything else. Just come by here ok? My mom will be running the place but I'll let her know about you." I assure her.
"Yes, Thank you so much Caspian!" She hugs me again, leaves shortly afterwards and I figure it's time to begin closing shop, Marina should be here any second. After a few minutes, as I expected, she arrives right as I'm ready to turn out the light and she has her hands on her hips.
"Hey there Marina, I was trying to head over there before you got here and dragged me by my ear!" I joke and she chuckles with me.
"I would, but you're working hard, trying your best to juggle your training with your family's business, can't imagine how tough that is." She states.
"It's tough, I'll admit that but you get used to it after a while. Anyways lets head over to the facility, I'm sure Riley is about to bust a blood vessel." I joke some more and she laughs again.
"Oh please Caspian, still though he's pretty convinced you just got lucky, you dominated him through and thorough though, it wasn't even close." She states as we head over to the facility. Marina is my best friend, I met her when I first joined the academy when I was 9. I found her crying in a closet after Riley who she's now dating by the way shoved her into a pool. I managed to cheer her up and make her laugh and we've just be inseparable ever since. Riley was considered the number 1 fighter here for a long time while I remained behind him, a certain incident happened though and he began to slack on his training, the tragedy only motivated me to train harder though and I eventually surpassed him…
" I just did my best, but I know he'll be more focused this time around, I'm looking forward to the rematch!" I state.
Me and Riley though, we never really got along to be honest, he's just way too stuck up and arrogant for my liking and I also have other reasons why I don't get along with him as well but for Marina's sake, I just try and tolerate him, he is her boyfriend after all.
Once we're close to the academy, that's when I take a deep breath and broaden my shoulders fixing up my posture.
"Caspian..." Marina practically mumbles and I look over at her.
"It's ok to be yourself…" she reminds me but I give her an assuring smile.
Marina is the only one I can be myself around, for everyone else here, I just feel the need to perceive myself as strong, as overbearing as that is, I just don't want to ruin that image.
"There'll be more time for that later." I give her a nod and open the double doors to see Riley viciously cutting up dummies in preparation for me as the onlookers only gaze at him in awe but I get his attention almost immediately and he gives me a cocky grin and I give a friendly smile in return.
"How's it going Riley? See you've been training hard!" I commend him and he slices the head off a dummy before spinning his sword in his hand.
"Yeah, back to my prime form, you got lucky last time but that won't be happening again." He assures me but I only listen to him intently.
"I see, well I do respect your confidence, this should be an exciting spar!" i happily state but this only seems to irritate him more.
"How about your grab your trademark eel spear and let's get this over with, you won't be embarrassing me again and after I take you out, it'll be me volunteering tomorrow!" He grits his teeth.
"Ok then…" I walk over and grab an eel spear from it's station and I do a defensive stance.
"Ready when you are." I inform him and he cackles as he begins circling me, my eyes following his every move as I remain in my defensive stance
He suddenly lunges at me though and I immediately parry his attack which causes him to stumble onto the floor as several gasps are heard.
"You ok there?" I ask as he sucks his teeth and jumps back up to his feet glaring me.
"Heh, that was a nice counter but I got you figured out now!" He confidently say.
"Do you?" I taunt him and he lunges at me again but I weave his attack and he pushes his sword forward trying to hit me in the torso but I calmly strike his sword out of his hand and he growls throwing a punch at me but I duck under it and come up from behind smacking him in the back of the head with the handle of my spear which seems to anger him even more.
"Don't mock me!" he growls picking up his sword and I block both of his attacks before countering his third strike which sends him stumbling back.
"So how was your day today?" I casually ask blocking another one of his attacks.
"These fucking antics again…" I hear him mumble and I weave another one of his attacks smack him in the face with the side of my spear and some giggles can be heard.
He growls again and tries stabbing me but I casually yawn with one hand over my mouth and spin out of the way of his attack.
"Dammit…dammit!" He curses in frustration.
"So I've been wondering what I'm going to eat tonight, any suggestions? Maybe you can even cook for me?" I tease him but he prepares to strike again and I read his attack striking his sword out of his hand yet again but he tries tackling me and I weave out of the way causing him to tackle the floor instead. He tries to grab his sword but I only sit my spear on his back and the show is over.
"Fuck…fuck how did you get so strong?!" he punches the floor in frustration and I remember him, my fiancé sinking down into the cold waters where I'll never see him again but Marina slams her hand on my back bringing me back to the present.
"You did it Caspian! You made it look even easier this time!" She congratulates me.
Riley takes a deep breath though and throws his sword on the floor before giving me a look of approval and respect.
"I don't have any more excuses… congratulations Caspian, you're better than me." He extends his hand and I shake it.
"I appreciate the kind words Riley but it was never about who was better, it's just us having fun and sparring, and that's the only thing that matters in the end right?" I smile but he nods and looks at the black metallic ring on my finger.
"Dewton…he'll be really proud of you Caspian." Riley tells me and I remember Dewton's cold eyes gazing up at me but I shake the thought away.
"So you two, now that that's out of the way, lets go back to my place and eat some sea salt popsicles!" Marina offers.
"Hmmph fine with me." Riley grumbles.
"Actually I need to take care of something, got to go over my inventory again on the shore." I lie.
"You can't do that a little later?" she protests.
"Nah, I'll just get it over with, I'll be over there later though, promise!" I promise her and she sighs.
"Alright then Caspian, see you later!" She hugs and kisses me on the cheek before we go our separate ways.
It's night time now, I should be asleep now getting ready for the big day but I walk over to the shore where the moonlight is gleaming over the water and I sit myself in one of the small boats before paddling my way towards the middle of the sea where I last saw him…
Dewton…he was my fiance. I first met Dewton when I was 12, he was studying to be a doctor and be worked as an onsite medical intern for scuba divers but he often visited the academy to treat any injuries any of the trainees suffered during their training and he was damn good at it, he was like a prodigy…
I first spoke to him when I injured myself during training and he tended to my thigh. The moment his skin touched mine, I just felt a shock of electricity run through me and along with his smart alec but also charming personality, I knew from the jump that he was someone I wanted to spend my life with.
We got closer and closer and remained friends but I wasn't able to muster up enough courage to tell him how I really felt and it seemed like he had the same thoughts as me. We just continued being sexually frustrated friends until last year. It was during Marina's birthday. We were just casually partying and with parties come illegal things like underage drinking but I made sure not to drink anything, I still had to work after all.
I remembered mid way through the party that I remembered i had to fix up some of my scuba gear and Dewton offered to come and help me so we both went off to the shore and that's when it happened.
That's when we shared our first intimate moment together and I just felt free, like I no longer had to hide anything from him and that he no longer had to hide anything from me.
He slipped a metallic black ring on me afterwards and told me something corny like he wanted me to hold onto it for him as he'll probably lose it, but I knew what it actually was and I was just in so much shock I didn't even know how to process it. He returned back to the party though while I remained on the shore continuing to fix up my gear and coming to terms that the love of my life just proposed to me.
I swear though, it wasn't even 10 minutes later that I heard the most horrifying scream coming from Marina's residence and I immediately stopped what I was doing and rushed over there.
When I arrived Marina was crying hysterically in a corner, My younger brother Cove only standing still in shock, Riley also standing still in shock with a blood drenched sword and Dewton, laying on the floor in a pool of his own blood barley clinging to life.
"It was an accident, it was an accident I swear!" Riley protested, it didn't look like an accident though and authorities will sure say the same thing.
It turns out my brother Cove who's two years younger than me and Riley had a little too much liquor in their system and challenged each other to a friendly spar with actual swords. The sparring session apparently got intense and Dewton was accidentally struck in the crossfire.
Marina kept screaming and crying though so I yelled at her to "shut the fuck up" and that I'll handle this but for them to clean up whatever was left after I moved his body.
I carried him to the shore, my heart pounding frantically and I sat him in my boat before paddling into the middle of the sea. At this point I thought he was dead but hearing him whimper my name and looking at his fading eyes as he tried to cling to life so he wouldn't leave me, it tore a hole in me and I broke down. I tried asking him what I can do, to just tell me what to do and that I'll do it, but his only response was a weak groan telling me how much it hurt…I knew what had to be done…
"Dive deep down Delamar…" I mumbled. That's my family's saying and by diving down deep enough, we'll be able to overcome any obstacle. I covered his mouth with one hand shouting those words louder and louder not wanting to hear his last breaths, I shouted it over, over and over until his breath ceased and I lifted him up and sat him on top of water as he began to sink, lower and lower until I can no longer see him… To everyone else in the district, he simply got drunk and drowned.
Here I am back on my boat, tears fall down my eyes as I look at my reflection in the water, the tears falling into the sea creating small ripples and I dip my hand into the ice cold water, a part of me hoping he's still there, that he's still alive and that he'll grab my hand so we can return home together.
"I miss you…I miss you so much…" I sniff as tears continue falling down my eyes, Dewton…I just wish I can see you again.
Reyena Shore,16, District 4 female
My head emerges out of the water and I inhale a mouth full of breath as I can already feel the warmth of the sun beginning to cool me off. I then lay on my back floating on the water and beginning kicking my small legs and paddling my arms as I look up at the bright sun and inhale more of the fresh air before exhaling. It's nice out here though, if I didn't have to head to the square today then I'd probably be here all day. This is how I liked to pass the time after all whenever I wasn't training.
"Reyena! Reyena!!" I hear my younger sister Heidi calling me, it's time already?
I suck in another mouth full of breath and dive down under the water again
"Hey I know you heard me!" I hear her pout in her high pitched voice and I contain my laughter as I swim through the crystal clear water. Being under this water, it feels like I belong here. I probably won't ever tell anyone this, but I feel like a mermaid. There's so many wonders to explore under here, and it's so calming. Everything above though, just utter chaos…
I emerge from the water again and a bunch of water is immediately splashed on my face.
"Hey!" I accidently swallow some of the water and see Heidi is now in here with me.
"That's what you get for ignoring me!" She does a sly grin.
"Oh so you want to play like that huh?" I grin back and splash some water in her face as she gasps and we engage in water fight splashing each other up as we giggle together, we can't stay here for too long though since you know, reapings and all.
We help each other out of the sea and step through the warm sand. Heidi is my younger sister, younger by two years but people often think she's older than me since I'm shorter than her. Unlike my other sister, me and Heidi get along well and we often engage in friendly water fights like this.
"I just bought these pajamas too, but it was so worth it!" Heidi exclaims.
"You know very well you planned on doing this from the get go!" I counter and she sighs.
"Ok you got me, now I have to give you a piggy ride back home since you successfully figured out my plan!" She begins picking me up.
"No!" I laugh managing to fight my way out of her clutches as some seagulls cry and fly over us and on the far end of the beach I see someone standing near the water gazing at it and I recognize him almost immediately, that's Caspian…
"Oh your district partner, he's here pretty often just staring at the water, wonder what his deal is?" Heidi questions.
"No idea…" I shrug my shoulders as we step through the sand. He's the male volunteer for this year and after seeing his fighting style, I think anyone will lose their cool going up against him. He's infuriating to say the least. The way he can evade all of your attacks while also taunting you, don't have anything against the guy, but he tries that on me and that'll be the last thing he does.
He suddenly looks over at me and my sister though and we only gaze at each other for a moment before he does an awkward wave and begins making his way towards us.
"Should we run? Yeah let's run!" Heidi suggests but I only roll my eyes and cross my arms over each other as he approaches me.
"Hey there, good morning to you ladies!" He greets us.
"Good afternoon, I mean good night, nooo I mean good morning!" My sister stutters and I only cringe. She always acts like this around boys she finds attractive and I'll be honest, he is a good looking guy, you'll never see me acting like that though.
He's a little over 6 feet tall with an athletic build and long arms but he towers over me as I'm just barley 5'3. His posture alone just emits strength and confidence and he always has a radiant white smile over his face. His moist looking jet black hair is short and slicked back but some of the strands still manage to cover his seaweed green almond shaped eyes, his nose is prominent, he has sand colored skin and with full deep shaded red lips. He also has a nicer ass than practically every female in this district which I find pretty hilarious.
"Good morning, Caspian right?" I extend my hand to him.
"That'll be correct, you're Reyena right? I saw your qualifying match the other day and I just want to congratulate you, didn't expect someone your size to be able to beat Jazz up like that!" He shakes my hand but I pull my hand away from him and give him an irritated look.
"What does my size have to do with this? You figured it'd make me less likely to win?" I snap at him. Here we go again people underestimating me just cause I'm short, there's nothing more annoying than that and that's why I practically kill myself in training each and every day, I just feel the need to compensate for my lack of size…
"No- I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry if I offended you, I just wanted to congratulate you on your win and I'm looking forward to us being allies, well that's if you don't punch me in the throat right now…" he smiles and I smirk without even realizing.
"Ah look at you all smiles now, you do have a nice smile." He compliments me and I feel myself begin to blush a little as I smirk some more.
"Well thank you, and look I didn't mean to lash at you like that it's just…" I begin but stop myself.
"Hey I know how you feel, no need to apologize. Anyways I should head on out. We got a big day today afterall." He states.
"Yeah, see you later Caspian…" I respond as he waves and walks off. I then turn around to look at my sister who looks like she's in some kind of trance.
"What's gotten into you?" I lightly pluck her on the forehead.
"He is soooo hawt oh my gosh!" she says very and I mean very loudly, I'm pretty sure he heard her but he only continues walking away.
"And look at that butt! Like I want to use it as a pillow!" she squeals and the cringe gets too real so I begin speed walking away from her as she tries chasing after me but I'm quite a bit faster. He seems like a nice guy honestly, but I won't let anyone stand in my way of becoming victor, no one! I'll feel horrible about it, but I'll do what needs to be done.
We finally reach our home and I walk in to see my parents sitting at the table while my other sister Scarlett is separating food onto several different plates and I figure the one with the burnt scraps you scrape off the edge of the pan is mines.
"Hey mom and dad…" I greet them.
"Good morning honey! I see you went for a morning swim!" My mom greets me as I'm literally in a swimsuit right now.
"I see you decided to join in one the fun too Heidi, no one invited me though?" My father jokes as he sips his coffee.
"Well as soon as you can find your life jacket again, we'd be more than happy to have you with us!" Heidi jokes back with him and they along with my mom breaks into a laughter as me and Scarlett only give each other a silent look and she pushes a plate of scraps towards me but I pretend it isn't there and begin heading upstairs to change out of this swimsuit but I can already feel her footsteps behind me also walking up the stairs and I only let out a low sigh as I head into my room and begin closing the door but she stops it with her hand and gives me an irritated look.
"I thought I told you to stop wearing my swimsuit." She begins.
"Well sorry, if I'm not wearing it then it's just in your closet collecting dust." I honestly state. Here she goes again always trying to find something to argue with me about. Scarlett is my twin sister, but I was the runt of the two and much smaller than her. We used to get along very well. We shared everything with each other and always sparred together to hone our skills and improve ourselves. She was a natural prodigy and excelled at everything like training and schoolwork and I constantly fell behind while she became the more popular one and had the spotlight on her. It made me envious to be honest, I didn't want to be left behind, to just live under her shadow so I began to push myself harder and my efforts began to pay off as I slowly began catching up to her and that's when my family's support shifted from her to me, I didn't exactly want to surpass her but I just wanted to be noticed too…
It then happened one day on the beach two years ago where we were swimming together and she suddenly grabbed my head and dunked it into the water. I actually thought it was a game at first and just tried playing along with her. I can hold my breath under water for a pretty long time but I started starving for air and tried pulling my head back up but she forced it down and that's when I realized that this wasn't a game, she really was trying to kill me.
I managed to fight her off and when I asked why, that's when she broke down telling me how much she hated being the "second best" how she hated that I was now getting all of the attention and adoration, how she wanted it all back and that the only way she can reclaim her previous status was to get me out of the picture.
That broke my heart, even to this day It stings and I stay up just thinking about it but our relationship fell apart drastically afterwards. We almost never spoke to each and whenever we did, it was always an argument she initiated like the one we're having right now…
"That doesn't give you the right to take my shit without asking!" She snaps at me and I curse under my breath beginning to lose my patience.
"Ok, I'll take your stupid swimsuit off ok? Can you just give me a second?" I ask with clear impatience
"No, I need you to take my stuff off right now!" she grabs me and literally tries ripping the suit off of me.
"What the f-" I curse trying to overpower her but she uses her size advantage to push me against the wall continuing to try ripping the suit off and as hard as I can, smack her across the face and she only clutches her face as she looks at me in shock and I'm only at a loss of words as I can only give her a shocked look back.
"I hope you die, I hope you fucking die! I'll kill you myself if I was able to get away with it!" Some tears come down her eyes as she storms out of my room and I feel a literal hole in me. My sister, my own sister just wished death on me, that is one of the worst things you can ever do. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a horrible person and if i pushed Scarlett to hate me to the point where she tried to kill me herself and wishes death on me…
I look myself in the mirror forcing down my emotions and take a deep breath. Obviously I'm pretty short at only 5'3 but I have a slender build with some muscle that I worked extremely hard to tone. My skin is tan and my face is covered in freckles. My thick dark brown hair reaches the bottom of my shoulder blades and hangs in waves and I have three braids with different colored ribbons braided into my hair like red, blue and yellow. I have a small forehead, a button nose along with a round face. Me and Scarlett are identical so the only real differences is that she's a little bigger, her hair is longer and while she prefers to wear tight and revealing clothes, I prefer to wear dark colored, loose fitting clothes.
Once I dress up in my loose navy shorts with a grey t shirt tucked into it and black jandals, I head downstairs where my parents are casually conversing with each other, Heidi is stuffing her face full of breakfast and Scarlett is only glaring me. I won't be joining them for breakfast and it's for Scarlett's safety.
"See you guys at the square…" I mumble.
"Reyena join us for breakfast!" Heidi pleads.
"No." I bluntly say and leave the house feeling a little bad but I don't want to have to beat Scarlett into a bloody pulp cause I will, and I won't show any remorse in doing so.
"Reyena! Look at you looking all cute!" I hear my bestfriend Delta and see her approaching me.
"Hey Delta, what's up." I greet her.
"Just what's up? Where's the excitement at girl? You're going to be a victor soon!" She tries and cheer me up.
"Hmmph Scarlett is just driving me insane, nothing new." I grumble walking towards the square.
"Oh boy, but still I was looking forward to coming over and having some of her breakfast, as unlikable as she is, she sure is a good cook!" she puts her arm around my shoulder.
"Well for her own good, I don't think I should be there right now, I'm heading to the square though, might as well get a head start before everyone starts flooding in." I state.
"Hmm fair point, Caspian is volunteering too though!" she reminds me.
"I'm aware of that." I bluntly say.
"He's gonna be tricky, just get on his good side and stab him up in his sleep or something." She tries to give me advice, I don't think I'd resort to such means though, you'll look at me, you'll see me before I finish you off!
"I'll handle him as I see fit, anyways what're you going to be doing while I'm away?" I curiously ask.
"Me? Well I'm going to be preparing to move out my place, we are moving in together after you return right?" she lights up in excitement but I only give her a confused look.
"When did we ever discuss this?" I question. I consider Delta my closest friend and I love her but sheesh, it'll be nice to discuss these kinds of things ahead of time.
"Well…we're discussing it now right?" She smirks.
"Heh you smart ass, it'll be tough to turn you down though so yeah, lets move in together after I win!" I agree with her.
"Woooo!" She picks me up and spins me around and some people pass by us so it's quite embarrassing.
Anyways we reach the square shortly afterwards and get our blood drawn before joining the 16 year old female section and we just engage in idle chat as we're still a little early. We're interrupted quite a few times by some of the other girls here as they congratulate me and some even ask for autographs and pictures.
"Can I get your autograph pretty please! I've became a fan of you after that beating you put on display!" One of the girls pleads.
"Excuse me we're trying to have a conversation here! Shoo!" Delta literally begins shoving the girl away.
"It's ok Delta, you got a pen?" I ask the girl. I worked hard to get where I am, like really hard. It's honestly a good feeling knowing my efforts are being noticed.
"Y-yes right here!" She pulls a pen out of her purse along with a picture of me dealing the finishing blow to my opponent Jazz with my trident and I quickly sign my signature on the picture for her but she squeals in response and plants a wet slobbery kiss on my mouth before disappearing into the crowd of 16 year old girls and I can only stand still in shock as I register what happened. Did…she really just kiss me on my mouth!?
Delta is almost dying of laughter though and I try to keep my composure as I try and pretend that didn't just happen.
"We might have a room mate when you return!" She giggles and I punch her in the shoulder.
"Alright let's start with the guys, man this is so boring!" Ralph yawns and drags himself to the male's bowl before pulling out a name.
"Calder Lakes!" he nonchalantly announces but I expect Caspian to volunteer since you know he is the selected volunteer and all.
It's taking him a while to do so though as Calder begins walking towards the stage rather hesitantly, is Caspian having second thoughts?
"I" I hear Caspian's voice but there's a very awkward silence afterwards, what's his problem?
"Oh yeah that's right, I um volunteer as tribute!" He adds and I can hear his mannerisms as he says "Excuse me" and "Pardon" as he gets past the crowd and begins walking towards the stage. He's wearing classic charcoal colored slacks which are rolled up at the bottom. He also has a belt and a blazer with a fishnet undershirt showing off his well toned abs and yeah he's ripped.
"He has a nice ass…" Delta whispers in my ear and I just ignore her.
He's about to reach the stage but turns around to face us.
"Come on guys stop looking at my ass! I know it's awesome!" He laughs and practically the entire square erupts in laughter and I smirk a little, we got a comedian here.
"Oh a volunteer how surprising, what's your name?" Ralph sarcastically asks but Caspian is still all smiles.
"Caspian Delamar sir! Looking forward to putting on a show for all of you!" He points to the crowd and some loud cheers pour in for him.
"Yeah yeah whatever, off to the females!" He grunts and walks to the female's bowl before pulling a name.
"Christa Seawells." He yawns.
"I volunteer!" I waste no time confidently marching towards the stage and I arrive on the stage and give Caspian a fiery look but he only gives me a warm smile, sorry Caspian, you seem like a good guy, but if push comes to shove, I won't hesitate to eliminate you!
"Another volunteer, what's new? W-" he begins but I snatch the mic out of his hand.
"My name is Reyena Shore and I'll be the victor of this year's hunger games, and since you seem to hate your job so much and want to make everyone else around you miserable, you can crawl into a hole and rot there!" I snarl at him and throw the mic on the floor as he only gives me a shocked look. Someone needed to put this moron in his place and I guess it fell on me to do so.
"…Well here's our two tributes representing district 4, shake hands…" he mumbles and I extend my hand to Caspian and give him a confident look but he smiles and shakes my hand and we're escorted towards the justice building.
"Good job sorting that guy out!" Caspian congratulates me.
"I don't need a pat on the back! He had it coming though!" I say with a bit of an attitude but he still remains in his happy persona and it makes me feel like a bit of a douche honestly.
"Very well said!" He gives a thumbs up.
"Hmmph." I grunt and he rushes to a door and holds it open for me to pass through.
"I could've done that myself, but thanks…" I thank him, is it cause of my size that he did that? Does he think I can't open a door on my own?
"Just being a gentleman!" he smiles.
"We're enemies!" I counter.
"Well that's technically true but, we don't have to hate each other just yet right?" He does some puppy eyes as he exaggerates some quivering lips and I walk ahead of him not wanting him to see me trying to contain my laughter. Every time I try and be serious around him, he always says or does something funny, he's going to be a handful.
"We'll talk later." I dismiss him walking towards my justice room.
"We sure will, see ya later!" He waves to me and we go our separate ways for now. Caspian just stop making me smile, it's going to make me feel even worse when your blood is on my hands…
Here is district 4! i probably would've had this chapter out sooner but this website seems to be acting up and i had to write all of this out on my phone. anyways everyone i hope you're all staying safe and enjoying the holiday!All of our careers have now been introduced though and i find them all quite interesting and I'm curious to know which one you guys like the most so far. anyways thank you once again for all of your reviews and I'll see you all soon, till next time!