Everlet Mallory, 15, District 12
Everlet Mallory ran down the stairs of her house. Living in the merchant sector had its perks, one of which was the nicer houses.
"Grandmother! Grandmother are you down here? I'm leaving for school!" she called
"I'm here dear, come into the shop." her Grandmother answered. Everlet walked into the bookstore that her grandmother ran and she helped in. Surrounded by books, this was where she spent most of her days. Most of the books were textbooks, simply informational, but there were somehow a few that managed to get saved from the days before Panem. The United States of America, it was called. It eventually fell apart due to corrupt politicians and natural disasters, and Panem was formed. Everlet was currently reading a book called Dragon's Green by someone named Scarlett Thomas. However, she had read books from the second rebellion to how to bake bread. That might have been why she didn't have any friends. But the characters in her books were her friends, and they were all that she needed.
Everlet's grandmother walked out from behind the shelves. "Have a good day at school," she said, giving Everlet a hug, "and don't forget to run by the bakery on your way back."
"I will Grandmother! I'll see you later! Do you want me to run by Mrs. Everdeen's apothecary on the way home?" she asked.
"No dear, you're fine. I'll go later if I need to get anything." her grandmother answered, waving her out the door, "Now hurry! You'll be late!"
Everlet walked out of the door and into the sunshine of District 12. It wasn't that bad here, and when the sun was shining it looked as good as One in her eyes. Looking at the clock on the new Justice Building, she realized that if she didn't hurry, she'd be late for school.
Everlet had always been sort of a teacher's pet. Always first to put her hand up when asked a question, immaculate record, amazing grades. Teachers loved her because of all of that, but also because she was so well-read. Everlet's natural bookish personality increased tenfold after her parents died in the bombing of Twelve, because after moving back to the new Twelve, she moved in with her grandmother, who ran the bookstore. She was in heaven. All of the books, just waiting for her to read! She made her way through all of them, and was the first to read any new books that came in from Seven, where they made the paper and such.
Everlet hurriedly walked across town to the school. Today, they were going through Hunger Games 30-40. Because the Reaping was coming up, they were going through 10 Hunger Games per day, with all students staying in one classroom. As Everlet walked across the school grounds, a few different kids called out to her.
"Hey nerd, excited for the Reaping?" one leered.
"Not particularly," she replied, "why would anyone be?"
"Oh, I dunno," another said, "maybe cause you're merchant and you won't get Reaped?"
Everlet shook her head, and kept walking. She knew that she could make a logical argument, such as how Primrose Everdeen had only one slip in out of thousands but she still got picked, but she decided that it wasn't worth it.
"Nah," the first one said again, "she must have tesserae in, her grandma runs that little bookshop on the other end of town. Barely gets any business. So, nerd, how much tesserae?"
"None, and I don't see how it is your business." she replied primly. In fact, her grandmother's bookshop got plenty of business. All of the course books required for school were found there, and her grandmother's shop was the only one in 12. She tried to walk past the boys, but they blocked her path.
"Hey nerd, where d'you think you're going? We asked a question, and you need to answer it. The right way. Otherwise," he cracked his knuckles, "you might not make it to the Reaping."
Everlet ignored him. She knew that he was bluffing, as he didn't have the strength to kill her. A shadow came up behind her, and she smiled.
"What's going on here, boys?" said the shadow, "I know that you aren't threatening another student, because that's against the rules."
Everlet turned around to face the shadow, and said sweetly, "Nothing, Ms. Thornbloom. These boys were just wondering what my odds of getting reaped were."
The two boys quickly agreed and ran off.
"All right Everlet, but do be careful. You never know what could happen with people like those boys. If it happens again, just come and tell me, ok?" Ms. Thornbloom said.
"Yes, Ms. Thornbloom."
As Everlet's first class was normally Ms. Thornbloom, they walked together towards her classroom.
Ms. Thornbloom was easily Everlet's favorite teacher. She taught history, Everlet's favorite class, and was always available for extra questions. When other kids were bullying her, Ms. Thornbloom always somehow heard and came up behind Everlet, asking what was going on. When Everlet wanted to talk, Ms. Thornbloom was the first person she went to. An added bonus was that Ms. Thornbloom loved to read and frequented the bookshop. So yes, Ms. Thornbloom was Everlet's favorite teacher, hands down.
Once they made it to the classroom, Everlet entered first and took her seat, front and center in the classroom. Ms. Thornbloom walked up to her desk in the front of the classroom and waited for the bell to ring. Once it did, Ms. Thornbloom took attendance, Everlet quickly raising her hand and saying "here" when her name was called. After attendance, Ms. Thornbloom jumped right into the lesson.
"Alright class, settle down. Today we will be learning about the victors of Games 30-40, how they won, and what the notable incidents that happened during their Games…"
The whole day was spent learning about each Games, and Everlet feverishly took notes the whole time. After school was over, and the students were filing out of the classroom, Ms. Thornbloom called Everlet over to her desk.
"Everlet, I just want you to know that you have a very small chance of getting reaped, so don't stress over what those boys said to you. And if anyone says anything like that to you again, come straight to me, alright?"
"Of course. You know that I don't let people like them rattle me, but I will tell you whenever something happens."
Ms. Thornbloom gave her a sad smile. "Alright then." she said, and guided her towards the door.
Everlet waved goodbye, and headed to the bakery.
A bell jingled as she entered the bakery.
"Hi Mr. Mellark!" she greeted.
"Hello, Everlet, how are you today?" Peeta Mellark asked.
"Alright, we went over Games 30-40 today in preparation for the Reaping."
"Good, good. Is there anything you need today, or did you just come in to say hello?" he asked, for Everlet had a tendency to just pop her head in after school to say hello to whoever was in the bakery.
"Um, a dozen plain rolls and two loaves of bread please."
Peeta went to the back and grabbed the bread to put it in a package for her.
"Here you go!" he said.
"Thank you Mr. Mellark! I'll see you later!" she called.
"Goodbye Everlet."
Everlet walked home with the bread. Once she got home, she set it on the counter in the kitchen, then went up to her room. Since they were just going over the Games, she didn't have any homework, so she settled down on her bed with Dragon's Green. She read until it was time for dinner, which she ate with her grandmother. They talked about her day, and then, once dinner was done, Everlet went upstairs to finish Dragon's Green, while her grandmother did inventory for the books in the bookshop.
All in all, it was a pretty good day in District 12.
Maria Lundin, 15, District 7
Maria Lundin always had a knack for tinkering, much to her mothers' dismay.
You should get out there instead of playing with machines and experience the world. You never know when you might die.
Mom, no need to be so dark.
Mar, I'm just trying to get my point across.
Now of course, Maria wished she'd taken her mothers' advice. At times it seemed like she understood machines more than people. Even now, she sat inside pondering over this doohickey while the kids her age played outside with their friends, or whatever it is that kids do. A loud knock sounded at the window.
"Maria! Watcha doing?" It was Jaxson, her best friend.
"Go away Jaxson," she responded.
"Ugh, I'm hurt. If this is how you treat your friends, then I don't want to know how you treat your enemies."
She rolled her eyes. "They quake in their boots at the mere mention of my name. And to answer your question, I don't know. I've been working at this for the past few hours, but I've gotten nowhere."
"Aw man, that sucks. But I have to show you something, so come with me!" Jaxson said as he ran away.
"You do realize that if I can't see you, I can't...Oh nevermind," she sighed, rising from the couch, leaving her little machine behind.
"Where are you taking me?" Exasperated, Maria trudged up the hill by her house.
"Come on, if I told you it wouldn't be a surprise." he responded. "Plus, we're already here."
Maria hadn't noticed that they had already climbed to the top.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Jaxson asked.
"Oh yeah, totally. Best thing I've seen in my life by far," she said sarcastically.
"Are you being sarcastic?" he asked, confused.
"Caught me. I'm sorry, what am I supposed to be looking at?" The sky was a bright blue, with almost no clouds in sight. The grass was wilted and yellow, but it was trampled, almost as if someone had walked on it just recently. It was quite warm, which was odd given that she needed a jacket just a while ago. Maria and Jaxson shrugged off their jackets.
"Really? You can't see it? Clear skies, bright sunshine." Jaxson laid down on the grass, patting the spot next to him. "Here, come lay here." Reluctantly, she walked over and laid down. Minutes passed and Maria began to feel calmer, like all the worries of the coming weeks just melted away. "You know, I see what you mean now."
"See? And when the sun sets, the sky explodes in brilliant shades of purple, pink, and orange. We should definitely come back here sometime."
"Don't push your luck Jax." Maria responded. Together they laid looking at the sky, until the sun set.
"Dad? Are you home?" Maria asked as she walked inside. The hallway was wide with bookshelves lining the walls, although they weren't filled with books. Instead, pictures of their family and trinkets Maria had made when she was younger were lining the shelves. She picked up a photo of her mom. With a start, she realized she had teared up. She wiped her eyes, and yelle "Dad?"
No response. That was odd, normally he would have been home by now. Maria walked into the living room and saw her father lying there in the dark, face down on the couch. Thinking about how uncomfortable that must be, she reached for a blanket to cover him with.
Maria reached for a blanket behind her and almost jumped.
"Oh you're home!" she exclaimed, "Did you have dinner yet? I'm thinking of making some-"
"Yes, I reheated some leftovers, you'd be proud."
"I'm surprised, given that you always hit the oven when you couldn't figure out how to turn it on," she responded.
"I'm not completely incompetent, contrary to popular belief," he said, "I'm telling you, it's that centuries-old microwave, not me."
Yeah, right. The microwave wasn't even that old, and she had looked over it the other day. It had worked perfectly fine.
"Well, I guess I should get that checked out, huh?" Maria walked into the kitchen and looked in the fridge. There was barely anything there. He had eaten all of the food and left nothing for her.
"Before you say anything, and I know you will, I did not eat all of the food. There was barely anything in there to begin with." he defended.
"Gah, you know me too well. Let me add that to my list of things to do: 'get more food.' Alright, you were saying?"
After she scrounged something up to eat, Maria sat down with her dad and talked with her dad until he fell asleep. She liked seeing him like that, happy, carefree. It reminded her of before. Before everything went wrong and their world was plunged into darkness. Before Mom died. Maria drifted off into sleep.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Maria jumped awake quickly, looking from side to side. "What the heck? Jaxson?"
"Good morning to you. Just decided to get you up before you'd be late to school." he smirked.
"By screaming at the top of your lungs? How did you even get inside the house?" she asked him furiously.
"I broke your window with the bat and climbed in. I might have scratched my arm up pretty badly…"
"Ha ha ha funny joke. Would you like a bandage? I can go grab you one."
"Um, I'll pass. And you now have 5 minutes to get ready. 59, 58, 57, 56"
"Ok ok, I get it. I'm leaving."
She quickly walked from the couch to her room, grabbing random clothes and hoping they matched. When she put an appropriate outfit together, she walked out to Jaxson counting down.
"3, 2, 1…Oh good. I was beginning to think that you wouldn't come out." Maria didn't say a word, just walked out of the house and headed towards the school, Oak Academy.
"Todays' instruction is about the Hunger Games 30-40," Ms. Zola said. What she meant was; 'Soon, it will be time for the Reaping. There is a high chance that one of you might get Reaped, so we are learning about previous Hunger Games to try and prepare you as best as we can.'
Maria spaced out, not listening to the lesson until,
"Miss Lundin, did you hear my question? You must have not, because you did not answer me." Ms. Zola snapped.
"Um, no. I'm sorry, what were you saying?" Maria asked.
A couple kids in the class snickered, but quickly stopped when the teacher glared at them.
"The question was "Who was the victor of the 32nd Hunger Games, and what was their District?"
"Oh well, let's see…" Maria pretended to think, but as she hadn't been paying attention in class, she didn't know the answer. Plus, why would she need to know that? It's not like she learned about the Hunger Games for fun.
"Laurel Flamsteed, District 9." said a student near the back of the class. Maria looked back and gave the speaker a grateful look. He had black hair, honey colored skin, and green eyes. He looked uncomfortable with everyone's eyes on him. Maria felt sorry for him a little bit.
"That's correct, Luca, but next time let Maria answer." Ms. Zola said, surprised.
The rest of the day went by in a blur, Ms. Zola talking about all the victors, how they won, and Maria not paying attention.
After school, she walked out quickly, not interested in being ridiculed by peers. She could imagine how the confrontation would go:
"Hey Maria, having trouble remembering lessons?" or even worse, talking behind her back about stuff not even related to school:
"Did you see what Maria was wearing today? She must've gotten it from the garbage." She'd heard that one too many times to count. And of course, you can't forget the comments about her mom. For the most part, she just ignored it. Today, though, they were talking about Luca.
"I've never seen him before. Another teacher's pet, come to take my spot I bet."
"No no, you should've seen his face. He was definitely embarrassed."
Maria was quite disgusted by them, but didn't say a word. It was always better not to interact. When she saw Luca walking a little ways ahead, she ran up to him.
"Hi! I'm Maria, I don't think we've met," she said.
He looked up quickly, seemingly surprised to see someone talking to him. "I'm Luca, nice to meet you."
A/N: Hi everyone! That concludes our first tributes chapter! Normally I would have a mentor or something like that, but I figured that I had kept you guys waiting too long already. I hope that you liked this chapter! Everlet was created by the wonderful rawlimad000, and Maria was created by my personal friend, bobisawesome123. (If you're reading this Mackenzie, hello) The form for new tributes is up on my profile like always, and PM me for the mentor, stylist, and escort forms. Please review, follow, and favorite, and head over to my other current story, In Annabeth's Eyes, which is PJO from Annabeth's POV. I want to do a oneshot currently titled Oralie, about ~that~ scene in Legacy from Oralie's POV, cause I thought it might be interesting and the Keeper section needs some new content. Anyway, let me know what you think and PM me with any comments or questions! Have a great day!
-Annabeth