I got so distracted by school starting back up that I haven't written in forever! From now on I'm going to try to write at least once a week. Also sorry Archibald's POV is so short. The scene was just hard for me to get inspiration for but don't worry, I'll make sure I give him an extra long POV later.

Archibal Pell, District Eight male- 13

Most kids skipped school- or more likely, work- on the day of the reaping. Last year I remember there were only three other Reaping age kids helping out in the shearing floor. Most of the sheep were sheared in Three and the wool was sent over by train but Merino wool was so fine that we kept a small stable in Eight to make the luxury scarves and products the Capitolites liked. It was the closest most of us got to animals in Eight other than pigeons and frogs and things like that. But it was Reaping day and I was still out on the floor helping my dad out. I guess I just didn't want things to change. I didn't want to think about the Reaping. I liked it when things stayed the same. I liked my normal life and how my days were always spent working in the morning and in our family aparment at night.

Dad seemed to be taking it harder than I was. He was trying to be brave, just like me, but I could see he was afraid for me. He was shaving the sheep closer than normal, and once he even cut one a little. He told the sheep he was sorry right away and looked like he was going to cry.

"It's only a little cut, Daddy." Amelia said. She didn't know why he was really sad. She knew her big brother might go to the Games, but she was too little to know what that really meant.

"Of course, sweetie," Dad replied. He cleared his throat.

"Pell, if you go to the Capitol will you send me something?" Amelia asked. I always hated the name Archibald, so I told everyone to call me by my last name.

"Maybe a new shirt or something?" I asked.

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Not something useful! Something fun! You're always so boring!"

"I'm not going to the Capitol anyway," I said. I wasn't trying to be mean to Amelia- I just didn't want to scare our father. Or myself.

I don't want to go to the Games, even if I win. Everyone was afraid of the Games, but for me it wasn't even just about not wanting to die. If I won, my whole life would change. I would have to be rich and visit the Capitol all the time, and totally change my life. I liked my life here in Eight. I liked working every day with my dad and coming home every night with my family. I even liked our tiny apartment. To me it felt cozy, having my entire family so close to me all the time. I wasn't very good at school, but I was good at my job. When I was older I could have my dad's job as head shearer and I'd make enough money to live on. That was all I wanted.

One of the sheep butted its head into my leg. I petted it on the head comfortingly.

"It's okay. We're just taking the wool, okay?" I asked. Sometimes the sheep got scared, usually of the loud equipment. One of the things I was best at, was calming them down. Sheep usually acted the same and I liked how dependable they were. Sometimes people tried to be really complicated with them but I knew a few things that worked, and I always used those. There was no need to reinvent the wheel. That was why I liked working with sheep instead of designing new outfits or trying to invent new fabrics.

No, I definitely don't want to go to the Capitol. Everything in the Capitol was strange, and changed all the time. Things moved so fast, and it seemed like nobody knew what they were doing. I had a nice simple life here in Eight and that was all I wanted. Some people don't have big dreams. Some people just have little dreams. They're a lot easier to achieve.

Kjole Schmeicel, District Eight female, 16

"Come on, you're always goalie!" Mathias complained. Which wasn't true, I rotated goalies more based on regularity than skill. I loved soccer more than anything else in the world but it was still just a game and I wanted people to have fun. Mathias, along with my other cousin Anja, were just pests. I loved them and all but sometimes they were just too much. Some people need to be around other people all the time and other people need time to themselves. All my cousins were the first type, and I was the second type. Sometimes it made for some very long and annoying family outings. Since my family all lived practically on top of each other, almost every day was a family outing. And I was the oldest cousin, so that made me the leader according to everyone else. Some people don't understand that soccer is a team sport.

"You're supposed to be up there," I said, pointing to the other side of the field. "You're offense, remember?"

"I'm not good at being offense," Anja whined. "I want to be goalie." It was my other cousin Andreas' birthday and we were all out trying to have a good time. And I was having a good time, even despite my cousins. Even more than reading and fashion, soccer was my favorite activity. I loved how I could let out all my aggression and competitiveness in a safe environment where both those things were encouraged, as long as you didn't go crazy. My parents said we were descended from Vikings on my dad's side. We couldn't go around sacking villages anymore, but we could serve up old recipes at family gatherings and tell stories we found in the library. On the soccer field was about the only time my old roots showed through- that and when I got really, really mad. Other than that, I didn't even look like the rest of my family. I had black hair and brown eyes, and most of them were a lot fairer. Only my height made me look anything like a Viking.

My cousins on the other team were starting to get closer, since my offensive players were both bickering. I tried to keep one eye on them while I paid the other half of my attention to Anja and Mathias.

"After someone gets a goal can I be goalie?" Anja tried to bargain. I was a little annoyed that they were ruining this for me. I only got to be goalie when it was my turn, and it was my favorite position. I didn't care that the strikers got more attention. I liked being in the goal and knowing my entire job was to stop any ball that got near me. It was like I was in charge of a town, and I had to make sure I kept it safe. It also kept me away from all the other players, which was a nice break from having to be social all the time.

Right as I turned to look at Anja, Andreas kicked a ball toward me. I noticed it too late, and it slid into the goal right beside me.

"See, like right now!" Anja crowed.

I felt the anger bubbling up in me. I wasn't really mad at Anja. She was only seven years old and she didn't mean to be annoying. She was just being a little kid. I was just mad at a lot of little things, and they were all adding up. I was mad that I'd been stuck out with my family all day and hadn't gotten time to slip away for a little recharging. I was mad that my first time being goalie in two weeks was getting ruined by my overzealous little cousins. I was mad that I was so often expected to keep an eye on them because I was the oldest and most mature. Most of all I was mad that a ball got past me. I tried to focus my anger on that, since it was the most harmless thing to be mad at.

Sometimes when I got really, really mad I turned into almost a different person. My dad said it was the Viking part of me. Usually I was pretty quiet and kept to myself, but when the anger got the better of me I lost my head completely and just went after whoever made me mad. One time I saw some kid mocking another kid who used leg braces to walk. I didn't even know what came over me. I just remembered seeing red and then the next thing I knew I was screaming at the kid and telling him to get away or I'd punch him. It was a little scary how angry I could get. Luckily I had a good family and a good life and hardly ever got anywhere near that mad.

"You know what? Fine," I said. "You be goalie. I'll do the first kick." The rules for soccer had changed over the years, and one thing that changed was after someone scored a goal, the team that got scored on got to make the first kick.

I took the ball and stomped to the edge of the goal zone.. I stared down at it and tried to put all my anger in that ball. I wanted to have a nice fun game again but first I had to get out all the anger. I gritted my teeth and kicked the ball as hard as I could. It flew over everyone's head and landed right in the opposite goal, almost entirely across the field.

Wow, I didn't think it would work that well.