Pyra Cheng, age 18
District 3 Female Tribute

Three weeks before the Reapings

"Truth or dare?" Genevieve asks me from where she is sitting next to me.

"Uh, truth," I say.

"Pyra, do you like anyone?" she asks with a smile.

I look down and blush in embarrassment as I think of Matthew and my heart starts racing. "Yeah, I do."

"Oh, who?"

He's right there, I think as my face gets hot.

"He's a friend of mine," I say, stopping myself from glancing towards where he is sitting diagonally from me.

"Is he in this room?" Genevieve asks.

I panic. There's no way I can lie, but Matthew is right here! He can't know that I'm still crazy for him, after almost two years…

"Uh, yeah," I blurt out.

"Aww!"

"Uh, yeah."

"You should tell him how you feel!" Genevieve gushes.

"Uh, I did," I say, my heart breaking in two as I remember. "Twice, in fact. He just didn't return my feelings."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Genevieve says, suddenly looking deflated.

"Yeah, it hurts, and I'm still hopelessly in love with him but what can I do, you know?" I say with a pained smile. "It's Becquerel's turn."

"Yeah," Becquerel says, but it's clear that the air around the group has changed. I steal a quick glance at Matthew, and he looks pensive. My heart clenches as I look away.

"Truth or dare, Becquerel?" I ask the boy sitting next to me.

"Dare," he says, clearly trying to lighten the mood.

It's quieter now that I've confessed my love.

The game goes on, but it's awkward. Truth or Dare is almost always a trainwreck in one way or another - I know this from experience - but my heart hurts so much. Why did I agree to play Truth or Dare with Genevieve, Ashley, Matthew, and my new friends? Why did I say yes to being a part of the game when I know that it always goes bad? I wanted to do something social… I wanted to be happy…

But can I really be happy when I've been depressed for more than four years and I'm hurting so hard over unrequited love?

Being clinically depressed and on psychiatric medications sucks. I want to do better, I want to be good and happy and successful like other people my age, but it's just so hard. Lately I've really been trying to function, like doing chores and work and not staying in bed all day, but I'm still not where I want to be.

My dream is to be happy.

"I think we should call it a night," Ashley says, laughing before she lets out a yawn. "It's, like, past 3 AM."

"Yeah, I agree," Volkner says, and I'm pretty sure that everyone is on the same boat, especially because even Volkner, the wild one, is feeling tired. We stand up and disperse, saying good night, and my heart feels like it's shattered.

Matthew… I think as I steal glances at him, not knowing what would be worse: him telling me right now that he doesn't want me the way I want him, or him pretending that this never happened and never bringing it up. Either way, I'm going to be absolutely, terribly, heartbroken.

Well, more heartbroken than I already am and have been for the past few years.

"Hey," Matthew says, poking me with his phone and bringing me out of my reverie. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see ya," I say with a smile, trying to hide my crushing disappointment. I guess it looks like the second possibility is in the cards…

"Hey, I'm sorry," Matthew says, looking down with a sad smile.

Oh, so maybe it's the first option, I think, my heart racing and hurting. "It's okay," I lie, looking away. "You gotta do what you gotta do, you know?"

"Yeah, definitely," he says as our eyes meet sadly again. "I'm sorry my feelings for you haven't changed. I think you're cool and nice and all, just not someone I like romantically."

"Yeah, I figured," I say sadly. "I'm sorry I made things awkward. I shouldn't have said what I said."

"It's okay, it's not your fault," Matthew says. "Nobody could've known."

He's so nice even as he's hurting me… this is why I love him and will probably continue to love him for a long time, despite everything.

"Sorry, I just… don't know what to do," I say as the dam breaks and the first tears fall. "We can definitely still be friends. It'll hurt a little, but it'll be fine."

"Yeah, I guess," Matthew says with a shrug. "I don't want to make things worse though."

"I'm going to hurt whether we're friends or not," I say with a laugh that's bitter despite my attempts to not make it that way. "You're really doing nothing wrong, it's just that I'm in love with you. I just… think you're so smart and cute and nice, but, uh, it's okay that you don't feel the same way for me. I'll figure something out."

"I can stop being friends with you if it'll help," Matthew says as I wipe away my copious tears.

"I don't know, I don't think it'll make a difference because I tried that and it didn't work, remember?" I sniff. "Unless you don't want to be friends with me anymore, and I'd totally understand if you don't want to interact with me."

"I think we just need to take a break for a while," Matthew says softly, looking down as my heart drops into my stomach.

"Yeah, I agree," I say, even though I don't. It'll hurt so much to not talk to him at all. But I understand, even if I'm absolutely devastated.

"It's just that I'm not sure if I can be friends with someone who's hurting because of me," he admits. "You're nice and fun to talk to, but I just can't return your feelings and I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I say, crying as I force a smile. "I understand. I'd do anything for you, Matthew, and that includes letting you go."

"I'm so sorry Pyra," Matthew says. "Do your best out there."

Be good, won't you?

"Yeah, you too," I say, nodding through my tears. "Goodbye Matthew."

"Bye Pyra, take care."

I give him a wave as we part. Matthew Sanchez, my everything, the love of my life, waves back as I smile sadly at him, trying to engrave everything about him into my memory. But it's time to go.

I turn away, tears flowing freely like raindrops from my eyes, and start home.

A/N: Hi everyone, long time no see. This past year has really been a struggle, especially because I've been recovering from being hospitalized for severe clinical depression in mid-February. I want to get back into fanfiction, though, so I'm writing this partial SYOT as a spiritual successor to my discontinued project Raindrops. The Hours and Changes are not cancelled because I do fully intend on finishing them no matter how ridiculously long it takes, but they're still on hiatus because even though I have great plans for them they'll take a while to get back on track.

I hope you'll consider submitting to this partial SYOT, which is the canon-compliant 28th Annual Hunger Games. This SYOT's format is a bit different: Every tribute will get exactly one POV in this story, as well as a chance to win, as long as their Victory fits into the established Hunger Games canon (so, for example, only tributes over the age of fourteen can win).

Please submit your tributes via this story's Google Form, on which more information can be found (remember to remove the spaces): forms . g l e / Pqrswkk4eXVjY54b8

If you're still interested in submitting, I will need a full District to proceed with this story, so please consider starting by sending the District 3 Male or a District pair.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you all soon!