Amos Walton,17, District 2 male
I spread some fertalizer evenly across my garden and I wipe a little bit of sweat off of my forehead as I smile and look at the sun. Ah I love this garden, I consider it my first home and although I hate the humidity, enjoying my garden more than makes up for it. After I'm done with the fertalizer I put it away and go to a different part of my garden as I begin pulling out weeds. It's good to get rid of these quickly before they destroy the soil. I continue pulling out the weeds and I hear heavy footsteps, I don't look in their direction, but I already know who it is and I pretend he's not there until he towers over me and I can hear him chuckling.
While I'm still on my knees pulling out weeds, I look up at my grinning brother Cagney who's one year older than me grinning as he holds a glass of lemonade in his hand.
"Hey little brother, I see you're working hard and looking quite thirsty, why not take a small break and enjoy this glass of cold and sweet lemonade!" he patronizes me.
What is he going to pull this time? Simply put, Cagney is an arrogant prick who loves to bully everyone, his favorite place to be at is this garden. He knows I'm usually always out here when I'm not training, and just loves to find various ways to annoy me.
I reach for the glass of lemonade but he suddenly drops it as lemonade spills all over my soil and he laughs.
"Oops! That was an accident! Sorry! Here let me clean it up!" He laughs and begins stomping on my flowers and I feel anger boiling inside of me as I stand up and look him in the eyes. He's taller and more bulkier than me, but even then I will embarrass him if he keeps this up.
Cagney was supposed to volunteer for the games last year but he was too busy bullying everyone and laughing at their outfits, that one of his victims volunteered and he missed out on his chance since he's nineteen now. We never got along well but ever since he missed out on his chance to volunteer, he blamed me and became even more of a prick which I didn't think was possible.
"You need to leave, right now." I sternly say but he only laughs.
"Oh yeah little pipsqueak or else what? Huh?" he barks in my face.
"Leave." I warn him once more but he pushes me and I lose my balance as I fall into my soil and his laughs get even louder.
"You little punk, you need to remember your place! Don't think just cause you won the qualification tournament to volunteer this year, that I won't kick your ass! I'm on a completely different level than those little weaklings you beat!" he proclaims.
He's said enough though. I stand up and brush off my pants and I begin walking up to him.
"Alright, so you do think you're tough!" he spits and throws a looping punch at me that I easily dodge. He throws another wild hook that I dodge again, and in frustration throws four more wild punches. I see his slow and telegraphed punches coming from a mile away. I simply just need to take a few steps back and none of those punches will land on me.
He grows more frustrated and throws another punch but I quickly grab his arm and flip him over onto his back as he lets out an angry growl and jumps back up to his feet.
"Arrgh! You!" He yells as he throws another punch at me but I move my head to the side and quickly trip his foot and he screams as he falls into the soil again. He ruining my entire garden that I worked so hard on. I need to wrap this up.
He jumps back up to his feet again and rushes at me.
"You think you're so fucking cool huh!" he yells as he throws another punch at me but I catch his arm and twist It as he lets out an angry scream of pain, I then circle behind him and put him in a chokehold as he struggles to break out of the choke but to no avail.
"Get off of me! Get off!" He yells in anger.
"Vous en avez assez?" I ask.
"You and your fucking french again! What the hell are you saying!?" he struggles to get out.
"Have you had enough?" I ask.
"I'm gonna fuck you up! Just you wait!" He threatens.
"Hey! Hey boys! What are y'all doing?" I hear my father yell and I see him standing infront of the door with a mug of coffee. I promptly release the choke and Cagney curses aloud as he storms back into the house and my father only shakes his head in disappointment.
My mom died years ago after going into labor prematurely with my sister who ended up being a stillborn. This terrible tragedy helped my father Lionel better himself and to be kind to others. He runs a successful quarry in the district and as a result, we're quite wealthy.
I didn't attend public school until I was fifteen since I was privately tutored. It was during this time I became interested In speaking different languages and I speak both latin and french fluently. Sometimes I speak the language without even noticing and I find it pretty hilarious. Due to my wealth and good looks, people just started calling me a playboy. I don't really mind being called that, whatever floats their boat. I don't stress over stuff like that.
"I see Cagney is at it again…" my father laments.
"it's hard to keep my patience with him, hope I didn't hurt him though." I say in a low tone as I remove my dirty gloves and toss them in a bucket.
"Just wish you two would get along. Your mother would've really liked that." He sighs.
"There will be plenty of time for that when I return, don't worry dad!" I smile.
"Oh, I almost forgot you're volunteering tomorrow." he says with concern.
"Yeah Is everything ok?" I question.
"Y-yeah, Amos I will respect whatever you decide to do, but this is unnecessary, what do you hope to accomplish by doing this? We have money, you're already popular and you're surrounded by friends and family who love you." He argues.
"Look dad I'll be fine ok? I know you're a parent, and it's only normal for a parent to worry about their children, but I'll be back before you know it ok?" I smile.
"Ok son, I respect that…" And he pats me on the shoulder before he starts to go back inside.
"Hey wait dad what's for dinner tonight?" I smile.
"Your favorite ofcourse!" my dad smiles dad.
My dad is an amazing cook, he makes the best rice pilaf you'll ever have using only the finest ingredients. My dad is wealthy, but he spends his money wisely and often donates to the less fortunate, he's just such an amazing guy that I look up to.
"non possum exspectare!" I gleefully say. That means "I cannot wait" by the way.
After going back into the house, I drink a cold glass of water and I go outside to my front yard and turn on the lawnmower and I give the grass a dirty look. Grass beyond annoys me. look at the grass over there, it's just so insulting. I can't even fully describe it, like grass you're not a plant! You're just a….spiky, high-maintenance carpet!
I continue mowing the lawn and a familiar voice catches me off guard.
"And then he snuck up behind him while he wasn't aware!" a poetic voice booms and I only laugh before turning around and facing my friend Rusty as he folds his favorite book and put it back under his arms. Rusty is a good friend of mines, he can write for days on end, and is always carrying his favorite book around with him and reading it aloud.
"Hey Rusty! What's up?" I greet him.
"What the hell are you doing here man? Everyone's waiting!" he scolds me.
Oh crap, I forgot I had to go to the academy today to duel and my title of volunteer is on the line too!
"Oh, yeah sorry about that, got sidetracked with my gardening!" I laugh.
"Yeah what's new right? Anyways Calder is still there waiting for you, he thinks you're scared" Rusty informs me.
"Well that's quite unfortunate" I scratch my head and we only look at each other in silence, so awkward.
"So uh, are you coming?" Rusty asks as he pulls his book from under his arms and flips through it.
"Oh yeah, let's get going!" I laugh.
I have to duel Calder. He's a rising prospect at the academy and he's been destroying everyone there. After he was done with his usual trashing, he respectfully challenged me to a duel, if he won, then he'd volunteer. I accepted and here I am keeping him waiting.
"I'm confident you're gonna kick his ass, but yeah watch yourself. Wouldn't want to get beat up infront of your girlfriend right?" Rusty snickers.
"Yeah, that will be quite embarrassing!" I agree.
It only takes us a few minutes to get there, but Calder immediately greets me with a guffaw as he spins his rapier in his hands.
"So look who showed up afterall! I was starting to get worried you wouldn't show up!" he cockily states.
"Yeah sorry about that, got a bit sidetracked, anyways I won't keep you waiting anymore!" I smile and the rest of my circle comes to greet me.
There's Faith, she's the girlfriend of Rusty, she's always full of jokes but hates the hunger games with a passion. Anything that has to do with murder, she instantly considers too serious. There's my bestfriend Jessie, the lady's man who's always been by my side through the good times and bad times, and finally the love of my life Dana. We both have the same exact hobbies, almost all we ever talk about is gardening.
"I hate being late, but I'm so good at it!" Jessie teases me and I playfully role my eyes.
"Quoting another movie I see, hello to you too friend!" I greet him and Dana gives me a tight hug as I hug her back.
"You better kick his ass Amos!" Dana sternly tells me and I laugh.
"Yup kick him right on the ass, leave a nice red mark there!" Faith jokes and we all give her awkward glances.
Anyways I grab a plastic sword off the racket and stand across from Calder and there's about two dozen careers that sitting around us with my circle cheering me on.
"Seems like you're finally done catching up with your buddies huh? But don't worry you'll have plenty of time to spend with them since I'm volunteering anyways!" Calder cockily states and I only smile.
I point my sword at him as I posture myself and he closes in on me.
He swings at me but I swiftly dodge it and block his next strike. He goes on the offensive and starts swinging his sword at me but I calmly block all four of his strikes and I see him growing more and more frustrated. He's slow, like i mean very slow. I literally see him moving in slow motion and that's how I'm able to counter him so easily. I can end this any second, but I'll let him frustrate himself a little more. He lets out an impatient growl as he tries to slash me once more but I parry it and he goes stumbling forward. He manages to catch his balance and strikes at me again but I spin around out of the way and spin my sword doing a confident smile.
"You!" He growls and rushes at me again as he prepares to slash me again but I read his movements once again, and I quickly slam my sword against his, knocking it out of his hands. Before he can pick it back up, I only point my sword at his neck and he freezes before holding his head down in defeat and cheers erupt.
"Dammit you really are the best in this district., how were you able to read all my movements? How was I not able to land a single blow on you?" he laments.
"Lots of practice! You fought well though, keep training and you'll be more than ready to volunteer next year!" I smile trying to uplift him.
"Now everyone! Who's hungry? My treat!" I smile.
And all of the careers who just watched my duel jump up from their seats and march towards me. I guess I did owe them for keeping them waiting so long and Dana holds my hand before pecking me on the cheek.
"You made that look way too easy Amos!" Dana laughs.
"Don't I always?" I smile.
"Hey don't get cocky, you might just end up on your ass!" Jessie warns me.
"Another movie quote ofcourse but yes fully noted!" I smile at him
Victoria Aspen, 18, District 2 female
Everything appears to be spinning as my head pounds in sync with my heart and I can hear low groans coming out of me. I groan again before my eyes slowly open and it looks like the ceiling is spinning. I try to move but it feels like i weigh several tons and I only lay In misery. I can feel air from the window blowing against my body and that's when I realize I'm not even wearing any clothes and I turn my head to see a dresser that doesn't look like mine at all. I look at the walls and see they're pink, my walls are purple. I sit up on the bed and look to my other direction and I let out a gasp as I see another girl sleeping next to me with no clothes on. My gasp appears to wake her up and she wipes her eyes before turning her head and gives me a smile.
"Hey, Victoria right?" she smiles.
"W-who are you, where am I?" I quickly ask.
"Wow forgot about me already? Guess you had one too many drinks last night!" the girl laughs.
My memories then start slowly returning, damn I'm so hungover.
"You don't remember last night at the party where you were grinding your ass against me?" She reminds me.
The memories were a bit blurry but yeah I remember. My parents ordered me not to go out, but I just locked my room door and snuck out the window. The party was to commemorate me on being the volunteer this year, why wouldn't I want to be there?
I remember the shots I was taking, standing on a dinner table singing Karaoke as I slurred nearly every word and being so damm drunk but still dancing my ass off with any girl that was next to me. I remember things getting pretty intense between me and this girl too before she invited me back into her room.
"Oh, yeah I remember." I groan as I sit the palm of my hands on my forehead.
I'm a huge party girl, like seriously I make it my mission to attend every party in this district. Even if I wasn't invited there, I'll just find a way to sneak in.
The girl then laughs before running a finger down my chest.
"You remember my name?" she smiles at me.
Damn what was her name again?
"Kay, Kaylese-" I begin.
"Kayla." Kayla corrects me as she's clearly finding this amusing.
"You were pretty good last night, clearly got some…experience." Kayla seductively whispers in my ear.
"Actually it was my first time…with a girl." I admit and her eyes widen.
"You're shitting me!" she laughs.
"I'm not." I say more sternly.
I danced with a fair share of girls at the many parties I went to. Sometimes things do get a little intense with the body to body contact, but it never escalated this far before.
"Well you could've fooled me! After you come back as victor, we should hang out more. There's still a lot that I want to show you." she whispers in my ear and my eyes widen, shit!
I quickly jump off the bed and Kayla gives me a confused look.
"You ok?" She asks.
"I forgot reapings are today, I wasn't even supposed to stay out all night, dammit my parents are going to give me an earful about this!" I quickly say as I slip on my tight sparkling pink dress with matching heels.
"There's still some time left, relax hun." Kayla pats her bed.
"I have to go, uhmm kayla, bye." I say as I begin to leave her room.
"Hey wait, go out my window, I think my parents are downstairs." She states and i roll my eyes as i leave through her room door anyways. I don't like being told what to do.
I can infact hear chatting downstairs and I peek over the railing, see no one and figure they must be in the kitchen as I can smell breakfast.
I don't really care if I'm seen, I mean what's the worst that can happen? I casually walk down the stairs and leave through the front door as her parents are still laughing and chatting in the kitchen.
I make my way towards my house and prepare myself for the scolding my parents are going to give me.
Both of my parents are wealthy and work for the capitol. They're full supporters of the capitol, but are anti-hunger games. I have seven brothers but none of them live with me as six of then are pacekeepers in different districts and the other has his own place and lives with his wife and two children. Being Anti-hunger games and all, my parents obviously didn't want me even thinking about volunteering for them and reminded me about that constantly. As I said before though, I don't like being told what to do!
I only started training just cause my parents didn't want me to and cause it annoyed them. I quickly realized that I was actually pretty good at it, and it was fun. I continued training and seeing those who were more skilled than me motivated me to keep pushing until I eventually surpassed them. I gradually became more and more interested in the hunger games and just decided to volunteer, also cause my parents didn't want me to.
I enter my house and see both my parents, already dressed sitting quietly at the table with angry looks on their faces, obviously upset that I'm volunteering today and cause I didn't come home last night.
"Good morning mom and dad!" I greet them, but they both ignore me.
"…ok, apparently you two aren't in the talking mood today." I add and head upstairs to jump in the shower.
After drying myself off I take a look at myself in the mirror and smile. This is the face of a victor!
My hair is a long thick platinum blonde that hangs down my mid back in loose ringlets. My skin is pale with freckles across my nose, I have naturally rosy lips, cheeks and you can just see the determination in my piercing blue eyes. I'm pretty tall for a girl, standing at six feet with a slender and skinny build.
I comb out my hair and let it fall to my back before putting on my red clingy dress with matching heels and make my way downstairs but my parents are already gone. Sheesh they're really mad.
I'm about to toss up a salad before I hear knocking on my door, I quickly open it and it's my bestfriend Sasha.
"Hey, Look at you, looking so fine! She grabs my hand before giving me a twirl and I laugh before giving her a twirl and we start dancing together as we laugh hysterically. Sasha has been my bestfriend for as long as I can remember. I can't imagine a world without her and I'm going to miss her dearly while I'm away, but I know I'll see her soon.
After we're done dancing Kayla catches her breath and I feel I can go another week doing this without tiring.
"Gotta work on that cardio girl!" I laugh and she fans herself with her hands as she takes a deep breath.
"Woooo! You're going to whip me into shape for sure when you come back!" Kayla takes in another deep breath.
"Got that right, and you can start with some of this salad with balsamic vinegar I'm about to toss!" I state.
"Ughh does that come with a burger?" She whines and I only playfully roll my eyes before walking to my fridge. Once we're done eating our salad, we head to the square.
"Your parents left a bit early I see." Sasha notices and I only sigh.
"They're so mad at me Sasha." I comment.
"When aren't you pissing them off with your rebellious ass?" Sasha laughs.
"I don't think they were ever this mad at me before though, they wouldn't say a single word to me." I respond.
"Well yeah that's pretty new!" She shrugs.
We finally reach the square, get registered and stand in the eighteen year old female section together. On the stage is our eleven living victors and our escort Maurice who's dressed in a crimson suit and always speaks in third person, it's pretty annoying.
"Maurice shows a video on the screen" he carelessly say and I only roll my eyes as I wait for this video to be over, just the same thing every year, they can't atleast try to change it up a bit? It finally ends, and Maurice walks to the males bowl and pulls out a name.
"Maurice draws a name and it's… Evander Bowe!" his emotionless voice rings out.
"I volunteer!" A charismatic voice rings out and a tall pale skin boy with dark brown hair that's in a long messy quiff with brown eyes, a sharp jaw, prominent cheekbones and a roman nose confidently walks to the stage. He's wearing khakis with a white polo, a blue blazer and red tie.
Amos Walton, yeah I know him. Never spoke to him personally but saw a lot of his duels. He's strong, probably the best sword fighter this district has ever produced. His skill, along with his elusiveness and flashiness makes him a very difficult opponent to take on and almost impossible to land a clean blow on. Like I always do though, I'll find a way to win.
"Maurice asks the volunteer what his name is!" Maurice yawns and I only suck my teeth.
"Amos Walton! à tous quand je reviendrai comme vainqueur!" Amos confidently say.
"What the hell did he just say?" I ask aloud.
"See you all when I return as victor." One of the girls next to me say.
That's what he thought huh? Oh how fun it's gonna be to prove him wrong. I begin walking to the stage as Maurice begins walking to the girls bowl, I don't want to hear any more of this cringe third person nonsense and also cause I refuse to stand here and wait like I'm supposed to. I arrive on the stage and Maurice and Amos only give me an odd glance.
"Maurice asks the girl why-" Maurice begins but I immediately cut him off.
"Cause I volunteer! my name is Victoria Aspen and I will win the hunger games this year, now can we close the show and get this over with?" I impatiently say and Maurice shrugs his shoulders.
"Maurice announces Amos Walton and Victoria Aspen as the volunteers for district 2 this year and ask them to shake hands." Maurice states and I roll my eyes again before extending my hand. Amos shakes my hand and has a firm grip as he smiles confidently but I squeeze his hand hard as I give him a determined look. He tries to squeeze back but I squeeze even harder as his smile grows wider, we can make this a competition if he wants to. We're then escorted towards the justice building where I'll get to see my parents and Sasha before I return as the crowned victor.
Here's District 2 Amos Walton and Victoria Aspen! With this district out of the way, we've now introduced all of the careers. Which one is your favorite and least favorite so far? Anyways i want to thank all of you for your reviews. It keeps me motivated and listening to feedback has helped me improve as a writer. See you guys soon with the next chapter! Till next time!