The anthem of Panem started to play. Apparently, it was supposed to help us treat this like a festivity. The crowd looked about as excited as lobsters about to be cooked. After the anthem ended, the Peacekeepers took Spencer and me into custody. Not handcuffs or jail or anything, as humorous as it would be to see Spencer arrested. We were led into the Justice Building, and we went into separate rooms. I sat down on one of the couches and discovered it was slightly amusing to run my hand up and down it. What? The fabric changed shades depending on the direction of my hand. My mom and Jimmy came into the room after a bit. The sat down on the other couch after giving me a hug. "Well," I said. "This is slightly interfering with my plans for later."
"I can't believe this is happening," my mom started to say before burying her face in her hands.
"Try to grab throwing knives, since your excellent at throwing things, especially when you're mad," Jimmy said. "Or a bow, since you can shoot."
"Thanks," I said. "Any other advice?"
"Don't die," he replied smartly. Although, his eyes betrayed his light humor.
"Will try," I promised.
There was a knock on the door. My mom stood up and hugged me. "Please, try your best to come home," she said quietly. "I love you."
"Love you too," I said as I pulled Jimmy into a hug and messed with his hair.
They walked out and Jonathan came in. I jumped up and gave him a hug. He returned the hug and held me in front of him. It was then I took in his height. He stood at six foot two and if his hair was more "afroey," he could've looked taller. Now if he was reaped, he wouldn't have had much to worry about. But me, I stood at five foot six. I'm pale with straight brown hair, and soon to be suffering morphling withdrawals. "I'll try to set up a sponsorship for you," Jonathan said. "So you'll have support."
"Who do you plan on getting?" I asked with wonder. I was known around town, but I wasn't as popular as Jimmy or Jonathan was. I also wasn't as good looking as the other potential tributes might be.
"Me, Tristen, don't think I don't know about him, your family, teachers," he listed.
"Thanks Jonathan," I said. "Oh, if I come back with a new wooden coffin accessory, don't let them suffer without food or anything."
"I won't," he promised. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace. "Here. You can wear a token from your district."
I took the necklace and hugged him again, trying desperately not to cry. "Thanks 'big brother,'" I said.
He laughed and hugged me. "No problem. Just try your best."
He left and my dad and his "friend" came in. "Hey kiddo," he said.
"Hey," said Karen, his "friend."
"Hi," I said brusquely. Not that I was mad at them, I was just beginning to become tired from trying to keep my tears in and from the stress from today,
"How are you?" my dad asked.
"Wonderful," I said with my sarcastic tone. "Just thought I'd kill a few people and be home by dinner."
"No need for sarcasm," he said.
"Just trying to ease the tension," I answered.
"Where'd you get the necklace?" Karen asked, eyeing the necklace in my hand.
"Jonathan gave it to me. As a token from the district," I answered.
She nodded. The Peacekeepers came in, signifying the hour for goodbyes was over. My dad and Karen gave me a hug. After they left, I was placed in a car and driven to the train station from the Justice Building. I never was really in a car before, even though District 6 is in charge of transportation. I just preferred to walk. The ride was short, maybe five minutes. At the station, there were swarms of reporters with cameras. I took a look at the screen to see that I look slightly angry, bored, and tired. I see Spencer arrive and he has about as much emotion as a brick wall. A brick wall probably has more emotion, and brains, than he does,I thought with a smirk. I boarded the train and slipped the necklace on. I finally saw it had a black string with a red pendant on it. Spencer followed me onto the train and the doors shut almost immediately.
"Move," he said.
I kept standing where a was. "Aren't you pleasant?" I replied.
"Move it," he said impatiently.
"Say the magic word," I demanded with a smile.
"Abracadabra?" he asked sarcastically.
"Nope."
"Ugh, please?"
"Nope, it actually was abracadabra," I smirked and moved out of his way.
Spencer moved past me but took care to hit me with his shoulder. I looked out the window on the door to see the cameras desperately trying to get more shots of us. I raised an eyebrow and walked away. In the train, we had our own rooms. "Be ready in an hour for dinner!" Carrot-With-Limbs shouted down the hall at me.
I went into my room and sat down for a moment on the bed, which was very comfortable. I started to think about Jonathan, Jimmy, and my mom That was when the first tear fell, then the second, and then the third. No crying, I scolded myself. I went into the bathroom and splashed some water on my face. I looked up in the mirror to see I looked about as thrilled as a cow going in for slaughtering. "What are you getting into?" I whispered to myself.
Miss Carrot-With-Limbs came to get me for dinner. Looking at her, I was wondering what her real name was, not that it would stop me from calling her Carrot-With-Limbs. "I don't know if you caught my name, since I'm a new escort for District Six. I'm Marcy Biffle," she said.
Psychic much?I thought. "Hi," I replied. "I think you know me already."
"Yes, Kristen Ward. You're how old?" she asked.
"Sixteen."
"How old is Spencer?"
"Eighteen."
"Ah."
We walked into the dining room compartment and I saw Spencer sitting down next to his mentor. His mentor, whose name I believed was Johan Abba, was a very slight shade of yellow. Morphling,I thought. I sat down next to Marcy, wondering where my mentor was. The first course of our dinner was a creamy potato and bacon soup. It also had shredded cheese on top. Cheese makes everything better,I thought with a smile. I wolfed down the soup in record time, and I normally eat slow. A turtle could beat me, that's how slow I eat. The next course was a salad with lettuce, cucumbers, cabbage, and chunks of turkey. "Save room, there's more food," Carrot-With-Limbs said. "And for goodness sakes, slow down Kristen!"
I laughed and nearly choked the cucumber I was swallowing so I took a sip of my water. Never, has anyone told me to slow down while eating. After the salad, we had roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and corn. I only had chicken once, maybe. I was expensive. I mainly threw stones at squirrels and dragged them back to my side of the fence with a string with a loop tied at the end. While eating the chicken, my mentor came in. She looked so happy and calm, I knew she just finished doing morphling. "Hiiii," she said in a happy voice.
Spencer snickered and cast a look my way. I rolled my eyes and my mentor took a seat next to me. "I'm Loriana Keptswitch," she said cheerfully. "Who are you?"
"I'm Kristen, Kristen Ward," I replied dully. My morphling wore off, I was not in a very cheerful mood.
"Wonderful," she said smiling. "What are we eating?"
Just then, a girl with a white tunic came and took my plate. "Thanks," I whispered without thinking. The people in tunics were Avoxes, criminals with their tongues cut out. I didn't want the girl to get in trouble by me thanking her. The next course was just some fruit and crackers. I had a few grapes and a cracker. Last, but not least, there was dessert. It consisted of chocolate brownies and cake. I ate a lot of brownies. I'm not too fond of cake though. An Avox boy came by and cleaned up our plates when we finished. I'm trying to keep the food down since I never really had so much rich food. I look over and see Spencer is a bit green too.
After everything is over, we go to watch recaps of other reapings. In District 1, a gigantic boy about seventeen volunteers and a girl looking about fifteen is reaped. The District 2 tributes are a smaller boy about thirteen and girl about eighteen. District 4 has a volunteer girl about my age and a boy about Spencer's age. Districts 1, 2, and 4 are the "career districts." They train the kids before the Games, even though it is illegal to train kids for the Games, so we call them the "Careers Tributes." Those districts normally house the victors.
District 3 has a boy that is fourteen and looks like Jimmy, and a girl that is twelve. District three is done,I thought. District 5 has a boy that is twelve and girl that is eighteen. Then we see District 6. It shows my name being called and me fainting. The commentators joke about it for a bit then Spencer's moment is on. I see us shaking hands with the looks and the commentators joke about how the chances of an alliance are very slim.
Next, District 7 has a boy of thirteen and a girl that looks sixteen. District 8's tributes are a fifteen year old boy and a fifteen year old girl. In District 9, a fourteen year old boy volunteers for his friend, which is shocking, and a seventeen year old girl. District 10 has a eighteen year old boy and a thirteen year old girl. The tributes of District 11 are a sixteen year old boy and a sixteen year old girl. Finally, in District 12, a fifteen year old boy and a seventeen year old girl are reaped.
So out of all twenty-four of us, the average age is fourteen, I thought. The fourteen year old boy from District 9 bothers me for some reason. Before I know it, Carrot is rushing us to bed. She pulled me to the side and said, "You have to make sure your mentor goes off morphling or else you probably won't make it."
I nod and walk to my room with this ever so reassuring advice. Once I get in, I stop and then rush to the bathroom. Everything I ate came up and I slumped against the wall, not moving for the night.