Leah Oakley
Sprinting past my dad and towards my tree, I scream, "What are you thinking? Don't cut her down! Please! Daddy, help me!"
"Sorry kid." Says one man.
"We've got orders." Another man adds.
"I don't care about orders!" I yell at them, "Leave my tree alone!"
"Your tree?" a third man stops his advance, bemused.
"Leave the tree, Mark." My dad steps in, standing beside me, protecting the tree. I smile up at him.
"Step aside, Terry!" The fourth man warns.
"No, Ian. I won't back off. My daughter loves this tree, so you would do well to leave it alone."
"Look, Terry, I don't want to hurt you... Or your kid." Says the first man.
"I'm not a kid!" I shout.
"Jim, how long have we been friends?" Dad asks the firs man, Jim, I presume.
"A long time." Jim says.
"So why don't you let me take the tree off your hands?"
"What are you saying, Terry?" Asks the second man.
"I'm saying, Timothy, that I want to buy this tree."
You've got to be joking!" Says the third man, Mark.
"Leah, go home for the reaping, I'll be there soon."
"But dad, the tree-" I begin to protest but dad cuts me off.
"-will be fine. Now go."
"Alright."
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"Leah, where have you been?" Asks mum.
"Leah, Leah, Leah!" Lily runs towards me, around our mum.
"Hi, Lily," I give her a tight hug before turning to mum, "I was with dad, we ran into trouble."
"What sort of trouble?" mum asks as Lily looks up at me.
"They want to cut down my tree, but dad just said he wants to buy it; then he sent me home." I explain.
"Do you think he could be negotiating?" mum asks me.
"Maybe, ha did say the tree would be fine. I hope he saves it."
"Hope, hope!" Says Lily.
"You want to learn how to climb, don't you Lily?" I ask her.
"Yes! I want to be just like you!" she replies.
"Yes, well, Leah, go and get the both of you ready for the reaping. We shall have to go very soon." Mum ushers us into our bedroom.
"What about Luke?" I ask.
"I'll sort Luke out, don't you worry." Says mum.
"OK. Come on, Lily." And so we both go to get ready for the reaping.
"I open our wardrobe and pull out a white dress with blue birds on it and hold it up to Lily. She strips off her simple might dress and I halep her into the one I'm holding. Beautiful." I say, braiding her long hair in three small braids, one down her back and one over each shoulder.
"Now you!" She says excitedly, so I pull out my favorite dress. It's scarlet red with blue gems on one shoulder. Styling my hair the same way I did Lily's, I think about how similar we look. The same dirty-blonde hair, the same sapphire blue eyes, and the way we are both tall and slim. Suddenly I hear Lily's shimmery, angelic voice beside me.
"You're my favorite sister." Smiling, I look down at her to see that she is also staring, in awe, at ourselves in the mirror.
"I'm your only sister." I cross the room to my jewelry box, followed by Lily, and pull out two necklaces, one with a blue pendant in the shape of a cross and one with a red pendant, also in the shape of a cross. I place the red one around Lily's neck and the other around my own. I then pull out two silver bracelets, each with a silver heart charm. Planting one on Lily's wrist and the other on my own, we go to meet mum outside and together, we head for the square. It's showtime! I think to myself.
meanwhile
Ellie Rouke
I keep running. All the way home, I run, through the gate, into the houswe, I'm still running. I run into my bedroom, slam the door, throw myself on the bed with Fang and cry.
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"Ellie," I hear my mother's voice on the other side of the door, "Ellie, a boy is here to see you."
"Who is it?" I ask
"His name is Legolas Thranduilion. He says you met his brother, Aragorn Thranduilion?"
"Send him in." I sit up as the door opens and a tall boy with long blond hair that's just under shoulder-length walks in.
"Hello, Ellie."
"Hello."
"You met my brother."
"Yes."
"He doesn't know I know."
"How do you know then?"
"I was watching you."
"What?"
"I saw you in training and decided to keep an eye on you."
"Why?"
"I see you as a threat."
"What sort of threat?" He leans in close to me.
"I know about Josh." He whispers.
"No," my heart skips a beat.
"Yes. And if you mess with Aragorn the way you mess with Josh, God help you girl."
"Why?"
"I'm sixteen and lethal with a bow."
"Well you've got a challenge on your hands then." I laugh.
"Why?"
"I'm sixteen and lethal with a knife. Now get out before I get my hands on one."
"Hah! What use is a knife?" I grab a knife and throw it. The knife almost skins Legolas' face and neatly plants itself in the dead center of a poster I have on my door.
"I said get out." Legolas leaves and I hear him talking to mother. I wait about ten minutes after hearing the door shut before I take the knife out of the door, put it in my boot and go to get mother and leave for the reaping.
"Come on mother, I'll get the glory. Don't you worry." Arriving at the square, I have to be separated from mother, so I turn to her and whisper, "Showtime!"
meanwhile
Abie Karimloo
Pippin and I walk home and meet my mum outside the door, "Mum, you remember Peregrin Took?"
"Yes, of course I do Abigail - Oh my! Peregrin, what happened?"
"My dad hit me," He glances at me and I nod, "And he threw me out."
"Oh, you poor dear. Let's get you fixed up, shall we?" Mum takes Pippin into the kitchen and gives him some bread and a little bit of porridge, warmed up. When he's finished eating, I tak his bowl away and mum looks at his eye more closely. She uses some powders to cover up the bruise and make it less visible. Mum also applies some of the powders to Pippin's right eye so the left eye doesn't look out of place.
"Good as new!" I say as Tim walks in.
"Hey Pip! What happened to you?" I glare at Tim because Pippin is my friend, not his.
"He so likes you." I have the shock of my life as Ruth whispers in my ear.
"What?"
"And you couldn't make it look any more obvious that you like him back."
"I do not!"
"Don't lie to me Abie. You talk about him in your sleep." With that, she goes to our room, leaving me staring at Pippin.
Does he really like me? I wonder. Tim takes Pippin into his room to get some clothes I presume.
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When they come out again, Pippin looks so smart, almost a different person. He has a green shirt, a black leather jacket and a pair of smart, black trousers. I hate to say it, but Tim has done a good job.
Soon, it's time to leave. We make our way to the square where we have to separate into boys, girls and non-tributes. "Showtime." I whisper to Pippin before we go our own ways.
meanwhile
Kayly Scribbles
My hair is done so I run back to my bedroom but mum stops me, "Oh no you don't."
"Mum!"
"No more painting."
"I wasn't gonna paint!"
"What were you going to do then?"
"Draw!"
"No."
"Why?"
"You'll get pen all over you're dress."
"No I won't!"
"Kayly, do as your mum says" Dad shouts from the table. "We're going now, come on."
"For the reaping?" I ask.
"Yes Kayly." Says mum.
"YAY! Let's go!"
"KAYLY!" Mum and dad both shout at me.
"What?"
"The reaping isn't a good thing, Kayly." Says dad.
"Twenty three children die." Says mum.
"I don't wanna die!" Says Jake.
"You won't die, son." Dad tells him.
"Neither do I, particularly, but it must be fun to die!" Everyone just looks at me in silence, as if I'm crazy. Why? I don't know. "Come on! It's showtime!"
"It is indeed." Says mum, and we leave for the reaping.