"Fear cuts deeper than swords." - George R.R. Martin
District 3 Reapings: Plugg Zurin (15) and Charmaine de Rosario (16)
The problem is that Charmaine looks just too beautiful on reaping day. Her long brown hair falls down her back, her dark eyes pop in contrast to her tight white dress.
On a customary day, the girl wears plain clothes to school and back home. She remains unnoticed by most. And although it pains her to be part of the background, she knows it is for the best.
It is because she looks so beautiful this morning that Watt notices and decides to walk onto her porch and talk to her.
Watt is tall and has a smile that makes every girl in his grade swoon. Even Charmaine (though she tries her best to hide it).
Charmaine knows almost as soon as Watt sits down next to her that things are about to go horribly wrong.
"Hey," the boy says. "You know, I don't think we've ever really talked before…I-"
"You should go," Charmaine tries to warn the boy. The girl's words are thick with a Filipino accent. Yet her voice is gentle, and she makes the English language sound graceful.
Watt just thinks the girl is shy. He knows that she hardly ever talks at school. She just sits in the front of the class, her head bent over her notebook, taking vigilant notes, getting impeccable marks.
"Don't worry. I don't bite." He places his hand on her leg, a grin spreading across his lips.
It is at this moment that Charmaine's front door opens and out storms Elise, Charmaine's mother. Elise balls her hands into fists.
"Charmaine!" The woman's words are sharp, loud, and frighteningly aggressive. Elise pulls her lips into a sneer and glowers at the boy. She raises her right hand, as though she intends to hit him.
Watt perceives this as the moment to book it. He doesn't so much as look back once. Charmaine can tell he wont be talking to her again any time soon. Crazy mothers don't bode well with sixteen-year-old boys.
Elise grabs Charmaine by the ear and forces the girl into the kitchen.
"Stop it!" Charmaine manages to pull herself free. She rubs her ear, then immediately goes into defense. She knows her parents' strict rules against having boys even remotely near the house. "He was only talking to me. We didn't-"
"Huwag-"
"Mama, please-"
"Huwag kang magsalita ng ingles sa bahay!"
"I can speak English in the house if I want to!" Charmaine responds. "You can't tell me what to do anymore!"
Charmaine's mother opens her mouth, ready to rant to Charmaine more about how she must only speak Tagalog in the house. But, Charmaine pushes past her mother and runs out the door. Tears pool in her eyes.
Charmaine understands where her mother is coming from. Charmaine's family is the only one in all of District 3 that still speaks Tagalog. And her parents are strict about Charmaine keeping the language alive in the future. Charmaine's father is always quick to remind her how many languages have died since Panem came into existence.
But sometimes Charmaine doesn't want the responsibility. Sometimes she just wants to be normal.
"Well, it is essentially exactly what we first saw with the first signal contains the color and intensity of each pixel in a set of rows along with the horizontal and vertical sync signals-"
Plugg groans, his eyelids drooping. Can Mr. Elek be any more dull? Plugg is used to the insipid, but this morning he can hardly breathe because he's just so bored.
"Please stop," Plugg mutters.
The boy's words remain unnoticed.
Mr. Elek continues. "the rows of pixels are combined with synchronization signals-"
And then it becomes too much for the boy to handle. The normally polite Plugg slams his hand on the table and screams, "Oh shut up, shut up, shut up!"
Mr. Elek does, in fact, shut up. The entire room looks over at the fifteen-year-old. Their smiles hang, about to fall. No one expected such an aggressive outburst from the boy.
Almost immediately, Plugg regrets his eruption. His parents are going to be so angry with him; they have a group of some of the most illustrious men in all of District 3 over for brunch. And Plugg completely ruins it.
Plugg, very reluctantly, glances at his father. The man wears no livid expression. Mr. Zurin sports only an incredibly flushed face; a sign of deep abasement.
"Plugg, go to your room why don't you?" Mr. Zurin says. His tone is calm.
Plugg complies.
"Sorry about that," Mr. Zurin announces to the room once he believes Plugg is out of ear shot. "Don't know what's gotten into him lately." Recently, Plugg has gotten into fights at school (always somehow pertaining to his disdain for technology). It worries his parents, since the boy is usually such a good child.
Once Plugg reaches his room, he slams his door shut.
He couldn't listen to another second of Mr. Elek lecturing the inhabitants of the room on the pedantic science behind technology. It's all anyone in District 3 ever talks about. All students learn in school is the history of electricity and technology, the physics and math and chemistry behind the two. Plugg gets so fed up with such a life. Because although technology is the center of his district, and such a seminal foundation for the whole of Panem, it is nothing more than superficial. Technology isn't part of reality.
Plugg should be focusing on living, not on the superficial world of technology.
It is in this moment of frustration that Plugg realizes he cannot live like this anymore. He has to get out of District 3.
And there is only one way to make sure he gets out.
He's going to volunteer.
"Charmaine de Rosario."
Silence.
"Charmaine de Rosario," Pinkie Rose, District 3's escort, repeats. "Honey, please don't keep us waiting. We don't have all day."
It is Elizabeth Brennan, the girl next to Charmaine, that grabs Charmaine's hand. She squeezes it in an act of reassurance.
Elizabeth and Charmaine used to be friends. But school made them grow apart. Elizabeth became more invested in the immediate physical world; in sports, gymnastics. Charmaine became invested in the things that didn't denote such reality; she focused on theater, on romance novels.
At this moment the two forget they are no longer friends.
The girls exchange no words. But Elizabeth's eyes seem to be saying it's okay. Charmaine lets go of the girl's hand and trips forward. She shuffles up to stage.
"Hello, sweetheart," Pinkie says.
"Hello," Charmaine returns. Pinkie immediately notices the accent and makes a mental note to talk more to Charmaine about this later. She knows an accent is good. Anything that makes a tribute stand out is helpful in the Games.
Pinkie quickly asks for volunteers. But she hardly waits for an answer.
"Boy time!" Pinkie squeals. She takes a long time fishing around for a name, enjoying the way every boy looks sick with anxiety. Eventually, she pulls out a name.
"Cade Volts!"
"I volunteer!"
It is Plugg Zurin that jogs up to stage.
The audience gets quiet. A volunteer from a non-career district (even one as close to the capital as District 3) is almost unheard of.
Plugg doesn't look particularly happy himself. In fact, he wears an expression of disdain, looking out into the crowd of District 3 citizens. Once he turns towards the cameras, however, he grins.
He accepts the microphone from Pinkie and announces his name with such clarity and assurance. He looks nothing like the average District 3 boy. He is tall and toned. He is an image of confidence. His light brown hair shimmers brilliantly in the sun. Both Charmaine and Plugg have a very slight tan (which is noticeable in a district where people are so pale they appear almost translucent).
Charmaine immediately avoids making any sort of eye contact with her district partner. She doesn't want him to think she's trying to leach onto him. But, Plugg makes a point of looking into her eyes and smiling.
"Good luck," he says. His dark green eyes look so genuine, Charmaine believes he truly means what he says. But she still can't trust him.
She knows very little about the Games. Yet she is sure of one thing: she can't trust anyone.
District 4's reapings will be up in the next 3-4 days.