Hey guys! Sorry that it's been so long since I've updated but here is the District Four Reaping! I'll try and get some more chapters in faster now that I'm out of school (yay!). Okay, here it is:

Emma POV

"Ugh, Mom, can I please sleep a little bit longer?" My brother, Arin, mumbles in his sleep.

"It's not Mom lazy. Get up!" I throw a pillow at him playfully. Arin throws his hands in front of his face.

"Fine, fine, I'll get up. Don't have to attack me..." he mumbles under his breath as he gets out of his bed. "What? You're already dressed?" He asks, eyeing my favorite pale blue dress, the exact color of my eyes. "Good Lord, you're fast."

"Yup and you better be if you want us to wait for you to go to the Reaping... bye!" I close the door on my fourteen-year-old brother's complaints. "I got him up, Ma!" I yell as I trot down the stairs. The back door is open, and the salted air of District Four wafts into the kitchen, mingling with the smell of fish omelets and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

"Well, then where is he?" Ma asks, scanning the stairs.

"I told him to hurry up and change or else we would leave without him."

"And you don't have the slightest doubt that he will change and not go back to sleep?" My ma asks, raising one blonde eyebrow.

"I'll go check," I say, bounding up the stairs. I throw open the door to his room to find... Arin asleep on his bed, only half dressed. I pick up the shirt that is lying on the floor, the one that he will put on, and hit him across his back with it.

"Ow," he exclaims, awake again. "What was that for?" I giggle.

"Just a taste of what the Peacekeepers are gonna give you if you don't wake up!" I bound down the stairs again and scarf down my delicious salmon omelet. After about five minutes, Arin finally comes down, still looking scruffy, but presentable enough nonetheless.

"Let's go, shall we," Pa says, taking Ma's hand as Arin and I race to the square. But underneath all the happiness, there is a nagging feeling that just won't go away.

Marcus POV

I twist the fish hook in my ear as I wait for my little siblings to get ready. Arianna, who is only seven, cares a lot about her appearance, even though she's not even old enough to be Reaped. Griffin, who's twelve, just dresses in the same shirt that he wears every day, a wrinkled green one. It drives our mother, Lilia, insane, but she knows that no matter how much candy you give him or threats you throw at him, you'll never get him out of his favorite green shirt. He even says that it brings him good luck.

"Kids! Breakfast!" My mother sets out some of our china plates, piled high with eggs and salmon. Griffin runs down the stairs in a pair of my old slacks and his lucky shirt, and Ari prances down looking, in my eyes, ridiculous in a pink dress, black shoes, a tiara, and some of my mother's lipstick sloppily painted on her lips. Mom, not noticing Arianna's insane getup, pours two glasses of milk, setting them in front of the youngest Livelys. "Marcus, what do you want to drink?" She asks, glancing over her shoulder at me.

"Just O.J., Mom." I reply.

My mom puts down the glass of orange juice on my place mat and takes her seat across from my father's seat at the table. Of course, my father is working on his boat until it is absolutely necessary for him to come. Our small fishing boat, the S.S. Ena Marie, is nothing compared to the other fishing boats, but it gets us good money. My mother always jokes around about my father being gone a lot, but we all know that it secretly affects her.

"Mooo-oom! I hate milk!" Arianna whines, wrinkling her nose at the glass in front of her.

"Arianna, kids in District Twelve would give anything for that glass of milk. Drink up." That was my mother's favorite comeback, even though none of us knew if it was true or not. Griffin and I shovel our breakfast down, and push our chairs back, causing my mother's head to snap up at the screeching sound. We stand by the door waiting for Ari to finish her breakfast. After what seems like hours, she finally eats the last egg on her plate and we dash to the town square.

"Squirt, you gotta stop wearing that shirt. Even if it is lucky." I laugh and wave my hand in front of my nose.

Emma POV

I wait in the line for Sixteens, chatting with the girl next to me, Mallie.

"Can you believe Villa Chappman?" Mallie whispers to me, referring to the crazy District Four escort.

"Is she trying to pay homage to our District with her hair or something?" Villa had dyed her hair aqua with white tips, molded in the shape of a wave. Her skirt was long and sea foam green, flaring out at the ankles like a fish tail. We both giggle, and some girls shoot us dirty looks. The mayor finishes the Treaty of Treason and Villa takes the stage, her molded hair staying eerily stationary as she veers in her tall heels. Steeping over to the podium she greets us all.

"Hello District Four!" She beams a fake smile at us. "The sea looks beautiful today!" Mallie and I snicker at her ignorance. "Let's meet our lovely beautiful girl tribute now, shall we?" Villa wobbles over to the Reaping Ball assigned to the girls. She pulls out a slip of paper and dramatically waves it around in the air. To her it must look perfect and dramtic, but to me and Mallie and the rest of District Four it looks like her hand is having a spasm. Finally, she reads it. "Emma Townsend!"

My blood runs cold. Mallie prods me with her elbow, smiling. In District Four, it's considered a great honor to be Reaped, but I feel like this will be the final time that I will ever step foot in this square again. I stride to the stage, trying desperately to look tough and emotionless. I saw this one girl on the Hunger Games a few years back who looked so tough, all of the tributes, even some of the Careers avoided her. She lost when the boy from One discovered that she couldn't wield a sword to save her life. Literally. Maybe, though, I could use her technique to stay alive at least a couple of days.

Once on the stage, I look straight at the camera and give it my best and most ferocious scowl. I have a feeling, though, that it is really a very bad scowl, because face it, it's me. Up close, Villa and her hair are even grosser. Her pale blue skin is pulled tight around her cheekbones, so she is always laughing. Her tinted aqua lips are overly full and I just know that her teeth are fakes. Her eyes are surgically altered to change colors. At the moment, they are as dark as the night. "Okay," she says, flashing the crowd a synthetic smile, and moves onto the boy's Reaping Ball. "Griffin Lively!" She twitters, doing the same dramatic movements with the slip of paper. Suddenly, a cry comes from the line that I left.

"I volunteer!" A handsome boy walks out of the Sixteen line, I had seen him before, at school and on the streets. He was pulling off the tough look much better than I was, his shaggy dark blonde hair hanging on his forehead, almost covering his fair eyebrows, but leaving his eyes open and hostile. His muscles bulged under his shirt, and I immediately knew that he would be competition, he would survive probably at least two weeks longer than I would. Sadly. "My name is Marcus Lively." Villa looks impressed.

"District Four! I Give you your tributes: Emma Townsend and Marcus Lively!" Of course everyone cheers, this is a great honor. Just not to me.

Marcus POV

We are ushered into the huge Justice Building. I have never actually been inside, but they sure know how to decorate. Antique furniture is everywhere, and exotic rugs blanket the floor. The Peacekeepers lead me and Emma (that's her name, right?) through many hallways and rooms inside the maze that is the building. Finally, our journey comes to an end as we enter a hallway lined with plastic chairs, with two doors across the hallway from each other. One Peacekeeper pushes me into the room on the right, and Emma to the one on the right. I guess that the chairs in the hallway are filling up, because I hear the sounds of walking in the hallway. A minute later, my mother walks in, led by Ari and Griffin. Ari for once is silent, and she sits on Mom's lap as Griffin hugs me and cries onto my shoulder. "Why'd ya do it? Why?" Griffin shrieks over and over again, crying.

"So that you can go home and live."

After my comment, Griffin stays silent and settles for crying harder. I twist the hook in my ear as my mother and siblings are ushered roughly out by the Peacekeepers. "Where's Dad?" I hurriedly yell to my mother.

"Work," she yells back, her voice cracking a little bit. My blood rushes to my face in anger as the door closes. I set my jaw, trying to hold in the anger, but I fail. I kick the coffee table and the delicate vase shatters on the floor. I am heading to my dang death and my father can't even take enough time off to say goodbye? I don't wait for the Peacekeeper to usher me out, I stomp onto the train. I want to get as far away as possible from my father. Even if it means dying.

Emma POV

"You'll do great, sis." Arin looks me straight in my watery eyes. I see myself reflected in him. We have the same sky blue eyes, the same curly brown hair.

"Listen honey," my mother looks at me sadly. "I want you to come back as soon as you can, just use this as an anchor, okay?" Ma moves her blonde hair to the side and unhooks the beautiful silver chain that she always wears from her skinny neck. She twirls her finger, beckoning me to turn, and she fastens it on my pale neck. I finger the delicate chain, the feeling was smooth and silky against my fingers.

"I love you!" I scream as a pair of Peacekeepers lead my family out of the room, and leading Mallie in. She is beaming.

Dear God, why is she smiling so big?

"You are so lucky!" Mallie trills, "I wish I was you!"

"Really now, do you? You wish that you just saw your mother in little brother in tears, knowing that they will never ever see you again, and you know that you are right. You wish that your mother just gave you her most prized possession without a hesitation, because she figured that it'll just be delivered with the body." I scream at my 'friend', and she looks taken aback, her eyes red with tears and her eyebrows knit together. "You wish that your best friend was happy for you and accepts the fact that you will die. You are just like them." I dash out of the door, leaving Mallie confused and dazed in the room. I sprint towards the general direction of the train.

Better off dead than having a monster as a best friend, I think as the door of the train locks behind me.

A/N: Okay so this is District Four (1 of my fave districts) Please R&R!

Reviews make me write faster... 8)