Razi's POV
-District 3-
My "silent" alarm clock went off, waking me up. The noise it made was really just a super high pitched frequency that only kids could hear. Since I was an only child, it made sense for me to use it as an alarm clock; especially for when I wanted to sneak out, like I was going to today.
I didn't bother to change out of my pajamas; they were just sweat pants and a blue t-shirt. However, I did pull on a pair of tennis shoes. I would need them to sneak out with.
Quietly, I snuck out of my room and down the hallway. I crept inside my dad's room, and went over to his closet door. My dad could sleep through a tornado, but I still had to be careful. On the inside of the closet door was a keypad, which controlled the advanced alarms that had been set throughout my house. Once my dad had figured out that I was sneaking out, he had set alarms on every door in window in the house. It also helped with some of the burglaries that had been going on in our neighborhood.
Quickly, I punched in the code "3150", which was my birthday, backwards. I had rewired the sensor set in my window, to respond to both my dad's code and to mine. I also had had to sneak in here once, to rewire it from the other side. Now I could sneak out whenever I wanted, without my dad knowing.
I crept back out of the room and went back into mine. I was in the middle of climbing out my window when I noticed the lights were still on in my room. Shoot. I pressed a button in my watch, and whispered, "Lights off" into it. My room went dark. I smiled and climbed all the way out.
Sparks was waiting for me at our usual meeting spot. We met in the alley behind her parents' electronics store, every time we wanted to talk privately. Sparks had been my best friend for as long as I could remember. Her real name was Athena, but she hated it so much that I had come up with the name Sparks for her, which we both liked much better.
"Hey Sparks," I said, greeting her.
"Careful," she said, "Don't get too close to the door; my parents put in this old thing that was used in the 21st century to keep dogs in yards. I think it's called an electric fence, and it will shock you if you get too close to it."
"Harsh," I whispered.
Sparks smiled. "What do you think is going to happen this year?" she asked, with a scared look on her face.
"I don't know," I replied. This year was a Quarter Quell, and who knew what would happen. "What will you do if you get Reaped?"
"I'm not sure," she said. "If either of us is Reaped, we're smart enough to win. We're both smarter than three quarters of the people in Panem."
I gave her a small smile. It was true, but I still didn't want to have to put my smarts to the test.
"Promise me this." I said to her. "If one of us is Reaped, no matter what happens, we'll still be best friends. Forever."
She stuck out her pinky, and I linked mine to hers. "Friends forever," we said in unison.
We hugged quickly, and then went our separate ways back to our homes, before her parents or my dad could figure out that we had snuck out. We did this every year before the Reaping. The hardest part was leaving each other, for we knew that it could be the last time we ever saw each other ever again. We had learned to do it quickly though; slow good byes were harder to go through with.
As I was walking home, I couldn't help but think about all the sad things that had happened in my life. Sometimes it was better to acknowledge those things, and know that they were there. Doing this was another annual thing I did, on the day of the Reaping.
The first thing I thought of was the day I failed my history class. I had refused to write about the Hunger Games in my essay at school, and they failed me for it. Then I thought of the day I made the honor roll at my school. I liked to counter each bad thing with a good thing.
The second thing I thought of was the day my friend, Elizabeth had been Reaped. She had died in the Arena, during the Bloodbath. I had sobbed for days after watching her be murdered. To counter this bad thought, I thought about how lucky I was to have Sparks, and how good of a friend she was.
The last thing I thought about was my mom dying. She died when I was 10. Her job involved experimenting with electricity. Every time there was a storm, she would go outside and test the lightning, and use its electrical charges to create electronics for Sparks's parents' store. One day, the lightning had struck her instead of the pole. She died instantly.
I wiped a tear that was rolling down my cheek as I thought of this. Quickly, I countered my thought with the fact that dad was still here, taking care of me. This was my final thought, for I was at my house now.
I climbed up the side of my house, and crawled in through the window. Everything was dark, and I tripped over my radio. Muttering curses under my breath, I fumbled with my watch and whispered "Lights on" into it. The lights turned on, blinding me momentarily. I glanced at my watch again. 6:47.
I pulled off my tennis shoes and crawled back into bed, as a wave of sleep washed over me…
My dad shook me out of my dreamless sleep.
"Wake up, Razz," he said, using my nickname, and shaking my shoulder gently.
"Wha-what time is it dad?" I said, yawning sleepily.
"9:00. You need to get up and get ready for the Reaping," he said softly.
"Ok, just give me a minute," I told him.
"I'll go get breakfast ready," he said, walking out of the room.
I sat up in bed slowly, and stretched. Everything looked a little fuzzy through my morning eyes. It was weird; whenever I woke up earlier, I was less tired than I felt on a morning I slept in on.
Getting out of bed, I yawned again. Yikes, I was tired. I walked downstairs, and the scent of burnt toast greeted me.
"Ugh dad, did you burn the toast again?" I said.
My dad had been working on this "ultra-fast toaster" for months now. It was supposed to toast your bread perfectly in just 3 seconds. It could toast bread fast, but it usually over-toasted it.
"Yes," he said with a sheepish grin. "How about a waffle instead?"
"No that's fine, I'm beginning to like burnt toast," I said with a smile.
My dad smiled and handed me 2 pieces of burnt toast on a plate. I went into our refrigerator and got out a jar of jam. I noticed my dad
watching me as I spread it on to my toast. His eyes had big bags underneath them, and didn't contain the usual sparkle. His hair was even messier than usual. I could tell he had a rough night last night, with the Reaping and all happening today. At least he was sound asleep for when I was in his room.
"Sleep well last night?" I asked conversationally.
"Oh, yeah," he lied.
I raised my eyebrows at him as I bit into my toast.
"Ok, fine, maybe I didn't." He admitted. "You know I never sleep well the night before the Reaping. And when I am asleep, all I have are nightmares of you going into the Games."
I'd never heard that last part before. It was understandable though. It wasn't like I had wonderful dreams last night either.
I finished up my last bit of toast, and licked the remaining jam off my fingers. It was time to go get dressed for the Reaping.
"I'm going upstairs to get ready now," I said to my dad.
"Wait!" my dad said, "There's a certain dress I want you to wear."
I raised my eyebrows at him for the second time this morning, as he ran off to his room. A few minutes later, he came back with a blue dress. It looked about knee length, and it was strapless. The dress consisted of two layers; the one on the bottom was a light, solid blue, and the one on top was dark blue, and made out of lace. You could see the bottom layer through the lace, so it made a very pretty contrast of blues.
"Where did this come from?" I asked my dad.
"Your mom wore this on her 4th Reaping," my dad replied.
"Will it fit?" I asked skeptically.
"Try it on and see!" He said.
I went into my room and put it on. It fit perfectly. The light, bright blue of the bottom layer was the exact same shade of blue as my eyes were. I twirled around in the dress, and watched the skirt fly up and float around with me. I stopped and smiled. I put on a pair of black high heels; black went with any color.
"Duh, duh duh duuuh!" I hummed, as I came out of my room.
"You look beautiful Razz!" My dad said. "And nice touch with the old bridal music," he added on with a grin.
"Thanks dad." I said, smiling.
I went back up into my room to do my hair. Since my brown, curly hair was so short, I couldn't put it up into a ponytail or bun. I decided to french braid a section of hair near my face, and pin it back to my head.
I went back downstairs. My dad was holding a light blue ribbon in his hands. Ordering me to turn around, he gently tied it around my waist. He spun me back around and pulled me into a tight hug.
"I love you Razi," he said, too serious to use the usual nickname. "If you're chosen remember that. Don't go down without a fight. Razzle dazzle them, Razz!"
I smiled, gave him another hug, and then left for the Reaping.
I arrived about 45 minutes early, just like they want you to. I've always wondered why you have to get there so early. Probably so they can prick your finger, and just to make you more nervous.
I went straight to the finger pricking line, and let the Peacekeeper prick my finger. I sucked on the blood that was oozing out of my cut, as I went over to stand in the 16 year old section. In the next half an hour, just about everybody had arrived.
I stared at the stage for the last 15 minutes, waiting in fear. Would I be picked? What should I do if I am?
All of a sudden the video started up. I jumped at the sudden blaring of the Capitol "theme song" as I called it. Facing the screen, I watched the same boring video they played every year; the one about the United States of America, how it fell apart, and how Panem rose out of its ashes.
The Mayor then proceeded to read us the Treaty of Treason, which explained to us about why we had the Hunger Games. I was half-listening during the whole speech. I spent most of my time staring at the Mayor's overly large adams apple, which bobbed up and down more than most people's.
A loud thumping noise brought me back down to earth. I strained my neck to see what had happened, and saw a flustered looking Livia Mercier pick up her shoe. Livia Mercier was our escort, and apparently her shoe had fallen off. I snorted, which got me a dirty look from the nearest Peacekeeper.
"Hello, District 3!" This year we have a Quarter Quell! Very special!" Livia Mercier announced, trying to cover up for her moment of embarrassment.
She then took out a large envelope with a Capitol Seal on it. "Let's see," she said, tearing open the envelope faster than I could have imagined possible. An interested expression grew on her face as she read the contents of the letter that the envelope had contained.
"Oh! It seems this year we have all ladies as our tributes!" She said, in her funny Capitol accent.
Murmurs erupted throughout the crowd; some relieved, some nervous. Everybody fell silent as soon as the Peacekeepers gave us threatening looks though.
"Let's get on with it!" Livia squealed.
She practically skipped over to the bowl containing the girls' names, and stuffed her hand into it. She mixed around the slips of paper, and finally took one out.
I inhaled sharply as Livia took in a breath to announce the name.
"Razi Capala!"
My jaw dropped. It couldn't be me; there must've been some mistake. But then why was everybody looking at me? I closed my mouth, and tightened my jaw grimly. Stiffly, I walked up and on to the stage.
"Ooh, you look like a smart one!" Livia said, giggling into the microphone.
I felt like slapping her, but I controlled myself, and turned out to face the crowd. My dad looked horror stricken, on the verge of tears. Sparks was one step ahead of him, bawling her eyes out. I had to look away quickly before I would break down and cry myself.
"Any volunteers?" Livia asked.
You could've heard a pin drop.
Livia sighed at the non-excitement of our Reaping as she walked back over to the glass bowl with the girls' names in it.
"Pixel Pettigilo!" she announced, as she pulled out the second and final slip of paper. I saw a 15 year old girl with cropped black hair and a silver dress on step out of the crowd. She looked slightly shocked at being chosen. I couldn't blame her.
"Nice…hair you have," Livia complimented her as she got on to the stage.
I rolled my eyes; why did Livia have to make some comment on every tribute?
"Any volunteers?"
Silence.
"District 3 Quarter Quell representatives, Razi Capala and Pixel Pettigilo!" Livia announced as we shook hands.
Pixel gave me a nervous smile. I gave her one in return. She was slightly shorter than me, but we'd probably be about the same height once I took my heels off. She had the same sharpness in her eyes that I did. We could make a good team in the Arena, I thought.
"Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favour!" Livia said cheerily, as she walked off stage.
…"We're both smarter than three quarters of the people in Panem"… "I love you Razi. If you're chosen remember that. Don't go down without a fight. Razzle dazzle them, Razz!"… "If one of us is Reaped, no matter what happens, we'll still be best friends. Forever."
All of these thoughts ran through my head, as I stood there on the stage, looking out into the crowd. Sparks and my dad had inspired me; inspired me to win.
I could do this. I could win the Games.