~Katniss POV~

I was standing within the girls of our age group when I caught sight of him walking down the lane with his brother, both smiling at some joke. The other brother walked at a distance, scowling at them, while avoiding them like a plague. Millet's mood was the same as of every one present in attendance, or may be with the exception of Effie – sullen.

The brothers though were unfazed. They were smiling yet now but nowadays it wasn't uncommon. The first time the elder, Rye walked down to the city square, his and his brothers' smile unnerved everyone. When asked later he replied boldly that both he and his brother loves to enjoy life taking everything coming on their way.

I couldn't help but admire Peeta's appearance. From his walking grace to his killer physique he is a definition of the word perfect. While his brother shares the title too, the intelligence department was something that was ruled by Peeta in the entire District 12, if his enormous 'earnings' and awards are anything to go by. He had finished schooling by the age of 9 and from since then got himself home-schooled and participated in every physical and educational competitions held in the district.

He happens to be the one I get irritated upon the most though. Although I pretend to not know but I do know that the Mellarks' buying of a squirrel from me every day for a loaf of bread (which usually took my father 3 squirrels to afford), the weekly supply of two fresh and warm loaves, eggs and 3 bottles of milk at my house's front door ever since the day he threw the bread at my direction, the yearly delivery of a fruit-cake, roasted goose and clothes thrice — on my birthday, Prim's birthday and Christmas, the annual supply of a woolen garment and the weekly supply of money, worth a miner's monthly salary, were all somehow the baker boy's doing. The fact that irritated me even more was that I had no proof to accuse him of his offence other than my hunch (I even once stayed awake the entire night to catch him and drowsed for some mere minutes at the wake of dawn only to wake up laden with supplies; the frustrating scream emitted had me earn some scratches from buttercup and a lesson to never scream in the household), and life in poverty has taught me not to waste resources. So I grudgingly buried my pride and accepted the offerings claiming to Prim and my not at all curious mother that my hunt was successful – both were pretty easy to convince. Even after I started hunting to earn or gather my food, the supplies never ceased coming. As no other soul was aware of the deelopmemnts, I finally started accepting them reluctantly. The question I always asked myself however was why. Why would he help me and none other? Even though I know that with no one working in our household my family was the poorest even in the seam. However one thing was for sure, with Peeta looking out for me and Prim, we never went malnourished and are among the healthiest and the most shapely ones from the Seam.

I once started considering Gale as my friend but one day, 5 months after we met, he badmouthed the Mellarks and mainly Peeta. I never defended him but I know why I couldn't look to Gale as my friend anymore. Even though Gale may never realize, to me, he was more of a hunting-acquaintance now than anything else. Though I still played by the rules of the seam – never owe anyone anything, but there were always exceptions to everything and Peeta Mellark's generosity was one such thing for me after I finally gave up on trying to repay the boy. Who was I kidding anyway? I would be in debt to him forever. So the least I could do was ensure to not associate with those who disgrace him. As for starters, everything Peeta got was bought from his and Rye's earnings – the brothers were very self-sufficient. And Gale was jealous of their wealth. Katniss knew though that every penny of their wealth was earned by them so it was no one's place really to judge how they spent it. Given when a part of the expenditure made its way to her.

My musings were ended when their escort Effie Trinket started her well-rehearsed speech that she delivers almost every year unchanged. The mayor followed her and gave the history of games, their purpose, the pacts of the treaty of treason and so on. And soon again Effie was back relishing her excitement. Finally after what was like almost forever she announced the beginning of the reaping.

There were always some new 'twists' and 'favors' present in every year before the quarter quell. For their will be something in the game that would make the 'Pre-Quell' – as it is called much more harder than usual. But the victor gets 10 of his/her wishes fulfilled along with the normal winnings. Not even the quarter quell victors were given this opportunity. Also the twist came in 2 phases. One before the Pre-Quell and one while in the game. The Pre-Quell twist was already announced and it was somewhat similar to the rules of the previous quarter quell where our district got its second, last and only surviving victor/mentor – Haymitch Abernathy the famous city drunk. The rules of the last quarter quell was that from every district 4 tributes will volunteer the games rather than the usual 2 making it a total count of double than the normal number of tributes. Now this time the rule says that every District rather than the 'lucky four' will supply 4 tributes. Luckily we are one of the 4 districts that won the lottery beside Districts 11, District 3 and District 6. However, even though our district will sacrifice the standard 2 number of tributes, every tribute chosen will be up against 39 other tributes rather than the standard 23. Truly, the odds are nowhere in our favor as it may seem.

The alarm that signaled that the female tribute was now going to be selected brought me out of my musings. Suddenly I was scared now and I prayed wholeheartedly that my name, nor Prim's get chosen. However the declaration of the name on the chunk of paper from which Effie read, had her announce,

"Primrose Everdeen."

Fear and dread coursed through me. Wild in proportions and no where containing. My worst nightmares have come true and my sister was reaped for a Pre-Quell nonetheless. I was desperate to find a way out of this mess but however much I tried I found none. Though finally a suicidal idea came in me, but at that moment my sister's safety was the first thing on my mind. The fact that she was halfway to the stage didn't help in the matters either, and before I could rethink about my decision, I blurted out from my place, "I volunteer."

An eerie silence spread among the gathering as my voice traveled through the ears of the crowd. A somewhat shocked Effie asked, "Sorry my dear?"

"I said I volunteer in place of my sister." And with that I walk forward as everyone parted to make way. As soon as I reached Prim I gathered my sobbing sister in my arms, "Take care little duck." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gale travelling towards us, probably to show that he was in control of the situation, and separate Prim from me but an odd sense of relief coursed through me when Rye beat him to it and separated the reluctant child.

He made eye-contact with me for a second and said, "The supplies will continue coming." He left quickly with Prim sobbing in his arms, leaving behind a scowling Gale at his awake.

As I gave my name to a now ecstatic Effie and started making my way over to the stage, a sense of relief and confusion flowed through me. While I was glad my family won't starve why would Rye ensure that the supplies kept coming when she was more than sure it was all the doings of Peeta? Unless… and my eyes went wide as the realization finally dawned upon me, but I never got to ponder over it for much long as the next two things I heard were Effie's voice of calling out the boy tribute's name and the familiar voice saying the words that helped confirming her suspicions.

"Milletson Mellark"

It was soon followed by the all too familiar voice that can only come from District 12's 'Silver Tongue.'

"I volunteer."

~Katniss POV~