Thank you to everyone still here in the story. To anyone who did not like chapter 7, I didn't either. It was defiantly not my best work and WAY too cliche. (In my defense, my sister helped.) Feel free to make fun of it in the reviews. I mean, I make fun of it all the time. The reaping of district 8...

District 8

"Kayla Knowles!"

Kayla started to make her way to the stage. What else could she do? She walked up onto the stage, praying that maybe someone would volunteer for her. She knew no one would though. No one ever volunteered for anyone in district eight. When siblings got called, none of their siblings of the same gender ever volunteered. No one ever volunteered for their friend when they were called. Kayla knew only one person in that crowd would volunteer for her. She had been living with her cousin, Austin, since her parents had died when she was much younger. They were as close as siblings; if they were the same gender and Austin was called in the reaping, Kayla knew she would not hesitate to take his place in the games, and she knew he would do the same for her if it was possible. But it was not; no one was going to take her place; she was going to compete whether she wanted to or not. And she defiantly did not. Her only choice if she wanted to come back to Austin was winning.

The escort put her hand into the jar of boy's names, and Kayla started to wonder who from her district would be her fellow tribute.

"Austin Lake!"

Austin walked up the stage to stand next to his cousin. She looked as alarmed as he felt.

"It's fine ok? We're in this together; we'll figure something out," Austin said to his younger cousin. He was 16 and she was 15, but she would turn 16 in a month, if she lived that long. He hoped she would, but he knew the chance of it was slim. Even if she did make it to her 16th birthday, he wouldn't be there to see it. If she lived, that would mean he dies. If he lived, Kayla would be gone. There was no victory in this game, not even for the Victor.

"What are we going to do; we can't both win! The fact that we are in this together just makes everything worse, not better. It's not fine, this is anything but fine!"

"Shh. We'll talk on the way to the capital." Sure enough, when Kayla put her attention back on the escort, who was talking to the crowd, she could see that she was wrapping up. Peacekeepers were coming to bring them to the Justice building.

"Austin..." Kayla started to say.

"It's not like this is the last time we'll see each other, see you in about an hour on the train, we'll talk then."

Kayla only nodded. She hoped that when he said they would figure something out, he wasn't just saying that. She had already lost her parents; she couldn't lose her cousin to.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! If you did, favorite, follow, and review! See you for the reaping of district 9...