District 4 female – Hazel Mayfly, 17

I moved swiftly through the crowd, keeping my head down and clutching a shiny engagement ring in my closed fist that I'd swiped right from the box of a man in the middle of proposing to his girlfriend.

It was a little cruel to ruin his proposal like that, but I'd gotten one glance at that ring from afar and I knew it was legit. It was probably worth several thousand dollars, especially if that one old, loaded peacekeeper was still there.

When I got to the peacekeepers' quarters, I grinned as soon as I saw him, wrinkles and all, running his hand along his wispy white. His face lit up when he saw me.

"Hazel," he said, his tone formal.

"Good evening," I said, nodding to him.

"Are you aware that it's past eleven o'clock at night?" he asked me.

"Is it?"

"Yes. Shouldn't you be at home?" the peacekeeper asked. "Your parents might be worried..."

"I'm seventeen years old, not twelve," I said, my tone bitter. "I'll be fine. Plus, I have something I want to trade with you."

"Oh, yeah?" he said, raising a silver eyebrow.

I lifted my arm and splayed my hand out for him so he could see the engagement ring. His eyes widened at it.

"How much?" he asked greedily, feeling his pockets for cash.

"A few thousand, I think," I said, casually. "It's a real diamond."

"Alright," he said, then called out, "Alexander! Can you bring down the money? For a real diamond engagement ring!"

"Give me a minute!"

Less than a minute later, a tall, handsome young man entered the room. Alexander Goldspinner.

"An engagement ring, hey?" he said, then slid his hand down the side of my waist. "Maybe I should use it to propose to you, Hazel."

Yeah. I was dating one of the peacekeepers.

"You'll have to pay for it first," I said, and he kissed me, then slipped some money into my hand as he squeezed it.

When he pulled away from me, I looked down at the money. It was fifty Panemian dollars. I stared at the money for a hot second, then back up at Alexander. That ring was worth thousands of Panemian dollars, not fifty.

"What's the matter?" Alexander asked me.

"How much is the ring worth?" I asked.

"I'd say about forty, but since you're so beautiful I'm giving you fifty," said Alexander.

It was worth thousands. I knew it was worth thousands. But he'd called me beautiful. He wouldn't call me beautiful if I asked him for more money.

"Is there a problem?" he asked me with a smile.

"No," I said. "No, there's not a problem."

I slept in the next morning as a result of being up so late, so I completely missed the announcement of the Quarter Quell and didn't even know what it was until I overheard the peacekeepers talking about it when I came in again to trade with them some gold I had stolen.

Apparently, the tributes were to be voted in by the district, instead of being chosen at random like usual, and the voting was going to open the next morning.

I know who I am going to choose, I thought to myself as I left the peacekeeper's headquarters. Lily Highwater.

Lily Highwater had been my best friend, previously, ever since about a year ago, when she spread a rumour that I was a snitch to the peacekeepers. She'd said that she hadn't spread the rumour, but that was a lie so painfully obvious that it was like me saying that I cared about my brother.

My brother, no, my half-brother, was the male that I was going to vote for. His name was Sal Harris and he had been the result of an affair between my mother and some fisherman who I'd only met once. Sal was fourteen years old, and honestly the death of me, even if he lived with my mother and the fisherman and I didn't see him often. I hated him because of what he had been born from.

Thinking of my mother's affair made me think about the worst part of it all: the fact that I lived alone with my father. He was an alcoholic and completely ignored me. He was the main reason why I stole to trade with the peacekeepers, because he wasn't doing the best job at parenting, so I had to somehow get money to provide food for myself and him.

I got home late again that night. I'd bought food for both him and me, but he was passed out on the couch, still holding a bottle of gin.

"Well, here you go, Dad," I muttered, dropping his plate of dinner onto his lap. He grunted at the impact but didn't get up. I rolled my eyes and sat down on the floor with my own dinner, then switched on our television.

All that was playing at the moment was talking about the upcoming Quarter Quell, how no one knew why the tributes would be voted in, and some of them could be downright evil.

I hope Sal and Lily are in these games, I thought to myself angrily. And I'll never have to deal with them ever again. Never see Lily's lying ass or Sal's stupid face.

The crowd around the voting area the next morning was a great opportunity to easily steal jewellery and other expensive items from people since they were all so close together that even if they did notice it get taken from them, they wouldn't be able to tell who had taken it from them.

I left the crowd without submitting my vote since we had a few days to do that, but with a huge loot of precious items in my bag and a wide grin on my face as I headed straight towards the peacekeepers' quarters.

"Oh, Hazel," said Alexander when I piled it all on the table in front of him and the other peacekeepers. "You've really outdone yourself this time."

"It's a happy Hunger Games gift," I said, gripping my braid and pulling it over my shoulder, waiting for him to get out his money. He didn't.

"Come on, darling, all this stuff is priceless," he said to me, running his hand down my back and stopping it once his hand was on my butt. My eyes moved to his when he squeezed it. "I'll pay you with me. Go home, take a shower, and get changed into something amazing. Are you ready to have the night of your life? You deserve it, my princess."

District 4 male – Luderick Bellamy, 14

My heart was pounding as I kicked and paddled harder, harder, harder. There was only half a lap left before I got to the end and won the race that was for the best of the best of the boys in the Under Fifteen group.

Only ten metres left, and I kicked harder, my heart rate increasing by several beats per minute. Five metres left and I turned my head to the side to take my final breath before I pushed through and reached the end.

As soon as I was done, I wiped the water from my eyes just as the guy who was swimming next to me, my best friend Carpo, reached the end of the lake and came in second place.

"Good effort, mate," I said to him as he wiped the water out of his eyes.

"God, I was getting so close to you, I actually thought I stood a chance for a second," said Carpo as we both climbed out of the lake, and I was handed a blue ribbon and he was handed a red one.

"Well, if you were to race against one of those big-headed baboons from the Capitol, I'm sure you would win," I said to him.

"Rick, you know that would just be boring," said Carpo, grinning as we walked over to where we'd left our towels, "I'd be finished before they even realised there was a race going on."

I laughed, just as my girlfriend, Gilda, rushed over to us, and cried, "Rick! I knew you'd win! You always do, you're incredible! I would hug you right now, but I wore my best outfit and you're still wet."

"Shall we go out tonight?" I said to her, kissing her lightly on the top of her head. "We could go to the river and I'll fish us some fresh fish and cook it up."

"Ooh, yum, can I come?" Carpo asked.

"It's meant to be a date, Carpo," I said.

"Alright, cool, I'll invite Anchor and Summer, we'll make it a five-person date," said Carpo, then ran off to meet his parents.

I rolled my eyes and rubbed my towel over my short blonde hair, then wrapped it around my waist.

"Do you want to come to my place?" I asked Gilda. "Hang out a bit before the others come and crash our date?"

"Sure," said Gilda, and I led her to the stands where my parents had been watching my race.

"Ricky, you were amazing, as always!" said my mother, standing up and giving me a big fat kiss on my cheek.

"Alright, alright, thanks Mum," I said, then looked behind her at the empty seat where she and my dad had just been sitting. "No Salmo?"

"Sorry, Rick, he tried to come home for the race, but he's in the middle of a training session in District Two," said my father.

"District Two!?" I cried. "They'll kill him! They're all mindless killers there, everybody knows that!"

My father sighed. "Rick, they're not going to hurt your brother outside of the games. Talking about the games... the Quarter Quell will be announced tomorrow morning."

"Oh, alright," I said. "God, if the rich snobs or drunk losers win the first Quell, I think I'll lose my mind."

"Alright, let's go home now, Ricky," said my mother, and she and my father led Gilda and I back to my home.

"The Quarter Quell will only happen every twenty-five years, so it's a very important Games to win."

It was later that night, and my group of friends and I were all fishing for a fresh dinner.

"I hope that boy, Delmar Aguado volunteers," said Summer, playing with her long blonde hair.

"Why, because he's pretty much your celebrity crush?" Anchor teased, punching Summer lightly on the shoulder.

"What! No!" Summer cried, her face going pink. "First of all, ew, no. He's five years older than me. And not even that good-looking. It's because he's probably the best Career in the district. And if it's the first Quarter Quell, we have to win."

"OK, so if he volunteers, we should start making a campaign to cheer for him," I said, pulling my trident from the river. It held four fish. Perfect amount. My favourite number. "And a campaign against every other tribute not from District four."

The others all nodded in agreement, and we brought the fish up to a grill to cook it.

The next morning, Salmo came home because it was the beginning of the Hunger Games season, and the day of the Quarter Quell announcement. I sat in our living room with him and my parents in front of our television to watch President Snow make the announcement of the twist to this year's Hunger Games.

The poor peasant districts don't have their own TV, I thought to myself, just as President Snow lifted a piece of paper on the screen.

"Greetings to all citizens of Panem," he said. "I am pleased to announce that as this is the twenty-fifth Hunger Games, it will be our first Quarter Quell. The twist to this year's Quell is that instead of the tributes being reaped out by chance, a male and female tribute will be voted in by their own district, to remind you that you chose to rebel against the Capitol and have a war twenty-five years ago. The voting for all Districts will open in twenty-four hours' time, and close three days after that. May the odds be ever in your favour."

That was a great twist in my opinion. If this year had been a normal Hunger Games, I would have had three chances to have been reaped, which was very low, and even if I had been reaped, one of the Careers would have volunteered, and I would have been fine. But now, with this twist, there was no chance that I would be in the games.

I was the mayor's son, after all, so naturally, the district loved me, not to mention the fact that I was District Four's biggest supporter. Last year, during the games, I had literally led my friends in a cheer squad for the two tributes, doing cartwheels, cheering, and holding up posters for them. It had been so intense that the Peacekeepers had asked us to calm down so everyone could actually hear the show.

Since the district loved me so much, there was no way I'd be voted in as their male tribute.

Right?

Here's the first intro chapter. I will try to update this every Tuesday.

Thanks to CraizinMonster for Hazel and Very New To This for Rick. What do you all think of these two? See you in the next district!

And a note: There are still a few tribute spots available, so if you want to submit, send me a PM!