District 1 female – Phoenix Valentine, 18

Perhaps if I didn't do what I'd done the morning that the twist was announced I would have been safe from the Quarter Quell.

I spent most of the morning with Calliope in my room, just talking about stupid things for the most part, until she asked me how it was going with Sivan and Tatiana, which caused me to stop and actually think.

"Well... well... look, the thing is, I like Tatiana," I said. "I really do. She's attractive, at least her appearance is, and... kissing her is great, but it doesn't feel like love. Sivan, on the other hand... we had an incredible night together last night, and honestly, I think it's made me realise that he's the one for me. Properly. I'd love to have an open relationship with him, just not with... his sister. I don't know, not because she's his sister, I just don't like her."

"So, you want to end things with her?" Calliope asked me.

"I want to end things with her."

"OK, well, no time like the present, am I right?" Calliope said, standing up and reaching her hand out to help me up.

"You think I should do it now?" I asked, my head spinning as I stood up.

"Well, everyone is going to be in the middle of the town to do that voting thing for the Quell, so that's where she'll be most likely."

"I'm so tired..."

"Come on, you need to do it," she said, dragging me towards my small wardrobe. "Go on, pick an outfit that looks like you're saying 'sorry not sorry'."

"Oh my god, Calliope..." I grumbled, picking out a shirt.

"No! Something like this!"

"Whatever," I said, then quickly got changed and walked out of my room.

"Where are you girls going?" my dad asked us as we walked past him towards the front door.

"To vote for the Quell," I told him.

"Oh alright, I'll come with you then," he said.

"Oh, no, we'd much rather do it in private," I said, Calliope and I not slowing down our stride. "Alright, goodbye!"

We made our way to the town square where practically the whole town was lined up. I scanned the crowd for Tatiana, but she somehow saw me before I saw her, as she was waving and walking over to me almost as soon as Calliope and I were in the town square.

"Who's this?" she asked as soon as she was in our earshot, looking Calliope up and down.

"That doesn't matter," I said. "What matters is that I'm ending things between us."

Tatiana pursed her lips. "Fine then. You're dead."

I wished she'd been joking.

The day of the reaping crept up on me way too fast. I'd almost completely forgotten to vote until a few days ago when it was the last day to vote, and some peacekeepers came to my house to give me a not-so-friendly reminder that voting was compulsory.

I'd ended up voting for Kassandra and Klaus, but I felt awful for it. Sivan told me they deserved it, and I knew they did, but...

Anyway, it didn't matter because my vote was one vote out of the thousands of people living in the district, so it wouldn't matter.

The morning of the reaping, I put on one of my one-piece skirts, a white one that hugged my slender figure. We all lined up as usual, girls on one side, boys on the other, all of us lined up by age. There would usually be two glass balls on the stage with everyone's names in there, but this time, the escort was holding a small, rectangular-shaped tablet, which I guessed would be showing the chosen tributes for the Quell.

"Welcome to the 25th Hunger Games and the first Quarter Quell!" the escort said chirpily. She went on explaining the Quell and the games, before finally, finally, she said, "Alright! As usual, ladies first!"

I took in a breath, surveying the girls around me. It would probably be a girl from the Careers Academy. But not me, because the trainers didn't seem to show any interest in choosing me as the representative.

"The female tribute chosen for the 25th Hunger Games is... Phoenix Valentine."

I heard a scream, and it took me a minute to realise that the scream was coming from me. Phoenix Valentine was me. Tears began to pour down my face. What had I done to deserve this?

I'd spent my whole life giving everything in me to be perfect. To be perfect for my father, for my audience, for my fans. Was it because of what I'd done during the reaping last year? When I'd set fire to everything? That had truly been an accident!

I walked to the stage, shaking violently as I sobbed. I looked out at everyone, and then my eyes landed on Kassandra. She was smirking, and holding a large sign above her head that read,

VOTE THE PHOENIX FREAK FOR TRIBUTE '25!

I felt even more tears well in my eyes at the sight of that, and everyone else in the district's remorseless face looking up at me. I didn't even dare look at my father. He would be so disappointed to lose his performer. Whether or not he cared about losing his daughter, I wasn't sure.

No, I thought to myself firmly. He's not going to lose you. You've been through the Careers Academy. You're trained. You are going to win.

"Alright, thank you, Phoenix..." said the escort, smiling at me as if I didn't just have a breakdown in front of the entire district. "Now for the boys! The male tribute is... Mark Simeon!"

It was a boy from the academy. One of the more violent ones. At least he got voted in simply because he was a violent career. Unlike my situation...

I was taken into another room after Mark was introduced, where people were allowed to come in and say goodbye to me. The thought of that made me sick. I couldn't say goodbye. I wanted to live forever. I was going to live forever.

Sivan came walking into the room straight away and wrapped his arms around me, pressing his warm lips against mine. The thought that I could never kiss him again...

Hot tears began to roll down my cheeks again, and Sivan gently wiped them away.

"Don't cry, Phoenix," he said. "We both know I'll be seeing you back home here soon. I still can't believe what Tatiana did..."

"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

Sivan's eyes met mine. "What do you mean?"

"What did she do?"

"You don't know?" Sivan's hands dropped from my shoulders. When I didn't respond, he said, "Tatiana... was really mad about you dumping her, and she went around – similarly to Kassandra – and told people to vote for you."

"She..." I couldn't even bring myself to respond to that. How badly had I broken Tatiana's heart?

"I'm going to punch the living daylights out of her for it, though," Sivan added.

As if on cue, Tatiana came into the goodbye room, a smirk drawn all over her face.

"Get out, Sivan, that's your time up," she said, grinning.

"You're a skank, Tatiana," Sivan snapped, stalking towards the exit, but, just after he passed Tatiana, he stopped.

"Move along, dear brother," Tatiana sneered.

Sivan nodded shortly, then spun around, his fist coming with him and crashing into Tatiana's jaw.

"Whoops," he said coldly, just as the peacekeeper on guard began to drag him out of the goodbye room.

Tatiana barely reacted to the punch. She simply spat out a tooth that was covered in blood, then crossed her arms.

"If you survive this, Phoenix," she said. "I hope you at least realise that throwing away people's feelings like that is not OK."

"And campaigning to get people into the Hunger Games isn't a very good thing to do either," I said coldly. And she left.

The next person to come in was my training partner from the Academy, Merrill.

"Merrill, I-" I started, but he lifted his hand.

"I'm not here to say goodbye to you," said Merrill. "I'm here to tell you how to win."

"OK."

"Trust who you think I would trust," he said.

"I don't think you would trust anyone in the Hunger Games," I said.

"Exactly," he said. "You're going to win. I know you will. You're one of the strongest training partners I've ever had."

"Thank you," I said, my voice shaking as the tears came running down once again.

"Good luck, Phoenix," said Merrill. He gave me a smile, then left.

"Alright, that's everyone," said the peacekeeper that had taken Sivan out. "Come on. You have a long train ride to the Capitol ahead of you."

District 1 male – Mark Simeon, 18

"I can't believe you, Mark. I knew you were always angry, but why would you do that?" Layla hissed at me, the night after I'd beaten up that Lincoln kid.

"He made fun of me," I said through gritted teeth.

"That does not give you the right to do what you did!" she snapped at me.

"He made fun of my height, Layla!" I cried. "You know I'm sensitive about that."

"Keep your voice down, it's the middle of the night," Layla snapped. "What you did to that boy was the last straw, Mark. And the fact that Chloe had to see that... she's thirteen, Mark. You've probably scarred her for life."

"I have not scarred her for life," I said, rolling my eyes. "Look, like you said, it's the middle of the night. I'm not listening to your lecture anymore. Goodnight."

The twist of the Quarter Quell was announced the next morning, and according to the President, the tributes were to be voted in by their own district.

"Maybe you'll be voted in," said Layla after President Snow left the screen. So she was still holding a grudge against me, then.

"Layla!" my mother cried out. "What would Mark be voted in for?"

"Because I'm a great Career," I said. "This is a good twist! Everyone will vote me in because they all know I'm the best in the academy. Plus I'm eighteen, so I would most likely be going in this year anyway."

"The entire district is going to vote for you because they hate you, Mark," Chloe snapped.

"That's not true," said my father, giving Chloe a look. "Take back what you just said, and apologise to your brother, Chloe."

Chloe just snorted. "Sorry you're an asshole, Mark."

"Chloe! You know your brother suffers from issues with his temper," said my mother, and I smirked at my sister.

"Maybe it's Chloe who has the anger issues, she looks like a tomato," I joked.

"At least she doesn't rip people's eyeballs out of their sockets behind the Career's Academy!" Layla cried out. "Bloody hell, Mark, I can't stand you anymore! I'm off to vote for who I think should go into the Quell!"

"Maybe we should all go," said my mother, switching off our television and standing up. "Come on, come on."

And, before I knew it, my whole family was in the town centre, putting in our votes for the Quarter Quell tributes. For the female slot I just voted randomly, but for the male slot, I voted for Samson.

Samson was a guy who was always considered better than me. All of the girls loved him, and he was tall, and the most popular guy in the district. It seemed like no matter how many cool things I did, like talk trash about people, be the best in the Careers Academy, and rip people's eyeballs out, people still chose Samson over me. In my opinion, he deserved nothing but a bloodthirsty death in the Hunger Games.

A week later I was in the town centre once again, this time lined up with the other eighteen-year-old boys for the reaping. My mother had made me wear my nicest jeans and shirt, which was incredibly itchy, so while the escort went on and on about the Quell, all I could think about was my itchy shirt.

"Alright! As usual, ladies first!" said the escort, looking down at her tablet with a smile. "The female tribute chosen for the 25th Hunger Games is Phoenix Valentine."

I let out a small chuckle. Phoenix was that girl who had that cringey performance with her dad on fire. Last year during the reaping she'd burnt down the whole town centre, so I supposed that was why she'd been voted in.

She had a dramatic breakdown as she went onto the stage, and I just rolled my eyes. It was a while until the escort finally said, "Now for the boys! The male tribute is... Mark Simeon!"

I cackled out loud. I'd had hope that I'd be voted in, but I wasn't 100% sure that it was going to be me. Now that I knew for sure that it was, my smile grew even wider and my laugh became even louder. As I walked onto the stage, the entire district began to boo. God, they loved me, their career tribute for the year. I grinned out at the district, but they just booed even louder.

"Alright, well, they're your tributes for the 25th Hunger Games," said the escort, having to shout over all the booing. "Phoenix Valentine and... Mark Simeon!"

When she called my name, the booing from the crowd just became even louder, and the peacekeepers on the stage took me through a large pair of doors and into the room called the goodbye room.

My parents came rushing into the room, then, large smiles on both of their faces. My sisters stalked behind them, both of their faces in a smirk.

"We knew you would be chosen!" my mother cried, wrapping her arms around me. "We knew everyone loves you, and that you're the most talented career of your age! We love you so much, and we're so proud to have our son as the victor of the first Quarter Quell!"

"Thanks, Mum," I said, hugging her tight and smirking at Layla, who was standing behind her.

"You got what was coming for you, Mark," she snapped, crossing her arms tightly across her chest.

"He's going to be the victor!" my mum cried out graciously.

"You know there's only a one in twenty-four chance of being the victor," said Chloe. "And I don't think Mark's anger issues will help him in the arena."

"Maybe they will," I snapped back at her.

"Honestly, Mark, you might want to think about cooling down a bit," said my dad. "You'll struggle to find allies otherwise."

"I'm going with the other Careers," I said. "District Two won't mind the way I play, they're crazy themselves."

"Alright, but... be careful, son," he said.

"I will," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Alright, time's up," said the peacekeeper on duty, walking over to my family.

"Don't need to tell me twice," said Layla, walking with Chloe toward the exit. "Bye Mark, have fun being angry in the Hunger Games!"

And the two of them were gone.

"Goodbye, Mark," said my mum, wrapping her arms around me again. "Good luck."

The peacekeepers had to drag her away from me, and my dad gave me a small nod as the pair of them left.

"Come on, Mark," said the peacekeeper once they were gone. "It's time to go to the Capitol."

Hello everyone, I am back! What did you think of our first reaping chapter?

I also wanted to let you all know that I have made a Tumblr account dedicated to this story. It has a post for all of the tributes, containing a picrew I made of them all so you can get an idea of what they all look like. You'll be able to find it by searching sunj1234567890 on Tumblr.

And yes, your tribute might not look exactly how you imagined. There are limited options on the picrew design!

And of course, big thanks to Paradigm of Writing and wiifan2002 for their tributes featured in this chapter!