District 9 female – Bulga Conroy, 14

I kicked and screamed and cried the whole journey from the markets back to the orphanage, the peacekeepers dragging me by the arms with little to no consideration that my arms were skinny and it hurt for them to be dragged like that. They dumped me at the steps of the orphanage once we arrived, and the matron came out to see me, her arms crossed as she looked down at me.

I immediately stood up, then walked past her into the orphanage. I was not in the mood for a lecture that would be followed by a beating. So I just made my way to the dorm room, where there were two girls making their beds.

I groaned when I saw them. Their names were Mila and Harper, and they were two years older than me. Ever since I'd moved into the teen dorm last year, the two of them had made my life a living hell. I spun around and moved to the door, but Mila beat me there, slamming it shut.

"Oh, look who's finally decided to return," she said with a grin on her face, standing in front of the door. I felt my stomach flip as she gripped my arms and pinned me against the wall. "Come on, Harper, let's show the little troll a good time."

Harper grinned and moved over to me. Not slow, but not fast. I could feel my heart racing as Mila tightened her grip on my arms, her fingers digging into my skin. Harper's presence beside her only added to my growing anxiety. I had experienced their cruelty before, and I knew what was coming. I braced myself for the torment that awaited me.

Harper, with a mischievous glint in her eyes, circled around me like a predator closing in on its prey. She moved with calculated slowness, relishing the power she held over me. Every step she took made my pulse quicken, and I could sense the impending pain and humiliation that lay ahead.

The dorm room felt suffocating, the walls closing in on me as I struggled to catch my breath. My mind raced, desperately searching for an escape plan, but my options were limited. I was locked in the dorm room with them.

Mila sneered, her grip on my arms tightening further. "You thought you could get away, didn't you?" she hissed, her voice dripping with malice. "Well, we're not done with you yet, little troll."

Harper's grin widened, revealing a row of perfectly aligned teeth. She raised her hand, and I flinched, anticipating the blow that was about to land. And when it did, it was hard. Harder than I'd expected.

I felt my eyes widen at the pain in my cheek. I could already feel a bruise forming, and it was hard to breathe for a second. But they could do that. Those two could do whatever they wanted because they were both a lot older and bigger than me. That was just the way the world worked, and why it was OK for me to torment kids who were younger and smaller than me.

"How was that, little troll?" Harper whispered, grabbing a strand of my hair, and tugging at it. I felt tears coming to my eyes, but I fought them. I didn't want to cry in front of my tormentors.

Harper lifted her arm again as if to go in for another swing, when the door to the dorm room burst open and the matron came in, fury etched all over her face.

"That's enough!" she shouted, slamming the door behind her and stepping into the room. "Harper! Mila! Out, now! I need to speak with Bulga."

Mila let go of me, Harper dropped her arm, and the two of them exchanged a glance before walking out of the room. As soon as the matron and I were alone, she grabbed me aggressively by the ear.

"Bulga Conroy, you listen to me right now, young lady," she said through gritted teeth. "If you ever dare to leave this bloody orphanage ever again, you will be deprived of your meals for a week! Now get out of my sight!"

I spent the week staying at the orphanage, because as much as I wanted to leave again, at least I had access to food there. I was partly glad for reaping day that weekend just to get away from the bullies and the matron and that awful building.

I didn't have any nice clothes to wear, so as usual I just wore dirty, torn clothes. I lined up with the other girls my age, looking up at the stage as the escort walked on, waving to us all.

"Welcome to the 25th annual Hunger Games, and Panem's very first Quarter Quell!" he cried out happily, before delving into some history lesson on our country. Who cared, honestly? We all knew it already. When he was done, he looked down at the tablet thing and said, "OK! Ladies first! The female tribute voted into the Games is Bulga Conroy!"

What? Me?

I looked around at the crowd. Why would they have voted for me? Sure, I bullied younger kids, but I wasn't a criminal or anything. And I wasn't some big and strong girl who could genuinely win the game. Everyone was staring at me, and the escort followed their gaze, smiling down at me.

"Come on up, Bulga," he said. I wished he wouldn't smile at me like that. I bit the inside of my gum and began to make my way to the front of the stage. I slapped and shoved several kids on the way up. One thirteen-year-old kid, who was particularly annoying, I hit several times, and when I didn't stop, two peacekeepers came over to me and had to physically drag me away from the kid I was attacking and up to the stage.

"FUCK YOU ALL!" I screamed, snatching the microphone from the escort. "VOTING FOR ME! WHY NOT SOME CRIMINAL WHO ACTUALLY DESERVES TO DIE? SOMEONE WHO STANDS A BLOODY CHANCE!"

"Alright, thank you, Bulga..." said the escort, taking the microphone back and introducing the male tribute, some boy named Calvin or something. He was laughing hysterically when he came onto the stage and still was when we went into our goodbye rooms, but I wasn't paying attention to him. I was too busy cursing the district for voting for me.

I came into the goodbye room only to realise that I had no friends or family to say goodbye to me. I let out a loud scream and rushed over to the small sofa in the room I was in. I grabbed a cushion and threw it across the room, screaming even louder as I did so. The door creaked open then, and the escort was standing there, a look of concern etched all over his face.

"Bulga, what's the matter?" he asked me.

"What do you think is the matter!?" I snapped, dropping down onto the sofa. "I've been voted into the Hunger Games! I'm going to die!"

The escort gave me a small smile, and walked over to me, sitting on the sofa beside me. He awkwardly placed his hand on my back and began patting it, and I continued to sob.

"Go away," I snapped at him, but he just smiled awkwardly again and continued to comfort me.

And... I'd never been comforted before. It was nice.

District 9 male – Calvus Logg, 15

The day after my family and I had placed our votes, I was too excited to go to school than a healthy amount. Going to school meant I'd see Maize. I'd gone all day Sunday without seeing that perfect face, and I wanted to kiss him when I stepped into the class that day. A huge smile spread across his face as I walked into the classroom and seeing that just made me love him even more.

You can't, I thought to myself angrily. You need to stop loving him. He's your best friend. He's probably in love with some girl. Just stop.

But no matter how much I tried to convince myself to stop loving Maize, my heart refused to listen. It beat faster every time I caught a glimpse of his warm brown eyes or heard his contagious laughter. It was as if my heart had a mind of its own, stubbornly holding onto the feelings I tried so desperately to suppress.

As the day progressed, I found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on my studies. My mind wandered, replaying moments shared with Maize, wondering if he felt the same way. Did he see me as just a friend, or was there a possibility for something more? The uncertainty gnawed at me, leaving me feeling both exhilarated and terrified at the same time.

I worked again that night, and once again tried to impress my Aunt Nessa. Two of my cousins, Malla, and Crow, came to visit us at the brewery. Malla was my cousin who was the closest in age to me, being nineteen years old, but she was completely different to me. She was the only one out of all of us in the family who didn't care about becoming the new owner of the brewery. She just liked to enjoy the family's wealth without putting in too much effort.

Crow, however, wanted to be the owner, however, he knew that Carter was going to get it, and put more of his time and effort into making life a living hell for me. He was only five years older than me and had bullied me throughout my whole childhood. I didn't see him often anymore since he lived in another part of the district, but that didn't stop me from thinking that if I was to take over the brewery, I could boss him around, and tell him what to do. Make him do whatever I wanted him to.

"God, you guys should have heard the people outside," said Malla, leaning against one of the kegs. "They were talking smack about the Capitol, and this twist on the hunger games, saying it's unfair, the Capitol is being horrible to us, treating us unfairly..."

"They don't understand, do they?" said Aunt Nessa, shaking her head. "The Capitol has given so much to us since the Dark Days... and this twist was very kind of them, it means that instead of innocent kids going into the games, it'll be the worst criminals, the annoying kids and bullies of every district. Why can't people just accept that this is a good thing? Saving twenty-four innocent lives!"

I didn't really take in anything they were saying. I already knew to be grateful to the Capitol. It's what I'd been taught since a young age.

"You know the rumours around the Logg family... everyone knows that the youngest daughter went and got banged by a peacekeeper, then she and that peacekeeper disappeared. It's so mysterious..."

"Plus, they're all Capitol loyalists. They always defend the Capitol in everything..."

The words of the people around me at the town centre on reaping day went in one ear and out the other because all I could focus on was Maize's presence. He was standing right next to me in the boy's line, and since we were all crammed in together, his arm was touching mine.

The escort came onto the stage then, some man with crazy bright blue hair who'd been there for years, and as he delivered a lecture on the history of Panem to us all, I could not concentrate on the love of my life so close to me.

"Alright... ladies first," said the escort, and once I knew he was getting to business I tried as hard as I could to genuinely listen to him. "The female tribute from District 9 is... Bulga Conroy!"

Bulga was some little redhead girl who I barely knew. She chucked quite the tantrum, though, and even screamed into the microphone. The escort had to snatch the microphone off of her, before going to announce the male tribute. And the name that was called made my heart drop.

"Calvus Logg."

How? What had I done? How did people even know of me? I was the least-known person in my family! No one in the district knew about me, I didn't even have any friends other than Maize.

I looked around at the crowd, my heart pounding. My eyes went to the stage, where the escort was looking down at me expectantly. Expecting me to come onto the stage. But I couldn't. I could not move my feet.

"Come on, Calvus," said the escort, into the microphone, but I just started shaking my head hysterically. Peacekeepers had to come over to me, and grabbed my arms, beginning to drag me towards the stage. I let out a cry and kicked one of them.

Kicking a peacekeeper was an offence that could be deadly, I knew that. But what were they going to do? Kill me? I was about to be killed. The thought of that made me laugh out loud in front of everyone. I could do whatever I wanted and get away with it. They couldn't do anything to me.

I couldn't stop laughing as I shook hands with Bulga. This was how I would die. Because of being voted to die by my district who I'd respected and been kind to always. Where I thought no one even knew that I existed.

I went behind the stage into the goodbyes room, still giggling until my family walked in, all of them loudly speaking over each other, mad that a member of the Logg family could have possibly been voted into the Hunger Games. Aunt Nessa wanted a minute to talk with me alone, so Uncle Rooten took my cousins out for a second.

"Who will take over the business?" I asked my Aunt desperately once we were alone. "I always hoped it would have been me..."

"Listen, Cal, if you come back from these games... if you win... the business is yours," she said. "From the moment you return."

My eyes widened, and she walked out. Seconds later Uncle Rooten came in to see me privately.

"I love you, Cal," he said, wrapping his arms around me. "You're like a son to me. Good luck."

He messed with my hair, then walked out. Next in, to my surprise, was my cousin Crow.

"Cal," he said. "I just... wanted to apologise for my actions towards you as we grew up. I didn't treat you as I should have. I hope you come back and I can make it up to you."

"Well, if you were truly sorry you would have said something earlier!" I snapped. I was running purely on adrenaline. I didn't care anymore. Crow didn't say anything else to my remark, though. He just left, mumbling something.

Maize came in after Crow left. My adrenaline was still running high, and, to my own surprise, I said, "Maize, I love you. I've had the biggest crush on you for so long, and I cannot go a second longer without telling you. I can't die having you not know. So. There you go. Now you know."

"Oh, Cal..." said Maize, looking to the floor. "I... I don't know what to say. You've always been such a great friend to me, but I don't... I'm not like that. I'm so sorry... and I'm sure you won't die. You'll come back, and we'll live as best friends forever, run our own brewery together, just like we've always dreamed..."

"Right..." I said, feeling my heart sink.

But I knew I'd never come back.