Ava Hanson, District Two (15, sort of)
They all looked down on me. I was a Victor like them, but it took me two times. They all won fair and square. I was the only one who died. I brought shame on our District. I was the only one who needed a third chance. Two didn't give second chances.
Pray said that was nonsense. She said I was the only one who won in an Arena full of nothing but Careers. She was just being nice. Pray was the strongest of all of us. She tore a boy apart when she was only fifteen. She was Silver Claws Jager, the greatest legend of the Games. She could afford to be forgiving.
Things had been better lately. In the Capitol, you could get anything you wanted. As a Victor, I could have things shipped to the village in Two. I didn't have to worry so much about what I ate when I could have food specifically engineered so the fatty parts broke down before they were even digested. One time, when I was feeling down, I tried to order a shipment of the emetic syrup the Capitolites used at their feasts, but the mailman blanched and said that couldn't be shipped. No doubt Silver Claws had paid him a visit.
It was weird living a life of leisure after so many years training night and day. I had time to sit around and do whatever I wanted. I went back to the Capitol to film a series of commercials for a line of lipgloss inspired by my Games. I went to the Academy as a guest speaker and instructor. Some of the students listened carefully. Others jeered. "Sloppy thirds", they called me.
I worried about staying in shape, but my weight never changed at all. I weighed myself ever day for months after the Games were done, and it was always the same. They must have done something to me while they put me back together. But I wasn't complaining. That was one less thing to worry about. People stopped me in the streets and I could sense their admiring glances as they walked by. I loved it.
Pray said I was a real Victor, not a disappointment. She was the best Victor of all, so she had to be right. The more time went by, the less important it seemed. I was a Victor. I was alive. I proved I could do it and I won. There was no pleasing some people, but they weren't important.
I had a long time left ahead of me, and I hardly knew what to do with it. The Games were over. They were behind me. Except teaching, if I wanted to, there was nothing more to do about them. It was a chance to reinvent myself, just like the Capitol reinvented me. I didn't have to be such a perfectionist anymore. I'd reached perfection when I won against Panem's killer elite. I didn't have to worry about letting anyone down. Lottie, Olivine, and Marley were gone, but I avenged them. They'd want me to be as happy now as I was with them. I could let down my hair, let go of my reserve, and enjoy life.
Bear in mind Ava is an unreliable narrator when it comes to her own accomplishments and shortcomings. She's very insecure.