Trayne Treadwell-Lang- District Six male (17)

There was no cold like District Six cold. Okay, there was upper Three cold, and some of Seven cold, but they were, like, not any colder. Anyway, Six cold is cold. It wasn't many Districts where you could put a car on a frozen lake and take bets on when it would fall through. The other Districts probably didn't have rusty old cars lying around so they probably used something else. Maybe a big giant log in Seven and... I dunno, maybe a big giant computer in Three? Computers are small these days but maybe they made a big one just for the ice thing. Maybe they didn't use a log in Seven though since logs float so it would be hard to tell if the ice was really holding it up. Big giant saw maybe.

At the very least, I'd never heard of any of the other Districts playing hockey. Three kids were nerds and Seven kids probably did log rolling or something. What a stroke of luck that I happened to be born in the District that had my favorite sport. I'd always been good at skating and I liked roughhousing so hockey was the game for me. I wasn't much of a goalie but I liked to think I was an okay winger. Or maybe I just liked hanging out with my friends.

"Look out, slowpoke!" Doppler sniped as he sailed past me, his breath chasing after him in a cloud. I made a face at him. It was hard to really get too carried away when our teams scrambled after every point. Loser picked a member from the winning team and we just went back and forth like that until the sun started to set and it got too cold to play.

These really are the good days, I thought as the sun came out from behind a cloud and it almost felt warm for a minute. A lot of people talked about only appreciating your childhood after you knew it was gone but that had never been a problem for me. All I had to worry about was school and the Reaping- one of which was slightly more worrying than the other. But that was half a year away. One more time and I'd be home free. Then it would be adulthood, with all the jobs and the responsibilites and all that noise. I just hoped I could find something that would leave me a little time for the ice.

The puck went sailing off the court when it ricocheted off an uneven patch of ice- perils of playing on a lake and not an actual rink. A flurry of groans and insults followed, lobbied at the unfortunate boy who'd made the shot.

"Oh, nice, Tan!"

"Smooth."

"Goal!"

The time-out being already implied, I skated to the edge of the court and picked up the bucket we'd taped to a couple of old discarded pipes. Everyone in north Six knew the dangers of uncertain ice. Any one of us would get grounded for life if we went on the lake before it had been checked and approved for thickness. You never knew where there might be a thin spot, though, and off-court was strictly off-limits. Any rogue puck was reclaimed with the bucket-on-a-stick. I was glad to say I hadn't heard of anyone dying since I could remember, but there had been some close calls. Not the end of the world to get a break, I thought. If you played too long in the cold it started burning like crazy whenever you breathed in.

"We got time?" Doppler squinted at the setting sun.

"Yeah, we got time!" I called back. There was still a little sun. We were still young. We had plenty of time.

Svetlana "Lana" Mason- District Six female (17)

I didn't know what it was that made Amelia worthwhile but not me. Amelia said it wasn't may fault how Aunt Ferri treated me, or that I had scars, or that kids bullied me for them. That seemed like a lot of things to not be my fault. Surely if I was as good a person as my sister said, people wouldn't treat me like this. I just wished I knew what I needed to change.

Evelyn's hand shook in mine as we stood in line together. Usually being with her was the only time I felt normal, but we weren't really with each other right now. We were at the Reaping and at the Reaping everyone was alone. Just one more year, I pleaded with no one. Then we could start a life together and get away from all this. I didn't even care if we had to live on the streets. Just as long as I had her. I thought I might even volunteer for her.

It always made my heart hurt to see Bubbles. Capitolites were soo beautiful. Every once in a while I saw one in Six for some event or another and I hoped they weren't offended that I always stared. They were so perfect- their flawless skin, their glittering makeup, their high, delicate voices. They were everything people like me could never be. I liked to imagine me and Evelyn in the Capitol, wearing beautiful dresses and living in a mansion. They must have no bad memories at all. I guess everyone likes to imagine things like that.

"Good morning, everyone!" Bubbles said brightly, her eyes crinkled like someone had just told a joke. I'd always wondered if she really thought it was a good morning. Someone was about to die. Then again, the Capitol was the only reason that happened. Maybe they really did think it was a good day.

"Let's start with the boys this year!" The giant screen behind her flashed to a close-up of her hands and I could see her blue nail polish. Sweat dripped down my back from the abnormally warm day, even with the clouds gathering in the sky. Bubbles pinched a slip between her flexed thumb and pointer and opened it.

"Trayne Treadwell-Lang!"

A boy I'd never seen before walked up to the stage, looking a little dazed. It always haunted me seeing the Tributes on the stage. For so many of them it was the first time I'd seen them. I'd lived alongside them all my life but this was the first time I'd really seen them, and every time so far it was the last. We'd never had a Victor, not even once. Trayne looked like all the others with his empty eyes and watery smile. There was nothing wrong with him at all- he was a normal boy- but I didn't see anything that made me think he would be the one to live.

"And now the ladies!"

My stomach churned as Bubbles' hand dipped into the bowl. I wished I'd drunk more water before I left- my mouth was dry and my head was starting to hurt under the hot sun. I'd never taken tesserae, but that hadn't saved Vulcana. I still remembered the empty desk a few rows away from me, our teacher's eyes glancing over it as she wondered whether to say something or silently remove it. It could be anyone and it could be me. Or it could be Evelyn and I would lose the only person that made my life worthwhile.

"Svetlana Mason!"

All at once I knew that until then I hadn't believed it. I hadn't really thought it could be me. I knew it when I felt the crushing, blinding, deafening terror. If I'd really believed it I never would have been able to stand in that row on my own. I would have run. Even with no hope at all, I would have run to get away from it. I certainly wouldn't have walked out of my house and to the Reaping center with nothing but the dull, distant knowledge that my name was in the bowl. In the bowl, yes, but not picked. Not me.

Evelyn's hand slipped free of mine and I knew at last it was real.