Jonia Aravelino, 15: District 10 Female

Five, six, seven, eight

Dance with me in my backyard, boy

Looking super fine in your corduroy

July 4, 73ADD: 3 days before Reaping

"It's nearly time, Jonia," Dad says. "We don't want the sheep to overgraze now, do we?"

Without another word, Dad and I both stand up from the old, cracked leather couch in our living room. Paco wakes up from his nap, tail wagging fast with excitement like he wasn't even asleep. He looks up at me with happy eyes, and lets out a high pitched bark.

"I know, Paco." I pat his head affectionately. "We're almost ready."

Dad, Paco, and I all exit our small ranch house. The sun is close to setting, leaving the sky painted with all different shades of orange and pink. Still, the heat is blistering. District 10 is always hot in the summer, but the past week has been even hotter than usual. Even though the sun isn't shining its brightest, it still must be close to a hundred degrees. Working in the heat is something I've had to get used to.

We get our canes and hog snares from the tool shed and make our way out to the pasture. Paco gets more and more excited as we get closer, spinning around and panting with anticipation. Like any good herding dog, he's always happiest when he's working.

Once we reach the pasture, Paco looks at Dad, eagerly awaiting his command. The sheep are still grazing away as the sun sets, blissfully unaware of our presence.

"Paco, steady," Dad says. Paco crouches down with his eyes focused on the grazing sheep. Some of the sheep perk up at the sound of my father's voice.

"Release." Paco bursts into a full-on sprint towards the sheep, his high-pitched barks alerting them. Some of the sheep try to run further out to pasture, but Paco circles around them.

Paco keeps circling the sheep until they're all in one giant clump. I open the gate to the holding pen while Dad stands by, waiting for any sheep that stray too far. One particularly large ewe breaks free from the herd. I recognize the tag on her ear immediately—it's Nina. She's by far the most excitable out of the herd. She doesn't make it far before I snag her with my cane. Nina bleats and thrashes, trying to get loose. She was sheared earlier this summer, so there isn't much wool to grab onto and steady her.

"Chill out, Nina," I grunt as I wrestle with the sheep. I try my hardest to keep her in my grasp, but she won't calm down. I try to get Dad's attention, but he's too busy herding all the other sheep into the pen.

Nina eventually slips free and escapes the pasture. I take off running after her, trying my hardest to keep up. The distance between us is growing. We can't lose Nina, she gives us the most wool out of the whole herd. District 10 has very strict quotas. If we lose even one of our sheep, we might not reach next year's requirement. We just made our quota by the skin of our teeth this year, and we probably would've lost everything if we didn't. If that ever happens, we'd be screwed.

"Nina! Get back here!" I'm losing my breath as I run. Nina doesn't slow down at all. She's running towards the Juhasz farm. I don't want to hear another one of Mr. Juhasz's tirades about how one of our sheep disturbed his flock. Just before Nina reaches the fence to the Juhasz farm, I see Laszlo, Mr. Juhasz's son, jump over and grab Nina.

"Where do you think you're going?" Laszlo grunts. Nina bleats and thrashes in Laszlo's arms, but he's much stronger than I am. Nina isn't getting loose again.

"Thank you so much, Laz," I pant out, struggling to catch my breath. I'm sure I look like a total mess right now.

"Just tryna save you from another tongue lashin' from my dad," Laszlo says.

"Thanks for that too," I say. "I really need to get Nina back to my pasture now."

Laszlo and I start walking back to my farm. I didn't realize how far Nina had run until now. I can just barely see my house in the distance. I notice Laszlo readjusting Nina in his arms a few times as we walk.

"I hope she's not too heavy for you," I say.

"Nah, it's fine," Laszlo says. "I needed the workout anyway."

"Are you sure? I can carry her the rest of the way if you need me to," I offer. Laszlo just shakes his head.

"I don't need you wearin' yourself out any more," Laszlo says. "You look like you just got done fightin' demons."

"Not quite fighting demons," I say through nervous laughter. "Just chasing sheep."

Laszlo gives me a little courtesy chuckle. That was such a corny joke. There's no way anyone could find that funny at all. I don't know what it is, but whenever Laszlo's around I get all nervous and awkward. I can hardly even make eye contact with him without blushing. I don't even know why I get so worked up. I've always been a pretty easygoing person, but that all changes when Laszlo's around. He's just another farmer boy, just like the rest of District 10. There's nothing special about him at all.

I look at Laszlo, who looks back at me expectantly. I don't know what for, though. He just stares at me like he's waiting for me to say something.

"I asked you a question," Laszlo says.

"You did?"

"Yeah," he confirms. "I said, are you nervous about the Reaping on Saturday?"

"Oh," I respond. "No, not really."

"You sure?" Laszlo asks. "How many times is your name in the bowl?"

"Just four," I say. "My dad would never let me take any tesserae."

"You're lucky," Laszlo says. "I had to take tesserae this year. My name's in there six times now instead of five."

"What happened?" I ask, genuinely concerned. The Juhasz farm is usually more profitable than we are. They're much better off than Dad and I will ever be. Or, at least that's what I thought.

"A quarter of our flock died this past winter," Laszlo says. "Some weird sickness took 'em out."

"Wow," I say. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"We'll be alright I think," Laszlo says. "I'll just have to get used to eating a little less."

Losing even one sheep in our flock would be catastrophic. I can't imagine what would happen if we lost as many as the Juhasz farm did. Dad and I would never recover from such a devastating blow.

Laszlo and I finally returned to my family's pasture. We're immediately greeted by Paco and my dad. Laszlo sets Nina down in the pen with the rest of our flock.

"Thanks, Laz," Dad says. "We owe you one."

"Don't worry about it, Mr. A," Laszlo says. "Just glad I caught her before my dad did."

"Of course, big guy," Dad says, patting Laszlo on the shoulder. "Tell your pops I said hello."

"Will do," Laszlo answers. "I gotta get back home now. Jonia, I'll see you on Saturday, alright?"

"See you then, Laz." I wave goodbye as Laszlo walks off. As soon as he's out of earshot, Dad speaks up.

"He's a good kid," he says. "Maybe you two should hang out more."

Yeah. Maybe we should.

Toro de León, 15: District 10 Male

I don't really give a damn about the way you touch me when we're alone

You can hold my hand if no one's home

Do you like it when I'm away?

If I went and hurt my body, baby, would you love me the same?

July 5, 73ADD: 2 days before Reaping

"Alright Mom, I've finished scrubbing the baseboards," I say, dropping the old wet sponge in the rusty bucket. "Can I go now?"

"Did you fold all the laundry?" She asks.

"Yes," I answer.

"What about the windows?" Mom asks next. "Did you wipe them down?"

"Yes, mom," I say, growing impatient.

"And the kitchen floor? Has it been swept?"

"Yes, mother," I respond.

"I suppose you can go," Mom says.

"Finally," I sigh, bolting quickly to my room. I grab my backpack, already stuffed with a change of clothes and a toothbrush for my stay at the Rhodes' place. I hastily make my exit from the house, forgoing my usual goodbye. It's not like Mom and Pop would care anyway. They'll see me when I get back home tomorrow.

I open the door and step out into the intense District 10 heat. As I walk down the long path toward the main road, I see Cebro locking up the bullpen. I veer off the path and walk towards my brother.

"Cebro! What's up, dude!" I call out.

Cebro turns and wipes the sweat off his brow. He must've been practicing for the post-Reaping rodeo. Pop said he's expecting a huge crowd this year.

"Oh, it's you," Cebro says, sounding irritated. "Why weren't you out here practicing?"

"I had a bunch of chores to do in the house," I answer. "Mom didn't let me off the hook until just now."

"Well, since you're out here now," Cebro starts. "Why don't you get in there and get to work?"

"Well, you see…" I rub the back of my neck. "I'm about to go to Solomon's house to spend the night."

"You know Pop's isn't gonna be happy to hear that you're seeing that boy again," Cebro says. "You two hang out way too much."

"Oh come on," I say defensively. "We don't see each other that much. I literally had to cancel on him last week 'cuz Pop made me practice for the rodeo."

Cebro rolls his eyes while I speak. He always does this. Every time I try to talk to Cebro it's all eye rolling and sighs from him. None of my brothers ever talk to me willingly, but Cebro is the worst of them all. I think his coldness stings the most since he's only three years older. No matter what I say, Cebro has the same reaction like talking to me is such a chore. I'm tempted to just give up trying to build any type of relationship with him.

"Y'know what, fuck it," I say. "I'll see you tomorrow, maybe."

Cebro doesn't even respond, so I just walk away. I guess I'll try again after the rodeo is over. Maybe he'll be more responsive when we're not so busy. That's all I can really hope for.

I walk onto the main road, continuing my trek towards town, where Sol and his family stay. The sky is clear with no clouds in sight, so the sun's rays beam directly on my skin. I'm gonna have a nice tan going by the end of this upcoming weekend given how much time I'll be spending outside. I just can't wait for all the rodeo mess to be over with. I know it's like our family tradition or whatever, but bullfighting has never been my thing. I think I'm better suited to be a doctor or something like that since I do so well in school, but I don't know if I'll ever get that kind of opportunity.

That's the thing about living here. Opportunities are so rare and hard to come by. I've heard that in the more tech-based districts like District 3 and 5 there's different colleges to go to after graduating high school, but in 10 we only have one and it's not something I can afford. Besides, Pop probably wouldn't let me because it's not what "tough guys" do. There's a lot of things I do that these so-called "tough guys" would never do.

I finally reach the part of town where the Rhodes family lives. Their small house is just around the corner from where I am now. I walk up to their front porch and knock on the door. The door immediately swings open and I'm nearly tackled to the ground. Solomon's a pretty big guy so I almost lose my balance.

"Hey, Sol," I say. "Missed me?"

"Hell yeah I did," he says. Sol plants a quick kiss on my forehead. "You flaked on me last week."

"I didn't flake on you," I say as Sol leads me into his house. "My dad made me practice for the rodeo for three days straight."

"Again?" Solomon asks incredulously. "I thought you told him you didn't even like that stuff."

"I did," I tell him, shutting the door behind me. "He wasn't having any of it."

"What did he say?"

"He gave me the whole 'tough guy' spiel again," I say. "He kept saying I should be more like my brothers."

Solomon sighs. He's almost as frustrated as me. He knows about pretty much everything that goes on with me and my parents. It's been that way since we started dating last year.

"You sure you don't just wanna move in with us?" Sol leans in and lowers his voice despite us being the only people in the room. "My parents said you're always welcome. Plus Mira would love having you around more."

"Speaking of Mira, where is she?" I ask, changing the subject.

"She's out with Mom and Dad at the butcher," Sol says. "We're gonna have steak for dinner."

"Steak for dinner?" I repeat. "That's gonna cost a fortune."

"Well since we knew you were coming over and it's so close to Reaping day, we decided we could spend a little extra," Solomon says.

"Wow, thanks so much, Sol," I say.

"Any time, babe," Sol says. "Only the best for you."

My heart flutters at Solomon's words. The Rhodes make me feel like I belong more than my own family ever could. Every time I see Sol, I come closer and closer to taking him up on his offer to live with him and his family. Life just feels so much easier here. I doubt my family would even miss me.

Hey guys. I know it's been a few months since the last update but once again, life got busy. I'm hoping that I can get more chapters out over the next couple months while I'm on break. Still, a big thanks goes to those of you who have stuck around after all this time.

Thanks to Guesttwelve for Jonia and to ladyqueerfoot for Toro!

Jonia: Backyard Boy by Claire Rosinkranz

Toro: Line Without a Hook by Ricky Montgomery

See you guys again in District 11!

Until next time,

Ty