Soundtrack (Chapter Nine)

The room was practically alive, buzzing with energy. Colorful lights danced around the walls, illuminating the excited faces of those within the confines of the premises. There was a feeling of anticipation in the air. This was no ordinary room, nor was it a typical night. This was a concert hall, and tonight was a performance that had been looked forward to in district one for weeks.

Typically, the concert hall was used for classical music concerts, where pianos and violins reigned supreme. Tonight, however, it held something different. Up on the stage, a large banner proclaimed that the band Diaphany was playing there that evening.

Diaphany was a sensation in district one, a band that had made headlines as the one to watch. Fans teemed to get tickets for their concerts, and oftentimes their venues were sold out in minutes. This venue was barely large enough to hold the masses of fans that wanted to see them perform live. Even though the band had only emerged in the past five years, it was already one of the more popular bands in the district. Fans waited with murmurs of joy as they filed into their seats, the sight of the instruments on the stage making their whispers grow louder. For now, the guitar sat at center stage, alone but holding a powerful presence.

There were mere minutes to go until the concert started, and backstage was a bustling center of activity. Stagehands ran to and fro, checking to make sure the sound and lights were still in order. As the venue wasn't made for this type of performance, and the closest thing it usually did to this was theater shows, it had taken some modifications to make everything work as intended. Some fans would try to get a glimpse of the backstage area, disappointed to only see the frantic movement that existed there. The real stars of the show were still back in the green room, preparing for their entrance onto the stage.

Barry Burberry, as he was known on stage, was always the center of attention. His bandmates drew the attention of the crowd as well, but he was the real face of the band.

As guitar player and singer for Diaphany, his name was synonymous with the popularity that had risen in his wake. He currently stood near the door, his fellow band members right behind him, listening to the manager that was currently instructing them on how to enter the stage. Paying little attention but pretending to seem interested, as he typically could figure out how to get on stage himself, his thoughts were more focused on the show at hand.

"You ready?" asked Azen, the keyboardist for the band. The other man had a wide smile on his face, the adrenaline of the crowd already reaching him. Hamish, on his other side, gave a curt nod and moved for the door. For a split second, Barry stayed in place, but began to move when the creak of the door signaled that it was time.

This wasn't stage fright, as he'd gotten past that phase a long time ago. He was merely in his head, going through the chords for his guitar, making sure that everything would be perfect. As he followed his bandmates out of the green room and into the backstage area, he began to stretch out his hands.

The scream of their fans grew louder as the three of them approached the stage, staying back to ensure that they couldn't catch a glimpse of Diaphany before it was time. The stage manager and one of their producers stood eagerly awaiting them, looking slightly flustered, but ready for the show to come.

"Going on stage in one minute. Get ready, boys," said their producer, an older man with experience in the industry and a consistently tight schedule that ensured everything ran like clockwork.

He took a deep breath. His voice was ready, he'd already done his vocal warmup, and all that was left was to let the words escape. Barry was more grounded and present as he strode onto the stage, the countdown having gone off and leaving him to begin the night. His posture straight, his body relaxed, a wide smile broke out on his face as the lights slowly turned on. The screaming got even louder, his hand up and waving as he stopped in front of his guitar.

Both Azen and Hamish had gotten to their instruments, having done a soundcheck earlier in the night, and looked for his signal. On his mark, he twitched his hand back as he slung his guitar strap over his shoulders.

"And a one, and a two!" counted out Hamish, loud enough for Barry to hear but not loud enough for the audience. With his mic turned on, he launched himself into the song, the beat of the drums and the hum of the keyboard steady behind him. His guitar strummed as his fingers went through the familiar motions.

As he sang, Barry's eyes circled the crowd, making sure to focus on each part individually. Having a good stage presence was a big part of their rise to fame. Dramatically, he began to move, walking around the stage and leaning back as he played, getting close to the edge of the stage but never close enough for the fans to reach him.

"Nothing is right with you, I can't live without your promises," sang the man. The tune of the song was upbeat, but the lyrics were more somber, a ballad set to a tune that was anything but slow. This was one of their newer songs. It had been an instant hit, and made for a good opener that set the tone for the rest of the night.

At the bridge of the song, he paused for effect, then launched into the faster bridge and his movements became more aggressive. Head bobbing along, he jumped up and down, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Soon enough, the song ended, and he took a moment to catch his breath. Cheers erupted from the fans, clapping and shouting.

"Hello, district one! I'm excited to be here with you all tonight. Get ready for the time of your lives!" he yelled, the microphone amplifying his words. He launched into another song, this time one that was more lilting and featured the drums more. Seemingly full of boundless energy, he kept moving, interacting with the crowd by stopping in front of different sections and letting his fingers fly on his guitar. Barry was electric just as much as his guitar was.

The rest of the evening was a blur. More songs, some slower and others faster, and he kept singing just as loud.

By the end, his voice was getting a little tired, but he'd built up enough stamina to keep himself from falling behind. This was his job, and he had to stay in peak performance to ensure that everything went smoothly.

The final song came, and then the encore. Chanting broke out across the concert hall, screaming his name.

With a final flourish, he let the last chord ricochet through the building, and stepped back. Barry took a bow, gesturing for his bandmates to come up and bow as well. Azen and Hamish joined him, waving to the crowd as they relished in the noise.

"Thank you for coming out tonight!" said Barry, his parting words following as he made his way off of the stage, guitar still strapped on. As he passed the stage manager and producer, they gave him pleased nods, proud of how the show had turned out. Azen and Hamish followed, making their way back to the green room. The lights from the stage had made his eyes unused to the slight darkness of the room, and it took a moment for him to adjust.

Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he noticed how pale he was, but shrugged it off. This was normal, for them all to be exhausted after their shows. The three crashed on the couch, Barry sprawling backwards. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them to see a backstage runner at their door.

"Barry? You've got a message from the career academy. They said that it's important?" said the employee, somewhat nervously.

Rolling his eyes but getting up, he nodded to the other two young men, and dusted himself off. He had already taken off his guitar and put it on his stand, but his eyes darted to it when he passed the woman to leave the room.

"Alright, I'm coming," Barry said with a huff, his posture becoming even straighter as he glanced down at his clothes. Following the employee through the hallways to a secluded back room, he entered, a lazy and almost bored look on his face.

Someone handed him a phone, and he answered it, sitting down on a lone stool near one of the walls in the room.

"Am I speaking to Baroque Bordeaux?" said the person on the other line, making him tense up. Most people at the career academy used his birth name instead of his stage name, given that he'd trained there long before he'd started Diaphany.

"Yes, I'm him. What seems to be the matter?" he replied, voice cold and slightly on edge. He knew what this call was about, but talking to the paperwork and behind the scenes part of the academy was never fun.

"I'm calling to let you know that you've been accepted as one of the volunteer candidates for the Games. Please report to the training center in the next week for more information and your paperwork," she responded professionally. That's what he'd been expecting. He'd qualified to be a volunteer candidate a few weeks ago, and would now go through the trials to see who would be the final volunteers for the district in this year's games.

On the surface, things seemed to be perfect for Baroque. However, life wasn't as easy as it seemed. His hands twitched as he held the phone. He'd told his bandmates about this, but they hadn't taken him seriously. After all, what would Diaphany do without its main draw? Part of him hadn't expected to get this far, but another part of him knew that his training would easily surpass his competition. If he wanted to be the volunteer for the games, he'd pass the trials and become the volunteer.

"Right. Thank you for the call," Baroque allowed the woman to say goodbye and then hung up the phone, passing it back to one of the assistants waiting in the doorway. He walked back to the green room, where Azen and Hamish were looking at him with concern on their faces. They had obviously been talking amongst themselves about him.

"What was that about? Man, if you've been-" started Azen, quickly being shut up by Hamish punching him in the arm. Barry shook his head, causing Azen to relax a little but Hamish to still look at him warily.

"It was a call from the career academy. They said that I'm in the volunteer candidate pool for this year," he responded.

Azen's face fell flat. Hamish collapsed back into the couch, shaking his head.

"You're really going through with it? What about the band?" said Hamish, a concerned look etching itself into the lines of his face. Azen didn't speak, merely staring at him. Barry shrugged his shoulders, and looked back between each of them.

"I'm doing it for the band. If I win the games, I'll be able to play across the nation, and the band will become even more popular. You know me. Do you really have such little faith in my abilities?" replied the dark-haired man. This wasn't entirely the truth, but was a good part of it. He wasn't lying when he said that he wanted to grow the band even more. The games were a way for him to finally show the world who he was, even though the band's music had already spread through most of the districts.

A tiny voice in the back of his mind made him think about his parents for a split second, then he shook it off. They'd soon see him for what he really was. The world would know his name instead of theirs. Playing at the concert hall where they typically held their recitals was part of it, but it wasn't the end.

"Right. Well, if you're going to do it, you'd better do it right. You hear me?" said Azen.

Baroque smiled, nodding in response.

His pocket felt extremely heavy, not because the contents were heavy, but because of what was in there. His eye twitched, but his bandmates didn't see it. They knew, of course, but he'd told them that he'd stopped. It was a vicious cycle.

He had nothing to lose, or so he told himself.

Chapter Nine Part Two

Sitting all alone in a small room, a table in front of her littered with various electronics and piles of notes, a young woman with blonde hair hummed along to a tune that only she could hear. Eyes closed, bobbing her head along to the song, she didn't seem to be aware of the fact that she was the only one left in the room. Occasionally, she'd hear a noise and open an eye, but this was a rare event. Her hands fiddled with a pencil, twisting it back and forth as she was lost in her own little world.

The clock on the wall displayed the time as being thirty minutes after noon. The girl began to tap her foot on the ground, continuing to nod her head. She had no idea how long she'd been in the room, nor that she was the only one left in it.

Noon was typically lunch time for the product testers at the Lineloss testing facility. Normally, the majority of the testers would go to the cafeteria in one big group, chatting and laughing as they took their break from work. They'd eat lunch quickly, and then come back to the room, beginning their job once more as they took notes and made comments on what they thought worked and didn't work on the products. It wasn't a strenuous job, but required being opinionated and honest.

Margot Amperson had no problem with being honest. In fact, it was somewhat of a strength for her. She said whatever came to her mind, regardless of whether it would cause any problems later on. Her job was never something she'd consider fun, but she was good at it, and it was better than having to work in a factory like her parents had.

At the moment, Margot was thinking about her latest daydream, having picked out a song in her mind to go along with it. Today, she was running through a field of flowers, a basket of food in her arms, laughing as she went. This was the second part of the daydream, having gone through multiple chapters to make it to where she was now.

Lunch was the time where she'd chat with the others, who usually were too engrossed in their own conversation to notice her, but she never minded that they didn't really reply. In her eyes, she was just happy to talk to people.

However, today, she'd missed the call for lunch, and was now too busy thinking to realize that it was time to eat. No one had bothered reminding her, after all, so she didn't know that they'd all left without her.

If she had realized, she would probably have just laughed it off and gone to find them. Nothing seemed to bother Margot in the same way it bothered others. Time could pass, and she would only realize after the lights went off and everyone went home. In her daydream, there was another person with her, following behind and giggling.

Frowning, she shook her head. No, they wouldn't giggle. That was something that she would do, not them. Eyes opening after being slightly disgruntled, she looked at the clock and then around the room. No one else was there. Margot shrugged. Maybe they'd forgotten, but that didn't make her angry. She was certain that they'd come back for her in a minute, as she didn't realize how much time had truly gone by.

In fact, another girl came back into the room, carrying a paper bag and blinking in surprise when she saw Margot. Something akin to a grimace crossed her face, but she turned it into a smile.

Margot perked up and waved upon seeing the other girl. Someone had come back for her! She stood up, pushing her chair in and happily going over to the corner where her lunch was stored, noticing that the other bags were all gone. Picking up her own bag, she turned around, only to see the other girl sitting down.

"Cori! Hello! I lost track of time, thanks for coming back for me. Let's go to the lunch room, I'm sure everyone is waiting!" said Margot enthusiastically, walking to the door. Cori, her fake smile still plastered on her face, shook her head and put her paper bag under the table, saving it for later.

"Margot, lunch is over. Everyone else should be back in a minute," replied Cori, glancing down at the pile of notes in front of her. She didn't want to make eye contact with Margot.

Tilting her head, the blonde just shrugged and went back to the corner where the lunches were stored. That was fine. She'd eat later, it was more important to get back to work if it was time for their break to end.

"Okay! So, what did you think of today's product? I thought it was a little too basic, but it definitely could be a lot cooler if the designer just added a few more things to it!" Margot said, finding her way back to her seat and turning her body to face Cori.

As she did so, a few other product testers came back into the room, some noticing Margot and others ignoring her. The young adult waved to them, a few giving a tentative wave back but most of them averting their eyes. Her stomach rumbled, but she didn't particularly care. There were only a few more hours left of work, she could eat then. Cori never responded to her question, instead putting her head down to write more notes with clear, concise handwriting.

Once everyone had filed into the room, a few still commenting to each other, they all began to shuffle around papers and begin their work once more. Their supervisor, an older man with graying hair, stood in a corner of the room with a clipboard. He was there in case anyone had questions, and mainly to make sure that everyone was actually doing their work. The man didn't actually do a lot, but everyone listened to him when he had something to say.

Next to Margot, a girl a little older than her and a man in his mid-thirties were talking about the upcoming games. District three didn't pay as much attention to the games as the career districts did, typically having to worry about having tributes reaped but not dreading them in the same way the poorer districts did.

"I wouldn't even know what to do if I was selected! You're lucky, you made it past reaping age and never have to worry about that again," said the other girl, setting down her version of the product and letting out a deep sigh.

The older man shook his head, looking dejected. Margot was only half paying attention to their conversation, but was more than prepared to jump in and give her opinion should the need arise. Her notes were all jumbled and messy in front of her, long since forgotten in favor of more interesting thoughts.

"Personally, I don't have to worry about the reaping. All of my friends and family, my children, have to worry about it. The Games never stop. Just because I'm old enough to not have to enter my name in the reaping bowl myself doesn't mean I'm safe," he replied, eyes darting tentatively around the room.

When the girl opened her mouth to speak again, he shook his head, nodding in the direction of the cameras. Talking about the Games was risky, especially on the corporate clock.

For some reason beyond Margot's span of comprehension, the supervisors would let them talk about basically anything, as long as it wasn't the games. She had no clue as to why this particular rule was in place. Frankly, she didn't entirely care. Margot got in trouble for talking all the time, and so far she hadn't been punished. The supervisors didn't care that much, either, but they would at least warn their workers not to talk about the games too loudly outside of when the games were actually happening.

There had been one time, a couple of years ago, where she'd asked a question to another worker about a past victor, a little too loudly. The whole room had turned to look at her, and they'd whispered about her for days afterward. Not that she cared, though.

Reaching over for her notes, she almost hit Cori in the arm, moving her own elbow further than she'd thought. Cori jerked her arm away and scowled at Margot. Underneath her breath, the other girl muttered something that she couldn't quite hear, and then rolled her eyes. Once the notes were in a better pile, she realized that her pen had fallen to the floor.

"Hey, Cori, could you grab that for me?" asked Margot in an upbeat tone, having tried and failed to reach the pen with her foot. If looks could kill, she would be six feet under, as Cori glared at her with venom in her eyes. Unaware that she'd done anything wrong, the blonde waited for her friend's response.

When the response never came, and Cori merely turned away to shuffle her own papers, Margot reached out to tap her on the shoulder. She didn't see the hand that swatted her away, but she could feel the stinging impact of the slap.

"Gosh, Margot, do you ever learn to leave people alone?" hissed Cori, throwing her hands up in exasperation. Grabbing her papers and the product she was testing, the young woman marched over to the supervisor and started heatedly gesturing towards Margot, her words carrying across the room.

Most of those words fell on ears that simply didn't want to hear them. Staring at the table in front of her, Margot frowned, confused. She'd only asked if Cori could pick up her pen. Surely that wasn't cause for all of this? That wasn't a good reason for Cori to complain so loudly about her.

When Cori stormed out of the room, supervisor in tow, silence fell over the rest of the product testers. Margot took the opportunity to reach down and pick up her pen. Picking up one of the many versions of the product on the table, she poked and prodded at it, then scrawled a few notes down on the nearest paper. It didn't hurt to get a little work done.

She wasn't always oblivious. The words did sting sometimes, it was impossible for them not to. They simply bounced off of her like she was made of rubber, and soon enough they'd all be forgotten.

Time ticked on, and the hours went by. Cori never came back, but the supervisor did, appearing with an exhausted expression. As they worked, he had an extra stack of papers with him, which he was signing and filling out. Margot recognized them as a transfer form, meant for someone requesting to be sent to another room in the facility for testing.

By the end of the day, everything was continuing as normal. She had a sneaking suspicion that Cori wouldn't be coming back, which made her slightly subdued. Cori had been someone that she'd talked to quite often at lunch, and had always let her bounce ideas for their job off of her before they submitted their reports.

When it came time to grab her things and go, she was practically starving. She had to catch the bus back home, and once she was out of the building, she immediately riffled through her lunch box and grabbed a piece of bread. It was a little stale, but it was food.

The sun was setting in the sky, cotton candy colors painting the clouds as Margot hopped onto the bus. It smelled of motor oil and aging fabric, a familiar scent. As the bus rattled to a start, she became lost in her own head again, taking bites of bread as she lost herself in a daydream. Some things never changed.

Chapter Nine Part Three

There were times when all Sienna Halifax felt like doing was training. Moving her mind and body in harmony, working on a skill she needed to perfect, distracting herself from the constant weight of the world on her shoulders. It was almost therapeutic, going into the career academy and picking up a spear.

Today wasn't one of those days, however. While her goal was to train, she had gotten distracted on the way to the locker room, and was now doing anything but training. At the moment, she sat in the district one career academy cafeteria, sipping on a fizzy drink provided by a friend. Today was a day of celebration, after all.

"So, how does it feel to be the next district one volunteer?" asked Matias, her closest friend and a trainer at the academy. His grin was wide and genuine, his pride seeping out of him as he smiled.

Shaking her head, Sienna let out a small laugh. She couldn't help feeling some sort of accomplishment at the fact that she'd passed the career trials. There had been so many other good candidates for the female spot, but all of her training had paid off. There was less than a month until reaping day, and while much of that time would be spent training even harder, today was a day that she could use to soak in the glorious feeling of success.

"I couldn't have done it without you. I'd be useless without a good trainer," she replied as her eyes wandered around the cafeteria. The bright sunlight shined in through the upper windows near the high ceiling, illuminating her dirty blonde curls and causing her to blink. Maybe this wasn't the best table to sit at in the building.

The cafeteria was fairly empty today, most of the career students taking the day off after the announcement of the volunteer pool for the upcoming games. Everyone knew who the volunteers would be. In district one, they chose a volunteer for each spot instead of releasing a list of names that could potentially be the volunteer. It worked differently in the other career districts, but Sienna was most familiar with how it worked in her home.

"You got your schedule for the next couple of weeks, right? I'll be working with you for a little bit, but they're having the senior trainers do most of it. I think you'll even be working with some of the victors later on," Matias pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and laid it on the table, smoothing it out.

Sienna took a brief look at it, confirming that it was the same schedule she'd received prior. It was a little intimidating, being scheduled to work one on one with the senior trainers, even more so with the victors.

At least the victor she was assigned to work with the most was one that she'd had the most experience with. Aphroditon wasn't one of the mentors for the games this year, but was always more pleasant than some of the other district one victors. He actually cared about the volunteers, unlike some other victors she could name.

"I'm scheduled with Krona later this week? That's going to be pretty rough. She oversaw some of the career trials, and you can tell that she didn't want to be there. I don't know how her brother ended up being so nice compared to her. Maybe it's because he's not a victor," she commented, still looking over the schedule even though she'd seen it before.

Krona's younger brother, Trill, was the husband of Aphroditon and did a lot of bureaucratic stuff around the career academy. He was almost an honorary trainer, with how often he was there. Trill could always be counted on to tell a joke and lighten the mood, or provide a quick pep talk to any career student that was feeling down.

"You're going to have to get used to dealing with the likes of her. Apsis is still our escort this year, remember? I'd take talking to her over talking to him any day of the year," replied the trainer. Sienna cringed at the thought of the silver-haired escort.

"True. That man is scary," she shuddered, thinking about all of the rumors about Apsis. Letting her imagination run wild for a second, as she was prone to do, the blonde caught Matias shaking his head.

Most people in district one didn't like Apsis Tenebrae, but respected him. He'd been their escort for over ten years, after all. The recent incident that they'd heard about from the train only made things worse. That incident was supposed to be a secret, but word had gotten out about it.

Finishing her fizzy drink, a treat from one of the cafeteria workers, she leaned back in her chair. Checking the time, Sienna realized that training was probably out of the question for the night. She had plans that evening that she begrudgingly had to go to.

"On another note, how many people are going to be at the party your dad is throwing tonight? I know you're not excited about it, but it's for you. I'll definitely be there if you need someone to shoo the guests away from you," Matias had apparently noticed her checking the time, and knew exactly what was on her mind.

"He knows that I don't like to help plan things, so he was nice enough to do it all himself, but now I don't know any of the details. That would be fine with me, except for the fact that I'm now stuck entertaining half the district. At least I know that the other volunteer won't be there," responded Sienna.

While she'd trained with Baroque before, they weren't exactly close, and rarely spoke to each other. He was always so busy with his music career that she was surprised to see his name as the male volunteer.

There were times when Sienna was grateful that training occupied so much of her time. She wasn't sure how she would be able to balance training and some sort of hobby. Part of the reason she trained so much was so that her thoughts wouldn't wander. If they did wander, they'd always go somewhere that she didn't want them to go. Avoidance was her specialty, and she wouldn't let herself think about the bad dreams that happened so frequently.

"I've helped train him before, he's pretty good," Matias shifted in his chair, his face pensive.

"You're not thinking about training today, right? You know that you need some rest. Training will be pretty intensive up until reaping day, so it's smarter to take a day off while you can get one," he continued. Matias took his copy of the schedule and neatly folded it, putting it back into his pocket.

In all honesty, Sienna hadn't really thought that far ahead about her training for the next few weeks outside of what was on the schedule. She preferred to take things a day at a time instead of having a rigid plan for every waking moment of her day. She'd planned to train today, but it was already getting a little too late. If she didn't head home soon, she wouldn't have enough time to prepare before the party.

"Right. Definitely didn't have plans to train today. Not at all," she joked, causing Matias to roll his eyes. Sienna stood up, pushing in her chair and picking up her empty drink. Matias followed, pushing in his own chair and striding over to her.

His characteristic limp was something she barely noticed anymore, but it was still present. The training accident that had caused him to become a trainer was a topic they usually avoided, unless he brought it up. It was still a sore subject, even after several years.

The cafeteria was emptier than normal, so they could easily weave around tables to get to the exit. On busy days around lunch hour, there were almost no open seats. Today was a rare day where there were almost no people sitting at the tables. Making their way to the exit, Sienna realized that she'd left her bag in the locker room.

"I have to go get my bag, do you mind coming with me and waiting outside?" she asked, which Matias responded to with a nod. They both knew that the atmosphere the day after volunteer reveals could be a little tense.

District One had strict rules in place to prevent career volunteer sabotage, far stricter than those of districts two and four. There had been too many incidents in the past that left potential volunteers injured or even dead. An incident hadn't happened in years, but everyone was always on their guard.

As they made their way to the locker room, Sienna thought more about everything the district did to prevent their careers from getting injured. Only in the last few years had they made strides to prevent injuries in training, but they'd always been precious with their volunteers. After all, they wanted to have more victors, even though they had more victors than any of the other districts. Despite district two's intensive training regime, they still couldn't keep up with the number of victors from district one.

Hearing footsteps from a side hallway, she tensed up, ready for an uncomfortable conversation with a career that hadn't passed the trials. Much to her relief, one of her closest friends came into view, giving her a nod of approval.

Elena was never a super warm and fuzzy person, but she was a good friend, and an even better training partner. She hadn't participated in the career trials this year, for reasons unknown to Sienna. It was clear that she was also headed to the locker room, as she carried a sweat towel and looked like she'd just finished training.

"Congrats on the volunteer spot. Hard work pays off, right?" smiled Elena, speaking softly. Matias, checking his watch, gave them both a nod before starting to back up. He probably had somewhere else to be, like at a trainers meeting.

"See you later, Sienna! Elena, walk her to the locker room for me, okay? I'll see you both at the party," Matias turned and left once Elena nodded in agreement. Sienna waved as he left, then kept walking with Elena. Her friends were all a little too protective of her today, but then again, accidents could happen. No one wanted to lose their volunteer for the year.

"I heard that some of the other girls are a little upset about the outcome of the trials. I don't think they'll do anything, but it's better to be safe than sorry. I mean, you'd be fine on your own, you could totally handle them. It's just best to make sure nothing happens and no one gets in trouble," Elena said, breaking the silence after another few seconds of walking.

Once they reached the locker room, the two girls walked inside, relieved to find it empty. Sienna went to her locker and fiddled with the lock, then pulled it open.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she looked for Elena, who was grabbing a change of clothes and heading to an empty stall.

"Don't forget about the party tonight! Hopefully it won't be as overwhelming as I think it'll be," called out Sienna, at which Elena responded with a small smile and a wave.

Sienna made her way out of the locker room, taking a side exit of the building to catch the shuttle back to her house. It was a ways away, and since most of the district didn't use cars and instead preferred to use public transportation, she had to rely on the academy shuttle to get to a place where she could walk home.

District one might have been the best-off district in Panem, but they still weren't the capitol. While she lived a comfortable life, her family wasn't one of the most wealthy families in the district, either.

As she waited, she soaked in the feeling of passing the career trials. All her life had been leading toward this moment. A tiny thought in her brain made her close her eyes for a second, trying to get rid of the horrible feeling that always followed good things. She couldn't remember that day. Didn't want to remember that day.

Her head throbbed for a second, but she shook it off. Sienna had better things to do than dwelling on the past.

A/N: After six months, TWSR is updating! A lot has happened in six months, but I've finally gotten my motivation back. Submissions are still open, but at this point I'd much rather get submissions through discord instead of through PM. The next several chapters will be intros, and we're about halfway there with tribute submissions. Baroque, Margot, and Sienna are all super fun to write, and I hope you enjoy reading about them!