Dorian Sargasso- District Four male (18)

"Welcome everyone to the 14th Academy Commencement Ceremony!"

Things were pretty good, all things considered. Mom and Dad insisted I wear a blazer and slacks, which sucked, but there was free food, which was nice. The swimming trunks I was wearing under my slacks chafed a little as I sat at my table with my head on my bent arm. As soon as this was over I was heading to the beach. I was going to need some time to let Mom and Dad get over it, not that I ever needed an excuse to go to the beach.

"We've had an unprecedentedly skilled set of hopefuls this year," Mr. Sur chattered on from behind the podium.

Wow, weird. Just like last year and every other year. He wasn't exactly wrong, though. Every year there were dozens of kids killing themselves (sometimes literally- turns out rabdo is no joke) just for the slightest chance of being picked. Whatever floats your boat or whatever, but I didn't get it. All that work and for what? Most likely death, but even if not, for what? To be rich and spend all your time in your fancy Victor house and go to the beach? I didn't care about the house and last I checked the beach was free. I didn't see the point for ambition when I already had a great life.

"So we must express our admiration for every candidate. I know it's hard but please try not to be disappointed."

Don't worry. I won't. Mom and Dad were going to have conniptions but they were just going to have to live with it. I was eighteen- no more tries after this. Boo-hoo, looked like the Games weren't in my future.

"As always, we've considered several elements in our decision. Weapons skills and combat tactics are paramount, of course, but we know there's so much more that makes a successful Tribute." I couldn't help but notice he didn't say "Victor". It gave the most foreboding impression that they cared less about our survival and more about their image.

"We've also been monitoring your behavior and interactions," Mr. Sur went on. "No one is self-made, after all. Every great achievement is a collaboration."

Guess Dorsal is out, then, I mused. He was the front-runner as far as fighting and killing and all that, but that boy could not play with others. I wasn't much of a social butterfly myself, but that was just a preference. It wasn't hard at all to get along with others. You just don't be a jerk.

I wasn't paying attention as Mr. Sur went on into all the other minutiae of volunteering and being selected. First I was thinking it was going to be really awkward at dinner eating the spaetzle Dad made to celebrate me going into the Games. Really that was on him though for getting ahead of himself. First it was Andreas and he went bust. Then it was Cora and she went bust. Yet still somehow they were certain their last son would be the chosen one- the one who brought the family glory and lived forever in splendor. I'd tried to tell them Cora was twice the student I was and if she couldn't make it surely I wouldn't, but no dice. All they could see was the light of their dreams.

Bit windy out. I looked at the clouds drifting outside the window and wondered if the surfing would be good. Usually I just liked to lie on the beach and watch the waves crash, but I could surf as well as the next guy. Oh cool, a cormorant. Must be nice to just fly free and go wherever you want.

"With great pleasure I announce-"

Those grasshopper parfait things look really good.

"That our chosen male volunteer-"

Oh god I hope he doesn't give a long speech.

"Dorian Sargasso!"

What?

Alara Dory Banks- District Four female (17)

You would think someone would get used to the entire world pulling out from under them. This was the second time for me and it was like reliving every moment. There was the sick, helpless instant of denial- of thinking no, no no not because I thought it would stop it but just to express the emotion seeping out of me. There was the desperate fantasy of somehow rewinding time so it would be before this happened. There was the pain in my stomach like my mind couldn't handle this so it passed it off to my body. The only thing there wasn't was the uncertainty. When Daddy went missing there were four hours when we might still be a family before they found the body. I wasn't in the Arena yet but there was no hope about it.

It just had to be, didn't it? It couldn't have been like every other year. It had to be this year when I was seventeen and this happened.

It should never have been something like me. The one good thing about the Academy teaching children to kill each other was that the rest of us could sleep in peace. The thing about teaching kids that anything is permissible to win, though? They'll do anything then. We'd all been uneasy when we'd heard about the bust. After Shelly got picked, she and almost the entire female Academy roster had gone to her house for a banger of a send-off party. It was such a good party, in fact, that someone four houses away had called the cops. One thing led to another, a Peacekeeper got slapped, the girl's friends ran in to help, and twenty-odd girls got hauled off to the police station. The urinalysis was supposed to be routine, but oops! Seems there's more than just "vitamin supplements" at the Academy canteen. The Capitol knew we were doping, but if they knew, they'd have to take action. And that was the story of how the entire female Academy roster got disqualified from volunteering the day before the Reaping.

Guess it's good then, isn't it? Dad won't have to lose me. I wiped the tears from my cheeks as I tried to think of him being safe and not my mother losing everything again. It had scared me watching her after Dad's death. It was like it had emptied her out and left nothing but her shape. I'd been so scared I would get hit by a car or something and she wouldn't have enough left to keep living. Once in a while I'd lain in bed and thought of the three of us being a family again in Heaven. Then she finally seemed to find herself again and even throw herself into a new career. I was so proud of my mother the mayor. I couldn't imagine that would last if it was two graves she visited once a week.

I tried to distract myself with plans. I'd need an ally. Preferably someone easygoing. I knew where I was going and I wanted someone who would listen. Maybe someone from Three, so they'd know smart people stuff, or from Seven, since they were strong. Not that that made them dumb, but strong was good.

My plans flew out the window when the door opened. I'd thought I would cry as soon as I saw her, but instead I was just baffled. She was wearing the ridiculous trench coat we'd had buried in the closet since I could remember- the one we kept saying we should donate but always forgot when we went to the secondhand store. On top of that, she looked like she was wearing a fanny pack under it.

"What's this?" I asked, pointing at her weirdly bulging stomach.

"Shhh!" Mom held her finger to her lips and shut the door behind her. She unzipped the coat to reveal a salad bowl taped around her midsection. She wrenched it off and Tilly fell out onto the floor, meowing once before she ran over to me.

"I thought you'd want to see her," Mom said. She looked at the door. "I thought for sure they'd catch me."

I looked down at Tilly in my lap kneading me with her claws, then back at Mom with the salad bowl still dangling from the tape, and we both laughed until we cried.