Its not over until the Mockingjay sings - F. Odair

Chapter 38

Half a year later: the 74th Games

"Omg, did she really just do that?" Lea asked shockingly as she, Finnick, Alexander, and the two tributes from District 4 watched the videos of the reapings. 

"Yep, she certainly did," Finnick confirmed. Lea and Finnick stared at each other in shock. In 74 years of the Hunger Games, this had never happened before. Volunteering was a normal thing in career districts like 1 and 2, it happened in 4 as well but rarely. It was always very exceptional when there was a volunteer in the other districts, the non-career districts but in the poorest districts such as 11 and 12, it had never happened before. 

"Waaw, that is very exceptional," Alexander said. 

"What does that mean for us?" The male tribute of this year asked. 

"It means that it's going to be very hard to get any attention from the crowd and to get sponsors, all the attention is going to go straight to her," Lea signed

"Oh no, now I'm certainly going to die," The girl panicked. 

"Calm down, we can't jump to conclusions, we will just have to try a little bit harder. Why don't you go to your rooms so you can get some rest," Lea said to the two tributes. 

"I'm so glad that you guys wanted to come with me. I wouldn't have known how to calm them all by myself," Alexander signed in relief. 

"On the bright side, I'm happy that Haymitch finally has a chance of winning this year, He has been mentoring for 23 years, and never has any of his tributes made it past the bloodbath at the cornucopia," 

"Shouldn't we in the first place, support our own tributes?" Alexander asked in confusion. 

"Yeah Of course we should support them but as harsh as it is to say this, we also have to be realistic. I don't see much potential in our tributes this year and four has had many winners over the past years, 4 winners over 9 years are very exceptional, Haymitch deserves a winning way more than we do," Lea said. 

"She is right, Alex, it may seem hard right now but unfortunately that is the reality we are living in," Finnick sighed. 

"I know but I just imagine that if you didn't support me last year, then I wouldn't have made it either," Alexander said to Lea. 

"That was different, Alex. You already had a great chance of winning, you were one of the best students in the academy. This year, both tributes are 14 years old, they won't be able to go up against those 18-year-olds," Lea said. 

"Finnick was 14 when he won, so don't say it's not possible," Alexander said

"Well, Finnick is an exception, I have never known anyone as skilled as he is. There is a reason why he is the only 14-year-old to have ever won the games," Lea said. 

"Yeah I guess you're right, I just feel bad and I wish there was something we could do," Alexander sighed. 

"Yeah I know, Me too," Lea said. 

"Oh I have a call, I should take this," Lea said to Alexander

"Who is calling you?" Finnick asked

"It's Seneca," Lea said. It had been a year ago that Seneca had confessed his feelings to Lea and she turned him down. In the beginning, he barely talked to her and when they did it was pretty awkward so Lea was afraid that she would lose the friendship that she had with him. But over time, it got better and now they were pretty good friends again, hanging out every time Lea got to the Capitol and she was very grateful for that. 

"Hey Lea, how is everything going?" Seneca asked. 

"I'm doing okay, how about you?" Lea asked

"I'm doing good as well, just a little stress for the Games. I would actually like your advice on something, can you meet me in about 15 minutes in the flower garden?" Seneca asked