I made this for Eddie
It's interesting seeing the different dynamics of people who attend the academy. It seems like the bulk of people here are friends who secretly hate each other, or openly talk shit about their friends. The queen of the shit talking would be Arachne, but I know it hurts if you get on Vipsania's bad side.
These are all things that cross my mind as I make my way through the hall where we will be having a mandatory viewing of the reaping. I am fairly against the reaping, but I don't come from a powerful family, so there isn't anything I could do. Maybe later in the future if my success streak continues to grow, I can do something about it then. But for now all I can do is stay quiet, and watch.
That is if I can pay attention. A certain someone always makes it quite difficult to focus on the task at hand. But who could blame me, Dennis can be fairly captivating, and I know I am not the only one who thinks so. I have over heard Diana, Livia, and Vipsania gossiping about how pretty he is before. Luckily me and Livia are good friends, and she would never do anything that might harm my affections towards him.
"____!" Livia yells, as she waves me over to her. The second I get there she wraps me in a strong hug, then pulls back and says "My goodness you look beautiful! That outfit is to die for!"
"Oh thank you Liv. You look gorgeous as well!" I complement her, as she grabs my hand and leads me to a seat on the edge of the row, next to the wall. "So what have I missed?" I ask her.
She waves her hand "Oh nothing much, just Diana burning her hand on her hair straightener, and Vipsania teasing her for straightening her hair. How are you? I can see a special someone is a few seats away." she says while raising her eyebrows.
"Oh shush Liv he might hear you." I whisper to her.
After that Dean highbottom takes the stage, and announces the changes to the Plinth Prize. Apparently the reason we are all here together to watch the reaping, is because the 24 eligible students will be mentoring tributes for the hunger games. Livia is quite excited that she was able to score the district one boy.
"District 5 boy, Dennis Fling" Dean announces, and I sneak a glance at the boy who looks unfazed by his tribute. "District 5 girl ____ ____" I look up to see my tribute. She looks young, but not as young as Persephone's boy. I'm sure she'll be a fine tribute, but I fear for her. She definitely won't win, but I can make her last days pleasant. I think.
I feel bad about feeling a bit excited that me and Dennis will have tributes from the same district, because maybe we will have a reason to speak to one another. Come up with strategies for our tributes, maybe have them form an alliance in the arena. Stuff like that where I am the only person he can plan that with.
At the end of the ceremony Dean states one last thing "Cheating will not be condoned, you will receive a punishment you will forever regret. But we will allow mentors with tributes from the same district to team up. You are now dismissed."
I look to my right and Livia looks deep in thought, before she starts smacking my arm with excitement. "You can team up with your lover boy!!!" she giggles.
I have to hold onto her hand to get her to stop smacking my arm. "Livia could you be more obvious about it?" I whisper quickly.
"Nope!" she says.
I thought about it long and hard for the rest of the day, and I have come up with a thorough plan for my tributes survival. I studied the previous years games a bit, and come up with a list of successful strategies. One of the main ones being to have a partnership in the arena. With it being very open where everyone can see you, it is helpful to have someone watching your back.
