My eyes flashed open, and I took in the worried glances of my 5 other family members......
My father
My mother
Jaydon
Jesse
Shelly.. Wait, oh! Shelly, Jesse's fiancé, must have arrived while I was out. All of my horrific thoughts came flooding back to me.
The 100th Hunger Games,
The envelope,
Two rules,
President Snow.
But worst of all....
"Only 12 year olds will be reaped." His words haunted me.
I began sobbing as my family enveloped me in a giant hug.
Not only was I scared for my own life, I was frightened for every single one of my friends....
Margo
Lacey
Marlene
Lynn
Hazel
Worst of all, my two best friends I had known forever,
Luke
Will
There had never been anything awkward between us, considering they were boys and I was a girl. We worked together like three pieces in the puzzle of District 11! But, the two of them had been acting slightly odd lately. I would guess that they were just having a mini bro-fight.
After my eyes finally ran dry, I stood up shakily and said, " I'm going to see Luke and Will."
My parents simply nodded and continued to gaze at me with sad eyes, while my brothers and Shelly grinned. I didn't even bother asking why.
I stomped slowly upstairs and changed into a soft gray t-shirt, black shorts, and my new tennis shoes my parents got me for my birthday. I quickly flung my long golden brown hair up into a ponytail.
I glanced into our house's only mirror. I was met with my own intense silver-blue gaze. My fair skin was an oddity in District 11, because we worked outside all day, everyday. Our population's skin was always tan. With the exception of me. A few chocolate brown freckles dotted my thin nose and defined cheekbones.
To most I was considered pretty, many of the boys in school had begun to watch me. I had tried to find a reasonable explanation for this, perhaps it was my intelligence, or my love for sports. Or, least likely of all, my singing voice.
Back in grade school, we had had an outdoor choir performance, and I had a solo. During the middle of my song, Will had tapped me and pointed to the trees, which to my great surprise held dozens of silent mockingjays. They had been listening to me sing.
I tromped down the stairs and through our squeaky front door.
I walked down the familiar dirt path I had taken so many times as a child, kicking stones as I went.
It was only about 1/4 of a mile to Will's place, but the sun was so intensely hot that I had to take a short break under what we call a Raspeach tree, whose berries tasted sweet like a peach, and tangy like a raspberry. Before I left the cool, comforting shade, I jumped and grabbed a few dozen raspeaches before setting off once again.
With the distraction of the raspeaches to keep me from thinking too much, I arrived at Thomas's house soon after my stop. I stepped up to his front door and knocked.
Knock knock, knock knock.
I waited for approximately 4 seconds before Will flung open his door and wrapped his tan arms around me. We just stood there, hugging.
"Come inside. I need to tell you something before Luke gets here." Will whispered in my ear. I nodded and followed him up to his room.
