Starve On Pixels

Chapter 1: Boxing Day

Sunny's POV

I switched on the TV, so that I could catch up on all the latest Capitol fashion trends. I'd seen quite a few people with this cute, new purse that would go splendidly with my raven, permed hair. I already had some outfit ideas for dressing casually or formally with the purse.

"Hello District 1! I'm Caesar Flickerman Jr. Jr. Jr., and today I'm live from the Capitol with Celestia Snow, our marvellous president." The announcer's voice was, like, way too chirpy,"So Celestia, what are your plans for the 150th Hunger Games?"

"Well, Katniss has always been my role model, so in her honour I have decided to do an all girls hunger games!" Celestia had the worst messy bun- everyone knows that her hair looks way better in a french braid. Ugh. All the channels had the same news broadcast with Celestia and her ugly bun.

"Sunny! Time for Hunger Games training," my mother was probably already in our custom gym.

I slouched as I turned off the TV before remembering my proper posture. The expensive leather had given my hair static electricity. This day couldn't get any worse.

Training left me sweaty, and sweat is disgusting. Of course I don't sweat though- I GLITTER! Although it is a bit sticky sometimes... When I told my mother, she disagreed completely. NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ME! I decided to throw a humongous temper tantrum, so she would let me stop training early to go take a shower. I yelled at the nearest person to get me more of my vanilla coconut body wash- it was the only one that didn't irritate my skin.

After I showered I dressed in a cute, new dress that I'd bought recently. It was made of this subtle pattern from District 8 that was darker at the top and faded in colour down to the bottom.

Dinner held the same awkwardly boring conversations. Have you heard about the news report on that? Did you talk to so and so? Sunny is doing well on her training.

"How are you Sunny?" my annoying, older sister asked.

"Awful, now that I've talked to you," I sneered, which seemed to startle her.

She went back to her boring conversation with our parents- something about diamond prices going up? My sister, Sarah, thought she knew everything. She graduated this year, and was ready to take on the family jewelry business. The only thing I was useful for was competing in the Hunger Games. While she had been groomed to be an entrepreneur since birth, I was taught to kill.

I shifted my food from one side of the plate to the other; as usual the chef had overloaded my plate- my magazine had said to eat less. It had also talked about how chickens feet had good nutritional content, but whatever. I excused myself to go reprimand the chef.

"Malcolm, you really shouldn't give me so much food," I waved the dieting article in his face.

"Yes ma'am," he mumbled.

I spun 180 degrees on my high heels before strutting back to my room. I broke up with my boyfriend through text (which wasn't the most classy option) before closing my eyes. I needed my beauty sleep- tomorrow was the Reaping, after all.

Natalie's POV

My short, brown hair whipped into my face as I dashed through the Seam's black market. Some angry vendors were chasing me around once they realized that I was the mysterious pickpocket behind all of their stolen goods.

"STOP!" one of them bellowed.

It was a waste of breath- there was no way I was slowing down. Unfortunately, the black market was the only spot that I could snatch some fancy medicine for my mom. Every other place already knew me by name. My mother needed medicine, because her lungs hadn't been handling the dust and fumes from coal mining very well.

I turned around briefly, and stuck out my tongue. I weaved around houses, people, and trash until I had lost them. I leapt into a semi-full garbage can. The pursuing men ran right past my hiding spot.

By the time I'd trudged up the uneven cobblestones to our shack, my mother was already in bed. Cam, my younger brother, wrinkled his nose at me in disgust.

"You try jumping in a garbage can," I told him.

He just kept doing his pointless math exercises for school. "Mom got more cabbage for supper."

"K, thanks," I replied. I wandered over to our tiny tin stovetop.

The cabbage was already wilting by the time I heated it in some water with stolen salt and pepper.

Cam looked disappointed that I hadn't managed to get any meat. "This again?"

"I'll eat your portion if you don't want it." That shut him up.

We ate our meager meal of cabbage soup in silence. Our rations were running dangerously low- not just in our house, but in the whole of district 12. Being in the poorest district was awful. My name was probably listed 100 times for the amount of extra provisions I had asked for, and I was praying that I'd be picked for the Hunger Games, just to get out of here.

"Cam," I called my younger brother for our routine training sessions.

Since we both hated each other, he was more than willing to be my punching bag for Hunger Games training. He dreamed of punching me in the face, but he was both too slow, and too short. I practiced with a sharpened stone I'd gotten from the black market, and anything else I could find.

"But I still have bruises from last time!" Cameron complained. "Can't YOU practice defence sometimes?"

I put my hands on my hips, "The sooner you help me, the sooner I can go to the Hunger Games. You know my defence is good. After all, a good offence makes for a good defence."

Cameron sullenly agreed. I delivered a roundhouse kick that he managed to block before he fell back after some punches aimed at his face. I smirked at his limp body before kicking him in the stomach.

"Wittle Camy-wamy is too weak," I sneered.

This seemed to fuel him. He leapt up, but I grabbed both of his fists, judo-flipping him to the ground.

After my training I moved on to stretches. By the time I was finished it was late, and I wished I'd gone to bed earlier. I always got up really early in the mornings.