"Clove," says a sing-song voice from above my head.
"Let me sleep," I insist.
"It's Reaping Day. Get up," the voice says. I open one eye, to see a smiling face and black hair. Of course, It Karma, my twin sister, telling me to get up.
"Why can't I sleep, Karie?" I say.
"Because it's Reaping Day. Now get up!" she commands, pushing me out of the bed. I see the first light of morning slipping through the window Karma and I share. In all 15 years of my life, I've shared a room with my sister.
"The Reaping's in an hour. Let's go," she says. We both end up wearing the same dress, which is kind of a joke because we're identical, so we see if anyone can tell us apart. No one ever can. The one major difference between us is our personalities. Karma's usually calm and quiet, a favorite of most adults. But I'm louder and crazier. That's the difference, or at least the main one.
"Come on Karie. Let's go. You know that Gram isn't coming," I tell her. Gram is what we call the lady who takes care of us. She's not our Grandma; she's not our mom. Gram is the lady who took us from our mom and then killed her. But instead of the community home, she took us. Now Gram is dying. This makes me happy. I never liked her anyway.
We get into the Square and go inside of the section for 15-year-old girls. It's only about 7 AM here, and I'm dead tired. The mayor starts off on the lecture about the Capitol and The Hunger Games, and I know I start to doze off because Karma pinches me on the arm, which is our signal that means I'm doing something that would cause Gram to hit me. I listen to the mayor with too much attention, which gives me some strange looks. Then our escort, Dindle Tarsle, gets up on stage. Her skin is a strange shade of purple, kind of like lilac. She talks for a bit about how glad she is to be here, and then she starts off with a cheerful "Ladies First!" She walks over to the ball, which has my name on five slips, and Karma's name on five slips. She pulls out a slip, and I hear a name.
"Clove Sevina!" she shouts. I see Karma about to tear up, and I walk up to the stage, almost in a run. Then she calls out the name of a boy in the year above me, who looks frightened.
I walk over to Dindle. "I just thought I should tell you, I'm refusing volunteers," I say. I want to win, and I don't want Karma to volunteer.
"Clove refuses volunteers!" Dindle announces. I look at Karma, who looks shocked, angry, and very sad, all in one expression. Then I see three boys come to volunteer for Kyle, I think his name is. Cato Hadley ends up becoming the male tribute for Two. I know Cato. He's in my class at school. He's always talking, or training for the Games. Karma calls him a nitwit. I call him awesome. The mayor talks for a bit, and then we're escorted by Peacekeepers to the Justice Building. I sit in a room with lavish furniture.
Karma walks in, holding something, with tears in her eyes. She hands me a small necklace, puts around me, and gives me a hug. She starts to sing a song we found on some old device called an iPod Nano. The song is called "Two Black Cadillacs" by some singer named Carrie Underwood, and I love it. Karma sings it in a high and clear voice, her tears hitting my shoulder.
"Don't worry Karie, when I win, we'll live in the Victor's Village. We'll be rich. And life'll be great," I tell her.
"Don't die, Clove!" she says. Then we lay on the floor, looking up at the ceiling, and we sing songs. We sing everything we can in an hour, and when they take her away, a single tear falls on my cheek. I wipe it away, and the Peacekeepers escort her out. I can't cry in front of the cameras, I can't cry in front of Cato, I can't cry in front of the escort, the mentors. I can't cry, so I might as well stop trying to. Because in the Games, tears won't save me.
YOU ARE READING
To Be A Career (A Very Clove Story)
FantasyMany believe that Clove, along side her district partner, Cato, was a person of mass destruction. That all she cared about was winning The Hunger Games. In this story, you will finally understand Clove's side of the story.
