(Y/N) POV:
"(Y/N).....sweetheart, it's time to get up" I open my eyes to see my mom in the room.
"I'm sorry I didn't wake you for dinner, but I made you a big breakfast today, so start getting ready, and you can join me downstairs, okay." I nod, and she leaves, closing my door behind her.
If it's morning already, it means it's THE DAY. I sigh and leave the bed, heading to the bathroom to shower first. Once I'm done, I wrap the towel around me and head over to the mirror, I notice any signs of the red handprint are gone completely. I brush my teeth, dry, and style my hair in a simple but elegant updo. I do my makeup and add some eyeliner and a simple lip tint.
I have to do this every year for the reaping; my district sees the reaping as a celebration, and that's what they quite literally do. After the tributes are chosen, the mayor throws a huge party. Why I'm not sure, but everyone loves it. They dress up in fancy clothes and try to look their best. I walk over to my closet and find my dress. My mom picked it out for me this year; it's white with bits of sparkles in them. I chuckle; not exactly my style, but I'll wear it for her sake.
I slip the dress on and zip it up. Putting on my Silver heels, earrings, and the small necklace I made from my brother's ring. I walk down the stairs. I guess my mom heard me because when she turned around, she clapped her hands together and came to hug me with tears in her eyes. She was already fully dressed up and ready for later, she said.
"Look, I know you don't want to do this, but this is the last one for you, okay, make it through this one, and your out; you only have to deal with becoming a peacekeeper...maybe you can help the people if you do that." I hug her tighter until she finally lets go, and we sit eating breakfast together. It was nice, as expected. My dad was not here, probably already at the reaping area.
"It's time for us to head over there," I say; my mom nods her head, and we leave the house walking until we are about to reach the bustling and exciting area. My mom stops me and pulls me in for one more hug, whispering in my ear.
"Don't forget to smile the entire time even if the worst happens and they mention William for some reason, okay?!?! If your dad or anyone else sees you not happy to be here, it will cause you nothing but trouble!"
she's right, I have to be happy while I'm here no matter what. I plaster a big fake smile as I pull away from the hug.
"I'll be fine, Mom, we are gonna get through this than the party, and we are golden." this seems to ease her mind a bit, and she walks to her designated area smiling big and greeting her friends. I guess it's my turn, I walk over to the check-in desk where one of the peacekeepers is.
"Name?"
"(Y/N) Warner," he pauses for a second and says's
"Ms. Warner, your the commander's kid, right?" he holds his hand out and pricks my finger.
"yes sir, that's correct," I say as he places that finger on a sheet of paper.
"Well, that's wonderful it's an honor to work with him, and great job by the way, word around town is the odds might be in your favor this year."
I'm confused.....What the hell does that mean? Before I can ask, he calls for the person behind me. Thinking about what he said, I walk over to the 18-year-old Female section with a big smile on my face and take my place in line.
I listen in on peoples conversation's a few of the younger kids walk past, talking about "This will be the best year yet."
"I know I can't wait until the Victors pick me for a tribute. I'm so jealous of the ones they are gonna choose."
Typical, I can't even be mad at them for thinking this was the case; we are born and raised seeing the games as something fun and honorable to do from the moment were born. If my brother hadn't died that day and actually won, maybe I would still think the games were exciting.
I shudder at the thought. The thing about district two reaping is that, unlike most districts, since we want to go to the games, the process of getting picked is weird. Yes, supposedly, everyone's name is in the bowl, but if your name gets drawn and you know you're not on the top 10 recommended tributes list.
Then you can expect one of them to volunteer. If someone volunteers who is not on the list, it's considered disrespectful to the district and taboo. They make the lists to ensure everyone knows these people have the best chance of bringing District Two Victory, so most people abide by the screwed-up reaping system that we use to win.
It's rigged if you ask me because usually, the people who are recommended *naturally* get picked 6/10 times.
I then hear some girls in front of me say excitedly, "Did you hear what they are doing this year?!?!"
"No, all I heard was the mayor had some big surprise for us, and I am so excited!"
They continue the conversation, and a few minutes pass before we see the mayor come on stage along with all the winning district two victors. The audience roars and claps as everyone waves at them. I go along with it, still having a big smile on my face. It dies down as the mayor starts to speak.
"Thank you! Thank you, friends; I know you are all excited to be here today and find out what boy and girl will bring glory to district two again like Wade did last year!" The crowd roars again with excitement,
"Of course, you know we have some great recommendations from our victors this year, so let's watch the capitol video to find out who is going!"
Everyone claps, and the video starts playing. It's the same thing every year. The capitol reminds everyone of their place and how gracious they are for keeping the peace.
The video ends, and this year's escort comes to the mic. "Welcome, everyone; what a lovely day for the reaping; I'm Miyra, and I know how eager you all are for the games, so let's get on with it!"
She walks to the girl's bowl, pulls out a name, and walks to the mic. "This year's honorary female tribute and one of the victors' recommendations is...... Clove Kentwell"
The crowd erupts with joy, and I see the girl a row in front of me celebrating as she walks onto the stage, grinning from ear to ear. As expected, no one volunteers because she is on the recommended list. I have seen her before but have never spoken with her. She smiles and stands proud once she is on stage. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding, relieved it was not me.
"Alright, let's pick the boy's Tribute" She walks over to the bowl and glances in it before pulling one out.
"And this year's honorary male tribute is also a recommended by a victor........Cato Hadley"
Everyone starts cheering even louder than before. The girls were screaming next to me, and the boys were shouting and cheering him on as he walked to the stage with the biggest smile. Yep, that's definitely the same Cato who had me pinned to the ground and almost crushed my neck yesterday. The only difference is he is smiling this time; at least I know he will do decent in the games just by that performance. Miyra Speaks up again.
"All right, all right, I know you are all excited, and maybe some of you are even a little disappointed you didn't get chosen, huh?"
Everyone nods. I even hear one girl crying; I assume she is upset she was not picked.
"Well, that's where I have even better news for everyone! This year's game master and President Snow agreed he wants to make this year's game even more exciting since it's right before the quarter-quell next year! ....So, instead of 24 Tributes, there will be 48 this year! And that means two more of you get the honor of going! The rule is we will be drawing from new bowls with the names of personally recommended tributes by our districts' Victors!"
Everyone starts screaming; Cato and Clove look at each other and smile. The girl who was crying earlier was now crying tears of joy. For everyone else, this is excellent news for me, the worst outcome possible. Can they even do that? If it's their idea, they can do whatever they want. I see the two victors, Wade and Brutus, bring out the two new bowls. The first thing I notice Is there are way fewer slips of paper in each one.
If it's only victor recommendations, then the drawing pool is much less. The only way my name would be in that bowl is if they were impressed by my loss yesterday...I doubt it. District Two takes pride in winning.
"So I will draw the second name for the males" She reaches into the bowl with only a small handful of names and pulls out a piece of paper.
"Well, Cato, it looks like you were destined to go this year one way or another!" She holds up the paper with his name written on it. Everyone laughs and thinks it's comical; his smile turns into a grin.
She drew another piece of paper saying, "We can't have you as two people, so one more time! This year's Second Honorary male tribute is... Bryce Johnson!"
Everyone claps and cheers but not nearly as much as before. Some people look a bit surprised. I recognize him when he is on stage, smiling next to Cato. That boy got me out of that weird situation with Srgt. Bailey at the gun range yesterday.
"And now for the second honorary female tribute." She walks over to the bowl, and there are no more than 5 names in there. She picks up the paper and say's
"This year's second honorary female tribute is .........(Y/N) Warner!"
No...no fucking way. My smile faded briefly before I gained my composure and smiled wide. Everyone was clapping, but not nearly as much as they were for the other tributes as I made my way to the stage.
I can't fucking breathe. I am trying my best to smile; I need to stay calm. If I freak out, it's only going to make things worse.
I take a deep breath and hold my head high with a wide smile; as I step onto the stage, I see the other three tributes looking at me. I take my stance next to Clove, and Miyra continues to speak.
"Now, this will be an exciting game!!! You four can shake hands now." Clove and Cato walk toward each other, As Bryce and I walk toward each other. We shake hands with each other, and seeing as there are four of us, Bryce and Cato switch places. I look Cato dead in the eyes and shake hands, and he firmly grips it, then nods his head at me.
We all stand next to each other in a line as Miyra takes this opportunity to hype up the crowd again, saying, "And once more, here are The Honorary Tributes of District Two for The 74th Anual Hunger Games! May you bring pride and victory to us all, and may the odds be in your favor!"
We smile and wave until the peacekeepers escort us into the building, taking us all into different rooms. As soon as the door closes, I freak out internally why...why why why why why did I have to be picked off everyone else in that bowl. Why was my name even in that bowl?!?!? Fuck, I slam my fist onto the desk, and the door suddenly opens.
Startled, I turned around, thinking it was probably a peacekeeper; nope, It was my mom. She ran to hug me with tears in her eyes, and they shut the door. Telling us we had three minutes, she cupped my face in her hands and kept saying sorry repeatedly. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't cry now. I must show her I could do this even if I knew I couldn't. I smile and say
"Mom, I'm okay, I promise; I've been at the academy for years, okay? I have the upper hand on many tributes from other districts.....It's gonna be alright." She hugs me and say's in a whisper
"I know you can do it, honey, I know you know what to do and what not to do, and you're going to survive. You watched William; you saw his games, so remember everything he did and learn from it, okay." I smile and pull away just a bit,
"Is Dad coming?" I say to her. Before she could answer, the door opened, and my dad stood with a wide smile.
"There's My girl; I'm so proud of you for getting picked and recommended at that! I know you will bring honor back to our family name after your brother went and ruined it, so get out there and win it, make our district proud." He hugged me and left before my mom, or I could say anything.
I can't believe him, he lost his only son, and his daughter has a 1 in 48 chance of surviving, and THAT is what he chooses to say to me.
My mom broke me out of my thoughts by cupping my face again. The door opens, and this time it's the peacekeeper saying it times up. She hugs me and whispers in my ear,
"You do whatever you must to come home, lie through your teeth and try to impress them, make friends, but at the end of it all, be the last one standing, okay? I'll be watching and supporting you until you come home."
The Peacekeeper comes in to escort me out. She hugs me and kisses me on the cheek one last time, and I tell her, "I love you," as we walk out the door, down the hall, and out the building.
We walk until we get to the train station, and I see the other tributes standing, smiling, and talking already. Thankfully the train pulls up; just as I walk over, they start to get on, as do I.
Miyra takes us to the food car because she thinks we all must be famished. She is talking up a storm until we arrive. She sits down first. Then Cato sat down, and Clove sat across from him. Bryce sat next to her, which meant the only open spot was next to him. I'm not sure how to approach him. He almost killed me yesterday, and now I'm actually in the games where I know this time he would kill me if he got the chance.
I sit down, and he looks at me for a second and turns away. So we will be acting as if nothing happened, got it. Food is brought out, and the four of them start eating as the train moves. Miyra offered me a plate, but I said no thank you. When they finish, Bryce asks Miyra, " So why exactly did they want two more tributes by Victor recommendations? I mean, anyone could have been picked."
She looks at him and says's "Because the capitol asked for the best of the best, they want a memorable game before next year when they go all-out for the quarter quell. All four of you were recommended by one or multiple victors in your district, which means you all have a high potential to win. There have been more rule changes to the games than there normally are, so your mentors will have to explain it better."
It doesn't make sense why exactly I am on this train. I'm not the best of the best. I did great in the academy before my brother died. But after that, I purposefully never scored better than good or average on tests when anyone was watching other than some hand-to-hand combat simulations. But you need to be great at everything to get Victor's recommendation. Just as I'm about to ask why I'm here, the doors open, and I see Brutus, Enobaria, and Wade enter.
"Ah, there they are! Since these are special games with odd circumstances, you will all share these three as your mentors this year!" and with that, Miyra walks away.