Reaping day

A Chapter by Maia.KK

this is based on Suzanne Collin's Hunger games the quarter qwell, enjoy :)

I wake up on the worst possible day. Reaping day. Well, I have to wake up, but I would much rather be asleep! I shower and quickly slip on my dress and put on my nice shoes and tie my hair up. I never really cared about looking nice for Reaping day but you know, we sort of have to. I walk out of my apartment, smelling the ocean breeze, there isn't one day you can't smell it from my apartment complex. I walk over to my friend, Al's apartment building. "Wake up sleepy head" I yell at the door, I hear a groan, "I know you're awake, you aren't fooling me" "Go away" I hear him say, "Never" I say as he opens the door. His light brown hair is all over his face, he towers over me and frowns. He is about 6'1 and I am 5'5, he would have a big chance in winning. I shove him out of the way and walk into his kitchen, "So. you ready for the first ever Quarter Qwell?" "No" he says with a grin. I laugh and start brewing some coffee. "Well, Al you're Reaping years are almost up. Just 2 to go" He smiles and says, "Cant wait, you have 3, good luck with that" I have gotten used to his humor, but if you just met him you wouldn't like him like I do. It's one of those things where they're your best friend but you sort of have sparks between you. I laugh, "Well then" he smiles and pulls me into a kiss. See thats what I mean. "Mags?" he says. I smile, "What now?" "What if we get Reaped, not too many people volunteer here." That is a good point, but I can't worry him, "Then we win!" We eat quietly and drink our coffee then leave hand in hand. I get into place with the 15 year olds and Al goes to the 16 year old section. I stand next to my twin sister Abbey, she is my twin but looks nothing like me. She has black hair that hangs in her face with pink highlights. I have sandy blonde hair with blue highlights. As you can see, our mom is a hair stylist and uses us as a sort of experiment for styles. When Wood comes up on to the stage I feel my sister shiver, I do too. Wood shows us the same annoying video each year. One about what happened to make us into the Capitol's favorite TV show. "This year, we have the Quarter Qwell, I will pick 5 names from each gender and you all will have to Vote on who is the best to go into the Games this year. Ladys first" Wood pulls 5 slips out, "Abbey Lancaster, Viola Manoo, Mags Lancaster, Sylvia Forum and Haiti Workman. What a name" True, but I am walking up on stage and who knows which person will come out alive. "Okay raise your hand for Haiti...100 hands. Okay Abbey" She has a lot of friends so they wont vote for her. "10? wow! Viola, 50, Sylvia, 500. Wow, And Mags? Holy Crap .....okay our Tribute for the Quarter Qwell is, Mags Lancaster" Shoot! This is the worst thing, probably in District 1 and 2 they are voting for the strongest people. District 4 has a small girl who can make fish hooks and nets, like thats going to help. "Now for the boys" There are some strong boys, not Al, so thats good. The boy who is voted is named Liam and he has sandy blonde hair, like mine and is about Al's hight. We had to shake hands and were ushered to the justice building. My first visitor was Al, he came in and we hugged for a long time, holding each other. He was the first to talk, "Win, it's the only way I can ever be happy again" that is the sweetest thing he has ever said to me, "I will" I don't think that is very likely but it helped Al calm down. I put my hand on his face and kiss him, "Be brave" I say to him. "I love you, Al" Al nods, "I love you too" I smile and a peacekeeper drags him out and he yells, "Win for me Mags, I love you!" I yell "I will, I will! I LOVE YOU" My next visitors are my sister and parents. They all start balling right when they come in. "Don't cry, be brave for me guys" I tell them, "Who knows, the arena could be a big ocean!" They smile at the thought and we all talk for the rest of the time, with hugs and kisses on the cheeks. Then the peacekeeper comes for them and they wave and I grasp my token. The first "date" Al and I had, was at the beach. He found a shell the same color as my hair, blue and yellow. I have it now so when he sees me in the arena he will see that I still love him no matter what. Wood takes us on the train to the capitol. We start to eat food they have in the buffet, wow the Capitol has amazing food! Is this why so many of them are fat? Liam looks at me and says, "Who visited you?" I say, "My family and friend" i smile thinking about it, "Really, because I heard someone who sounded like a teenage boy scream I love you across the hall" "Shut up Liam go eat some freaking beef" then I grabbed a chicken leg and started nibbling at it. Liam looks upset so I ask him, "What about you Liam?" He frowns, "No one visited me" I frown too. "My parents got killed in the war. My sister was in the first hunger games and won, then she got waisted and ran in front of a bus. My girl friend and I broke up and she was the one who made me go into the games. The one who had people vote for me." I feel really bad "I am so sorry...I didn't know" "It's okay" I reached for Liam's hand and held it tightly. "You'll do fine" I say, Liam smiles, "So will you." Then we go to our own rooms and wait for the rest of the short ride to the Capitol.