The clang of metal hits my ears.

"Come on, you can do better than this!"

I squint my eyes, trying to figure out my next move. Spruce's sword flashes before my face and I duck quickly. I bring my dagger forward, blocking his next shot. I bring his arms behind his back, forcing him into a turtle shell position.

Unfortunately, I loosen my grip, allowing him to break free, throwing me to the ground while he does so.

I start to feel anger bubbling inside of me. I hate it, absolutely hate it when Spruce beats me. By the way, it's hardly ever.

I jump to my feet and slide my dagger back into its sheath.

I pull my bow off of my back and load an arrow. I only do this when I know I can't win.

Spruce backs away dropping his sword, "Whoa, Annabeth! You know that's not fair!"

I roll my green eyes, I know he's right. But, it's to my advantage that I can shoot a bow and arrow. He knows that I would never, ever shoot him, but it always makes him back down.

"Fine, whatever. Nice practice though." I say, unloading my arrow, putting it back into its quiver.

He comes over and puts his muscular arm around me. I would never let anyone else do this to me but him. There's just something about him that makes me feel safe, something Father could never do. At least, not anymore.

"You fight pretty good, for a girl." Spruce teases, dragging me out of my thoughts.

I punch him in the shoulder, playfully. He picks up his sword from the ground and cleanses the mud and dirt off of it. I know one thing, I would not want to come up against him in a fight.

I know I have to get going, I have to bring something home for dinner. My two twin brothers, Rowan and Marsh, are working in the coal mines, so they don't have time to hunt. Jade, my younger sister can't put food on the table either.

So, that only leaves me to provide. Father definitely doesn't count. He's too far away to even work in the mines. He's lucky that the district doesn't make him work, he wouldn't survive.

I can feel Spruce looking at me. I look up at him, "I uh, I have to go."

He nods. He knows the drill. We come far enough from each of our districts every other day to practice our fighting skills. Not because there's anyone we really have to fight, it's because it helps me release some of the anger I have inside of me.

I am so lucky to have Spruce. I mean, he's from District Eleven. I'm from District Twelve. Well, mostly; I am now.

Spruce is one of the only ones who knows my secret. My family's secret. I know he'll keep it. We've been meeting here for six years. I met him when I was seven, he was nine. I tell him pretty much everything.

He knows how Mother died, how Father is so far away, and how I despise my sister. It seems bad, how I hate my sister, but I have a good reason. She's the reason Mother is dead!

I shake my head. I can't get myself worked up, I have to hunt. I don't hunt as well when I'm tensed.

"See ya Annabeth. Good luck tomorrow." Spruce pats my shoulder and loudly stomps through the forest back to his district.

I completely forgot the reaping is tomorrow! I push the thought aside, I don't want to think about that right now.

I load an arrow, and quietly sneak through the forest. I easily shoot down a squirrel.

Soon I have two squirrels and a rabbit. I know meat alone can't feed a family of five, so I find as old blueberry bush that I found when I was a few years younger. I fill up my pockets with as much as I can carry, then head back to District Twelve.

When I reach the newly installed electric fence that surrounds my district, I carefully slide the bag of my kill under. When that's done, I find the huge oak tree that I climb to jump the fence.

I edge to the low branch that's only about eight feet from the ground. I drop. Luckily I land on my feet. I hear a Peacekeeper coming. I quickly grab the bag of my kills and dart behind a small house.

If anyone finds out that I hunt, or at even escape outside the boundaries of District Twelve, I could be executed. I know Father couldn't take that, not someone else who he loves, so I do my best not to get caught.

After I'm sure that the Peacekeeper is gone, I dart towards my house.

District Twelve isn't the prettiest district in Panem, and its definitely not the richest. Most districts die from harsh treatment or hard labor, not that we don't die from that too; but Twelve mostly dies from hunger.

One day I was walking home from school, when I found one of my classmates collapsed on the side of the dirt path. Of course there was nothing I could do, she was dead. It's not like District Twelve is horrible to its people or anything, it's just that, families don't have enough to feed themselves. Not to mention, the homeless who go hungry on the streets.

Sometimes I wonder why we couldn't have fled to District Eleven. At least I would be with Spruce. Here in Twelve, I have no one. However, I can see why we had to flee here. Rowan said it was because Twelve is the closest district to Thirteen. If we had kept going in those woods, with nothing but the clothes on our backs and eachother, we would have been starved to death by the time we reached Eleven.

I finally arrive to the tiny house at the end of a dirt path. We have no other neighbors, it's just us. We are lucky to even have a house really. After we fled from District Thirteen, Father begged with the mayor to let us stay. Mayor Worth.

Other than Spruce, he's the only one who knows that we are from District Thirteen. He didn't tell anyone, and I don't think he will. My two brothers are good at working in the mines, so I don't think he'd want to lose two good miners.

He was nice enough to give us a small house, of course we had to pay it off, but I don't think he's all that bad.

I knock three times to alert Jade that I'm me, not a Peacekeeper. I open the door and sling my bag onto the small table and dump the blueberries into a tin can. A few of them are smashed, but who cares? They are still edible.

I pull the rabbit and the two squirrels out of the bag. Immediately, my dog, Puddle, bounds around my feet. I draw my dagger to skin the prey, and toss him the liver of the rabbit. He gobbles it down quickly.

I have to skin my kills inside, because if anyone sees me with fresh venison, ttheyhey  oget a Peacekeeper and I would be a goner.

Jade walks over to me, "What did you get?"

"What does it look like?" I snap.

My patience with her is needle thin, and I do not feel like talking. She narrows her eyes at me and I hear her mutter something under her breath.

She stomps over to the tattered old couch and plops down. I see she's sewing something, something that I really don't care about.

I continue cleaning my kill, in peace and quiet. Every now and then, I toss a tiny piece of bone or meat to Puddle, who scarfes every bit of it down.

I can feel Jade casting angry glances towards me every few seconds. Who cares anyways? Let her be angry all she wants! I don't care for her at all!

Father usually moves to the old couch as soon as I get home, I guess it's his way of welcoming me home. After Mother died in Thirteen, he's not been the same. He's like a dead branch. They look rough on the outside, like they might make it through, but really on the inside, they're shattered and broken.

I suppose he looks okay on the outside, at least to other people. But to me, I can tell he's as broken as he is on the inside.

The moon has just risen when Rowan and Marsh come knocking at the door. I open it, to find that they have frowns on their faces.

"What is it now?" I snap, already impatient with them.

I just hope nothing bad has happened.

Marsh steps forward, I can see him holding something behind his back.

"What's that?" I prod, trying to get a peek.

Rowan and Marsh exchange glances, the Marsh  begins to smile. "Surprise!"

He holds out a loaf of wonderful smelling bread. I can feel my mouth begin to water already. I actually crack a smile.

Jade begins jumping excitedly, like a little child. I roll my eyes at the sight.

"Your welcome, we had to trade this for two weeks worth of work money. But, it was half off since its stale." Rowan grumbles, somewhat kidding.

I let out a sigh. I am thankful, I really am, but I just would rather it not be stale. However, it's better than nothing.

Father comes walking in at the sound of all the commotion. He raises an eyebrow at the bread, but then his eyes return to the same dark state that they have been in ever since Mother died.

"Well, tomorrow is a big day. We should eat." I announce.

I grab the bread and the rabbit. I begin to cook the rabbit into a soup of some sort, not really knowing what I'm doing. Jade comes over and begins to help. That's really the only thing that I like about her: she can cook.

She must have inherited that trait from Mother, because I am definitely like Father in that way. I'm a hunter, not a cook. In a few minutes we have a great smelling stew with chunks of rabbit meat, some stale bread, and some blueberries.

It's the best we've eaten in days. I gobble down everything. Practice today made me very hungry.

After we are done, I let Jade clean up. I sit down and clean off the gore from my arrows. I'm exhausted.

"Get yourself some rest Annabeth." Rowan says with his bright smile.

He looks exhausted himself. He has coal dust under his finger nails, his face is covered with dirt and grime, and I don't want to know what's on his clothes.

I smile faintly and stand up. I feel my knees shake. I haven't really noticed how nervous I am for the Reaping tomorrow. I run into his arms, I don't care how dirty I get. He comforts me, almost as good as Spruce does.

"Nervous are you?"

I nod. I can't seem scared, I can't. I don't cry, I never cry. Except that one day. The day that I wish I could forget.

"I'm fine, really. Just tired." I murmur, trying to seem strong.

He pats me on the back and walks away.

I'll be fine, I know I will. At least, I hope...