Damon Keaton's P.O.V.

Everyone knows that I'm going to volunteer this year. What can I say? It's a Quell. If I win this, I will be always remembered in history as the Victor of what could be the greatest Games ever.

To be honest, I wish I was already in the arena. I don't know why I've waited until I was as old as I am to volunteer. I could've been in there so much sooner.

"Welcome to the Reapings of round two, everybody," Clara Cleanwood squeaks into the microphone, "Let's get started, shall we?"

She walks over to the glass bowl and picks out a card. The card might as well have nothing written on it, because that's the one I'm volunteering for.

"The first boy of the Games is..."

"I VOLUNTEER!" I shout from my section. When everyone turns to me, I'm already on my way to the stage.

"And what's your name?"

"Damon Keaton, I'm sixteen," I say loudly into the mic.

"Very nice, and now our other boy is," Clara pauses to walk over to the glass bowl once again. She chooses one more card and returns to the mic, "Er-"

"I VOLUNTEER!" another voice shouts from the back section. A tall dude with dark hair runs up to the stage.

"My name is Bryce Landon, Eighteen."

"Wonderful! Two volunteers, please shake hands," Clara orders politely before turning back to the crowd, "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

District Two's Reapings

Liam Fledger's P.O.V.

I swing my sword and it clangs against another one belonging to my friend, Brendan. He takes a step back, bringing his sword with him. Then he suddenly jumps towards me with his sword raised over his head. I react quickly by lifting my sword in a position that would collide with his attack.

"Nice one," Brendan says. Then he looks at his watch, "We should go. The Reapings start in twenty minutes. We definitely don't want to be late for that, right?"

"Right. District Two's future Victor can't be late for the Reapings," I say.

"Yes, I can't be late," he agrees.

I clear my throat, "I wasn't talking about you."

Brendan turns to me and nudges my arm, "We'll see which one of us wins, shall we?"

I smile and nod, "Yeah ok, but I'm certain that I will win."

"Ok, I give up! We can argue about this some other time," Brendan says, smiling, "For now, let's call it truce."

I agree and say goodbye to him. Then I head off to my house to change my clothes and fix my hair a little. Then I'm off to the town square.

When I arrive, I immediately find Brendan. A broad grin is covering his face.

"You're late," he accuses.

I point to myself, "Excuse me? I came here just on time. The mayor isn't even on the stage yet."

"Whatever. I still got here before you."

I shake my head, "I can never win with you, can I?"

"Come on, the mayor is coming out soon."

I walk over to join Brendan in his section. I can barely wait. We're going into the Games together. This is going to be the funnest thing we've ever done.

After a few minutes of the sections filling up, the mayor finally comes to the stage for his speech. Thank goodness, this is the last time I will ever have to listen to this same old thing every year.

When he finishes his boring talk, the mayor introduces our escort, Dana Digman, to the stage.

She bounces out in her fancy Capitol outfit. After she says a few sentences about how we are so welcome to be here and stuff, she walks to the bowl and picks out two names.

"Our first tribute is...Geo-"

"I VOLUNTEER!" Brendan yells from my side.

I wince as he does so, "Dude, can you shout any louder?"

He pushes past me without a word. We both agreed that he could volunteer first, no matter how badly I wanted to.

"My name is Brendan Hankson, and I'm seventeen," he says enthusiastically into the mic.

"Wonderful! And now, our last boy is..."

I raise my hand, "I VOLUNTEER!"

"Oh! How wonderful!"

I run up to the stage and take the mic, "I'm Liam Fledger, seventeen."

I smile and hand the microphone back to Dana. Then I walk over to Brendan and give him a high five and our secret hand-shake.

"Ooh, cool. That's the best shake this year," Dana compliments, then turns back to the crowd, "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"