Hey ya'll! This is my first time writing any kind of story so please be patient with the updates. I'll try my best to do it every week but might get delayed with school. Thanks! Hope ya'll enjoy! *Note* I do not own The Hunger Games.

Chapter 1

My Name is Clove Soto. I'm 17 years old. This is The 74th Annual Hunger Games through the eyes of a Career.

*11 Years before*

"Clove!" I hear my mother yell my name up the stairs of our house. I groan and roll out of bed; this is the first day of my training.

I live in district 2, a Career district. The Career districts are districts one, two and four.

All kids in, District 2, starting at age six are trained to become fierce and deadly fighters so that we may volunteer at our reaping when we turn 18.

Being a tribute from a Career district isn't like it is in the outer districts. Out there they just go because they have to, there are never any volunteers.

In the inner districts there is often a fight over who gets to go compete in the games, because we want to bring fame and honor to our family and district.

Our coaches usually decide who will be reaped and who will have the option to volunteer.

"Clove!" my mother yells again. "I'm coming!" I respond. Surprisingly, I'm actually excited to get to start training, even though I still have 6 years till I'm eligible to be reaped and another ten to twelve years before I can volunteer.

We pull up to the training center in our car. My mother gives me a good luck hug and kiss as I'm on my way inside. When I get inside, I'm overwhelmed. The room and all the kids are so much bigger than me.

I quickly find the kids from my year and go over to join them in watching all the older kids throw spears, shoot arrows at targets with bows and spear and behead dummies with very deadly looking swords.

I notice one girl who looks to be about 14 throwing all different kinds of knives at dummies and hitting either the head or bulls eye on the chest every time. The way she draws her arm back and flicks her wrist with every release captivates me.

She makes it looks so fluid and graceful. It was that very moment that I decided I wanted to throw knives as my skill.

*11 Years later*

I'm resting after one hour of throwing while I watch my best friend Cato impale dummies on the floor. Cato is 18, 6'3", and all muscle. He has dirty blonde hair and cobalt blue eyes.

I first met him when I was 8. I was throwing knives and not doing too well. He had come up behind me and helped me correct my throwing angle. After that we basically just started training together and hanging out after training.

He starts to slow down a little and I can tell that he's tired. "Want some water?" I ask. "Sure, can you toss me a bottle?" he responds. I walk over to the cooler and grab a bottle of water, then turn around to toss it to him but notice that he's facing the other way.

I decide to put my knife throwing skills into action. I take aim at his head with the water bottle, draw my wrist back to my ear and in one fluid motion, I flick my wrist and throw the bottle at his head.

He jerks forward as it hits him. "What was that for?" he yells at me. "You should've been paying attention." I laugh. He gives me a glare and I give him a stupidly sweet smile back. It's then that he gives me the smallest of smiles and starts to laugh with me.

As we're both laughing an overwhelming sadness sweeps over me. I'm reminded that this is Cato's year to volunteer.

"Are you really going to do it?" I ask. "Do what?" he asks back. "Volunteer" as soon as I say it something comes over him.

I can't tell what it is. Sadness? Fear? No, Cato's the most fearless of us all. I have full confidence that he'll win and come home to me.

"Yeah" he replies back. "I figured" I respond. "Do you think I'll win?" He asks. "Sure, the only person who might be able to kill you would be me." I answer with a chuckle. "And since I won't be there, you'll definitely win." "Oh, so you think you could take me?" He asks cockily. "Yep." I respond confidently.

He suddenly stands up and pulls me to the wrestling mat. "What are you doing?" I exclaim. "Proving you wrong" He answers with a sly grin. "We'll see about that" I respond back.

We both take a fighting stance; I make sure to keep my eyes on his hips to tell which way he's going to move. In an instant he lunges towards me. I can already tell what he's going to do before he lunges so I quickly sidestep out of his way. He runs past me and almost falls on his face. "A little eager, aren't you?" I ask while chuckling.

He becomes enraged and charges at me again, but this time I'm not prepared and he hits me full force knocking me to the floor. He quickly pins my arms with his massive hands and straddles my torso so I can't move at all.

"I win." He simply says. "Not yet" I respond. And before he knows what happened, I grabbed his neck with my legs and force him onto the ground. I flip over him and put him into a choke hold with my arms and hold him down with my legs.

I'm applying pressure with my arms to slowly knock him out until he taps my leg to say he gives up. As soon as I feel the tap I release his neck and he gasps for air. "I win." I say in a tone that mimics his voice from before. He glares as he tries to get air back into his lungs. "Good job" he says, "I guess you could kill me if you had to." "And that was without my knives." I reply bluntly.

Tomorrow is the reaping for The 74th Annual Hunger Games. This might be the last time I see Cato. I'm so overwhelmed with sadness that I almost start to cry. I can't let Cato see me cry, I have to be strong for him. "I have to go." I say while standing up. "Ok, see you tomorrow?" He asks. "Yep, see you then." I reply.

Please review! This is my first story and would really appreciate the feedback! Thanks!