Chapter four:Should I punch this lady? I really want to

I focused as we got to the twelve year old girls, there were already ten kids up there with the lady, all of them looking equally terrified and upset. Except of course that prep student and the ten year old girl who seemed almost…excited? Great, there's going to be a death wish kid in there with my brother. They've barely got a chance to make it more than five days with this group. The lady put her hand into the bowl, pulling out one and looking excited, seeming to recognize the name. "Kara, Miriam!" She called out, Miriam rushed up onto the stage, easily the fastest from the group. If I trusted anybody to help Basil last a little longer here, it was Miriam. Wait-Miriram just got called up…she's going to be in the games. I'm losing not only my brother, but my best friend. Miriam seemed confident she could make it out though, be the first or something but…I knew she couldn't. I barely even had time to catch up with what was going on before that lady called out the name for my group of thirteen year old girls. "Drakos, Addison! Ohhh~ We've got siblings this year don't we!" She mocked me. I shakily started to make my way to the stage but Mom stopped me from where the adults stood, she placed something in my hand and mouthed good luck, I love you. I slid the small object into my shoe before heading up to the stage, standing beside Miriam. She grasped my hand, shaking. I took a quick look at the crowd turning to that lady as she continued to call out the last four names. She smelled aggressively like sugary perfume, the same way the girls change room in the gym smells after the older girls are in there. After a few more moments we were led off the stage to some other room none of us recognized. This definitely wasn't part of the televised events that took up most of the games. I pulled Basil into a quick hug before surveying the group. I noticed something a little strange, instead of a sixteen year old boy and sixteen year old girl, there were two girls. One with long raven hair, her eyes were one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen, one green with gold flecks the other a bluish gray. She seemed to be the sister of that ten year old girl who looked mildly excited, they had the same hair and eyes. But the other sixteen year old girl had choppy brown hair with little rainbow highlights, she had nice blue eyeliner to frame her amber eyes, it matched her tan skin and I won't lie, I liked her style. She had a black dress with large platform boots that she definitely couldn't run in and a cute little star choker that I'm sure is from Hot Topic. Probably because we have a Hot Topic in the mall in the city part of Athens. Honestly, respect. I love Hot Topic, I buy loads of earrings from there but I've always had a bit of a sensory issue with things on my neck. She was crying a lot and her makeup was starting to smudge. "Well were all going to die, any last words?" Alexander shrugged, "We aren't going to die" Miriam and the ten year old girl said at the same time. "I mean…we kind of are, but I think knowing this group we might last a while" Basil offered. I surveyed the group. The eleven year old girl was-holy crap it was Slena, we had gotten two, maybe three, sets of siblings. That is insane. Quite indubitably insane. The fourteen year old girl was somebody I recognized, she used to be in eco club with me. Her name was Shara and currently her hair was blond but we all knew it wasn't natural, though her grayish blue eyes were. The fifteen year old girl was a little special, she was definitely a prep student, between the tied back neat black hair, perfect posture, and intelligent greenish hazel eyes, she just had that prep student look to her. "Damn it, two prep kids in one game" I mumbled, both of the prep kids looked at me angrily. "I have a name y'know" The girl snapped "Wait, let me guess, is it…Elizabeth?" The sixteen year old girl, the one with the sister, asked. The girl paused, "How did you know that?" Elizabeth asked "It's on your coat" That ten year old girl mentioned. "I'm Penelope" The raven haired girl told us "Like a swan" Shara commented "Hm?" Miriam made a confused noise. "Oh, a female swan is a pen" Shara explained shyly, she loved swans. "Well I'm Opal, like the gemstone. Which is really funny because that's my birthstone" The unafraid ten year old told us, chuckling. "Well I'm Mckensie, Kenzie for short" The other sixteen year old girl said through small tears. "Wait, why are there two sixteen year old girls and no guys?" Seb asked. Kenzie frowned, not saying anything, not meeting anyones eyes…not really doing much more than crying, My eyes started to burn like smoke blowing in my face by the fire, quite a few of the other kids started to cough and I could see most of their eyes getting puffy. "Gas" Penelope mumbled, Opal, Penelope , and Miriam all pulled up the collars of their dresses over their mouths to try and block out some of the gas. But we all succumb to it soon enough.