Tessa had spent the morning making sure her box of lure supplies was ready for school. While she was in class or in between she'd work on making lures. The teachers put up with it because she kept in class well enough. Today though would be a bad day it'd be the Reaping. Her heart pounded at the idea of it. What if her name was drawn? There were so few years that her name could be drawn. Three years had already passed where it hadn't been, now she just had to get through three more.

Tessa had done everything she could to make sure her name only ended up in the lottery once a year. The lures brought in just enough money to make sure her and her parents, and her best friend Rickwood were fed. The food that her father brought in from fishing was their staple food.

She sighed and tucked her shirt into the waist of her skirt before stepping out of the house. Rickwood would be near, the two always walked to school together. Class would end early for the Reaping. Tessa was surprised they hadn't just made the whole day a holiday. Her stomach ached at the idea of the reaping as she waited for Rickwood.

Richwood sprinted past, a loaf of bread in his mouth, grabbing Tessa's hand as he went by. He took the bread out of his mouth and looked behind him. "Come on, lets go! I don't see them but I'm sure they're still following!" he urged, pulling her down the road. His pants were dirty and his shirt, although tucked, had a rip in it. His hair, usually fashioned to the best of his abilities, was messy.

He pulled Tessa around a corner and covered her mouth, watching as a few peace keepers passed, unaware of where they were hidden. Richwood smiled widely and broke the bread in half, handing the piece to her. "A little illegal delicacy for our reaping day," he smirked, then held the bread in his mouth as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Hw der yew sink vee vill fare turdur?" he mumbled, the bread making it hard to speak clearly. He was asking about how she thought they would do today against the odds.

Tessa was startled as Richwood pulled her into hiding, she nearly dropped her box of lure supplies. He covered her mouth just in time to stop her from yelling at him. Her eyes widened in horror as the few peace keepers passed. Once they were passed though Richwood handed her half of his stolen goods. She sighed, but was thankful for the food. She had skipped breakfast, she usually did. There just wasn't enough food for them to have all of their meals.

"Thanks." She told him as she munched on the bread and what their odds were. "Well my name is only in there five times. One for each year since I was 12. Despite having been older than that. You haven't taken any stipends because they would have moved into one of the orphan homes, but I know there are kids older than us who have taken stipends each month, so their names are in there a lot. We should be okay." She finally announced, they had started walking toward their school.

It was a small building with only a few rooms in it. The grades were mixed to make up for the lack of rooms. Neither Tessa or Richwood had made other friends since the Reapings had started. They had had one other friend up until last year, she had been reaped, and never returned home.

"You're late." The teacher told them as they took their seats.

"Sorry, there were some peace keepers on the road here, we wanted to avoid them." Tessa lied easily, it was mostly true anyway, she was only lying by omission.