You Asked For This - Finnick Odair

Mauve Riles

"I believe in annoyed at first sight."
— Rusafu

...

Fifteen-year-old Mauve Riles was never supposed to enter the Hunger Games. There were so many people in District 8 that she shouldn't have even had a chance. Her family, though terribly poor, rationed food so that she wouldn't have to take the tessare. Most families couldn't do that.

She was an only child, but she did watch the kids of other families in District 8. They would pay her in whatever could be spared, if anything. Mauve Riles didn't have siblings, but she did have people who depended on her.

The morning of the Reaping, she got up and put on her nicest clothing– A plain purple dress with some lace sewed onto the ends. She put her straight and wispy blonde hair in a neat bun and put on her nice shoes.

At the center of District 8, she comforted about twenty bawling children before finally pricking her finger and waiting for the ceremony to be over.

But her name was called. And District 8 isn't a district where people volunteer, not even for family.

She made sure to give every kid that came in to visit her a big hug. She told all of them to be strong. They were big girls and big boys now. She made empty promises to come home. She couldn't promise to come home, but she resolved to really try.

She was perfect. She lightly waved and smiled softly at the crowd. She perfectly launched her role as shy and kind. The Capitol gushed over how adorable she was.

Everything was going according to plan until a certain boy from District 4 in a pirate getup came sauntering over to her while she was waiting to get on her chariot.

"What a place," he said, looking around them. "You come here often?"

Mauve just looked at him incredulously then proceeded to ignore him. Who did he think he was? A career picking on someone from the outer districts.

"What's your name? Mine's Reef. I bet you'll never guess what district I'm from." He was taunting her with his little smirk.

She continued to ignore him.

"Let me guess... You're from District 8, right? You see, I can tell because of your outfit. Honestly, it's a real shame that they put someone so beautiful in such a train wreck of an outfit," Reef rambled on.

Did this boy just call her beautiful? That had to be some sort of tactic. A mind game.

"Go and flirt with some other girl, I'm busy." Mauve said through gritted teeth, glaring at the boy.

"Yeah, all that standing around and doing nothing must take a lot of focus," he teased.

She ignored him again.

"If I go flirt with other girls, will you talk to me again?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sure."

And so he did. By the end of it, he had flirted with and explained to every girl there that he was trying to get this one girl to like him. He didn't say who, but it was obvious when he came right back to Mauve.

"Now will you talk to me?"

She glared at him. What was his problem?

"Will you at least tell me your name?"

"Will that get you to leave me alone?" She demanded.

"You'll never know until you try it," he smiled.

She rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed groan.

She didn't need this right now. Didn't he understand? She couldn't afford distractions. Not if she wanted to live. "Mauve. That's my name. Now leave."

He smiled widely. "Mauve," he repeated the name, as if seeing how it felt rolling off his tongue. "That's beautiful."

That was it. Mauve's face flushed, out of anger she hoped. She stormed off and saw who, if she recalled correctly, was Reef's twin sister.

"That's your brother, right?" She demanded in exasperation, pointing back to Reef.

The girl nodded, slightly confused.

"Get a handle on him or, so help me, he won't make it to the games!" Mauve threatened, at her wit's end.

"Will do," the strawberry blonde said, solemnly but with a glint in her eyes.

Mauve stormed away. "Odio a ese chico. No necesito esto ahora mismo," she angrily muttered in a long-dead language her mother taught her. (I hate that boy. I don't need this right now.)

Any language aside from English was illegal in Panem. But, wanting to keep their culture alive, Mauve's mother's side of the family taught the language to their children in secret. Maybe Mauve wasn't the best Spanish-speaker, but her family were the only ones that spoke it in all of Panem. No one else in Panem even knew about other languages.

...

When she finally got on her chariot with her district partner, she had calmed down enough to perfectly execute her shy act.

But, before she even got to be seen by the Capitol, she heard them roaring. She looked up at the screens to find that boy and his sister pretending to have a sword fight on their chariot.

No shy act could top that.

If she wanted to win, she would have to learn how to survive. Because the hearts of the Capitol rested with District 4 this games.

...

...

...

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A/N

I'm trying to do a little sub-story within my main story.

It's not much, but I feel like it's important to remember that the main character isn't the only one with a perspective and motive to win.

I wanted to add at least a little of how the Newports are seen by other tributes in their games. How the others can tell that they are definitely Capitol favorites.

I also really wanted to add some Spanish! It's not my first language, but I've taken it for five years and want to major in it when I go off to college. So I like adding it where I can so that I can practice :)

Thank you to my readers for, well, reading! I'm so grateful for you! This is my first time writing or publishing anything like this and I'm really glad that people seem to like it, at least a little bit!

'Love y'all!