1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

she wakes up and is in a panic. there is an empty space beside her. rachel bar

a berry-anderson -just for one moment- is terrified. she stills, after having her heart pound wildly, blocking her hearing for a millisecond, and soon hears the soft snores of her older

other, blaine, and her younger sister, abigail.

she relaxes. all is well... for now.

pull my arm back, aim... shoo-

"hey, raspberry." a voice that startles her says. her arrow flies three meters off the target.

it is samuel evans, her best friend since her father's death. he calls her raspberry because when they met, he had asked for her name. she was mumbling, so all he had heard was "rah" and "berry", and assumed her name was raspberry. he has refused to call her anything else since.

"shit!" rachel curses. "sam! what the hell was that for? dammit. you owe me an arrow."

sam chuckles. "i'll buy you a whole new set after the reaping."

oh. rachel had completely forgotten about it.

sam clears his throat.

"that is," she replies, "unless we get chosen."

sam's green eyes darken.

"don't think like that, raspberry."

she shrugs nonchalantly.

"let's run away together." sam says suddenly.

an hour later, they are sitting at the clearing about three miles from where they had been before.

rachel scoffs. "we wouldn't make it five miles."

sam smirks. "well, we're about seven miles from home, so i guess we made a start."

rachel ignores that. "what about blaine and abby? and stacy and stevie? would we just leave them?"

"we'd

ing them with us." he said, as though it was the easiest thing in the world.

"i think," rachel says, unconvinced, "we should just stay here."

"oh!" sam says, changing the subject. "i almost forgot; look what i have!

sam pulls out a small loaf of

ead with raisins and traces of cinnamon in it.

rachel gasps. "is that...?"

sam grins from ear to ear. "why, yes, of course. it cost me two squirrels. take half and share it with abby and blaine."

rachel is still staring at the loaf, bewildered. "but- but- all your hard work..."

"whatever... it was nothing." he

eaks the loaf in half and gives it to rachel. "and, uh..."

rachel looks at him strangely. "anything else you want to give me?"

sam looks down. "stacy wanted me to give you this."

he thrusts something into her hands. it's a pin, designed with a bird in a ring. a mockingjay.

"wow... tell stace i say thanks."

"sure."

he looks at the sun.

"holy hell," he realizes. "it's quarter past seven. we gotta get back before eight."

rachel jumps to hug him tightly. sam is taken aback, as she isn't one for showing affection. he quickly falls into the em

ace.

she pulls back after a moment. she awkwardly chuckles.

sam's fingers run through his hair.

"that was..." sam begins.

rachel finishes his thought. "awkward?"