Are you going to eat that whole thing?” my friend Kelsey asks, staring at my plate.

        “Probably. We played soccer today so I’m hungrier than usual,” I reply with a big grin on my face. “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.” Next to me, Caroline nodded.

        “Yeah; I’m as hungry as a bear!” she sighed as she rolled her eyes sarcastically and started digging into a mountain of food.

        “I heard from the older camp members that the best camp-wide games are on Thursdays. What do you think we’re playing?” Annie asks, having a huge plate in front of her as well.

        “I don’t know,” I reply, “It’s always difficult to tell because of how creative the counselors are.” The two Cabin 13 tables start to finish their delicious meals, all of us very happy but very full. “Did you see that group of counselors walking towards the shed earlier? They had a lot of people.” I ask Annie, curious to find out if she knows what’s been cooking.

        “I did. They looked like they had something big to lift up,” she replies, eager to head over to play whatever was planned. I scrape off my leftover mashed potatoes into the garbage can. My table and I take our dishes and put them in the bins for the cooks to clean them.

As we exited the dining hall, some counselors holding a bucket of pool noodles and more water balloons caught my eye. Looking down at one of their name tags, I realized I made eye contact with the head of the sports coaches, Jack. My eyes wander back to the bucket for more clues of what the game might be. My friends and I continue walking down the concrete road towards our cabin when suddenly Grace and Luci made a right turn as we head up a trail. Annie and I look at each other; I’m perplexed, but I sense excitement and curiosity in her eyes. We hike up the rocky track, waiting to see what was on the other side of the hill. The trees open to rays of sun as we trek our way over the hill. The sun gives us a hug as we step into its sunlight.

        “Wait… we’re at field one? That was a weird route,” I complain as I bend over and huff from the long hike. “We should have gone the other way. It’s much quicker!”

        “I don’t think that would have been an option…” Annie trails off as she lifts a finger to point to the other opening across the massive field. It’s blocked off with one of the huge wooden walls the counselors were carrying. That’s when I see it. The entire field is covered in those wooden panels. There are a few frisbees and pool noodles lying around and a giant bucket of water balloons in the center of the field, too.

        “Welcome to the Hunger Games,” Jack announces. Everyone looks around, giving each other looks of enthusiasm and worry. “You will all be starting with two pinnies tucked into your pants, hanging out the sides; that is your life count. Take someone else's, they lose that life and you will bring it to the center where we will store them.” My eyes widen, and almost pop out of my head. This is going to be a piece of cake! “You will also find scattered objects like pool noodles and frisbees. Hit someone with the pool noodle, and they lose a life and you take it and add it to your life count! This is a one-time use only. Frisbees are shields; block attacks by holding up your frisbee! Again, this is a one-time use only. After they are used, please bring them to the center where the disabled object will be.”

        “That sounds fun,” Annie exclaims.

        Do you think we’re allowed to truce? I think to myself, wanting to team up with her.

        “Making truces IS allowed!” Jack replies as if he read my mind. “But, I’m warning you, double-crossing is ALSO allowed!” Gasping and “ooo”-ing sweeps across the crowd as many look at their friends with promise, or like a dog looks at a squirrel. Oh no… that’s my biggest fear. I’m always afraid my friends will double-cross me. Hopefully Annie won’t do that to me; I don’t think she will.

“Let the games begin!” Pinnies and water balloons are distributed and all the campers march out to the field.

“Truce?” I whisper to my cabin mates. They nod and smile. All counselors raise their whistles to their lips. But, I sense something bad will happen to us.

“Campers ready?” Jack yells.

“READY!” all the campers shout back in harmony.

“Then let the Hunger Games commence!” TWEET! Campers bolt across the field, dodging and ducking already. Looking out into the spacious field filled with campers, my friends and I could easily tell who the difficult people to face would be.

“Look out!” Annie yells pointing at the sky. A yellow, glistening water balloon was already soaring down rapidly towards us.

“RUN!” I squeal, darting in zigzags.

“Watch out!” Annie screamed. I stop dead in my tracks. She dives at me, head and arms first. My eyes bulge.

“What are you-” THUMP! We crash to the ground, groaning. “Oww…” The water balloon lands a few feet from us, splashing and missing us by a hair. The boy who threw it at us throws his hands in the air and rolls his eyes, stomping back to his friends and pointing at Annie and me lying on the ground. They whisper a few things, nod in unison, and march towards a pool noodle. “We gotta get out of here…” I whisper to Annie.

“We’ll see you guys in a bit. STAY TOGETHER.” Annie orders our friends from cabin 13. They nod. But suddenly, I don’t know if I want to stick with Annie. What if she double-crosses me? Annie helps me up and puts my arm around her shoulder. “We need defense. Now.”

“Agreed. You do,” a boy says from behind us. Annie and I share a glance of terror. We turn and look up at the boys towering over us with big smirks on their faces.

“Let’s get them.” She whispers to me and smiles. I nod my head. One runs at me with full speed. I quickly slid out of the way, causing him to lose control and run into one of his friends. However, he took one of my pinnies with him. I run over and take both of their pinnies. Another boy takes a swipe at Annie, but she twists away and snatches his only pinnie. He grabs her pinnie from the other side. “No!” She yelps. We turn to the final guy: the one who threw the water balloon. Suddenly, a subtle pandemonium arises from the campers.

“Huh?” questions one camper.

“What?” asks another.

“Can you hear that?” All the campers stop what they are doing and turn to the middle of the field to see the line of eliminated campers staring at us like sharks stare at their dinner.

“Who let the dogs out? Woof! Woof woof woof! Who let the dogs out?...” The music fades in, booming from the speakers.

“You aren’t getting away with it that easy.” The taller boy who threw the water balloon says as he turns back to face us. He has his pool noodle in his hands and two pinnies.

“BARK! BARK! BARK!” A girl from my cabin starts running at us. Oh no. It’s a girl who I’m not as close to; plus, she’s a dog! I can’t defend myself, so I begin to internally panic. This is what I was afraid of; even a girl from my cabin betraying me. I shut my eyes quickly and open them to see if my worrying is creating a fake scenario; it’s not.

“Shoot. We gotta go.” I manage to mumble to Annie, searching for a way out of the situation. I made eye contact with the girl from my cabin with pleading eyes. She winked at me. She charged right at me with an unforgiving look in her eyes. The boy turns and starts walking away, knowing I am defeated. When suddenly, she makes a sharp turn and Annie joins her, running up both sides of him, pulling both of his pinnies. “Yes!” I shout with joy. She smiles at me as the music stops. She runs back to the middle with both the boy’s pinnies.

“Let’s go-” Annie begins, but she is interrupted by a siren noise. “Wait… what?!”

“It can’t be over. Look!” I say, pointing to a group of girls and a group of boys a year older than us. “See? We aren’t the last ones!” The siren goes off again. WEEEoooWEEEooo!

“The final ten showdown will commence in thirty seconds! Make your way to the center ring if you are still in!” Jack announces, his hand guiding our eyes towards the gaga ball pit in the center of the field where the dogs were once kept. As I walk towards the pit, I notice its cracked plastic, faded color, and dirt stains. I notice the other campers hopping in, excited, and I notice the fears that await me inside. “Do not fear, the dogs are deactivated, so it’s just you versus nine others! And make sure you don’t step out of the pit. If you do, you will be eliminated!” I dreadfully climb into the GaGa pit and look around. Annie and I are the only ones left from Cabin 13. TWEET! Jack blows his whistle, officially starting the showdown. The boys immediately go for the Cabin 15 girls. They shriek and shout, but one dodges and twists, grabbing pinnies one by one from those Cabin 11 boys. Her friends cheer, but many were eliminated by the boys.

“No!” I hear a familiar voice from behind me that scares my socks off. I turn slowly, realizing that of course I know that voice. Annie’s eyes flood with realization. Annie is out. It’s over for her, and now I’m left alone.

“No…” I mumble, not knowing what to do. My face turns pale and my heart beats quicker and quicker as I come to my senses. I frantically whip my head around, trying to find the camper who got her out when I finally catch their eye. It’s the really awesome girl from Cabin 15. She waves Annie’s pinnie in her hand with excitement, as well as the boy’s pinnies, too. “ANNIE!” I shout, charging at the girl with determination; she is not getting away with this. I crash into her and we fall to the ground, but I have one of her pinnies! Annie yelps and jumps in the air with joy.

“YES, THAT’S MY GIRL! WOOO-” she pauses quickly and yells, “WATCH OUT!” I spin clockwise and send the boy who was coming for me tumbling out of the pit.

“Yes!” I shove my fist into the air with triumph. I search around for other players. I’m in the final three! I turn to give Annie a fist bump when suddenly I feel a tug at my hip. I turn rapidly. The girl was holding my pinnie with a big smirk on her face. I hear “awwww”s from the crowd as I sadly exit the pit. Exclamation is shared as the girl also exits the pit with no pinnies. The boy won.

“HE DID IT!” One of his friends yells. My friends from my cabin came to hug me.

“You were amazing out there!” Annie says to me with a smile.

“So were you! You got in the top ten!” I reply.

“But you got top three.” she chuckles as she tilts her head and gives me a sly smile. We fist bump. “Let’s go congratulate the winner.” My friends and I link arms and stroll over to the boy who won with big fake smiles on our faces.

“Congratulations!” We say in unison. As we turn around and strut back down the trail, we roll our eyes and laugh. He did deserve that win, though. I think to myself. But, it would have been great if Annie could have won.

“I’m proud of you, Annie,” I say looking at her with a big grin on my face.

“I’m proud of you, too,” She replies.

“Thanks for sticking by my side.”