Machiavelli Hope // [District Eight/CBD #2/Fin]

Our family got a whole lot more interesting the day Lily Hope volunteered.

I really, really hate her for it.

It was hard enough to disappear when I was the first boy in my class to get a growth spurt. After Lily stepped up onto that stage, just forget it. I've made it my life's work ever since to put as much distance between my family and myself. If the Capitol'd let me, I'd even change my name.

After Circe Lyon obligingly put a blade in her eye, I dropped most of my first name. If you want me to like you, you'll call me Mach and you won't ever mention her. I try not to be dickhead about it when I'm at home; I can see how much her death has affected Canvas, and damn if I don't love that little knucklehead. It's affected me too, this fame, this expectation, but people say I bitch too much.

So my new plan is to get married as soon as humanly possible, after graduation. Probably should start dating someone but that never seems to work out. Why not just skip to the life partner stuff? I could take her name and be Mach X. If you read this and it sounds like a bum deal, well, I'll sweeten it: I'm a hard worker, I don't give a shit what you do with your life, and I'll say your name proudly - as long as it isn't Hope.