Lola "Poppy" Graham||District 12

Lola, or "Poppy" as her family and friends call her, is fairly tall, standing five foot seven inches. She has very long legs, which work to her advantage. She's a good runner, most definitely. She has an athletic build, as athletic as a 16 year old can get, all while still starving. The girl is all muscle. Her family is too poor to afford anything to get fat on her bones. Lola would say that's a good thing, because whenever the capitol comes down for the Hunger Games, she's always one to make fun of the bigger capitol members that come down.

Poppy is pretty. She has a bright face. She's got olive colored skin, but it shows off her rosy red cheeks. The longer she's out in the sun, the rosier her cheeks get. This isn't necessarily a good thing, as it's sunburn. She doesn't see it as sunburn, but rather as a natural blush. It makes her feel bright and pretty, but it does hurt, and her face eventually peels a lot, shedding the burnt skin.

Poppy has green eyes, they're not too special, but they run in her family. Her mom has green eyes, her brother has green eyes. Her father is the one with the brown eyes, so she fits in with the majority of her family.

Poppy has dark hair. It's more of a very deep chocolatey brown, but it matches her skin perfectly. However, the more time she spends out in the sun, the lighter the ends of her hair get, giving her natural caramel highlights. Again, Poppy is all about looking pretty, but her family is quite poor, so she relies on the little things to make her beauty stand out.

Poppy has a lot of freckles. They drive her crazy, but there is nothing she can do about it. Her family owns a small produce shop, and Poppy is the one to tend to the strawberries. Since she's always outside, she's always getting sunburn, and her face is always collecting new light brown spots.

Poppy is strong, but vulnerable. She isn't afraid to break away from the crowd, but when she does, she always questions herself. She's constantly worrying about whether she has done the right thing or not, and it kills her.

The really bad thing about her, is that she lies. She lies to get out of trouble, she lies to make herself sound better. She has been caught lying a few times, but she has never been severely punished for it. Yet.
Her parents know not to trust her 100%, because when they do, they pretty much know that she's not being as truthful as she should be.

She is very family oriented, and she stands up for her family. Her brother is the same way. She learned so much from him, and would do anything for her older brother. She however is not afraid of him, and will put him in his place if he needs to be.

Poppy is very generous. The Graham family is very poor, even with running their produce shop, but Poppy is one to pick off strawberry seeds, and plant her own strawberry plants, hiding them in her room. They used to be for herself, but after her family lost a lot of plants due to a robber, (which led to the robber being executed) and the family became very close to starving, Poppy came clean about her strawberry plants. She has also shared every last bit with her family. She could not let them die of starvation.

Poppy only has one friend. He is the coal miner's son from across the street. She is friends with him because they're both so open minded and sweet. They both look after each other, and they both believe in each other, and the same things.

Poppy is a believer. She won't let anything go down without a fight. She isn't afraid to save what she believes in. She has even been in trouble for playing sick during the reaping once, because she wanted to protest against it, which didn't work.

Poppy's family history isn't very long. Her parents were neighbors, and her grandparents even tried arranging their marriage, but they weren't going to argue about getting married. They loved each other anyways, so they married at 18 years old.

Poppy's mother and father were 21 when they had Poppy's brother Kale. Kale was 4 years old when Poppy was born. Poppy's father took a short-lived job in the coal mines when Poppy was 2. He worked there for about 4 years, when the skin on his face was scorched in a minor mine explosion.

When Poppy was 7, her parents started a garden with the seeds of the scraps of vegetable and fruits they could gather together. There garden was successful one summer, so they collected everything, and started the produce building.

Poppy started school the same year, and this was when she met Micah, the coal miner's son. They quickly became friends, and Poppy would trade a small satchel of fruits for a small squirrel, or a small bird from Micah at lunchtime. They would often be found in Poppy's back yard studying, or making arts and crafts out of whatever scraps they could find.

When it came time for Poppy's first reaping, she passed out in the crowd from the heat. She didn't even know who was reaped until she watched the games on TV with her family. Luckily it was no one her or Kale knew.

Her second one, a boy from Kale's grade was picked, and a girl who had lost her parents and had been living in Micah's house, was chosen. Poppy was scarred when she saw that the girl was killed in the games from being pushed off a cliff. Poppy is terrified of heights, so she decided she wasn't going to attend the next reaping.

Her third reaping, Poppy forced herself to eat plants that were natural diuretics. She had an upset stomach all day, and was throwing up all day. Her parents knew she was sick, but they didn't know if she was sick enough to not make the reaping. They found out when peacekeepers came knocking at the door fifteen minutes after the reaping started. They drug Poppy out of her bed, and made her attend the reaping, which caused her to vomit on the unfortunate girl standing in front of her. Luckily she missed that one as well.

And finally, last year wasn't really anything special. She wasn't chosen, and neither was anyone she knew. She watched the games, and they were as brutal as ever. Poppy is somehow lucky enough to not get picked, and she intends on keeping it that way.