jax hargrove. / district 10

I can be a bit of a shit. Uncle J's always told me as much. He says I've got a thick skull and zero common sense. What he doesn't realize is that I just don't fucking care. Ever since he came back from the upper districts, he's had a holier-than-thou attitude. Dad always points it out, and at first, I didn't really notice. Uncle J had always been nice to me, even offered me a part-time job at the orphanage cleaning up rooms and sorting supplies, but the older I got and the longer I worked for him, the more I realized just how much of a righteous prick he can be.

He would say my problem is that I lack focus, direction; wandering aimlessly throughout life without any real purpose. That's what the Keepers did for me, son, he says in that tone I hate. The one where he talks like he knows everything. I was a lot like you, a bit of a shithead, doing whatever I wanted, but the difference was I did it to survive. That much is true. I'll give him that. I don't sneak out past curfew and drink a couple of bottles of contraband liquor out by the fence to survive. I do it because it's fun and there's nothing else to do in this shitty fucking district. As far as the eye can see, it's farmland. And if that doesn't make you want to blow your brains out, then I don't know what will.

I guess what I'm saying is, yeah, I'm that asshole you're friend told you about. The one she points out and tells you to avoid. So, I'll wink at you in return, make you wonder what I'm thinking and reel you in like a fish on a line. And I'll do it because I'm bored and in need of a good laugh, not because I care about your feelings or have any interest in what you have to say. Dad always says people are like locked doors; all you have to do is find their key. I'll dissect you with just a glance and have you eating out of the palm of my hand in the blink of an eye, but before you even think to ask for my name, I'll have moved on to something—someone—else. That's just the hand you're dealt, baby.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.