1. No one wants to say it out loud, but the public expects you to die for your district.
2. As the day begins, everyone lines up six feet apart. They size each other up with uneasy glances, and that’s when you realize that even the smallest people here can kill you.
3. Kids have no boundaries. The youngest ones won’t stop following you around, and the oldest ones keep trying to grab you. You’d prefer everyone stay at least six feet or six miles away.
4. It definitely seems like the white, good-looking, rich kids have all the advantages in this game.
5. You wonder why the parents who constantly complain about the government are so willing to turn their kids over to this government institution.
6. You make a big show of how excited you are to be locked inside a completely artificial environment with no ventilation in hopes that anonymous donors will have pity on you and fund your basic needs.
7. You make eye contact with your work friend. You’re deflated when, at the sound of the morning bell, he turns and runs off-campus.
8. You would literally get stung by hornets to escape some of these teenagers.
9. It’s only the first day, but half of your co-workers aren’t coming back tomorrow.
10. The end of the day leaves you traumatized and exhausted, and people expect you to do this over and over until you die.
First Day of Hunger Games: 1-10
First Day of School Reopening: 1-10