Giselle Almodovar is a freshman studying journalism at the University of Kansas. She is also a real-life Katniss Everdeen at heart – willing to sacrifice it all for her sibling.
Giselle and her brother were fighting. There was nothing particularly new in that fact. This battle was a nearly daily occurrence between the two of them, and this wasn’t even the most escalated the screaming match had ever been. They were having a (for the moment) verbal disagreement on who should be the Overload of the Coach and Wielder of the Remote. Being the kid siblings they were, they took little notice of the fact that their fighting had only gotten louder and louder over the past few minutes. Neither did they know that a wrathful fist was about to descend from the other room.
When their father appeared with that punishing look in his eyes, they knew they had made a mistake. They should have continued their feud more quietly, because now they were about to face the ultimate punishment – a spanking.
Giselle had accepted their fate the moment her dad had come into the room, but in a moment of pure selflessness, she decided to run headfirst into the danger. Wanting her brother to realize what a self-sacrificing thing she was about to do, she flung her arm across his chest for dramatic effect. “No, me first!” she said, hoping that her brother would feel bad for not allowing her to have the remote when she was clearly the superior wielder.
There was a moment of silence as her dad looked on, taking in her martyr’s action with an expression of surprise. It was only a matter of seconds before that surprise descended into laughter. To Giselle’s surprise, her action had broken the seriousness of the situation. A laughing parent couldn’t carry out any sort of punishment, that was a known fact. She had unintentionally saved both of them, when she had really only intended to make her brother feel bad.
This time, she had won her freedom through comedy. It was definitely something that she would try again if given the opportunity. And as long as there was only one remote and a brother to argue with over it, arguments there would be. But now she knew the secret to getting out of it, or so she thought.
“One time, my brother and I effed up and my dad was gonna spank us, but I pulled a Katniss and I dramatically stuck out my arm across his chest and said ‘NO, ME FIRST.’ My dad laughed so hard he didn’t hit us.”