Hunger Games Fill In

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou.” Quick pause for _breath________. “Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.”
Amanda Fraass, 18, of South Amboy, N.J., had just become one of the __lucky_______ ones: After a long, anxiety-filled wait, she had received a highly coveted __wristband_______ that would allow her access to an appearance by the stars of “The Hunger Games” at a Barnes & Noble in Union Square in Manhattan. Like hundreds of others, Ms. Fraass, a high school senior, had stood on the street for hours, in the hope of getting a glimpse of someone, __anyone_______, associated with the film.
“I don’t even know who I’m going to meet,” Ms. Fraass said. “But I’m excited.”
The three girls behind her, newly adorned with yellow wristbands, began jumping up and down. “Group _hug________!” one shouted, and they all ____smushed_____ together, screaming.
“The Hunger Games” trilogy, a best-selling series of young adult books by Suzanne Collins, has generated the kind of mania familiar to fans of “____twilight_____” and Harry Potter. The movie version has been astutely _______marked__ to stoke that teenage craze, with a savvy online campaign and a mall tour by the stars, Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson.
Ms. Lawrence, in an emerald dress with deep décolletage, and Mr. Hutcherson, in a trim gray suit, arrived at Barnes & Noble shortly behind schedule on Tuesday evening, to deafening ____shrieks_____.
Fans began lining up for the event, a strictly enforced “Hunger Games” book-signing (only two items apiece, and no personal objects, messages or photos, please), on Monday, some as early as 10 a.m., a full 24 hours before wristbands were given out. A few dozen __camped_______ out overnight, complete with tents and inflatable mattresses, on the _sidewalk________ on 17th Street; by dawn Tuesday, the line stretched around the corner. Ultimately, it reached nearly three city blocks, but only the fans from the first two were granted bands, so hundreds of people were turned away, their day ___ruined______. “I literally missed a two-hour math class to get here,” one girl cried. “This is not fair!”
But for those who remained, decked out in “Hunger Games” T-shirts, sweatshirts and blankets, the event was a communal fan fest. The books and the film, set in a _____distopian____ future where a despotic government forces children to _kill________ other children in a televised ___competition______, has attracted a legion of young acolytes, who are especially drawn to its teenage heroine, ____Katniss everdeen_____, played by Ms. Lawrence. Among those hoping to see her, the wait was sort of like a ______slumber___ party, with sweats or pajamas, boxes of pizza and lots of hair-braiding.
A crew of newly acquainted high school and college girls had pride of place at the front, and sported elaborate _____french____ braids by morning. They were line veterans, and they had a system to make the hours go faster. “You meet friends and you work as a team so you can take breaks,” said Kate Allaire, 19, a sophomore at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. (Food and _____bathroom____ breaks were allowed but Maria Celis, the community relations manager and special-events coordinator for the store, advised against longer absences for work, school or showers. “This is a rock ’n’ roll thing,” she said.)
Some fans got ___doctors______’s notes to stay out of school; others made excuses to parents and teachers alike. “I told my professor what I was doing,” Ms. Allaire said. “At art school, they’re really chill. He said: ‘That sounds like something I would do. Go be a ___nerd______.’ ”
Ms. Allaire said she and her friends had devoured the books. “Every chapter is a ___cliffhanger______,” she said. “I don’t know anyone who read them slowly.” She liked the books in part because they were not typical _____girly____ fare. “Katniss, she’s not depicted as some sexy woman in tight clothes,” she said.
Jessica Cruz, a high school senior from New Jersey, identified with the character’s __independence_______. “I, like, drove on the highway by myself for the first time today, took the train by myself, slept on the street — today was a lot of firsts,” she said.
There were some ___adults______ in line, too — fans of the books, like Bree Roe, 39, who came from Webster, Mass., with two friends — but the crowd was largely if not only young women. Frank Costa and Derek Hedbany, 18-year-old freshman roommates at New York University, were subsisting on adrenaline and ___red bull______. Mr. Hedbany said the books featured a lot of action, and Mr. Costa said he liked the pacing and vivid imagery. “It’s not a happy ending,” he said. “It’s supposed to be a teen novel, but I think it’s a clever _metaphor________ for today’s society.”
A police officer with Biebermania experience waved off the “Hunger Mania” hoopla. “This is ____nothing_____,” he said. But even with hours to go, the excitement was mounting, and homemade signs and chalk drawings were proliferating. Members of the French braid crew wondered how they would react when meeting the stars. They did not want to be total fangirls, but ___coolness______, especially after more than 24 hours on the sidewalks of New York City, would be tough to pull off. There was going to be a lot of nervous gasping and breathless gaping, they said. “I’m just going to ___cry______,” one said.