Chapter 1: Prologue

We were at the edge of the copse, in the blackberry bushes, when he told me. The new spring brought clear skies and fresh wind out in the wilderness, where the air didn't smell of coal smoke. A drizzle the night before left enough dew on the bushes to soak our shirtsleeves, but our discomfort was rewarded with fruit. Unwilling to store the berries with a bloody squirrel, I dropped my harvest in with Gale's. Though not much in the way of substance, they would fetch a good price with Greasy Sae—if he negotiated.

All that morning, his eyes had been fixed to mine. Judging. Searching. The intensity worried me. We were comfortable together by that point. It was a gradual acceptance, but raw desperation hurried the bonding. And I knew he would jeopardize it. The seminar on pubescent urges and what to expect from our bodies and our hormones had gotten to him; I could see it. I was sure he was about to blurt something about how he felt for me. We'd hunted together every day, for more than a year, and even I could understand the likelihood of emotions developing. I was nearly certain of my deduction, so of course I was blindsided.

"Katniss, if I told you something, would you promise to keep it to yourself?"

"Sure," I responded with an eyeroll.

"Promise on your mother. On Prim." Even with the rants against the capitol, he'd never invoked anything this serious. We'd stopped collecting and stood staring at each other. Gauging.

"Is it worth that much?"

"Yes." His answer carried a bitterness beyond the norm.

"Then yes, Gale, I promise." I responded with a healthy dose of suspicion, and not a hint of levity.

"You remember what that lady told us? About what we would want to do?"

"Sure." He followed my expectations only that far.

"I don't want to do any of that with girls." I was surprised, but at least I understood.

"Oh." I looked away for a second. "I don't really want to do it either. They said it might come later though."

"No, you don't get it." I scowled and he turned away, showing his back. "I don't want to do it with girls. I want to do it with boys."

I fought the urge to throw up. It was a waste of food. And a waste of a hunting partner. The next minutes were silent while I tried to think of words to respond.

"That's wrong Gale. Everyone knows it. You can't tell anyone, ever." He whirled back to face me, and I saw the tears covering his cheeks.

"I know that. I fucking know that."

"Then why did you tell me?" By then I was screaming.

"I had to tell someone. You don't know what it's like."

"Well you shouldn't have." My own tears began to work their way out. "I'm not nice Gale. You had no way of knowing what I would do."

"You already promised."

"Promises mean nothing! Dad promised to come home every morning and he's dead. What makes this different?" I saw the betrayal in his face, and grabbed him when he tried to run. "I won't tell anyone."

After that, we didn't speak for a week.

"I'm Peeta." He even offered his hand. I just stared at it, thinking about bread and hope.

"I know," I returned, and after an awkward pause, "Katniss." I realized the hand was still there and met it, looking at the dirt beneath the contact.

"You usually work with Madge right? or Gale?" I nod and he continues. "I hope you don't mind but I saw that Gale was holding hands with Delly and Madge has been out recently and so I asked Mr. Keanen to put us together because I thought it would be easier if—"

"Thank you." All I could think about was bread, and even though I knew I'd interrupted, I couldn't bring myself to care.

"It was really no problem." He flushed. "I-I'm happy to work with you. You have good grades in history. And pretty much everything really but especially history." I shook my head and he stopped rambling

"For the bread."

I saw the recognition dawn in his eyes before he looked to the ground. He brought his hand to his face, touching the left cheekbone.

"I should have done more. I'm sorry. I was too scared." I shook my head again and waited before replying.

"You didn't owe me anything. You don't."

"I still wish I'd done more." The debts and payments that decided my life seemed so foreign to him.

"Why?"

"Because…" He took a deep breath and surveyed the sparse schoolyard. "I've always…I've always had a…" Another breath. "I've always wanted to be your friend." Again, I didn't understand.

"Why?" I was from the seam, and he was from the center of town.

"My father, he…knew your mother. He pointed you out on our first day of school. I wanted to talk to you but you were just so focused that I got scared."

"We were five." My disbelief wasn't very well hidden.

"It feels like forever ago. But I've waited for this ever since."

A/N: Just a prologue. Short, simple. Katniss is about 13 years old in the first scene and 14 in the second. This story isn't slash if anyone was wondering. These two scenes just provide background that will save me from some boring exposition in the future. Thanks for reading.