A/N: I edited it! You might want to read it again. Cause it's waaaaay different.
On reaping day, when I wake up, Katniss is already gone. She's taken the cheese I left her, gone to the woods to hunt. Probably with Gale. I never show it, but I don't really like him. I feel like he's stealing her, and not just by spending the entire day with her, but he's stealing her heart. I know. I'm a bit over protective of her. But I don't want him to hurt her. She's the one who provides for us, and she's organizing that secret rebellion. The one time I express my feelings, she laughs and teases me for being in love with him. I do not like him.
And besides that, there's also that weird dream...
I'm flying and I can feel the wind in my face and see District 12 flying by beneath me. The air is so refreshing, the birds playing with me, and then a wall pops up and I crash. When I fall, I see Katniss and she's being ushered into a train. I quickly follow. Everything fast forwards and I burst over the Hunger Games arena just in time to see a knife enter her body. Katniss falls, and then the girl who stabbed her takes her backpack and runs off. I scream and the sound echoes in my ears, on and on and on. Until I wake up.
I shake off my fear and quietly get out of bed. I feed Buttercup a little part of squirrel I find in our bare cupboards. Mother wakes up and we make some tea. I like spending alone time with her, waiting for Katniss to come back. Soon I hear a faint bleating sound from outside.
"I have to milk Lady," I say and run from the house and the foreboding feeling that hangs over it. Lady calms me down like always. I play with her and Buttercup until I see Katniss coming up the path. Time seems to pass faster as Mother cooks the meat and we dress up for the reaping. This is my first time and for some reason I'm not afraid.
All the important people drone on and on and on. I tune them out and almost miss Effie's voice calling my name.
I'm frozen in surprise when Katniss volunteers for tribute in my place. I can't let her! I suddenly realize. A cold, calm voice echoes, "I won't let you."
Katniss looks at me in surprise and I realize that I said that.
"You can't," I repeat. I turn and stomp up the stairs. Katniss and my mom stare helplessly up at me as I take my place. But it's my choice. I love my sister more than anything in the world. I won't let the capitol take her away from me. Even if I die, I will save her. And my district. I promise myself that I will do anything I can to come back alive.
xxXxx
As I wait in the room, I try to come to terms with what I have done. It's not easy
My family says goodbye first, and Katniss gives me a bracelet woven from some kind of strong fiber. It's beautiful. All she says is "Wear that and remember us. They let you wear one thing from your district. I love you." But I can read all the things in her eyes that she won't tell me, because then she'd break down and she wouldn't let me go.
Mother has sunk back into despair like after the time daddy died. I tell her to take the medicine for despair that she has, but she probably didn't hear me. She still hugs me and I fit in that special place in her arms where I can forget everything until Peacekeepers come in and take them away.
Then Gale comes in and we stare at each other for am indeterminable amount of time. "I'll take care of her," he finally says.
I just stare at him, even as the peacekeepers come to take him away. I don't have anything to say to him. I really don't like him. Why does that sound so much like denial?
xxXxx
The train ride is really long, since we're the farthest from the capitol. Effie seats us in the dining carriage and chatters on about the newest Capitol fashions. "Oh, lizard fashions are so in right now. I really must get more scales. And fish fin hair? Don't get me started on that..." She starts on it anyways, and after an hour about the pros and cons of shark fins mixed with flowy betta fish fins and mermaid tales, I finally get tired of it and sneak out to explore.
The capitol train didn't look that big from the outside, but from the inside, it's really, really long. There's food in every room, even the bathrooms. Those have platters of cookies or mints wrapped in plastic next to the sink.
It's an overnight train, so there are also bedrooms. I find mine easily. There's a golden nameplate that says Primrose Everdeen in fancy letters. Inside, the first thing I see is a nice bed that looks so comfortable, I just want to curl up and sleep forever. But then I see the awesome TV. It takes up a whole wall. With spoken commands. You take the microphone and say whatever you want to see. A window takes up another wall, but the automatic, cute little sphere lights hanging from the low ceiling make it hard to see anything outside. The train's going so fast you can probably only see blurred wilderness anyways.
A little table laden with more hot, steamy food stands on the other side of a little paper-and-wood partition. The closet has more clothes than I can possibly wear in my whole life.
The bathroom is just plain awesome. Except awesome isn't plain in any way... There's a toilet, and fancy buttons everywhere. There's even a bathtub. The only ones we had in District 12 were in the victors' and mayor's houses. Or so I've heard.
I step in for a long soak and experiment with the buttons until I'm almost drowning in bubbles. The running water is so loud, I almost the sound of someone slamming open my door and stomping in. "Primrose!" comes the shout. I groan. It's Haymitch. "Where are you? It's time for dinner!"
"Haven't you ever heard of knocking on the door in case someone's taking a bath?" I demand.
"Oh. Well, just come out soon. Effie's getting worried," he makes a hasty retreat. I roll my eyes. My relaxation ruined...oh well. At least I have good food to look forward to.
xxXxx
"And now, for the amazing tributes!" I wait my turn on the horse-drawn carriages, wearing a burning cape. I was so scared of it, I didn't even notice who put it on me. I mean, five minutes into the Capitol and they're already trying to kill me. Everything passes in a blur of colors and applause and whistles. Effie's face is the only one I can distinguish from the others after, probably because it's so close. She looks so proud.
I wear the white, soft dress I find in the back of my closet to dinner. Chicken, bread, and many different types of seafood are spread buffet-style around the room, with our dining table in the middle. Effie glares disapprovingly at me as I walk in. But she's also glaring at Peeta. Maybe he snuck out too.
I load up my plate- chicken, mashed potatoes, grave and corn piled up like an island in the middle of my plate, with shrimp and clams around like the fish in the ocean- and sit down at the artfully arranged table. It's very beautiful. Maybe, if I win-if- I can make my hobby decorating or something. I like art.
"So," Haymitch clears his throat and picks at his lobster. "About tomorrow's training. What can you two do?"
"Wrestling?" Peeta speaks up. "All that lifting flour and stuff at the bakery must have helped a lot." Haymitch considers him for a moment.
"Hmmmm... okay. What about you?" he turns to me.
"I can't really fight," I mumble. "Just heal..." I trail off uncertainly.
Haymitch huffs in annoyance. Then, suddenly, he grabs a knife and hurls it at me. I yelp. But, to my surprise, I've caught it. I stare at it for a long while. Effie starts scolding Haymitch. He just talks over her. "Thought that might work. You, my dear, have speed. Fast reflexes. Try throwing that knife."
I throw it, and to my surprise it lodges into the wall; right where I wanted it to hit.
"Aim too," Haymitch says approvingly.
xxXxx
At training the next day, I get through all the stations super fast after the head trainer finishes her speech. Then I go again to the ones I had trouble with. Which, unfortunately is more than half of them. By lunch I have gone through one-sixth of those.
After, Peeta starts following me to all of the stations. I have a lot to learn about traps. I can't even tie the rope right. Gale could probably do this easily. Katniss told me he was a genius at setting traps. I scowl and yank the rope again.
Most of the tributes glance at me and whisper. I'm so tiny and delicate, they're probably wondering why I didn't let Katniss take my place. "So, why are you following me?" I strike up conversation with Peeta.
"Well..." he glances around furtively. "See, I have an idea. Can you just meet me up on the roof tonight?"
"...sure..."
"Great! I have to go talk to some people... Why don't you go make some friends?" And then he rushes off, leaving me staring at him.
I see a little girl from District 11 by herself. Make friends, huh? Why not start with her? I go to her station- climbing, I also have trouble with that- and smile. "Hi. I'm Prim, from District 12."
She smiles back. "I'm Rue." She's about the same age as me, but way smaller. I instantly start to feel protective of her, like a sister might feel.
"So, what are you doing?" And just like that, I've made a friend. Man, this is easy.
Clove stalks up and smirks at us. "So, are the babies getting together?"
Or not.
"Nope." I struggle to keep my face blank. "I don't see any babies around here. Maybe you get you need to get your eyes checked or something."
Her pretty face twists into a hateful expression. "Watch it, Flower," she growls. She whips out a knife and throws it at me. The look on her face when I snatch it out of the air and launch it back is priceless. She quickly flips to dodge it. "You're on," she hisses, and is about to fling another knife when a trainer comes up and breaks up the fight. For the rest of the day she sends hateful glares my way.
xxXxx
The elevator ride back up to my rooms is silent and long, since it stops at every floor to deposit tributes. Finally, I'm alone for about two seconds. I haven't seen Peeta for the whole day. Effie drags me to the dining room the moment I step out. She leads me to my bathroom, shoves me in, and turns on the water. Two minutes later, she pulls me out, dries me off, and throws a clean pair clothes onto me. Then she drags me to the dining room. "There," she says, panting slightly. "I got her here in in 5 minutes. Let's eat now."
Haymitch rolls his eyes. As I slide into the seat beside him, bemused, he mutters under his breath,"It was your idea we couldn't eat before Prim got here..."
Effie's heads snaps up. "What was that, dear?" she calls from across the room. That woman has the hearing of a bat.
"Nothing..."
"Haymitch, really, you shouldn't say that," she continues as if he didn't say anything. "It was an old tradition, from before Panem. Everyone must be present. Now then, let's start!" She claps her hands imperiously and Avoxes file in, carrying plates of food. The five-course meal is delicious.
After, I take the stairs to the roof. "Well?" I ask Peeta. He's already on the roof.
"I have a plan." Peeta glances around. "We can convince people to not fight. All of us can rise against the capitol. And before you say that's not possible, hear me out. I know what Katniss has been doing- smuggling in food, sending reports to District 13. We can convince people like that, tell them. The Capitol can't actually force us to fight. It's just survival instinct that makes us kill. If we don't fight each other, we can concentrate on helping the rebellion."
"What rebellion?"
"Katniss is going to lead a rebellion the day of the Hunger Games. Everyone will be focusing on watching us kill each other. They'll be taken completely by surprise."
I smile. It's absolutely ingenious. "There's just one problem..."
"Yeah?"
"How do we get everyone to agree? Some actually want to win-even if it means killing tons of people."
"Yeah. I kinda don't know what to do about that," he admits. "But if we just make a few friends, maybe..." he trails off and sighs. "Look, I just don't want to kill a bunch of people and have a bunch of people try to kill me. I'm pretty sure most other people don't want that either. Maybe we can just ignore the careers. If the rest of us get together, we outnumber them by a lot."
We stay up on the roof for the rest of the night, planning, arguing, and masking it all up by pretending to talk about home. Mostly we talk about Katniss. I don't know why.
A/N: So... was it better...?