Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.

Staring

I can't really help it. The guys are all headed home, so I guess it would be safe. I sneak a glace at her. A girl in my year and a few of my classes. A girl from the Seam called Katniss Everdeen.

I know we're only thirteen, but I know I love her, even if we've never really talked. She started hanging out with this Hawthorn guy a few months ago and it's hard not to feel jealous. I'm just some thirteen-year-old kid and he's a fifteen-year-old man who can hunt and spend as much time as he wants with Katniss, being her hunting partner or something.

My family knows. My brothers tease me about it, my father smirks sometimes, and my mother mostly uses it as another excuse to berate me. She would have never known if she hadn't overheard my oldest brother teasing me one morning after he caught me watching Katniss and her sister admiring the cakes in the window. I felt so proud because I had iced those cakes, and Katniss Everdeen thought they were pretty. While my mother screamed at me all night; how could I like a piece of Seam trash like that girl, I fantasized about making a cake just for Katniss and her family. Our neighbors swore she kept them all up that night and my brother bought me ice cream, a real treat here in District Twelve, as an apology.

I look at her. I only just realized that I haven't blinked for a while. Yup, definitely staring. Her eyes flit to me and I turn away. Oh, I hope she didn't catch me staring. Aside from an incident involving burned bread last winter, she probably doesn't even know I exist. My dad always tells me first impressions are the most important and I do not want her to know me as the creepy boy from the bakery!

I want so bad for her to notice me, but I can't approach her. I know several people who'd never let me hear the end of it. Besides, she doesn't seem to be looking for a boyfriend right now. Her dad was killed in a mine explosion last winter, a few months before the thing with the bread. I haven't seen Mrs. Everdeen since then and I hope she's okay, but as far as I could tell Katniss has taken over caring for her sister. She amazes me.

I start staring at her again. It's only a few seconds before she looks at me again, and I turn away. Again. I really should do something about this habit of mine.

I felt it was only appropriate to follow the book's style of writing. A real author does need experiment with different writing styles after all, and more than that, it's just plain fun. Review.