DiSCLAiMER: I do not own the hunger games, the genius that is Suzanne Collins does. Okay? We clear?
So this is my first ever fanfic, so I'm sorry if it's lame, but hey! So here's a description thingy...What would have happened if Peeta didn't love Katniss, if there were no star-crossed lovers of District 12? If Peeta wasn't there to save Katniss from Cato? If there was no boy with the bread?
Katniss' POV
I wake to find the bed I share with my younger sister, Prim, empty. I sit up and squint to help me make out the blurry figures in my mother's bed, and find that, as I suspected, Prim is curled up with my mother. I'm not surprised. Today is the reaping.
I change silently before heading into the woods to meet my best friend Gale at our rendezvous spot to have breakfast, and of course, hunt. I wouldn't normally take my hunting jacket on a day like this, as it is warm, but it gives me a sense of security, as it belonged to my father, before he died in a mining accident five long years ago...
"Catnip?" Gale's worried voice brings me back to my senses, and I realise he is stood in front of me, a loaf of bread with an arrow stuck comically out of the side clutched in his hand. I laugh, and Gale's worried expression is replaced with one of relief, that I am okay, I suppose.
"Look what I shot" Gale says, answering my laughter. I pull the arrow from the bread, and realise that this isn't our home-made ration bread, but real bakery bread. "How much did that cost?" I question Gale, who replies with "Only a squirrel, I think the old man was feeling a little sentimental this morning" I push my hands into my pockets to give me something to do, I guess, instead of thinking about today, about the reaping, and find that my hand brushes against a small item. I pull it out and find a small blob of goat's cheese that Prim must have made and placed in my pocket.
Gale's face brightens up when he sees the cheese. "Thank you, Prim! We'll have a real feast today!" Gale knows that Prim makes cheese from her goat, Lady's milk. I pluck a blackberry from the nearby tree, and place it on the bread, which Gale has spread goat's cheese on, and take a large bite, distracting myself from starting the day I am dreading...
Peeta's POV
I awaken to find the sun is well risen, showing me that it is around 11, maybe 12? The reaping starts at two, so I may as well start getting ready now. I wash, combing my blond curls so they fall properly around my face. I go downstairs to eat, and help my father in the bakery before we leave. My brothers, Devon and Aldren, sat around the table, spreading jam on slices of bread, so I take a piece and sit at the table.
Only Devon and I are still of reaping age, but I'm not worried. I have never taken any tesserae, I live in a bakery, duh! This is Devon's last reaping, as he is 18, but compared to some of the boy's in the seam, who have more than 20 tesserae's, the odds are most definitely in our favour. My mother comes into the room, and almost growls at me, "You aren't dressed!" "We have plenty of time before reaping yet, it's okay" I reply. Devon shoots me a look, and replies before mother can "It's quarter past 1, Peeta". Oops. I can't read the sun very well...
Katniss' POV
In the section of 16 year olds, there is complete silence as the district escort, Effie Trinket pulls the name from the glass ball that holds the names of the females. 17 have Katniss Everdeen on them. I watch as she clears her throat, and reads the name..
Peeta's POV
"Primrose Everdeen"
I watch as Effie calls the name, and as a small blond girl, who I think maybe sells cheese to my dad, walks to the stage. I think she is only 12. She begins to mount the stage, when a girl pushes her way out of the 16 year old section opposite the one I'm in. I recognise her as well, she's in some of my classes, a bit of a loner, really. I don't know her name, Katie, Kat? She is the opposite of the little blond girl, who looks like a merchants daughter, whereas Kat? Has long, dark hair and is definitely from the seam.
The dark haired girl shoves the little girl from the stage who begins crying and shouting "no Katniss, no you can't go!" So that's her name! I watch as a young man, who looks 18, maybe older, pulls Primrose off Katniss and smiles weakly at her. I watch as Effie asks Katniss what her name is, and listen as she replies "Katniss Everdeen" in a voice she is clearly fighting to keep steady. Effie says something about her being Primrose's sister, and...! I can't believe what she says next "don't want her to steal all the glory, do we?" How stupid is this woman? In district 12, tribute is the same as dead, but I don't really have time to think about her stupidity as she begins to make her way over to the boys reaping ball
I have to stifle a yawn as she pulls the slip for the ball and clears her throat for the second time...
Katniss' POV
"Peeta Mellark"
I watch the boy, who seems stunned to have been called, and am thankful he isn't Gale. I am annoyed at this boy, who seems so shocked to have been called, with his typical blond merchants hair, and his status as the bakers son. I know who he is. He is the boy who watched me almost starve to death under the apple tree in his backyard all those years ago, while his mother screamed abused at me and I saw the pig in his yard. A pig that ate better than me. The only reason I survived is because I had knowledge. Knowledge that some plants are edible, from my father. I ate dandelions, for heavens sake!
And he has fresh bread. All the time. Jealousy isn't a big enough word for it. I watch a girl, the mayor's daughter, crying in the crowd. She is the only connection between me and this idiot. We partner in sports, which boys and girls split up to do, and she is his girlfriend. I asked her why she went out with him once, and she said he was cute. Typical.
I won't have a problem killing him.
Okay, I won't normally swap POV's that often, but with it being reaping, I had to :) You see the little blue button that says "Review this story"? Click it. Please?