Title: The Plan
Prompt: Prim + Buttercup watching the Games (first book)
POV: Prim
Word Count: 421
She barely even looks like my big sister anymore. The dress is beautiful, her hair's been done up like mom would have done it, and she been made up so much that she doesn't even look like Katniss anymore.
At the same time, she looks exactly the same as she did on the day she took the stage for me. Strong, determined, angry. Hiding her fear, but it's definitely there.
"Mom, Katniss is on," I call into the kitchen.
"I'll be in when I'm done," she responds. Posy Hawthorne has the flu, and Gale came by to ask for something to help her cough. I hear him come into the living room behind me, and his breath catches in his throat when he sees her on the screen.
He moves to sit beside me slowly, never taking his eyes off my sister. After a couple of minutes, I ask him, "Why are they holding hands?" It's as if I've startled him from a dream, and when he asks politely that I repeat my question I say, "Tributes are supposed to be against each other in the arena. Only one comes back," my voice almost catches here, and I find myself fighting back fresh tears. As if he knows how I'm feeling, Buttercup jumps up on my lap and curls into a purring ball there. "So why are they holding hands?"
"Haymitch probably has some crazy plan," Gale answers, gluing his eyes to the television again. "And whatever that plan is, it likely involves bringing your sister home."
"Why do you think that?" I ask, petting Buttercup between the ears.
"Because, of the two, she's more likely to make it," he says nonchalantly. As an afterthought, he adds, "No offense to Mellark."
As always, the interviews are rather dull. I sit there stroking Buttercup so hard that he begins to growl at me, but I don't even notice – I'm so nervous about Katniss's interview. I'm barely listening as Caesar calls each tribute up to sit before him.
After what seems like an eternity, Caesar's starting District 12. Peeta rises and sits before Caesar. And Caesar asks him if he has a girlfriend. He shakes his head, and Caesar begins digging. Finally, Caesar tells him he could ask her out when he wins the Games, and he says that he can't.
Caesar and the studio audience look confused, but Gale and I look at each other now, finally understanding why they were holding hands. "Because … because … she came here with me."