Chapter 1: Lotta People Try to Grab Me

It's another busy day in the Hob. I am weaving through the crowd in my blue Reaping dress that is a hand-me-down from my mother's. My normal hunting wear is in the laundry, and I won't get it back until tomorrow.

I finish my standard sale with Greasy Sae, and am just turning to leave when a Peacekeeper blocks my way. "And where's a pretty little thing like you going in such a hurry?"

I gulp. "Move aside, please. I have to get home."

"Not until we have a little fun," the Peacekeeper grins. He puts his arms around my waist and forcibly kisses me. His hands wander as he audaciously grabs my butt through my skirt.

"Mmmm!" I squeal, trying to push him away.

"Give someone else a chance!" a Seam miner calls, and I feel him come up behind me, trapping me between the two men. Hands grab and squeeze my breasts. I try to elbow the guy in the stomach, but my arms are pinned to my side by the Peacekeeper's embrace.

I wish I could say this is an extraordinary occurrence, but it isn't. I may only be 16 years old, but apparently I am one of the most beautiful women in District 12. Many men have lusted after me, or made a pass at me, or sexually harassed me. All in vain, because I would never allow myself to be seduced that way. I will never marry, or sleep with any man. Never!

Suddenly, both sets of groping hands are torn away, and I hear scuffling and shouts. I quickly touch myself, even though my clothes have not really been disturbed, as if that will cleanse me of the groping that has just occurred. Meanwhile, I see a flash of red hair and blue eyes throwing punches that send the miner and Peacekeeper running. Darius Pontipee, a kindly Peacekeeper whom I have befriended in recent years and always pays me handsomely for my kills.

"Let's go," he tells me, and he leads me by the hand past the gawking onlookers out of the Hob and back into town. Thank goodness he showed up when he did. I was going to head to his place to make a trade, anyway. I used to do that with his father, who often bought my squirrels.

"I'm fine, Darius, really," I try to shrug it off, a little ashamed that he caught me in such a compromising position.

"He should not have been grabbing at you like that, Katniss," and I am surprised to hear Darius's voice shake with rage. "Neither of them!"

"A lot of people try to grab me!" I shrug off, adjusting the shoulder of my dress.

"It's still wrong! No woman should be touched like that, least of all you! You should be treated like a queen, like your body is a piece of glass or 14-karat gold!" Peeta passionately says.

I blink in amazement. "Wow, Darius. That was really sweet."

We make our trade for squirrels. Darius offers to escort me home, just in case, but I turn down his kind offer. I encounter no other men as I walk home to the Seam.