The girl with the long dark braid stared down at the black ink forming on her wrist that her best friend pointed out. It's happening, Katniss! She had squealed. You get to find out who your soulmate is!
Madge could barely contain her excitement, but Katniss couldn't believe it was happening right there, in the middle of their weekly lunch at Sae's old diner. Madge has yet to get her tattoo that appears with a symbol matching that of her soulmate's, but most of their friends had already. They both have gotten invitations to two of their friends' weddings this summer.
Katniss had never liked the idea of a tattoo declaring who she will be with for the rest of her life. A lot of soulmates had never even met before! Doesn't that make it really awkward? Not knowing the person at all but knowing you are destined to spend the rest of your life with them? She thought to herself.
Madge's dreamy sigh snapped Katniss back to the present and her head shot up to look back at her friend with wide eyes.
"Why is this happening now? How am I supposed to know who my soulmate is?" Katniss asked.
"Obviously the Fates think you're ready. And quit worrying," Madge replied. "Soulmates are always somewhat close to each other. You just need to look for someone else with a-" She cuts off to look at Katniss' wrist. "Mockingjay symbol."
Katniss groaned and put her head down on the table, her appetite ruined. "How am I supposed to start a relationship when I don't even want one?" she grumbled.
"You're gonna be wanting one soon enough." Madge chuckled. "You know how soulmates are when they finally meet." She wriggles her eyebrows at Katniss.
"Ugh, don't talk to me about that right now!" Katniss shrieks. "I need to go home. I need to tell Prim." She pauses, "Oh god she's going to be so happy." Katniss can practically hear Prim's squeals and clapping hands.
"Oh Katniss!" Prim screamed. "You have a soulmate!" You'd think she doesn't have a soulmate of her own with the way she's acting.
Prim got hers a few months ago, only a few weeks after her 18th birthday. It came as a surprise to Katniss who still saw her baby sister as the little 12 year old girl whose shirt tails didn't want to stay tucked into her skirt. It's not uncommon though. Soulmate tattoos appear as early as 16 years old, and some as late as 60 years old.
It came as no surprise though when Prim came bursting into the house the same night her tattoo appeared announcing that the second oldest Hawthorne boy, Rory, was her soulmate. The Hawthornes and the Everdeens were like family, and Prim and Rory had been attached at the hip since birth. Which is what to expect when both Mrs. Hawthorne and Mrs. Everdeen were best friends and pregnant at the same time.
They agreed not to marry for another year though, so they can both get a steady job before starting something serious.
"Yeah, yeah I know" Katniss replied. Prim runs and throws her arms around Katniss.
"We have to go! We have to start looking for him!" Prim stops for a second. "Or her." She says.
Katniss contemplates this for a moment. She hadn't thought about her soulmate being a woman. She's never been attracted to a woman before, but she's never really been attracted to any men either.
Liar. A part of her brain hisses. She stops that thought before it can even start. She does not want to think about him right now.
"Slow down, Little Duck," Katniss brushes back Prim's hair. "I'll find him or her in time. We don't need to rush it" She doesn't want to admit that the thought of running around town looking for her soulmate makes her sick.
Prim pouts but agrees to let it rest for now. "Have you shown Gale?" Prim asks after a pause.
Katniss looks at her weirdly, "No, why?"
"Just wondering." Prim says while picking a piece of lint off of her skirt. "Maybe he happened to get his tattoo today too."
Katniss looked bewildered for a second before realization dawned on her. Her face turned into a look of horror. "No! No way Gale is my soulmate!"
Prim just shrugs her shoulders and says, "It's just a thought."
Katniss thinks for a moment. She and Gale have been best friends for over ten years. They hang out every Sunday. He wouldn't be a horrible person to be stuck with for the rest of her life, but she's never had those sort of romantic thoughts about him.
"I… I don't think so." Katniss says. But the seed has been planted and now it's all she can think about.
"Maybe just pay him a visit." Prim offers.
Katniss thinks for a minute then nods her head. She heads into her and Prim's shared bedroom and puts on a long sleeve shirt to cover her tattoo before exiting the house.
"Let me know how things go!" Prim calls from the front door. Katniss just waves over her shoulder and turns towards the Hawthornes.
"Hi Hazel. Is Gale here?" Katniss asks the plump mother of four.
"Katniss! Yes he's right out back. Go on ahead back there." Katniss nods her thanks and heads into the backyard.
She finds Gale sitting on a stump skinning a squirrel. He's whistling a tune she doesn't recognize.
"Hey Catnip," He says without turning around. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" He finally turns and smirks at her. Katniss rolls her eyes and plops down onto the stump to his right.
"Just wanted to see if you were competent enough to skin a squirrel without cutting one of your own fingers off." She glances at his hands and sees a bandage wrapped around his left thumb. "I see you still aren't." She says gesturing to his hand.
He laughs and says, "Someday I will be, Catnip. Someday." She rolls her eyes.
"But really, what are you doing here? You never come this late in the afternoon unless our families are having dinner together." He asks. Katniss stares steadily across the backyard to the forest beyond.
"Have you gotten your tattoo yet?" She asks without looking away from the woods.
She sees him freeze out of the corner of her eye. He doesn't say anything for a few seconds.
"No… why?" He replies back quietly.
Katniss lets out a sigh of relief, but then stops. If Gale's not her soulmate, then who is?
"I got mine today," She blurts. "I was having lunch with Madge and all of a sudden it started appearing on my wrist." She looks over at him. He's looking down at the squirrel in his hands. He seems lost in thought.
Finally, he looks up at her and asks her if he can see it. She nods and pulls up her sleeve to let him see. He examines it for a minute then nods and looks away.
"Nope. I haven't gotten mine." He grumbles. His reaction confuses her. Why is he acting like he's disappointed? It's not like they were a couple or something. And he's never shown any interest in her before. Has he?
She clears her throat. "I have no idea who it could be." She says softly.
Gale resumes his skinning of the squirrel and mumbles something under his breath.
"What?" Katniss asks. Gale stops and glares at her.
"You really don't know Katniss?" He bites. She furrows her brows in confusion. He sees this and sighs. "I said 'It's probably bread boy.'" He grumbles.
Katniss stares at him in shock. Then she gets angry. He has no idea what he's saying. "What the hell are you talking about?" She growls at him.
"Are you kidding me Katniss? You're gonna pull the oblivious card on me and act like you didn't notice? Breadboy's been pining after you for years." He scoffs.
"Oblivious act? What's that supposed to mean? He's never done anything to me to indicate he likes me, let alone knows I exist!" Besides saving your life she thinks.
"Whatever Katniss. I don't want to talk about Loverboy with you." He stands up and throws his squirrel on top of his hunting bag. Katniss follows.
"Fine. You can talk to me after you stop acting like a child." She says as she stalks off. As if Peeta Mellark actually likes me. We've barely even said more than five words to each other.
The girl stared at the rain coming down in buckets as she rest against the tree. Her eyes keep unfocusing. The clothes that she failed to trade lay on the ground at her feet covered in mud. Her stomach clenches in emptiness. She can't remember the last time she actually ate something. Mama hasn't left her bed in a few months. Papa has been gone for the same time. Food ran out weeks ago. The little girl can do nothing but watch herself, her mom, and her little sister slowly starve to death. The clothes were her last shot. They were supposed to get her something to buy some food. But no one wanted any old, worn clothes. She can't go back home empty handed. She can't bear the look of disappointment little Prim will have.
She focuses in on the building in front of her, just now realizing it's the Mellark's bakery. The Mellarks are all kind people, except for the wife of the baker. She's a real witch. Everyone in District Twelve has heard her screams or seen the bruises and cuts her children will be sporting the next day. The youngest boy, Peeta, is in her grade. She's seen a few bruises on his face herself. He never talks about it though.
Katniss shivers as she looks in through the bakery windows and sees the light of the fire oven blazing through the open kitchen door. It must be so warm in there. She imagines all the pastries and bread, the warmth of the ovens, and the sweet taste of the frosting she's never actually had the privilege of trying.
It wouldn't be so bad to die with that thought in my head she thinks to herself. She curls her body in on itself against the thick trunk of the tree she's against. She begins to close her eyes when she hears shouting and the smack of a hand meeting skin. She looks up just in time to see the baker's wife's hand head back down for another smack across the boy's face, Peeta's face. Peeta just stands there and lets his mom hit him.
A perfectly good batch ruined! Go feed these to the pigs you worthlees boy! The woman yells at him. He stares intently at his shoes. She turns on her heels and stomps back into the bakery. The boy stays there until his mother turns the corner into the kitchen. Then he turns and runs out to Katniss and hands the burnt loaves of bread to her.
Go, hurry! He urges her. She just stares up at him confusedly. You need to leave, Katniss! He turns to go back to the bakery, but stops to look over his shoulder one last time. He sees the girl slowly getting up onto wobbling knees, staring at the two loaves of bread in her hands. Once he's made sure she's actually getting up he runs back into the bakery. Katniss looks up to say something but sees that he's already gone.
She looks one last time from the bread to the bakery, and turns to head home. A spark of hope lighting up her chest.
Katniss glances up at the sign on the building in front of her nervously. Mellark's Bakery the fading sign proclaims. She wipes her damp hands on her jeans. She puts her hand in her jacket pocket to make sure the change she brought with her is still there. She needs to at least act like she's got a reason for going in there instead of barging in saying "Oh hey Peeta I know we've never had a conversation before but my friend Gale put this crazy notion into my head that we could possibly be soulmates, so have you gotten your tattoo?"
She takes a deep breath before pushing through the front door. The bell tinkles above her, signaling her entrance.
"I'll be with you in a moment!" a familiar voice says from the kitchen. Katniss quickly glances around the bakery, noticing that no one else is in there with her. She jiggles the change in her pocket and pretends to peruse all the selections on display. She looks up as a person comes through the kitchen door saying, "Sorry 'bout that. What can I- Oh. Hi, Katniss." Peeta says nervously. He looks like he can't believe she's in the bakery, which now that she's thinking about it, she's only ever gone to the back door for trades. She waves awkwardly at him.
Peeta clears his throat. "So, uh, what can I do for you today?" He asks her. She looks up to see him looking right at her with a slight smile on his lips. Her stomach flutters a little, but she just puts it off as nerves.
"Um, I'll have the cranberry and goat cheese tart please" She says.
"Coming right up" He replies. She watches as he grabs the pastry for her and puts it into a paper bag. He really is quite good looking. His broad shoulders from years of lifting heavy flour bags stretch out his mandatory white Mellark's Bakery t-shirt. His unruly blonde curls continue to drop down onto his forehead no matter how many times he swipes them back. His bright blue eyes sparkle with a goodness no one could taint. And his jawline is just… wow.
Katniss shakes her head and focuses on what she came here to find out. She just can't seem to bring herself to look directly at his wrist, so she watches his veined forearms move as he wraps up her tart. He presents the bag to her and she begins to take her change out of her pocket. Peeta puts his hand out to stop her and shakes his head with a smile.
"It's on the house" he says kindly.
"But I can pay for it" Katniss replies indignantly.
"I've no doubt you can" he chuckles. "Consider it a payment for the squirrels" he winks.
Katniss blushes and says, "This is too much for the squirrels. My squirrels are not worth this"
"I don't know, Katniss. Your squirrels are the best I've ever had" He says.
Katniss scowls. "That's because my squirrels are the only squirrels you've had."
"You've got me there" Peeta laughs. "But I still insist that it's on the house"
Katniss shakes her head, but reluctantly agrees. He smiles widely at her and hand over her bag. She grabs onto the bag, but he doesn't let go.
He looks as if he wants to say something but ends up saying, "Have a good day Katniss."
She nods and finally glances down at his wrist and nearly drops the bag. She hastily grabs it and hurries out of the bakery.
Because right there on the right of the inside of Peeta Mellark's wrist, was a tattoo of a mockingjay identical to the one on her own.