I've always wondered how others saw Katniss Everdeen, and it seems that now, I finally have an answer! This is a stand-alone one-shot, but please tell me if you want me to develop it into a two-shot or even a multi-chapter story. Thanks!
Maisie Donner was five when she first saw Katniss Everdeen.
They were in the same class together, at school, and the teacher had them all sit in a circle and introduce themselves. Maisie shot her hand up when the teacher asked for volunteers, her eyes bright with excitement. "My name's Maisie and I like pink! Especially the cupcakes in the store with pink frosting! Mommy buys some for me every week..." She doesn't notice the hostility hidden behind cool gazes in the eyes of the children with gray eyes and olive skin. Doesn't notice the brief flicker of annoyance in Lavander's. Not the open outrage in Eric's, or the skeptical glance that Katniss gives her. As if anyone could afford cupcakes every week. Maisie does notice, however, when Katniss stands up and sings the valley song. That's when she became determined to be friends.
Maisie Donner was five when she first talked to Katniss Everdeen.
It was lunch. Maisie took her lunch (bread with cheese, a cup of water) and sat down next to Katniss. The girl barely acknowledges her other than scooting over a bit to make room. Maisie wastes no time with her perky introduction.
"Hi, I'm Maisie, what's your name?" she asked. Katniss turns toward her. "Katniss." Katniss answers Maisie's questions with quiet, short answers. "Yes. No. I guess."
By the end of lunch, Maisie decides that Katniss is a grump and moves to another table.
Maisie Donner was nine when she was partnered with Katniss Everdeen for a school project.
After two years of separation, the two girls were in the same class together once again. The teacher drew names out of a hat. Maisie was doodling on a scrap of paper when she heard her name being called.
"Maisie and... Katniss!"
She sighed- I really wanted to be partners with Eloise- and moved over to sit next to Katniss. Katniss is quiet, as usual, keeping her head down and working quietly on their assigned worksheet. Maisie gets to work on the other sheet, sneaking a peek under her bangs at Katniss every once in a while. No matter how long she looked, Katniss kept writing away, with no change to her posture.
"Hey- do you remember what plant a "serri bush" is?" asked Maisie. partly because she was confused. Mostly because she wanted to get Katniss to talk. And Katniss did talk. For a sentence, at least.
"It's the bush in front of the door." Katniss replied. Maisie glanced out the window and saw the bush in all its glory, before scribbling down a few notes.
She would try many times in next ten minutes to get Katniss to open up, until at last, Maisie sighed and at last abandoned her attempts to catch Katniss in the act of... something. The merchant girl brushed her blond bangs out from her face and rolled her eyes. This was going to be a long project.
Maisie Donner was twelve when she took notice of Katniss Everdeen again.
There were the rumors. Rumors that Katniss could hunt. Rumors that she killed a lynx and sold it at the Hob. Rumors that she bribes Peacekeepers to look the other way when she takes a loaf of bread, or a pair of candlesticks. But none of them were substantiated, though you know how rumors travel. Anyone who's ever been in a middle school does. Maisie pondered it, but never thought of it as a real possibility. She told herself it was stupid to believe such rumors, foolish to establish a reputation as a gossip. But the real reason was that if Katniss could escape District Twelve for an hour a day, what's to stop a merchant girl from doing the same?
Absolutely nothing. And so Maisie ignored the rumors, and tried not to pass them on. Slowly, one by one, they sparked out of existence. And Maisie kept her head down, if not exactly quietly, through the entire thing.
Maisie Donner was fourteen when she sees Katniss leave District Twelve for the first time.
She woke at the crack of dawn, her heart thumping in fear. A vague sense of fear filled her, and Maisie rolled over. That was just a stupid nightmare. she thought. However, try as she might, Maisie couldn't get back to sleep. She sighed, standing up. "I might as well go look outside to see what time it is." Maisie muttered to herself. "There's no way I'm getting back to sleep."
Carefully, to not wake her sleeping sister on the thin mattress beside her, Maisie walked to the window, cringing as one of the floorboards made a particularly loud creak. She peered through it and smiled at the sunrise, painting the sky with tinges of pale pink and pastel yellows. Maisie was about to go back to the mattress when she saw a figure slip through the chain link fence.
Her mind recalled the rumors that had been so popular through the pre-teen years, and Maisie's eyes widened. That was Katniss Everdeen. She really did hunt. Maisie sighed and wished she had never woken.
Maisie Donner is sixteen when Katniss Everdeen volunteered to save her sister.
She was standing in the crowd, terrified, her heart thumping. Not me, not me, not me she whispered. And it wasn't her. It was a name she recognized, though. Prim. Primrose, the sweet little girl who sold goat cheese to some of the merchants. Katniss's sister. Maisie is relieved that the tribute isn't her, and it must show on her face. relived that she's not going to die. And angry, because Prim is.
She isn't aware of the disturbance caused by Prim's hysterical sister, shoving her way through the crowd. It's only until Katniss Everdeen is standing on the stage that Maisie realizes that Katniss sealed her own death sentence.
Maisie Donner is seventeen when she realizes that Katniss Everdeen has somehow doomed District Twelve.
Maisie wakes in a panic, to find rubble standing where one wall was. She screamed, long and loud, her eyes wide. Coughing, the girl stumbled out into the fresh air. Maisie is terrified, her breath is heaving in sobs of fear. She runs as fast as she can, away from her house, right to the Connelly's- their next-door neighbors.
It doesn't occur to Maisie that nothing is safe. It doesn't occur to her that the wall she leans against might not be secure. it doesn't occur to her that she might be making a fatal mistake. It doesn't occur to her hat she might get crushed by the wall, already weakened by a long frost and half-destroyed by the firebombs. And most of all, it doesn't occur to her that she's dead until Maisie Donner is chocking on smoke and cursing the hunter girl's name.