Precision:There may be some grammatical errors or some of my sentences may not seem clear. It's also normal since english is not my first language. Also I do not own the Hunger games, Suzan Collin does.
Hi! So this is my first fanfiction and it's all about what happens before Katniss's born. This chapter might be long but I still hope you'll like it :D
"Deborah! Deborah Finley, get out of bed at once or you'll be late for school again!"
I open my eyes, sit down and look out by the window where gray clouds greet me by sending tears down on the roof. The clouds are gray just like his eyes and reminds me of my dreams. I dreamed of him last night and of the peaceful silence that surrounded us while he looked at me. I try to suppress all the thoughts I have about him in the far corner of my mind while I prepare myself for school. I put on the dress sitting at the foot of my bed, a red one I sowed with a roll of material my parents had gotten me for my sixteenth birthday. I braid my hair as fast as I can, then I grab my backpack and run downstairs to the wooden table in our kitchen, where my mother has left me a butter croissant and a paper bag. I take a bite of my croissant while putting my lunch in my backpack then, putting the latter over my head as a shield against the rain, I head out to school.
"Deb, wait out for me!" shout a voice behind me. I turn around and see Michael Mellark running toward me. "You know Deb, if you go on being late like this you're going to get grounded or even whipped!"
"Oh calm down Mike, I've only been late twice this week and right now you're as late as I am."
"I'm late because I was busy baking some bread for Mayor Undersee, which means I have a good reason! By the way you forgot to add today to your late list."
"That because we're not late yet" I say with a mischievous smile while starting to run as fast as I can. As free as the wind I think.
"Right." He replied, smiling back at me and following my steps at an even pace.
We run in front of a short cut. It passes right behind the Seam into a beautiful meadow, something I've discovered only yesterday.
I wonder if he's there today too. I can imagine him under the rain, trying to call out the sun with his voice that can shut quiet every single life surrounding him.
I'D like to pass by the short cut again today, but Michael would follow me and I just can't imagine myself face to face with him while having Michael by my side
I pulled myself out of my thought when we arrived at school; in time but dripping wet. We ran in the hallways and sank into our chairs for our math lesson, hoping time would me on our side today and run fast, but as always the class was boring so I started drawing in my notebook: a bird, a tree, a boy in a light full meadow looking tall and strong with two shinny gray eyes piercing me with their gaze.
"Deborah, can you tell me when were the game created?"
I lifted my head and realized that Mrs. Donner and all the students are staring at me.
"Um, what is the question again?" I ask.
"When were the games created?" repeated Mrs. Donner.
What are we already in history class?
"Um… Well…" I mumbled
"Were you daydreaming again?"
"Maybe…?"
She shook her head. "Magdelene, could you please answer the question? While you Miss Finley, I'll see you after class."
After that the lesson went to fast to my taste and I ended face to face with Mrs. Donner sooner than I expected.
"Deborah I know that you work at your parents apothecary and that you have a lot of work these days but you must not neglect you rest time. It is very important for a young girl your age."
"Of course, Mrs. Donner, I understand your intention." giving her my usual agreeing monologue.
"I know you do Debbie, you just never do as said." she says with a wink. "Now you can go. Oh and pass by the house after class, we have some of your favourite cookies back home."
I smiled back at her. "I sure will Mrs. Donner."
I got up and walked to the door but when I opened it two identical girls stumble in the class.
"Were you eavesdropping on us?" I asked the twins.
"Um… Well… No… I mean…. Well kind of… But…" they said in one voice.
I looked up and saw Michael standing by the wall.
"And you just let them listen to other people's conversation?" I ask him.
"I told them they shouldn't." he replied with a bored expression on his face.
I roll my eyes and look back at the twins "So something to add?"
"Your hair looks good?" say Maysilee in a capitol accent.
"And your dress is fantabulous" add Kaylee, imitating Ginnika Bowen, District twelve' escort.
"So did Mom say you could come home after school?" says Maysilee "You could even stay for dinner."
"I would have, but a burned miner arrived this morning and when I'm at home he's mine to take care of."
"Yes but if you're at our house you're not at yours, so it's all right." said Kaylee.
"Well… no Kaylee it doesn't work like that." I say to her "But I will pass by your house to get a cookie."
"Now I don't want to interrupt, but we better get going or we won't have time to lunch." say Michael while showing the direction of the cafeteria.
We all follow him down the hall and get into the cafeteria where we spot our empty table, right in the middle of the place, and walk toward it. We finally sit and eat our lunch while Kaylee talk about the Mayor's son, Markus Undersee, who asked her this morning if she would like to go dinner at his house tomorrow evening. We all think she should accept because Markus is nineteen years old, three years older than us, which mean he's free from the Reaping, and because even though he's working at the mines right now, we all know he will soon succeed his father as mayor. Still, it's his blue eyes; blond hair and very nice personality that help Kaylee make her choice.
About fifteen minutes later, I see the seventeen years old students get inside for their lunch break and even though there's a lot of boys and girls coming in at once, I spot him easily through the crowd. He's laughing at one of his friend's joke and walking toward the back of the caf, like he does every day. But instead of bypassing the tables to get to the far left table of the caf like always, he does the same pattern we used to get to our table, and come straight toward us. Then, when he gets to us, he pulls a chair from another table and sits in front of me, followed by his friends. When all of them get here, we are not four, like always, but a little bit more than ten.
I can't believe it! What does Hunter Everdeen and his friends do at my table?
"You look cuter when you're not dumbfounded." murmur Maysilee in my ear. I look at the smile hanging at the corner of her lips, and try to relax my features.
"Well," says Kaylee "what bring you here boys?"
"Do we need a reason to come and sit with you?" says Ash Hawthorne, Hunter's left arm.
"No," says Michael "but you've never sat with us before, which makes your presence at our table quite suspicious."
"And you with three girls at a table isn't suspicious?" replied Haymitch, Hunter's right arm.
"No it isn't since they are my friends" shout back Michael.
"Your friends my a…"
"Ok, I admit we have a reason for being here." says Hunter, cutting Haymitch and Michael's fight. "In fact," he adds "I came here to give this back to Deborah." He pulls something silver out of his pocket and positions it in front of me. It's a hairpin, my hairpin. The one my grandmother gave me before she passed away.
"Where… How… When…?" I mumble, touching by reflex the spot in my hair where the pin should have been.
He smiled at me kindly. "You ran so fast yesterday that you didn't even saw it fell off your hair."
Yesterday. Does he remember it the way I do? I hope not.
'I'm late again and that's not good. I'll either get ground or the teacher will pick on me all day, asking me every answer to every question, again. I run as fast as I can, so fast that my lungs hurt, and even though I'm the fastest runner at school I still feel how late I'll be by the time I get to school.
When I get near the Seam I see something big move behind the first house on my right and, not looking where I'm heading, I hit a tree head first. The world around me turns around like a dog after its tail and I clutch after my agressor, the tree, to balance myself. When the world finally stop turning around, I look where I saw movement just before my "accident".
I see nothing over there which got me thinking I might have hallucinate movement over there or that a very, very big squirell was running behind the house.
Curious as I am, I still I go at the back of the house to be sure of what I did or didn't saw. There's nothing there but when I'm about to walk away, I hear it. A voice, masculine, smooth and hypnotizing. I face toward the voice, and start walking in its direction where I end up in a beautiful meadow with green grass and handfuls of colourful flowers. Standing in the center of this beauty is a boy about my age, showing his back to me and signing.
I recognize him from school as Hunter Everdeen. I've heard he had a great voice but I never imagine it was that great. Around us there is no sound beside his voice. No bird chirping, no squirrel running around the trees, not even the buzzing sound of bees flying around to work. It's so silent we could hear a single drop of water fall on the ground. Hunter ends his song and turn around. The look he gives me is a mix of surprise and amusement. "There's a short cut over there if you want to get to school in time" he says smiling and pointing in the opposite direction from where I came from. I nodded and start running as fast as I can in hope he didn't saw the blush on my cheeks before I took off.'
I blush at the memory. I must have looked stupid to him, running away from him like a scared gazelle.
I take the hairpin and put it where it should be. "Thanks" I say "it means a lot to me."
"Yes, I guessed so since you wear it every day." I must be blushing again because he laughs quietly before continuing. "You know, I see you almost every day at the apothecary but I've never talked to you."
"The apothecary? When?" I've never seen him there. When did he come?
"I bring medicinal herbs to your parents." he says calmly.
"It's you?"
All his friends laugh "Of course it's him" says Haymitch "Who did you thought it was? A capitol boy?" This made his friends laugh even more while I felt myself blush even more. "No, of course not, I just didn't know it was him."
Hunter must have felt, or seen, my embarrassment because he said. "Guys, it's understandable that she didn't know it was me because every time I pass she's with a patient." He looks at me, wink, and then talk again "So, um, I was wondering if I could walk you back home after school." he looked so shy and uncomfortable while asking me in front of every body.
I was about to say that I couldn't, since me and the twins planned to go at their house, but pain flew in my right feet, where Maysilee had stomp on it, and left calf, because Kaylee kicked it with all her might.
Michael started objecting "No, she doesn't want to." but I saw the pain run on his face and knew that he got the same treatment as mine by the twins. Maysilee and Kaylee both looked at Hunter and said, both at once "Oh yes, she would love to."
"Great!" said Hunter and we saw relief all over his face. "So I'll see you after school in front of the east side section?"
I nodded and smiled.
"Oh, she will be there." murmured the twins with a demonic smile.
It was a long and boring chapter and I apologize to you about it :'(. I will try to shorter up the next one and put some action into it. I hope you'll give me some reviews about the chapter(I always look up to amelioration) and tell me if I should stick up to Deborah's POV or maybe try with Hunter's side of the story (personally I'd love to do a couple of chapter's about him). Thanks for reading! :D