And then, he saw her. No, he didn't just see her, he stared at her. He just blatantly stared at her. She commanded attention and he knew at once who this woman was. She was the new boss, the new head of command, the new lead and she was only five foot tall.
She stepped confidently and in long strides after she stepped out of the elevator onto the floor where her new employees worked. She had crazy blonde curly hair that went everywhere, the only unruly thing about her, and sea foam green grey eyes that screamed smartness and independence. Her outfit consisted of a white blazer which he thought was completely impractical seeing as they were working in the military where things tended to get dirty, a red shirt, a black pencil skirt, wedge heels which only barely helped her height issue and, it seemed she was wearing, was that? No, couldn't be, blue, ripple earrings that matched the sea and moved when she walked? That was not it.
She had a tall coffee in her hand and everything about her screamed "CAPITOL" even now that the war was over Gale Hawthorne still despised everything about that wretched place. He didn't let go of grudges easily. She smiled one of the fakest smiles he had ever seen and said, surprisingly without a capitol accent "Hi everybody! Come over here so I can introduce myself!" and gestured to herself, smiling even harder now.
Even a completely socially inept person would know, she was not good with people. Great, all Gale needed was a bitchy boss.
The people on the floor who were awaiting their arrival slowly filtered over to her, unsure of what to do or where to go. She was intimidating, one false move and who knows what she'd do. She doesn't scare me Gale thought to himself but as he drew nearer, he was a little frightened. But, you know, just a little bit because NOTHING in this world could possibly scare Gale Hawthorne. She was just a five foot tall girl with crazy hair and ocean wave earrings.
She tried to smile again before giving up, sighing and standing up on a chair so she could get level with all the men and women she faced and now, employed. It hurt her pride a bit to have to stand up on the chair, Gale could see it in her eyes but all of a sudden she was back and confident as ever. Gale loathed her.
"Hi everyone!" She began "My name is Ennelle Sedikit and I am now your new boss. I grew up in District Four, I like Italian food, by favourite colour is blue and I expect the best from all of you" Gale swore she looked at him for a moment "I will be in my office throughout the day if you need me but I suggest you don't leave your training centres as you will be started a new course today" This was met by a chorus of tired groans to which she glared and cleared her throat "WHICH, will in turn, give you a chance to become more prepared for hand to hand combat and also firing from a long distance. So, let's go everybody! Group A to training centre 13-C, Level C, take the elevator. Group B, you will report to training centre B-A in the basement and meet up with your new leader and I'd like Group Gale Hawthorne to join me in my office for a little chat. Alright, hop to it!"
Gale groaned at the thought of being in a room with this woman for a chat but as the Group A's headed for the elevator and the Group B's headed down a flight of stairs he found he was alone with that woman anyway so he might as well follow her into his office. If she was as bitchy as she came off, it'd probably be best for him to try to get on her good side. Problem was, Gale was never good at that. Apparently, neither was she.
She tried to smile at him again and led him over to a big oak door which still bore the name of the previous owner, Benry Rena. She muttered under her breath "I'll have to get that changed" as she opened the door to the office.
Gale missed Benry, or as they'd call him, Ben already. His laid back attitude, his carefree ways, his fight in him when he needed it but only when he needed it and never else was definitely missed around and the presence of this woman was clearly less than enjoyable.
Gale walked into the room and even though he didn't like the way she just threw her coffee cup in the waste bin or how she strode over to the desk so independently, he liked what he saw. The room was blue, well, that's what Gale thought until he looked closely and realized the walls were blue at the bottom and faded to a green on the top. The floor was hardwood and smelled like forest, the ceiling a light blue, resembling the sky. The window was open and light blue drapery fell over the sides of it. It smelled like the ocean. At least, that's what Gale thought it was. He could never be sure. He never smelled the ocean often.
"Sit" she said, devoid of emotion and again, used that stupid hand motion to gesture to him to sit down.
His smile left his face and was replaced by an indifferent expression, one he used to suppress anger. After all, he should have gotten this job, this should be his office and she should be his employee. Ben said he had put a good word in for him, why didn't he get the job? Still, he sat. He slowly made his way over to the desk before plunking his bottom down on the seat and sighing "What do you want?" he asked, frustrated.
She seemed a bit taken aback but she didn't say anything about it and covered it up really quickly "I just wanted to know why you don't like me, that's all" She asked intently, her face still completely masked and free from any sign of anger, hurt, sadness, happiness, confusion, her face read nothing.
Gale thought in his mind Oh oh oh, where to start? But when he went to voice his reasons for hating this woman so much he drew a blank. He had only met her about seven minutes ago and he already loather her with the fire of a thousand burning suns but still, he managed to say, clearly and calmly "I don't like the way you walk"
Ennelle laughed a bit "You don't like the way I walk? Would you rather me walk like a duck? Or a penguin? Or maybe a squirrel?"
This set Gale right off "Because of your stupid capitol and because you guys got EVERY thing you wanted us district twelvers had to LIVE off squirrels! And when we had squirrels we were lucky! You got everything! EVERYTHING!" He yelled at her.
He stood up, in complete rage and reached out, grabbed a glass off her desk and crushed it with his bare hand "You don't understand"
"Gale!" she shouted as he finally realized the searing pain throughout his hand. Okay, so maybe breaking the glass wasn't the best of ideas. Hell, it was down there with telling his new boss he lived off squirrels for 18 years.
She scurried out the door, probably to seek some kind of towel or something to soak up the blood and Gale just sat there, mulling over the events of the morning. Why did he hate her exactly? He didn't know. And what kind of name is Ennelle anyway? It's stupid and silly sounding and probably some district four thing because they were all a bunch of weirdo weaklings. Then he thought of Finnick and Annie and Mags and regretted thinking that immediately. He thought a Sorry guys before she came back in with a towel in her hands and a few band-aids.
Gale didn't like band-aids. They made him feel trapped, like they were part of his body he didn't want there. Not to mention they hurt like hell when you rip them off. He tells her this immediately "I don't like band-aids"
She looked at him for a second, sizing up the situation before saying "You're wearing them, I don't want you bleeding everywhere" and then she moved towards him, took his hand in hers and started dabbing off the blood.
There must have been some disinfectant in there because whatever was on that towel made Gale's hand feel instantly better. He couldn't help but notice her hands were incredibly soft. It must be from all that seaweed. Or maybe fancy lotions she bought from the Capitol. Gale decided he liked the other better, it let him hate her more.
"What the hell kind of name is Ennelle anyway?" He voiced his second question and she looked up at him and smiled.
Oh great He thought A story about how her parents decided that they'd name their child the most stupid name in the history of stupid names ever. Even more stupid than Peeta, who is a great guy with a stupid, STUPID name. "You know all about North America right? Before it became Panem?" she asked him and he just looked at her.
"Of course I do. Do you think I'm stupid or what?" He retaliated before she shot back "Well, breaking a glass with your bare hand is kind of stupid, don't you admit?"
He had that one coming. He thought of something else to say while she dabbed at his hand and started applying the band-aids before realized he couldn't think of anything else and just said "Continue"
"Well" she began "A small province in Canada, a country in North America was called Newfoundland and Labrador, or NL. My ancestors came from there. If you say Ennelle, it sounds like NL so my parents named me that to remind me of my heritage. I wish I could visit there. I wish it wasn't destroyed. All of the journals and pictures and videos show how beautiful it was. An island, fishing was popular there, like in District Four. It was filled with forests and lakes and friendly people and..." She drifted of thinking of this place while Gale just stood there, looking down at her.
That's it, Newfoundland took the cake for the stupidest name ever. Very creative, New-Found-Land, is that all they could come up with?
Before long she had all of the band-aids on his hands and he had stopped bleeding. "Now, is there any other reason why you dislike me?" She looked up at him and asked, her usual, cold, emotionless self.
"I dislike you because you think you own the place" Gale said stubbornly as his hands formed into fists, resisting the urge to throw the band-aids off his hands because he didn't want to show her that he was weak.
He could handle a few band-aids. She turned cold as ice, fury mounting in her eyes when she looked up at him with the most fierce expression Gale had ever seen on a girl. "Well, Mister Hawthorne, it may have slipped under your notice but I DO run this place" She said, her voice made of ice and her office must have dropped ten degrees, Gale felt it. He just said "Well, I don't like you"
Gale left the office that day, feeling worn out from training and worn out from the exchange with his new boss this morning. It wasn't until he sat on his couch that evening until he realized why he hated her so much. She reminded him of a more professional version of Katniss and he was afraid he was actually going to fall in love with her. He had to remember what he had told her earlier to let himself sleep. He had to remember when he looked her in the eye and said "I don't like you"