"Gale, this is Johanna." Katniss said, a bit of venom in her voice. It was clear she didn't really think much of Johanna- they were allies. That's it. Gale smiled, and held out his hand for her to shake.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Gale." He said, and then quickly drew back his hand when she just stared at it, rather menacingly. "Delighted, I'm sure." She said, sarcastically. Gale smiled. Katniss and Johanna had more in common than they thought they did. "So, Johanna, how are you?" He decided to stick to small talk- it seemed to be what she was doing. Johanna didn't answer. She just crossed her arms, and stared at him, up and down. So, he did the same. Red hair, green eyes and quite darkened skin. Okay, in looks, she was the opposite of Katniss. "I'm fine, not that you really care." She uncrossed her arms, and then tried to walk out. Gale stopped her, holding her back. "I'm handy with an axe, so I'd be very careful if I were you." She said slyly, a grin appearing on her face. Gale grinned back.
"I'll keep that in mind." Johanna decided to stay, and sat down on the floor. She patted the space next to her. Gale sat down, and decided to play the same game as her. She was acting uninterested in him very well. Katniss had picked Peeta over him- was there really any harm? He looked away from her, pretending to be looking at something. He wanted to get another look her hair- all he had seen was that it was long and red. A fiery red. Maybe representing her personality. He smiled, thinking of the perfect conversation starter. She couldn't reply with small talk to it- that's for sure.
"So, what was it like in your district? Tough? You know, you had an interesting strategy in the games. Presenting yourself as a weakling. How's your life been?" He gave her a smug look. Try and give me a short answer to that, he thought. It gave him a good chance to look at her hair. Straight, and red like the devil. Though, she had this rather innocent look into her eyes. You didn't know if you could trust her- mainly, her mouth said all. The sly grin that often appeared on her face. But, still, you wanted to trust her. And Gale, it seemed, was falling into her trap. He wasn't used to being the prey. Johanna seemed to enjoy the challenge, and smiled before saying. "It was okay." She said, also pretending to be uninterested.
Gale had fallen for the devil. Before, he had fallen for the mockingjay. What a jump. He laughed to himself, but immediately stopped when he saw Johanna giving him concerned looks. But then she started to laugh as well, which made him feel a bit more relaxed. So then he laughed too. Neither of them knew what they were laughing at, but the fact was they were laughing. Johanna stopped laughing, and then started to smile. It was the first smile she had given Gale, other than the sly grins. "You're bonkers." She said. Gale was finally getting through to her. In his own way. And her own way. Still, they were having fun together.
"That's the first time someone has used that word to describe me." Gale smiled, and then stared deep into Johanna's eyes. At first, she turned her head back, but then she stared at him, and looked deep into his eyes. And then it was silence. Not the awkward silence, but the one where you didn't need words to know what the other was thinking. "Your district got destroyed, didn't it?" Johanna said, breaking the silence. She said it rather awkwardly, like she wanted the silence to end. But Gale didn't. And the best way to keep the silence was for him to not answer her. So, he kept his mouth tightly shut. Johanna found the silence awkward, and she didn't like silence. So, she started to sing. A song her old friend had taught her. A song that she couldn't sing anymore, because it made her sob. Made her remember a time where she had people she once loved. It brought up so much memories that she had to stop singing it. But she wouldn't cry. Wouldn't show everyone her one weakness.
Gale noticed a slight tear drop over her eyelid. She had only sung around 3 lines, but Gale guessed they meant something to her. Something that made her cry. Silent tears- the most dangerous of all. He reached out to touch her hand, but she quickly moved her hand away before he could. "Don't." Their is an empty feel to her voice. No emotion. Prepares she really does have a heart of stone. Against all odds, Gale still didn't believe this. "Johanna, you are very difficult to figure out." For some reason, this made Johanna laugh. Not a normal laugh. A twisted, creepy laugh. But it still didn't make Gale feel intimidated. Nothing she did made him feel intimidated. Gale thought he was going insane. That creepy laugh should make anyone run a mile. Johanna tilted her head back, and sighed. "There's nothing to figure out. I'm just broken. But not in the corny way. I'm broken into tiny little pieces, and I just want the girl back who had a family." It was obvious she had kept this in. Probably kept it locked into her mind since the day her parents died.
"She's still inside of you." Gale said. He felt comfortable with Johanna, the way he had once with Katniss. Him and Katniss were still close, but they had lost that connection. And Gale couldn't help but blame Peeta. He still had a slight hatred for Peeta. In some ways, he couldn't help but blame himself. He had left Katniss. Moved to District 2. She had already chosen Peeta, and he knew she had. But still, he could've stayed with her. He had never just wanted to be her friend- that was his problem. "Do you still think about Katniss?" Johanna asked, interrupting Gale's thoughts. It was like she could read his mind.
"Me and her are still friends." Gale said defensively, almost trying to make himself believe it. "Yeah, keep hanging on to that dream." She said. This hurt Gale. Hard. It was like this thing had been hanging over him, but only know he had finally realized what had happened between them. It was all over his face, and Johanna felt kinda guilty. But then, she realized that she wanted Gale to herself. And if he realized, then she would have him. She just wanted somebody to feel close to. And she wasn't about to let that one chance slip through her fingers.
