Throughout this story, Bethany's author's notes are in bold, and Ben's notes are in italics.
Author's note:This is just a sneak preview. It's the first part of the first chapter. This is a collab with my cousin, Ben, who doesn't have an account. He's currently writing the second part of the first chapter. WARNING: There may be long waits between chapters because Ben and I will write our parts separately, then I'll edit them together/proofread, then I send him the final product for him to proofread, and THEN it will go up. I thought I would post this, though, so you can get an idea of what is soon to come. It's rated T for later chapters involving violence and possibly disturbing "images" (more of mental pictures). I mean, this is The Hunger Games after all!
Disclaimer: We don't own the Hunger Games (if I did... Gale would have gotten the girl, Finnick would still be alive, and a lot of other stuff like that)
Effie had just announced the two tributes for District 12 in the 74th Hunger Games. Gale just stood there, not sure what to do. Katniss was off to what just might be her death and the only person on the outside who could help her was a drunken fool. This couldn't be happening. "Wake up, Gale! Tis must be a dream! Wake up you idiot!" he thought to himself. But it was no use. This wasn't a dream; it wasn't some weird hallucination. Katniss Everdeen was going to be a tribute in the 74th Hunger Games, and she had a one in twenty-four chance of surviving. That wasn't a ratio that made Gale Hawthorne particularly happy. He forced himself to look up at the podium where she stood. He could tell she was fighting hard already to not appear weak.
The other tribute, Peeta Mellark, was looking around as if he still hadn't quite registered what had happened. Gale was slightly envious of him. Peeta was the son of the baker. They lived in town, and therefore, had life pretty easy. Yes, his mother was crazy, but his father was very kind. Gale's father, Jim Hawthorne, had been a wonderful. He was funny, and although he was usually exhausted from mining coal, he always made time for Gale, his brothers, and his mother. He would have spent time with Posy, Gale's young sister, but Jim Hawthorne died a week before Posy was born. In the same accident that took him, Katniss' father was taken as well. Gale vaguely remembered his father mentioning Conner Everdeen. The two had apparently been friends, and they both risked punishment to go into the woods surrounding District 12 and hunt. Jim brought Gale into the woods to teach him how to set snares, and Conner taught Katniss archery. The men had never hunted at the same time; both acknowledging that that was a special time for a father and their child, but they had been talking about organizing a time for the four of them to go off hunting together sometime. That never happened.
Later, Gale met Katniss in the woods one day while they were both hunting; neither of them trusted the other. "What's your name?" he asked. "Katniss," she answered, but Gale misheard her and thought she had said "Catnip," which wound up being his nickname for her. A professional partnership ended up growing into an inseparable friendship, and, at least for him, a romantic interest. Neither of them were blind to the whispers around town that they would eventually marry. Gale wouldn't mind if this happened, but he knew that Katniss had no intentions of marrying. If there was any hope for a romantic relationship between them, it was pretty much gone now.
Peeta was apparently still clueless to what was happening, and was staring at Katniss. Gale tensed up. He knew that look. That was the look of a teenage boy in awe of a pretty girl. "That's my pretty girl!" he thought to himself. Immediately, Gale didn't trust Peeta. If put in the right situation, Peeta may hurt her if he didn't get those thoughts in check. If some boy hurt Katniss...
That was the last straw. Gale was going with Katniss. He couldn't go into the ring, he knew that for a fact, but he was going to the Capitol. Gale Hawthorne would do everything he could to keep Catnip safe. Determined, he slipped away, already formulating a plan in his mind, when he stopped. If both Katniss and he were gone, who would feed their families? All his heroism would be a complete waste of time if he traded saving one life for six. "Greasy," he thought. The mayor was still reading the history of the Hunger Games. That should give him enough time to put his plan into action. He quietly made his way back to the throngs of people in the center of town and pulled an older woman aside.
"Gale, what on earth is so important that you had-" Greasy Sae started.
"Listen up, Sae! Katniss may be heading for her death! If she doesn't make it out alive, I'm gonna have to work in the mines full time. If Katniss is gone, and I don't have time to hunt, where are you going to get your 'beef'?" Gale asked.
"I don't see what-"
"I'm going down to the Capitol to make sure Catnip comes back. While I'm gone, I want you to make sure that both the Hawthornes and the Everdeens are fed. Otherwise, you may run out of a resource." The older woman stared at him for a minute.
"I'm not a charity, boy! If I do this I want a few things in return."
"Name it."
"First, fifty dollars." Fifty? In the seem, that was a lot. It was certainly more than Gale had. But if Katniss won the games, she would have more money than she knew what to do with.
"Fine," he said.
"And, you owe me three dogs and five turkeys." Gale sighed.
"Fine." Greasy smiled and shook his hand. Now with that taken care of, he needed a way into the Capitol. And what better way in then as a Peacekeeper?
He made his way through town until he ended up at Darius' house. Darius was still at the event in the middle of town, so Gale went ahead and broke in. Actually, "broke in" wasn't really the right phrase. The door wasn't even locked. Apparently, Darius didn't think anyone would want to steal anything. Well, he was wrong. He didn't take anything except a Peacekeeper uniform, and he left everything else the way he found it. He quickly dressed in his newly acquired attire, and ran to the train station. He wasn't a moment too soon. Katniss and Peeta had already received all of their visitors, and were beginning to board the train. Gale felt a pang of guilt. "Katniss must think I didn't want to see her," he thought to himself. With a sigh, he walked towards the train that would bring him to the place where he would either celebrate victory with the girl he secretly loved, or mourn her death.
AN: So... that's all you get to see for now! Mwahahaha! Tell us what you think!
ANNOUNCEMT: So I'll make a deal: You copy and paste the below summary into the something you publish on FF, then PM me to tell me about it (include the name of story). If you do, I'll post a summary of that story at the end of the next chapter I publish on here under a Story Spotlight. EXCEPTION: I reserve the right to refuse to promote fanfiction with graphic sex scenes (M and some T rated) or that are in contradiction to my religious beliefs. I will, however, be willing to promote a different story of yours instead.
SUMMARY OF "SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME"
What if Gale followed Katniss to the Capitol when she left for the 74th Hunger Games? What if he had to remain undercover to avoid arrest, torture, or even death? What if he manipulated the games from the outside to help Katniss come home alive?