-Gale-
I was sleeping peacefully, dreaming softly. Suddenly a sharp kick to my gut wakes me up, pulling me out of the dream. Wheezing I glare at my younger brother's foot, and grudgingly get up to dress. It is earlier than I would usually meet Katniss, but thanks to the swift kick in the gut I received I'm wide awake. I sighed, and went out into the morning light of District 12 grabbing a squirrel on my way out.
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I silently padded to the baker, praying the baker's wife was still asleep. I pressed my ear to the door, hearing footsteps inside. I smiled in relief, these were the heavy steps of the baker and not the lithe light steps of his wife. I knocked on the door, and it was opened by the smiling baker. He ushered me into the bakery, and I caught sight of the blue eyes and ashy blonde hair of the baker's son. HE was of a medium stocky build, with kindness in his blue eyes. The blue was clouded however, and he looked troubled about something as he carried a huge sack of flour on his shoulders. Shrugging I turned around, and asked the baker, "What can I get for a squirrel?" the baker thought for a minute, then he turned around and walked away. I was about to follow when he came back holding a loaf of bread fresh from the oven. My mouth watered, but I kept my face cool. The baker held out the bread, "Will this do?" I nodded, handing him the squirrel and taking the bread.
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I ran to the gate, now late for meeting Katniss thanks to my little detour. I slipped under the fence, and ran to the special place that Katniss and I share. She was already there, sitting quietly with her eyes closed. I grinned, my eyes roaming her skin and her brown hair, then I crept closer, but she opened her eyes and jumped in surprise. Quickly we combed the woods, checking the snares, catching fish, and picking strawberries. We went back to our place, where I presented the bread and Katniss presented a hunk of goat's cheese from her little sister PrimRose. We quickly ate our spoils, then traveled back under the gate to go sell the strawberries to our mayor. After that, Katniss and I parted ways, her to her house and me to mine.
When I walked in, my house was in complete chaos. "Gale!" My mom said desperately, "Go get your brothers ready and Take a BATH you stink!" Sighing, I stripped down, scrubbing my body clean of all grime before dressing in my best clothes. My brothers were dressed, their hair was decent, and we all had on our best clothes. The bells rang, and we filed out heading for the square. At the square, I left my brothers and joined the group of boys my age. I turned my head, and caught Katniss's eye. I mouthed, "You ok?" she nodded, looking beautiful in an apothacary blue dress of her mother's. Worry was etched onto her normally cool face as she kept my eye across the square.
Effie Trinket was bouncing impatiently as the mayor delivered his yearly speech he gave every Hunger Games. After he was done, Effie who was practically vibrating with excitement, came and announced it was time to pick the names of the tributes who would be forced to travel to the capitol and compete in these horrible games. Yanked out of my thoughts, I watched as Effie pulled the unlucky girl's name out of the ball and walking to the podium. She opened the paper and read, "Primrose Everdeen." It isn't Katniss, but her sister. Sweet gentle Prim who cannot bear to hurt anything. 3…2…1…, "PRIM PRIM!"
Just like I knew she would, Katniss came running up, shoving Prim behind her. "I volunteer! I Volunteer!" she said firmly. Prim starts shrieking and grabbing onto Katniss's dress. I don't know what possessed me to do what I did next, but I ran forward and grabbed Prim and carried her away as Katniss was lead up to the stage. Effie asked Katniss what her name was, and after she proclaimed that we should all give a big round of applause. Instead of applause, the whole district lifted our left hands to our mouths in unison, kissed our middle 3 fingers, and held them out silently. It was a way of saying goodbye, it was the only way we could defy the Capitol in our own way without getting killed.
The district was saying goodbye to one hell of a girl. We could only pray that she gets home. Effie stared in puzzlement, shrugged, and announced it was time for the boys. I silently and irrationally prayed, "Please be me please be me." It wasn't me, but the stocky blonde baker boy Peeta Mellark. The audience was silent, not even the wind blew. When he got onto the stage, Effie made them shake hands. From my position, I saw a slight squeeze go through Peeta's hand that got reciprocated by Katniss's hand. "It was only for comfort." I told myself, "She hardly knows him so why else would he squeeze his hand?"
A/N this is my first fic please be gentle. please review i don't know when i'll be able to update if i'll be able to update at all so please forgive me