Hello! So, this is my first HG-FF! I've posted a few "Chair"-fics before, but I had to delete them! Not really my style anymore since I feel like they've messed up the whole show (The producers that being)... So, anyways, just so you guys know, english is not my mother tongue, so I apologize now if there is any grammar mistakes etc. Please, ignore it the best you can! :D
I hope you like it - please, please, please let me know if you do! I've already written a few other chapters, but I won't publish them if no one finds them interesting ...
Chapter 1: Prologue
Katniss' POV!
The temporature on the bus is close to unbearable, and the fact that Prim's hold of my right hand is so tight that it must be impossible for any blood to reach it only makes it even hotter. I'm not willing to let go of her hand, though..
Neither one of us is happy about our new situation. The fact that my mom remarried makes me so angry that I feel sick to my stomach. How could she do it to us? To think that any man could ever replace our father? It's only because of Joe that Prim and I are now about to face a new life with a new school, a new place to live and worst of all: New people who we are expected to associate and be friends with. And to make everything even worse, today is the start of a new semester - the date's January the 2nd - a thursday - and it's raining like crazy outside. I wish it would just snow instead. Rain makes me even more depressed than I already am ...
I've never been good at making friends. My only true friend, beside Prim, is Gale, but he is back in my hometown. Okay, so maybe Madge is my friend, too, even though it was rare we did anything other than share an equal, though comfortable, silence together in our lunch-breaks. The thought of facing probably one hundred new people in a quarter of an hour is the scariest thing I've ever prepared myself to face.
It's easier for Prim. She is actually looking forward to get new friends. She's also a lot more outgoing than I am. She didn't have many friends back home, but the amount isn't possible to count on two hands, though. She's trying so hard to put up a facade in front me because she knows how uncomfortable I am with the situation, and she keeps telling me how much she can't wait to meet tons of new people, but I know how much she's missing Rory, Gale's younger brother. Those two were practically inseparable, even more than Gale and I.
Mom keeps telling us how much we will love our new neighborhood and our new school. That our life will be much easier here. She has already gotten a job at the Pharmacy down town, and I can tell that she's happier than she's been for a long time. I can't help but blame her a bit, though. Why doesn't she put our happiness above her own? Isn't that what parents are supposed to do? Not that she's been that much of a parent ever since dad died 5 years ago.
I really don't like the fact that it's Chaff who has made her happy again.
As we are sitting in the tropical bus, my head starts to replay my mom and I's discussion this morning, and how bad things were between us when I literally ran out our front door.
"It's not fair! Just because you suddenly decided to live and be happy again, it doesn't mean you can just take us away from the people we love and care about and expect us to follow your every command. I don't want to live here! It sucks, and I want to go home to my friends, to Gale and Madge!"
I'm screaming at my mother across the diner table. She simply sits there, starring at me. I have so much anger towards her hidden in the pit of my stomach and I can feel it coming upwards and shows itself for the world to see and lay an ear for it.
Even though I know I should feel a little guilty about my recurring outbursts, I can't help but think that she deserves to be confronted for once. She wasn't able to be there for Prim and I when our father died five years ago in a car accident. She left us with him, but it's also unfair that she's starting to come back to us now when we don't even need her anymore. Or, at least I don't.
"Katniss, please! Why can't you just be happy? We are about to start a new life together, a happier life together with Chaff, and it's unfair to Prim that you keep fighting us! It's unfair to me. Will you please just try to work with us, just for once?"
"With us you mean you and Chaff, right? You're so selfish mom that it's not even funny."
My mother looks at me with starry eyes and slowly drives her hand across the table and towards mine, which are laying flat and still on the mahogany table. As she touches it, a shiver runs through me and I roughly pull it back, without giving her a second look. She is hurt, I can tell, but I don't really care at the moment. If anyone deserves to be upset, then it's me. Not her. She has been upset for five years - the walking dead - and now it's finally my turn to be the smaller and weaker person. To be a teenager - a child - for once in five years.
"Don't you bring Prim into this, mom! She's the only innocent in this situation, and even though she'll never say it out loud, I know she is hurting, too! She don't want to live here? She has great friends back home and she misses them - a lot! She just don't want to hurt you by telling you. She's afraid you'll disappear again."
Tears is starting to warm in my eyes and I'm angry with myself for letting my emotions show. I don't think my mother has ever seen my cry.
"I'm doing my best, sweetheart. I'm not leaving you! I want you and Prim to be as happy as possible, but I can't make that happen unless we move here. It's the only alternative."
"No... No, It's not! You know it's not."
I shake my head violently and without a last word, I run up the staircase to my room and cry my eyes out into the pillow. It's first when I feel Prim's hand in my hair, whispering soothing words quietly into my ear than the tears starts to lessen.
"Katniss, we have to get on the buss in five minutes. Please, come down with me! I really don't want to go alone ... "
I raise from my fetal position and kiss her on the forehead. Suddenly, I feel bad about my outburst towards my mother. She is doing her best, I know, but still I'm so angry the only thing keeping me here is my younger sister. She is, without a doubt, the person I love the most in this world.
"I'm sorry, Prim. Come on, let's go down stairs and get on that bus!"
I dry my eyes with the back of my hand and put my other in hers. She squeezes it lightly, as a reassuring of that today is going to be fine. I look down on her and I give her a grateful smile. Prim is the only person who can always lighten my mood whenever I'm sad.
So, here we are; in the back of a school bus. Outside, the rain is still heavy and everywhere I look, people are desperately trying to get shelter either under their jackets or an oversized umbrella. Sweat is starting to form on my forehead, and I'm internally cursing the driver for turning up the heat this much.
It's not his fault I'm in the blue mood, though. It's simply just easier to blame him.
The bus is making a stop in a new neighborhood, a more expensive one, I can tell, and a small group of people at about my age is getting on it. They are laughing heartily and I can't help but being a little bit jealous of their happy faces. They are smiling, touching each other's arms lightly and the boys innocently puts their arms around the girls' shoulders. The girls don't seem to mind, though, and they shyly look up at them with cute smiles.
I can feel Prim tucking at my sleeve. It takes a moment before I realize I should probably pay attention to her. Her look clearly tells me the same thing.
"Katty, are you okay? You look a bit pale."
I nod my head in reassurance and smile at my little sister. So caring, so loving - so opposite me, but still we get each other better than anyone else. It's like we have this strange connection. We both know, that no matter how bad things go, we will always have each other's back and support.
The bus makes a stop in an even smaller part of the city than the one we're living in. The houses here looks quite expensive. They have grand front yards, big black Mercedes in their parking lot and their lawn more greener than any of the lawns back home. Even the flowers looks better.
My thoughts are getting the better with me and, once again, I'm paying no attention to my worried little sister. I put my arm around her shoulder, leans closer to her and kiss her temple soundlessly.
"Prim, I'm fine. Stop worrying about me, will you? This is as big for me as it it for you. All right, little duck?"
I squeeze her shoulder lightly and find my gaze taking a tour around the bus.
A small group of people have just gotten on the yellow vehicle and they look relieved, probably about being in shelter from the heavy rain outside.
My eyes fall on a figure with broad shoulders and chest, curly blond hair and the bluest eyes I've ever seen. Even more blue than Prim's. He's wearing a tight, white button-up shirt, dark jeans and a pair of old sneakers. His fingers are running through his hair, which is obviously affected by the rain, and are desperately trying to get his messy curls under control.
There is a beautiful blond girl sitting next to him. Her hair is wet, but it only makes her soft curls look even softer. It looks like she's doing all the talking between them, though it doesn't seem like it bothers her. Actually, it doesn't look like she's even noticed his lack of attention. I don't quite understand it, though. She is one of the most beautiful girls I've seen - definitely the prettiest on this bus - and she is wearing skinny jeans and a thin blue blouse. If it had been Gale sitting next to her, drool would have been hanging out of his mouth.
He does pay attention at times, though, but I have a feeling it's only not to make things more awkward. He only looks at her a few times sometimes, and she looks extremely happy every time he does. But only a moment later, his gaze is outside the window again and away from her. It looks like he's in as deep a thought as I am. And I first realize how deep I am into my own spell when I find his eyes staring back into my grey orbs.
The blood quickly rush to my cheeks and I tear my eyes away from his.
"Katty, how long do you think it's going to take before we are there? I really want to get out of this bus soon. The heat is bothering me."
"I know, little duck. I think we are there soon. The bus is almost full."
And just as I'd predicted, the bus drives into the school yard two minutes later. It doesn't appear to me what I'm putting myself into the moment I put my feet into the rain until the moment I actually place my foot down onto the cement.
I can feel Prim take my hand in her's small one and we run the 100 feet up to entrance and lets out a few heavy breaths when we are finally inside in the save room again, in no danger of getting wet.
"Okay, so now we have to find the office and sign up some papers like mom told us yesterday, okay? Or if you don't want to, I can do it myself?"
Prim hesitates and I can tell what's on her mind. She wants to find her new class and introduce herself to some of her new classmates before the class is getting started. That's one of the examples of Prim and I's differences. I'm planning on walking inside the door the moment the bell rings so everybody will be busy with finding their seats instead of looking at me; the new girl.
"It's okay, little duck. I'll do it for the both of us."
"Are you sure?"
One of her eyes narrows a bit and one corner of her mouth goes up with it. It's her way of expressing uncertainty. I lean down and kiss her on her forehead.
"Good luck, Prim. I love you! Remember, if you're feeling uncomfortable, just find me in the cafeteria in our lunch break and we can be eating together, okay? And meet me in the school yard after school!"
She nods, and before I can plague her with further advices and things to remember, she turns on her heel and starts walking the opposite direction of where I'm heading.
So, what's your opinion? Shall I continue?