Chapter 1:

A sharp stinging pain threatens to crack my skull open every time I hear the high pitch whine coming from Prim's room. I sigh and sink down the wall in the hallway. Sixteen is too young to date. Prim has been bugging me non-stop for two weeks to allow her to date Rory Hawthorne. Rory, the younger brother of Gale Hawthorne, seems to be a decent enough kid but knowing his older brother the way I do makes it hard for me to let her go. I don't want Prim to be hurt. If Rory is anything like his older brother then there could be trouble.

I hear a new sob tear out of Prim which sparks another wince and a sigh from me. If she wants to date him this badly, maybe she really cares about him. Most fifteen year old girls only want to date for status symbols. I know Prim is beautiful and so far she has stayed away from the popular girls at school. There's always a clique of kids that are shallow and beautiful and I never want Prim to discover the inhumane delights of being popular and worshiped.

I push the door to Prim's bedroom open quietly.

"Go away!" She yells at me. She is huddled up on her bed facing the wall with her pillow clutched in her arms.

I ignore her and sit down on the edge of her bed. I don't say anything and neither will she look at me. I wonder if our mother can hear this conversation from where she also lays in her bed.

I clear my throat. "Look, Prim….how about we make a," I pause to find the right word. "…a deal…of some kind?"

Prim rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling. Tears drip onto the bedspread beneath her. This is her sign that she is listening to me.

"What if I let Rory come over here? He can come over whenever he wants as long as your homework and chores are done."

A sniffle comes from Prim but nothing else so I take a deep breath and continue. "He can come over and as long as your bedroom door stays open, he can visit until 10 o'clock on weekdays and 11 o'clock on weekends."

Prim speaks in a harsh voice, jagged from crying. "Won't that make me like a hospital patient with visiting hours? Rory will think I'm such a baby and move on to another girl who is allowed out of the house."

"Then he must not really care about you if he would give you up simply because he was asked to keep your dates in your bedroom," I point out.

Prim starts crying all over again but this time she sits up in bed, he blonde hair wet at the hairline from where the tears were soaking in.

"I wouldn't blame him, Katniss! Who wants to come here to visit me? With a mom who can't socialize and a sister who won't? I'll be the freak who has to be visited like some mental patient who isn't allowed to leave the ward. They'll start thinking of me as a whore who has boys visit her bedroom to have a turn."

I hadn't thought of that. If she decides to date a different boy, then it would start to look a bit scandalous.

"What do you suggest? I really don't want you dating. There's no point to dating at sixteen except to-"

"-prove to others that you are 'open for business'," Prim says this part along with me because she has heard me say it so much that she memorized it.

I shift a little on the bed and wait for her to answer.

"Let me date Rory. Just Rory. Why can't that be our deal?" Prim looks at me with her blue eyes and I hope she will always be so pure of heart that she won't ever understand what a weapon her eyes can be.

"That's not much of compromise," I tell her to which she responds with offers of curfews and dates only on weekends to approved places none of which appease me.

"Just because I know where you are and who you are with doesn't mean I know what you are doing. It also doesn't control who else is there."

"You can't always know what I am doing, Katniss. Not unless you have crystal ball that you spy on me with," Prims says a little too sharply.

"If I agree to let you date with the condition of me being there as well, will that appease you?" I already hate the thought of being forced to go somewhere as a chaperone on Prim's dates. Finding places to date where it won't make me feel like a third wheel or a creepy stalker.

A smile tugs at Prim's face. "Really? You'd let me go on a date as long as it's a double?"

"I never said anything about it being a double date!" I say hurriedly. Panic starts rising up in my chest.

"How else do expect to be on a date with me?" Prim says distractedly. She claps her hands together happily, already planning her outfit, no doubt.

I feel a sinking feeling in my gut. I can't take it back now. Not with Prim so excited. I also know way deep down that it's unrealistic to think I can keep Prim from dating. If I don't allow it, she could start doing it behind my back. Since I can't stand neither the thought of Prim crying all the time or her sneaking around to date, swallow my pride.

"You can date if I go with you but I am warning you, it will take quite a bit to tempt me to come of a date."

Instead of getting upset again Prim smiles at me with a gleam. "Oh I know. I'll think of it as a challenge."

I watch her lunge to the bedside table for a telephone and I quickly leave her room.

What have I done?