Chapter one: Waiting
I sat at my desk waiting for Alex to show up. I bounced my leg on the floor worried. What if her dad did something? Was she all right? Since Alex's mom died her dad had pretty much cared about one thing, alcohol. I stared at the clock as the minute hand ticked past. The bell was about to go off and as soon as it rung the first time Alex ran into the class room and flung herself into her seat.
"Alex what happened? Why are you late?" I asked leaning forward.
"Nothin', I just forgot to get up…" She sounded slightly annoyed. I ignored it and smirked.
"Ok, just wanted to make sure sis." I leaned back into my seat as our teacher walked in and tried to prepare the lesson for today.
"Yeah, yeah. Hey do you want to go hunt later? I need to get some food in case I get picked." Alex said her voice dropping into a whisper. The reality of what today was came crashing down onto me. Tomorrow was the reaping, where one boy and one girl from each of our 'lovely' districts would be picked to go to the Hunger Games and be slaughtered in front of Panem.
"That's not gonna happen so stop worrying." I said trying to hide the worry in my own voice. I mentally counted how many entries me and Alex had.
"You don't know that, stop trying to calm me down because I might get picked. Speaking of which, I have to talk to Mason about taking Nikki if I get picked to go." She said rubbing a hand across her forehead.
"Okay, I was just trying to help." I mumbled. I fixed my eyes on the door when the person I had been dreading walked in. Ricky Mitch strode into the room acting like he was king of the world. He locked eyes with me and I quickly dropped my gaze to my worn out skin boots. I didn't understand why he took such pleasure in tormenting me. I was just a poor seam girl who was dropped off here by her parents and was hardly getting by. Ever since we were little he was always picking on me, making fun of my hair, my drab clothes filled with holes, or my constant want to be outside. If there was something he could use against me he did. Once we hit fourth grade though, he got swapped and had no classes with me sparing me from his torment. But when we made it to high school he was back in my classes and seemed to have a more than unhealthy fixation with the teenage girl he had made fun of. He had already dated almost every girl in the school and now it seemed like I was next on his list. His attention only grew stronger when I died the blue into my bangs and highlights. I shook my head and buried my face into my notebook keeping Ricky from my mind. I stared at my ever growing doodles and added another one to the edge of the page. I continued doodling till our class was over and the bell rung. I gladly moved from my seat and watched Alex bolt out the door to her next class. I slid out from behind my desk and jammed my notebook into my worn out backpack and walked to the door. I could feel Ricky's gaze boring into my back but I ignored it and slipped away silently into the crowd of people in the hallway. "Rowan!" I turned at the sound of my name at saw one of the girls who lived at the orphanage with me. "Mrs. Shiller says that you need to get your own food today because you've been defying her recently!" With that she walked away. I sighed. Yes I lived at the orphanage but that didn't mean I had people waiting on me and taking care of me. I've had to fend for myself my whole life. I hunted for myself, I found clothes for myself, I did everything for myself. I didn't understand what Mrs. Shiller meant by defying, I hardly even spoke to her! I slid into my next class and stared at the blackboard. I noticed someone looking at me and I looked up into two shining green eyes. I blinked a couple times and noticed the person wave. It was Percy Jackson. I waved back slightly and then focused back on Manth. Time to fail.
I watch Alex walk over to Mason and his group of friends, which included Gale. He was like my big brother, one of the few people who cared about me. So far that list had reached three. Gale, Alex, and her younger brother Nikki. Everyone left Alex and Mason alone and I felt someone approach me and my shoulders tensed.
"Hey baby sister." Gale said using his stupid nickname for me, but I couldn't help but smile.
"Gale!' I said happily spinning around. "Did you get off work early?" I asked hugging him.
"No. I just got some break time; I said there was a family emergency." He shrugged. I thought of his brothers and sister and of his mother.
"What's wrong? They all seemed fine the other day." I said concerned.
"Yeah, but my baby sister is in the reaping and keeps taking tesserae even though I tell her she can feed herself." He said referring to me. I rolled my eyes, he always made a big fuss of this stupid thing. He checked his watch. "Whoops gotta go, bye." He planted a small kiss on the top of my head then dashed off leaving me with the smell of coal. I watch as he walks away and from the corner of my eye I see Percy Jackson walk out from the school. He looks over at me again and then Ricky walks up to him. His shoulders tense up and he squeezes his books. Oh no, why would he go talk to him and not just torture me? I could see Ricky start to yell at him and Percy yelled back in his face. Then Ricky shoved him and Percy fell to the ground. Ricky just smirked and walked away. Yes Percy helped me but that didn't mean he needed Ricky's hate. Ricky's figth was with me about what happened.
"Hiya Rowan, what's taking you so long?" Alex asked snapping me out of my own head.
"Hunh? Oh nothing just thinking about what homework I have." I say turning to her. "Did you talk to Mason?" I ask. She nods.
"Yeah everything is set and ready to go." She seemed a little happier than this morning and that made me smile at her.
"Well, that's go-" I stopped mid sentence as my worst night mare strode over to me.
"What is it?" Alex looks up and answers her own question.
"Hey cuties, Ricky needs to talk to Ms. Rowan." He said shooting me a look that I can only imagine was an attempt to woo me. I rolled my eyes and shook my head slightly. His red hair was somewhat messy and his brown eyes drilled holes into my face.
"Um no thank. Now if you'll excuse us your boulder of a body is blocking our way." Alex said taking my arm in her hand and began to walk around Ricky. Before I could cheer that we had gotten away or comprehend what was happening Ricky had torn me away from Alex and crashed his lips down onto mine. My eyes fly open wide as I shove at him and try to turn my head away. I pushed hard against his chest but he already knew my tricks and secured both my wrists in his large hand crushing my arms together in the process. Suddenly Ricky's head was ripped backwards and Alex punched him in the jaw. I fell backwards onto the ground as I rubbed my jaw after the assault. I stand up as Ricky tried to grab Alex but she kicked him in the stomach causing him to double over in pain. She walked away quickly and I ran to catch up with her.
"What the heck was that?! You're going to get expelled! You can't just beat up jerks on school ground!" I shouted at her.
"What happens, happens. Just because his dad owns the bank doesn't mean he can abuse my sister." Alex said casually. "He might be an entitled brat at home but that doesn't fly with me." I just shook my head in disbelief with my teal eyes opened wide. Alex laughed and I couldn't help but join her quickly. When we get to Nikki's class he's standing with his arms folded, a disappointed look on his face.
"Where were you?" He asks unfolding his arms.
"We ran into a couple bumps. But we're here now." Alex says simply. She grabs his arm playfully and smiles. As we start the trek to Alex's house she trips and her books go crashing to the ground. I would try to help her but if I did there would be two stacks of books on the ground. "Guys just go, I'll catch up with you." I nod and start to walk away with Nikki but then I see a guy with blond hair, a shade or two lighter than hers, and light blue eyes walking over to her. He bends down and helps Alex with her books. I cock my head to the side and realize who's helping her. The baker's kid, Peeta. I smirk back in her direction.
"Um, here you go. I'm Peeta, Alex right?" He asks standing. Alex shifts her weight from foot to foot and she averts her eyes from Peeta's ice blue stare.
"Uh yeah, thanks for helping me." She says simply and begins to walk away as me and Nikki follow closely behind.
"So uh, what are you doing this afternoon?" Peeta asks matching her pace, I smirk. Did she understand what was happening here? I finally get near the gate with Nikki and watch as they begin to walk over to us. I smirk over at her and she looks like she wants to kill me. Then someone stops in front of them I groan, really again? Not only was Ricky a jerk, he was obviously too stupid to learn a lesson, and this time he brought his two idiots along with him.
"Stay here." I say to Nikki. I walk closer to them but stay to the right and in the background, I don't need to be assaulted again. Ricky's jaw is purple and Carter winks at Alex. He has a thing for her. Colt just stood there staring, he looked almost bored.
"Ricky you look nice, the purple really complements your eyes." Alex said faking sweetness. I covered my mouth trying not to laugh out loud. I see Peeta hold an arm in front of Alex and then step partially in front of her. What was he doing?
"You're not getting away with this. Just wait till I'm done with you, you think you don't have a good reputation now? Just wait. You and your pretty face are going to pay!" He bellows at her.
"Aw, you think I'm pretty? Because of that sweet little compliment I guess I should tell you your jaw is just going to get worse." I could barley hold in my laughs.
"That's it!" Ricky charged at Alex but Peeta stepped between them and held his arms out.
"Okay let's take this down a-" Peeta's words were cut off by Ricky smacks him dead in the face.
"Not in the mood lover boy!" He hisses. Oh great here we go. Peeta's face turns red and he looks ready to strangle someone. Alex punches Ricky in the jaw again and he tumbles to the ground. Colt starts running towards Alex, he's going to wish he didn't do that. I feel some instinct kick in and I run to Alex and swing on Colt connecting my fist into his collar bone. He cries out and as he stumbles backwards I asses him. He seemed to be babying his left leg, and his ankle looked a bit swollen. He must've twisted it. Colt rushes at me again and swings but I pound my foot into his lower spine. He face first onto the ground and when he stands up his lip is cut and bleeding.
"Your just a little girl!" He screams running at me again, I duck under his fist and punch him in his right shoulder blade. He screeches, half with pain and half with frustration.
"You're the one that sounds like a girl." I said. I kicked his left ankle and he goes crashing to the ground. I jump on top of him and push my knee into his rib cage and pull up my fist. "Give me one reason not to punch you right now." I growl at him. Instead he just sneers at me.
"Ricky always gets his way and if he wants you he'll get you. That Jackson kid can't save you every time." With that I slam my fist down into his face and jump off of him.
"We need to get him back to the house so I can take care of this. Well so you can take care of this Rowan." I hear Alex say. I turn and face her and Peeta. His jaw is begging to turn purple from a bruise and his lip is busted and blood is running down his chin. "Yeah I'll fix him up quick." I said. "Let's go."
