This is Gale's POV of The Hunger Games :) This has been done so many times, but I want to try it :)
Chapter 1.
I dragged myself out of bed. The only good thing about this day, was that I would be hunting with Catnip. Her real name is Katniss Everdeen, but I like to call her Catnip. My mother is the only one up, and I watch my younger brothers and sister sleeping. They look so peaceful when they sleep.
"Be careful," Mom says just before I was going to go out the door.
"I will. I've been doing this for years, I will be okay," I smile, but I know she wasn't just talking about me hunting. She's scared about the reaping. I am too. My name is in there forty-two times, and there is a big chance I'll be taking place in the Hunger Games, since I have to get a lot of tesserae. The poorer you are, the more tesserae you need. And, my family need a lot. If you're rich, you don't sign up and there less chance of you going into the arena. It's the Capitol's advantage, if we're divided amongst each other.
I go to the bakers, to trade a squirrel for a loaf of bread. It's not a good trade for him, but on reaping days, people tend to be closer. He wishes me luck, and I go to the woods. I sit down, waiting for Katniss. I decide to stick an arrow through the bread loaf, for a joke. I love to see Katniss smile.
"Hey, Catnip," I say. "Look what I shot." I hold up the load of bread with the arrow through it. She laughs and takes it off me. She pulls the arrow out and smells the bread.
"Mm, still warm," she says. "What did it cost you?"
"Just a squirrel. Think the old man was feeling sentimental this morning," I say. "Even wished me luck."
"Well, we all feel a little closer today, don't we?" she says. "Prim left us a cheese." She pulls out the cheese. I smile at the cheese, since we barely have it.
"Thank you Prim. We'll have a real feast." I then put on my best Capitol accent, mimicking Effie Trinket. "I almost forgot! Happy Hunger Games!" I pick up some of the berries from the bushes beside me. "And may the odds -" I toss a berry at Katniss.
"Be ever in your favour!" She finishes.
I pull out my knife and I slice the bread. I can see Katniss watch me. I spread the slices with the soft goat's cheese, putting a basil leaf on each slice, while Katniss picks some berries. We eat the food, which is lovely.
"We could do it, you know," I say quietly.
"What?" Katniss asks me.
"Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it," I say. Katniss stays quiet. "If we didn't have so many kids," I add quickly, knowing that she doesn't know how to respond. We don't have kids. They are my family and her family.
"I never want to have kids," Katniss says.
"I might. If I didn't live here," I say.
"But you do," she says, sounding irritated.
"Forget it," I snap back.
After a long awkward silence, I can tell I shouldn't have said anything. There's nothing romantic going on between us. I wish there was, but I'm not sure how she feels. She's very secretive and barely shows her emotions.
"What do you want to do?" She asks,
"Let's fish at the lake. We can leave our poles and gather in the woods. Get something nice for tonight," I say. After the reaping, we are all supposed to celebrate.
We do well. We have a dozen fish, a bag of greens and a large quantity of strawberries. On the way home, we go to the Hob. We trade six fish, for some good bread and the other two for salt. Greasy Sae takes some of the greens of us, for a couple of chunks of paraffin. Then, we go to the mayor's house to give him the strawberries. Madhe opens the door, and she's wearing an expensive white dress and her hair is tied up with a ribbon.
"Pretty dress," I say.
Madge looks at me, to see if I'm giving her a compliment of if I'm being ironic. She smiles. "Well, if I end up going to the Capitol, I want to look nice, don't I?"
This confuses me. Does she really mean it? Or, is she messing with me?
"You won't be going to the Capitol," I say. "What can you have? Five entries? I had six when I was just twelve years old."
"That's not her fault," Katniss says to me.
"No, it's no one's fault. Just the way it is," I say.
Madge gives the money to Katniss. "Good luck, Katniss," she says.
"You too," Katniss says and Madge closes the door.
We walk towards the Seam in silence. Katniss doesn't think what I said to Madge was fair, but I think it is.
Katniss and I divide the spoils, leaving two fish, a couple of loaves of bread, greens, a few handfuls of strawberries, salt, paraffin and a bit of money.
"See you in the square," Katniss says.
"Wear something pretty," I say flatly.
At home, I find my mother talking to Rory, Vick and Posy. They all smile when they see the strawberries.
"I think we should have these for dinner," I say, holding up the strawberries.
Vick and Posy sigh, but Rory doesn't say anything. It's his first reaping and he's scared. It's Prim's first reaping as well. Prim is Katniss's sister.
"Rory, it'll be okay. I promise," I say. "Now, go get ready,"