Chapter 2
I think I like Charlotte, she hunts and doesn't like girly chats. When Gale sees that I trust Charlotte to some degree, his expression softens and we trail behind her.
When we get to our rock, Gale suggests we sit down, and rests, and pulls out a loaf of bread, and Charlotte reveals some beef strips we can eat. We all sit together and talk about hunting, the Hob and district 12 in general.
"So I've never seen you in the lunch hall at school." Gale says.
"Well I don't really have any friends, so I just sit near my locker or go home to eat." She replies.
"But you're a town kid, and they all are best friends with each other." I point out.
"The town lot don't really like me because they think I'm technically Seam because Dad was and I have darker hair, and the Seam kids think I'm rich and part of the town group so they don't like me either." She explains.
I'm intrigued by her way of living, she has no friends or siblings or any other members of family. We're probably the first people her age she's talked to in months. When she eventually has to go to butcher the meat, I insist that we go hunting again. I don't usually care for the other kids, but unlike most she has no friends or family. When she's finally out of sight, Gale turns to me.
"The last thing we need is another mouth to feed! Why are you being friendly with her?"
"Gale, she didn't just lose one parent, she lost two within months. She has no friends, her only family is Rooba! Please, she can hunt with us. You saw how big her bag was, and it was full of food. You know you can't get that much based on pure luck."
"It's just... She's town." Gale's calming down, and to finish my argument I just say: "She has one parent from each class, just like I do. She just moved with Rooba when her parents died, making her live in town. She's Seam Gale, as much as I am." At this, he gives in and disappears, and moments later he has some berries in his hand. In our usual pre-reaping tradition, he throws one up.
"Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds..." I catch the berry and burst it with my teeth.
"Be ever in your favour!" I finish, and we depart, to the Hob to trade, and to our houses to prepare for the reaping.
Chapter 3
Another reaping over, and for another year Gale and I's slips of paper carefully evading Effie Trinkets pink claws. We all head back, safe and sound as we can be, ready for a feast at the Hawthorne's House. When I am helping Hazelle prepare dinner, somebody knocks on our door. Usually its peacekeepers, especially on reaping day, so I prepare myself for the worse, and when I open the door - Charlotte, with her leather bag, the one that was slung over her shoulder this morning.
"Hey Katniss, we didn't really hunt a lot this morning, and I've just done my rounds to the tributes families, and I have some left over squirrel, deer and turkey. You can take some, the rest will be sold to Sae for whatever concoction she'll knock up next!" She explains.
"Charlotte..." I begin, reluctant to take the food.
"Please, call me Charlie. And I insist. It was my fault you didn't get as much." She gestures, holding the bag out to me. I haven't had deer in ages, neither have the Hawthorne's, so I thank her and promise to go hunting with her.
I take the smaller bag with deer in and lump it on the table, and my mother, Hazelle and Gale all eye me suspiciously.
"Charlotte, the butchers niece. We met her in the woods this morning, we were slightly late this morning and we spent a lot of hunting time talking this morning, so she came round with some food she had got. What are you so worried about? We all haven't had deer in ages." My mother and Hazelle seem a little shocked that I've talked to somebody that isn't Madge or our families, but I know that Gale understands, and everyone just goes about what they were doing.
Gale and I play with Posy, and Prim, Vick and Rory go outside while our mothers cook food. When I see Gale play with his siblings, I'm amazed at how good he is with them, he never fails to make any of them smile, including me and his moody teenager brother.
He'd make a great father someday, and if we didn't live in District 12, with the fear of starvation, the mines and the reaping, I'd quite happily allow myself to love him, make him happy, and give him the big family I know he's always wanted. But we do live here, and I could never love him knowing he could meet the same fate as our fathers, or send my child to the reaping, or sit and watch us all starve.
Next year is Gale's last reaping, and after that he's destined to go down into the mines for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. I want to do anything to stop that from happening to him, knowing our fears of the mines are mutual.
Thank you for reading, please review and follow the story! Thanks to Gale Lover for reviewing, the feedback was greatly appreciated! I'm going to try and update frequently, and as you saw nobody got reaped this year, but will the odds be ever in our trios favour?
Abi :)
