Thanks for your guys' response, this truly makes me happy that people enjoyed my fic. This made me want to release this chapter as quickly and effectively as I can, it may be a bit long, but I hope you still enjoy it
I don't own the Hunger Games that honor goes to Suzanne Collins
Katniss POV
Present Day
Damn Gale for making me drive by myself for four hours to report an idiotic boxing match, I can't believe I consider him my best friend. Sure I'm the main reporter for our small town newspaper, Panem News, and I usually write the sports column, but boxing had to be my least favorite sport ever. It's just two testosterone crazed guys fighting each other until to see if they can knock each other out or be declared the winner and the sight of bruises and blood kind of makes me queasy. I rather watch paint dry than go to a boxing match, but Gale begged me to go and he also coerced me into going by saying we will stay a few days to see our siblings.
Currently my little sister, Primrose, and Gale's little brother Rory are attending Temple University. My sister is studying to be a doctor, while Rory is studying mechanical engineering so they've been too busy to visit our small town despite being relatively close. Unlike our siblings, Gale and I attended a local community college where we both got degrees in journalism to work at our town's newspaper. Working at the newspaper was a nice and a relatively stress free, but it got even better when our old editor in chief retired and offered Gale the mantle of editor in chief despite being under qualified, which Gale immediately agreed to take the position.
With Gale in charge, the paper has been doing well; it even has spread to other small towns around ours. Along with the paper's success came a better paycheck, which I use for Prim's education because the death of my dad left my mother in a comatose state for a while leaving us in a financial crisis until she started working again, I was 18 then so I also had to help my mother with the financial burden. By seeing my mother become a shell of a person made me vow to never to fall in love, I still had boyfriends though, but they never became anything serious.
Now I'm driving by myself to Philly hating that our old newspaper press had to break the day before Gale's and I's business trip/ mini vacation. I tried to stay behind to wait for Gale, but Gale didn't want any of the tickets go to waste and he mentioned it was a huge opportunity to interview a pro-athlete for the paper. He also said the match was suppose to be pretty big since it will decide who will get a shot at some sort of title. My knowledge of boxing was pretty limited, but it was good enough for Gale to send me instead of himself to report the fight. So I reluctantly followed Gale's orders, but the thought of seeing Prim makes it so much better.
I was entering Philly soon, so I put in the address of the hotel that Gale and I will be staying in into my phone. Once I arrived at the hotel, I noticed it was a pretty fancy making me feel out-of-place since I was still wearing my driving clothes and driving my dad's old truck, and there was valet to park my truck too. When I entered the lobby that was when I truly felt I didn't belong since people were wearing suits and designer clothes while my outfit consisted of my favorite sweatpants and a stained tank top, so I quickly ran to the receptionist. It took a while for the receptionist to notice me since she was doing something on the computer.
"How can I help you," she asked tightly while giving me a quick look over.
"Um, room for Hawthorne," I replied.
"Let's see your room number is 319," she stated.
"May I ask for some identification," she added.
"Actually I'm a co-worker and a friend of Mr. Hawthorne, but he couldn't make it today since a problem arose at work," I said.
"May I ask what was the problem," inquired the receptionist.
"Oh, the newspaper press for the paper we write broke down, so he had to stay behind for the repairmen or for it to get replaced. He told me to go without him to report the boxing match that is happening tonight," I answered while holding back a scowl.
"Okay, sorry about the questioning it's just to make sure that someone tries not to steal someone else's reservations," said the receptionist. I did felt a little pissed with the receptionist's sly comment, but I schooled my expression into one of indifference instead of ripping her a new one. She ended up giving me a room key while stating the floor our room was on and the facilities offered to guests, which I listen to with slight annoyance. Then I quickly snatched the room key from her hand to rush to the elevator and pressed the button for the floor our room was on.
Finding the room was pretty easy, so I entered the room without any hesitation. The room was pretty big with a modern looking decorum and silk curtains, but I didn't admire the room for too long since I really needed to take a shower. When I finished with the shower, I completely forgot that I left my luggage in my truck, but my worries was put at ease since the staff ended up sending my luggage to my room. I took my time getting dressed into my regular reporter outfit that consisted of a black pencil skirt and a silk white blouse. I noticed that I still had time to spare before the match, so I decided to call Gale.
"Hey, Gale," I greeted him.
"What up Catnip," he greeted back.
God I hated that nickname, I thought." Nothing arrived at the hotel, which is pretty fancy, and I just taken a shower. Now I'm killing some time before I have to head to the fight," I replied with my voice dripping with annoyance at the end.
"The hotel better be nice especially for the money I forked over, and why do you sound a bit angrier than you usually are," asked Gale.
I gave a huff of frustration then I answered," I feel a little out-of-place her and the receptionist was kind of being a bitch then to top it off I have to go to that stupid match."
"Why did you have to choose this hotel Gale, and why did you have to make me report the fight when you obviously wanted to see it," I questioned with frustration evident in my voice.
Gale gave a heavy sigh then answered," Because Kat we rarely leave Panem so I thought we should indulge ourselves for once, and you know why I couldn't report the fight."
"Why then," I inquired.
"You're really going to make me say it," huffed Gale.
"Yup," I said popping the "p" with enthusiasm.
"Fine then, because Kat you're the better writer out the two of us, and I probably pay more attention to the fight than thinking about the article," stated Gale.
"Thanks Gale," I said with sincerity.
"No problem Catnip," said Gale.
"So will I see you tomorrow," I asked.
"Yeah it seems like we need to buy a new newspaper press, but yeah I will see you tomorrow while Thom will wait for the new newspaper that will come in a few days," replied Gale.
"Great, good-bye Gale see you tomorrow," I said
"You too," finished Gale.
I hung up my phone and noticed that it was getting close for the match to start, so I decided to call up a cab to take me to The Arena instead of taking my truck. The cab came to the hotel in no time, so as I was being driven to my destination, I felt like I should research who I'll be reporting. I used my iPhone to get the necessary information like each fighter's history, what their names, and what they looked like. Jack "Brutus" Washington was an over muscled, tanned skin, and bald man, while Peeta "Stinger" Mellark was the opposite. Peeta had fair skin with the right amount of muscle with great definition. He also had medium length blonde curly hair and azure blue eyes.
We arrived at The Arena after a while, and the first thing I noticed was the huge crowd. I hurried up and paid the cab driver to go to the entrance specifically for the press. I gave the security guard my ticket, which he took the stub off. Then he pointed out where I could get a press badge, I gave him a quiet thank you and went to get a pass. After getting my badge, I went to my seat which was pretty close to the ring.
I had to sit through other matches before Peeta's and Brutus's. I didn't really pay attention to the matches before Peeta's since some were quick or dragged on, but the good thing was that there was barely any blood and gruesome injuries. Finally Peeta's match was up next, which caused everyone be quiet for the introductions.
The announcer finally announced the combatants making the crowd go into a frenzy. Peeta and Brutus walked into the ring looking cool, calm and collected, but you could feel the tension in the air. Then they reached the ring and started their pre-fight routine until they were told to knock gloves, the bell soon rang after that.
They immediately went after each other giving it their all. You could tell they won't lose without giving one hell of a fight. The rounds were a blur of punches and some blood to me, but I managed to jot down a few notes about each fighter. Finally in the tenth round with only few seconds to spare, Peeta landed a powerful punch that made Brutus go down for the count.
The crowd went into another frenzy when Peeta was declared the winner, while most of the press went on the ring to try to reach Peeta. I decided to follow most of the press on ring trying to get to Peeta, but I was rather pushed by the crowd until it reached a stand still. I continued to stand in the crowd looking for Peeta, and then I felt like someone was watching me. That was when I looked to see that Peeta was actually looking at me.
I was captivated by his beautiful eyes, which caused me to give him a shy smile. Then Peeta responded with the best smile he can give me despite his current condition. That one smile caused me to blush like a school girl, but I had to remind myself that Peeta was a pro-athlete and a potential interviewee so I couldn't let him get to me. I schooled myself to become the professional reporter I am despite the fluttering in my stomach.
To be Continued
Author's Note: If there is anyone that can create a banner for the story it will be greatly appreciated.