Hi guys! This is nllyoug.
I've edited the prologue: Sandra and Collin Watson are now and forever Maysilee and Cray Donner. Sorry, but I've been thinking about this story and this change was necessary. I don't think it's a reasonable thing using other names that do not exist in the Hunger Games Fandom.
Again, I'm sorry... I don't know what I was thinking. I've been busy with school and family and stuff, so I haven't been able to update STS. I promise I will post more often! I've got chapter 2 and 3 already on the way. I don't know how long this story will be in the end, but I think it will be about 10 chapters.
Here the first real chapter!
P.S. I do not own anything of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy.
Chapter 1
Present Day
"Did you know that M&Ms are like.. Oh my God, that's him!".
And here she is. Katniss Everdeen has survived other two years of hell. All she can think of is her leaving that place, that town, that family forever. As she returned home after that first morning two years ago, she sweared to herself that she would have left that house as soon as she turned eighteen. That was the plan. Everything else was unthinkable. She just didn't know the worst was yet to come.
But first, she would have to survive her last year at Panem High School. Easier to say than to do.
Madge is squirming beside her as they walk to class. "That's him!" she repeats, slighty pointing in front of her.
Katniss turns her head only to find a boy. Well, a very handsome boy.
He's looking aroud as he walks in the corridor. In his right hand there's a map of the classes; he's wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans, and his other hand mantains a school bag. But what Katniss notices right away is his curly blonde hair all over his forehead. His eyelashes are so long that she can see them even looking from there.
"That's him, the new student," Madge tells her.
Katniss shakes her head to clear her thoughts just before sighing and turning to her friend. "And what's the point about that?" she asks, sounding frustated. She turns to walk away, leaving a very agape Madge behind, staring at the new boy.
Her first class of the year is Chemist. She takes a seat at the very last row on the left, the desk facing the window. As other students sit down, Mr. Beete speaks up. The new student is on his left, glaring at the ground.
"Welcome back, seniors. This year has brought a new student. Please, welcome Peeta Mellark," he says squeezing with his hand Peeta's right shoulder. He encourages him to have a seat. For the rest of the class, Katniss stares at the street through the window. She thinks, most of the time. She thinks about her life. About how fucked up it is. She just always thinks because she can't tell anyone. Since that morning, she can't even look in Maysilee's eyes. She asks to herself does she know? And if she doesn't and finds out, would she save me? Well, I guess I'll never know.
After a year of sobbing and screaming everytime, eventually she allowed herself only the sobbing part. Luckily, Cray is often abroad for work, so she can heal in time. She was on the pill right the next day, and that was a godsend... that bastard doesn't even want to waste time putting a condom on. That first month was very difficult for Katniss. When Madge and Gale started to worry about her "absence", they tried to talk to her, but she would burst into tears everytime. Eventually, she told them she couldn't say anything, but that she was okay. With all her might, she stopped crying. They never asked her again after that.
The rest of her life is likely normal: she spends her time at school with Madge, and in the afternoon she and Gale walks around the county, one day fishing, the other practicing archery, a passion that Katniss had found the year before. She's really good at it, and Gale certaintly knows it.
The bell rings in the air, and she rises from her seat. The rest of the day passes without other events, and she has to walk home. Her street is something incredible and cozy. All the houses are red or blue, while hers is white and yellow. That was the first thing about her new life that she loved.
She's looking around the neighborhood when a familiar outline catches her attention.
Peeta Mellark is on the other side of the street. He's at the door of one of the houses, trying to slip the keys in the lock. Turning around before opening the door, he catches Katniss' eyes. She's startled by the ocean blue. So deep and caring she thinks. God Katniss, get your shit back together. She walks quickly the rest of the way home, not once searching for the boy's eyes.
So, she has just found out, the new blue-eyed boy will be her neighbor for the rest of the year.
"Maysilee?" Katniss calls out as she enters home.
"In here, honey!". She walks to the kitchen, only to find Maysilee baking at the counter, the rest of the kitchen a mess of dirty pots and tools.
She sits down sighing. "How was your first day?" Maysilee asks smiling.
"Normal. No, I dare to say... unbelievable," she tells her, "You know, there's a new student this year."
"Oh, could he possibly be from the family that moved in front of us?" she asks casually, frosting a half-burnt cupcake. That's the last hobby Mayslee is experimenting she says to herself.
"I think so. I've just seen him walking into the house".
Maysilee's smile is widing. "Well, well, well. That's not so bad, right?" then she walks to the oven, putting a baking tin inside.
"Well, well, well. I'm not interested. I've got homework to do, and then I'll meet Gale. It that okay?"
"Of course, honey." she says, kissing Katniss on the cheek.
Yes, the house was the first thing she loved, but Maysilee was certaintly right after that.
As the days went by, Madge was more and more achieved to have Katniss as a friend.
When the new scowling-girl moved in with the Donner family, she willed herself to be her friend. Madge Undersee was the always-lonely girl, too chubby and that the whole school always remembers for her family's money. She hated that, and more than anything, she desired a real friend. The new girl who didn't even know her name was perfect.
That first day, Madge walked over Katniss' table at the cafeteria, nervously.
"Hi" she waved in Katniss' direction, as the new girl looked up from her sandwich. Her expression was what Madge expected to see: a very-marked scowl.
"Ehm... can I sit here?" Madge asked, showing her lunch. Katniss nodded. And that was the very first real thing Madge genuinely smiled for.
That afternoon, after having done her homework, Katniss went to see Gale Hawthorne.
Their friendship wasn't a really emotional one. It was what Katniss liked to call "Distracting but Essential". Oh, what would she do without the tall and brown-haired Gale? She wouldn't know how to fish, or really, she wouldn't even know how to hold a bow. It was him who taught her to drive, and it was him who would always help her. She was that thankful.
Gale's house is not what you would imagine. Even if Panem City's families are for the most part rich, there are always the poor ones. If Katniss didn't live with Maysilee and Cray Donner, her family would probably have a house in Seam Road, the poor neighborhood. Gale's family was one of those, but Katniss never really thought about it: they were amazing people. Hazelle, Gale's mother, is one of the most known person in town, and not for the "poor-thing" (like Katniss says), but for her kindness. Gale's brothers, Vick and Rory Hawthorne, are twins and they're inseperable. Mr. Hawthorne, unfortunately, died in the town mines when Gale was just in kindergarten, and Hazelle was seven months pregnant with Posy, now a beautiful eleven-year-old. She will never know her daddy.
The Hawthorne house is yes, coming undone every minute, but also the most comfortable home Katniss has ever been in.
The door is unlocked, so Katniss lets herself in. "Hello!" she calls out.
"Hi, honey! In the living room!" Hazelle replies. The woman is on the couch, sewing a pair of pants – probably Vick's: that boy can't just stay firm a minute – while little Posy is doing her homework sitting on the floor, book on the coffee table.
"I think Gale is waiting for you in the backyard," Hazelle says. She looks into Katniss' eyes, now. "He has something to tell you." She's not really serious, but a ghost of a sad smile transpers on her face.
"Do I have to worry?" Katniss jokes, with a fake laugh.
"Oh no, honey. But it's something you have to hear from him." the woman reassures.
Katniss walks out of the living room and closing behid herself the back door, she finds the backyard. It's nothing special, but there's everything a family of five with three kids needs.
Gale is sitting on a Cinderella-chair (Posy really loves princesses), looking at the forest that remains further Seam Road. That's their woods, where they really stick together. Where they're no longer Katniss and Gale, but Katniss-and-Gale.
She sits down next to him and gazes at the forest one more time before waking him up from the incantation.
"A penny for your thoughts?" she asks in a small voice. She hates that voice: it makes her vulnerable. Too much for her likes.
He turns to watch her for a minute. Katniss wonders if he couldn't speak or if he just didn't know what to say. He turns away, gazing the forest again.
"Ma has been fired." Hazelle Hawthorne works at the local laundry. Or she used to, now. The pay wasn't much, even if Hazelle has never skipped work, but it was something.
"I'm sorry" Katniss says. What do you really say in these cases?
"Yeah... I know," Gale replies "The fact is, I'll have to work in the mines. I'm going to start next week." That's the news. Katniss didn't know what to think. She was scared... no, she was terrified.
"But... there's something else you can do, right?" Katniss asks, in a desperate voice. She hates that, too. "There has to be, Gale!" now she's standing in front of him, looking into his eyes. He just keep looking at the forest.
"Gale..." she whispers on the verge of tears, both hands on his shoulders. "You can't die in the mines, Gale... please." The small voice again.
Now he looks at her and she sees there are tears in his eyes, too. Her arms lock around his neck as she hugs him, hard. She promises he won't end his life like his father did.
School has always been something horrible and boring for Katniss. If she's not gazing out the window, she's at the cafeteria. Not that she is bad at school, she has always been a great student. It was her behavior that scandalizes the teachers. At school, she's "a little depressed", like the other students usually say, "and gloomy".
Today is no different. The cafeteria is almost empty, and the silence helps Katniss relax. She loves the noise of the plates on the tables, the soft music that is played 24/7. She likes to read a book, or do her homework so she will be free in the afternoon. Madge usually brings her lecture notes at lunch, but today she finds her friend in front of her table, arm in arm with someone else.
"Wow. That's a record: it's not even third period and you're already here!" Madge jokes.
Katniss is a little confused. "Well, PE is not that special with Miss Atala-don't-make-that-face" Atala Spielgam is the most famous teacher of Panem High. The boys love her body, the girls hate her face. She always has that scowl like she wants to say "Don't look at me. You're going to die". It's hilarious, really, but Katniss can't stand her. Like she needs to run four kilometres a day.
"Oh, got it." Madge still isn't including Peeta Mellark in the conversation, so Katniss speaks up.
"Care to present your friend, Madgie?" she jokes, obviously, but Madge really hates that nick-name. Infact, she starts to blush.
"Don't call me that," she says "Catnip."
"Touché." Katniss smiles.
"Well, Katniss. This is Peeta, the new student." she says gesturing to Peeta next to her. He smiles, and for a moment Katniss wants to stare into his eyes forever.
"Hi, Katniss" he says. He says that with such a genuine happiness that Katniss thinks she has just met the happier boy of town.
"Wanna sit down?"
They all talk for the entire period, and Katniss gets to know a little better Peeta.
His family moved to Panem City last week because his father had to retrieve Peeta's grandad's bakery. His grandparents has died last month, and they decided to return to Mr. Mellark's hometown. The bakery is in Town Street, near school. He works there three times a week to put aside some money for college. He wants to go to NYU, mastering in Art.
She can't possibly know that Peeta Mellark will be her one-way ticket for a new life.
Chapter 2 on soon!