The hike back to what remains of District 13 takes all night and most of the next day. The skies are overcast, matching my mood. I see little of my surrounding, the trees passing by as if they weren't really there. The only thing moving me forward are my feet. The rest of my body wants to run back to Gale, to tell him I was pulling his leg. That none of it is real but that time is past. This is real. I can't keep pretending that it's not. I knew that someone was going to get hurt. I just didn't realize it would hurt this bad.
I know I like Gale. I stopped trying to deny it after the first year of knowing him. He's everything. No matter what you throw at Gale he picks it up and turns it into something he could use. This time I just gave him nothing to work with. If Gale has any feelings for me he has a strange way of showing it. I knew as soon as I saw him with Katniss that he was in love. She wasn't, I never even saw the littlest hint of it. Then again I was looking through bias eyes.
If it had been up to me I would have whisk Gale away to District 12 before this reaping even happened. Let him watch it from the screens in the cafeteria. He would have been upset but at least he would've known it was for a cause. Sometimes, late at night, I'd pretend it was already that way; that Gale came to his senses and saw that Katniss wouldn't…couldn't, ever love him.
The flight deck is open when I reach District 13. I wonder if they had seen me walking back. A soldier comes out to meet me; probably just making sure those below actually saw the right person. Once he recognizes me I am lead inside straight to President Coin.
"Horne."
"President Coin," I answer back in a stoic tone, taking a seat on top of the long table that sits in the middle of the room. "Gale didn't exactly react well to my news."
"You didn't exactly do an upstanding job of telling him," she answers back finally turning to look at me.
Her face is stone cold, eyes glaring into my soul. I don't know why I volunteered for this stupid mission anyway.
"I wasn't aware that you were watching."
Coin scoffs a little as if she can't believe my stupidity, "We are always watching you. You are just as important to this cause as Katniss is."
"I find that hard to believe."
Coin moves closer to me, "Don't think for a second that if we could have dropped you in that area that we wouldn't have."
"Are the games playing?"
"We get what we can. It's important for us to keep an eye on things."
With that I exit the room, making my way down to the cafeteria. Peeta's face is on the screen next to Caesar Flikerman's, the interviewer for the games. He always looks slightly constipated. The fake plastic smile seems to get bigger and even more forced every time I see his face.
"Please welcome Peeta Mellark," the interviewer says as those in the crowd cheer. "Peeta welcome, how are you finding the Capital, and don't say with a map."
Caesar laughs at his own joke but Peeta just looks confused, "It's uh…different. Very different than back home."
"Different in what way? Give us an example."
"Okay, well the showers here are different."
"Showers," Caesar looks amused as well as slightly confused. "We have different showers."
"I have a question for you sir," Peeta says, flashing a smile at the camera. I have to give it to him; the bread boy knows how to charm a crowd. "Do I smell like roses to you?"
"Erm," Flikerman sniffs Peeta's collar, "alright yes. Do I smell like it?"
"You definitely smell better than I do."
This gets a laugh out of the crowd. If Peeta can survive he will have no issue getting presents in the arena. Those in the Capital seem to love him. Then again they always do love the ones who seem wide-eyed and drink in everything the Capital has to offer. I wonder if it's an act or if that 's just Peeta.
"So, Peeta, tell me. Is there a special girl back home?"
This sparks my attention.
"No, not really."
"No! I don't believe it for a second. Look at that face! A handsome man like you, Peeta, tell me." Caesar is basically begging for any kind of answer that will spark the interest of the crowd. His job is to sell the tributes. It doesn't really matter if the information he gets from them is true or not.
"Well," Peeta starts, looking right into the camera, "there uh…there is this one girl that I've had a crush on forever."
"Ah!"
"But I don't think she actually recognized me until the reaping."
"Well, I'll tell you what Peeta. You go out there and you win this thing and when you get home, she'll have to go out with you. Right folks?"
There is thunderous applause from those sitting in the audience. Nothing makes for a better show than some kind of star crossed love. Peeta gave them exactly what they wanted. Just as I think the interview is going to end Peeta speaks up again, his eyes look sad.
"Thanks. But I uh…I don't think winnings gonna help me at all."
"And why not?"
"Because she came here with me."
The glass of water that I had been holding in my hand falls to the floor with a thud, water splashing across the concrete floor. My reaction seems similar to everyone else's in the Capital. If this confession of feelings is all for show, Peeta is playing his part very well. This was not part of our plan at all.
"Well that's bad luck," Caesar answers back his usual smile faded a little.
"Yeah it is."
I don't stay to listen to anymore. I have to know if Coin knew about this. If there are more secrets being kept behind my back I'm out. My agreement was contingent on being in on every aspect of this mission. This little stunt Peeta just pulled could drive the wedge between Gale and I even deeper.
"We had no idea that was going to happen Horne," President Coin says as soon as the door to the operations room slides open. "He's either acting on his own true feelings or Effie or Haymitch gave them a new direction."
"Yeah, well good luck getting Gale on our side now."
