chapter 3

Nobodys Pov

The next day, Peeta went and asked Katniss if she would like to come over for dinner on Sunday to watch the announcement about the Quarter Quell. Katniss thought about it and hesitated before giving an answer. Thats when Peeta said that she could bring Gale along or whomever she would like. Katniss than agreed and told him that she would only bring two people-at the most. The next few days went along fairly easily and before they knew it, it was Sunday. Peeta had already made sure that Haymitch would be attending the dinner by telling Haymitch that there would be drinks.

Katniss POV

(This is a day before Sunday)

Peeta had invited me over to dinner on Sunday. The day I spend my time with Gale. The day the announcement about the Quarter Quell would be made. I thought about it for a second, but then Peeta proposed the idea that I bring Gale, or anyone else, with me. I decided to bring Madge with me, just because I haven't seen her in a while, and surprisingly, Gale and Madge are great friends. It was surprising because Gale didn't get along with any of the merchant kids. He didn't like the fact that some kids were better off than the kids in the Seam. But Madge was better than all the kids in town… in fact, she was the richest person because her father was the mayor. Gale didn't even like Peeta, but he liked Madge? That was suspicious…

Gale wasn't so happy when I told him.

"Great, your forfeiting our hunting time to be with Bread Boy" Gale replied and rolled his eyes.

"Gale it's not like that" I replied, slightly annoyed that he was getting frustrated over simple things.

"Then what is it like, enlighten me Katniss. You always have to put him before me" Gale said with an icy edge to his voice.

"Quit being so jealous Gale" I said, loudly. It was a good thing only Peeta and Haymitch lived in Victors Village. Gale and my voice started getting a bit louder and if there were a lot of people living no doubt they would have heard what our argument was about.

"Why wouldnt I be jealous? Your always putting him before me even though your dating me. Your mine but you still put Peeta in front of me" Gale said.

"Well maybe because he understands what Ive been through! He understands it Gale! You don't! Its worse than having to worry about starving. Its worse. Sleeping knowing you might die a torturous death to the hands of Career?! Seeing helpless tributes, die? Seeing your allies die? You don't understand Gale! He does! And everything doesn't end there you know that? We have to go send kids to their death! We have to like in fear. The capitol wasn't too pleased with the berrie stunt. You know that? They are probably figuring a way to punish me now! Any day now, the capitol could come and kill both of our families Gale! You don't understand!" I said. I was getting frustrated. Peeta went through the games with me, but yet, Gale is still jealous. If it were up to me, I probably wouldn't even be dating Gale. Im only dating him because I owe him.

Gale then came the next day and apologized, and I forgave him. He then asked if he was still allowed to come to the dinner and I allowed him. We then walked to Madge's house to ask her if she would like to come. Madge smiled and agreed. It was soon Sunday. I looked through my closet, not knowing whether or not I should dress up. I decided I would be casual looking. I settled on a pair of pants, according to Cinna, that were called jeans and a nice shirt. I put a little lip gloss on and put my shoes on as I heard a knock on the door. I opened it and saw Gale and Madge.

"You look Great Katniss" He said to me and he leaned in to kiss my head.

"You do too, and you too Madge!" I said, feigning enthusiasm. Gale put his arm around my waist as we walked to Peeta's house. The door was opened so we decided just to walk in. I could hear movement going on in the living room and walked there. I saw Haymitch sitting on the couch with a drink in his hand and I felt Gale tighten his grip on my waist. I looked around and saw Peeta sitting close to Delly. Delly, daughter of the shoe maker. Beautiful, luscious blond hair, Pale skin, and friendly. Everything that I wasn't. For rome reason, I was irritated that she was able to sit that close to Peeta. Whats worse, was that they looked like they were having a good time. I sucked it up and smiled as I made my presence known.

"Katniss" Delly squealed and ran up to give me a hug. Why was she so friendly? She then gave Madge a hug and shook hands with Gale. Peeta than followed Delly up to great us. He smiled at Madge, glared at Gale, and came in to hug me.

"Hey there sweetheart" Haymitch said before taking another drink.

"Dinner is in the oven, if thats okay" he said and we nodded. Delly and Peeta than sat down on the couch again. My blood began to boil. She was all over him! Thats not fair. Why is he even allowing it? Maybe they are more than friends. Peeta did mention Delly a while ago. Gale sat down. Madge sat on the right side of Gale while I sat on the left side. Gale put his arm around me and pulled me closer. I looked at Peeta and saw that his pupils turned darker. He then looked down and played with his hands. I tuned out of the conversation the rest of the people were having. I kept my eyes on Peeta.

"Im going to go set the table" Peeta said.

"I'll help!" I said, eager to get away from everybody here. Peeta nods his head at me and we walk to the kitchen. The aroma in the kitchen was so mouthwatering. I watched as Peeta looked around the room checking the different types of food. I decided to start the conversation.

"So… you and Delly a thing now?" I asked. He just laughed and said "I don't know".

"How could you not know, its either you guys are together, or you guys aren't. So which is it?" I asked, annoyed that he didn't give me a straight answer.

"Why do you even care Katniss?" Peeta said. Why would'nt I care, idiot. I thought to myself.

"You know why! So are you guys together?" I asked again. Then it hit me. Why did I really care? Surely I wasn't jealous… I thought right? I thought about it and then concluded that I was jealous. Delly was everything I wasn't. That must have been why Peeta likes her. But why would I be jealous of that? Did I like Peeta?

"If you tell me why you care so much I'll answer your question" Peeta said and he smirked. I groaned and replied with a "Just tell me"

"Nope, not until you tell me why you care so much what Delly and I are" He replied.

"Fine! You want to know why Im jealous? Im jealous of Delly because she beautiful, and blonde and perfect. Because she has you tied up around her little finger. Why can't you see it Peeta? You guys would be perfect together! And Im just the boring Seam girl. Im jealous because-" I would have continued talking but Peeta stepped to me, and without a warning, he pressed his lips against mine. It was different then how Gale kisses me. Peeta backed me up until my back hit the wall and he put both his arms around me, trapping me against him-not that I was complaining. Normally Im not the cheesy type, but I felt butterflies in my stomach while he was kissing me. He sucked on my lower lip. I opened my mouth and he stuck his tongue in. It was by far the best kiss of my life. A lot better than kissing Gale. Gale just didn't have the spark that Peeta did. I put one hand behind his neck and my other hand went up to his hair and I pulled him closer to me, Thankfully, he happily obliged. He thrust his lower half into mine, making me jump a bit. Not long after, we both pulled apart gasping for air.

"Wow" I said.

"Wow indeed, that was amazing. You are amazing" He said.

"That definitely was. It was a lot better than kissing Gale" I said. I thought about Gale for a second. It wasn't right, Gale deserved more than this. I decided I would go break up with Gale before resuming anything else with Peeta. I went to the living room to see Delly and Haymitch sitting watching a television program about something. I looked around the room before I heard moaning. I followed the noise to where it was coming from. I opened the door to see Gale and Madge in an intense make out session. I stared at them for a second before Gale saw me. He moved away from Madge and walked toward me.

"Katniss, I'm so sorry. Katniss please forgive me" He said pleadingly and I laughed. Hard. He looked at me with a questioning face and I said "Gale we need to talk". Gale nodded and asked if Madge would leave the room, she nodded at Gale before hugging me and apologizing.

"Gale before you say anything, I'm not mad. You deserve it. I was going to say that I think we should stay as best friends" I said, hoping Gale would understand. Gales eyebrows furrowed together meaning that he was deep in thought.

"I would like that. Thanks Catnip for understanding and not being mad. I would really like for us to stay as best friends" Gale said and I smiled.

"Of course Gale" I said.

"But Katniss… what brought this on? What made you want to stay as best friends" he asked. I smiled. "It was Bread Boy wasn't it" He asked.

"Yes, it was Peeta. He kissed me and it was just so…perfect" I said as I laughed.

"Katniss, I swear to god, if he does anything, anything at all to hurt you. I will beat him to pulp" Gale said. We both got up and walked out. Everyone was already at the dinner table when we got there. Gale hugged me an kissed my head before we sat down. Peeta looked straight at me and then glared at Gale… was Peeta jealous of Gale? He then smiled and got up to pull the chair out for me. Peeta, such a gentleman. I thought as I smiled even wider, if that was possible. I sat down and looked at the food. It looked amazing. Then, I spotted the Lamb Stew. I immediately grabbed a plate and dug in. I could notice that Gale was stuffing his face as well. The food was delicious. It was as good as the capitol food.

"The foods not going anywhere sweetheart" Haymitch said as he laughed. I glared at him. After eating we went to the living room to watch the announcement about the Quarter Quell. Gale and Madge sat on the love seat, Peeta and I sat on the sofa with Haymitch. Delly went home saying that she wanted to be with her family. We heard president snow talk about all the previous Quarter Quells. "For the 2nd Quarter Quell…." Thats the won Haymitch won I thought.I turned back to the screen and intently watched president Snow reach into the bowl.

"And for the The 3rd Quarter Quell" He announced. He slowly opened the paper slowly and his face reaction was amused. "For the 3rd Quarter Quell, or the 75th Hugner Games, family friends or relatives from last years tributes between the ages 15 through 25 will go into the arena"

"Thank you, and may the odds be ever in your favor"

I knew he would punish me for the berries. But now I knew how. Snow was sending Gale into the arena to punish me. He couldn't send Prim in because Prim only had one slip and because she was reped let year, that would have been to obvious. Gale would have been perfect, he will now have many slips in the arena and with him being my "cousin" Panem wouldn't suspect a thing. Why could I just have died in the arena?

I looked at Gale, wondering whether or not he figured that he was most likely going back to the arena. Gales face was hard, he had his "thinking" face on. Gale clenched his fists and punched the wall causing a whole to be in the wall. He walked out of the house slamming the door behind him. Madge made an effort to run after him but Peeta held her back, which I was thankful for. Gale always did this, he needs time to process information before people can talk to him. I could feel the blood rush to my face and my fists curl up. Its wasn't fair. How could they send Gale back in? Haven't we already payed enough. I felt somebody's arms slip around my waist-Peetas arms. Normally, I would enjoy this. But not now, right now was not the right time. I moved away from him and ran to my house. I could hear Peeta calling my name behind me but I didn't care. I was furious. I walked through my house door and broke everything. Everything that was made from the Capitol. I went crazy, breaking anything I could get my hands on before I heard the voice of my mentor.

"Woahh there sweetheart, what went on in here" He said before laughing.

"Im not in the mood Haymitch" I replied.

"I know, and neither am I. But you look like you could use the help" Haymitch said.

"Its not fair Haymitch! Its not! How can they send him in! We have already been through enough torture! How am I going to mentor him? I don't know the smallest thing about mentoring! Im practically going to be sending him to his death! Imagine the older, bigger tributes from District 1 and 2! I can't do this!" I complained to Haymitch. What was I going to do? I can't lose Gale! He's my best friend! What am I going to do without him?

"Listen Sweetheart, You have Peeta and Myself to help you through the mentoring. Gale does have a chance, you know he does. You said he can hunt and that he can make good snares right? The Quell is a couple months away, so you can help him learn even more skills. We will train him like a Career. You need to be strong for Gale. Ok Katniss?" Haymitch said. I took everything in and nodded. Haymitch came and hugged me, which was weird. Although I love Haymitch and see him as my family, I have never actually hugged him. I hugged him back and felt his breath tickle my ear.

"There is a lot more I have to tell you, but I can't now because the houses are probably bugged. Tomarrow at around noon, come to my house and we'll walk somewhere so we can talked. I nodded into him as he backed off.

"Thanks Haymitch. For everything…. I love you, just to let you know. I see you as my father and I really appreciate everything you have done for me"I said quietly mumbling through the whole time . It was so hard for me to say those words. For one thing was that I was generally bad with words. The only people I loved where my father, Prim, My mother, Gale and maybe Peeta. Im still thinking about that. But now that I think about it, I do see Haymitch as my father, even though I have only known him for about a year.

"Sweetheart, I love you too and would be honored if you thought of me as your father" He said. "Now go find Gale, We couldn't find him so I'm assuming you know where he is" Haymitch said before leaving my house. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 8:30. Where would Gale be? I knew for sure he would be heading to the woods. It was the only place Gale felt free, even though I knew better. I put my hunting jacket on and put my boots on the field before I made my way to the fence. I listened for the buss of the electricity, which wasn't there. I slid under the fence and headed to the woods. I decided I would check to see whether or not Gale took his bow and arrows. I ran to the log and felt to bows, which meant that Gale was there. The only other place would be the river, and the meadow. I decided to check the meadow first. I saw him in the far end tearing the grass underneath him. I came up from behind and silently took a seat next to him. We sat for a while just gazing at the flowers.

"What am I going to do Katniss. I have no chance against District One and Two, and what about my family? How are the going to fend themselves?" Gale said.

"Gale you have chance. Your really good with a bow and arrow, you can build one of the best snares I have ever seen. You have muscles and know how to use a have general knowledge of some plants, and I'll teach you more. We have a couple months, we are going to train you so you can do even better. Your family will live in my house with my family for the time we are away. I'll make sure your family is taken care of. And don't say you don't need my help with that. You have chance. A big one. You are coming home Gale" I said. Gale pulled me closer to him and squeezed me in a half hug.

"How about you, you know its not over for you. Even if I die, the Capitol will still find a way to harm you. And I won't be around to protect you then" Gale said.

"Gale. Don't talk like that. You are coming home. End of discussion"

"Thanks Katniss, when do I start training?" He asked.

"Tomarrow. As soon as you get back from the mines, come to my house. Right away" I told him. We just sat there in silence.

"Gale, do you know how to swim?"