A/N: Alright, here's the next part! You all get to see who the long awaited 'mystery man' is! An apology goes out to kayola15 because I'm a day later than I said I'd be.
I hope you all enjoy because I had fun writing this part. The song for this chapter is Awake My Soul by Mumford & Sons. I wonder if any of you actually listen to these songs.
As always, thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! I really appreciate you guys taking time to do that!
Chapter 4: Awake My Soul
Peeta's POV
Katniss closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. Letting out a noise of frustration, she turns to face the owner of the boisterous voice.
"What do you want, Cato?" Her voice is irritated, and it makes me happy to see that she does fall to her knees when faced with Cato's self-proclaimed 'charm'.
"Oh, come on now Katniss. That's no way to talk to your high school sweetheart!" Cato smiles what—I'm sure—he thinks is a heartbreaking smile.
His admission shocks me. Of course I would invite a girl I'm very interested in and her previous lover to the same party—my party. But when I look to Katniss, I see that her eyebrows are furrowed and she is staring at Cato like he's got seven heads.
"What the hell are you talking about?" She squints her eyes at him and her mouth curls in disgust. "You mean those four years of school where you repeatedly stalked me? The way I remember it is you followed me around, constantly flirted, and asked me out every single day. Even though I said no every single time you asked and Gale threatened to beat your ass up, you never got the picture. When I started avoiding you completely—halls, class, stores, everywhere—you decided to amp your creepiness up a notch. I still vividly remember the day you grabbed my ass in the hall when I was on my way to class, and I punched you in the throat and kicked you in the balls," she laughs harshly, "You had still had a black eye from when Gale hit you for telling me I had a great rack at the diner! That might have been the best day of my high school life. Seeing you rolling on the floor with one eye swollen up and black so badly you couldn't see out of it and unsure if you wanted to breathe or grab your sack more—yes, that was definitely the best day of high school. It was worth the week of suspension I got."
Throwing a smirk Cato's way, she bursts out with laughter and has to bend over at the waist. Her hand latches onto my arm because she's laughing so hard she can't even breathe. Her eyes are so bright and happy and crinkled up in the corners that I can't help but smile and laugh with her. Finally she settles down and takes gasping breaths to satisfy her aching lungs.
Cato glares daggers at Katniss as she wipes a few tears from her eyes with a few small chuckles slipping out of her mouth.
She pats him on the shoulder, "Hey, good seeing you. You're always good for a laugh, buddy. Creeper love will always be the strongest love, right?"
Visibly fuming, Cato curses under his breath and stalks away. When he's gone, Katniss drags the back of her hand across her forehead as if wiping off sweat, "Whew, crisis averted."
"That really happened?"
"What? The whole stalker situation that ended in Cato getting beat to a pulp…?" she raises an eyebrow and continues when I nod, "Yeah, that was pretty much my high school years in a nutshell. Creeper chasing me, and then Gale and me beating him up."
Looking into her eyes, I smile crookedly, "I'm sure it wasn't just Cato though. You probably had oodles of boys chasing you. I bet you and Gale had to do a lot of defending."
"Nope, not really. Cato was the only person who showed an interest in me—unwanted or wanted. Other than Gale and Cato, no one really liked me at all. Hated me, if we're being honest."
Now this I couldn't believe. "That's impossible. I don't believe that for a second. I'm positive you had people hanging off your every word and begging you to be friends with them."
"Ha," her eyebrows shoot into her hairline as she chuckles and shakes her head at me, "That's really funny. No, everyone really didn't like me. I'm pretty sure Cato got ostracized from his group of friends for associating with me."
Nothing that she said made sense to me. I barely knew her and I still thought that she was a goddess among mortals. I knew that she was fiercely loyal and determined. And if I learned anything from the Cato story, I learned that she does not take any shit from anybody. "How could anyone possibly hate you?"
"Well, let's see, number one—I was dirt poor, and they were all rich. I couldn't afford a gallon of gas, and they drove BMWs to school. Number two—I didn't care about materialistic things; I really just wanted to put food on my family's table and a roof over their head. I was on survival mode—not want mode. And number three—I always bagged the best deer before anyone else had a chance. Thank God for the forest being my backyard." She said the last number with a grin on her face. "I guess I was different than everyone else, and they didn't like me for it."
I wondered what she meant about having to put food on the table and a roof over their head. That was something parents did; even if her dad had died, she still had her mom, right? "Did bother you? Knowing that no one liked you?"
She points her finger at my face as she smirks, "Now that's not the right question, is it?"
"I don't know. Is it?"
She smiles a crinkly-eyed smile at me, "No, 'tis not."
Smiling back easily I say, "Then please, oh wise Gandhi, enlighten me."
"Gladly, young grasshopper. I was hated by people I hated in a place I also hated. 'Can you really feel the hate' is the correct question to start with."
Man, that's pretty deep.
"And, to tell you the answer, no, I could not feel the hate. The feeling was like watching a movie and seeing the main character get stabbed. You see it happen; you sharply inhale your breath; you grab your stomach or wherever the character gets stabbed; you say 'ouch,' you tense your muscles up. But, did you really get stabbed? No, you saw it and reacted to it, but you didn't really get stabbed. That's how it is. So no, I did not feel the hate."
I'm at a loss for words. If I thought she was thoughtful before, this definitely tops the metaphorical cake. Her intelligence is not at all surprising, but it is still shocking to hear something so deeply thought about flow from her mouth as if it was no big deal. "Wow," I can't help but to stare into her magnetic gray eyes.
"'Wow' what?"
"That was really impressive. You, just going all deep and philosophical on me."
She blushes and looks away, "It wasn't that impressive. But now you can ask your original question."
"Okay, then, did it bother you? Knowing that no one liked you?"
"No because I couldn't feel it. I couldn't feel their hate, so it never bothered me. I was practically invincible; no one could touch me."
"I wish I had been like that. I was really preoccupied with what people thought of me… but now for the biggest question of them all. What are you supposed to be?"
She flushes and laughs but I continue on, "Are you Catwoman? Or I guess Catwoman with a K—Katwoman. You know, since your name is Kat?"
She laughs harder, "No, but that's good. I'm actually fire."
I cock my head to the side and raise an eyebrow, "I'm s-sorry? Fire?"
More laughter and she graces me with one of my favorite smiles—the crinkly-eyed ones, "Yes indeed, fire."
"But your costume is all black…? Fire isn't all black…" I'm sure my confusion is evident on my face.
"I was getting there, but first, do you have a match?"
A match? "A match? Sure."
We walked to the kitchen, and I pull open a drawer to reveal a box of matches. Handing her the box, I raise an eyebrow.
"You'll see; be patient." She pulls out a match and twirls it around in her fingers. "My friend Cinna lent me this costume; he said it matched my personality too well."
I'm thinking about what she said when she strikes the match on the box.
I'm about to reply when she holds the match to her stomach.
I'm about to ask her what the hell she's doing when she bursts into flame.
That's when the screaming starts.
