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Chapter 4: Gale

Gale knew that he had screwed up, big, but honestly, he had not intended to hurt Kat's feelings. Of course, that apparently, in his guy brain had led him to avoid Kat, simply because he had no clue how to tell her that he liked Madge and not her. Kat was a very private person, and up until two weeks ago, Gale had thought that they had more of a brother and sister kind of vibe. Then, by coincidence, he had heard a new rumor spreading around campus that Katniss had liked a friend. The only people that Katniss really hung out with were Madge, the girl he liked, and him, and he liked Madge. So, if there was any truth to the rumor, he knew that Kat would be hurt either way if it turned out that Madge liked him back.

He gulped and closed his eyes. He needed to believe that Madge liked him, because if not, he was going to royally screw up both of his best friends lives. Gale thought of himself as a decently smart guy, but ever since he had started liking Madge, he had been missing the most obvious facts about random things. Obviously, Katniss had known about his feelings for Madge all along, which made him a huge fat jerk for assuming otherwise. Also, Katniss, who should have been upset that Gale liked Madge, if the rumor held any truth, was only angry that he had kept her out of the loop by staying out of her way. He had realized before lunch that above all the things that he didn't need on his conscience, now he knew she knew and thought that he didn't even want to be her friend anymore.

Gale cringed. He sat on the same steps from that conversation going over and over the situation in his head, trying to make heads or tails of the situation, trying to think of any good solution to his offenses against Katniss.

First and foremost, he had held to the truth of a rumor rather than simply asking the girl who had practically been a family member for eight years. This was no small offense. He knew that Kat had a very sensitive heart underneath her tough outer sleeve. After her father died, Kat had stopped laughing the way she had when they were first friends. He saw her shut her heart away and close the doors to temporary people. Kat only opened up to people that she wanted to stay around. Even if she didn't really expect them to, Katniss was disappointed when someone she liked had no interest in being her friend.

She had been in choir last year and Gale had seen her battling the urge to break down everyday. Although Katniss was a private person, she was also an open book for the most part. She didn't hide her emotions or feelings and she stunk at lying about anything. A brief memory about Katniss lying to Gale about his surprise birthday party flashed in front of his eyes. What usually would have been an amusing memory was tinged with guilt and regret over the current circumstances.

Madge and Prim had meant to throw him a party and had forgotten how poorly Katniss lied or tried to deceive people. It was useless. He chuckled thinking about it, but had no real humor in the laugh. He was too worried. Honestly, he knew that Katniss was one of the most important people in his life, and sure, he couldn't imagine her not being there for the rest of it.

The second offense laid against him was that he hadn't confided in her, trusted her enough to tell her about his feelings for Madge. This was connected to the first offense, but because Madge was her other best friend, he was keeping her in the dark, almost proving the false assumption that she had, that he didn't trust her.

Nothing, of course, was further from the truth.

He sighed. The last crime he had committed was letting her walk away earlier. He had choked, hesitated, and when that guy had come down the stairs, Kat had fled, because Gale could tell that she recognized the guy from somewhere.

"But more importantly, what does that have anything to do with you avoiding me? Did you just get tired of me existing? I'm sorry, but I can't help that." "I'm sorry, but I can't help that."

Can't. Help. That. Gale felt atrocious, and was sure that if he looked in the mirror right now, he would be able to see the grief that was flooding through him at the moment. He hated being a guy sometimes. It was as if, when he started liking Madge, all other coherent thought processing capabilities had exited his brain and Katniss had received the brunt of the consequences. He had felt his brain empty of everything other than thinking about whether or not Madge could like him back, the worry temporarily blocking out all mental capacities, surely that was the only reason that he could have been dumb enough, arrogant enough, self-centered enough to think that Katniss would like him that way, just because of a rumor.

Hands on his forehead, Gale leaned forward toward his knees, looking at the linoleum that cut off at the stairs. He heard the cafeteria door open, the noise smattering from the loud cafeteria into the desolate hallway, the door shutting and then a soft voice saying, "Gale?"

He knew who it was. Madge, the one girl that he liked more than anything, was about to see him on the verge of tears. What could he do? His mental voice, it seemed, was a man running around on fire in a circle.

"Hello." He heard himself say it to her while still knowing he was staring at the floor.

Bracing himself, he looked up, unable to put a smile on his face for even this girl.

"Oh, Gale." Madge looked at him with a sad smile on her face. She was gorgeous today.

"Oh, me, is completely right." He was pathetic today, and of course, he had to be painfully aware of it in her presence.

"Why have you done this to yourself?" She sighed. "I've been trying to think of any plausible explanation for what you did to her, and honestly, I'm not coming up with anything good."

"Trust me- that's not your fault. She would have murdered me if that guy, Peeta, hadn't come down the stairs." I looked to her. "Who is that guy, anyway?"

She shrugged. "He's in her art class. He is just a friend... for now." Madge said it hopefully, and my brain cried out, oh God. What if Madge likes this Peeta guy? Gale wasn't usually the jealous type, but to him, Madge was a very special person.

"Honestly though, Gale- do you like Katniss? Is that why you did this?" There was a little disappointment in her voice. For the assumed feeling or his actions or both, he couldn't tell.

"No, I don't like Kat that way Madge, I never have." He shuddered, failing to imagine what him and Katniss would even look like together. They would burn the world down in a week, both angry and both action based people. "I like someone else and I thought that Kat liked me."

Madge chuckled. "Katniss, like you, like that... riiiggghhhhttt." As Madge was saying it, he knew how ridiculous it was sounding. The concept that Katniss liked Gale made him, well, uncomfortable and he realized it was because he had been dumb enough to believe the rumor.

"I haven't been super smart lately," he said, "because of liking this person and I was distracted enough to believe the stupid rumor that Kat had a crush on one of her friends." He groaned, man alive, he was an idiot.

Madge looked at him, shocked.

"Yeah, I know, Madge," he attempted a smirk, "I am an idiot." He stood up, stretching to relieve all of the tension that he had been putting in his shoulders.

She was shaking her head, standing up, a dazed look on her face. "Who.." she blushed. "Who do you like that much that you could be so... ignorant?" She sounded a little breathless, her eyes a little hopeful, but a little afraid. She must have guessed that it was her, Gale thought. Surely, she has seen the goofy way that he had been acting around her.

"Well..." He lifted his arm to rub the back of his neck a little. "Umm.."

"Just spit it out Gale."

'Now or never,' Gale thought. "I like you, Madge." Her face shot up, an unsure look in her eyes. He blushed. "I really, really, really like you." His eyes flitted between her eyes and her lips. Before he could stop himself, he reached forward, his hand cupping her cheek and kissed her.

She froze underneath him for a second, then responded. He deepened the kiss, the victory in his head slightly outweighing his guilt for the moment.

He was kissing Madge Undersee. He had been thinking about doing this for weeks, so when he pulled back, he was grinning like an idiot, but still trying to search her face for any clue, any sign that she felt the same way.

She touched her lips, her eyes bright, a furious blush on her cheeks, and yet, shock seemed the most prevalent, for the moment.

"You..." She drew the word out, trying to find more words. "Me?" She asked, surely not aware at all that I could have liked her back.

He just nodded and kept smiling. She swallowed looking down. The smile slipped from Gale's face.

"Madge, are you okay? I am so sorry if you don't-" She looked up a smile on her face.

"Of course, I do. You idiot." His smile was back. He leaned forward slowly and saw her blush again, before he dipped to the side and kissed her on the cheek.

"Good." He hesitated, the guilt was back. "Do you see now, Madge, why I was worried, why I thought that I might hurt Katniss?"

She looked up, amusement blending with comprehension. She chuckled, almost a sad chuckle. "You really thought that Katniss might like you that way?"

He grimaced. "Really, I did."

"You are so screwed."

He put his face in his hands, making his voice come out muffled. "Madge, what if she hates me now? What if she won't forgive me?" He heard his voice break a few times, felt the mixed joy and comfort he felt when Madge put her hand on his shoulder.

"You are going to have to give her some time, Gale." She was always so cautious, but that wasn't how Gale operated.
"I don't know how to wait, how to give her more time." He felt his inner voice screaming, unable to make sense of this awful fake imagined world without his best friend.

"She is not going to hate you, but you know Katniss, she is going to need time to get over what you have done."

'No,' he thought. 'This has to end today. I can't do this anymore. I can't have her look at me like that anymore.'

"I have to at least apologize today. Earlier, she asked me if I wished that she had stopped existing. It has gone too far. I have to act, I have to fix this." He felt himself going to the cafeteria doors and walking in as he said this. Gale's body was anxious, ready to act, ready to get this over with, and although Gale knew that it was going to be one of the most unpleasant, one of the most painful conversations he had ever had, he needed to get past this.

Madge had followed him, grabbing his arm. "Look, Gale. You know that I like you." She had a stern, protective glare on her face. "But I'm not going to let you just do anything to try to fix this. You need to abide by her terms. You know that you were the one in the wrong, so honestly, as her best friend and your..." She paused and he wondered what they were. They had not really had time to talk about it. "Your best friend as well, she has the right to be furious with you if she wants."

"I know that Madge. I even agree with that. I cannot, however," he clarified, "let her continue thinking that I am tired of her existence." He was looking over to Katniss, when Katniss looked up and met his gaze. He could see her body freeze and stiffen, even from the distance across the cafeteria. He had to fix that.

Madge's eyes softened and Gale knew that she was going to let him go talk to her. Madge let go of his arm saying, "You better be careful. That girl is deadly, fatal when angry." Gale knew she was right, knew that he needed to be cautious.

Gale began to work his way to her table, when he realized that the guy he had met on the stairs earlier was at Kat's table, as well as a little girl he didn't know. The guy, Peeta, was on his radar. The way Madge had told him earlier was understood now, in this better context.

He thought of their conversation earlier.

Gale watched Katniss storm off toward the door, not bothering to look in the direction of the person who had caught her eye, who was walking down the steps. He was more focused on everything that had just been said. He briefly realized that this person had ended their conversation, had taken away Gale's chance to recover and respond. "Ummm..." Gale heard the voice take a few steps and looked back to the guy. He was blond, with blue-grey eyes. Yeah, he didn't know this guy. "Hey man.. are you okay?" Gale felt a flare of annoyance, an urge to demand an answer to why the guy was so curious. Gale had brought her words upon himself, he knew that, but this guy was asking for Gale's frustration. "You know her?" Gale asked, trying to understand why recognition had sent Kat in the other direction instead of making her pause. What if she liked this... person? "Yeah, we have a few classes together." Gale searched his face, looking for any indication of how close this guy actually was to Katniss. "I know Art we have together and I think English? Maybe Math?" This guy seemed hesitant at first glance, but Gale, who had known Katniss for years, knew that she wasn't much of a social butterfly. She hadn't even mentioned this guy before, yet he knew the subject of the classes he might have with her? Gale's big brother instincts kicked in, launching his frustrations in a new direction. "You like her?" The question was half interrogation, half accusation. He focused in more closely on the guy's response. "Yeah," the guy said nonchalantly, "she seems pretty cool and her art is awesome." Gale was a little shocked. She showed her art to this guy? She never showed her art to him or to Madge. He felt confused, wondering if in the absence of the last few weeks, if he had missed this guys invasion, letting him get very close to Kat, very fast. He was not sure if he liked the guy or not. The guy came down the last few steps and held out his hand. "I'm Peeta Mellark." "Gale Hawthorne." Gale reached out, putting some strength in the handshake, as if to say, 'if you make a move I don't like, I can hurt you.' Peeta had a brief look of surprise on his face, which quickly changed to a smile. "So, Gale... see you around, I guess?" He seemed to be as casual with Gale as if he had known him for ages. Gale simply nodded, but he didn't think that Peeta had waited long enough to see it. Peeta waved as he walked away.

Now, walking up, Gale felt as if his suspicions had been confirmed. The way Peeta leaned toward Katniss, the smile he had on his face when he talked to her. This guy liked his sister, this guy liked Katniss, and Gale was already in a bad place with Katniss, which meant this guy had almost a free window of opportunity to get to know her while Gale had no right to actually threaten him. Gale was not happy and he felt his face shift accordingly. Katniss looked up, saw his expression, and rolled her eyes. He was halfway to her table.

Gale remembered that he was here to talk to Katniss, but the irritation he felt toward this other guy, well, made it hard to concentrate so he wouldn't offend Katniss on accident, again. Katniss, of course, and apparently, Madge, had no clue that this guy liked Katniss. Of course, Katniss would probably never believe that anyone could like her that way, which was dumb, but this guy... Gale felt like Peeta was hiding something up his sleeve. He didn't like that feeling. He was a quarter throw away when he heard Peeta say, "Katniss, I was wondering..." She looked at Peeta with a dim smile. "...if you would help me blend some charcoal into the piece that I was working on this morning?" Peeta smiled and Gale involuntarily paused. Charcoal. Gale grimaced, briefly thinking about Katniss' father, the ex munitions expert, the man who had a love affair with fire and explosives. This... boy wouldn't understand, but Gale did. His heart panged and he started to move toward her again, more determined than before.

"Sure, Peeta."

Gale stopped listening, rehearsing the thoughts in his head, trying to think of how to lure her away from Peeta, how to make her let him apologize. He would've laughed at the thought usually, but this time it was grim. Katniss didn't do well taking orders from anyone.

He was one table away when she got up and walked in his direction. He held his hand out to stop her, but she pushed it aside with a glare. She paused, then said with a false apologetic tone, "Hey, Gale. My friend, Peeta, who actually talks to me, needs my help." She brushed past, but she must have seen the pain on my face, because she paused again a few feet away and said, "After school, Gale." Her voice was curt, but he would take whatever she would willingly give him.

"Okay, Catnip." He wondered if the nickname could make her turn around. He usually only used it when they were alone, but he saw her pause another brief second, her and the boy, Peeta, going forward to exit the cafeteria. Gale winced, out of sight did not necessarily mean out of mind for him today.

He paused at a table nearby, thinking over his options. They were going to the art room, so he gave them a few minutes headway, before heading out to go to the restroom, only to see his hand on her shoulder. She looked sad, he looked apologetic. How the hell had the punk managed to upset her in such a small amount of time? Peeta dropped his hand carefully to his side and had stopped talking when Gale had opened the door. Gale took a step forward only to see Katniss, closing the distance between her and Peeta, hugging him. Gale stopped dead at the sight of that. Peeta had been surprised, but of course, was apparently happy enough to hug her back.

Gale still couldn't believe she had hugged him. Katniss had hugged him maybe six times over the course of eight years and they were best friends. Gale did not like the speed with which this guy was becoming someone Katniss cared about. Even if they had become friends two weeks ago, this was really fast in the context of Katniss and her usual timeline with people. Katniss stepped back and blushed. Gale tensed. He saw the slight confusion on her face, maybe she had been wondering the same thing that Gale had. How well did she know this guy? Katniss then sent Gale a death glare, probably for any number of reasons, then looked backed to Peeta, smiled, and gave a small wave before walking off. Peeta smiled.

Gale tried to breath in deeply, but the question came out like a natural response when Katniss was out of range.

"Who do you think you are?"

Peeta looked to him, the smile gone, confusion reigning on his face.

"...I'm Peeta," he said, "I am just a friend of Katniss." He smiled again hesitantly.

"How well do you know her?" Gale heard the door open behind him.

"Oh. Hi, Peeta." Madge really wasn't seeing the best of Gale today. He was sure that he was right, sure that he needed to protect Katniss, to put this guy in his place.

Peeta smiled at her nonchalantly, as he had smiled at Gale earlier, saying, "Hey. You're Madge, right?"

Madge nodded and seemed happy that this guy had remembered who she was.

Gale took in the whole conversation, looking back and forth between Peeta and Madge, his enemy and his... well, the person he wanted to be his girl.

Peeta said, turning back to Gale. "Katniss and I aren't that close. Why do you ask?" Madge looked concerned.

"I think you know why." Gale felt himself seething, though it was completely unintentional.

Peeta looked to Madge for help, but Madge shrugged. Did Madge not see how obvious this guy was?

"I know you like her." Gale stared him down.

"Katniss is my friend, man. I barely know her. I may do a lot of crazy things, but even I am not dumb enough to think that anyone as awesome as Katniss would be interested in more than that with a guy like me." Peeta looked down. Gale didn't buy it.

"Gale," Madge said, "he's being honest." I looked at her, telling her with my eyes. I don't trust it.

Peeta started to back away saying, "I need to get to math. Later guys." He was running away. Gale sensed the red take him over and the next thing he knew, he had punched Peeta in the mouth, splitting his bottom lip, and he was panting as if he had run a mile. He lowered his hands, getting out of his offensive stance. Peeta looked at him like he was crazy.

"What is wrong with you, today, Gale?" Madge asked, her eyes blazing with anger. "First, Katniss, and now you punch her friend, over an accusation that you have no proof of?"

"She hugged him." Madge was shocked for a second, but then she shook her head saying, "So? It was a hug and she initiated it. It's more likely that that would tell you that she likes Peeta than that Peeta likes her."

She went over and looked over Peeta's face, then helping him to stand. She put his arm around her shoulder, asking, "Are you dizzy? I think you might have hit your head."

Peeta looked dizzy. His balance was off, Gale noticed.

"Look, Gale. Peeta is a super nice guy, so he might not say anything about this to Katniss, but I will if she asks what happened. So, I suggest you make yourself scarce until the end of the school day. You know she'll be angry," Madge noted, "and I think you need to get a grip."

She walked Peeta to the stairs, and Gale saw him take his arm from around her shoulder, gripping the railing on the stairs. "I think we should go to the nurse," Madge said to Peeta. Gale had no clue what had come over him, and he decided that he would ditch for the rest of the day, so that Katniss wouldn't have the chance to kill him in the hallway.

He knew it was bad, but it had felt good to punch something. He just regretted that the something had been Peeta's face.