Chapter 6

"She would have hated that – she would have fucking hated that!"

Madge sat in Gale's room. It was a habit they had fallen into quite easily. Madge's father was forcing contact so as to begin some rumours. How better than to mend the relations between the District than through rumours, eh? Though Madge had to admit that his plan was rather ingenious. Getting two high-profile teenagers who both loudly symbolised respective sides of the District and getting them married would not only show how, first off, the Mayor was endorsing Seam/merchant relations by allowing his daughter to be married to a miner, but also potentially increase social mobility between the groups in daily conduct. Smart – really, really smart. Gale was respected enough amongst the Seam folk as someone who always looked after and fed his family well. They would never talk ill of him, and considering talking ill of Madge would be offending The Great Hawthorne, they would not speak ill of her either.

"Did you see that?" Gale hissed. "In front of the whole world – he told everyone he was in love with her!" Madge listened to his anger. Quick to anger and forthcoming with displaying that anger.

"You know what – you could have just let me volunteer – then none of this would have happened!"

Madge sighed. She felt anguish towards stopping him from volunteering and hated that bit inside of her that felt that way. Neither of them deserved to go to the Games, but Gale had a big family to look after – and not only that, but he had been given the responsibility of Katniss' family, too. Had he volunteered in Peeta's place and died, children would had suffered – but wasn't Peeta a child? Was it really Madge's decision to make to stop the prepared and skilled fighter from volunteering in place of an ill-equipped bread boy? But – children – there was something about the whole scenario that Madge couldn't swallow, and seeing her best friend on the big screen just showed her how real it all was – how far away he was – seeing him say those things just reminded her of his potential, of how deep his love was – of how he would always be looking at Katniss to the point where Madge thought it was normal – didn't know they liked each other until…. "Listen, I'm going to leave and come back once you've calmed down a little. I seriously think you're overreacting." Madge stood up and started to straighten her dress out.

"Overreacting? What – you know what, just go. That's what you always do, right – like a coward. Couldn't even tell your own father 'no', could you?" He shouted.

Madge stilled. Her ears sparked from the pitch of his voice. She could hear Gale taking deep breaths from behind her. Something sickly dripped down her throat.

"Coward?" Madge whispered. "Oh. That's what you really think of me." And it must have been the truth, because she felt the same. She felt the same.

"Madge…"

"I shouldn't be surprised. Not really." Madge couldn't turn to look at him. She gulped down her revoltion. "I think I have outstayed my welcome. Feel free to come visit me tomorrow." The words trembled but she pushed them through her lips, waiting a moment for him to say something.

He never did.

Gale didn't come over the next day. Madge spent her time with her mother and then some more time at the piano. She went to watch the Games with everyone and she stood beside her finacee, but they parted ways relatively quickly to do their own respective work and Madge, like always, was a little affronted by the lack of work she had to do to set her mind off their argument – she spent time with Brett (the butler) and then she spent time in the garden on one of the swings, reading another Capitol romance novel.

The sun dipped down low in the sky when she reentered the house, and there was still no Gale in sight.

The next day came by and Madge decided to visit the bakery. Peeta's family were all busy but she bought some loaves, too many for her own house. She wasn't sure where Katniss' house was, but Rye – Peeta's eighteen year old brother – was on his break and offered to lead her there. His mother didn't seem happy with the idea of them trailing through the Seam, but soon became preoccupied with icing something and they managed to sneak out.

"How do you know where she lives?" Madge asked on the walk.

Rye shrugged. "Everyone just knows everyone around these parts. I'm surprised you didn't, what with you dating Gale and all."

"We're engaged," Madge said, trying to shift the conversation away from her lack of knowledge of the Seam, which would need to be brushed up on before making a convincing argument of her knowing enough to have been dating Gale.

"Uh – shotgun wedding?" Rye asked uncomfortably with a blush. "I mean, if so, congratulations."

Madge blushed even darkened. "Oh no! No – gosh, Rye!" she hit his shoulder. "We just like each other!"

"Funny that," Rye said with a grin, "Never seen you together until recently." His tone wasn't accusatory but Madge wasn't sure if she could lie well enough to keep it that way.

"We didn't want to make a big deal about it before we knew we were serious," Madge echoed the rehearsed excuse they had decided to use. "I thought my dad would be upset that I was dating someone who wasn't Capitol but when he realised that Gale and I were together, he was more upset that I kept a secret from him." Madge paused to make it sound like she was considering something. "In reterospect, my father has always valued my happiness and I should have known he would accept Gale off the bat."

"Sounds like you've thought about it a lot," Rye said. They stopped walking and he motioned to a wooden house. "Go ahead. I'll wait out here."

Madge knocked on the door and Prim opened it. They greeted each other. Prim seemed preoccupied so Madge just handed her the bag of baked items and turned to leave.

"Madge?" Prim said as Madge was leaving. She turned and looked towards the girl with bright blonde hair, coal-stained clothes. "Thank you." Prim paused, looking into the bag, never once looking up at the girl. Her hair was a little messy but her face was clean overall. "Gale is in the forest. There is a gap in the fencing. I can take you there."

"Oh," Madge said before laughing. She put on her Capitol-face: all happiness and a little bit of stupidity. "What makes you think I need to see him? I'll see him later."

"He's upset." Prim finally looked up to her. Madge could feel Rye's presence behind her.

"Thank you for telling me," Madge said. "I'll see him later," she lied. "I'm sure he'll just be upset if I went into the woods without him. He hates it when I do that," she lied again. Lied, lied, lied. She wondered if she could remember all of these lies. But hell, she didn't want to see Gale one bit – not after what happened before – and she would use any feasible excuse to get out of it.

"Okay." Prim was quiet then. "Will you come again?"

It occurred to Madge that Prim was lonely. A girl looking after her mother – who everyone knew was ill and had been for a long time. A young girl. Without the help of a butler like Madge had or the presence of a father, even if he was barely there.

"Yes." Madge pulled out her paper bag of baked goods and the single decorated iced cupcake she had bought for her mother. She handed Prim the box and when she opened it to reveal the pink and the glitter, the girl's expression changed and her eyes widened a little. "Don't buy bread. I'll bring you more tomorrow."

The promise of giving Prim bread gave Madge something else to do with her time aside from worry. She had taken to looking after the garden and practising her piano more and more – bringing her mother downstairs to fall asleep on the sofa to the lulling noise of the keys. Gale didn't come, and Madge could understand that maybe he was embarrassed – or, more likely, disgusted – but she played piano and ran the little errands she had created for herself, avoiding her father and seeing any folk lest they talk about the absence of Gale.

Days passed slowly. The week of tribute training was occuring, and whenever Madge fell onto her soft mattress, she thought of Peeta's tired bones and – hell, why would he tell everyone he loved Katniss on the screen?

But of course she knew. The Capitol loved a good romance novel, and what a good novel this would make. The publicity would be enormous.

Madge wondered if she ever deserved a love story that was more than publicity.

A/N: sorry for the lateness, tried to update before christmas but fanfiction crashed and i forgot until now. what are your thoughts on Gale's reaction? and on Madge?

Thank you KC for the comment + concern! I'm fine hun, how are you doing? (thank youfor the support xxx)

And thank you all for your patience! it means the world to me, your lovely comments are what made me update! until next time muffins xxxxxxx