I wake the next morning early, as usual. The sun has yet to rise. I rub my eyes with my hand as I sit up in my bed. After staring forward for a moment, mentally waking myself, I shove the covers off of me and glance over to Prim. She's still sound asleep; good. I force myself to kick my feet to the ground beside my bed and stand. After slightly stretching my clamped muscles, I further inspect my surroundings. To my relief, nothing has changed from last night.

Deciding to start my day, I change into an outfit very similar to yesterday's. Contrary to what I hear from the Capitol, I don't really care about 'fashion'. I need comfort and support. I pull on my dad's old jacket almost similtaniously with my boots. I'll just go on a short walk down the road. Try to get my barrings In this unfimiliar land. I'd lived in my old house, the one that now sits nearly empty, my entire life. But change comes and goes and when I turn twenty, the age of adulthood, I will be able to leave with Prim and we'll live together happily. It's weird to think that when we are legally permitted to leave the horror house, Prim will be the age I am now. I shiver at the though of Prim growing up, physically shaking it from my head as I prepare to leave.

I exit the room silently, glancing back at a sleeping Prim a final time through the crack before closing the door all the way. I turn abruptly and plow down the hallway-wanting to get some fresh air. The chilly fresh air I'm used to accompianing me. I softly trot down the stairs, using my forest steps, fast and silent, careful not to wake the occupients of the house. I circle around the inside of the house and near the door. I reach for it, gingerly turning the nob and swinging the door open. A long creak secretes from the hinges and I cringe at the sound before looking over my shoulder to confirm that it didn't draw attention to me. Before I give myself another chance to be caught, I slide through the door-holding my breath-so I dont have to open the door anymore.

Once outside of the threshold, I don't even look around, I directly face the door and focus solely on closing the door silently. The door releases a soft click shut but is otherwise as silent as I. When I turn around, I immediately see a strong body leaning against the porch rail, causing me to sharply inhale.

"Where do you think you are going?" A boyish grin crosses Cato's face. Of course; out of all people to catch me. I must have some kind of quality that attracts men like Cato. I don't answer his question, I just move to continue away from the house, avoiding eye contact. But he steps infront of me, blocking me. "Where are you going." He repeats. "Nowhere." I answer, stepping to my right to move around him, but he follows me-obstructing my path. "Answer me." he demands. "On a walk!" I exasperate, frustrated. Although Cato seems suspicious, he let's me pass this time without moving infront of me. I keep my cool walking away, keeping myself from looking back. I gotta be careful though, he might follow. The thought of just running away from this home passes through my mind but I immediately tuck it away. I can't leave Prim.

After a short walk in the vacinity of the house, I retrace my steps back to the house where Prim lays asleep and Cato remains guard. The brisk morning air has fully wakened me and I've gathered my thoughts as well as my barrings. I pass Cato on the porch but he thankfully doesn't interrogate me this time as I enter the house. As it is a good bit later than when I first left, I'm not quite as diligent in my footsteps and they quietly moan under my weight. At my room, I only slightly crack the door, not allowing the door to creak as it might have if I had opened it more. I slip through the openning and shut the door behind me.

In the small bedroom, I go to Prim's bed and crouch down to her eye level. She looks as though she had been crying as I notice a wetness below her eyes. A knot clentches in my stomach in guilt but I realize maybe it was subconscious, but either way there isn't much I can do about it now. "Prim, wakeup. We gotta leave soon." I whisper. She groans softly as she sits up and rubs her eyes-rubbing away the tears as well. I take a seat beside Prim on the bed, facing her. "How did you sleep?" I inquire, suspicious of the purpose of the tears I saw. Maybe she will tell me upon a bit of prompting. "It was okay," She states generally, before she details, "I had a really scary nightmare. You left me and I couldn't find you so I looked for you at our house but you weren't there and neither was Mom or Lady or Buttercup. I couldn't find anyone. I was alone." She recounts in sadness and fear. I take her young hand in my older one. "You know I wouldn't ever leave you, right? We're in this together. We're sisters," She smiles proudly at my reminder, "and I will protect you as long as I possibly can. We'll stay together." I promise. She leans forward and wraps her thin arms around my figure and I cannot resist hugging her back. A beat passes before we release eachother and our shared moment has passed.

We both rise from the bed and I get my school things together as Prim changes into school clothes. I then sit on Prim's bed behind her and braid her hair into two French braids. As she gets her school books together I fix my own hairin my signature side braid. Working efficently together, we are both ready in fifteen minutes. Clutching eachother's hand and our books and empty lunch pails in the other, we walk down the stairs to the kitchen.

There are already a few kids in the kitchen, collecting necessary items for their day ahead. I only see about half of the house, but I'm not sure where the others are. I suppose the missing kids just don't go to school. There might be a rule against it but no one really cares about a bunch of orphans. I guess that's what Prim and I are now; orphans. Foster kids. Abandoned. Although our mother is still alive, she is in no capacity to take care of us-or her own self, if completely honest-and she won't be in one anytime soon.

I consider the option of pulling Prim from school, but I decide against it. She needs an education to become a doctor. Besides, Prim enjoys school. She likes learning and friends and socializing. I, though, am less enticed by the idea of school. The lessons seem pointless and redundant. I'll probably end up hunting for food in the woods for a long while, and hopefully by the time I have to stop-Prim will be married and no longer under my support. I can provide for myself easily. Why do I need to know how to graph a polynomial when I'll be hunting? I'm not good at making friends, either, and I'm not one for socialization. My main focus is keeping my sister and I alive.

I also consider the possibility of there being the only other school in the district closer to here. I figure it probably is, but decide to continue going to the one closer to our old house. Prim made friends there, Mrs. Trinket is there, and honestly, Gale is apart of my decision to stay. Prim and I's home-situation-change is so drastic that I want to keep everything else as normal as possible. For Prim.

We decide that Prim will look for lunch as I will scavenge for breakfest. And Only ten minutes later, we find eachother again and Prim sets an apple, water, a bit of cheese, crackers, and a peanut butter sandwhich in each of our pails. Definately one of the better lunches we've had. I hand Prim one of the two homemade strawberry pastries I discovered and smile as her face lights up in delight. Prim loves really anything sweet. I am suprised, though, that the Snows would leave all this food just laying out. People of district 12 get desprate for food. And, though no stranger at all to hunger, I will admit the temptation to stuff my face at the moment of sight did not go unconsiderated.

We leave the house and start the long walk to school, books, lunch pails, and pastries in hand as we walk down the road. Unlike the road from our house to school, I've only been over in this part of the district a few times on my sixteen years. Mainly just to trade my kills, but also to do a few odd jobs for a short period that I had to work before my hunting alone could support us. I know the way, even if just barely, so Prim follows me as we finish off our pastries.

If I thought the stares walking into the school's courtyard were bad yesterday, they are worse today. I can feel the stares on me and my sister as we walk straight throught the yard, the whispers just past the point of distinction. I hear Prim's sharp intake of air as she realizes the entire yard's eyes are on us and clings to my side.

Maybe half of the school's population are merchants, the other half being from the Seam. The Merchants' glares seem the most stabbing, belittling as though our lives are less than their's, as the Seam's are more pityful. "Look, it's the orphans." A voice calls obviously in disgust, like everybody isn't already watching us. Prim's breath hitches at the word and forces herself even closer to me-if that's even possible. I continue to push our way through the crowd, just trying to get to the doors of the building. I could take Prim to seek refuge in Mrs. Trinket's room. I know she would be able to comfort Prim in a motherly way that I'm just really bad at. I can never find the words. When comforting my sister, I usually just hold her and tell her my honest mind.

The crowd is getting denser the closer to the door. Most of the crowd moves on from the previous encounter, except for the large group from the merchant's village that stay silent as I push through them. I bump into many deliberately-placed shoulders. Amidst the merchant crowd, one hand reaches out and grabs my braid. I grab the hand and rip it off, shoving the thick hand away. But the hand swings around and grabs my neck, demanding my attention. The crowd circles around the interaction. Ryan's hand is around of my neck and a couple of his friends behind him, whilst all I have is Prim on my side. I love her, but she'd be of no help in a fight. She's small and almost delicate, I would need to defend her. Ryan knocks my lunch pail and books from my grip and onto the dirt below.

I kick him in an area that distracts him enough so I can turn to Prim. "Go." is the only thing I can spit out. She turns on her heals and runs to the fringe of the crowd and through the people. I'm pretty sure she made it in the school door when Ryan spins me around, anger steaming. "You've done it now, Everdeen." He seethes through clintched teeth. Ryan swings a punch at me and I just barely block it. Before I can even consider pride, the fist is swinging towards me once again-though this time I am not so lucky. The knuckles pounds me in the mouth, splitting a lip but luckily not any teeth. I want him to hurt like that did, but I need to think about defense before offense. I suddenly feel another point of impact in my abdomin and I double over, sucking in a painful breath through my clenched teeth as my face scrunches in hurt. I've been in a fight before, but Ryan is strong.

I prepare for offense when I see his fists drop mostly, as I feign defeat, showing my hidden disdainful expression only to the ground. I through my first punch, thinking of my anger. What if he had hurt Prim if I didn't send her off? Why is he giving me such a hard time? God, my stomach hurts. And it hits him right in the nose, causing a sickening crack. Taking a moment to register I had retaliated, Ryan clutches his nose as blood begins to lightly trickle down his chin. I use the suprise to begin my flee, only getting three strides before Ryan's friends catch me. There are three of his friends, each a lot bigger than me. They grab my arms and one stabilizes my hips as I struggle, thrashing even though I know it's useless. They force me to my knees as it's apparently easier to contain, and I withdrawl most of my efforts of struggling and refocus them into the boy walking closer to me. Ryan approaches with a look of vengance as he brings his fist across my face, hitting my eye, from a couple of feet above. His friends hold me down as Ryan gets in a few more punches, one in the cheek, in the forehead, in the jaw. He also kicks me, swinging his blacksmith shoes onto my torso-knocking the wind out of me. Pain signals are being recieved from many places and begging to be noticed.

When I seem to be pretty tired, Ryan seems to be at a platau, backing off with the blows. He notions his goons to let me go and they retract their grips immediately, giving me enough of a breather to stand. As soon as I'm on my feet, though, Ryan's foot sweep my legs out from under me-sending me crashing to the dirt. I hit the ground with a loud thump and the breath being knocked out my lungs once again. Ryan kneels to the ground, sliding my arms to my sides, and straddling my abdomen-pinning each arm with the retrospective knee to avoid further resistance. I've been known to retaliate hard.

"So you got dumped in the reject house?" Ryan smirks. I don't answer him, I just use all my strength to shove him off my wrists, to no use. "With that Cato." Ryan spits in disgust. "Make sure he, and Gale, know that you're mine." He commands, then leans in really close to my face. "Because I want you."

Then He captures his lips on mine. I try to turn my head away from him but he's got me frozen beneath him. He sucks on my bottom lip and I attempt to push him off-not making a difference. Ryan forces his tounge into my mouth and explores. I close my eyes, trying to shut him out, even though he's already in my mouth. His hands force my head closer to him as he gets more forceful. I don't kiss him back. He moves one hand into my braided hair and on pinning my shoulder painfully down.

All of a sudden, the weight is literally lifted off of me. I open my eyes to investigate and find Gale towering to my left, throughing Ryan to the ground a few feet away. Gale jumps on him and brings his fist up two feet before brining it down on his face. A couple punches later, Gale rises, hands bloodied and forehead glissening, he extends a hand to me. I am still shocked and can't quite demand my limbs to work, so Gale bends down and throws my arm around his broad shoulders. He guides me out of the school yard and into the school. I'm not really watching where he's taking me but I snap back into attention when I found us in an empty storage closet off of the History and Law classroom. I know Gale is taking the class and he mentions that he knows the teacher and no one has been or will be in the room for probably a couple years-at very least.

Gale locks the door behind us and sets me against the corner, where the walls touch, as the final bell rings-officially marking us late. Not that either of us care. I look around the small room and find it completely bare with white walls and cool tile floors. I sigh and slightly relax in the room as Gale takes a seat beside me. "So you got beat pretty hard." Gale says with a smirk on his face. Something about his expression, or tone, makes me feel at ease beside him. I allow a smile across my face and chuckle slightly. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I did." I admit. "Lucky I had you to have my back." I laugh, sinultaniously thanking him. But his cheerful expression drops, mine soon following. "I'll always have your back." He says seriously, looking me in the eye. "Well thanks." I look down, breaking eye contact.

A beat of silence passes before Gale states my name, "Katniss." I look up to find him staring at me, recatching my eyes. There's something about the look in his eyes that I can't place. But I quickly discover.

Gale places a hand on my cheak and holds it there as he leans forward, maintaining eye contact. My heart flips and butterflies fill my stomach as he inches forward, checking for objection.

But I suprise myself by leaning forward and meeting his lips. They're soft, unlike Ryan's, and gentle. I feel momentarily self-concious about the slightly coppery taste in my mouth but abandon care as he slips his tounge between my lips and teeth, slowly parting them. All I taste on his lips is the faint, huskey taste of burnt meat. It's not strong, but I notice it.

The feeling in my stomach only intensifies and my heart appears to beat faster, if possible. Gale slides his other hand underneath my braid to pull me closer to him. I close my eyes, as his did after first contact, and allow myself to be submersed in Gale's senses. Our tounges dance around eachother as our lips embrace.

When we part, my lips seem to drag out his presence as long as possible. I immediately reopen my eyes at his absense to find him smiling sweetly, removing his hands. "I've wanted to that since we went into the woods together." Gale admits. And, despite my uncertinty, I don't think I mind much. I sit there, simmering in contentness for a few moments before I remember why I went into the woods in the first place.

"Prim."

And then I'm out the door.