I awkwardly shuffle around Gale in the kitchen, trying to fix his lunch while he puts some leftovers on his plate for breakfast. We've barely spoken to each other for a week, just words that we have to say to each other, like how our day was and he always asks if my hands are ok. They hurt a lot, but I keep telling them that they're fine because I don't want to go to the Everdeen house.

I would avoid Katniss for the rest of my life if I could and I can if I just avoid her until she's contracted to another District in two years. I sigh because that's not going to happen, she's still Gale's best friend but the thought of her leaving does make me feel a bit better. I smile to myself a little when I think of all the different ways I could make Katniss feel uncomfortable.

"Norah?" Gale asks and I jump turning to face him, "You're going to cut through the cutting board."

I look down at my knife and at Gale's already cut sandwich and find myself completely surprised because I don't understand how I didn't realize I cut through the sandwich already. I shake my head and put the knife gently on the cutting board before wrapping Gale's sandwich in wax paper and placing it into his lunch pail.

"Can you please just go to Mrs. Everdeen's house today? You're hands look terrible." Gale says and I close his lunch pail with a bit more force than needed.

"I told you that they're fine Gale." I say before handing his lunch pail to him.

"And I know you're just lying trying to avoid Katniss." Gale answers before swiping the lunch pail from my hands, "Stop being stubborn and get those looked at before they get infected."

"They're not going to get infected; besides, they don't even hurt." I say and Gale grabs my hands and squeezes them. The chapped skin breaks on my knuckles and starts to bleed. I cringe, but not because he squeezes them hard but because any touch hurts them.

I pull my hands from his grasp and push him backwards. "So they don't hurt right?" He asks and I just stare at him.

"You're such an ass, Gale." I say before grabbing the dishrag off the counter and patting the broken skin with it to stop the bleeding.

"I'm stopping by the Everdeen's and telling Mrs. Everdeen to come see you." Gale says and I glare at him.

"Don't do that." I say and he rolls his eyes as he gathers his stuff for work.

"Then promise me you'll go today." Gale says and I cross my arms over my chest.

"I don't have to promise you anything." I answer and he licks his lips before taking a deep breath and I can tell he's trying to keep his temper under control.

"You're the most stubborn and annoying person I've ever come into contact with. Either you go and see Mrs. Everdeen today or I swear to god Norah I will drag you down there when I get home from work." He growls and I glare at him even though I know he's telling the truth and I know he'll most likely drag me to her house. The thought of that would be funny if I wasn't so angry at him.

"You can't make me do anything I don't want to do." I say because I don't know how to reply to his ultimatum and he squeezes the handle on his lunch pail.

"Watch me." He says evenly before opening the door to the house and walking out.

I mutter at him under my breath. In anger I turn too quickly and hit my hand on the doorframe. I out in pain and bite my lip as the pain shoots up my arm and causes my eyes to water. I look over my shoulder and see Gale smirking at me triumphantly. "Fine, I'll go!"

"I wrote the address for you. It's sitting on the table." Gale says before turning away with his smirk growing and walking down the long dirt road with the rest of the miners.

I shift my clothes uncomfortably and fix my hair again before knocking lightly on the Everdeen door. The connection with the hard door with my knuckles hurts terribly and I hold my breath into the pain passes. It's a few moments until a woman with blonde answers with a smile.

"Hello Norah." She says and I smile at her a little uncomfortably, how did she know who I was? "Gale told me you would be stopping by."

"Of course he did." I mutter and she smiles before nodding her head for me to follow her inside.

The Everdeen house is a tad bit bigger than mine because she has three cots set up in the corner for where she heals the patients that come to her. The house smells clean and sterile and it brings up memories of the time I had to go to the Healer back in District Four after the dog bit me. The memory is usually fuzzy the smell brings it back in quick flashes. How it felt when the dog's teeth sunk into me, the way the blood from my arm stained everything, but mostly I remember the smell of the Healer's house because I found it so strange because I couldn't depict what made it up. It was easy to focus on the smell as she had stitched my arm back up.

"Oh my goodness, look at your hands." Mrs. Everdeen says with a frown as she takes them into hers gently, "Oh Norah, dear you should have come to see me earlier."

"They- they didn't hurt before." I say and she shakes her head at me as she makes a 'tsk' noise with her tongue.

"There is no way these didn't hurt." Mrs. Everdeen states before standing up and moving over to her medicine cabinet. "I'm going to have to put a salve on them and wrap them up, you won't be able to work for at least week."

"Oh, no I have to work. Hazelle can't do all that work herself." I say and Mrs. Everdeen starts to mix together a few ingredients for the salve.

"Well you have to give those hands a break. It's only for a week with the bandages and then I'll have a lotion you can put on them to keep the moistened after you're done with work every day, perhaps get some rubber gloves to protect them for when you're doing the laundry." Mrs. Everdeen says and I chew my lip.

"But I can't not work." I say and Mrs. Everdeen looks over at me with a slight smile.

"I'm sorry Norah, but if you want those hands of yours to get better you'll just have to take a break for a week." Mrs. Everdeen answers before grabbing a roll of gauze and the bowl with the salve. The mix smells bitter and I crinkle my nose.

I watch Mrs. Everdeen work as she gently applies the salve to my cracked and swollen hands and then wraps them gently in the clean bandage. As she works she has a face of concentration, her eyebrows furrow together and she only focuses on what is in front of her. Her touch is gently and I can tell that she takes her job very seriously.

"There now." She says after she ties up the bandage and moves onto packing up the salve in a jar for me and packing some clean bandages for me. "Make sure to change them every morning."

"Thank you." I say as I look down at her handiwork. The salve is cooling on my hands and I feel relieved because I didn't realize how uncomfortable I really was before she treated them.

"So you're from District Four?" Mrs. Everdeen asks and I nod my head, she smiles warmly and walks over to the kitchen pulling two cups down and pouring cold tea into them.

"Yes, Ma'am." I say and she smiles, putting a cup in front of me. "Are you from there?" I ask hopefully and she shakes her head.

"No, I was born and raised in District One." Mrs. Everdeen says and I nod my head sipping on the tea in front of me. "Haymitch's oldest son was sent there though."

"Haymitch must be your husband?" I ask and she nods her head slowly her eyes staring at her cup.

"Yes, my second husband. Katniss and Prim's father died in the same mining accident that Gale's father did." Mrs. Everdeen says sadly and I shift uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry to hear that." I say and she smiles at me, "How come you had to remarry but Hazelle didn't?"

"Well Hazelle had already met quota, I hadn't. They matched me with Haymitch because he had two sons and I had two daughters." Mrs. Everdeen says and I tilt my head curiously, "See by us marrying we had met the quota of four children and his sons would have a mother and my daughter would have a father. Hazelle didn't have to marry because she already had four children, so her family was complete."

"Right, but doesn't the Capitol usually match people with those who have the best possible genes?" I ask and Mrs. Everdeen smiles warmly at me.

"You're very curious Norah." She says with a smile and I blush because I forgot that I must remember how to hold my tongue, "The Capitol will match up the younger generations for perfect matches but as you get older, genes become less important and they just try to make things even."

"Oh." I say and Mrs. Everdeen shakes her head, the smile still on her face. "I'm sorry for asking questions about your personal life."

"It's good to ask questions." Mrs. Everdeen says and I smile, "I haven't had a person to just sit down and talk to in a while."

I stay for a while longer and realize that school is going to get out soon which means Katniss will be there soon. So I make the excuse that I need to talk to Hazelle about work before hurrying out of the house, thanking her again for the salve and bandages. She reminds me that I need to come back in a week to get the lotion and I promise her I will.

At the Hawthorne house the boys are already home from school. Rory is sitting outside on the front lawn with Primrose and when he sees me he waves. "Hi Norah."

"Hi Rory, hello Primrose." I say and she smiles shyly at me.

"Hello Norah, what happened to your hands?" She asks, sounding genuinely concerned and I wonder how she could possibly end up so different from Katniss.

"The cold water and soap has done a number to them. I just got done seeing your mother, she said I should be as good as new by next week." I say and Primrose smiles.

"That's good to hear." She says and Rory nods in agreement.

"So you're not going to be able to help mom?" He asks, sounding worried and I place one of my bandaged hands on top of his head of thick black hair.

"I'm going to deliver all the clothes for her and I'll be able to fold, I just have to keep my hands dry so that they can heal. I promise I'll help her in any way I can though." I say and he nods his head.

"Ok." He says and I smile at him before moving on inside of the house.

After explaining my predicament with my hands to Hazelle she smiles and shakes her head at me. "You're about as stubborn as Gale. It took me two weeks to talk him into going to see Mrs. Everdeen after sprained his wrist out in the woods. He made it worse for himself until finally it hurt so badly and I bugged him about it so much that he had to go."

"So you're not angry that I can't work?" I ask, completely ignoring her comparison of me to Gale. Hazelle shakes her head and smiles at me.

"Of course not dear, but now we know we can't put our injuries off right?" She asks and I nod my head, "Come on, you can fold and then pack up all these clothes and deliver them to Town for me."

It takes about three hours for Hazelle and I to get everything done. We keep getting distracted over little things like gossip that she heard at the market and small stories that I have from back home. I realize that Hazelle likes to hear about my life in District Four. She listens intently to them and I'm glad I have someone who likes to just listen to the random things I have to say.

At six thirty Rory and Primrose come walking inside and I smile at Prim who seems to be nervous. "What's wrong Prim?" Hazelle asks and Prim glances at the clock with a slight frown.

"Katniss was supposed to pick me up a half hour ago. My mom doesn't like me to walk alone when it starts to get dark." She says quietly and I bite my lip at how worried the little girl is.

"I'll walk you home Primrose, I have to pass by there anyways to deliver some laundry." I say and seems relieved that I offered, like she was afraid to ask me to begin with.

"Ok, we can go by Town first to drop off the important laundry so that you and Hazelle get paid." Primrose says sweetly and I smile at her as I grab my coat. She makes me miss my little sister and I have to swallow to keep the lump from building in my throat.

"Sounds like a plan, come on. Let's hurry before it gets really dark." I say and she nods grabbing the smaller lighter basket of the two and following me out the door.

Prim talks about school the entire time and I realize she's a lot more enthusiastic about it then Persi ever was. I have a funny feeling that she'll end up being like me, confused about everything because the Capitol wants one thing but everyone else wants another. It's hard to find a good medium.

It's dark by the time we get back to the Seam and I really hope that Mrs. Everdeen isn't angry for me keeping Prim out. When we walk in through the front door, she smiles in relief at us. "I was starting to get worried."

"I'm sorry I kept her for so long, but Katniss was late and she was worried." I say and Mrs. Everdeen waves it off.

"I wasn't too worried. I'm sure you took good care of her." Mrs. Everdeen says and I hear a snort from the doorway of the bedroom.

I look over and find Katniss glaring at me. "You should have just let her stay at the Hawthorne's I was only a half hour late."

"You were an hour late." Prim says softly before disappearing into the bedroom.

"I just wanted to make sure she got home safely." I say and Katniss rolls her eyes.

"She would have, I would have picked her up. You had no business taking her all the way into Town." Katniss says and I just stare at her, "You have no business with any part of our lives."

"Well, then it's a good thing I'm not married into your family then isn't it? I'm sorry if I inconvenienced you in anyway, but your sister was nervous so I told her I would walk her home." I say and Katniss just continues to glare.

"I don't understand why your still here. You brought my little sister home and now you can leave." Katniss says and I keep my head.

"Of course, thank Mrs. Everdeen again for the salve and I'm sorry Primrose home so late." I say and Mrs. Everdeen smiles.

"It's fine dear." She says and Katniss shoots her mom a glare before her piercing eyes land on me again.

"No it's not, she-" Katniss begins to say and Mrs. Everdeen shakes her head.

"That's enough Katniss; Primrose is my daughter, not yours and if I say something is alright, than it is alright." Mrs. Everdeen says and Katniss just looks at her mother coolly. The conversation reminds me of the many ones I had with my own mom about me not trying to dictate Persi's life.

Perhaps Katniss and I did have something in common after all.

I say an awkward goodbye and hurry out of the house. It's dark and cold out and I tighten my jacket around me. I walk slowly home, not really paying attention to any of my surrounding until I hear the low whistle. The sound makes my skin crawl and my blood to run cold. I look over my shoulder and I wish I hadn't because I realize how close the Peacekeeper is.

I'm so close to home, but he corners me before I can make it. His hand gripping my arm before he pushes me into a side ally, he's strong and I can already feel the bruise forming at the place where he grabbed me. "If you scream, things will get very bad very quickly." He says and my eyes land on the gun that is strapped to his back. He could kill me, he has the power to kill me and thought itself is so terrifying that I forget how to breathe, let alone scream.

I try to put on a brave face but all I know he can see right through it because his smile grows. I look down at my shoes as the Peacekeeper circles around pushes me farther into the corner of the ally. At that moment I suddenly find myself wishing, praying that Gale is out looking for me. But the chances of that, I believe to be are very low. We're angry at each other and he's probably not even worried about my whereabouts are. He's probably sitting at the dining room table eating dinner or sitting by the fire reading, not even thinking about me.

I hope he is thinking about me tough, or perhaps he's already out looking for me. I really hope is.