Chapter 26. Scores
For the next week and much to Katniss's dismay, the white haired tribute from District 3 as well as her mentor Beetee never came back to the training sessions. Even the last day, when the tributes were to show what their talent was so they could be given a score, the girl showed up just as her name was being called and left directly after, giving no opportunities to really talk to her.
When Gale had his turn at the Gamemakers, he really had no desire to impress them. In his mind, the scores only served to get them gifts from sponsors or intimidate the other tributes. Because the first of those had now been eliminated, Gale didn't even find it worthwhile to show the Gamemakers his strongest ability- snares. Instead, he lazily had fired a few arrows at various targets, but his audience seemed even less enthusiastic then he had been over the entire ordeal. Madge, however, had been doing a lot better. Since her confrontation with Katniss and Peeta, she had been trying out different weapons and was actually still very good with a sword and, surprisingly, camouflage. Her confidence was slowly coming back, as well as her optimism, as she trained in front of the Gamemakers to receive her score.
Later that day, the entirety of the District 12 group except Effie huddled around the television in their Capitol living quarters, ready to watch the unveiling of their scores for the Tributes. Gale, however, seemed the least interested. One by one, images of the other tributes flashed on the screen with a training number. The hunter rose an intrigued eyebrow when the white haired girl's face flashed with the number 10 under her name, though he was focused more on her picture. He wondered how he didn't notice it before, but it was evident from her picture that under her bangs that she wore over one eye, she wore an eye patch. "That's the girl you wanted us with, right, Catnip?"
Katniss nodded without turning away from the screen. "I can't help that I have good taste. If only she weren't so hard to talk to..."
The second Tribute from 3's face flashed after the girl, his scarred, youthful face smiling widely, spiky brown hair looking as though he had been struck by electricity. He had received a 9.
"They both got really good scores," Gale observed.
"Hers is probably higher though because of her attempt at the Gamemakers," Peeta pointed out as he looked over to Katniss, remembering when she shot them. "Right?"
She sighed. "Probably. I'd hope they gave me an 11 because of my skills, but probably not. She probably got extra for having guts."
The screen flashed as Amur's picture appeared next with the number "8" underneath of it. Katniss raised her eyebrows, leaning back on her hands on the floor. "I bet the majority of that is the fact that they were scared to give him anything lower."
Willow's serious face flashed after his with a large number 11 under her. This one shocked Peeta a little. "We really do have a Career on our side I guess."
Katniss smiled a little, but Madge just mumbled under her breath. "If she doesn't turn on us..."
Gale nodded towards Madge, silently agreeing with her. Madge smiled slightly at Gale as Sage's small face flashed on the screen with a 3. At this, however, Gale's face dropped slightly. He turned a little to look at Katniss's reaction. Katniss turned to look at Gale meaningfully, raising her eyebrows.
"...he deserves higher then that."
"I'm surprised he got that high. He's a child, they can't give a five year old a score that's on par with a 37 year old."
"He knows a lot about plant life, though. More then I ever will."
"That's because you never paid attention when I tried to teach you in the woods."
"Well, because of that, now I have a reason to keep Sage around."
She scowled and turned back to the television. Suddenly, Madge's face flashed with a 7 and Madge's nervous face was replaced with a large smile. "Hey, that's good."
Peeta looked on the screen befoer giving Madge a large smile. "That's really good. Well done, Madge."
Madge blushed and smiled. "Thank you, Peeta... you know, for challenging me."
Peeta gave her a smile and nodded before turning back just in time to see Gale's face pop up. Under his name, the number "12" popped up. Gale nearly fell out of his chair as Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch, and Madge were completely silent until Katniss slowly turned to look at Gale. "What did you do!"
"I didn't do anything!" Gale stared before scratching the back of his head vigorously. "Really, I shot a few arrows, I didn't even bother making a snare!"
Katniss stared at him for a few moments, realizing he was telling the truth. She narrowed her eyes at the television and turned it off, Gale's face and his score of 12 fading into black. She threw the remote onto the chair next to her and slunk down low, rubbing her dark circle rimmed eyes. "This is getting ridiculous."
Gale looked down at her, before giving a small shrug. "It doesn't matter what score they give me."
She dropped her hands, clutching the arms of the chair, looking at him. "Yes, it does. It matters a lot. They're trying to make you a damn target."
"Let's be honest," he sighed. "I was a target since before this even began. No point in ignoring that anymore. Thread targeted me, Coin did, this isn't much different. So we just got to plan around it, okay?"
Katniss shot him a look but found she was too tired to argue. She just pushed her braid behind her shoulder. "It's a little different. Now all the Careers will immediately go after you since you have such a high score. The Careers aren't so much into politics. They just want to win. And now..."
"Stop stressing out so much about it, Catnip. Besides, it's not like it's me versus the Careers. We have allies."
She shook her head quietly. "Your allies don't have 12s."
"One has an 11." He was trying his hardest to get her stress level down over the entire ordeal, but inside he knew it was useless. She wasn't going to let this one go and, quite honestly, he was rather afraid himself of the entire situation now, but he couldn't let Katniss see that. "And regardless of his score, Amur looks like he could break almost any of the other tributes in half."
Katniss paused and looked up at Gale, frowning. She slowly realized that Gale was probably more upset than she was, considering she wasn't being targeted in the Games. She smiled at him, shakily, even as she felt the anxiety continuing to rise. She stood up. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm sure... everything will be fine."
He didn't answer with anything more then a nod. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door before Effie stepped in, only without her signature pink wig. This time, her hair was golden with gold dusted glitter throughout it and her outfit changed to a pink skirt and business style jacket with golden jewelry and a gold belt to match. She smiled at everybody. "Sorry if I'm interrupting anything but there was another schedule change. We're being asked to pack everything tonight and prepare to set off for the Tribute's Tour starting tomorrow." Her smile never faltered, though for a split second her right eye twitched.
Haymitch looked up at her and blinked, smirking a little. "Nice hair."
"You really think so?" she smiled back at him, though it was slightly mischievous. "I was thinking of having Cinna ask his stylists to do the same with yours, actually, but I didn't think you would like it. But if you do then I'll go right ahead and make the arrangements."
His smirk fell and he narrowed his eyes. "Please don't."
"Well, we're going to have to find you something then to match," she shrugged before looking to the others. "As with all of you, of course."
Madge stared at her and Katniss blinked. "We have to... match? Effie, that's cheesy."
"It's to symbolize that we're a team," she declared before pointing to the pin on Katniss's clothing. "Team Mockingjay."
Haymitch raised a fist, happy his nickname for them was catching on. "Huzzah! Team Mockingjay!"
Katniss turned to look at him, blinking slowly. "... you two are weird."
Effie giggled a little before smiling at the others. "Now then, all of you go on and pack. Haymitch, I've cleared your schedule for today so you can help me with a special job."
Katniss left, gratefully, to her room before the others while Haymitch blinked and looked at Effie, a small smile creeping over his face. "What kind of... special job?"
Madge made a face at his tone of voice, grossed out, and she, Gale, and Peeta immediately poured out of the room after Katniss. Once the two were alone, Effie just smiled towards Haymitch and said only one word in the sweetest, most innocent manner she could. "Shopping."
Haymitch froze and then groaned, his smile disappearing. "Effie."
Effie just gave him a small smile before practically dragging him out of the room. "When in doubt and all stress out, shop!"
As everybody else went to their respected rooms to begin packing, Peeta only made it to his doorknob before stopping. Something had been bothering him for awhile now but there had never been time to figure things out. He looked around the hall for a moment before turning back around and heading towards Katniss's room.
Katniss just stood in her room, staring at the small amount of her belongings strewn across her room. She sighed quietly but didn't make a move to begin packing, too stressed out and tired to even think about it. As she stared off, Peeta knocked lightly at her door. "Katniss?"
Katniss blinked and turned back toward her door. She slowly opened it and looked at him. "Peeta?"
He gave her a warm, light hearted smile. "Hey, um... I know after what happened you're probably stressed right now but... we haven't actually done anything in awhile and I just wanted to see if it was alright to talk for a little bit."
"I..." She paused and then smiled at him, very slightly, standing off to the side. "Sure... I wasn't going to start packing anyway."
"Thanks," he smiled before stepping inside.
She closed the door behind him and looked at him, raising her eyebrows. "What did you want to talk about?"
"How have you been sleeping?" He seemed like he asked this too much, but it was a valid concern.
She smiled slightly, shaking her head. "I haven't. Not really, not since... the night before the Reaping."
He stopped before looking back at her. "Katniss, you should have said something."
She shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's not a big deal."
"Yes, it is. To be honest, I've had a rough time sleeping too since then and when I do, I end up waking up in the middle of the night regardless..."
She paused, looking over at him. "Maybe it's just... being here in the Capitol again."
"That's probably a part of it, but only a part."
"What else could it be?"
"Everything." Peeta walked over to her bed before sitting down on the corner of it, looking up at her. "Everything they're putting us through. All the changes, how there's no breaks, always something new happening... it's overwhelming."
She nodded for a second before sitting down next to him. "And maybe... it was easier to sleep when we were together."
Peeta hesitated for a brief moment before reaching over and grabbing hold of her hand. He did not look directly at her as he spoke, however. "All you need to do is ask, you know. I could never tell you no."
She paused for a moment before looking down, speaking quietly. "I didn't know if you needed me."
Without delay, Peeta pulled her hand for her to face him before wrapping both his arms around her. "Of course I do. You're all I have left," he whispered as he embraced her tightly.
Katniss let out a small sob before she could stop herself and she wrapped her arms around his waist tightly. She was so exhausted and upset, she sighed in relief. She pressed her lips once against his jaw and spoke against his neck, quietly. "Do you think... we could sleep together more? You're the only thing that fights my nightmares, Peeta."
He nodded lightly before pulling back to look down at her. "I'll be there for you whenever you need me to be. Forever."
She smiled at him slightly. "Thanks, Peeta."