Just before I got into bed last night, President Coin changed my room, I'll be in the same compartment as Johanna now.

Joy.

It was the middle of the night, but Coin made me pack up my stuff and move anyway. Maybe it's just because Johanna isn't trusted on her own? When I met her in the compartment, she was cowering on one side of the room farthest from the washroom adjoining to our bedroom saying things like please make it stop and no more. The tap was on in there, so I turned it off. Johanna must have had a horrible experience with water in the Capitol.

I wasn't allowed in the hospital today. The doctors said that Peeta would be discharged from the hospital tomorrow and that they would be busy doing final checks on him all day. I've only seen Peeta once so far since he came back, and that was when he finally awoke.

I'm thinking about Peeta as I walk silently through the woods on my hunter's feet, watching with the eye of an eagle for game to come by. Gale is working on the snares, he hasn't spoken a word to me since Peeta came back to consciousness. I'm angry with him. He's supposed to be my best friend. Where did that guy go?

I'm angry at Gale. I don't know him anymore. He's turned into such a pawn of Coin that Boggs looks like a lively, fun human being when compared to him.

A doe prances into view and I shoot it without hesitation. We'll have deer meat for dinner tonight.

I finish skinning the deer and head back to the spot where Gale and I agreed to wait for each other when we hunted a while ago. Gale is already walking away. He's holding a bag full of game, which includes mostly rabbits.

As soon as I call him and he doesn't acknowledge me, my blood starts to boil. Gale is an asshole.

"What the hell Gale? What the actual hell?" I say.

Gale doesn't talk, he just fumbles with the top of the game bag.

"Speak to me, goddamnit!" I shout. "Just talk, Gale! What happened to my hunting partner, my best friend?"

I see Gale's face get red with anger. Good. He'll break any second.

"Just talk, Gale! You shithead! Why do you have to-"

"I'm jealous, Katniss, okay?!" Gale finally says. "You and Baker Boy- it makes me sick! I've been trying ever since I saw Darius tease you to tell you I wanted more than friendship. You've just been so oblivious to my feelings! And I'm not all touchy-feely like Mellark is. I'm just hurt, I'm hurt because you'd take a merchant over me! I'm hurt because of how you kissed him in the Quarter Quell like you didn't even remember that I was watching! You kissed me after that, and then you just left! You let him say you were pregnant! I thought that if I got Mellark from the Capitol, you'd stop moping and actually notice me instead of just keep giving me pity kisses! He's not good enough for you! I am! I'm the one who's been there for you the longest! I understand everything you've gone through better than him! I understand-"

He's liked me ever since Darius teased me. So he started to love me out of jealousy. Just like how I thought I loved him because I was jealous of Madge- back then I thought I was jealous that she loved him, but it was only because she was able to help him when I couldn't. My best friend. Gale is my best friend, and nothing more. But he isn't acting like my best friend.

"You're a jealous bitch, Gale! And you do not understand what I've gone through! Who was in the arena with me? Peeta, that's who! And don't be prejudiced just because he was born with higher privileges than us! He's understanding, he's not angry all the damn time like you are! He's perfect for me because he's my opposite! You and I, we're just fire and more fire! And the only thing that comes from fire is smoke! Toxic, unhealthy smoke! Peeta understands me much better than you do! He's kind and he's caring, he keeps the nightmares away-"

"I thought you would give me a chance Katniss. You could've given me at least a chance while he was gone." Says Gale, his face still red but his gaze cast downward.

"I couldn't have! My heart belonged to him for a long time, before we were even reaped, without me noticing! I've noticed him...without knowing how I felt while blocking out any idea of a relationship." I speak more softly now. "I'm sorry, Gale...but you never stood a chance."

"I didn't, did I?" Gale says, his voice laced with defeat. In a second, all traces of that defeat are gone."I know you think that now, but when he gets bored with you, when you come crawling back to me, you'll know I was right from the beginning. It's only a matter of time, Katniss." With that, he takes off, back in the direction of Thirteen, leaving me standing with my game in his dust.

I walk to the kitchens of Thirteen, anger fueling every fiber of my body.

Gale's wrong. Peeta would never ditch me, he said he'd stay with me- always. Gale is always blinded by rage, hating every single thing that had anything to do with his hardships.

He'd hated every single citizen in the Capitol, every Merchant in district 12 just because of the image they had in general. The Capitol's citizens were all evil sadists. The Merchant Quarter was full of stuck-up rich people who had no compassion at all and always had food in their stomachs. But I've learned that they are not all the same. Take Cinna, Portia, Mr. Mellark, or Peeta. They were good people, they didn't fit their image at all.

As I drop off my game, Greasy Sae looks at me strangely, probably because of my mood, and then goes back to her cooking.

I head back to my shared compartment and roll Peeta's pearl between my fingers. I hear Johanna walk up to me.

"Is that-" she starts, but I cut her off.

"The pearl from the Quarter Quell? Yeah." I look at Johanna and look at her features. Her face is sunken, her head shaved and covered in purple and green bruises, and her skin is saggy.

"You've got it really bad for him, haven't you, Brainless?"

"What did you just call me?" I ask.

"Brainless. Because you've obviously got no brain." Johanna answers.

I roll my eyes and smile. Wow, Johanna has managed to make me smile.

Haymitch comes barging into the room, out of breath.

"Sweetheart- you gotta- you gotta see this. Come on- quick."

I follow Haymitch out of the room and Johanna, muttering something about having nothing else to do, comes quickly behind me. Haymitch leads us tho the part of Thirteen where people can enter and exit, and I gasp at what I see.

There is a group of people standing there, all the faces of people I remember from Twelve. Among them, I see Delly, the lumpy girl who is probably the nicest, most optimistic person in the world. They are all covered in scratches, bruises, and some of them even have to be supported because they have horrible leg injuries. Prim is a part of the medical team helping get the severely injured onto stretchers. I hear one girl I remember seeing at school telling Prim that almost half of their group had died and that they were very lost, only making it because they found snares with animals entrapped in them.

Gale helped them. He may have saved even more lives, but he's still being horrible right now. This won't make me able to forgive Gale for the things he's said- or not said- at all.

"Katniss!" Delly cries, finally spotting me. She throws her arms around me. "Oh, I knew you'd be here! We met these women when we were lost in the woods and they told us that we should go to Thirteen. They were so amazing, they really were! Their names are Bonnie and Twill!" Delly waves her hand, indicating that she wants them- Bonnie and Twill - to come over.

Bonnie and Twill were alive. They had just not made it to Thirteen when I did. As they walk up to me in their once white, ripped Peacekeeper uniforms, they recognize me and their faces light up.

"It's the Mockingjay! She's in Thirteen! The Mockingjay!" Bonnie squeals, pointing at me.

"Hello, Bonnie, Twill," I say.

"So you guys already know each other? That's just wonderful!" says Delly. She turns to me. "If you're in Thirteen, then Peeta must be too, right?"

A strange feeling bubbles up in the pit of my stomach, and I scowl. "Why are you asking?"

"Peeta must have mentioned me!" says Delly.

"No, he did not, so tell me," I reply.

"Oh, we were friends from when we were kids!" Delly informs me.

I breathe an internal sigh of relief. "Okay."

Delly walks off back to the group and Twill offers me a nervous wave, which I return with a smile.

When Johanna and I get back to the compartment, I stop her ranting about how that was a complete waste of time by telling her that it is time for dinner.

After dinner, I, with much difficulty, fall asleep on my cot.

I'm in District Twelve's Victor's Village. The sky is a stormy grey, and I hear thunder in the distance.

I begin to walk towards my house, but there are lights on in Peeta's so I head there instead.

I knock on the door, but nobody answers. It's unlocked and I hear sounds coming from inside, not distinguishable in the thunder that is growing louder and louder. As the wind whips my face, I step inside, slowly.

I walk into the kitchen and gasp, tears forming in my eyes.

What I see is Peeta kissing Delly, with mouth open and his hands stuck up her shirt.

I begin to turn around so I can run, but I hear Peeta's voice.

"You're not good enough for me, you're a filthy Seam Rat!" Peeta pushes me outside into the rain that is now falling, the rain that is disguising my tears that are flowing down my face.

Gale walks up to me and I can hear his deep voice, saying I told you so over and over again, not blocking out the sounds of Peeta moaning Delly's name-

"WAKE UP!"

I wake with a start, beads of sweat on my face. My eyes are wide, and right now I'm staring into the eyes of Peeta.

My eyes narrow. He wants Delly, not me. I saw that. He kissed her, and Gale was saying I told you so over and over again because he was right. Peeta doesn't want me, he wants a proper merchant girl. I was just a fling.

"Go back to Delly, Peeta. I know you want her, you were kissing her and I know you want her more than me, she's your perfect match. Stupid Gale.. why does he have to be right?" I say sleepily.

Peeta's face is bewildered.

"What- Delly- didn't she die in the bombings?" Peeta asks.

He does care about her more than me.

"No, she came yesterday with a group..." I trail off. "You want her, go get her. I'm not stopping you, merchants belong with merchants more than they belong with dirty Seam Rats like me."

Peeta shakes his head. "What are you talking about, Katniss?"

"You were kissing Delly, I saw you, Gale was right, he knew you'd ditch me... it's appropriate because of the way I've been behaving towards you. I didn't even tell you... pretended it was an act.. believed me.. I'm confusing you.. you can go back to Delly now, get out of my sight." I say.

"What? Katniss, you know that for me, it's always been you. I don't know where you got the idea that Delly-"

"Get out, Peeta. You obviously want her, and if you want her, then you can have nothing to do with me. Leave now."

"Katniss-"

"Get. Out."

"But I-"

"Get out!"

"Why do you think-"

"GET OUT!" I scream. I pick up my pillow and repeatedly hit him with it. "LEAVE ME BE!" The pillow is now torn, feathers flying out and landing on Peeta's wavy blond hair. "JUST GO AWAY!"

Peeta's eyes are filled with hurt as he backs out of the room. He says one thing before shutting the door.

"It's always been you and will continue to be. I don't know what you're thinking right now, but it's not true. You have to know that I would never abandon you." Peeta closes the door and I fall onto my damaged, half-full pillow, immediately falling into a fitful sleep.