Hi Lovelies, thank you for your patience with my writing. I've been awfully busy at work and at the end of the night, I am knackered. But I managed to write something for this and I hope y'all like it. I do not own the Hunger Games.
Katniss and Peeta have made their plan but sometimes the walls have eyes and ears...
Gale sat back in his chair.
Their teacher was absent and they had a substitute who didn't care what they did as long as they kept themselves quiet.
He and everyone in the class were reeling after the announcement. The screen was brought down, and the televised transmission was being projected on the screen. Caesar Filkerman, dressed in black was interviewing the Capitol elite. Gale was glad the old codger was dead. Coriolanus Snow was a horrid leader who promoted the Hunger Games and made it what it became today.
President Snow was better off dead.
"Man are we lucky the Sub doesn't care about what's going on. Can you imagine having to listen to that? I'm sure Rain is suffering right now." Thom chuckled.
Gale grunted.
On the screen, Caesar Flickerman was animatedly speaking about the death of President Snow.
Gale rolled his eyes. He thought of Katniss, wondering how she was doing. They hadn't talked in two weeks.
He supposed it was his fault.
He was bored and now he, his brothers, and his sister had to stay in school until they were let go. The only person who was going to benefit was his mother. She had a free night off away from the kids.
Thinking about it, he too had a break away from his siblings. Vick and Rory were always fighting and roughhousing. It usually ended up with one of them crying and whining at him or their mother about something the other did.
Posey was the least of his worries but she was a little girl and only wanted to play dress up. Last week he ended up with his pants rolled up with one of his mother's pregnancy dresses on playing tea. His sister made him wear one of his mother's hats.
No one else wanted to play with his sister. And to keep her from crying he donned the outfit. He was having a good time when Prim walked in on him.
Prim began laughing at her and said how lovely he looked. She also mentioned she couldn't wait to tell all of his friends.
Before he could react she'd run out of the backroom laughing and saying how pretty he looked. He ran after her forgetting that he was wearing a dress. His brothers laughed at the sight of him.
Prim was a fast runner. He never did catch her.
He'd complained to Katniss, but she told him to grow a pair and that it didn't matter that he wore a dress. Gale whined and annoyed Katniss walked away.
That was two weeks ago she was still angry about the mud. He was dumb sometimes and did stupid things. Six weeks ago he hadn't caught anything, and he was bored. So he decided to have a little fun.
He threw mud at her.
Well, actually he did more than just throw mud at Katniss. Gale set boobytraps to sling mud at her while she was running away from him. He thought it was funny. What he didn't count on was her fury. Katniss turned around, ran straight at him, tackled him to the ground, and punched him in the face.
Since then she hadn't spoken a word to him until he complained about Prim. She'd been frosty toward him. Her short terse words were the first words she said to him in four weeks. She even stopped trading with him.
Katniss was hot-blooded and a grudge keeper. Her silence didn't bother him.
But then again, Katniss wasn't a talker. She hardly spoke. At lunch, she sat with the Mayor's daughter and he had never in the four years of high school had he seen Katniss say a word to the girl.
Even when they were trading, she didn't say much after the initial contract. Her only replies were a grunt or a short nod.
"What do you think is going to happen to us?" Aida Griffin, the girl sitting next to him said batting her lashes at him.
Gale smiled. "If anything happens I'll protect you."
Aida smiled and leaned over, "Maybe you if they move us to a bigger room you and I can hook up. For the purpose of…," she muttered as her eyes took in his face and long lean body. "...maintaining warmth, we can..." She trailed off licking her lips.
"Absolutely.
When she turned away Thom tapped on his back. "Aida just asked you to hook up with her."
Gale shrugged.
"Man she's hot," Thom said in an excited whisper.
Women threw themselves at him. Older chicks. Girls from Seam, even Merchant girls. He'd taken a few to the Slag Heap, the spot all kids went to make out and hook up. "Yeah, she's alright."
"I don't know how you do it? What happened to Martha?"
"She's psycho," Gale said. "Stalked me for two weeks."
"Man I wish I had your trouble," Thom said wistfully.
He was looking out the classroom when he saw Katniss and the baker's youngest son walk by. The sub shut the door. Frowning Gale got up and looked out of the door window. There was something off about seeing those two together.
As far as he knew they never talked.
They seemed to be arguing.
Carefully his eyes took in the way Katniss glanced at Peeta as they stood outside, they were conversing in a low voice and his gut churned. He knew Katniss. She was stoic, never showing any emotion beyond a glower or a scowl outside of the woods.
Gale wished he could hear what they were saying.
Momentarily she looked annoyed. This face Gale knew all too well. She currently annoyed at him for his stupid stunt.
Seeing her so animated was weird. Katniss then flashed a small smile. Katniss was like a buddy to him. One of the boys. So seeing this look on her face was uncommon.
She never smiled.
Ever.
Gale was one of the few people who had ever seen Katniss smile. She only did that in the woods and not even around him if he was honest with himself.
The only person she really smiled around was her baby sister. Prim was the center of Katniss's universe. Though at this moment Katniss didn't sport her normal reserved look. There was a soft almost yielding look when she glanced at the baker. He grinned down at her. They looked like they were together.
Gale raised an eyebrow when her face transformed and it was as if she was staring at something precious. Hadn't he warned about the Merchants? Didn't she listen when he told her Merchants only one thing from the seam girls?
Irate he ran his hand through his hair.
"Yo Hawthorne, what's wrong with your face?" Thom asked over his shoulder.
Gale paid no attention to Thom. He kept on staring at Katniss. The baker said something and she laughed, and Gale shook his head in disbelief.
Katniss didn't laugh.
Gale frowned. Katniss was going to get hurt; he was sure of it. Merchant guys used Seam girls. He'd seen how one too many girls ended up knocked up by one of them and then they didn't want to own up to their responsibility. It happened to his cousin Bristol. Fortunately, she'd phased out of The Hunger Games when it happened but the guy she was with said the kid wasn't his, even though the baby was born with blue eyes.
"Hey isn't that Everdeen?"
Gale wanted to throttle Thom.
"What is she doing talking to the baker's youngest son?"
Gale turned around to glance at Thom. "Would you shut your trap!"
"Mr. Hawthorne and Mr. Holly please sit down," the sub said.
"It looks like they're up to something," Thom said out loud.
"Boys," the sub warned.
They sat down.
"Gale you're starting to scare me, and Aida just moved her seat."
"Thom," Gale growled.
"What?"
"What do you think was going on out there?"
"Between Evergreen and Mellark?"
"Yes."
"Nothing, she looked pissed off most of the time," Thom said.
Gale shook his head. Thom wasn't the brightest bulb in the lot. "Never mind."
Thom's attention was pulled away which suited Gale fine. His mind began to puzzle, much like he did when setting a trap. Thom was right, those two were up to something. More like Mellark was up to something and he was most likely using Katniss.
Of course, she probably didn't realize she was being used.
Which meant he had to make sure that Merchant didn't do anything to his friend.
Tonight he vowed when they moved them into a larger space he was going to track Katniss. There was no way he was going to allow Mellark to get his hands on Katniss.