I wake the next morning and come down to find Gale sitting at Reyna's side conferring with my Mother.
"It's like I said earlier," Mother says, "she'll be up and moving later tomorrow and ready to work by Friday. Those salves from the Capitol worked wonders, but she's going to have permeant scaring."
"I assume that's part of the punishment, permanently marking her as disloyal and destroying her prospects with any Capitolite." Gale says, his voice taking on a bitter tone as he continues, "if they'll do this to their own, there isn't a limit on what they'll do to us."
Mother keeps quiet, it suddenly hits me that she must be aware the house is bugged. I walk into the room as Gale is moving towards the door.
"Morning Katniss." Gale says, "Mrs. Everdeen, thank you for the update, I'll relay what you told me to my Supervisor."
Mother nods and Gale waves us goodbye on his way out.
After Prim gets back from school I ask her to help me start packing for my trip to the Capitol.
I start to pack some of my everyday clothes like my jeans and my Father's hunting jacket when Prim turns to me and asks with stars in her eyes, "are you going to see Peeta while you're there?"
"Yes, Little Duck," I reply, not knowing where this is going.
"Then you can't wear that!" She says taking my everyday District 12 clothes out of my bag.
"Why not?" I reply, playfully incensed.
"Because he's your boyfriend! And you have to look special for him." Prim replies with eager, girlish disbelief.
Convincing Prim is easier than I first imagined; she's usually so perceptive. I start having second thoughts about lying to everyone, but then I think of Prim, she would be heartbroken and might even lose some of that youthful innocence I've worked so hard to protect.
"Peeta isn't like that, Prim."
Prim gasps. "You mean he doesn't love you!" She says, alarmed.
I let out a small chuckle, "No, I mean he isn't stuck up like other Captiolites. He likes me regardless of what I wear."
"Oh," Prim says, coming to a sudden realization. "That's so romantic." She says dreamily.
"I'm packing normal clothes," I say with finality. Prim doesn't object.
Gale comes by later that night. Prim sticks to him like glue. "She's been stirring for the past couple hours." She informs Gale who by the time she finishes her spiel is already keeping constant vigil in the dining room.
I'm bringing Gale a glass of water when Reyna finally wakes.
She groans in pain while quickly surveying the room. We must have pretty disturbed looks on our faces to warrant her reply
"That bad, huh? Always figured those fuckers would try and do me in." She pauses before looking dead into Gale's eyes.
"So Hawthorne, how bad is it?" She says, with a mixture of glib fascination and defiance.
"Well, you won't be wearing any sleeveless dresses ever again," Gale replies sarcastically.
Reyna laughs; a real, big laugh that turns into a coughing fit. Mother and Prim quickly rush in offering water and asking her questions while encouraging her to lie down, 'how are you feeling?', 'do you need pain medication?' and the like. I move out of the way leaving Prim, Mother, and Gale in the room alone with Reyna.
Standing in the living room alone without Gale makes me wonder why he's taken such an interest in this girl from the Capitol. Doesn't he always say that he hates Merchants and the Capitol even more so?
Prim interrupts my thinking and we finish packing for my trip to the Capitol I overhear Gale and Reyna talking and commiserating in the next room over.
Prim and I are bringing my bags downstairs when the phone rings. Unsurprisingly, when I pick it up I hear Peeta's voice.
"Hey Katniss, sorry for calling so late, it's earlier here in the Capitol, you know with the time change and everything." He's rambling. I interrupt him. "No, it's no problem. Reyna's awake, by the way. She's doing good as far as I can tell… I can put Prim on the line if you'd like."
He stops me, but not in a rude way, in an oddly friendly one. "I wouldn't want to inconvenience her, she probably has school tomorrow anyway, right?"
"Yeah," I say, thinking about how Prim started classes earlier this month. It's hard to believe it's already mid-August. My eighteenth birthday will be coming up soon, not that I care about that sort of thing, but Prim does, and she always wants to make it special for me, even when didn't have much.
"Anyway, I wanted to give you a heads up. Tomorrow they're going to start planting some photos of the two of us in the media to build 'buzz' around us as a couple." I'm quiet, thinking about this. Peeta pauses and waits for a reaction..
"Uh-huh," I reply, letting him know I'm still listening.
"I think they're going to be some photos of us at your Victory Party and then some 'covert' shots of us at the train station and in Twelve."
"Oh. Okay." I say, trying to sound positive. I feel stupid for not realizing that they took pictures of us around Twelve outside of the Parcel Day ceremony.
"Okay," he says, "I just wanted you to know what was going on. See you on Friday!"
"See you then. Bye."
He says goodbye and the phone clicks.
On Thursday I'm bringing bedsheets and pillows over to my old house in the Seam for Reyna.
"Have fun with your girlfriend, Gale!" Rory mockingly intones while nearly knocking into me as I walk into the house.
"Rory! Rory, come on!" Gale shouts after him, "she's not my-," he cuts himself off angrily. "Tell him, Katniss."
"What's going on here?" I ask Gale.
"Oh, Rory's just mad that he has to stay home with Mom and Posy."
"Oh. Maybe I could see if Prim wants to come by later this week and visit?" It's been an open secret for a while now that Rory likes Prim. Personally, I think she likes him back.
"Yeah, I think he'd like that. Would probably straighten out his attitude. Anyway, I think we're all set up here." Gale says dusting off his hands after a job well done.
"Reyna is ready to go just as soon as Mom and Prim give her a clean bill of health, which should be later tonight."
"And you'll be off to the Capitol tomorrow," Gale says suddenly bitter.
"It's just for a couple of days, and besides it's not all bad," I say, thinking of Peeta and Cinna and even clueless Effie.
"Yeah, so you and Mellark can get handsy," Gale says snarkily. I find myself blushing and involuntarily biting my nails.
"So it is true!" Gale says with scorn. "I can't believe you, Katniss! Sleeping with the Capitol's golden boy."
"Gale-" I start before he interrupts. "You've changed Katniss. I don't know what they did to you, but you're not the girl that got on the train in July."
Gale's words sting. I turn and leave while Gale fumes. If only he knew the truth.
The next morning I watch from a Capitol hovercraft as District 12 recedes below me. Before I know it, we've touched down in the Capitol.