Rory POV
Since I apparently have nothing better to do I followed Gale and Katniss into the woods. I am curious to find out as what happened that makes Katniss so uncomfortable and but I know it has something to do with Gale. And by the way Gale's acting I'm sure I'll be able to witness a trick or two to pick up a girl, since I seem to be having some trouble with them.
Prim is nice and all but ever since we ran away I feel as though we've been drifting apart. We rarely get any time together anymore and she acts like she never has any time to spend with me. She's either helping with dinner or entertaining the children or too tired. So I've turned to Rue.
She seems like such an interesting person, the way she talks, and the things she thinks about. But the only problem is, she is quite closed off. Almost like how Katniss was in the beginning, but with ease she's come to be more open with our family and we've molded to accept her. And luckily for me, Rue is a lot easier to adapt to than Kat. Lots of times we go wandering off in the woods or down a stream or river.
We don't talk that much, but it's peaceful. The most quiet either one of us gets most of the time. Over the past few weeks, I've really come to understand Rue. She talks about what her life was like back in 11, her parents, her house, her grandmother. She tells me stories that have been passed down generations in her family.
So from the outside eye it seems like I'm doing a pretty good job, making her feel accepted, comfortable. But in reality, I'm not. Whenever I talk my voice cracks and I always chuckle slightly after I finish my sentence so I come off as quite nervous. But I don't think she minds; I think she may even find it amusing. I don't know if that's a good thing or not though.
I have contemplated about asking Gale or Thresh, or perhaps even Charlie but there is always an excuse not to. Gale would just make fun of me and we'd get nowhere. And Thresh doesn't even talk much and I doubt he's ever had a romantic encounter and Charlie, well, he's her dad and you can imagine how awkward that would be. 'Hi there sir, I was wondering if you could help me pick up your daughter?'
After walking silently through the forest following Gale at a safe distance he finally comes to a stop and I hear voices talking quietly.
"Katniss you shouldn't leave camp without a partner, especially after what just happened" Wow Gale, that's your pick up line?
Katniss seems to ignore him and lifts up a log off of the ground and she starts to walk away. But then Gale reaches out and grabs her, and backs her up to a tree.
"I have to admit Katniss, I enjoyed it when you stared at me like that" He says as he steps in front of her, blocking my view. So I maneuver my body to the left and crouch down beneath a tree branch.
He has his head resting on her temple and is staring into her eyes while rubbing her hand with his thumb.
"And why is that?" She asks while throwing her gaze to the ground.
"Because you need to see something as sexy as this in your lifetime" He gestures to himself with his free hand while chuckling.
"You're hilarious Gale" She says in a monotone voice
"I know Catnip, I know," He says as he gently grabs her chin and forces her to look at him. Gosh they are so close, their noses are almost touching and his body is pressed against hers.
"Gale, why are you so close to me?" She almost whispers but I can still make it out in this dead silent forest
"So I could do this" And then he kisses her. I watch with my mouth agape as her eyes go wide but flutter closed after a few seconds and she begins to kiss him back. He lets go of her chin and rests his hand on her hip and pulls her body closer to him. She gasps and I shift my body weight onto my left foot so I can get a better view and-crack
A twig snaps underneath my foot and they instantly let go of each other. Gale has a murderous look on his face, no doubt knowing who followed him.
"RORY" He booms in a quite angry voice. I stay crouched to the ground, slowly stepping backwards. Gale takes one furious step towards me with his first pulled back. I let out a girly, high-pitched shriek and bolt straight up.
I make eye contact with him, and turn on my heels to run as fast away as possible. Instead of air brushing through my hair, my face smashes into what feels like a brick wall. I fall to the ground and look up, and standing in front of me is a man who looks to be about a few inches taller than Gale, around the same age, with blue eyes and blonde hair.
He has a hopeful look on his face, like he wants to talk to us. Well Gale, and maybe Katniss. He steps over me towards a fuming Gale.
Katniss POV
At one second I'm kissing Gale and the next, Rory's on the ground and a beast of a man is walking towards us. I wonder what he wants. I can't particularly read his face; he must be good at keeping his emotions in like myself.
Gale is the first one to speak "Rory get up" He stands up quicker than I've ever seen him move before and Gale steps protectively in front of me when the stranger walks towards us.
"What do you want?" Gale asks in a defiant tone. The blonde man narrows his eyes and reaches behind him and pulls out a knife. My eyes go wide and I tense up, Gale must sense that and reaches behind him and grabs onto my arm.
"No need to worry, I'm not going to hurt your girl, I just want to talk" The man chuckles. He places the knife back into his belt and places his hands in his pockets.
"My name is Cato by the way, and yours is?" He asks
"Katniss" I speak up, Gale turns around with a stern look in his eye
"Go back to camp Katniss and take Rory with you" He growls. I shake my head no and walk up to Cato. He has his hand extended and I shake it lightly, taking in how strong he is. It hurts for him to even grip your hand.
"It's nice to meet you Katniss" Cato says in a softer tone, his eyes flicker to Gale for a few seconds, and then back at me.
"Now what is a pretty girl like you doing out here with these bums?" And that's when I glare at him; I pull my hand back and stand in line with Gale.
"Don't talk to her" Gale says in a defiant tone and walks towards Cato
"She's not your pet District 12, yes I know what District you're from. You're whole complexion screams of it" He snarls
"Same here, 2" I hear Rory say loudly as he stands between me and Gale
"You may as well surrender, you're highly outnumbered" Gale spits
"I don't think so, here we have a lanky boy you doesn't pay attention to his surroundings, a boy trying to act intimidating and protective. And then there's a helpless teenage girl, I think I have pretty good chances" At that I lose it; I pull out a knife that I have hidden in my boot. I raise it and aim right over his ear. It slices past, giving him a little nick and landing firmly in the tree behind him.
"I am not helpless" I snarl, he has a smirk plastered on his face
"Well, it seems like you are going to get along with Clove" Cato says suddenly. I knit my eyebrows together in confusion
"Who's Clove?" Gale asks
"I can answer that question for you, I'm Clove" A girl walks out of the bushes behind Cato, she has a knife in her hand and she looks a few inches shorter than me. She has green eyes and long dark brown hair. Beside her are two children who look like miniature versions of Cato.
"I thought I told you to leave them at camp" Cato says annoyed to Clove. She rolls her eyes and walks towards me
"I'm Clove"
"I've heard" I reply
"You seem pretty handy with a knife" She says
"I've had some practice," I say in a dull voice
"We'll make good allies," She says in a chirpy voice
"Wait what?" Gale interrupts
"That's the reason we're here. We came across a group of 10 or so a few hours ago so we decided to follow them and after a few hours, 4 more of you showed up" Cato explains
"We want to team up, just like you did with the people from 11" Clove says as she wraps her arm around the shoulder of the little girl.
"Please, we're desperate and I don't know how much longer the kids can go without any other human contact" Cato says, he has a desperate look in his eye and I can tell this is hard for him, asking others for help.
I look over at Gale and he's thinking the same thing as I am.
"Fine, but try anything and we'll kill you" Gale says sternly. I don't know if I can trust them completely though.
"It will be a challenge for you to even injure us" Clove snarls in a teasing voice. Suddenly Thresh jumps into the clearing with his sharp rock in his hand. He's poised in a fighting position.
"What's going on?" He asks as he relaxes "They thought something happened and sent me after you guys"
"We just had a few unplanned occurrences" I explain
"Who are they?" Thresh asks as he points his rock to the family of 4. I wonder how old Cato and Clove are, their kids look at least 10 years old.
"Some new additions to our group" Rory says excitedly, there is something wrong with that boy. Thresh looks them over and nods his head and turns back towards the camp.
We all follow him silently until Cato speaks up,
"Sorry for interrupting your love fest"
I mutter under my breath "Oh god" Then I make sure I have at least 2 people between Gale and me the whole way back to camp.
Ok I know that wasn't the greatest but hey, you got to see what happened AFTER they kissed and they met up with Cato and Clove! Please review me your thoughts because I was supposed to write a chapter for another story (Hunger Games Academy) but instead I wrote this. If anyone follows that story-I am just finishing it up and then I'm going to edit some parts so expect it within the next couple days =D