Chapter 4

Even if you're little you can do a lot, you
Mustn't let a little thing like little stop you - Mathilda, Mathilda

Before I know it, It's our first day of school at the...school. They really need to call this place something other than 'school.' I mean come on! I really thought this had been bad world building by Suzanne Collins when I read the trilogy for the 20th time, but apparently it hadn't been. I wonder how-

"Maeve," my twin says, rousing me out of my thoughts. I half heartedly glare at her and she giggles, taking my hand and pulling me through the school gates.

One disadvantage of us growing up is that Madge now notices when I'm lost in my own thoughts. Because she's a 5 year old and doesn't appreciate having the time to think, she has made it her job to stop me from 'thinking so hard.' It was cute the first 10 times, but now it was just plain annoying.

I won't tell her that though because a annoyed Madge means hell for me.

Our parents follow after us chuckling and I fight the urge to turn around and glare at them.

After a few wrong turns, our mother guides us to the Sports hall where the other parents and children are.

When I went to Secondary school (I believe that would be Middle school if we were living here in that world) in London during my past life, we had a similar event to this, wherein parents and students would sit for a welcoming ceremony. I remember holding onto my parents then, as there were hundreds of people there and I didn't want to get lost.

Here however, I am pretty sure I'm pushing it if I say there is a hundred people here, parents included.

Madge lets go of my hand and starts waving crazily to another family. I follow her gaze to see Peeta waving back just as eagerly.

Five year olds, I think to myself, they're so energetic...

I'm ignoring the fact that I'm supposed to be five as well.

We walk over to where he is and Madge immediately glomps him.

Over the past year before starting school, many more playdates had taken place. As a result we had got to know the Mellark boys very well. I could now tell you what Bran's favourite colour is (Green), who Rye has a crush on (Some girls called Fern Brown) and Peeta's favourite bread (They call it Sweet bread, but in my old world it was called Pan Dulce). They likewise knew a lot about Madge and I which was actually quite nice.

Peeta looks to be in pain and I quickly pull Madge off of him while apologising. I really shouldn't have taught her how to glomp...

He shrugs it off and rubs his lower back, wincing slightly when his hands make contact with it. I feel myself flush with anger at the thought of his mother hitting him but before I say anything that would everyone there aware that I know, my mother speaks.

"Is Clara ill today then?"

On the day when you start school, a parent is supposed to take you inside and wait with you there. To try and not make us feel scared or nervous. Even though, using my knowledge from the books and films, this world is not as sexist as my old one, there are still some general expectations and attitudes towards each gender. Such as the idea that if only one parent were to take their child to school, it would be the mother.

"Yeah," his father says, sounding somewhat sad.

Our parents and him start a conversation and I ask myself what would he be sad about? Maybe he was upset that he couldn't save his son from his wife's beatings as he should be.

A family walks past us and I sigh.

Or, he was thinking about a life he could have had with Ms Everdeen.

Really, from their different looks and the way everyone else was looking at them, they were unrecognisable. I'm about to try to get a closer look at them and maybe befriend Katniss a few years earlier than expected when Peeta speaks.

"I'm nervous."

The Everdeens can wait. Peeta is far more important to me than they are.

"Don't be," I say, walking forward so I'm standing next to him.

"I'll be by your side no matter what you do and if anyone here doesn't like you then you shouldn't bother yourself with them."

He nods, but as someone who's been a five year old twice now, I know when someone still feels nervous.

"If you'd like," I say, "you can hold my hand for support."

Unsurprisingly, he takes my hand almost immediately.

Madge glares at us.

"You're both ignoring me," she says angrily and I fight to keep a smile off my face. Angry Madge is adorable as hell and couldn't scare me to save her life.

"Only because you weren't speaking" Peeta says entirely unaffected by her glare. I giggle at this and she pouts before walking forward and grabbing Peeta's other hand.

"Now I'm not left out."

Our parents (save his mother but she is a cunt) had stopped conversing with each other and were instead watching us with smiles.

The headteacher (Principal?) walks out and has a brief assembly where she explains the rules of this school to the new students. She then calls in a teacher to take us to our first lesson. It takes all of five minutes and even though I should be upset with the lack of interest the Capitol has with our educational system, I couldn't help but be impressed by how quickly that assembly ended. Hopefully the rest of the day will pass that quickly...

Fun fact- it didn't. I leave the school building with a criticism of Panem's education system. It's a shame I can't write a complaint, I think to myself, knowing that if I did that would almost certainly result in death for my direct family. Maybe even the Donners as well...

The only real interesting part of my first day had been during music where the famous 'Meadow song' took place. Now, Katniss was a good singer and it was weird seeing her in person (I mean she is literally one of the most famous modern literary characters in the world) but the most interesting part was Peeta's reaction during this moment.

Or rather lack of reaction.

He looked impressed that she was such a good singer, just as the rest of us had, but hadn't shown any other emotion which I had thought a little bit odd.

Later on at lunch he brought her up and I held my breath waiting for him to confess his love for her but it never came.

"You know Katniss, the girl that sang earlier?" At my nod he continues, "Well I found out today that my father wanted to marry hers"

Madge chokes on her food and I stare at him.

"He wanted to marry her father?" I ask, pretending to be confused and he goes red, embarrassed by his mistake.

"No her mother," he clarifies and rubs the back of his neck.

"Well do you wanna marry her?" Madge asks after having recovered from her incident.

I'd continued to stare, wondering whether or not this time around he would confess to her before the games or not. After all, I was going to befriend her before their games whether she liked it or not.

"No" he says and because it's Peeta, I know he's being honest.

I spend the night thinking about this development and wonder whether or not I should be worried. The whole rebellion is driven forward by his love for the her so if he doesn't confess, then will it still happen?

Not only that, but would he still be as selfless as he was in the original series? From my actions already, I am pretty sure that I have ensured that he will not be as self-sacrificing as he once was, but at the same time, wasn't that what cause Katniss to care about him? Because of his inherent goodness?

Or maybe I'm overreacting.

I mean, the thing about the series in Katniss' perspective means that we don't know what the other characters are thinking, so maybe he didn't fall in love with her then. Maybe he instead fell in love with her at a later date and decided to appeal more to the sponsers by making his unrequited love a lot longer than what it actually was.

Or maybe, I theorise, it was never her he was in love with. It was her parents

His first introduction to her in the books was from his father- who admits that he wanted to marry her mother, but she ran away to marry a coal miner. It sounds like a fairy tale in the rigid structure of society in District 12 and watching this fairytale everyday must have had an effect on him. To an abused, sensitive little boy like him, the Everdeen home that contained happy children, a joyful father and a loving mother, must have looked like heaven, so of course he would want that.

The more I think about it, the more sense it makes.

And it sickens me.

In my old world- at least in my country, individualism was encouraged. There was this idea that even if you have blood relatives, they didn't have to be your family.

No, you chose your family.

Whereas here, you don't choose. Unless you're a victor, you're stuck with who you're raised with. Until you get married and have children of your own, it's your siblings and parents that are your family.

Well, fuck that.

He has a family in Madge and I regardless of whether he knows it or not.

In another world, Peeta himself is awake and thinking about our favourite huntress.

In this one however, he's fast asleep, dreaming of an adventure with himself, his brothers, Maeve and Madge.

There is no thought of Katniss Everdeen whatsoever.