Madge

My fist knocking on my father's office door sounds like gunshots in my ears. Every instinct in me is telling me to run and forget about telling Dad about Gale, but I have to, I know I do.

Father's voice calls for me to enter, and my hand shakes as I turn the knob.

He acknowledges me with a quick nod before returning to whatever project he's working on now. "Hello Madge darling, what do you need?"

I tuck my hair behind my hair and shuffle my feet, unsure of how to begin. "Well.. umm. You see.. uh the thing is.. I've.." My Dad looks up at me curiously. I don't think I've ever stumbled this much over my words in front of him, or been so unsure of what his reaction will be. He raises his eyebrows in question, and I decide it will be best to just rip the Band-Aid off, "I'm seeing someone."

A look of surprise flashes on his face, "Oh?"

"Yeah." I know he wants me to continue, but I just feel so damn awkward.

He sighs and sets his paperwork aside, "And do I know this young man?"

I nod. "Mhm."

"And his name?"

I open my mouth, then close it, not sure of myself. What will he do? I have never been so blind to what to expect from him. I've never been in this situation before. I've never had a boyfriend before. I have to tell him though; Gale is more than just a secret. "Gale Hawthorne."

If I weren't so worried about what my dad is going to say, I would probably laugh at the way his jaw drops and his eyes nearly pop out of his skull. He looks like he's had a stroke. When he finally regains control of himself he sputters out a few unintelligible lines before, "Well, that's just- Gale Hawthorne? How did that even- You and he- What? This makes no sense. When would you two? Wait. Is that who you've been sneaking out to see?! Gale Hawthorne? Madge, what were you thinking?! You could've been hurt! What if-"

"Dad!" I throw my arm up in exasperation, "Hurt? What are you talking about Gale would never hurt me! And you need to calm down before you give yourself a heart attack. I'll go get you a glass of tea, and when I come back we can talk about this calmly." I exit before he can decline, or freak out anymore.

I go to the kitchen and pour a glass of tea on autopilot. I'm in a slight state of shock. This is going to be the most important moment for me to not say the wrong thing. If he even thinks for a second that we aren't being safe, or Gale's not being a gentleman it will be over. If it isn't over already.

I take a deep breath before I re-enter my father's office, and see he's much calmer than before (that's not saying much). "So… Gale is a really great guy. You know that! You've talked to him many times, you've bought from him, and you know he only breaks the law to provide for his family."

"Yes, I under-"

"And don't you dare say anything about him being from the Seam, because that is not a legitimate reason to be against him."

"Okay, that's not wha-"

"It's not even like we've really been sneaking out for relationship-y reasons, all we've been doing is talking about Katniss and the Games! We've never done anything dangerous when we're out past curfew, all we do is talk. I swear."

"Can I j-"

"Also, we only just got together; we were just friends for most of the time!"

My dad sighs, "Are you going to let me speak now?"

I nod, but then remember, "Oh! And I've already talked to mom about him, and she thinks we should invite him to dinner. She's really excited about it too." I add that in there to help solidify my argument; he's a sucker for making Mom happy.

Surprisingly enough though, he doesn't even really seem like he's even angry. "Madge, since you've basically addressed everything already I suppose all that's left to do is invite the boy over for dinner." What?! Yesss! "If he can make it through the dinner, than I give you my full permission to let you continue seeing him."

My heart soars, "Really! Dad this is so-"

"With a few ground rules, of course."

I nod, "Of course." I internally groan, great we're not going to get to do anything.

But yet again he surprises me, "Anytime you're going out, he is to pick you up from the house, and you will tell me where you are going out and when you will be back." I nod that's reasonable enough. "But if you two ever get caught out late by the peacekeepers, you will be grounded, and the two of you will not ever be allowed to be out after curfew." I nod, again that sounds pretty reasonable too. "And before you two are allowed to go out again, you must talk to your mother about safe sex an-"

"No. no. no." I cover my face in mortification. I think my entire body is blushing right now.

"What?" he laughs a little. He thinks this is funny. "If you don't have The Talk with your mother you will not be allowed to leave this house without Vivian chaperoning."

I groan and uncover my face, "Fine."

He smiles, "Very well, have a good day. Tell Gale to be here tomorrow night at 5 p.m." And he gets back to work like nothing even happened.

I leave his office feeling somehow better and worse at the same time. Tomorrow night is going to suck.

AN: Sorry I know this is super late, and the chapter is really short, and it's only Madge POV, and it's probably all over the place and confusing. But I'm just so happy I finally have gotten something done, and I wanted to publish it for y'all! As always I'm open for any and all kinds of reviews/(hopefully constructive) criticisms! Feel free to PM me also :)