So here's Chapter 2. I really appreciate those of you who've taken the time to read, favorite,
follow and review my first chapter, it means a lot. Please
do continue giving any constructive criticism, feedback or suggestions you might have.
This chapter is a little longer than the first one, but I hope it isn't so long it bores you and discourages you from reading.
If this is the case, please do tell me, and I'll try to make future chapters either shorter or more action-packed.
For now, please enjoy Chapter 2!
Chapter 2
Katniss awoke to the loud buzz of her alarm clock. She groaned as she turned over, searching for the 'Off' button. Eventually finding it and turning off that infernal buzzing noise, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, and stood up. Making her way towards her closet, nearly tripping over the laptop she had carelessly thrown on the floor the evening before, she quickly decided on an outfit consisting of another darkly colored hoodie much like the one she had worn yesterday, and matching pants. After getting dressed, she made her way towards the kitchen, where she found another yellow note from her mother.
Got in very late last night. Can you take Prim to school? I'll pick her up after. Her lunch is in the fridge.
Mom
Once again, Katniss crumbled up the note and headed towards Prim's room. She had heard her mother come home from work last night, several hours after Katniss herself had gone to sleep. Or tried to, anyway. So she couldn't really blame her mother for not doing things like taking her youngest daughter to school and putting her to bed. As much as she wanted to blame her. She knocked lightly on Prim's door before entering.
"Time to get up, little Duck." Duck was Katniss' nickname for her younger sister. She'd been using it for so long that she had pretty much forgotten how it originated. Prim stirred as Katniss knelt down by her bed. "I'm taking you to school today." This seemed to please Prim, as she yawned, stretching out her arms, as a small smile crept across her face.
Katniss left Prim to get dressed, and instead went into the kitchen to get breakfast ready. As she was pouring cereal into a bowl, she was studying her schedule for the day. Her classes were all the same as yesterday, just in a different order, except for Art class, which today had been replaced with Science in the 6th and final class of the day. She figured she should probably try a little harder today than she had yesterday. Prim emerged from her bedroom, and Katniss handed her a bowl of cereal, which she took straight to the living room, where she sat down and turned on some cartoon show. Katniss watched her absentmindedly from the kitchen, eating her own cereal at the kitchen counter. Once finished, she went into the bathroom while waiting for Prim's cartoon show to finish.
She studied herself in the mirror, running a brush through her long, brown and slightly tangled hair. Katniss was usually not one for makeup, mostly she just used it to cover what she could of the dark rings under her eyes. Today however, she ended up using slightly than that. After applying said makeup, she braided her hair in a single braid down her back, something her mother had taught her. Satisfied with her appearance, she exited the bathroom to find Prim putting on her shoes, just about ready to go. Katniss grabbed Prim's lunch from the fridge, stuffed it in her backpack for her, and put on her shoes. She decided against a jacket today, as the sun was already well out and the weather was much warmer and more pleasant than yesterday. She looked at Prim.
"You ready to go?" Prim nodded. They headed outside and climbed into Katniss' pickup. Luckily, Prim's school was on the way to Katniss' school, so it wasn't much of a delay for Katniss to drop off her little sister. Not that she would've minded either way. Katniss turned the key in the ignition, and the truck roared to life.
"This car is so loud" Prim complained. Katniss shrugged.
"You could always walk."
"No no, that's ok"
"That's what I thought." They both laughed as Katniss pulled out of the driveway and headed for school.
Katniss liked her pickup truck. She only got it a few months ago, when she turned 16, but she had grown attached to it very quickly. It was big and sturdy, it made her feel safe. Plus, seeing as it was actually so loud, it had often helped her tune out the outside world, let her forget about her problems for just a little while.
Plus, it saved her from having to sit next to some creepy old guy on the bus.
"When you're older and getting your first car, you'll understand" Katniss explained Prim. Prim merely rolled her eyes in return. It was silent for a few minutes, before Prim spoke up again.
"I miss home."
This took Katniss by surprise. Prim had never shown any problems when it came to leaving their old home to move here. On the other hand, Katniss might've just been too preoccupied with her own complaints to notice. Katniss looked sympathetically at her younger sister.
"I know. Me too. But this is home now. We just need to get used to it."
Prim shrugged, frowning slightly. "I guess."
"Yeah, plus, there's so much more to do in this city. It'll be great." This earned an incredulous look from Prim.
"Then how come you've done nothing but bitch about coming here for the past month?"
Katniss turned her head to her sister again. "Hey! Language!" She playfully slapped Prim's shoulder, trying to sound stern, but she couldn't help laughing. Prim giggled.
"Sorry."
"That's better. Besides, I'm a teenager. I'm supposed to be difficult and complain about everything. You'll get there, next year." Katniss smiled reassuringly as she came to a halt on the curb outside Prim's school. "Now you behave, and have a good day, okay? Mom will be here to pick you up this afternoon."
Prim nodded, and the girls embraced in a brief hug before Prim hopped out of the car. Katniss watched her until she made it inside, then pulled back onto the road and continued towards her own school.
She studied herself in the rearview mirror for a brief moment whilst holding for a red light. Should she even have bothered with the makeup this morning? Prim didn't seem to even notice any different. On the other hand, Katniss thought, she didn't put on a little extra makeup for Prim's sake. But then, who did she put on more makeup for? She had no idea. She convinced herself it was for her own sake, to be more comfortable with her appearance. The light turned green, and she quickly forgot about it.
Pulling into the school parking lot, she was glad to find that the parking space she had used yesterday, right next to the entrance, was still unoccupied. She backed her way in, and turned off the engine. As she was about to exit her vehicle, she caught sight of a man crossing the parking lot, heading for the grass fields around the corner from the main building. He was wearing a dark purple sports outfit, and had messy-looking dark blond hair that went just below his ears. He seemed to be struggling, carrying a large stack of bright orange cones in one hand, and a very heavy looking net full of sports balls in the other. Katniss figured he was the school's sports coach. Or one of many, rather. She glanced at herself in the rearview mirror one last time, grabbed her bag and headed for the school entrance.
Entering the building, she caught herself involuntarily looking in the direction of the locker where she'd first encountered the blond boy from yesterday. Nobody was there. She started off in the opposite direction, heading for her first class, but before she could take more than one step, she stopped herself again. She turned back around, looking around to make sure there were no other students in the hall, and then walked towards the locker. She figured maybe his name was on his locker.
Why did she care so much about that stupid name?
Would it be considered cheating if she got his name off of his locker, after he had asked her outright?
Why did she care if it would be considered cheating?
Before she had come to a conclusion in her mind, she had reached the locker. She read it, disappointed.
P. Mellark
Of course. That would've been too easy.
"Looking for something?"
Katniss spun around. There he was again, waves of blond hair falling gracefully over his forehead, eyes as blue as the sky. He seemed shorter than yesterday. Katniss also noted that this was the second time he'd managed to walk all the way up to her without her noticing. His eyes widened ever so slightly in acknowledgement as she turned around to face him.
"Oh it's you Katniss, didn't recognize you at first with that braid you got there." He was smiling. Why was he always smiling? Katniss decided she had better answer him.
"Hey" Hey? Is that all you got?
"So, what, you're lost again and need directions?" Still smiling. Although, by now, his smile had turned into more of a teasing grin. She didn't need directions, but she decided it would be better to go with that than having to explain she was looking at his locker to find out his name.
"Oh, uhm, no, I just…"
Oh, I see we decided to go with an incoherent mumble instead.
He chuckled. "Looks like someone hasn't quite woken up properly yet."
And now he's mocking you. Might as well ask about his him now, so you can stop obsessing about it.
"Yeah, no, I uhm, didn't sleep much. Had to drive my sister to school."
He doesn't care about that. It doesn't even have anything to do with your lack of sleep. Now ask for his name.
"That sucks" he said, casually shifting his weight to his other leg, now leaning his shoulder against the row of lockers.
See. Couldn't care less.
"Yeah, well, I'm used to it." Katniss shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts. "Anyway, I should really get to class!"
The boy straightened up. "All right. Take care." Katniss merely nodded and smiled in response, hurrying past him towards her first class.
Good job getting his name.
First up was psychology class. Katniss found her psychology teacher to be a little….eccentric. But she figured that anyone who immersed themselves so much in the depths of the human mind as much as a psychology professor had, they were bound to have a few quirks. On the bright side, the teacher called on Katniss so many times she barely had time to obsess about the boy. He, the teacher, seemed to pretty much only call on the students on the back two rows. Maybe he figured people who sit in the back row have no interest in participating on their own. Which often turned out to be true. Katniss was glad that there seemed to be no wrong answers in psychology. She might actually end up liking this class.
History class, however, was a different matter. She had never been a fan of history. She never felt like she learned anything new. All was ever taught about was all stuff that happened years and years ago. On the bright side, today they were apparently watching a documentary that would last throughout the entire hour. The teacher looked like she had a bad hangover, as she sat in the corner with her sunglasses on, carefully sipping at her coffee, not even watching the film. Judged by some of the hushed comments by some of the other students, it was not rare to see that specific teacher in this condition.
Math was another big snooze fest. The entire class was spent on correcting and reviewing a test the class took last week, before Katniss' arrival. At the bell signaling lunch time, Katniss hurried out of class, hoping to make it to the cafeteria before it was swamped by other students. She was in luck. In a matter of minutes, she had a tray full of food and was deciding on where to sit. A female voice called for her attention.
"Katniss!" She turned around to see Madge, tray in hand, motioning with her head for Katniss to sit at the table Madge was heading for. Katniss smiled and obliged, sitting across from the blond girl from her English class.
Katniss had just sat down when Madge began speaking.
"So how are you finding your first few days here?"
Katniss shrugged, picking at a salad with her plastic fork. "It's not bad, I guess. I'm not really one for school in general, so it's hard to be too enthusiastic. But it's no worse than my old school." Madge nodded.
"I get what you mean" she scooped a forkful of lasagna into her mouth, chewing and swallowing quickly. "Made any friends yet?" Katniss chuckled, causing a raised eyebrow from Madge. "What's funny?"
"Nothing, nothing." Katniss said, shaking her head, smiling. "You just sounded like my sister for a moment." Madge nodded again, grinning.
"But, to answer your question," Katniss continued "No, not really. I mean, everybody I've spoken to seem real nice, but you're the only one I've had more than one conversation with."
Well, you and the blond boy.
"Well I suppose you have only been here for a day and a half. But don't be fooled, we have our cliques of bitchy cheerleaders, steroid-filled jocks and depressing Goths, like any other high school. You'll run into them soon enough."
"I can hardly wait" said Katniss, rolling her eyes. She wondered to herself if Madge didn't really have any friends either, seeing as how she was sitting here eating lunch with her. Then she dropped it again, for once glad to have someone to have lunch with. Madge swallowed the last bite of her lasagna, then gently wiped her face with a napkin, looking up at Katniss.
"Want to go to class?"
Katniss had already forgotten she had English next, a class she shared with Madge. She nodded, getting up. "Let's."
On their way to class, they engaged in some more casual chit-chat. Katniss tried to focus the conversation mainly on Madge. Apparently, her father was a very successful lawyer, meaning Madge and the rest of her family were very well-to-do. When asked directly by Katniss if she was actually rich, Madge had attempted to downplay it by categorizing themselves as 'relatively wealthy'. They reached their designated classroom, and sat down in the back right corner once more, by the windows. Looking out, Katniss caught sight of the man she saw this morning, crossing the parking lot with his arms full of sports equipment. He seemed to be setting up those bright orange cones in different sections of one of the fields.
"So who's that guy?" Katniss asked Madge, looking out the window. Madge followed her gaze.
"That would be Coach Abernathy. He coaches the soccer team."
"Ah" Katniss nodded in acknowledgement. So she was right about him being a sports coach. Not that it was too difficult to guess, his attire and what he was carrying at the time taken into consideration. She continued to look at him through the window, whilst Madge explained further.
"Yeah. I think the soccer tryouts start today, after class. Usually there's a pretty big turnout."
"So is the soccer team at this school usually any good?" Katniss thought back to the sports teams at her old school. It had been years and years since any of them had won anything. Madge practically snorted with laughter.
"Hah, no way. There's like, two or three really good players on the team, but they haven't won anything in ages. Come to think of it, the last time this school won a soccer championship was like 25 years ago, when Coach Abernathy himself was a student here and played on the team. There's a picture of him in the school's trophy case by the main entrance."
Katniss nodded, turning her attention away from the window and back to Madge. "So, what, is he like a terrible coach?"
Madge shrugged. "I dunno really. I think most of the players like him, even if he can be really strict sometimes. Most of the students who show up for tryouts are usually just the people who didn't make the cut for the football team, who always have tryouts the day before, and are just trying to get on any other sports team. So it's not like he has the most motivated and dedicated bunch to work with."
"I could see why that would be frustrating for him."
Madge merely nodded in agreement because their teacher had walked in and was now demanding the class's attention. She explained that they would be working with Shakespeare for the next couple of weeks.
"Shakespeare. Great." Katniss mumbled under her breath. "Never done that before."
Madge smiled, but remained silent.
The students were to pick a work by Shakespeare and write a detailed analysis of it, due in two weeks. Most of the class groaned in unison.
The teacher left the class 10 minutes before it actually ended, as she had some faculty meeting to attend, or something. Before leaving, she had insisted that the class got started on those Shakespeare assignments, but probably knew deep down that very few actually would. And true enough, the moment she closed the door, the class broke off into smaller groups, chatting away. Katniss looked to her left at Madge, who appeared to be the only one actually working.
"Why do I get the feeling that sitting next to you might have a positive influence on my grades?"
Madge giggled, looking up from her paper. "It's just what I do."
Shortly after, the bell sounded, and everyone got up. Before Madge and Katniss had said their goodbyes in the hallway, Madge had made sure to send a friend request to Katniss on Facebook. At least now Katniss would have one new friend to tell Prim about when she got home.
Whilst waiting for her Spanish class to begin, Katniss couldn't help looking at Madge's Facebook profile on her phone. She decided that Madge's 'relatively wealthy' was definitely a bit of an understatement, judging by some of the pictures on her profile. Fancy cars, large house, expensive looking furniture. Lots and lots of exotic holiday photos. Was that a yacht? They couldn't possibly have their own yacht. Could they? Someone else had already asked the same thing in one of the comments on the picture. Turns out, it wasn't their yacht after all. So they weren't that rich. As the teacher entered, Katniss thought to herself that if she ever happened to be going anywhere with Madge, she'd definitely suggest they take Madge's car.
Apart from a point halfway through where the teacher had caught Katniss daydreaming, staring out the window as always, Spanish class went by without a hitch. Now there was just science to get through, and she'd be free for the rest of the day. She looked at her schedule. Science with Mr. Latier, Building C, Room 316. So, a couple rooms down from her English class. Having quickly found it, she sat in her usual spot in the back by the window, dropping her backpack on the large table. The tables in this classroom were large enough to, and probably designed to, fit two students at each, and had various lab equipment scattered on them.
Only a few other students were in the room, but then as if on cue, student after student began filing in through the door. Katniss watched them all as they entered one by one, and that's when she same him.
He was already practically in the middle of the classroom before he saw her. And she was looking right at him.
You're staring at him. Quit staring at him.
She looked away, but only for a second. She looked back at him, and he raised his head in a sort of greeting manner, and walked towards her at the back of the room.
"How do you always manage to be the first one in class? Do you like, run from classroom to classroom? Or are you just that eager to learn?"
Katniss rolled her eyes. "More like eager to get a seat in the back row so I can slack off more." He laughed.
"May I?"
He nodded towards the seat next to Katniss, which was currently being occupied by her backpack. It took Katniss several seconds before she realized it was in the way.
"Oh, of course, sorry." She hurriedly grabbed the backpack and threw it on the floor next to the table. He sat down, angling his chair ever so slightly towards her, but still keeping a fair distance between the two of them.
He's literally going to be right next to you for the next hour. If you don't get his name by the end of this class I swear to God I'll make you choke on your own spit.
"So, how are you doing? You seemed a little out of it this morning" he asked casually, resting his elbow on the table as he was facing little more towards her. Katniss blushed slightly, looking back at her terrible attempt at a conversation this morning.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm really not a morning person."
He shook his head in agreement. "Yeah me neither, no need to apolo-" he was interrupted by the teacher handing him a paper, evidently another test from last week that Katniss had missed. She was beginning to wonder how all these missed tests might potentially affect her grade.
"Come on, Mr. Mellark. We both know you can do better." The teacher walked away, heading for the next table.
"Shit" mumbled the boy solemnly under his breath as he studied the paper, running a hand through his golden hair. Katniss knew it was not her place, but she couldn't help peek over his shoulder, and saw a big, red D encircled in the bottom right of the paper. He flipped over the paper and looked at her. She quickly tried to pretend like she hadn't been looking.
"Yeah, science isn't really my thing" he said sheepishly.
Before Katniss knew what she was doing, she had already offered him her help. "Maybe I could help with that."
He looked at her, smiling appreciatively. "You're good at science?"
No.
"Relatively, yeah."
Liar.
He nodded, putting the paper away. "I might just take you up on that offer sometime, then."
"Okay then, ladies and gentlemen!" The teacher clapped his hands together, getting everyone's attention. Katniss and the boy both turned their heads towards him. "Today, we will be analyzing the behavior of waves." Out of the corner of her eye, Katniss could practically see the boy's heart sink as the teacher spoke.
"You will now proceed to read pages 37 to 41 in your books, and then answer the questions on page 42 and 43." He was writing the page numbers on the blackboard as he spoke, then turned around to face the class, wiping the chalk off his hands. "Any questions you do not manage to answer by the end of this class, I expect you to finish at home by Thursday. There were a few sporadic groans of protest throughout the classroom, which were all ignored by the teacher. "Now, has anyone not yet been assigned a textbook?"
Katniss and two other students raised their hands. The teacher nodded, jotting something down on a piece of paper.
"I will make sure to have books ready for you for next time, but for now you can read with the person next to you. Begin." The teacher almost ceremoniously gestured with his hands for the students to begin reading as he sat down in his chair.
The boy pulled his textbook out of his bag, placed it in the middle of the table and flipped it open to page 37. He looked at her. "Shall we?" She nodded and leaned slightly forward over the table, and he did the same thing. They began to read along with the rest of the classroom. The room fell dead silent, and Katniss became very self-conscious about her breathing.
And his breathing.
She couldn't help following his steady, rhythmic breathing, and before long, her breathing had unconsciously synced up with his. It was then that she remembered she was supposed to be reading.
She quickly scanned the page, figuring he would be halfway done with it by now, and she was supposed to be good at this subject. She adjusted herself in her seat to get a better view of the book. As she moved, her peripheral vision caught sight of his eyes, which seemed to flicker briefly towards her when she moved. She turned her eyes towards him, making sure to keep her head still, but his eyes were back on the book. Was he blushing?
Blushing? Don't flatter yourself. Read.
And sure enough, by the time Katniss was about three quarters of the way done with reading the page, he looked up to signal he had finished reading it. Katniss quickly nodded, pretending she was done too, out of fear of appearing slow. He turned the page. Luckily, Katniss managed to keep up for the remaining pages. She wondered if he also pretended to be a faster reader than he really was, to appear smarter.
The questions turned out to be very easy, to Katniss' luck. It was mainly just parroting back what they had just read. With about 10 minutes of the lesson to go, they were finishing the last question.
"…less energy in the transmitted wave." The boy spoke each word slowly as he wrote them down on the paper. When done, he sat up straight, flipped the textbook shut, and scooted the paper towards the middle of the table. "That was easy enough."
Katniss studied the paper briefly as he passed it towards her. His handwriting was immaculate. By comparison, Katniss' looked like that of seven year old. "Your handwriting is amazing" she mumbled, scanning the paper. He merely shrugged, twirling the pen between his fingers. But there was a hint of a smug grin on his lips. Something outside the window caught his attention. Katniss followed his gaze. It was Coach Abernathy, still busy at work on the fields
"Jeez, those tryouts must be a real big deal" Katniss blurted out. "He's been out there all day."
"They are a big deal. You should come watch after class."
Katniss turned back to face him, eyebrow raised. "Are you going to be watching?"
He shook his head, grinning. "Not watching."
"Playing?" Katniss asked, raising her other eyebrow. He simply nodded, still grinning. She debated it in her mind for a moment.
"Sure, I'll come watch."
The pen, which had until now been dancing effortlessly over and under the boy's fingers, suddenly fell to the floor. Katniss bit her lip to hold back a chuckle as the boy, seemingly surprised by the acceptance of his invitation, bent down to pick up the pen again. He steadied himself on the chair again.
"Great."
At the bell, the pair got up and left the classroom together. The quickest way to the site of the tryouts was through the courtyard that connected building A and C. As they walked towards the courtyard, Katniss was the first to break the momentary silence that had fallen between them.
"So have you been playing long?"
He shrugged. "I've been on the team since Freshman year." Katniss gave an impressed nod, before he sheepishly added, "Though mostly on the bench." She wanted to encourage him, but she knew very little of soccer, the boy's ability to play it or any of his competition, so what she ended up saying sounded very generic.
"I'm sure this year will be your year." He chuckled, taking the encouragement.
"Thanks"
"How long do these tryouts usually take?"
"Hard to say really. An hour, hour and a half?" he shrugged. "Depends on the turnout." When they reached the courtyard, the boy turned towards the field, but Katniss stopped.
"Hey, I'm just gonna go drop off my bag in my car so I don't have to drag it around, then I'll be right out, okay?"
"Sure. It's over there." He pointed towards a large grass area by the end of the buildings. You could already see a small crowd forming. Katniss smiled and went off towards the parking lot.
Aren't you forgetting something?
Katniss stopped dead in her tracks and quickly spun around. "Oh, hey!"
He turned around as well, taking a single step back towards her. "Yeah?"
"I just remembered I never actually got your name yesterday."
The boy raised an eyebrow, an uncertain smile on his face. "Are you sure? I could've sworn I-" He stopped for a moment, apparently remembering how he was interrupted yesterday before he could say his full name. "Oh yeah. My apologies. My name's Peeta. Peeta Mellark." He flashed a brilliant smile, as if introducing himself for the first time. Which, in a sense, he was.
"Peeta." Katniss simply repeated his name. His smile turned into a small grin, and he turned back around and headed for the soccer field.
Peeta.
Katniss lingered for a moment, then continued on towards the parking lot. She had just made it to her car and opened the door when her phone rang. It was her mother.
"Hey mom, what is it?" Katniss had gotten used to asking 'what is it' when answering calls from her mother. She never called unless she wanted Katniss to do something. This time was no different.
"I need you to pick up Prim from school. I can't make it."
Katniss wanted to kick the wheel of her truck in a mixture of disappointment, annoyance and anger, but decided it would probably hurt herself more than anything else.
"What do you mean you can't make it? Where are you?"
"I'm at the hospital."
"The hospital!? I thought you weren't going back to work until tonight?"
"Someone else called in sick, I had to take the shift."
"Oh, you had to take the shift, did you?" Katniss' voice was getting louder. "What if I had plans, huh? Did you think about that?"
"Plans more important than your sister?"
This pulled Katniss up short. Didn't she always go about saying and thinking how she'd do anything for her sister? Here she was, arguing about who should pick her up, because some guy had asked her to come see him kick a ball around a field, whilst her mother was unable to do it because she was forced to practically work double shifts just to feed them. Katniss suddenly felt guilty. Very guilty.
"I'll go pick her up right away."
"Thanks. There's dinner in the fridge. Gotta go."
And with that, her mother hung up. Katniss reluctantly climbed in her truck and fired up the engine, trying to do the math in her head.
The tryouts lasted about an hour to an hour and a half. It would take her at least 40 minutes to get Prim and drive her home, and then another 30 to 35 minutes to drive back here. The tryouts could very well be over by the time she made it back to school. She contemplated heading over to the soccer field and tell the boy, Peeta, that she couldn't make it, but figured they were probably well underway by now, and she wouldn't be able to talk to him. She decided to just forget about it. She'd have to apologize to him tomorrow for not being there. He probably wouldn't be mad.
She really hoped he wouldn't be mad.
A/N: So there you have it. Too long? Too uneventful? Please let me know!
