"Our first class is Home Ec," Madge rambled. "Ms. Trinket teaches, she's pretty cool. Just don't use bad table manners if we get to eat the food we cook. That's her pet peeve. She's so prim and proper.
Katniss nodded. The girl was being nice, but a little overly-peppy.
Madge skidded to a halt in front of room 112. "Here we are! You can sit next to me, if you want," she said as she twisted the golden doorknob.
"Class, we have a new student," piped Ms. Trinket in her annoyingly high voice. "Welcome, welcome, Miss Katniss Everdeen."
Katniss smiled nervously. "Hi…" she whispered, waving awkwardly. All of the eyes in the room studied her, and a blue-eyed blonde boy seemed to be staring at her. Ignoring them all, she let Madge guide her to her seat.
For the class, Katniss was paired with Madge and a girl named Delly Cartwright to complete the assignment: making pasta. Delly flicked on the stove at their workstation while Katniss filled the pot with water. Madge really had nothing to do, so she made goo-goo eyes at a boy over in the next workstation.
Carrying the heavy, full pot from the sink to stove, Katniss stumbled. As she tripped, about three cups of water sloshed over the edge of the pot, some onto her clothes, but most onto the dark wooden counter. She muttered curses to herself and frantically searched for a towel.
"Miss Everdeen, that is mahogany!" scolded Miss Trinket. "Water damages wood! Clean it up!" Everyone turned to see Katniss, damp and embarrassed.
"I-I… so-sor-sorry," stuttered Katniss. The new girl blushed, her olive-skinned cheeks turning pink. "I'll… clean… it." By now, everyone had gone back to their own projects. Katniss cleaned up the counter and herself while Delly and Madge finished working on the pasta. Well, I'm making a good impression, Katniss thought.
A pair of blue eyes scanned the long, dark braid down Katniss' back.
The bell rang, and Madge hustled out the door with Katniss in her wake. "Okay, next you have…" her voice trailed off as she examined Katniss' schedule. "English! Me too! Come on, Mr. Abernathy has zero tolerance for tardiness." And so she ran off, pulling Katniss along for the ride.
In the hall, she bumped into a blue-eyed boy with an athletic build. He seemed familiar for some reason Katniss couldn't remember, but for some reason it sent chills down her spine. Her gray eyes locked onto his blue ones, and they held the gaze until Madge snapped her out of it with a giggly, "Come on Katniss. Zero tolerance, remember?"