New Chapter! Yay! So I wanted to say thanks to the two reviews I got and the advice as well, thank you. I also wanted to answer Where The Story Ends's questions, I wasn't thinking about using Johanna's POV, but now that you mention it I probably will. Then also yes, the story will go through Johanna's Games and after. So hope that clears up some things. Here's the next chapter!
Also, I wanted to add a sorry for not unpadting sooner. I had some pretty big tests to take that if I don't pass, I don't graduate. And it was a writing test, so I needed a break from it, but enough excuses.
Next day
I awake to see the sun barely raising over the masses of trees that spread all over District Seven. Spruc, Aspen, Fir, Birch Pine, and the occasional Yew tree. It's actually a beautiful sight outside my window, but my attention turns to my door opening and my mother coming in.
"Good to see you already awake." She chirps while coming and giving me a kiss on my forehead. "I'd like for you to be ready in say, an hour? Wouldn't want you to be late for school."
Then, she turns and leaves my room shutting the door behind her.
"Good morning to you too." I mutter under my breath.
I give a deep sigh and get out of bed. I leave my room and head toward the bathroom to take a shower when my father comes around the corner.
He looks at me and gives a generous smile.
"Mornin' Honey." He says. His blue eyes are filled with delight as he gives me hug.
"Mornin' Dad." I mumble still enveloped in his embrace.
He lets go and continues to look at me and smile.
"Um, Dad?" I ask. He seems to be snapped back into reality when I say this.
"Sorry Eve. You're just getting so big." He says and I can see a tear start to form in his eyes.
"It's called growing Dad, but thanks." I respond then turn to go into the bathroom.
I shut the door behind me and start to turn on the shower. It's heated so when winter comes we wont die of hypothermia while taking a shower, which is a bonus considering I live in District Seven.
It doesn't take long to clean myself and step out of the shower. I wrap a towel around my body and use another to dry my hair off.
I walk out of the bathroom and room into Eli who covers his face with his hands trying not to look at me. I laugh and continue into my room.
I slip on some black sweatpants because I honestly don't care what I look like today and it is starting to get a little chilly out. I rake through my closet looking for a shirt and find a plain white t-shirt while also taking out a cute pink bra and a grey undershirt. I find a pair of regular white shoes and black socks. After clothing myself I look in my mirror and put my hair up in a ponytail. I don't bother putting makeup on either, it's just not worth it. I head down starts to the smell of toast, peanut butter, eggs, and bacon.
I walk into the kitchen and sit next to my father who is reading the newspaper and trying to eat at the same time.
"Havin' problems there?" I ask in an amused tone. He looks to me and rolls his eyes playfully and I chuckle while sitting down.
My mother puts a plate of food in front of me and I start eating.
Soon Eli stumbles down the stairs with Susie who seems to be barely awake. He puts Susie on the other side of my dad, across from me, and sits down next to me. My mom gives Eli and Susie a plate of food and sits down with her's as well.
We all sit in silence with the occasional page flip from my dad's newspaper. It takes about twenty minutes for us all to finish.
My mother picks up all the plates and starts to clean them when I reasile Eli and I should be heading to school.
I nudge Eli and nod my head in the direction of the clock on the wall. He nods his head and stands up.
"We should get going." He says not directed to anyone specific.
"Okay. We'll see you two later." My mother and father both say. We hug them good-bye and tell Susie good-bye as well then walk out the front door.
It takes us less than five minutes to reach the square where I see Quinna where she is every morning. She smiles and starts waving for me to meet her.
Eli and I walk toward her and she gives me a hug.
"Ready?" I ask. "We already ate, and I kinda don't wanna be late again."
She starts laughing and turns red. "You're right. Let's go."
We all start going to school and surprisingly get there on time. I say bye to Eli while Quinna and I walk over to where our friends are sitting. Under a large pine tree. When we get there everyone says 'Hello' and tells us to join them in on our usual gossip. Nothing interesting, so I tune out and start climbing the tree we are sitting under. Everyone looks at me like I'm crazy, but I don't see why. We live in District Seven and we have a ton of trees around us. Climbing them isn't a crime or out of the ordinary. Maybe for a Town kid, but I don't see the point in it, so I continue my way up the tree.
When I reach the top I look down and realise how high up I am and start feeling myself swaying. I immediately hug the tree to stop myself from falling. I look out upon District Seven and see it like never before. I wonder to myself, is this what all lumberjacks see? It must be why they go back to their jobs everyday. That, or they need money. Probably the latter.
Then, I hear the bell ring and Quinna is calling me to get out of the tree. I slowly make my descent down and jump from the lowest hanging branch to the ground.
"Have fun up there?" Quinna askes with an annoyed tone.
"Yeah, it was great." I respond mocking her annoyed tone. She rolls her eyes and starts walking to class and I follow suit. Class isn't anything interesting.
As usual.
But, I realise that Johanna didn't come to school today. She seemed fine yesterday. Maybe a family emergency? I don't know.
When the bell rings for lunch I have no interest in listening to the gossip again, so I space out the entire lunch period. The bell rings again for us to head back to class, but Quinna stops me.
"What is with you today?" She inquires. I look at her as though she is crazy. I want to scream at her, tell her how incredibly stupid she is. Tell her that this whole district is stupid for thinking some people are better than others just because of where they are from and telling her about the whiniest bitch that wont shut up about people not from town.
Herself.
But I am reluctant to tell her these things due to the fact that I will most likely be labeled as some crazy insane girl who can't keep her head. If we were alone, I'd let her know how I feel, and the bad thing is, is that I can't even let my best friend know how I feel without deciding against it. Maybe she isn't my beest friend after all. Then I look back at all the times she has never been a good friend. The times she has lied to me. And yes, I always found out when she did. Or when she would just be a bitch over all. That's not what a best friend is. And she complains a little too much for my liking.
Though I don't dare say those things I sigh. "I don't know."
"Well you better cut it out before you make a fool of yourself. And me." She barks. I give her a glare and I feel the need to punch her square in her face.
Which is exactly what I do.
She falls to the floor and lands on her back with a loud thud. She looks at me in complete and utter horror, still shocked I punched her. I start to see blood running from her nose and she brings her hand up to wipe it away.
"What. In the hell. Was that?" She yells at me. Everyone is surrounding us in a circle.
"Me not taking anymore of your shit." I say looking down upon her. "You've got a little somethin', right there." And I rub my nose to show her where it is. Her eyes narrow at me and I think for a split second that she is about to tackle me when Raptar appears behind me and grabs my arm in a deadly grip that says escape is not possible. Since when did Raptar have the balls to do this I ask myself. I don't have much time to think anymore because she is basically dragging me down the hall, but I look to her other side and see Quinna, and her bloody nose, being dragged along with me.
We finally stop at the Principle's office. I think to myself what could happen or be asked. So how was this brought on about? Oh, nothing. We were just having a nice little chat. Though that probably won't fly. I'll probably get suspended, which I don't mind. I won't have to come back to this hellhole for a few days.
We are both called into the office and it goes pretty much how I expected it to. Principle Fischer asks my side of the story, then Quinna's with no interruptions from the other. Of coarse, blaintly punching someone in the face isn't accepted and it's hard to defend yourself when you really didn't have a reason to either.
After both our stories are finished, I get suspension for ten days while Quinna gets to go to the nurse, then back to class. Principle Fischer gives me a letter to give to my parents and tells me I have to go home, which is fine with me. I walk out of the office and head toward the front doors. I walk out then start to walk toward the square.
I decide to go on a little stroll through the woods. It always helps clear my mind. But before I'm able to walk through the gates, I hear someone call my name. I turn to see who it is. Surprised, I call her name back.
"Johanna?"
"Hey. Aren't you suppose to be in school?" She asks with a smirk on her face. I start to laugh a little.
"I got suspended." I say nonchalantly. She cocks her head to the side in confusion. "I punched Quinna in the face." When I say this she is taken back. She raises her eyebrows and I smile. "Now, I could ask you the same thing."
"My family needs more money. So I offered to take an extra shift today. I just got finished with my lunch break." I nod my head a little because I honestly don't know what to say. "Wait, if you get suspended doesn't that mean you can't try out for the team?"
Shit.
She is talking about one of the school's softball teams. Johanna is actually our best hitter, but doesn't get any recognition. I'm usually the one everyone is congratulating on a job well done.
And she is right. You become ineligable for bad grades, surprisingly, suspension, or health problems, like asthma. Wouldn't want anyone dying now would we?
"Guess so." I say giving a huge smile. She starts laughing then looks at me for a second.
"I like your eyes. You don't see blue very often here in Seven."
"Yea, it's from my dad."
"That's cool." She looks over my shoulder then back to me. "I should get going before the foreman wants my head."
"I was going that way. For a walk atleast. Could I walk with you?" She smiles and nods her head. I gesture for her to go through the gates first and she does.
We walk for a while in silence before I get the urge to ask a question that has been on my mind for awhile.
"Do you like what you do?"
"You mean cut trees?" She asks and I nod. "Um, it may not be my job of choice, but it puts bread on the table."
I guess that's the difference between the towns people and those who can't afford to live in town. We do what we want or love, but they have to do whatever gets them food. Whether it be working at the mills or in the forests. They don't get much of a choice. Like where your born, you die. Unless you happen to have the luck of marrying someone from town, but that almost never happens.
"What are you going to do when you get older? Because, isn't your brother going to run your family's company when your father dies?" She curiously asks. I nod my head and ponder on the question for a little.
"I don't know. I never thought of it, and it's not like I have any special skill."
She nods and we continue to walk in silence. We stop at what looks like an aspen tree that looks as though someone has already started hacking away at it.
"This is one of my trees for today. You can keep walking if you want. I have to finish my shift before I'm able to leave my post again." She tells me.
"I can stay here with you for awhile." I look to a tree next to me and pat it. "Do you needa cut this one today?"
She already has her axe and is about to continue chopping the tree she started earlier when she looks at me, then the tree. "No, it's too young."
"How do you know?" I aks.
"The foreman told me." I laugh at what she says because I thought she would go into a detailed explaination as to how she knows it's too young, but didn't. I hop onto the first branch of the tree and lay down in it. I hear Johanna take a deep breath in and start chopping at the tree.
The chopping continues for about ten minutes until I hear the wood start to break.
"Timber!" Johanna cries and it seems almost as the forest goes silent for the moment as the tree falls and with a crash, hits the ground.
"Damn." Is all I say. Johanna starts laughing.
"I've only got two more, if you wanna come." She states.
"Yea, sure." I say. She smiles at me, then places what must be a tracker next to the tree and we head to another tree. After she gets finished with the next two she is able to leave and it looks to be about four in the afternoon. We walk back to the gates we entered before and she stops.
"I have to go that way." she says and points behind her.
"Alright. Well, it was nice talkin' to ya." I say with a smile.
"Yeah, nice talkin' with you." She says. "Will I see you tomorrow? You know, with you being suspended and all."
"Maybe, I'll try and get out, but I'm sure I'll be grounded."
"Alright. Well, see ya tomorrow then. Maybe."
"Yeah, see ya."
Johanna turns around and starts walking away, but before completely out of sight she turns around and waves to me and I wave back. Maybe this is what I need. A fresh start with someone I don't know. Who knows? Maybe punching Quinna in the face has some benefits.
Alright, so again I'm really sorry I didn't update sooner, but this next chapter I will try to get it up sooner. So please let me know what you thought! Thanks for reading!