A/N: Hey!
Sam Claflin has been confirmed as Finnick Odair in Catching Fire! What do you think? Personally I wanted Garrett Hedlund or Hunter Parrish, but what is your opinion?
Anyway, here is chapter four! Sorry for spelling/grammar mistakes.
oOo
Peeta's POV
The opening ceremonies went well, I guess. Maia and I were both dressed like glowing bits of coal. Cinna told us to hold hands, but Maia refused to even touch me. I told her that it would be a good idea, but it didn't help though. But, hey, I tired. You can't blame me for trying.
A knock on the door stops my train of thoughts. "Peeta, come out here." Haymitch? What is he doing here? "Have you seen the roof yet?" he asks when I open the door. The look in his eyes tells me everything I need to know; he needs to talk to me about something important, and the roof is the perfect place.
I follow him up, and I have to admit that the view is amazing; more amazing than I thought anything in the Capitol could be.
When Haymitch speaks again, he's more serious than I have ever heard him, yet confusing. "Trust the District Four tributes," he says. And the boy from Three. You remember their names? Pearl and Corin from Four and Aaron from Three. Stick with them at all costs. Whatever you do, don't leave them. Trust them with your life. Do you understand me?"
"No, I don't really understand," I reply as-a-matter-or-factly. "How do I know I can trust them?"
"Information is dangerous, Peeta, you should know that. Especially in the Capitol. Just trust me. 'Cause you trust me, right?"
I nod. He did get my sister out of the arena alive last year, so I trust him, just like Prim does.
"Then stay with them."
We fall silent for a few minutes, and again, Haymitch is the one to disturb our silence. "Maybe you could take Maia with you as well-"
"No," I cut him off before he can say anything more. He gives me a confused look, and I tell him about the conversation I had with Maia last night.
"-and then she said she would kill me," is the last thing I say.
Haymitch seems to consider my words before he speaks. "Okay, then don't bring her with you," is all he says.
He soon figures that we're eating in half an hour, so we walk back in; I head to my room, and he probably finds a bar or something. Or maybe he just sits by himself in his room, drinking. And I think of how lonely he must be; there was no one in his life until Prim came by, and now he seems determined to bring me out of that arena alive. He must have a plan. I know he has, or else he wouldn't have been so sure about the other tributes.
There's a knock on my door, and Effie tells me it's time for dinner. I sigh and follow her to the dining room. It looks a lot like the one on the train, except it's bigger. It's filled with silent servants who bring us food and always make sure we have enough to drink. Maia and Haymitch are already there.
"Why don't they say anything?" I ask Haymitch about halfway through the meal, nodding my head in the direction of a few servants.
"They're Avoxes." Haymitch explains that they have their tongues cut off because they have committed a crime against the Capitol.
A girl with dark red hair fills my glass with water, and I freeze. I don't know her name, but I recognize her from that time in the woods with Gale. The Avox and I make eye contact for a brief second, and I can tell that she remembers me, too. But she doesn't show any other visible signs that we've met. I return my attention to the others and decide to not say anything. It would be the best for her if I don't say anything.
"So Haymitch," Effie says, trying to keep the conversation going. "Why don't you tell us about the sponsors? Did they like the Opening Ceremony?"
"They loved it," Haymitch replies. "They don't look down at District Twelve anymore. After last year, we've grown to be one of the bigger districts, according to them. And they talk about you two all the time." He points at me and Maia.
"Oh, come on. We all know that they have already chosen their favorite," Maia snaps. "They won't sponsor me, they'll sponsor him. That's just the way it is; they choose a favorite every year. Last year it was his sister. Now it's him." I notice that she doesn't call me Peeta. Obviously, I'm just 'him'. Does she really hate me so much that she won't even say my name?
"What have I done to you?" I ask. "It's not my fault Shane died!"
She turns to me, glaring. I suddenly feel like I shouldn't have said that. "Every second that passes is another second closer to death," she says. "It's either you, or it's me."
"Good to know," I say before I abruptly stand up. I don't want to listen to the rest of their conversation, so I quickly walk to my room and stay there for the rest of the night.
I don't answer when Effie and Haymitch calls me to say that it's time to watch the Opening Ceremonies; I don't even bother watching it. I just go straight to bed.
The night that follows, is filled with nightmares. The worst ones are about the Avox girl. I see her, over and over again, being captured by the hovercraft, after the short eye contact we made that day. I wonder if she'll be happy when I die. She probably will, considering I saw her being taken by the Capitol and all I did was watch.
O_O_O_O_O_O
The morning after, I wake up sweating, screaming for my father; at least I have one of the usual nightmares. I'm not going completely crazy. At least I hope so.
I go to eat breakfast, and I have to admit that I'm surprised when I see Haymitch up so early. And he is the only one. I guess Maia is still sleeping, or she doesn't bother to show up. Effie can be anywhere. I don't even know if she's going to be with us until the Games are over. And I'll only know the answer to that question if I get out alive. Which will be hard.
"Remember what I said, Peeta. Try to get allies," Haymitch says when I sit down.
That's right. Allies. District Four. And Three? That's what he said, right? Yeah, it was definitely Three. "What do I do?"
"First of all, you get them to like you. And in case you're wondering; you don't get people to like you if you act the way you did last night."
I want to scream at him. Just scream every bad word I know. The whole thing last night was Maia's fault, not mine. But I don't say that. Instead I say "And second?"
"Try to be more like your sister. Everyone loved her." And then he leaves.
Try to be more like your sister. How can I be more like Prim? We're related, we have the same blood. But of course, that's not enough. Haymitch wants it to go much deeper than that. Prim is nice and caring, while I'm aggressive and mean and probably annoying as hell. But if Prim and I are supposed to be a team, I can't be like that; I have to be more like her.
The word team makes me think of something. Why isn't Prim my mentor? She won last year's Games; shouldn't she be mentoring the new tributes? I make a mental note to ask Haymitch about is later. Now I have to focus on "getting people to like me."
Katniss' POV
I sigh as the customer walks out the door. It's hard enough to handle that Peeta is a tribute, and just to make it worse, I have to smile and be nice to the customers. If someone complains to my mother, I'm dead.
She'll probably lock me in my room, just letting me out to go to school or watch the Games. I wonder why she even got kids. Probably just to have someone to take over the bakery.
The familiar ding from the door makes me sigh0 and get ready to be nice again. And then I see who it is. Her blonde hair shows that she is from the merchant part of District Twelve, as well as her blue eyes do. Madge Undersee, the mayor's daughter.
There. She did it. She got me to think of Peeta. I know that they were friends. They used to sit together at lunch, and work together on group projects at school. And then I realize that I'm not the only one who misses him. He was probably her only friend, considering that every time I've seen her after Peeta left, she's been alone. She was probably going to say goodbye to him after the Reaping, but- just like me and everyone else- she never got the chance.
I blink the tears away. "Can I help you?" I say politely.
She clears her throat, as if she hasn't said anything for a while. "My dad told me to go out for a while. He said he couldn't concentrate on working with me around. You see, I'm worried. For Peeta. And I figured that if I should go somewhere, it would be here, since you're probably going through the same as I am."
Okay, I have to admit I wasn't prepared for that. But I know what she's talking about, and she's right. We probably are going through the same, seeing we've both lost Peeta. Well, lost isn't exactly right. He is coming back, I'm sure of that.
I nod understandingly. "My shift ends in ten minutes. I know some place we can go after that," I say. "You're welcome to stay here and wait if you want to."
"Thanks, but I have to tell my dad where I went. I just left the house without saying anything," she explains. "He'll freak out if he doesn't find me. But I'll be back in ten minutes."
She turns, and walks to the door when I stop her. "Madge;" I say. She looks at me. "I can sit with you at lunch, you know. At school, I mean," I add. "If you want someone to sit with."
And for the first time since she came in, I see a small smile on her face. "That would be nice." And then she leaves.
And the next customer is not one I wanted to talk to. I haven't talked to him since he told me all that…stuff. It's Sunday, so he has probably been out hunting.
When he reaches the counter, he places two squirrels on it. He still hasn't said anything, so I figure that I have to be the one breaking the silence. "What's the normal price?" I ask. My father is usually doing the trades.
Gale examines the squirrels. "Your dad would give me two loaves," he says. "One for each squirrel." I take three fresh loaves of bread from a basket and place them on the counter. "Katniss, I said two-" he starts, but I cut him off.
"I know. Take it," I reply.
"It's too much-"
"Gale. Just take it." I force myself to smile. Despite everything, he is my friend, and I know that his family is starving. I still want to help him, even though he confused me, and hurt me. I won't let something like that ruin our friendship.
He sighs, and decides that there's no use trying to argue with me on this. When he has left I find myself wondering why he didn't say anything about what happened. It was like it never happened.
"Sis, are you okay? You look pretty upset." I look up to see Percy standing in the door that leads to the rest of the house. "Has anything happened?"
"No," I lie. I know he is my brother, but I can't tell him what happened between me and Gale. "Well, except from the whole thing about Peeta, nothing happened."
Percy smiles. "Good," he says. He probably thinks that Peeta is the only reason I'm not the usual me, which makes me feel a little less heartless. I am upset because of Peeta, and that means I'm not really lying; I'm just hiding some of the truth. There's a difference, right?
"You're early," I suddenly notice. "Your shift starts in five minutes."
"I figured you were probably tired of being nice to all of the customers. I'll take it from here," he says.
I smile, for real this time, not like the forced one I gave to Gale. "Thanks." I take the squirrels away from the counter and place them in a paper bag. "I'll just give these to dad. You know where he is?"
"The living room," my brother replies.
"Thanks." I go to the living room and find my dad reading the newspaper. "Dad. Gale came over with these." I show him the bag.
"The other hunter boy? I haven't seen him in a while." He stands up and takes it, looking at the squirrels. "Excellent," he mumbles to himself, probably meaning the squirrels.
"He's working in the mines now," I explain. "He can only hunt on Sundays."
"I understand. Did you give him something in return?"
I nod. "I gave him some bread.
"Good girl." He kisses the top if my head, before returning to his newspaper.
"Katniss?" Percy's voice makes me turn around, and I see him standing in the doorway. "The mayor's daughter is here to see you. I didn't know you were friends."
"We're not really friends; we're just kind of connected to each other now. You know, because of Peeta," I explain.
He nods and I follow him out to the bakery where Madge is waiting for me. "Hey. Like I said earlier, I know some place we can go."
She smiles we walk out the door. The street isn't as crowded as usual. Maybe it's because if the Games. It's not usually like this, but considering it's a Quarter Quell, maybe people stay inside? Of course, I wouldn't know; I'm only seventeen. I wasn't born when the last Quarter Quell happened.
"Where are we going?" Madge asks while were going through the town.
"You'll see," is all I say.
"It's not outside the fence, right? I know Peeta goes to the woods, but I don't think my father would be happy if he found out that I went outside District Twelve," she explains.
I smile. "Don't worry."