Hello and thanks for clicking on this story XD. Just a heads up I suck at writing the first chapter of stories, but I promise it will get better! So yeah, lets start this off with a quote! It reminded me of Gale
"When you look for a man- what you want to look for is a man with the heart of a poor boy and the mind of a conqueror."
― C. JoyBell C.
I roll over slowly in bed; a slight groan escapes my lips. I open my eyes to see my brother, Kline, sitting at the table in the other room drinking tea. I swing my legs out of bed and go over to him; I wrap my arms around him from behind. "Good morning." I greet him sleepily and rest my chin on his shoulder.
I love my brother, more than anything else in the world. He's the only thing I have left; I have him and he has me. Our parents are dead. My mom died when I was only five, she got a fever in the dead of winter. My father died two years ago, blown to bits in the latest mining accident here in District Twelve. We were lucky, since Kline had just turned nineteen the day before, so he got a job in the mines right away. Became the provider for us both, keeps us both alive.
"Morning Den." He smiles at me. My names not really Den, no, that's just my nickname. My real name is Denver, Denver Rowsell. An eighteen year old girl who lives in the Seam, who hates the Capital, and is a regular in the Hob. I let go of my brother and go over and check our food supply. Low. Of course it is, it always is, but I don't mind. We get what we can, we have what we have. I slice a piece of bread off of the half loaf of stale bread that we have out and chew it slowly. I can just get some soup from Greasy Sae when I go to the Hob once Kline leaves for work, which should be soon. I go and sit across from him; he's already in his work clothes; his pick axe and hardhat wait by the door.
"I was going to see if I can get some more firewood today." I casually inform him.
"Good, we'll run out soon. Only get enough for this week though, we need food too." Kline sounds like he's forty years old, not twenty one, when he says things like this. I can barely remember the fun-loving brother I grew up with. Who always ran outside, forgetting to brush his black hair, and go off and pull pranks or play with his friends. No, he's grown up a lot in the past few years.
"I know, you should be off now, you'll be late."
Kline nods and pushes his chair back. I shove the rest of my bread in my mouth and go and grab his coat for him. It's our fathers, but Kline uses it now for walks to the mines. I hand it to him as he finishes lacing up his leather work boots. They're covered in a layer of coal dust, like everything else is. He puts on his hardhat and I wait patiently to hand him his pickaxe. It's heavy in my hands, but Kline carries it with ease. I hand it to him as he steps out the door. I follow him out and stand on the rickety thing we call our porch. Our whole house is in bad shape, but it has a foundation and keeps the roof above our heads, so it works. I give Kline a quick hug.
"Be careful." I warn him, mining is extremely dangerous; any day could be his last.
"I always am." He grins down at me and pats my back, then starts to make his way down the road towards the mines at the south end of the Seam. I glance over to the house a few houses down from ours on the other side of the road. I see Gale Hawthorne give his little sister Posy a hug goodbye; he stands up and ruffles her pale red hair. I smile at the sight of them, which I see every morning.
Gale steps off his porch and begins his way to the mines; I raise my hand slightly to him in greeting as he passes my house.
"Morning" I call out to him. He turns his head and gives me a slight nod and mimics the gesture I gave him.
"Good morning." He answers without stopping.
And that's the only interaction I've had with Gale Hawthorne every single day for the past six years. I can't blame him, his father was killed in a mine explosion when he was fourteen and he became head of the household. But sometimes I just wish my old best friend would still talk to me. We had done everything together; hung out every day, were in the same class, had sleepovers. But that all changed dramatically when his father died.
He doesn't know it, but even after that, all through school I looked out for him. I can't deny that he isn't one of, or is, the best looking guy his age in our District. He has the same Seam look that I do. Dark hair, olive skin, gray eyes. But whenever I overheard a group of girls talking about how they should go flirt with him or whatever I would barge over and tell them he wouldn't give a fuck in hell and not to annoy him. He has enough to worry about, no need to make it harder.
I go and make my way over to his house now; usually I walk Vick and Rory to school. Not because they need someone to escort them, but because I'm friends with them. After they're at school I'll go to the Hob, I don't go to school anymore, I could, but I choose not to, it's not required of kids once they turn eighteen. I don't go inside their house, just lean against the house and wait for them to come out.
As usual Rory comes out first, I go and grab him in a headlock and rub his head with my fist. I hear Posy laugh as she watches me torture her brother, then I feel a weight come crashing down on my back. It's Vick as he jumps on me and forces me to let go of Rory. He positions himself on my back and kicks my sides like I'm a horse as I loop my arms through his legs so he won't fall off.
"Hey, not fair!" I laugh and I drop my hands and let him fall to the ground. I look up at the sound of Hazelle, their mother, laughing at us. She waves us off.
"Go off to school." She tries to sound serious but breaks off laughing at us. I give Rory a gentle shove in the back and help Rory up from the light snow that covers the ground.
"Come on, don't want to be late. I need to get some firewood for Kline and I anyways and I want to get there before it gets crowded." I explain to the boys as we start walking towards the school. I bid Hazelle goodbye as she thanks me again for going with the boys, she says they really do enjoy it. Even if when I'm there they complain about how dumb it looks when they show up in the schoolyard with me.
A sharp whistle pierces the still air announcing work in the mines has begun for the day. This also tells us, that school starts in half an hour.
"Hey look! It's Katniss and Peeta!" Vick points out to Rory and I as we make our way past the square. I turn and see the two latest Hunger Games victors on screen. It shows them stepping off the train in District Eleven, they must have just arrived. They'll be giving their speeches later tonight, luckily it's not mandatory viewing, I don't want to think of the Capital, ever. They're unfair, unjust, and should be overthrown. Of course I keep these thoughts to myself, if I didn't I'd be dead in a matter of seconds.
"Yea, they look nice don't they" I muse, I don't like them really. They're whole star-crossed lovers thing is annoying to me. And I guess I'll get this out there too, sometimes I feel Katniss replaced me. She's Gale's best friend now, not me. I hear Rory and Vick discussing something as we walk along but don't listen until I hear Rory shout "Go!"
What? Go? I'm confused until I see them going towards school at a dead sprint. Oh, a race! I'm not going to let some ten and twelve year old beat me am I? I take off after them; we do earn a few complaints from merchant people walking by mumbling about "stupid Seam kids" and even earn a couple "crazy rats".
I manage to overtake Rory but Vick beats me to the school. And he starts to rub it in my face as soon I as I stop, my dark hair covering my face, I forgot to braid it back this morning. I start to do this now as Vick continues to brag about how I'm so slow. When I'm done I put my hands on my hips.
"Yes because I've only beat both of you ninety-five percent of the time." It's a fact too; I would've won if I was ready. I push both of them towards the school. "Now go learn nothing." I tease them. Because that's what they'll learn, nothing. The conversation will somehow turn to coal again and that's what they'll talk about all day long. Rory sticks his tongue out at me as he goes in; I do the same to him.
I wave to my old teacher as she comes outside and then turn to make my way to the Hob. I feel the light weight of the few coins I have in my pocket, just enough for a week worth of firewood.
I shove the steel doors open to the Hob and I'm immediately warmed up by the warm air inside. I know mostly everyone here, since I come in every day, and a few call out greetings to me. I make my way over to Vinne, who sells firewood, and rest my elbow on the counter.
"I need wood" I say casually to him.
"How much darling?" he asks, ugh, I hate his nickname for me, well, most everyone calls me that here, but still, it's annoying.
"A week's worth." I grumble, making it clear I don't like what he called me.
"Twenty coins"
"I don't got twenty coins Vinne." I muse with him, because I don't, I only have sixteen.
"Well then you don't got enough money." He makes it clear he doesn't like my poor grammar skills.
"How about you cut me some slack since I'm your favorite customer?"
"You have eighteen coins?"
"How about I give you fifteen coins, and next time you call me darling I won't beat the guts outta ya?"
"You don't like it darling?" he jokes; I go and lightly slap him across the face.
"No, I don't and you and everyone here knows it."
"Fine then, you got a deal." He grins at me and I give him a smile back. I place the money on the counter before him.
"I'll pick it up after I get soup."
"Will do."
I make my way over to Sae and perch myself up on the counter. She laughs at me as she brings me a bowl of whatever she has today.
"Chairs are for sitting on Denver, not my counter."
I take a bite of the soup, it's good and warm, and it has some squirrel in it too. "I like the counter." I mumble with my mouth full.
"And I like you." I feel the arms go around my waist and I slap them away. It's Darius, as always. I put my bowl down and glare at him.
"You're fucking annoying you know that?" I joke with him. Darius isn't bad at all, his only downfalls are that he flirts with me all the time and is a peacekeeper, but other than that, he's a good guy. Always up for a good joke. He looks like a little kid with his messy red hairdo as he frowns at me.
"That hurts." He whines.
"Aw, poor baby." I imitate his tone
"A kiss would make it better." He raises his eyebrows at me.
"My mouth is preoccupied." I shove another spoonful of soup into my mouth, proving my point. Sae slides a bowl of soup into Darius's hands. "Go bother Haymitch or something." I grumble to him.
"I think I will." Darius smiles and goes off with his soup to find the other Victor from District Twelve, Haymitch Abernathy. He's a regular here too, and more often than not, drunk as a skunk.
"I want that bowl back!" Sae yells to Darius as she points her serving spoon after him. Darius just waves her off, which makes us both laugh.
I turn my head as I hear the doors open again. I tense when I see Brock walk in. He's always mean and nasty to everybody when he comes in. And now, he's drunk. This is not good. Brock being drunk always means someone getting in a fight, which doesn't go over well with anyone here, since everyone ends up betting on who is going to win. I take another bite of soup and watch as he staggers inside.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I actually am really pleased with how it came out! Please review! I love reviews so so much! Here's a little story thing that happened to me yesterday too:
Okay so I was in the car with my mom and brother and my mom said that my brother's friends parents are coming over for dinner tomorrow night. And my brother is going away to with a different friend for vacation, so he'll be gone when their here. (my brother is two years older then me and the friend who's parents are coming over is well. *cough* hot *cough*. So then my mom asked if I wanted to see if he could come over with his parents, so it would just be me and him and our parents. I was like ugh ugh ummm no he probably has plans. Hahah so that was my awkward moment from yesterday
Hopefully I'll get the next chapter up, hmm maybe later tonight :D