Thanks for all the alerts, favorites, reviews, ext! I love them all! Sadly I may only be able to get two more chapters up after this one. I'm going skiing for a few days and won't be able to update *gasp* I bet I'll go through withdrawal. But we get back Friday so I'll update then :) So, without further ado, here's Chapter Four: doesn't have a name yet since I write this part before I start the chapter!
Life don't go, quiet like you planned. ~It Happens, Sugarland
"You're what!" Gale demands.
"Getting a job." I say nonchalantly.
"You can't work in the mines"
"And you can't tell me what to do after you've just decided to start talking to me again after ignoring me for six years." That shuts him up, and the fact that the lady tells us to go in. I'm surprised when Gale walks in with me. The foreman sits behind his desk, boots on top of it.
"So?" he asks me.
"I need a job, I can do hard work and use a pick axe. I need the money." I get to the point.
"No." he doesn't miss a beat with his response, doesn't even think about it.
"Why not?" I growl.
"You got a dick?" he asks raising his eyebrows.
"No"
"Exactly." I hear Gale make some noise, clearly agreeing with his boss. I turn and glare at him, then turn my attention to the foreman. I slam my fist down on his desk and stare daggers at him.
"Listen to me! I don't give a shit if I'm a girl. I know what I am, and I know what I can do! I can do this work! I need work and personally I'm not gunna sell myself to Cray, cause I'm not that type of girl! I've lost two family members now to the mines, I know it's hard, I know it's dangerous, but I don't care. I need the food, I need the work, and I know you have open slots to fill. So why don't you give me a fucking chance and let me surprise that thing you call your face?" I lash out at him with my words. The foreman takes his feet off the desk and stands up. I glare at him while he circles me, he lifts my arm to inspect me. "I'm not a fucking dog" I spit out at him.
"You've got spirit, I'll give you that much."
"What else will you give me?" I grin at him. He goes over behind his desk and picks something up, with a heave of his arm he tosses it at me. I react quickly and catch it. It's a pickaxe.
"A job, you start when we open again. You're on the same crew as Hawthorne. And don't cause any trouble, got it?"
I grin at him. "Got it."
After leaving the foreman's office I have to fill out some paperwork with the secretary. She eyes me over as I fill it out until I tell her to mind her own shitty business. She seems insulted by this, but I don't really care, I'm not known for being ladylike.
Gale snaps at me right when we're outside.
"Why do you want to work in the mines? It'll be way too hard for you!" I ignore him and keep walking, he keeps on ranting though. "I mean you could go be a teacher or whatever. Girls don't work in the mines, everyone will pick on you. Especially Dalton and Lucas." Gale lets out a huff. He keeps following me though, and he starts up again right before we get to the doors of the Hob. "You won't be able to handle it; the labor, the teasing, the-" I cut off his rant when I slap him clear across the face.
"Shut up! So what if I can't handle it! I'll deal with it!" I advance closer to him, still fuming; I can feel my face burning. Gale backs up slowly away from me. "Anyways you!" I give him a shove in the chest, "You've been ignoring me for the past six years! And I don't even know why! I tried to help you, I tried to comfort you and still be best friends! But no! Apparently I meant nothing to you! Since you just went out and replaced me right away! I've been looking out for you still though! I bet you don't even know that!" Gale is looking down at his boots, refusing to look me in the eyes. "You know I walk your brothers to school every day? You know I play with Posy almost every day while you're at the mines? You know when I heard girls talking about going to bug you I told them that you wouldn't give a fuck in hell because I knew you wouldn't? You know I'd defend you if I heard some other guys talking crap about you? You know every single day I hoped that maybe you'd say more than two words to me? No, I bet you didn't! And you don't know me Gale Hawthorne! Because I've lost both of my parents, now I've lost everybody! You don't know how much I had to grow up when my father died, you don't know, wait, no, you do know how we almost starved to death. But you didn't do anything! I'm not that little girl you used to play with in the meadow with anymore! She's long gone. So don't you treat me like I'm still her, cause she died with her father in the mines."
That fire that I saw earlier in Gale's eyes, I know it's in my own now. But I feel like a weight has been taken off my shoulders finally getting that all out for him to hear, because it's all true. And Gale knows it. He looks up slowly at me, his eyes sad, good, they should be. He studies my face for a while. I turn on my heel away from him, I'm about to push the doors to the Hob open when I feel him catch my wrist. I whirl around at him.
"What!" I demand, still furious at him, I don't even give him a chance to talk before I discover something else to rant on. "Yes, I'm going in the Hob, I've been going in here for six years now! I always go here, so relax, I can handle myself fine." His grip tightens on my wrist and I stare down at it. Seeing him touching me calms me for some reason, I don't know why, but it does, and now I feel sorry about my last comment. "Sorry" I mumble.
"No, you're right. I'm sorry, for everything. Maybe we can get to know each other again." He offers.
"Okay, let's get some soup first." I agree, he nods and let's go of my wrist. I push the steel doors open and I'm greeted by the warm air, it contrasts highly with the freezing air outside.
Gale takes a seat on the stool by Greasy Sae as I take my usual spot on the counter. He gives me a quizzical look, but I just shrug.
"I always sit here."
"She does, always messes up my counter." Sae laughs as she comes over and hands us each a bowl. I take a coin out of my pocket and slide it to her. Sae pushes it back. "No, this one's on the house, for both of you." She gives me a sympathetic smile.
"Thanks."
I'm halfway done with my wild dog soup when I feel the arms go around me; I smack them away like I do every day. Darius.
"You cheating on me beautiful?" he croons, eyeing Gale.
"I'm happy to say no, because there's nothing between us Darius." I can't help the grin that spreads across my face. The events of the day have let me be a little less depressed about Kline's death.
"So there's something between you and hunter boy?" he asks, this gets everyone else's attention too.
"No!" Gale and I answer in unison. Darius and Sae laugh at us.
"Just give them some time." Darius laughs as Sae gives him a bowl of soup. This makes my face go red, so I turn my attention back to my soup. There is nothing going on between Gale and I. We're just trying to be friends again, that's it. Sure I wouldn't mind if I dated him or something, but we're only trying to be friends again.
;;;;::::;;;;;
I sit on the hearth in my house that night. Gale looks at the pictures on a shelf; he stops and picks one up.
"Is this?" he asks holding it out for me to see.
It shows two little kids; a boy and a girl, the boy has his arms around the girl as she laughs in his arms. The boy is looking at the camera, a wide grin on his face. You can barely see the girl's face since it's hidden in the boy's shirt.
"Yea, that's us."
Gale stares at the picture for a while, studying. I decide to break the silence though.
"Why'd you do it?" I ask sadly, starring into the fire he made for me.
"Do what?" he asks, I can feel his gaze on me.
"Why'd you leave me?"
Instantly I feel tension fill the air.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter might be in Gale's POV. I hope I'm doing Gale okay; I kept going back and changing things because I made Gale do things he wouldn't. I really don't want to change the character, I want to have Gale have reactions that he really would have. For example, when he grabs her wrist. First I had him grab her hand, but he wouldn't do that. I thought he'd think that would be weird so he just grabs her wrist instead, he still has Katniss on his mind. That mightchange though. Please review!