Chapter 14
"I am so glad that you answered my help wanted ad on the square's posting board, Lynnetta," mutters the sweet, old woman next to me as we stack ears of corn into the bins sitting in front of us.
"You know, it has been getting harder and harder to manage this stand on our own, and we've saved up so much money over the years... about damn time we hired us an assistant. Amazing, too, that you answered so quickly…!"
There is not a lot of good farming soil here in District 12, but somehow Mrs. Swellow can make anything grow. She and her husband cultivate a small portion of land behind the Justice Building, where the only fresh produce in the district can be found. It is owned and protected by the Capitol, of course, and they could seize the crops if needed, but that has never happened as long as I have been alive. Plus, I'm sure it's convenient for the Swellows to have a free barbed wire fence surrounding their plot, when so many starving people are around that could try and steal the crops. All I can really think about, though, is how particularly nice of an opportunity Mrs. Swellow presented me with. Waking up early to help her set up her produce stand in the town square, and then help run it for two hours after school on school days and six hours on Saturdays, will earn me quite a pretty penny. I do not know yet how much the medicine for Markas will cost me, but in only one week I could buy him an enormous cake from the bakery with raspberries on top. My brain cannot even fathom how many pastries I will be able to buy in a few months time. Making Markas better is going to be even easier than I thought. Soon enough, his health will return, and then I can concentrate on finding a way to make him realize how we belong together.
As I finish placing the last crate of potatoes, someone on the bustling street of people making their way to work and school pauses in front of me.
"Lynetta?" says Calen. The look of his clean-cut face strangely lies somewhere between confusion and relief.
"What are you doing here? Good morning, Mrs. Swellow, by the way."
Mrs. Swellow opens her mouth to smile with what little teeth she has left, and reaches for a peach, holding it out to Calen. He takes it, and grins down at her before returning his gaze to myself. I'm still not sure how to take his greeting, but I respond anyway.
"I'm working part-time for the Swellows. Actually, I'm just completing my first shift. So... What are you doing here?"
"Buying a peach, of course," he answers, dropping some coins into Mrs. Swellow's wrinkly, open palm. "I always get a piece of fruit for lunch on my way to school. That's neat. That you're going to be working here and all."
Something really feels off about him. Not that I regularly interact with him, but honestly, he seems skittish.
"Calen, don't take this the wrong way… but are you okay?"
"Yeah, uhm… Hey, do you want to walk to school with me?"
Immediately, I can feel my face getting hot as he rambles on thorugh my silence.
"I just- , uhm, I really just need to talk to someone. Anyone, really. Not that you aren't… uhm… better than… than a normal anyone, I just-"
Swiftly, I swing my school bag from the pavement to my shoulder with a "sure," nod goodbye to Mrs. Swellow, and we're off.
The morning is still cool and misty, and the wind chills my arms as our feet fall into rhythm with one another. Amidst the scuttle of citizens on the cobblestones, Calen reveals to me the instigation behind his nervous-wreck attitude.
"Clara is going to break up with me."
His expression looks so serious, and it's all I can do to keep from laughing. Remembering how he doted on her at the Victory Feast…. in addition to his future-husband-quality celebrity status... there is no way she could be foolish enough to give someone like him up.
"That's why you're so wound up? Clara? Honest, Calen, please try to think clearly. Why in Panem would she ever want break up with you?"
"I don't know, but she told me last week that we needed space," he explains, "and that she thought maybe we shouldn't hang out this week."
The dark-haired Felip Evergreen comes to the front of my mind. Although I know Clara would never leave Calen for someone like him, I realize that maybe Calen's prediction is right. With how flirty she got with Felip in the Justice Building, who knows how many other boys she's messing around with?
Calen can tell the shift in my demeanor. His eyes quietly shift from my face to the dirt path crunching beneath our shoes, and mine follow. I struggle to come up with a consoling suggestion, but all of the options in my mind fall flat when I get ready to say them. Eventually, the noiselessness between us lasts too long, and I sputter out the best that I can manage.
"Look. If it's not meant to be, then it's not meant to be. She's boring anyhow, and you can get any girl you want."
My thumbs twiddle at my stomach. There are reasons I don't talk to people, and this awkward, deep conversation is one of them.
"But I want her. I love her, and if I can't have her, I don't think there is anyone else I can imagine loving. I know that may be hard for you to get, I mean, you haven't even had a boyfriend before, but someday, you'll see. No one else will do. She's it. She's the one for me."
He's wrong, of course. Everything he said is desperately wrong in every way. But I cannot hold his remark against him. How could he ever know what real love feels like? He will probably never meet someone as incredible as Markas, at no fault of his own. As our melancholy walk nears the schoolhouse, I peek another look at Calen. From his hopeless stare at the ground, I can tell that any words I could possibly give wouldn't be taken. So I pull him into a hug. We stand there, embracing, for a few moments, before he leans away and takes a deep breath to compose himself.
"Thanks, Lynn. Really. I'll see you later."
With his last sentence, Calen lets out a small smirk, holds up his peach and winks, before promptly disappearing into the school. Wait... what does that mean? Am I going to have to listen to this sop every morning?! I don't know if I can take it. Maybe getting the money for Markas's medicine will be at a much higher price than I was expecting...