Authors Note: I'm sorry for the delay on this second chapter! I've just been really busy and anytime I could write, I was at a loss for words. At the very least, from now on, I should be able to post 2 or 3 new chapters week. I don't want to keep you guys waiting for too long anymore. Enjoy! :)
I look up to see the icy blue eyes of the bakers wife. Not that I'm one for gossip, but I've rumors about how horrible she is to everybody, even to her own family. People say she abuses her sons and their father does nothing about it. Though I have never personally had any confrontation with her, I can already tell that me and this woman are not going to get along at all. I turn to Jack and Gale to see a matching stony look on their faces. Then I turn turn to my father and see a blank but guarded expression on his. There is a tense feeling in the air as she looks at us in disgust.
"What are you doing here?" She demands while looking at my father. "Why don't you go back to your slut of a wife and take your bastard child with you! I don't want seam scum like you all around my bakery scaring away my paying customers!" My anger immediately flares up at her insults and attitude. Looks like the rumors are true. I drop my game bag and take a step forward so we are face to face. Someone tries to grab my arm but I snatch it away in time to keep going.
"You can't even begin to talk shit about anybody else! You are the one who is an insufferable bitch to everybody so why don't you just-" I'm cut off by a hard slap to my left cheek. For a second I am frozen in shock but then all I can see is red. I lunge forward and raise my hand getting ready to strike back when I am snatched back by Gale and Jack. I struggle in their arms, trying to get a hit in when the witch starts yelling again. "How dare you talk to me like that! Leave! All of you leave before I call the peacekeepers! And don't come back, filthy white trash family!" I finally calm down enough for them to let me go. "Come on. Lets go. We don't want to make things worse" My father says sternly. He grabs my arm and we start to walk away at a quick pace when I hear Mr. Mellark's alarmed voice asking why his wife was yelling. I don't get to hear her response because we already walked to far away.
Once we put a fair distance between us and the bakery, my father slows down and looks at me. "Katniss..." The way he says my name is how I know I'm getting a lecture. "What did I tell you about controlling your anger?" I look at him as if he was speaking a different language. Did he not see that she was yelling at us and saying horrible things first? As if reading my mind, my father speaks up again. "You can't lash out on people just because they say bad things about you. You cant stoop to her level. Show her that she can't hurt you no matter what she throws at you. Do you understand?" I nod my head and silently keep walking back to the seam.
As we approach the house, I see Prim tending to her goat Lady in her pen and Rory playing some game with Vick and Posy in the yard. My mother and Hazelle are sitting in old wooden chairs on the front porch sipping what looks to be tea when they see us.
I make my way up the steps of the house and mother calls me over to her. "What happened?" She asks worriedly. Gale speaks up and tells the whole story. When he finished, Hazelle and mother look at us shocked. My mother purses her lips and then gives a look to my father. He shakes his head at her and then she turns her attention over to me and then more closely at my cheek. "Looks like its starting to bruise... Come on." She says standing up. "We need to get you something for it"
I rolled my eyes at her and begin to protest. "It's not that serious. It doesn't even hurt so-" "Katniss, come inside."
The way she said it left no room for argument so I grudgingly went in. I moved to sit at the kitchen table while she grabbed a small container filled with some sort of paste from her medicine cabinet. "Here. Don't move." She said and started to apply the salve to my cheek. I winced at the pressure and pulled away slightly. "What was that you were saying about it not hurting?" She asks in a teasing voice. I look away from her sheepishly and she just laughs. "You need to stop being so stubborn all the time. Help is not a bad thing." She says as she finishes up.
I sit back in my chair and close my eyes, basking in the effects of the medicine until she breaks the silence. "Katniss. Are you okay?"
I sat up and looked at her eyes filled with concern. Of course I'm okay. The things the bakers wife said weren't any insults I haven't heard from the townies at school before. The typical 'seam trash' one. But what's bothering me is why was she saying things directly about my family? Maybe she says things like that all the time to people but the way she was looking at us makes me think that there's more to it than that. I realize I still haven't answered her question yet so I tell her I'm fine.
She gives me a small smile and then gets up and walks back out on the porch.
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Later on, my mother and Hazelle were cooking roasted rabbit for dinner while the rest of us settled in the living room. On a normal day, we eat at our separate homes. But on Sundays and special occasions, like today, we all eat together. Jack starts playing a tune his fiddle that was passed down from his father. I begin to sing.
" I remember tears streaming down your face when I said 'I'll never let you go',
when all those shadows almost killed your light, I remember you said 'don't leave me here alone',
but all that's dead and gone and passed tonight,"
I looked over at my father and he smiled and started singing with me.
"Just close your eyes, the sun is going down,
you'll be alright, no one can hurt you now,
come morning light, you and I'll be safe, and, sound."
We continued singing until we reached the end of the song. The entire room was silent and everyone's faces were lit up with a smile. I always get nervous after I sing, even when I'm with my family. It's not like it's the first time I've sang in front of them, but the reaction seems to be the same everytime. It stays quiet due to the calming effects of our singing, but not for too long. Posy starts up the song again in her adorable 4 year old voice. She doesn't really know all the words we sang in the song, but she knows enough to where if you weren't really listening, you'd think that she was actually saying them right.
We all laugh at her in good-natured and continue talking and playing around until we are called for dinner.
I take my usual seat at the dinner table, at the end next to Prim, along with everybody else and we all start eating. It's one of my favorites, 'roasted rabbit' with some leafy vegetables as a side. We sit in a comfortable silence with only the scraping sounds of our utensils until Vick speaks up with a mouth full of rabbit. "I fough we ha bwead." Hazelle shoots him a warning look and he finishes the food in his mouth before continuing.
"Don't we usually get bread from the bakery every sunday?" I look across the table at Gale asking with my eyes for him to come up with an excuse that doesn't include the story of the bakers witch of a wife. He's just about to open his mouth when the is a knock on the door for the second time today. This time my mother gets up to answer it.
I can't see her from here but I can slightly hear her voice along with another deeper voice. After a minute, she returns carrying a large brown bag filled with bread that takes up both of her arms and someone in tow.
As they get closer to us, I can see who she was talking to. Peeta Mellark. The bakers son. I've seen him at the bakery while making trades and we have a couple of classes in school together, but we don't talk to each other.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your meal. It's just that, well, earlier today I saw you come by but my um... the whole thing with my mom happened and I just wanted to bring you your bread." Peeta said standing awkwardly by the dinner table.
He glances at me nervously but then looks away as shyly. I look away as well and shift my gaze down at the bag filled with bread and I see twice as much as the usual amount for a trade. Then my eyes shift over to the cake he holds in his hand. I must have missed it when he first walked in. It's a small cake, not like the extravagant multiple-tear cakes I see in the Windows of the bakery. But one just big enough to feed the Everdeen-Hawthorne group. This is too much. We can't repay him for this. I know we do pretty well for ourselves but we-
"Thank you very much Peeta." My mother says interrupting my thoughts. I'm about to say something when my father speaks up. "Did Ethan want you to take home some squirrels with you because-"
"Oh no! No sir he said that these were on the house as a sort of apology for earlier." Peeta says as he says the cake down on the table.
"I should be going though. Enjoy your meal." He says with a kind smile and starts to walk back towards the door. My mother moves to walk him to the door but he politely declines. He makes his way back to the door again but at the last second, turns around and looks directly at me.
"Happy birthday Katniss." And he walks out the door.
I sit there shocked wondering why he'd wish me a happy birhday and how he knew it was my birthday. Maybe I'm over thinking it. We did come by earlier and told Mr. Mellark, so he could have easily told Peeta. Plus, as far as I can tell, Peeta and his father are both unconditionally kind so I shouldn't be surprised that he'd say something like that to someone he barley knows.
"Katniss!" I am snatched out of my thoughts by Prim shouting my name. I look over and see everybody staring at me.
"What?"
"I was asking if you were okay. You seemed kind of zoned out."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired I guess." I lie. I'm not tired at all but I don't need everybody knowing that I'm thinking about the bakers son. Not that I'm thinking about him in a bad way or in a way that would lead to some awkward conversations. Gale told me that a couple of days after he turned sixteen, his parents cornered him and had the longest most embarrassing talk about the 'birds and the bees'. Since I have no intentions of going through the same thing, I need to stray away from talking about anything related to the opposite sex. Unfortunately, I can't avoid that tonight.
"So, Peeta's a nice boy." Mother says out of the blue looking at me with eyebrows raised. I can hear the kids snicker and I see Gale give me a warning but teasing look.
"Yeah he is." I say simply, hoping to drop the subject. I see her open her mouth to respond but luckily, Posy speaks up.
"Can we eat cake now?" I'll have to remember to get her some candy the next time I trade. "Is everybody done with their dinner?" Jack asks. When we all respond with a yes, me and my mother stand up to gather the dinner plates and put them away in the kitchen. As I'm washing, rinsing, and putting them away, my mother is getting the dessert plates and utensils out.
"Katniss. Your father and I need to talk to you before you go to bed." Mother says. I freeze in my tracks fearing the worst case scenario. I respond with and 'okay' and continue cleaning.
We eat cake (which is probably the most delicious thing I've ever tasted in my life) and laugh and joke for the rest of the night. Soon, too soon, its time to settle down for the night. The Hawthornes all gather around getting ready to leave when I walk up to Gale.
"Help me." I whisper
"What?" He asks with a completely confused face.
"I said I need you to help me. Mother said she and my father wants to talk to me when you guys leave. I don't want to have 'the talk' Gale!"
He looks at me for a few seconds and then bursts out laughing. I smack him in the arm. "This is not funny Gale! Please? Help. Me."
He's still laughing for a while before he calms down. "Alright Catnip I'll help you. But you can't avoid it forever you know! I escaped it for about 3 days until my parents cornered me." He stops for a second to think and then starts talking again. "Okay... I'll distract them while you sneak over to your room and do the best acting you've ever done. You'll pretend to not be feeling well and go to sleep. And they can't get you in the morning because its a school day so you have tomorrow to think up another plan."
"This is stupid." I huff.
"Would you rather have 'the talk'?" He asks with a smile. I shake my head at him. "That's what I thought. Now go before its too late."
I thank him and stealthily make my way to my room while Gale engrosses my parents into a conversation about who knows what. When I get to my room, I change as quickly as I can into my night gown and jump in the bed. I face away from the door and close my eyes, thinking up my aliby.
About five minutes later, I hear the door open. I freeze but only momentarily when I hear the siding open of our drawers Prim and I share. I turn over and see her changing into her nightgown.
"Are you okay?" Prim asks slipping next to me in the bed.
"Yeah I'm just... Not feeling too well." I lie again for the second time in one night. She giggles and I furrow my eyebrows together in confusion.
"You're a horrible liar Katniss. But don't worry. I won't press you for details." At that moment, there is a knock on the door. "Come in!" Prim says.
Mother pokes her head in and looks at me with a disapproving look on her face. "I told you we needed to talk" she says. "Oh um, I wasn't feeling to good. I think it was from the cake. Too rich." The look on her face tells me she doesn't buy it at all but I continue anyways. "So can we talk another day. I really think I need my rest especially since I'm going to school tomorrow."
She sighs but nods her head. "Okay Katniss. But we'll talk tomorrow as soon as your father is home from work. I mean it. Goodnight girls" And with that, she leaves and closes the door behind her.
I release my breath that I was apparently holding in and relax into the mattress. I look over at Prim and see her half asleep looking at me. "Goodnight little duck." I whisper. "Goodnight Katniss." She mumbles and turns over. "Happy birthday." Is the final thing she says before I hear her soft snores.
I close my eyes and eventually drift off, dreaming of the talk that I'm trying to avoid, the confrontation with parents, that delicious cake, what school will bring tomorrow, the hunger games, and surprisingly, Peeta Mellark.
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A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry for the long wait but like I said, I'm going to try to update 2 or 3 times a week. Please review!