A/N: Hey sorry if this is getting kind of boring, it will pick up pace soon I promise!
Prim's POV
I wasn't sure why, but it seemed as though Lumi and her friends actually liked me. In the months that I had been at The Capitol School, I had spent lunch times with them in the centre of the middle school courtyard, getting envious looks from all of the other girls. I had been invited to shopping trips on 5th Avenue, and while I never actually bought anything, it was nice just to pretend that I could. I'd had girls ask me where I got my clothes from, to which I would reply they were 'vintage', even though the really were just my mother's old clothes. Boys even offered to carry my books in between class and do my homework for me. For the hours at school, I felt like a celebrity, or a princess, and I loved it.
It was lunch time, and I joined Lumi, Glimmer, Clove, Cato and Marvel at our usual table. Lumi was grinning, holding a pile of crisp white envelopes in her hands.
"Sooooo, as you should already know." she began excitedly, "It's my birthday in two weeks, and I have your invitations to my party!"
She handed out the envelopes, and intrigued, I opened mine right away. It was pearly white, decorated with sparkles and diamantes, and if this was what the invitation looked like, I couldn't even imagine what the actual party would be like.
"Prim, could you help me hand out the rest?" Lumi asked, cutting through my admiration of her invitation.
Glimmer shot me an angry look as I stood up from the table and joined Lumi. Once we were out of earshot, Lumi began to explain.
"Look, usually I ask Glimmer to help me with the party planning, but… this year I'm choosing you." she told me, as she handed out invitations to beaming new party guests.
"Me?" I asked, surprised. "Really?"
"Yes, Prim!" Lumi laughed. "Look, don't tell Glimmer I said this but, she kinda has bad taste. So, I'm trusting you this time. Soooo, what do you say?"
"Of course!" I grinned. "What exactly do I have to do?"
I probably should have asked that question before I agreed to help Lumi. Because when she said 'help', what she really meant was 'do everything'. In the next week Lumi had me running all across the Upper East Side, organising decorations, arguing with catering companies, finalising guest lists, and picking up all the pieces for her outfit.
Two days before the party, I was totally exhausted as I arrived in class. I flopped down at my desk next to Glimmer, who looked at my with a fake smile.
"Hey, are you alright?" she asked me.
"Yeah." I sighed. "I had a late night last night, Lumi needed me to pick up her dress from the dressmaker."
"Ooooh, what does her dress look like!" Glimmer asked, suddenly more interested.
"It's amazing," I started to gush. "It's white and flowy and sparkly and she's going to look like, a snow queen or something!"
"Wow." Glimmer replied. "So what are you wearing?"
"Oh, just a dress I have at home." I said simply.
"What, Prim?" Glimmer exclaimed. "You can't just wear some old dress from your closet!"
"Why not?"
"Because this is Lumi's party. It's like, the party of the year. Everyone will be talking about it, and you have to look good." Glimmer explained, like I was an idiot. "Plus, Lumi would never forgive you if you turned up in some second hand rag."
"Well what are you wearing?" I asked, a little offended.
"I've had a dress on hold for a couple of weeks. My parent's aren't too happy about the price, but… it's worth it." Glimmer said off handedly.
I gulped, as I started to think about just how much Glimmer's dress much have cost. She was right, of course, I was stupid to think that I could wear an old dress to Lumi's party, but with a sinking feeling I realised that there was no way I would be able to afford anything else.
As soon as school was over, I rushed home to figure out what I could do about the dress situation. In a frenzy, I took out my savings from under my bed, rifled through drawers trying to find loose change and rummaged through my closet desperately trying to find something that looked somewhat new.
I must have looked like a mad person, because when I noticed Rory standing in the doorway, he looked pretty concerned.
"Prim?" he asked hesitantly, stepping over a mountain of clothes to sit on my bed. "What's, ah, going on?"
"I need something to wear to Lumi's party!" I wailed.
"I thought you already had something?" Rory asked tentatively. "You showed me last week."
"Don't ridiculous, Rory." I snapped, "I can't wear that, it's like 100 years old."
"I think you look good in it…" Rory mumbled.
"No offence Rory, but you aren't exactly a fashion expert." I knew that he was just trying to help, but I didn't need him to complicate things anymore. I just didn't have the time to explain it properly to him.
"Oh and you are?" I could tell that Rory was trying his best not to get angry with me, even though he probably should have been.
"Well I need to be, for the party." I said, and I started sorting through the clothes pile again. "It's just, Lumi has put me in charge of pretty much everything and it all needs to be perfect otherwise she won't let me sit with her. I've hardly slept in two weeks, plus I'm behind on all my homework. Now I need to make sure I have the right dress and it's stressing me out."
Rory was silent for a moment, before he slowly spoke up. "Prim, this isn't you."
I looked at him, my hair a mess from running around the apartment, surrounded in clothes, feeling totally insane.
"Yeah well, maybe it is now." I replied.
It hurt me to hurt Rory, who had always been so good to me. But I felt like I needed to make a choice- my life with him, Gale and Katniss, or the life with Lumi and her parties and expensive gifts and all the attention. Even though it was hard, I knew which world I wanted to be part of, and Rory just didn't get that.
I woke up early on Saturday morning, the day of the party, and left the apartment before Katniss was even awake. I caught the subway to the Upper East Side, with the small amount of money I had managed to pull together, and went on a mission to find the perfect dress. However, by the time it was mid morning, I hadn't managed to find anything that was even remotely in my price range. Finally, I walked into a store and found the most beautiful dress I had ever seen.
It was pale blue and shimmered as though it was completely made of ice. I stood admiring it for a few minutes, before a shop assistant came over to me.
"Hi, honey." she said in a condescending voice. "You like this one?"
"I love it." I told her, not wanting to take my eyes off of it.
She looked me up and down before replying. "Are you sure it's in your price range?"
Confidently, I turned the price tag over and gulped as I realised it was way more than I expected it would be. However, I tried to hide my disappointment as I looked back to the shop assistant.
"Yes. I'll try it on, please." I couldn't help but feel smug as I followed the lady into the dressing room.
Putting on the dress, I knew it was the one. It looked amazing, and it really did make me feel like a princess. However, I knew that there was no way I could afford it. But if I went home without it, there was no point even going to Lumi's party at all, and I would be at the loser table by Monday...
Without thinking it through, I quickly took off the dress and ripped off the tag before shoving it into my backpack. My hear pounding, I stuck my head out of the dressing room and saw the shop assistant caught up in conversation with someone I couldn't see. The way she was giggling and twirling her hair, I guessed she was talking to an attractive guy, and was surely distracted.
I knew it was my only chance, so I quickly grabbed my bag and made a run for the front door. However, just as I was about the leave, I heard someone call my name. I turned, manic, to see Finnick walked towards me.
Panic flooded my body as I realised that the shop assistant had turned her attention back to me. Suddenly, it felt like the dress in my bag was burning a hole in my skin.
"Hey!" I said to Finnick, a little too enthusiastically.
Grinning, Finnick pulled me in for a hug to whisper into my ear. "Please save me from this shop assistant, she just asked me out."
I laughed, trying to act normal. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"Picking up a dress my mother has on hold." Finnick rolled his eyes. "I'd thought she'd go easy on me, considering I've just come out of a coma and all." he joked. "What about you?"
I looked over to see the shop assistant walking towards the dressing room. "Oh, just picking up some things for Lumi Snow's party."
"Ahh, the party of the year, I'm hearing." Finnick laughed. "And I suppose you're the one who's making it all happen?"
"Yeah, so I better go." I said quickly, as I noticed the shop assistant leave the dressing room, looking for my dress. I turned to run out the front door, when I heard the alarm start to sound.
Oh no.
There must have been a security tag I hadn't noticed.
I turned back, my face turning bright red as the shop assistant descended upon me, snatching my backpack from my back. She opened it up and pulled out the beautiful dress in front of a shocked looking Finnick.
"Well, well, well." she said, sounding satisfied with herself. "I knew this wasn't in your price range. I'd be surprised if anything on this street even is."
I was already freaking out, and she was making it even more humiliating. "I can explain!" I tried to say, but my voice sounded tiny.
"You can explain to the police." The shop assistant said.
I almost felt like I was going to pass out. What would everyone at school think if I was arrested for stealing a dress? I'd be the joke of the whole year level...
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Finnick cut it. "Don't you think that's a little extreme? Technically she hadn't stolen it yet."
The shop assistant didn't look convinced, and suddenly, right before my eyes, I watched Finnick turn into the charming player I had heard he once was. "Oh, come on." he teased, "For me?"
Instantly, the shop assistant start to melt, and finally Finnick convinced her to let me off with a warning. He even payed for the dress for me, but really, I didn't even want it anymore. Honestly, I just wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
Finnick led me out of the store, but before I could thank him, he stopped me.
"I'm taking you home." he said firmly. "I'm sure Katniss would like to hear about this."
Oh God. I had forgotten about Katniss.
Katniss looked pretty surprised, when she opened the door to see Finnick and I in the doorway.
"What's going on?" Katniss asked, confused.
"I think I'll let Prim explain." Finnick said, his hand on my shoulder so I couldn't back away. "I'll see you later."
Once Finnick had gone, I took a deep breath and told Katniss what had happened. When I finished, she sat staring at me in silence.
"Who even are you?" she said, finally.
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" I asked, exasperated. "I'm still Prim."
"No you're not! Prim doesn't care about makeup and parties and fashion, and Prim doesn't steal." Katniss tried her best not to yell. "I can't believe you would do something so stupid!"
"Oh, like you can talk!" I suddenly yelled. "You used to steal things all the time."
"That's different, Prim." Katniss said in a level voice. "I'm really disappointed in you."
I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Whatever, I've got to go get ready."
"Ummm, I don't think so, Prim." Katniss said, as I started to walk towards our bedroom.
I spun around. "What?"
"You're grounded." Katniss said simply.
"You can't ground me." I retorted. Who did she think that she was?
"Yes I can. You're not going to that party."
"Katniss!" I wailed, but I knew it was no use.
I ran into our room, slamming the door shut before throwing myself onto my bed. It was so unfair, I couldn't even believe it. So I lay for a moment, feeling sorry for myself, when I suddenly had an idea.
Grabbing the dress and my handbag, I tried as quietly as I could to open the bedroom window. Slowly and carefully, I climbed out onto the fire escape and ran down the stairs to the ground floor.
Looking back at my apartment, I knew that what I did next was probably going to change everything with Katniss for ever. I knew I needed to make a choice, so with a deep breath I continued down the street to be a princess at Lumi's party.