Hellooo! x
Sorry guys, but I was having a little bit of the writer's block for this one. I promise it will pick up again in the next chapter though! Enjoy!
"You're what?"
"Late, Madge," I hiss into my phone. "I'm fucking late!"
"Oh my god... How? I mean when?" she stutters.
"Last week." I run my hand through my hair. "Dammit. I should have known this was gonna happen! What the hell am I gonna tell Peeta?"
"Katniss, calm down! You don't even know for sure if you're-"
"Don't you dare say it!"
"I won't!" She sighs. "Look. I'll... I don't know. I'll get you a test tomorrow, and we'll see what's going on. Until then- don't panic. Okay?"
"No promises," I mutter. "Seriously, Madge. What the hell am I supposed to tell him?"
"You don't have to tell him anything yet. What if this whole thing is a mistake? There's no reason to scare him if you're not actually, you know."
"I guess." I plop down on my bed and stare up at the ceiling. "Madge, I don't know what I was thinking."
"Well you certainly weren't thinking Trojan."
"Madge, I can't believe you're trying to be funny right now."
"I'm sorry!" She giggles for a second before stopping herself. "It slipped. I have to go, but I promise I'll help you out tomorrow. Okay?"
"Okay." I sigh. "I'll talk to you later."
"Talk to you later. And please don't panic. Seriously, Katniss."
I snort and hang up the phone. I drop it on the bed next to me and look up at the ceiling directly above me. My eyes tear up as I start to think. What if I really am pregnant? There's no way in hell I could handle being a mother. But Peeta would be so upset if I tried to give it away to someone else. He might even be upset to find out that I'm pregnant at all. What will my mother do? She'll know that the baby is Peeta's. She'll kick me out, and there's no way Peeta's parents would take us in. Where could we possibly go? What would we do? Peeta will lose his job at the bakery, and nobody will hire a pregnant teenager. The worst part is that it's all my fault. I didn't even think about any other contraception. I was stupid enough to think that the pill would be enough. I should have known that with my luck, I would be the one to get pregnant even when I'm on the pill.
I squeeze my eyes shut and sigh as I remind myself that I can't panic until I know for sure.
"Katniss?"
When I look up, Prim is standing in the doorway. She stares at me as she waits for me to let her in.
"Hey, Prim." I push myself up and lay back on my elbows. "What's up?"
"I wanted to see if you're okay." She pulls herself onto my bed and kneels in front of me. "You seem a little flustered."
"Yeah. I'm fine." I fake a smile and sit up all the way. "You don't need to worry about me, Little Duck."
"Okay." She smiles. "And Mom also wanted me to tell you that Uncle Haymitch is coming over today."
"With-"
"Aunt Effie." She grins and nods. "Yeah!"
"God!" I yell as I fall back onto my pillow and cover my face with my arms. "Not her! She's the worst!"
"Katniss, come on! She's not that bad." She nudges my leg to get my attention. "She's funny!"
"You always say that," I mutter. "And then she starts asking me when I'm going to learn how to pluck my eyebrows or wear heels or put on makeup or be a girl-"
"Katniss, she does not ask you when you're gonna be a girl!"
"She might as well!" I groan. "Fine. I'll be downstairs in a minute. Okay?"
She nods and slides off of my bed. I watch as she walks out of my room and bounds down the stairs. I push myself onto my feet and rub my eyes. I used to love seeing Uncle Haymitch. He would come to spend some time with my dad, and they would always end their visit by laughing about something that their parents used to do or say to them. Then, there would be a short nostalgic pause before they said goodbye to each other. He always brought something for Prim and me like candy or toys. Of course it was always something cheap and questionable, but it was a gift nonetheless. He liked to talk to me, but we usually ended up getting on each other's nerves by the end of the visit. For some reason, I was still excited to see him every time.
Ever since his wife Maysilee died, he hasn't been the same. And when my father- his only brother- died shortly after, he started calling and visiting less and less. When we did see him, he was always intoxicated. His house reeked all the time, and I never even ventured to wonder what would cause such smells. It's unclear to me how he ended up meeting and marrying aunt Effie years later. For about four years, I didn't see much of him or hear from him, so there are about a million possibilities of what happened, but I'm okay with never knowing for sure.
I hear a knock at the front door and realize that that is probably them. I take a deep breath and shove my phone in my pocket before heading downstairs. When I get there, I see that Prim has run to answer the door. My mother looks up at me for only a second before returning her eyes to the front door. I roll my eyes and walk past her to get to Prim.
"Aunt Effie!" She starts hopping up and down as that hideous creature that I call my aunt glides into the room. Her heels look like the fresh pencils that I buy at the beginning of the school year. "I've missed you so much!
"Oh Primrose!" She leans down as much as she can to hug Prim. "And Katniss!" She rushes toward me with her arms out, and I grimace at her. "Lovely to see you as always!"
"Yeah." I pat her back as she wraps her arms around my shoulders. "Same to you."
"I see you're starting to fill out a little more." She grabs my shoulders and scans my body. "Good! That's good! Now all you need is a brand new wardrobe. How does that sound?"
"Oh, that's great."
I fake a smile as she grins and runs to my mother to say hello to her next. Haymitch trudges in after her with their bags. He grumbles a hello to Prim as she runs to greet him and just nods at me. In a matter of seconds, he has dropped their bag and plopped down on the sofa while aunt Effie has followed my mother into the kitchen to tell her what she has been doing- since she last talked to us- in great detail. Prim follows them, so I decide to sit down with Haymitch in the living room. He usually doesn't talk much anyway, and anything is better than sitting in there with Effie. I hug my knees to my chest as he lies back ungracefully and turns on the television across the room.
"Still got this little one, eh?" he mumbles under his breath. "It's old as hell. Malcolm bought this one when you were…" He sighs and makes a groaning noise. "I'd say you were-"
"Six." I hug my knees tighter at the thought of my father. "I remember because the one we had blew out or something like that, and it scared me."
He makes a short chuckling noise but his face never really changes. He flips through all the channels with his mouth hanging open a little bit, and I wonder if he's drunk right now.
"Your mom told me you got some guy now."
"My mom told you that?" I look at him and he shrugs.
"She ought to know by now that anything she tells Effie will eventually get to me." He stops flipping through the channels to look at the score of a basketball game. "I hear this guy's not too good or something like that."
"No!" I remind myself to keep my voice down even though I am becoming angry. "He's really a great guy. My mom just doesn't like him because of his parents."
"How come?" he mutters.
"Haymitch, you can't just disappear for years and then expect me to explain everything you missed."
"That's uncle Haymitch. Show some respect. All that money I spent on that stupid candy for you." I roll my eyes. "Anyway you're talking about the Mellark's aren't you?"
"Yeah." I look at him but he stares at the television. "How did you know?"
"Your mother doesn't hate many people, and she always had a problem with them." He sighs. "Your dad did too, but only because she did."
"What did they do to her?"
Finally, he looks at me. And I can definitely tell now that he is sober. He presses his lips together as he thinks, and I just watch him. He starts to say something to answer me, but he is interrupted.
"Haymitch!" Aunt Effie toddles over to us and stands in front of the television. "You lazy lump! Could you at least put our bags away please?"
"Right away, sunshine," he mutters sarcastically as he pushes himself off of the couch slowly.
"Thank you." Her lips are in a tight straight line until he leaves the room. She looks back at me and forces her smile again. "Katniss! How is my lovely niece?"
"Just dandy, Effie." I fake a smile as hers falters.
"Aunt Effie." She clears her throat and lets out a short laugh. "I see that you're still working on the natural look. But remember that a little bit of makeup goes a long way. Yes? Maybe I can help you with that a little later."
"Oh that sounds..." She starts to toddle out of the room, grinning the entire time. "Awful."
I sigh and shake my head. Haymitch was seconds away from telling me what happened between my parents and the Mellark's. Seconds. If only Effie hadn't walked in. I would finally have my answer. Maybe I can find another time to ask him about it. I just have to hope that I get to him before he starts drinking again.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out to see that Peeta has texted me.
It reads: Hey beautiful! What kind of dessert did you want for your birthday?
I sigh as I stare at it, trying to come up with a response. It's hard to figure out if I'm happy because he's always so sweet and caring or upset because I have no idea what to say to him. Madge told me not to tell him about my being late, but it feels so strange to keep a secret from him. I wonder if he might not even want to see me for my birthday next week if he finds out that I'm pregnant. I bite my lip and squeeze my eyes shut as I try to remind myself that nothing is certain yet. I drop my phone on the coffee table and settle on not responding at all, as I walk into the kitchen to have dinner with my family. By the time I realize what a mistake I've made in leaving my phone out of my sight, it's too late. I rush away from Prim while she is in the middle of a sentence. When I reach the living room, I find my mother standing there with a distressed look on her face.
And my phone in her hand.
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