I do not own The Hunger Games! Please review :) As always thank you for the alerts and reviews!
6 am came too quickly, far too quickly… Lisa was in my room pulling the curtains, "Time to wake up, I'd get in the shower now if you want any hot water," I groan and push myself out of bed, "I didn't know what you used so I just set some extra's in there for you, and a new toothbrush. We can go out later to get you shampoo and what not later if you'd like."
I rub my eyes free of sleep as Lisa hands me two towels, "No, this is good, thank you," I smile and close the bathroom door.
I feel cleaner than I ever had before when I leave the bathroom, most of my showers before were just water since my mother didn't see fit to buy soap all too often.
I come to the kitchen yawning, everyone else already awake but stop when I enter in the room. It's 6:30, school starts in about an hour the news plays in the living room, I barely listen until someone says "North Philadelphia" I set down my mug of coffee and sit in front of the TV.
On the screen is my mother's house with police tape across the front door, "Neighbors report the violence in this household was a constant norm, the teen that called this her home constantly leaving the house bleeding and bruised. It wasn't until yesterday that a passer-by called nine one one after the teen was allegedly thrown through the family's glass door. The adults, thirty-one year old Celeste Roberts and her husband Daniel Roberts, age 35 are in police custody facing charges of neglect, abuse, drug and firearm possession and," my hands go to my ears but it's too late, the woman says it, "sexual assault of a minor," I feel their eyes on me as a gulp for breath, now they know, now they know my shame. I wasn't just the sad little girl with a few cuts and bruises, I was the abuse victim who made the six o'clock news. Strong hands pick me off the ground and stand me up but I won't meet their owner's eyes.
I feel filthy, ashamed, "No one can hurt you here…" a strong voice promises, "They'd have to get through us," I look up and realize it's Thomas Mellark, holding me in his lap like a father would his daughter.
They don't press about my outburst, just as they never bring up my scars and bruises, fresh and old. Peeta and I leave for school at ten of having to walk the short distance from the center of town to Central Bucks West high school, it's an old building with a well-kept lawn and a tall clock tower. Already there are cars in the parking-lot fancy new Mercedes and even a few Porsches.
"I know how to hot wire one of those…" I tell Peeta quietly as we pass a Honda.
He puts his hand on my back, people are staring, I feel it. Who wouldn't? I'm the new girl, "Let's not do that, ok Katrina?" I smile and nod kicking myself for telling him that. I shift my backpack a little, its full of brand new notebooks and a large empty binder. We walk into the school without having to be pat down or put our bags through metal detectors.
"They trust you guys here, you know to not bring weapons to school?"
"I-"
"Peeta!" a muscular blonde comes up to him, pulling Peeta in a hug which is my sign to pull back, maybe his girlfriend?
"Morning Madge, this is Katrina DeAuguste, she's living with us for a while," the blonde hugs me as well, which I wince as my rib throbs in pain.
"Wow, you are… a mess, you lose a fight with a football team?" she asks.
I cock an eyebrow and cross my arms over my chest, "No, my mom and step-dad," I snap, she winces. Was I too harsh? I instantly felt bad, "I'm sorry, erm… Can we start over? Nice to meet you, I'm Katrina."
She nods apprehensively and takes my hand, "Madge Undersee," she gets up on her toes and looks right in my eyes, "Your eyes are like… really silver… Kind of like…" she gets down to the ground, the joy immediately out of her face, "Never mind," she turns to Peeta, "Finnick, Gale, Annie, Johanna and I are pulling you out of your house tonight, Katrina can come too, we're going to go to Peace Valley."
He stiffens, "She always ran there on the weekends…" he mutters.
"That's why we're going, it's her favorite kind of day. We have to honor her, not wallow in self-pity!"
Peeta huffs and looks at the blonde, "Fine, only if it's ok with Katrina," I freeze like a suburbian in front of a SEPTA bus, decisions on Peeta's social life shouldn't be left to me.
"I… Uh… Sure?" Madge beams and hugs me again.
"We'll see you after the last bell!"
We walk to the office, "I shouldn't go, this is for your friend, I'm an interloper," where did that word come from?
"I want you to go," he says quietly opening the door, I don't get to ask him why because the receptionist greets me.
"Good morning, you must be Katrina," how did she know my name, I just nod, "Here's your schedule," I look over the paper, first period I had History, second period was Biology, third was Gym, then I had lunch followed by choir at fifth, English at sixth, Spanish at seventh and math at eighth. I scrunched my nose.
I already kind of spoke Spanish seeing as my father is Hispanic, well from his mother's side, his dad's side he's Italian which gave me my dark hair and olive skin, I wouldn't let her know, easy A?
"Wait, choir? I can't sing…"
"I'm sorry…" her eyes look up to Peeta, "It was the only elective we had open, unless you wanted to take Oceanography or Geography," I gag a little, "We didn't think so…" I must have gotten the dead girl's seat in all the classes, the only one without Peeta being Choir, because everyone seems perturbed by my presence.
"We have a new student with us… Katrina DeAuguste, please introduce yourself…" my first teacher Mr. Flickerman, who I was told was the head of the morning news so he was about five minutes late to every class, asked taking his seat. He had slicked back black hair and tan skin, and reminded me of a news caster.
"No thank you," I tell him going back to flipping through my History book, it belonged to her, Katniss Everdeen, her name is printed in a lovely script I envy as I scrawl my name on the inside cover.
"Oh please, anywhere fun you've traveled, what do your parents do for a living, what brings you to Doylestown," I close the book cover quietly and sit up straight, the room's eyes are on me. Do I tell them the truth?
"I went to Camden a few weeks ago," I didn't tell him it was to buy weed, he didn't need to know that, they'd have me peeing in a cup before I could blink, "I lived in Philly my whole life and never really traveled," I pick at the cover.
"Very nice, lovely city. Now, in the beginning of the year I had everyone write down their favorite part of history, cheesy I know, but can you tell us yours?"
The words come to my mouth without hesitation, "That even though history repeats itself, we have the power to change it, not repeat the same mistakes twice and become better as a human race," he blinks, "What?" I ask the silence of the room.
"Very insightful answer, class open to page 341, Pre-American Revolution, doesn't that seem fun?" I flip through the pages of my book until I find a paper pressed between he pages.
Katniss Everdeen
1) What is your favorite aspect of history?
In her delicate, beautiful hand writing she has written: That even though history repeats itself, we have the chance to change it, not repeat the same mistakes twice, thus becoming better as a human race. That's why they're shocked. I gave the exact same response as a dead girl.
I flip quickly to the correct page, reading about taxation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Boston Tea Party, anything to get rid of the chill up and down my spine.
Biology goes by without incident, I'm not asked to say anything about myself, and instead Madge, Peeta and I are paired up to observe premade slides of cell division.
"I can't believe we have gym next, ugh there goes my good hair day," Peeta messes up Madge's hair as she squeals, thrashing around while I detail the nucleus of the cell.
"I think I actually enjoy school here," I remark drawing chromosomes splitting on my paper. I look up at a shocked Madge, "What?"
"Weird-o," she teases before twisting the lens of the microscope to get her own observations.
I was happy I wore my sneakers to school today, though I was in pain I could use a run. Not sure why but I felt the need to, also it seemed as if my body was healing faster than normal and I could even bend to stretch without crying.
We were running the mile today, apparently this was Katniss's favorite thing besides what they called "suicides" which was where you ran back and forth in the gym over and over until you couldn't move anymore. She held the female record for both.
"So… Prom dress shopping," Madge starts as we're joined by a brunette who clings to a red-head, a tall olive skinned man with grey-green eyes, and a short brunette with really short hair. I tune them out, prom, something I'd be missing.
"What do you say Katrina?" the brunette nudges me having left the side of her male companion.
"Wha?" all six of them are staring at me as I stretch my right leg, my left tucked neatly into my groin, "Sorry, I zoned out…"
"Prom? It's in like three weeks and none of us have dresses," she pauses, "Oh! I'm Annie Cresta, this is my boyfriend Finnick Odair, you know Madge and Peeta, and that's Gale Hawthorne and his lady friend Johanna Mason. So… Prom dress shopping?"
I shrug switching legs, "If you want met here I'll voice my opinion," Annie frown's at this, "Sorry, I'm not the best at fashion advice but I'll tell you that you look pretty, and it makes your butt look nice?"
"I think she'd look good in green… No, orange," Madge takes my hand and examines my skin, "Are you always this tan?"
"Yeah, and I have a few green and orange shirts… I'll try and wear them…" I stand to stretch my thigh.
"I think Madge is asking you to prom," Finnick smirks.
I switch legs, and laugh, "I don't have money for a dress."
Peeta opens his mouth but Johanna speaks up, "Here comes the Incredible Hulk and his three cronies… Barbie looks pisssssed" she groans.
"I hear Dina is going for all of Katniss's records now," Annie whispers shifting uneasily.
"Like she stands a chance with that stick up her ass," Johanna quips loudly.
"Easy dyke," a blonde snaps, "We're here to see your new toy," I turn around and am met by a hulking blonde boy, taller than Peeta but with about the same muscle mass, a wild looking brunette about a head shorter than myself, a lanky, rather pissed off looking sandy blonde boy, and finally a platinum blonde Barbie who's inches from me.
"New toy?" I cross my arms.
"Yeah," she snaps her gum, "We were wondering if you'd like to sit with us at lunch, but then we saw your face and-" I grab a fistful of her shirt.
"What about my face?" I snap through my teeth, letting go instantly, not wanting to get the cops called on my first day.
"You want to fight bitch? You don't seem too good at it," she snaps her gum again.
"You should see the other two, and sure, how about right here?" I blade my body to her, something I learned on the streets, less of a target. The coach begins to head over and I drop down, sliding my leg back so it looks like I'm stretching.
"Thank you so much for the advice… Dina? I'll keep that in mind."
They're all confused, "Head outside, all of you, Glimmer, Cato, Marvel, Clove, stop…" he looks bothered, "Just play nice," I stand up straight as my foster brother and his friends lead me outside, I wink at the blonde before I leave, maybe I'll punch out a few of her teeth before I bounce to another home.
"That was…" Annie starts.
"Amazing, I hope you give her a shiner someday, lord knows she needs it," Gale remarks as we walk down the hall and outside.
"Nah, just run faster than, that's what Katniss always did," Peeta finally says.
"The only running experience I have is for the 6:51 bus and from the cops," I tell them, breathing in the clean spring air, we're on the track that surrounds the football field, I look down at my yellow uniform shirt. Central Bucks HS West Bucks, and the picture of a deer with big antlers over the breast. Maybe they had school spirit here?
"We've seen those thighs, if you're a slow runner, something's definitely off," I pull my shorts down a little, bruises on my thighs, have they seen them?
"As always, ladies first," A thin woman with bright blonde hair starts, the twelve or so girls in the class line up, Dina Glimmer giving me a dirty look, guess I shook her up, "On my whistle," my thighs burn for the exercise, they launch me to the head of the pack the second the whistle blows Dina by my side. It feels free, liberating, like I can fly, only I'm grounded, the first three laps go without incident, then Dina opens her mouth.
"So foster kid, you enjoying sucking the life out of another family?" she snaps, I ignore her, "Heard your daddy was a carjacker," again I ignore her, "the streets of Philly must be nice, taught you a lot of manners," we're approaching the last two hundred or so yards.
"Nawh, they did teach me something though, not to go fuck with someone until you know what they can do to ya," I push myself, with everything I have through the last hundred yards, finishing before Dina a full three seconds.
"5:11, 5:14," there's a good ten second pause before the rest of the girls finish.
"Bitch," she spits, shoving me to the ground, no one laughs or even moves, except the coach.
"You run track before?" I pick myself off the ground.
"No, I've run from the police enough though," I smirk while dusting my shirt off, Annie, Johanna and Madge are at my side, staring the pushy blonde down. Have I made friends? Or are they only here because I'm not afraid to break a skull?
"You… Come to my office after school, we'll talk," he turns to Glimmer, "You, principal's office, now!" he points back to the building. One day and I've found my own back-up, and made an enemy. Not too bad considering it's only about 10:30 am.
We sit on the football field as the boys go, Peeta, Finnick and Gale sticking to a pack close to the head of the group, their laughter echoing off the empty bleachers.
"Never run huh?" Annie is braiding my hair, I want to pull away, but I let her, for whatever reason I trust her, "That's why you're two seconds off the school record."
Johanna leans back, pulling her shirt up to tan her stomach, "I missed the bus a lot," I admitted, not wanting to say I had a habit of going to bust-able parties.
"So… Dress shopping tomorrow after school," Madge starts, joining Johanna tanning in the early April sun, it was unusually mild, not that I was complaining.
"And every day until the four of us find dresses," Annie secures my hair with a band and Johanna groans.
"Three of you," I correct.
"You're going, we'll pool our money together, maybe even Misses Mellark will pay." I look up at Peeta.
"I don't have a date, I don't…"
"Ask Peeta, you come into town and he's… Smiling again, laughing. I mean Katniss's death, then he and Delly spilt…"
"He said he'd love Kat forever at her funeral then shut down for a week, that's something…" Johanna says quietly.
"Yeah, but look, he's not one hundred percent, but something about you Katrina brings him back out of his shell, and I saw how he looked at you, I think he likes you."
I shrug, the only boy to ever like me was Ronnie and even there we were fuck buddies at best, "I'll think about it… Or I'll go as a single with you guys?"
They nod, "Especially since we're going to the beach afterwards," Annie squeals.
"Yay, Annie and Finnick, the fish of C.B. West," Johanna waves as Annie blows a raspberry at her, "Real mature, anyway, time to hit the showers."
I borrowed shampoo, conditioner and body wash from Madge, scrubbing my body clean and ignoring the stares at my thin, damaged body. I hurried and dressed in my jeans, green camisole and black pullover before any more whispers could start.
"Should we wait for the boys for lunch?" we can hear their shouts in the locker room above us.
"Ugh no… Come on," Johanna pushes us towards lunch just as the bell rings.
"So what do you have next?" Johanna asks taking my schedule from my hand as I pick at my salad, "Ah choir… With Annie and Madge, your new BFF is there as well, so don't get in too many fights," the boys join us, Finnick shaking out his damp hair and flopping down next to, "God damnit Aquaman, I'm sure Annie doesn't mind a red hair in her mouth from time to time but what about the rest of us!"
He just shrugs and winks at his girlfriend whose beet red.
"So who are you going to prom with Madge?" Annie asked finishing off a bowl of soup and French fries.
She blushes, "Oh… I… Um… RyanMellark," she says quietly in one breath before Peeta chokes on his soda, "We're going to his senior prom the week after that as well."
"My brother? Seriously Madge?" he rolls his eyes, "Good luck with that one…"
"What? Ryan's a gentleman and…"
Peeta and I exchanged looks remembering the belching at the kitchen table the night before coming from both twins.
Madge and Annie seem to have a telepathic connection because as if rehearsed they lean into Peeta, "Who are you going to prom with?" Madge asks, batting her eyelashes.
"Not going," he says taking another drink.
"You have to go!" Annie begs, "Come on, we'll all be there, the ladies will be looking foxy as ever, you boys well…"
"They'll clean up," Johanna adds.
"You'll clean up, come on…" she begs.
"I don't have a date, if you didn't realize it someone's missing here, well, two people," his eyes grow dark.
"You're too good for Delly anyway, and would Katniss want you wallowing in self-pity not enjoying your own prom? No I think not! You're going!" Madge scolds.
"Yeah… with who," everyone looks at me. Were they all in on this.
Oh fine, "With me?" I ask quietly, but my voice cracks, so I clear my throat, "With me?" I ask louder, "Come on, I'm new, you're handsome," stupid mouth, stupid, "It has the makings of a perfect ABC family movie," I wink a little, draining my milk.
Peeta stares at me dumbfounded, "Yeah sure, isn't the guy supposed to ask the girl though?"
I just shrug, "You were taking too long, Annie's been kicking me under the table since you sat down to ask," she tapped me once but a little lie works for dramatic affect. The guys less Peeta, and Johanna head to shop class while Annie and Madge go to the bathroom I tell them I'll catch up.
"You don't have to go with me you know… You can ask whoever you want," he looks up at me his eyes confused.
"To be honest? I want to go with you. You're like… this strange enigma, everything you do is like her, your answer in History, the fact that you ran the same exact time as her today, how you pick the cheese off your pizza and eat it last, even your eyes… It's like you're her, just in a different body," he shakes his head.
"Sorry… Just Katrina here, with a lot of similarities to your friend…"
"You must think I'm crazy, seeing all these traits from someone who's…" he winces, "…who's gone in you… Ugh," he runs his fingers through his hair, "I'm sorry… I'll stop."
"Peeta!" I take his hand, that warmth from the car there again, it's like a jolt of electricity, jumps between us, "You talk way too much. It's fine, trust me. She meant a lot to you, she always will."
He looks up at me and smiles, his fingers laced with mine, "Wait, we're going to do this properly, no under the table kicks, no plots from our friends."
"Our?"
"Yeah, you saw how they liked you, anyway. Katrina, will you go to prom with me?"
I roll my eyes as he kisses my hand, his soft lips make me jump a little, "Yes Peeta, I'll go to prom with you," I pull my hand away and stand, "Now come on, I'm trying to not be late to class on my first day… I usually wait a week before that starts."
He rolls his eyes, "You cut class, my mom'll kill you," I bite my lip, "Ugh sorry… Kat…"
"It's fine," we've reached the art room, where Peeta has class now, "I'll see you in English?"
"See you then, don't pick fights," he points to his eyes then to me, his eyes are on me.
And I can't really complain.