a/n: okay, so a lot of confusing things I think are going to be set free with this chapter. I'm really happy that I got a good response, and thanks to all my reviewers :) you really make my day and put a smile to my face .
disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games.
HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR !
"so can any of you tell me what the hell is going on?" I ask quietly, my eyes darting to and from the gray-eyed girl. The green-eyed boy glanced at the man and the man shrugged, picking at a blade of grass.
"well," whispers the green-eyed girl. "you have to believe us Peeta, alright?" she whispers quietly, her sea-green eyes wide and probing.
Wait, wait, wait. She knows my name.
"How do you know my name?" I ask, my voice trembling slightly. A sharp intake of breath from the girl passes her lips and she stands up and scampers off into the tree. I stare after her, watching as her hair flies behind her as she retreats further into the trees.
"Great, now you pissed her off, nice going pretty boy." the green-eyed boy hissed, shooting me a glare. I shrug and watch as the green-eyed boy runs after her and tries to sooth her.
"How do you know my name?" I repeated, more firmly and stern this time. My eyes wandered over to the silver-eyed girl who was staring down at her bare toes and fidgeting around. Everyone seemed to move their gazes over to the silver-eyed girl, questioning and un-amused. After another moment, the girl finally noticed the glares sent her way and snapped.
"What?" she snapped. "Is this my fault?" she asked roughly. Her voice sounded so familiar, like something that tied me to home.
Mutters arose and she sighed.
"Look, I didn't choose him," she said. "but this still isn't my fault no matter what any of you think," she stated. After that, most of the other teens shook their heads or rolled their eyes.
"I'm Madge," the pretty blonde said, smiling her bright smile and she offered out her hand for me to shake. I took it gratefully and smiled politely back to her.
"Gale," came a gruff voice. It was the gray-eyed boy's voice who introduced himself. I gave Gale a nod and in return, he gave me an upturn of his mouth.
"I'M JOHANNA!" the brown-haired girl stated loudly. I nodded at her, but she snatched my hand and gave it a good shake.
"I'm Haymitch," said the man. His rough and calloused hand came up and he gave my unruly blonde locks a shake. I swatted away his hand, trying to flattened my now messy head. "no use kid," Haymitch remarked, enticing out a few chuckles.
A deep, throaty chuckle from Gale and a loud laugh from Johanna.
"The other two that ran off are Finnick and Annie." Haymitch told me. I nodded in response and felt guilt claw away at my stomach.
"I'm really sorry for upsetting Annie," I said hesitantly.
"Oh don't worry," says Madge. "she's just delicate and she's always been like that," she explains. Madge turns to the still nameless silver-eyed girl and nudged her.
"Hm?" she asked, eyes darting to Madge.
"You still haven't introduced yourself," she whispered quietly. The nameless girl bit her bottom lip and my fingers twitched at the sight. She wasn't short, but she wasn't tall either. She held herself high, shoulders back and straight, holding herself like an army soldier would. She glanced up at me, our eyes locking for the first time. My breath hitched slightly.
"I'm Katniss," she responded quietly.
"Is it weird that I feel like you're intensely familiar?" I blurted out. Gale chuckled his deep laugh and Haymitch guffawed. Katniss smiled ruefully down at the floor and looked up at me, her smile full of bliss and her light and frosty laugh echoing in my mind.
"No, not at all Peeta," she laughed. My name slipping out of her lips sounded radiant. "it's not weird at all."
After meeting up with Finnick and Annie and after countless apologies from me to Annie, they finally started to explain.
Madge mainly spoke, with comments from Gale or Katniss every so often.
She explained to me that seasons all happened for reasons. Why was Winter so cold? Why was Fall so red and orange? She explained that the trademarks of each season happened because of them. Finnick and Annie were the reasons that Summer was always so hot. Madge alone was the reason flowers would bloom. Johanna was Autumn, and she made the falling leaves fall. And I learned that Gale, Haymitch and Katniss were dedicated to Winter. It made no sense, why these people would be responsible for falling leaves or blooming flowers. Until Madge pointed it out to me.
"If you think this is fake Peeta, what were your thoughts on us, appearance-wise?" she asked. I was about to point out the obvious, but it hit me.
I compared them all to seasons.
Johanna's hair the colour of browning autumn leaves, and Madge's smile resembling a flower in the spring. Katniss' presence alone reminding me of a bird's song before winter.
They were subconscious thoughts, but thoughts that still meant something.
This theory was tested further when Johanna simply tapped a finger to a tree and leaves started browning and flying away with a blow from her lips. My jaw went slack and laughs could be heard all throughout the meadow.
"Oh pretty boy," Finnick laughed. "you haven't seen the best yet."
We proceeded to field of wilted flowers and I frowned. A field of wilted flowers looked just sad. Madge stepped forward and ran through the field, running her fingers through the dead looking flowers. Upon her touch the field looked alive, the puny flowers blooming and being filled with a light lavender purple.
"Wow," I remarked. Madge smirked and elbowed Gale.
"Told ya spring had that wow factor," she laughed. The rest of the group proceeded through to somewhere else, but I stayed and frowned. There was one flower that was still wilted and dead looking.
"Peety boy!" yelled Gale. I turned around to see them all looking back strangely at me, either giving me a look that had me thinking I grew another head, or just a glare.
"Yeah just hold up!" I yelled back. I gently picked the flower out of it's roots and stared at it for a moment. Upon doing so, the flower started to bloom. The petals turned into a bright yellow colour and the stem grew green again. I laughed slightly and then it hit me.
I made this flower bloom.
It wasn't even stuck in the ground.
"Hey guys!" I frantically yelled. "Check this out!"
They all made their ways back to me and I eagerly thrusted the flower into their faces.
"Look what I did!" I was aware that I may have sounded a little childish, but at the moment I didn't really care.
There was a loud gasp from Madge as she snatched flower away from my hands.
"Yellow?" she whispered, staring at the vibrant flower. When she touched, the vibrant yellow began to fade and purple started to set in once again. She lifted her eyes back to my face again.
"You made the flower yellow!" she gasped. I nodded dumbly.
"Yeah, is there something.. wrong?" I asked hesitantly. Madge shook her head vigorously in panic and was quick to reassure me.
"No, no, Peeta, you're fine, you're perfectly fine," she sputtered, eyes still transfixed on the flower that was now a light shade of purple.
"Then why are you so transfixed on my flower?" I asked dumbly.
"It's just," she started.
"No-one else has ever made a flower that was supposed bloom purple, bloom yellow instead." Gale explained, delicately pulling the flower away from Madge's grasp and tossing it into the meadow. I watched the flower fly and land in the meadow, the entire field started to bloom yellow.
Madge was close to tears and was hysterical, Gale was trying desperately to calm her down, and Katniss stared at the field in disbelief.
In a matter of seconds, each and every flower was a bright yellow. I didn't know what was so wrong with making a flower bloom a different colour, but it was obvious I didn't belong here. This was a tightly knit group, each must have had their own story, and they must have spent a hell of a long time together. I was just the new boy, the one they had to teach and ease into.
I was a failure.
I didn't belong.
It just struck me that I used BLUE instead of YELLOW . I completely overlooked that, and I read over my notebook a billion times to check. Curse my forgetfulness ! welp, fixed that problem at least :)