A/N: Hi everyone! So this is the last chapter of The Gossip Games. I just wanted to see a massive thank you to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed this fic, it means so much. You've made my first experience of fanfiction writing really enjoyable, so thank you so much! Hope you enjoy this last chapter :)
Katniss' POV
The day I had been counting down to for months had finally arrived, but unexpectedly it had a bittersweet feeling to it. Dragging myself out of bed, I crossed my small bedroom to wake up Prim.
"Prim, wake up." I said to her. "It's the last day of school."
Those words got through to her and her eyes slowly opened. "Finally." She smiled sleepily.
"So come on, little duck." I said, pulling back her covers so she couldn't fall back asleep.
Rubbing her eyes, Prim met me out in the kitchen and I handed her a bowl of cereal as she sat down at the dinning table. Immediately her eyes flicked towards the envelope that was addressed to her, which had been sitting on the table since it arrived yesterday morning.
"Are you going to open it now?" I asked her, motioning towards the envelope.
"No…" Prim didn't meet my eye.
"Why not?" I exclaimed.
"I'm scared."
"Come on, Prim." I begged.
From where I was standing, I could make out the The Capitol School crest printed on to the front of the envelope. Suddenly, I was transported back to the day my letter arrived from the Upper East Side, and how nervous I was to open it. After talking a lot about it, Prim had also decided to apply for a scholarship to The Capitol School, and it looked as though the letter contained their answer.
Prim was a bright girl and I had no doubts that she would be accepted, but she wasn't so sure. Thinking back to the day I found out I had been accepted, it was Prim who opened the letter for me when I couldn't myself. While Prim and I were completely different in so many ways, one thing we had in common was just how stubborn we both were.
"Fine." I said. "I'll open it."
Her cereal forgotten, Prim watched anxiously as I ripped open the envelop and took out the crisp white letter.
"Primrose Everdeen." I began, putting on a formal accent. I looked up at her, and her eyes were wide with anticipation.
"Well, what does it say?" she asked.
"Oh, so you want to know now?" I laughed.
"Katniss!" Prim complained.
I looked back down at the letter, and was instantly filled with relief. "We are delighted to offer you a place at The Capitol School commencing in the eight grade."
"Really?" Prim asked, unsure.
"Yes, silly." I handed her the letter, and her eyes quickly scanned the page.
"Oh my gosh!" Prim started to squeal. She jumped up and ran to me, throwing her arms around me so fast I nearly lost my balance.
"Congratulations, little duck." I said, hugging her tight. "I told you that you'd get in."
"Okay, okay." Prim laughed, "You were right. Can you believe it, we're actually going to school together!"
I had my reservations about Prim going to The Capitol School. Sure things had worked out well for me in the end, but that was completely unexpected. I had started my year not wanting anything to do with the Upper East Side lifestyle, including making friends with any of my class mates. I was perfectly happy to speak to no one and stay clear of any drama. Obviously, it didn't work out that way, and even though I met some amazing people, I also met some not so nice ones.
I knew I could handle the situation with Cashmere, but I wasn't sure if Prim would have been able to. Prim was so lovely, so innocent, caring and trusting. She couldn't hurt a fly, and I was scared that the vicious atmosphere of the Upper East Side would be too much for her. But regardless of how much I still didn't like most of the people on the Upper East Side, I knew that going to The Capitol School would be an amazing oppurtunity for Prim. She had wanted to be a doctor since she was little, and The Capitol School would be her best chance of getting into a good college. Mostly though, it was what our father wanted for her.
"This is what you want, right?" I asked her seriously.
"Yes!" she exclaimed. Her smile faltered for a moment though, as she admitted, "I'm a little scared though."
"Don't worry, my friends and I will look out for you." I promised.
"Thanks, Katniss." she said honestly, hugging me again.
"So I guess this is your last day at your old school." I realised.
Prim eyes suddenly widened. "I have to tell Rory!"
Even though Prim and Rory were 'just friends', she sure was anxious to get out of the apartment to tell him her news. Quickly, Prim rushed through breakfast and threw on some clothes.
"See you later, Katniss!" she called as she ran out the door. I smiled to myself as I knew that Prim would never let the Upper East Side change her.
So I got ready for school for the last time before summer. Just as if it was my first day of school again, I left my apartment to find Gale sitting on the curb.
"Hey, Catnip." He said, as I sat down beside him.
"Hey, Gale." I replied.
"Ready for your last day?"
"Oh yeah." I laughed. "But I'm not as excited as I thought I would be."
I wasn't sure if Gale would understand what I meant- that even though I still hated The Capitol School, I didn't hate everyone who went there. While I knew I would still see everyone during the summer, I had really started to enjoy our lunches together.
"Well, you'll be back there sooner than you know." Gale teased. "And I know that Peeta will be around here literally everyday."
"Oh and like Madge won't be." I teased back.
"She wants me to meet her parents, you know?" Gale said, sounding both terrified and pleased.
"Well I hope you have better luck winning over her parents than I did with Peeta's." I laughed.
"Was it really that bad?" He asked, sounding more afraid.
"Hmmm, I think you'll be fine." I said honestly. "Just maybe don't mention how you nearly went to jail."
"Oh, great advice." Gale said sarcastically.
"And have a proper shower." I added, ruffling his hair as a cloud of dirt drifted out of it.
Gale rolled his eyes, but he was smiling, more than I had ever been before.
"You seem happy." I observed.
"Things are good, Katniss." He replied.
Gale was right, things were good. This had been a crazy year for my friendship with Gale, but now it was finally all back to normal.
It was strange, just how used to The Capitol School I had become. That scared me a little, but I knew that after everything that had happened this year, I had not let the Upper East Side change me. Not only that, I'd done well all year and my grades were better than I'd ever expected. All I had to do now was figure out which college I actually wanted to go to.
As I headed towards the courtyard at the beginning of lunch, I saw a familiar face in the hall.
"Miss Everdeen." Cinna's friendly voice greeted me.
"Hi, Cinna." I replied. I hadn't seen much of Cinna since our two sessions at the beginning of the year, and it was nice to see him again before the end of school.
"So, what's the final verdict on The Capitol School?" He asked.
"I still don't like this lifestyle. " I told him honestly. "But...maybe you were right. Not everyone is as bad as I first thought."
"That's what I like to hear." Cinna grinned. "Good luck for senior year Katniss, remember- I'm still betting on you."
After my conversation with Cinna, I joined my friends at the table with a smile on my face. I slid in next to Peeta, and he gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek before looking away shyly. My first impression of Peeta had been that he was confident and full of himself, but now I knew that that completely wrong. Peeta was sweet and kind and so good to me, even after everything.
"Ah Katniss, excellent timing." Finnick said. "We were just discussing our summer plans."
"My only plan is to work as much as I can." I told him honestly. "And to stay as far away from drama as possible."
"Ughh Katniss how about something fun?" Finnick complained.
I shrugged. "Sorry. What's everyone else doing?"
"I'm working too." Peeta said honestly.
"That's not very Upper East Side of you- but you better keep those brownies coming!" Finnick laughed. "Is anyone doing anything interesting?"
"My parents are making me spend most of the summer at our house in France." Johanna rolled her eyes. "Kill me now."
"I'm going on a cruise?" Delly added, sounding unsure.
"That's more like it, even though you both are going to be out of the city." Finnick said. "What about you, Magde?"
Magde blushed. "Hopefully I can spend some time with Gale." she said softly.
Finnick groaned. "Don't talk to me about love." He said dismally.
"Why, what do you and Annie have planned for the summer?" I teased.
"There is no Annie and I for the summer. Well, most of it anyway." Finnick said sadly. "She's going to work at a summer camp, she does it every year apparently. She won't even have cell phone reception!" He rested his head on the table, looking miserable. "What am I going to do?" He wailed.
Oh, so it suddenly made sense why Finnick was looking for people to hang out with during the summer. Honestly though, I knew that Finnick was going to be totally annoying without Annie, and I could just picture him now- moaning about how he missed her all day. I supposed we could try and distract him as much as possible, but Peeta had better make some brownies fast.
"Well, is your house still free for the last week of summer?" Peeta asked, trying to cheer him up.
Peeta had told me that every year Finnick's parents went on a week long cruise at the end of the summer, meaning he had their house in the Hamptons all to himself. That of course meant that Peeta crashed there for the week and the two of them got up to God knows what. He tried telling me some adventures from their weeks away, but honestly I thought I'd rather not know, especially if Finnick was the one who planned them.
"Oh, about that…" Finnick trailed off. "That's the week Annie gets back so...I kind of invited her this year."
"Are you seriously ditching me?" Peeta asked incredulously. He definitely looked forward to escaping his own parents for that last week, and I didn't blame him.
"The last week is the only time I'll get to see her!" Finnick wailed.
"Oh boo hoo." Johanna jumped in. "Finnick, that's the week I'm back too, and until then I'm facing the whole summer overseas with my parents. I need at least one party before school starts again."
"Oh, so you're inviting yourself along then?" Finnick joked.
"Yeah- we're all coming." Johanna replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
That was the first I'd heard of it, but a week at Finnick's house by the beach did sound pretty good.
Finnick thought for a moment, looking at each of us hesitantly. "Fine." He gave in. "But you have to come the day after Annie does, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear Finnick." Johanna said. "There is no way I want to be any where near a Finnick and Annie reunion."
Finnick laughed. "Great, it's settled then."
We spent the rest of lunch planning our week away, and I was feeling more and more excited by the second. I hadn't been on vacation in years, and my summer had just started to sound a whole lot better.
The last bell finally rang, and the halls erupted in happy chatter and people rushing to get out of school as quickly as possible. However, I took my time packing my bag.
"Katniss." I heard a voice from behind me, and instantly I tensed up. Slowly, I turned around to see Cashmere standing behind me. She still had the same smug look on her face, however, she just didn't have the same terrifying presence that she used to, especially now that she had no one standing behind her to back her up.
"Cashmere, I haven't seen you around much recently." I replied, trying to remain civil. The last thing I wanted was an end to our truce at the beginning of the summer.
"Well that's all going to change very soon, Katniss." Cashmere's eyes narrowed. "I meant what I said, I still don't like you, and even though I'm willing to keep your little secret in exchange for you keeping mine, I plan on regaining my position in the school."
"And you have to tell me this why?" I asked, bored of her attitude. I just wanted to meet up with Peeta and let the summer begin.
"Because Katniss, I've been at this school since kindergarten and since then I have been dreaming about my senior year. I'm going to get my friends back and I'm going to be the prom queen." she said forcefully. "If you even think about ruining that for me, you'll get much worse than what you happened to avoid this year."
I sighed. I thought that maybe Cashmere's experience this year had brought her back to Earth a little and made her realise that reputations and money and all of that didn't really matter. Who was I kidding though, Cashmere was born and raised on the Upper East Side, and there was no way she could ever give up on that lifestyle.
"Look Cashmere, I don't care about prom queen or any of that. It's all yours." I told her honestly.
"Good." she smiled. "Well, have a good summer. Don't get up to any trouble." While she kept up her vicious attitude, the look in her eyes told me that she was actually being sincere.
"You too, Cashmere." I told her honestly.
I had no idea what I really thought about Cashmere anymore, but I decided to not let her latest threat ruin my summer. In fact, our conversation had all but left my mind as soon as I met up with Peeta. Together, we left the school grounds and walked towards Mellark Bakery hand in hand.
"So, you made it through your first year at The Capitol School." Peeta joked.
"You're about as surprised as I am." I laughed.
"Was it as bad as you thought, though?" he asked more seriously.
"There were definitely some highlights." I said, leaning in to kiss him.
At the start of my junior year, I had no idea whether I would survive on the Upper East Side. So many times I felt like getting as far away from The Capitol School as possible, but one thing kept drawing me back- Peeta Mellark.
I never thought that I would ever fall for a guy like him, but I supposed what I really learnt is to never to judge someone too fast. Peeta was so much more than his privileged lifestyle, and so were all the friends I had made throughout the year.
Peeta took me into the kitchens of the bakery and handed me a freshly baked cupcake. We jumped onto the bench together and ate in silence for a moment.
"You aren't planning on working the whole summer, are you?" Peeta asked eventually.
"Hmmm, I might be able to find some time for a certain good looking baker." I laughed. "If he isn't too busy icing cakes, that is."
"Oh, I'm sure those cakes will be able to wait." Peeta dipped his head closer to mine and kissed me.
"You know what?" I said softly. "I think this is going to be the best summer yet."
Our cupcakes long forgotten, everything else disappeared from my mind and Peeta pulled me closer. Ignoring the wolf whistles from the other bakers in the kitchen, Peeta kissed me deeply as if to tell me he felt the same way.
So I had made it through a year at The Capitol School. While the conversation I had had with Cashmere meant that my senior year was going to be anything but easy, for now I just wanted to enjoy the summer with Peeta.