PEETA'S POV
Stupid, freaking Gale, thinking he is all that. I should have just kept my mouth shut. At least Katniss would still be with me if I did.
Resisting the urge to break something valuable, I clutched my elbows to myself and stared half-heartedly at my newest painting. It was of my and Katniss asleep on the sand together in the Quarter Quell. And now it was impossible for us to be together because I blabbed. Just when things started to go well, and she had actually started to love me back, things just had to get ruined.
I tried to calm myself by lying back on my bed and imagining happy things. Not surprisingly, my happy things didn't make me happy. Katniss choosing me instead of Gale, her actually having my child…
Normally fantasizing those things, but it just gnawed on the edges of my sanity.
"Food will help. You have to eat…" I mumbled to myself, willing my feet to drag me to the cafeteria for breakfast.
Miraculously, it worked. I found myself seated alone at a table with a piece of bread in my hands. Ugh. Even if I did have an appetite for food, I would probably puke it up anyways, so I set the bread back down. To distract me from tossing my cookies right then and there, I looked for Katniss.
The cafeteria was big, with several large table crammed into the room together. There was only ten other people here besides me. Katniss' mom and Prim sitting at a table, the former head Gamemaker, Finnick, another Quell survivor I had forgotten the name of, and five other people I didn't recognize. No Katniss. Or Gale.
My stomach lurched and I clenched my jaw together tightly, trying hard not to puke, but I managed. What were they doing together? Exchanging blond jokes?
"Are you okay Peeta? Where is Katniss?" Katniss' little sister Prim appeared in the seat next to me. She had begun to grow on me, I swear. She always seemed to know exactly what I was feeling.
"Katniss? Oh, she's…um… out with Gale… Doing stuff." My voice sounded pretty distant.
"Oh. Okay, I was just curious. I will see you later I guess." Prim hopped off her seat and went to sit by her mother again.
I leaned back in my seat and reassured myself that Katniss was perfectly fine and safe with Gale. She and Gale were very close and they are probably just… talking… about kittens. There is absolutely no reason that I should think that Katniss would do anything of the sort. Gale is a nice guy, once you get over the fact that he is out to ruin your relationship with the girl you love….
A loud horn blasted throughout the cafeteria, announcing the arrival of the Scavengers. Scavengers were experienced survivors that go out every day and search for remains of the wrecked districts.
Today the Scavengers were all empty-handed except for a large brown-skinned man that had escaped from district 11. Something furry and orange was squirming around in his arms, desperate to get loose.
Prim jumped up and ran over to the man, holding her arms out. The Scavenger placed the spitting fur ball into Prim's arms. Immediately, the orange thing calmed down.
Prim petted it and crooned, "It's okay, Buttercup…"
Buttercup. So Prim's cat had survived. I watched Prim skip over to her mother and they both hugged and petted the cat.
I made a resolution to act as normal as humanly possible (which might not actually be normal in my book) and went over to congratulate Prim and her mother.
"Look, Peeta! Buttercup survived!" Prim beamed, holding out the orange cat to me as I sat down next to her.
I smiled at her and hoped it looked normal. "Congratulations! You're very lucky he survived the bombing."
"I know." Prim hugged the cat to her and Buttercup purred.
"So, Peeta, we haven't seen you in quite a while. How are you?" Prim's mother was always polite to me, even though I knew she was still a bit bitter towards me.
"I'm very well, thank you." I must have looked guilty or cautious, because Ms. Everdeen patted my shoulder.
"It's okay, Peeta. Katniss already told me. You two are so noble. Lying to the capitol to protect you families," she said to me.
"Oh, you know?" I dropped my voice just in case there were any rude eavesdroppers around. Just in case, I said,"That Katniss isn't married and pregnant?"
Prim and her mother nodded.
"Where is she anyways? Katniss, I mean." Ms. Everdeen looked around the cafeteria.
"Um… She disappeared into Gale's room. I haven't seen her since," I didn't like lying to them, since I actually didn't see Katniss going into Gale's room, but I knew she was there.
"Oh, poor girl, having to choose," Katniss' mother shook her head sadly. Well, I suppose I should tell them now.
"Well, Katniss doesn't have to pretend anymore. The Capitol no longer has any control of us, even if it is still standing. Katniss is free to choose whom she wants now."
Prim sensed my disappointment and put her hand on my arm. Even though we don't really know each other, Prim is very close to me. "And you think she chose Gale."
Stupid mind reader. "Yeah." Prim is so good at reading me and it was really pointless trying to hide anything from her even if I didn't want her knowing it. I better go before she catches on to any more of my crazy assumptions. "I am going to go get something for my headache. See you around,"
In these situations, there are limited few people I feel comfortable talking with, but even fewer that would listen. So I turned to the person who hasn't exactly been close to me, but is always there, whether I like it or not: My father.
"Now, get some sleep, son. It's late." My father clapped me on the back as I got up from the stiff wooden chair I was sitting on.
"Okay. Goodnight, father." I went back to my own bedroom, which was three rooms away, and saw that he was right; it was 10:30 at night. I spent the whole day just talking to my father, which felt good to relieve some of the pressure.
I welcomed the hot shower and dry sheets as I got into bed. It felt oddly wrong not to have Katniss next to me, her head on my shoulder.
Even though I skipped breakfast and lunch (Prim brought me some soup for dinner) I wasn't hungry at all. On the contrary, my stomach felt so twisted that even if a feast was put out before me, I would turn it away.
I don't remember falling asleep, but apparently I had, because the next time I opened my eyes, the clock read 11:16am. I shot out of bed and was in the middle of dressing, when I realized there wasn't anything to hurry about. Sleeping late wasn't usually a bad thing. Sighing heavily, I finished dressing, and sat in a chair in front of the occupied easel. The painting of me and Katniss was still there. Even I had to admit it was a very good painting.
In a sudden rush of wild fury, I tore the picture from the easel and stuffed it into the closet. Katniss wasn't mine anymore, and I had no right to torture myself by looking at her picture every waking moment.
A knock on the door jolted me back to reality. Throwing it open, I said rudely, "What do you want, Katni—"And stopped dead. It wasn't Katniss who was hesitating a few feet from the door looking sick.
"Gale." I felt the blood pounding in my ears.
"I give up," He didn't make eye contact with me, just looked down at his hands, which were wringing together.
"What?"
"I said I give up. I can't do it. The look in her eyes…" Gale winced as he remembered. "She is so lost. I can't take it anymore. It is torture seeing Katniss like this."
"What can I do about it?" My voice sounded very bitter. "She's yours now like you wanted,"
Gale grimaced inwardly. "Take her. Make her happy."
His words didn't take too long to register. "You're giving her to me?"
"I-I suppose I am, if it will make her happy, and I know it will. I can't…"
"But you two just—you…" Words failed me.
"I know. You don't need to tell me. But I can't stand it anymore. The dried tear streaks on her face, the lost look in her eyes every time she looks at me. You can make her happy. I know you can."
"But-but she is yours. You had her for just a day and you're giving her up just like that?"
"Yes… After all, "A pained smile reached Gale's lips." It isn't me she wants."
"You two just spent a whole day- and you're giving her up right after you- seriously?" I'm sure I sounded pretty dumb stuttering like that, but a full sentence refused to form.
"It thought it would make her happy, but it didn't, so yes she is yours. Just—"Gale took a sharp breath and closed his eyes. "Make her happy."And that was it. Gale turned around and left sector B.
The next Chapter is going to be 5 and a half because it is so short, but it is still a chapter. :3 so don't skip over it.