Disclaimer: these characters still aren't mine.
Chapter 12
I drag myself out of bed and get dressed slowly, sluggishly. I pull a hairbrush through my hair and pick up my bag before walking downstairs, accepting a cup of tea thrusted at me by Toby.
"How's Katniss?" I ask, taking a slice of toast of the table and alternating between taking bites of it and sipping my tea, which was still too hot to drink properly.
"Still unconscious, but that little girl, Rue, is looking over her. Last time I checked, her stings have got a lot less swollen. I think she's gonna be okay, Madge." He manages a smile, but I don't return it. I'm still upset by what happened yesterday.
"That's good," my tea has cooled a bit, and I begin to drink it quicker, having finished my toast. As I set my cup down on the table and begin to move towards the front door, Toby pushes a second slice into my hands, with a stern expression on his face.
"Promise me you'll eat this?" He asks as I sling my backpack onto my back.
"Promise." I sigh, taking a small bite out of it. I wasn't that hungry, but I didn't want to upset Toby.
As I open my door, my father appears at the top of the stairs. I glance up at him and he half smiles back.
"Do you think you're going to be okay today, Madge?" He asks, and he sounds genuinely concerned. Naturally, Toby told him about what happened two days ago, all of it apart from Gale, and he came home early from the Capitol, practically straight after arriving there.
"Yes, father." I manage a weak smile, and it's the best I can do. It seems to satisfy him anyway, and he nods at us both, before turning back to his office. I sigh and leave, yelling a goodbye to Toby over my shoulder, who has moved back into the kitchen. I shut the door before he can reply.
Although the sky is a clear, pale blue, it is very cold. I feel it instantly as soon as I step outside the door, and I shiver, drawing my jacket closer around me. I slip on some gloves and begin a slow walk to school.
With everything's that's happened, they've started showing the Games at lunch as well as in the afternoon. Luckily, I have a book tucked safely away in my bag.
When I sit down, I glance at Gale's table. He's there, but he looks different. His shoulders are slack, and he's slouching, like he's really tired, or someone's put lots of weight on his head and shoulders. His neck is bent, head bowed over his tray of food, not looking at me of the projector that shows the Games.
Next, I glance at Zach's usual spot. He's not there, but two of his friends are. They don't look at me much, and that suits me just fine. I take my book out and place it on my lap, one elbow on the table, my palm resting against my cheek. The lights have been switched off because of the projector, so no-one notices, although it's hard to read.
Eventually I give up, and put the book back in my bag, and turn my attention to the screen. I get a shock when I look, because Katniss has woken up. She's sitting by a small fire with Rue, each eating a piece of some kind of bird. Rue is explaining what's happened, and a smile crosses her face when Katniss asks about what happened to Peeta.
"He's okay." She says, sucking a bone from their bird. "I think he's down by the river."
I glance at Gale, who hasn't moved, but I can tell that he's tensed up. Despite everything, I feel sorry for him. No-one should have to go through what he's going through.
The rest of the afternoon is uneventful. I read unless Katniss or Peeta are being shown; Katniss seems to be planning with Rue to get rid of the Career's supplies, and Peeta is... Well, they keep showing a river, but I can't see anything. The focus in on a rock and some gravel, and I assume he must be hiding nearby or something. Whatever it is, at least he's still alive.
When I get home, I grab a snack and Toby and I go and sit on the sofa and watch a bit more of the Games. Not wanting to be rude, I don't bring my book, and instead we talk at the boring bits.
"How was school?" He asks.
"It was alright. They've started showing the Games at lunch too, which is okay, apart from the fact that it's too dark to read." I reply, playing with a strand of my hair. Toby snorts and grins at me when I say this - he doesn't share my love of reading. Even though most the books I own are fairly bland, considering all of them have been approved by the Capitol.
"And what's going on with you and Hawthorne?" He asks, serious now. Of course Toby knows Gale, I was fairly sure he had lived in the Seam before he got a job here, although I wasn't sure. He could be from the Capitol for all I know, although he doesn't dress like it.
"We had a fight yesterday." I mutter, not wanting to talk yesterday.
"Ah, lover's quarrels," Toby sighs dramatically and puts one hand on his heart, a silly smile fixed to his face. I giggle and hit his arm and he laughs too.
"We're not 'lovers'" I say, still smiling. I loved how Toby always managed to make me smile. "We're just... Sort of friends that aren't speaking at the moment because he's a dick." Toby's smile grows when I say this.
"Hmmmm, sort of friends?" He waggles his eyebrows at me and I giggle again. "Ah, Madge, if you saw the way he looks at you..." He closes his eyes and pulls a funny face, something that I think is meant to resemble being love struck.
I'm not sure if he's kidding or not, but a part of me wants to think he's telling the truth. Despite him being an asshole, my feelings for him were still there, only muted for now, suppressed by my anger. I still couldn't forgive him for what he had said, even if I had started it.
"I mean it, Madge." Toby says softly. "I wouldn't give up on him." He smiles at me, but his tone is still playful.
"I'm not chasing him!" I retort loudly. He grins and our eyes flicker back to the screen, as Katniss is being shown. She and Rue are walking through the forest carrying armfuls of branches, which still have their green leaves attached to them. What is she up to?
With Toby's jokes and Katniss being awake and okay, I allow myself to relax a bit and forget about Gale and everything that has happened between us.
Katniss explains to Rue as they arrange the branches in a pile that the green leaves will make lots of smoke. A distraction. A diversion.
I smile to myself. She's going to draw the Careers away from the base camp, only to find that they're not there.
Rue nods as Katniss explains. They've made two other piles of branches like these, each to be lit at different times, to buy Katniss more time to destroy their supplies that are apparently being kept at the Cornucopia. How does Rue know all this stuff about where everyone is all the time?
Toby and I take a break from watching to prepare dinner. I chop some vegetables and cook them while he boils some pasta and heats up some tomato sauce. We pour the vegetables, pasta and sauce into three bowls, one for him, one for me, and one for my father, who is working upstairs. Sometimes I wonder if he just doesn't want to have to see us, and uses work as an excuse. Toby explains that my mother doesn't need any yet, and that she is currently unconscious from a large dose of morphing.
I volunteer to take the bowl up to my father's office. I knock on the door before I come n, and wait for him to call 'come in'. When he does, I open the door slowly, carefully balancing the bowl in one hand. I close the door behind me and walk up to his desk, placing the bowl of steaming food amongst the papers that are strewn across his desk. He smiles gratefully at me, and I return the smile.
"Thank you, Madge. How are you feeling?" I assume he means physically, as he doesn't know about my argument with Gale.
"I feel fine, Dad." I smile at him again, feeling elated, almost giddy. Why am I so happy? I didn't really care enough to question it. I was just enjoying the feeling.
My father nods in approval and I take this as his way of telling me to leave. I shut the door behind me quietly, not wanting to disturb my mother. However, I open her door a tiny bit as I pass, peeking through the crack at her sleeping form. She looks peaceful, lying on her back, even a slight smile on her face. It makes me sad that she requires the Capitol's drugs to be this painless, but the feeling soon passes, and my good mood returns.
I go back downstairs and flop onto the sofa beside Toby, who turns up the volume on the TV and passes me my bowl with a smile, which I eat slowly, savouring it. I love pasta, especially with tomato sauce.
We watch Katniss travel to the clearing, and position herself at the side, waiting for the first fire to be lit. Eventually, a grey column of smoke appears in the sky, and the Careers take the bait, all of them leaving apart from one. I'm glad that Peeta is no longer a part of them.
Katniss waits for a while, her eyes scrunched up in concentration as she tries to figure out what's going on. It cuts to Claudius and Caesar, who are discussing what has happened. They explain to us viewers that one of the boys from the Careers cleverly dug up the mines from where the podiums from the start of the game, and re-activated and buried them around a huge pile of supplies. I suck in a long breath, hoping that Katniss figures it out soon, as I was sure that the second fire would be lit any second.
Suddenly, a girl appears, one who I hadn't paid much attention to, but had noticeable features. Her orange hair and quick, sharp movements reminds me of a fox.
Katniss doesn't move to attack her, or shoot her with her bow – she's watching, waiting to see if the fox girl has figured out what Katniss hasn't. The boy who was left behind the Careers is oblivious to all of this, sitting on the other side of the pile of supplies, staring into the forest.
The girl suddenly starts darting about, hopping from one patch of grass to another. I know what she's doing – she's avoiding the mines, but I don't know if Katniss understands. The girl takes a few things here and there, so that the Careers won't notice.
Katniss waits till she is gone, and then picks up her bow. She must have figured out what the trap was, what the small piles of dirt that circle the pile mean.
She aims carefully, and her arrow hits a bag of apples, severing the string that keeps it in place. She takes out a second arrow and aims for longer this time, making sure that she hits her target perfectly. She releases the arrow and it breaks the bag, and the apples roll free. They bounce down the pile slowly, and when they hit the ground-
Toby manages to mute the TV in time just before the explosion, knowing that it would surely wake my mother. Katniss is flung backwards from the explosion, and then everything is a blur. The Careers coming back, the huge boy from District Two snapping the other boy's neck. And then Katniss is up, she's moving through the forest, one hand pressed firmly against her ear which is bleeding. She moves slowly, still disorientated from the blast. The Careers are arguing loudly, using their hands a lot. Katniss glances up at the sky, and a mixture of surprise and confusion crosses her face when she realises that there is only one column of smoke in the sky. What had happened to Rue?
Katniss starts moving faster, her eyes wild and searching from side to side as she runs, checking for Rue.
Suddenly, a strangled cry comes from her right, and she turns quickly.
"Katniss!" It's Rue. "Help me!"
So I know that there wasn't much Gadge here, but all will be revealed soon ;)
Well, not so soon, seeing as it's my history exam tomorrow. Aaaaahh D:
I will try to update as much as I can.