Love your reviews! And your suggestions for the lovely tributes! (Well, not so lovely…) It took a lot of thought for me to finally decide who was getting pulled for this, and all of your suggestions truly helped me decide. Thanks! Cutting to the chase, here is Chapter 17 and the Reaping you've all been waiting for!
I try my hardest to spend the next day with Peeta and Prim as much as possible. The day flies by, but at least night time will be filled with Peeta. Prim and I avoid the topic of what tomorrow brings, and we try to have some fun. When Peeta is on his lunch break for an hour, we all walk to the Meadow and have a small picnic. It's full of laughter and smiles. Peeta sketches pictures of us the whole time, and gives me most of them when the hour is up. I promise to meet him again tonight at the Meadow, and Prim leaves us to have a private goodbye.
He kisses me softly, and I can almost taste his nervousness. "I love you." He whispers, and I nod back with a small smile. I catch up to Prim, and she asks if we can go to the Hawthorne home. I know she just wants to be around, just in case. I decide that I am going to just forgive Gale for now. I can't seem to convince myself that if he was chosen, I could send him off into an arena with me still ignoring him.
We knock lightly, and a stressed-out Rory answers the door. Before I say hi, he crashes against Prim, getting a squeak from her when he kisses her. He pulls away quickly, and Prim blushes bright red. I just laugh and go inside. Hazelle stands when she sees me come in, and quickly pulls me into a hug.
"You've been gone too much." She mumbles, and I hug her back.
"I'm sorry. Things have been…complicated with Gale." I reply while she pulls back.
"He messed up didn't he?" She says sternly, and I nod in return. "What am I going to do about that boy?" We both grin, and she guides me into the family room.
"Hey Katniss." Vick and Posy say at the same time. I wave, and go towards Gale, Rory and Vick's room in search of Gale. I poke my head in and see him lying on his bed.
"Hey." I say quietly, and shut the door behind me.
"Hi Katniss." Oh, that stings. He never calls me by my name unless he's upset with me.
"I wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have acted the way I did towards you. I'm sorry." He looks up, and smiles slightly.
"I'm sorry for being an ass. I shouldn't have just kissed you like that. Friends?" He holds out a hand.
I smile and grasp his hand, "friends." We laugh, and I remember tomorrow.
"How many times is your name in?"
"42. Guess the odds aren't exactly in my favor." I cringe, hoping he doesn't get pulled.
"At least it is your last year."
Prim and I head home around 8, and have a hefty dinner. The turkey I shot is served with the Katniss tubers Prim and I harvested yesterday. Buttercup even gets a share of the meal at Prim's insistence.
When nine draws around, I tuck Prim in with a kiss on the forehead. She smiles, "Tell Peeta I said hi." I nod, and slip out the door. Mother fell asleep early tonight in our room. This gives me the chance to slip out quietly in Peeta's sweats (I never gave them back) and my light zip up.
When I edge to the Meadow, I see Peeta's silhouette in the sunset and I sneak up behind him, wrapping my arms around him. "Hey." I say into his shoulder, and he turns around to kiss me. I deepen the kiss and slide my tongue across his lower lip. His rubs mine lightly, and tangle together. He parts panting, and I smile.
When he grins back, I look into his beautiful blue eyes and I think if he got pulled. I realize that if he did, I could never live without him. Peeta cracked my stone heart, and made me whole again. No matter what I do or say, he's always right behind me picking up the pieces and putting them back together. He's my dandelion of hope. The one who can calm my fire, not add to them.
"I love you." I say quietly. His eyes widen, and he picks me up quickly. We twirl while he kisses me again lightly.
"I love you too Katniss." We smile goofily at each other and sink into the flowers. I snuggle into his arms, and we lay for a while watching the sunset. Just like that night what seems like years ago, we fall asleep tangled together cozily. When the first light of sunrise beams, we wake up and kiss again.
"I got to go, Prim…" I quietly say, and he nods.
"Good luck." He whispers, kissing me again. I hug him tightly, praying Peeta won't get pulled. Not when I just realized how important he is to me.
"I love you Peeta." He smiles, and hugs me again.
"Love you too Katniss."
I walk down to my home, and walk upstairs. I lay by Prim right as she wakes up screaming.
"Shh. Shh. It's alright Prim. It's okay." I hug her while she cries. "What happened?"
"It was you this time." She wails, and I whisper calming words in her ears. When she calms down, I tell her I have to hunt quickly.
"I'll be back soon, okay? I promised Madge some strawberries." She nods, and I head to the woods quickly. I see Gale is absent today, and I know Rory is probably stressing out. I head to our strawberry patch, and harvest about half a gallon of strawberries. I head into town, and meet Madge at the door. She stands clad in a pretty white dress.
"You look pretty." I say while she is handing me coins.
"Thanks. Good luck Katniss." She says with a slight smile.
"You too Madge." I hurry home knowing that Prim will be stressed out even more. She has just come down in her outfit when I stride into our home.
"Oh Prim! You look beautiful. Don't forget to tuck in your tail, little duck." I joke when her shirt forms a tail in the back.
"Quack!" She says playfully and I smile.
"Laid something out for you Katniss." I hear Mother say, and I nod.
I go upstairs and see a light blue dress from her town days lying on the bed. I change into it, and Mother comes upstairs. "Want me to do your hair?" I nod, and sit. She brushes through my waist length hair, and then braids it up into a nice bun. With a timid smile towards me, we head downstairs and collect Prim. Our clock is nearing 1:30pm, so we all head out. Prim grasps my hand tightly, and I squeeze it reassuringly. When we get close to town square, we see Rory and Gale standing by. I feel arms wrap around me, and I turn to Peeta.
"Hey." I say quietly, and he leans down to kiss me. Prim hugs us both, and Peeta crouches to her level.
"You'll be fine Prim, I promise." She nods, hugging him tightly then running to Rory. I watch them embrace and he kisses her on the cheek. They get in line together for check in leaving Gale alone. I grab Peeta's hand and drag him over with me to Gale.
"Hi Catnip." He says quietly with a small smile.
"Hey Gale. You've met Peeta?" He shakes his head, and they shake hands.
"Nice to meet you Gale." Peeta says politely, and my heart swells for him. Gale nods in return.
"I need to check in. See you after the Reaping?" Gale says, and we both nod. Parting ways, I get into line with Peeta. We get checked in quickly, and head to the separate roped areas. Only a rope separates the boys and girls, so we stand on our sides holding hands still. Effie moves to the stage quickly, clad in her spring green suit and obnoxious pink curled hair.
"Welcome! Welcome! The time has come to select our two tributes for the 74th Annual Hunger Games! But first, here is Mayor Undersee with a small speech!" She steps aside for him, and he gives the speech of Panem's history and treaty of treason. When he finishes, she hops to the microphone. "Something new. Boys first!" She trills, and clicks to the boy tributes bowl. Please not Peeta. Please, please not Peeta. "Rory Hawthorne!" I see him frozen in the front, and turn to see Gale with glazed over eyes. "Come on then, Rory, where are you honey?" He slowly edges, and Gale bulldozes through.
"Rory! No! RORY! I volunteer! I volunteer as a tribute!" Gale shouts, pushing Rory backwards.
"No Gale! No!" Rory screams and I quickly move to grab him.
"Come on Rory. Shh." I say in his ear, and pull him towards Hazelle. She holds him while he bawls, and I move back to Peeta, watching Gale mount the steps.
"And who are you young man?" Effie says with a smile.
"Gale Hawthorne." He says sternly, glaring at her slightly.
"Well I bet my buttons that was your younger brother." She responds, ignoring his glare. He nods in response. "Give a round of applause then for Gale Hawthorne!" Effie exclaims. Instead of clapping, I take my three fingers of my left hand and press them to my lips, extending them to Gale. Peeta follows, and soon everyone is doing the same. Gale's face softens slightly, but puts his glare back up when we drop our hands.
"Alright then, let's move on to the ladies!" Effie shakes her head, and moves to the girl bowl. I pray for Prim and I not to get pulled, and Peeta squeezes my hand.
"Sara Shrewman!"
Surprise! And now, click that button that says review. Any predictions?(;