Chapter 40

I wake up for the second time today and this time I actually have to get up and get ready for school. After I've showered and gotten dressed for the day, I take the sunflower Gale gave me last night and clip it to my hair just over my ponytail. My hope is that when he sees it in my hair, he'll remember just how much I love him. I'm fairly certain that Tripp will find me at school today and with my luck, it'll be when Gale's watching. I know that watching Tripp hover over me makes Gale crazy jealous, especially right now while he has to pretend to just be a friend. Hopefully this tiny detail, the flower in my hair, will help ease that emotion.

I say a quick hello to Mabel in the kitchen before I leave. She hands me a muffin on my way out, insisting I eat something. My plan is to try and get to school a bit early so that if Tripp is looking to find me, he can possibly do it before Gale arrives. My plan works seemingly perfect because Tripp corners me before I've even entered the building.

"Morning." He calls out to me, waving as he approaches.

"Good morning Tripp." I reply. I am hoping beyond hope that he has spoken to Lily and is coming to tell me about it. I sit down on the steps in front of the school and he takes a spot next to me. There's an awkward silence for a brief moment and I try to busy myself by picking at my blueberry muffin.

"Breakfast on the run, huh?" He asks eyeing my muffin.

"Something like that." I say as I take a bite.

"So, I asked my mother about being friends with your mother and turns out you were right. They were like best friends all through school or something."

"Oh neat. I wonder how I never knew that until recently. " I say. I want to press him for details on their conversation but I don't want to come off like a weirdo.

"Well, I didn't know about it either so don't feel too out of the loop." He laughs.

More and more students are arriving at school and we're planted on the steps right out front so I know Gale will absolutely have to see us when he gets here. I stand and brush the dirt from my dress.

"Well, I need to get to class. I'll see you later!" I say as I turn and make my way up the steps towards the entrance.

"Have a good day Miss Undersee." He says with a wink and the biggest dumb grin.

I somehow manage to make it through all my morning classes without seeing Gale or Tripp for that matter. I spend the majority of my morning lost in thought about Lily. I wish I could have been there to see her face at the mention of my mother and to hear every word she said when she and Tripp spoke last night. I find it odd that Tripp was equally unaware of our mother's friendship. My mother had been to sickly to talk to me much about anything but his mother was of perfect health and could have easily told him. What happened that changed their friendship? I'm just going to have to talk to Lily myself. Not sure how I'll go about that but I just have to figure this out.

At lunch I finally see Gale.

"Nice flower." He says with a sneaky smile.

"Thanks." I say smiling back. I'm glad he noticed it.

"So, did you get any information out of Tripp?" He asks quietly.

"Not much. Just that his mother did confirm the friendship. And that he hadn't known they were friends either. I think I'm just going to have to talk to Lily myself somehow."

"We'll figure this out." He says with encouragement.

"My dad comes back tonight." I tell him. I know this is good in that he can hunt again but I'm already missing the comforts of being in my bedroom with him.

He nods, knowing full well what I'm thinking without my saying it aloud. We fall into our comfortable silence but are soon interrupted by Tripp. Great. Just great. I kick Gale under the table to remind him to stay calm like a friend would and not get visibly jealous like a boyfriend would.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything over here. I just wanted to ask you a quick question Madge." He says gleefully.

"Of course you aren't interrupting anything. What's the question?" I say as if his presence is wanted at the moment.

"Well, I meant to ask you this morning and didn't get a chance. I wanted to see if you'd like to join me for dinner after the viewing this evening."

"Well, thank you but as I said last night, it really isn't a good time for me to be dating…" I begin making every effort to hide my annoyance.

"No, wait. I mean do you want to have dinner at my house, with my family? My mother could tell you about your mother maybe."

Dinner with Lily? Oh my gosh here is my chance! This is perfect! Well, almost perfect. I wish Tripp wasn't involved and I wish Gale wasn't having to sit and hear this conversation but still, dinner with a chance to talk with Lily?

"Oh, well that would be fine. I'd be delighted to have dinner and chat with your mother about when she was friends with my mother. Are you sure she won't mind?" I reply after looking like I've thought it over. I am careful not to let too much excitement seep into my voice.

"Great! We can head over after the viewing. And of course my mother doesn't mind, she'd be honored to have the mayor's daughter at our dinner table."

"Ok then, I'll see you this evening then." I say with a smile that he returns to me before turning and heading back to his own lunch table. I don't want to look up at Gale. I know he must be seething right now. And because we're at school, surrounded by dozens of people, I can't comfort him the way I want too. I force myself to be brave and look up to see him. His face is blank but his jaw is clenched and his posture is rigid.

"It isn't a date." I whisper as low as I can.

"No. It isn't." He replies flatly. My heart sinks. This isn't fair to him. He shouldn't have to sit back and watch all of this. We fall back into our silence though I find it much less comfortable than usual.

"I'll see you at the viewing." I tell him when the bell rings. He nods, gives me a sad smile and saunters off towards his next class.

After school wraps up for the day I head back home. Prim couldn't help in the garden today. Her mother needed her help with preparing herbs and liniments. Mrs. Everdeen is something of a healer. Her family, back when she was from town, owned the Apothecary. I've never needed her medical services but from what I know of it, most of the Seam people go to her for medical attention. Doctors in town are expensive, capitol medicine even more so, making it impossible to afford it if you're from the Seam. I'm glad Mrs. Everdeen is able to use her talents to help others. Katniss always said that healing was the only thing she could still competently do since Mr. Everdeen died.

Suddenly it hits me like a ton of bricks and I cannot believe Gale and I didn't think of this sooner. Mrs. Everdeen is from town. That means she would've known my mother better than Hazelle or Mabel. What if she knows something? She still probably won't know as much as Lily will but anything can help. I need to talk to her! And Gale can help me!

I want to go to the Seam right now and talk to Gale but there's no way I can do that. I'll have to wait until the viewing and talk to Gale then, as discreetly as I can. I finish up in the garden, picking several ripe vegetables. Those special Capitol seeds really did grow exceptionally fast. I have a basket full of all different things to give to Prim at the viewing. Hopefully this will not only help feed them but also take a little of the pressure off of Gale to keep them fed. He doesn't say a lot about it but I know he stresses about being able to provide food for so many people. And who can blame him? No teenager should have to deal with that kind of responsibility; that much pressure. I wonder if he would let me give Hazelle a basket of vegetables from the garden? He's funny about me sharing food with his family. But Hazelle was a huge help to me cleaning me up and making me presentable after my meltdown of crying that day. Maybe it could be a thank you gift. I decide to go for it and take another small basket from the cabinet and fill it with a variety of things from the garden.

Before Mabel leaves I tell her not to fix a plate of dinner for me tonight, that I'll be eating at Tripp's house. She doesn't say much about it but seems pleased. I can't figure out why she is so set against my being with Gale but seems perfectly fine at the news of my dining with Tripp.

I gather my baskets and head over to the viewing. Prim is thrilled with her vegetables and proudly shows them off to Rory, Vick and Posy. The kids take turns looking at each individual vegetable and marvel over Prim's story about how she planted seeds just a short time ago and they already turned into plants that produce real food. Seeing this makes my heart happy and I can't help but smile. When Gale arrives, I ask him about giving the other basket to Hazelle. He refuses at first but gives in fairly easy. I think it's hard for him to say no to me and I feel a tinge of guilt for it but try to focus on how knowing they have extra food makes me happy.

Before the viewing screen starts I manage to have a whispered conversation about Mrs. Everdeen with Gale.

"Gale, we forgot about Mrs. Everdeen being from town. She may be able to tell us something about my mother. We need to talk to her!"

"I don't know. She doesn't talk much."

"I know. But we still should try. And we can do it together." I add on that last part knowing that it sweetens the offer.

"We'll see. Let me think about it."

We don't get to say anything else about it because the anthem begins signaling the beginning of the viewing. I struggle to focus on the screen. Gale is still so glum since Tripp interrupted our lunch to ask me out. And I know it's going to further sour his mood when the viewing ends and I have to go over to Tripp's house. I can tell he's doing his best to hide it but I know better. He's angry. Not at me but at the situation and especially at Tripp. And the viewing isn't helping either. Today they announced a feast to try and draw the tributes together in one place. Katniss wants to go and it's a terrible idea. The best bet is to wait it out and hope the other tributes kill each other off. But they entice her with medicine. And Peeta desperately needs this medicine. He's in terrible shape and I can't imagine he has much time left. Peeta begs her to stay with him and not go to the feast and she finally agrees with him. My gut tells me that she'll still go for the medicine. They've still been hiding out in the cave together, mostly because of Peeta's lack of mobility. They've kissed a lot and I don't think Gale cares for that too much. He still doesn't like Peeta. I don't feel like he's jealous over Peeta kissing Katniss. I've seen him jealous and it's totally different. He just seems worried that Peeeta's interfering with her game playing.

Turns out I was right about Katniss going to the feast even though she agreed not too. Haymitch sends her a parachute and it has sleeping syrup in it. Haymitch is helping her fool Peeta. She feeds him the syrup and he's out like a light. And the Capitol being as they are, end the viewing there. They are forcing us to wait another day to see if she can survive the feast. They're horrible. The game makers are just horrible people.

Gale rises from his seat the second the screen goes dark. He grabs the basket and a sleepy Posy before turning to me and whispering "See you tonight." And like that he's gone. He doesn't even wait for my response. I suppose it's easier this way. I rise from my own chair just in time to see Tripp walking up to greet me.

"Shall we?" He asks as he gestures in the general direction of his house.

I force a small laugh and put on a smile. "We shall." is all I say as we make our way across the square to his house.

A/N: I want to thank all of my readers-you guys are the best ever! I received notification today that I've been nominated for the Energize W.I.P. Award for "Most Promising Hunger Games FanFiction"! I am beyond thrilled and over the moon about this! Being fairly new to this whole Fanfiction world, I didn't even know awards existed. Thank you to whoever nominated me-I am so honored! Voting begins on July 13th and you can place your vote by going to www*energizewipawards*blogspot*com/2011/09/nominees