Chapter 42

I've been in a pissy mood all evening. My family sees it and they stay out of my way for the most part. This crap with Madge and Tripp and then Katniss being so stupid. I need to get it together though. I don't want to waste what time I have with Madge later being angry. I'm not mad at Madge herself, just sick of the situation. I'm not angry she went to dinner with Tripp. It's honestly the best chance she'll have to talk to Lily which gets us one step closer to being done with all of this. I know to Madge it isn't a date. To Tripp though, he full on thinks it is, even though she's telling him it isn't. He's scheming and I know it. He's making his move right now. He's spending time with her, getting to know her, worming his way into her life. And he's gonna gloat about it. He already had been gloating by asking her over for dinner right in front of me. He could've asked her this morning. He could've caught her in the hall. No, he had to ask in front of me knowing full well there wasn't shit I could do about it. I couldn't watch her go this evening, didn't even wait for her to say goodbye to me really. I just had to leave.

And Katniss. Freaking Katniss has lost her mind. Go to the feast? And not even for her own needs but for some townie tribute's medicine? What is wrong with her? Does she not know that I need her to come back? That Prim needs her to come back? It's like she forgot what her priorities were. She's cuddled up kissing Mellark when she needs to be focusing. She's blowing her chances and for what? A few kisses? Kisses of some guy she barely knows, who by the way is on his deathbed? If she somehow manages to still make it back home I'm going to first hug her neck like I never have before and then I'm gonna wring it like I want to right now.

I need to get out of here. I need a goods dose of time alone with Madge. When it's just me and her, I feel calm. I feel like everything's as it should be. I'm antsy as hell right now trying to make the time pass until I can meet her. I already folded all my mother's laundry order, chopped wood for the stove and washed all the dishes. There isn't a thing left to do in this house. I decide to head to the meadow and try to chill out before we meet up at midnight but once I get to the meadow I decide to just go ahead and sit behind the shed. I can sit here undetected and this way I can close my eyes and maybe relax before Madge comes out. I lean back against the rotting wood and close my eyes. I must drift off because when I open my eyes again I find Madge in the grass next to me, head on my lap. I can't believe I didn't hear her walk up. I'm a self-proclaimed skilled hunter and some girl manages to sneak up on me? Geez, I must be more out of sorts than I thought I was.

"Hey sleepy head." She whispers when she realizes I've woken up.

"How long was I asleep? Have you been waiting long?"

"You were asleep when I got here two hours ago. You looked so peaceful that I couldn't bare the thought of waking you."

"So you just sat here waiting while I wasted our time together?" I cannot believe I just lost two whole hours with her.

"No Gale. I laid here with you. I relaxed and enjoyed watching you rest. It wasn't time wasted. It was time together, even if you weren't aware of it."

"Well, c'mon then. Time's a wasting. Let's get out of here." I say with a smile and a stroke of my hand through her hair. She's so perfect; I just love this girl so much. It takes next to nothing to make her happy. She just enjoyed watching me sleep.

We quickly reach our usual spot in the safety of the woods and I waste no time before pulling her into my arms and kissing her. I kiss her hard, with everything I have and when I pull back I tell her breathlessly "I am so sorry that I was in such a bad mood today, all day. I'm sorry I didn't let you say goodbye to me at the viewing and I'm sorry I fell asleep waiting for you."

She laughs and pulls me to the ground so we can sit. I lean against a tree trunk and she doesn't hesitate to curl up in my lap, leaning her head against my chest as she does.

"Do you want to hear about Lily?" She asks after getting situated.

"Yes." I say kissing the top of her head. I actually do want to hear about it. I hope she made progress and got some of the answers we're looking for.

"Well, she and I were able to be alone and talk in private. She said my mother's fear was that I would be reaped and die in the games like her sister Maysilee did. I was the reason she was afraid Gale."

"No. the Capitol is the reason she was afraid. They are the ones who taught her how it felt to have a loved one taken from you too soon."

"I know that I guess but I still feel guilty. Apparently she had been very depressed when her sister died and some doctor in thee Capitol helped her move passed that and then she had me and I sort of tore the scab off that wound and made her sad all over again."

"But hey, we got an answer, right? We know what she was so afraid of now."

"True-she was afraid I would be reaped, but okay, what now?"

"Well, we have to figure out what it was that she did to ensure you wouldn't be reaped. What plan could she come up with that keeps you safe?"

"I don't know. Everyone gets their name put into the reaping. That's the only way it works. I've never heard of anyone getting around that. I mean, it's a Capitol rule. How do you get around the Capitol?"

"I don't know. Well, who puts the names into the bowl on reaping day? Who is it that counts them?"

"The Capitol sends a game maker official. He does it."

"Hmmm, well who keeps a tally? How do they keep up with how many times a person's name is supposed to go into the bowl?"

"My father has a master list. It tracks every child in the district. But he gets the list from the Capitol directly. They send it every month after the tesserae is taken out."

"Madge, you need to get your hands on that list. We need to see what's next to your name. We need to see how many times your name is being put in."

"I don't know where they keep the lists. I wouldn't know where to look."

"Madge, you can do it. You can find the list. Start in his study, it has to be in there. Wait until he isn't home and just start looking. It's the next step." I tell her.

"Okay. I'll do my best." She tells me without sounding very confident.

"I wanted to tell you about Mrs. Everdeen too. I don't think it's a good time for us to talk to her. She's already not the most stable person, even worse so with Katniss gone and I don't want to upset her further."

"I understand. It was just a thought, you know, in case it didn't work out with Lily. But since it did, it's okay, we don't have to talk to her."

"Hey, you know Posy was so excited about the basket of vegetables you gave us that she went to sleep with an eggplant tucked under her arm. She refused to let go of it. She insisted that any vegetable that grew purple was a girl vegetable and must be specifically meant for her only." I change the subject because I want us to end on a positive topic and we're almost out of time for tonight.

"Oh my goodness! Seriously? That's so cute!" She says through a fit of laughter. Man I love hearing her laugh.

"I doubt she'll even eat it though. She seems so attached to it, like it's a toy or something. Poor kid won't know what hit her when the thing starts to rot." I say shaking my head and smiling.

We fill the last little bit of our time in the woods talking and laughing. By the time we're on the other side of the fence again, we're both happy and relaxed. I kiss her goodnight or goodbye, whichever you'd call it and watch her disappear back into her house. It feels good to have a smile plastered across my face for the first time since lunch. I head back home and manage to slip into bed before anyone in my family wakes up.

The next day Posy wakes me by dragging an old, worn ribbon across my face, tickling my nose.

"Gale, momma said you needa get up. And I need you to fix my bow." She says as soon as my eyes open. Her tiny hand holds out the tattered ribbon for me. I take it but when I go to tie it in her hair she wriggles away and says "No silly, not in my hair! My eggplant needs it." And with that she holds out her precious purple vegetable. I smile and choke back the laugh that forms in my throat as I tie the ribbon around the eggplant. She smiles and bounces herself off my bed and scrambles out to the kitchen.

I climb out of bed and get dressed. The rest of my family is already up and eating breakfast. My mother hands me a bowl as soon as I enter the room.

"You're going to be late if you don't hurry." She warns. The glance she gives me says more though. I know she's aware I'm still staying out with Madge all night. She probably won't say anything else to me about it but that doesn't mean she isn't still opposed to it. It's just one more reason why Madge and I need to be able to be a real couple. Once that happens we can have time together in the day and not have to sneak out all night just to see each other.

I scarf down my breakfast, grab my books and herd the kids out the door. As I enter the school I head towards the hallway where Madge's first class is. I know I can't really talk to her a whole lot right now but I just want to see her, to smile at her and get my day started off on the right foot. I'm just about halfway down the hall when I see her. She's smiling and holding a giant bouquet of sunflowers. And they aren't from me.