A/N: The moment of truth! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.

Chapter thirteen: Education, pt. 2~

Katniss pulled away from his ear, but only just enough so she could look around without her face colliding with his.

"You see that table over there?" She asked, pointing discreetly at a table on the other side of the shelter.

Gale looked; it was filled with people like that 'Effie' person. He cringed.

"Yeah."

"Those are the Trinkets," she explained. "They're all..."

"Weird?" Gale suggested.

"...'Artistic'." She finished nicely.

She pointed at each member of the Trinket family. "That's Caesar, Effie's husband. And you've already met Aunt Effie,"

Of course, how could he forget?

Katniss continued. "And that's Seneca, their son. He's an artist." She said.

Gale looked at the remaining two people sitting at the Trinket table. "Well, what about them? How are they..."

Katniss looked to where he was gesturing, eyebrows lifting. "Oh, that's Cinna and his daughter Rue. Cinna's adopted. He's a very successful makeup artist," she clarified.

Gale looked down in thought. Okay. So the Trinkets were artists and consisted of Effie, Caesar, Seneca, Cinna, and Rue. Got it.

"What about them?" He asked, nodding in the direction of the table just behind the Trinkets.

Katniss followed his nod, cringing when her eyes landed on the family of interest. "Oh. Those are the Odairs."

Brow creased in confusion, Gale turned his head to be sure they were both talking about the same family. He immediately recognized the guy Johanna had been talking to earlier. Finnick, he believed. He turned back to Katniss.

"What's wrong them?"

She looked at him as though he couldn't have asked a dumber question.

"They're all models and sports jockies and they think they're better than everyone else." She poked at her cupcake with a fork. "Not to mention annoying..." she mumbled.

"Why? They seem perfectly fine to me," Gale said, turning to look at them again.

It was true. They looked...perfect.

"That's just because they're sitting next to the Trinkets," she said offhandedly, taking a bite of her vanilla cupcake.

Oh.

Gale looked back at her, resisting the rising chuckle he felt creeping up his throat at the sight of her stuffed cheeks.

"And, just to be sure, they are related to you. Right?"

She soured her face and rolled her eyes. "Please. They're stuck up and overbearing. Of course they're related to us. Do you think I would hang out with people like that on purpose?" She swallowed, exhaling in annoyance.

"Next family, please?"

Gale began to look around, stopping when he heard a boom of laughter from behind him.

"What about them?" He asked, throwing his head back in the direction of the laughs.

Gale wouldn't have done it, but Katniss had no problem in twisting around in her seat to take a good look at the family in question. She gave them a long, hard look, and Gale felt a creeping feeling of self consciousness the longer she stared, because anyone could easily catch them. He sighed in relief when she turned back around.

"Those are the Masons. Johanna belongs to them."

Gale inwardly cringed. He wished he wouldn't have asked.

Katniss continued in naming them off. "Clove and Marvel are her siblings, and Enobaria is their mother. Their father died a few years ago. They're all track runners and baseball stars. And...sport people."

"You mean athletes?" Gale chuckled.

Her cheeks reddened. "Yeah. That."

Gale looked around, eyes landing on the table in front of theirs.

"What's the deal with those guys?" He asked, gaze resting on Peeta, who was seated at the table across from he and Katniss.

Katniss looked beyond Prim's head to see who he was referring to. Her face instantly lightened.

"Oh, those are the Abernathy's. They're okay. You see that old guy?" She asked, pointing between Peeta and a blonde girl's head.

Gale leaned over to get a better look, his eyes landing on a rather sullen looking blond man.

"Yeah," he said.

"That's my uncle." She said.

Gale looked again. He wasn't sure if he would have told anyone that; he looked like a depressed, nasty old drunk. But, then again, he supposed that it wouldn't hurt if he only saw him once a year. Gale struggled with his reply, trying to find something nice to say.

"He looks..."

"He's an alcoholic." Katniss said, sparing him the effort. "He's been trying to quit since last year, so that's why he looks so awful." She held up a finger to point at them. "His name is Haymitch. And that's Peeta, and that's Glimmer."

"What about that one?" Gale asked, raising a hand to point at the redhead sitting next to Haymitch.

Katniss panickingly jerked his hand down, grabbing hold of his shoulder to bring him down to her level.

"Don't point, she hates that," she whispered to him. "That's Foxface. She's the only redhead in the family. She's really sensitive about it."

Gale pulled away and studied the girl's face. She did kind of look like a fox.

"Don't stare, either." Katniss admonished.

He averted his gaze, a question that had been waiting to be asked since ten minutes ago ready on his lips.

"...So how is Peeta not related to you?" He finally asked, crossing his arms on the table.

Katniss answered without hesitation. "He was the son of Haymitch's neighbors. His parents died in a car crash and with no one else to take care of him, Haymitch stepped in. He's kind of unofficially adopted."

Oh, great. A sob story. How was he supposed to compete with that?

"Oh..." was all he said.

They sat in silence, Gale contemplating Peeta, and Katniss no doubt thinking about how sorry she felt for the kid. Which only begged the other question: what about Cato?

"Well, what about Cato?" Gale asked, picking at a loose splinter in the wooden table.

"He's just the grandson of a family friend." Katniss replied. "Are you happy now?"

To be honest, no, Gale wasn't happy. In fact, he was less than happy. Why would he be happy? He just found out about two other men - make that one - in his best friend's life. He was no longer the center of attention. And Gale wasn't going to lie, he loved attention.

But this wasn't about that. It was about the fact that he was no longer the only one (besides their families, of course) in Katniss' life. When he thought about it he supposed it was really selfish of him to have so many other friends he could spend time with yet expect Katniss to have none, and even though she wouldn't say anything, she had to have wanted another friend besides him. He knew he would if he were her...well, actually if he were her then he would want whatever she wanted, because he would be her...er, never mind.

Anyway, if he were in Katniss' position, Gale would definitely want more friends. Simple as that. And he wanted Katniss to have more friends, too...just...not any of the ones here. But, rather than tell her that, he chose to do what best friends usually did when they had a disagreement.

He lied.

"Uh, yeah. I'm great," Gale smiled.

There was a moment where he thought she might have seen through his lie, but it was quickly dispelled when she shifted her gaze elsewhere. It was then that he noticed Prim on the other side of the table, smiling knowingly at him. Gale swallowed, even though he had nothing in his mouth.

Just then, Rory came prancing up to their table, taking a seat next to Prim, plate piled with exquisite looking homemade desserts. Rather than reprimand him, Gale just shook his head and took another bite of his burger.

"Hey, dufus, you got something on your chin." Rory said through chewed food.

Gale attempted to look down at his chin, moving a finger up to wipe it off (whatever 'it' was).

"No, no," Rory said, waving a hand sideways. "your third one."

Gale looked up at his little brother, face blank with disbelief and shock.

He only hoped that he could make it through the rest of the day.

A/N: Yep, so there you have it. Perfectly believable, right? :D Right? :) ...Right? :| Am I right?! :(

Lol.

Anyway, now that lunch is over the real fun can begin! I'll try and have a chapter up real soon ;)

'Til next time.