A/N: Well, here's yet another chapter. This time it's the three-legged race. Hope you enjoy! And don't hold back from saying you do! Reviews are encouraged, but not forced...yet. Lol. Jk XD
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.
Chapter 21: Three-Legged Race~
After the sack race incident (and after a good stress-free ten minute break) Gale joined everyone back in the fields to play the next game. He had to say, his tolerance was waning. But his determination wasn't. If anything, it was only getting stronger...well, at least stronger than Cato's. Because...well...it had to be.
Erm, anyway, all of the teams from the last game (that still wanted to play after Gale crushed them, of course) lined back up to the same spot they had used for the sack race. Enobaria went along the line, securing a length of rope to each team's feet. Great, Gale thought. The three-legged race. She came to stand in front of Gale and Johanna, bending down to tie their feet together.
He tried to ignore the little ball of cockiness standing next to him, but he swore, one more blown bubble and he was gonna-
POP!
-never mind.
Enobaria moved onto the next team, and Gale sighed. Heavily.
Johanna snorted beside him. "You're not losing steam now, are you, Sport?"
He snorted in return. "Pfft. Of course not."
She snorted again, louder this time, in competition with his previous snort. "Pfft," she mimicked. "Course not-"
Gale snorted, drowning out her snide remarks. Pausing in slight surprise, Johanna snorted, long and loud, trying to outdo him. Scoffing at her pathetic attempts to show him up, he snorted yet again, far louder than she. Standing tall, Johanna snorted so loud that it must have hurt her throat, and Gale, surprised, stayed silent. Smirking in triumph, she looked away, returning to her previous task of chewing her gum.
After letting her relish in her small victory, Gale decided enough was enough. Steeling his nose and throat, he inhaled deeply, and began to snort the loudest snort in all the-
"My GOD, STOP it!"
He turned to the source of the voice, finding an annoyed Foxface and flabbergasted Peeta. The red-haired girl immediately averted her gaze as soon as his eyes landed upon her, and Peeta could only look between she and Gale in embarrassment. He turned back to Johanna to find her smirking the widest smirk he had ever seen. He rolled his eyes.
Enobaria spoke. "Alright, everybody, time for the three-legged race! No pushing, shoving, or hitting, please." As a smart afterthought, she added, "Unless, of course, you just can't help yourself." She smiled wryly.
"Now; get ready,"
Gale and Johanna assumed their positions.
"get set,"
He could practically taste victory.
"GO!"
Gale stepped forward, dragging Johanna along with him.
And caused her to fall right on her face.
"Ow!" She said, kicking the ground as she stood back up, as though it were to blame. Seeing how far they were getting behind, Gale rushed her to her feet.
"Come on, let's go." He said urgently.
She waved him off. "Hey, I'll get up when I get up!"
Groaning, Gale tapped his foot as impatiently as a rabbit about fifty times before she finally got back on her feet. Thankful that she wasn't any slower, he tugged her along with him over to the halfway point, turned around, and stumbled along some more.
And then Johanna fell again.
"Are you kidding me?!" Gale practically shouted, ready to rip his hair out, rip her hair out.
"Hey! I'm trying my best!" Johanna barked back at him, ever so slowly standing back up.
Grumbling, he waited, his hands and feet fidgety as ever with the finish line so close.
…
…
…
A flash of brunette, a moment of blond, and Cato and Katniss were in the lead.
And Johanna was still on the ground.
No, no, no!
Looking hurriedly from Johanna to the two winning teammates, Gale made a decision. He'd go to Hell in a hand basket the day he let Cato win anything. And Johanna was too. Freaking. Slow. He was not going to walk a half-mile like some waddling retard with her tied to him, and he was certainly not going to spend all day doing it.
So, without further contemplation, Gale grabbed hold of Johanna and yanked her to her feet.
"Ow, hey!"
He ignored her complaints, instead focusing on the goal - the finish line. Wrapping his arms around her hips, Gale hoisted Johanna up to rest against his side, her free foot dangling in the air, earning a surprised and embarrassed yelp from the young fire-head.
"What the hell are you doing?!" She asked, panicked nails digging into the tops of his shoulders.
"Winning!"
Giving no further room for protest, Gale sped ahead of the other contestants, jogging in front of them at an increasing pace, Johanna's nails digging into his skin more and more all the while. He didn't care if he was cheating, or if he looked like a complete idiot holding Johanna like a two-year old, her tied down leg flopping uselessly beside his. He only cared about crossing that finish line.
With another quick burst of energy, Gale broke out into a full-on run, Johanna's dyed hair flopping in his eyes as he passed Cato and Katniss, and, finally, the finish line. Feeling the adrenaline rush of victory sweep over his body, Gale skidded to a halt, letting out a huge sigh as he evened out his breathing and dropped his teammate with all the grace of a sack of potatoes. He was almost immediately punched in the shoulder. Hard.
"You asshole!" Johanna hissed. "I can't believe you pulled that stunt! I-" She paused abruptly, her eyes widening as though just coming to a horrible realization, and Gale almost felt compelled to ask her what was wrong.
Almost.
He waited for her to finish what she had to say, honestly not caring whether she was mad or not. She stood beside him for another second before regaining her previous composure and resuming her verbal beating.
"I just swallowed my gum! You made me swallow my gum!" She said, voice rising in anger with every word.
And then, without further ado, she hit Gale again, even harder than before.
"Ow!" he fake-yelped, hoping it would satisfy her. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite so lucky.
"That's going to be in my stomach for seven years!" she shouted, punching him again in his already tender shoulder.
Gale braced himself for the last hit, but it never came. He watched in amusement as Johanna retracted her outstretched arm and brought it back down to her side, her livid expression swiped off her face faster than...well, anything Gale had ever seen.
"Congratulations," Enobaria smiled as she walked up to them, looking at Johanna in warning. "You've won."
Beside him, Gale's partner's mouth fell open. "WHAT?!"
"Yep."
"But...but that's against the rules!"
"Um, no. What I said was: no pushing, shoving, or hitting. Mr. Hawthorne didn't do any of those things."
Johanna's mouth opened and closed like a fish, and Gale couldn't have been more happy in that moment. Unable to find anything wrong with his tactics for unrivaled victory, she shut her mouth and crossed her arms, huffing hotly.
Enobaria ignored her daughter's antics, hiding a smile as she bent down to untie their feet. Gale spotted Katniss and Cato a few yards away, standing under a tree, still happily tied together. He looked away, unable to bear the sight of such a disgusting display.
Yuck.
"I'll go get your prize." Enobaria said, walking off with the pieces of rope she had collected from the other contestants.
Johanna watched intently as her mother trotted off, and as soon as she was a safe distance away from them, she hit Gale yet again.
"Ow, what the hell?!"
She scowled. "Don't ever do that again."
Gale rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
Enobaria came back, much faster this time, and handed he and Johanna a pack of Twizzlers. Sighing, Gale ripped open the plastic and stuffed the wrapper in his pocket. He'd had a pretty crazy day today, and he wasn't about to get hacked on for something as stupid littering. He lifted the red licorice to his mouth, eager for a treat after all his hard work, when it was none too nicely snatched away by his teammate.
"The heck was that for?"
She raised the candy to her mouth, ripping off a good portion of it with her savage-like teeth. "I did half the work, I get half the spoils."
Gale gaped at her. "W-what?! I did all the work!"
She shrugged. "Fine, then. I get half for pain and suffering."
"Pain and suffering?! You didn't even-"
"I swallowed my gum."
"Ugh, whatever. You know what? I'm not even gonna argue." He threw his hands up.
"Good." Johanna took another bite of his- their Twizzler before handing it back to him.
Gale inspected it, disgusted with the trail of saliva running down the edges.
You know what?
Forget the candy.
"Here," he said dejectedly, handing it back to her. "Keep it."
Smiling all too innocently, Johanna gracefully took the licorice back. "Thank you."
It was then that Gale realized this was her plan all along, to act like she didn't want it so she could gross him out and steal his spoils. But whatever. He didn't have the energy to fight with her over the matter. And frankly, he wasn't in the mood, either.
But then again, he couldn't think of a single scenario where he would be in the mood to deal with Johanna freaking Mason.
A/N: Man, Johanna's really wearing on Gale's nerves, isn't she? XD
The three-legged race thing actually happened and is based on fact from one of my experiences at my family reunion. The girl I was paired with was really slow and kept falling down, so I helped her up and carried her to the finish line. *Sigh* good times XD
Anyway, feel free to leave a review. I really love them- er, YOU! I mean you! I love you for writing it...And them. You know...for being there ^^;
I'm trying to decide what I should do after this, like what story I should write. I've got a ton of ideas but they're all for a ton of different fandoms, and I'm not sure where to start D: I'm sure I'll settle on something, though. I'm thinking of choosing a set of stories and setting up a poll for which ones people think I should start on, but idk.
Anyway, thanks for the views, reads, skims, reviews, follows, and favorites. They mean far more than I am able to express on this site. Lol :D
'Til next time!