The second time I woke up that day went better than the first. Since Dad told me the news, I knew what to expect when Mom called me down for breakfast. Pane was tearing apart the couch looking for a dinosaur, and Mom was cooking.

"Ivy, Pane? Come sit at the table please," Mom called to us. I helped Pane put the couch cushions back in order and then followed him to the dining room. A minute or so into us eating, Mom put her fork down and said, "So guys, Dad wanted me to talk to you guys about something".

I looked up from my plate, but Pane kept plowing through. Mom sighed and said "I know we said we'd meet Gale on Sunday, but Rory's birthday is on Saturday, which means he'll be at the festival."

Now Pane looked up. "But that's my birthday!" he exclaimed immediately.

"I know, honey. That's why we've decided that on Saturday when we see him, we're going to wait to talk about the serious things and try to have a good time. Only small talk aloud okay? We want you to have a good day" she told him.

He stared at her for a few seconds and then relaxed and said "Okay, only if you guys don't fight. When you guys fight it kills the fun". He got back to eating. He barely even cared!

Mom turned her attention to me. "Now Ivy, Dad told me what you said to him yesterday, and that you weren't too pleased. Firstly, you need to watch your attitude around him- we are both in charge. And secondly, no behavior around Gale that will bring up serious conversation is wanted- alright?" she said sternly. She was giving me the look that said "you don't know what I've been willing to do in the past" that scared the hell out of me. But also, I didn't like her plan. But she didn't have to know that!

I looked up and took a big breath as if I was thinking. Then I looked at her and said "You can tell Dad I'm sorry about that. It was early and I was angry and I had just woken up- but of course I get it. Just small talk."

She looked at me a little suspiciously, but I held my own until her face softened. Then she said "You can tell Dad yourself. He needs some help with the cake for the festival and Pane can't see it. Can you go down to the bakery and help him?" she asked.

Oh, great. Now I have to pretend I'm sorry to Dad, who's way harder to lie to than Mom. But she thought I was fine, so I couldn't say no. "Yah, sure I can do that" I said and picked back up my fork.

I tried to have a slow breakfast, but eventually it ended. Mom braided my hair, I got dressed, and went down to the bakery. I entered through the front and found Dad talking to Uncle Haymitch. When they saw me come in, Dad lowered his voice and shushed Uncle Haymitch.

Uncle Haymitch turned and saw me. "What, does she not know? She'll find out soon enough", he said.

"Yes, yes she knows. But I'm done discussing this alright? You will play nice tomorrow, right?" Dad asked him.

So he was filling him in on the Gale situation, huh? Haymitch always joined us at the festival since he was family.

"Well I've got no beef with him! I'll play nice, I don't have anything mean to say, but why aren't you getting rid of the tension and just talking about it for ten minutes? Ivy, what do you think? Shouldn't they just talk to Gale during the party?" he turned to me.

Here we go. I did my same move as before. "Actually I did think that, but I've been thinking and I don't know, Daddy is right." I threw in a 'Daddy' for good measure, he loved when I still called him that. And I usually do it half the time. "It might be a little awkward, but the day is about Pane. And whoever else's birthday it is. I bet we can wait until Sunday" I said, trying to sound confident.

Uncle Haymitch threw up his hands and said, "Alright, alright. It's your decision, I'll stay out of it. See you guys then", he said. He grabbed his stuff and left. Once he was out the door. Dad sighed a little and went back to the kitchen. I followed him to the ovens and put on an apron.

"So you're going to help with the cake?" Dad asked as he pulled out a tub of icing.

"Yah. Pane can't, and it's been awhile." We were both quiet for a minute, pulling cake out of the oven and getting our supplies out to ice the cakes. Then, I spoke out "Sorry about getting angry last night. I had just woken up, and-"

"Hey, it's alright. I'm glad you came around" he said. He kissed my hair as we walked past me to sit down. "Besides, you're a teenager. Yes you have an attitude, but you're still my princess" he smiled at me.

Ugh. I had the best Dad ever and here I was lying to him. But it's not my fault he and Mom made ridiculous rules! Haymitch was right, it'd take 10 minutes to talk about it, and then we wouldn't deal with awkward silences the whole night. So I powered through Dad's dad-ness.

I grabbed some tools and started to work on a tier of cake. Saturday was coming fast, but I was sure that confronting Gale was the right thing to do. Everyone else would just have to get on board with the idea.