Katniss and the Rebels
Chapter 20: James Heavensbee
AN: Apologises for the wait. I have the next chapter written I just need to type it up so hopefully it will be up next week. Thanks for being so amazing and patient with me. Believe me it hasn't gone unnoticed. Please follow, favourite and review. I know the reviewing takes effort but if you're a fellow fic writer you know how much the feedback is appreciated.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games trilogy or either of the songs mentioned in this chapter
Katniss POV
"Katniss you need to breathe."
"I am breathing Darius"
"Well do more of it, you look like you're going to pass out. You're practically singing the first song on your own, the last thing we need is for you to faint and ruin it for us."
I force Darius face the receiving end of my infamous scowl before asking
"Where's Gale and Thom?"
"Thom's setting up the drums and Gale's tuning the guitars"
"Shouldn't you be setting up the drums? Seeing as they're your instrument"
The smirk appears instantly on his face,
"Who was I to refuse such a generous offer from a friend? It would have been rude of me."
Rolling my eyes I cannot help but also be grateful for the others and their initiative.
I adore playing the guitar, it's one of the only distractions I have from the real world but tuning just gets on my nerves. It takes too long and I end up getting… a bit frustrated.
Cons of having a short fuse I suppose.
My eyes search the room and I cannot fight the butterflies flying around in my stomach.
If James is happy with us it could lead to a contract or a single or even just a contact we could get in touch with a few years down the line when we've improved a bit.
If he isn't impressed then we shall all be crushed and left feeling little else but hopelessness and overwhelming insecurity.
Along with the ability to keep my temper in check I also fail at masking my feelings as Darius soon picks up on my anxiousness.
"Katstar there's no need to be nervous you know the song inside out and you've been playing the second one for months now. You know the lyrics and you know the cords so you don't have to worry."
"I really think we should have picked a different song-"
Placing a firm hand on my shoulder the ginger boy looks at me and smiles sincerely,
"Katniss. The song is perfect, okay? You got this. We all do. We're gonna rock this."
Raising an eyebrow at his amusing yet heartfelt attempts at comforting me I return his smile."
His grin widens so much I can see the tip of his tongue poke out between a small gap of his teeth.
"Come along then Katstar let's check on our boys, make sure they're doing their jobs correctly."
Swinging a muscular arm around her slim shoulders Darius walks her across the bar where Gale and Thom sit without a care in the world.
Gale, his hair immaculate as always, I notice is wearing some of his best 'casual' clothes tonight as he fiddles with his guitar strings.
Thom beside him doesn't notice our arrival as he is occupies throwing two drumsticks in the air and catching them repeatedly.
Oh this should be good
I look up at Darius whose eyes have widened in sheer horror.
He releases me from his grip and storms forward. Never breaking eye contact with Thom, Darius snatches the drumsticks, his precious drumsticks from the air above their heads and says in a surprisingly low voice, "Mine."
Turning his back on the guilty looking Thom, Darius chooses to sit opposite Gale and I sit next to him.
We sit there in a comfortable silence, Gale tunes the instruments, unlike me Gale finds the necessary evil relaxing and not ridiculously annoying. Thom aimlessly scans the room and watches the people chat, gossip, eat and come and go from the quickly crowding bar. Darius has closed his eyes and appears to be on the brink of sleep while I reread and reread the lyrics of the song Gale and I are singing until my brain begins to throb.
"Can I get you guys anything?"
The familiar silence is shattered and the four of us look up to discover the person who interrupted us was none other than Leevy.
She stood in front of us, her usual welcoming smile on her somewhat tired face, her hair was tied back into a messy bun and I thought I caught sight of the end of a pen sticking out of it as she waved the little booklet at us.
We glanced at one another, silently asking each other if anybody's hungry.
I know I'm far too anxious to eat and I can tell Gale is the same.
Darius and Thom on the other hand order a burger and chips each.
Leevy scribbles their order down and cheerily wishes us well tonight before leaving us in the quiet once more.
The peace doesn't last long though as after a few minutes passes by Gale carefully places his guitar beside him and he speaks up for the first time in a timid, curious voice directed towards Thom and Darius, "How are you two not nervous?"
Darius and Thom look at each other for a few seconds before Darius gestures for Thom to speak first.
Coughing slightly Thom begins,
"Well... the way I see it is, if we get signed or a promise of something then it means everything for us will change. Our school, our family, everything. Whereas if we don't get it. Then we'll be undoubtedly disappointed but we'll have more time to improve ourselves and follow our original plan."
One of the underrated qualities about Thom is that he is admittedly quite wise and logical at times. He is probably the only one of us we can truly count on to be the reasonable one. Darius, Gale and I can rarely see past out own stubbornness.
We are drawn back into silence for the following moments. I catch Thom scratching behind the back of his ear as he looks away from Gale's gaze.
It takes him approximately five minutes before I hear Gale whisper,
"You're right."
Darius POV
Scoffing down my food, I'm soon interrupted by a man striding over to us.
He's tall, well dressed in a suit and tie for a moment I think the stranger may have come into the wrong bar or wrong part of town, wrong district for that matter. The man holds his head up high with the confidence of a man who knows something that nobody else in the world knows.
I'm not the only one of the group to notice the oncoming stranger. One by one the others look up to see what has caught the other's attention.
Gale's the last to look up and once he does his whole demeanour shifts. He stands to greet this unfamiliar man, his shoulders back and a pleasant, not too wide smile appears on his face.
When he comes closer Gale extends a hand forward and I'm almost shocked at how mannerly he is being, knowing Gale he probably had to practise it.
This other man however carried himself with natural pose and radiating confidence that seemed to come with ease. A grin was plastered across his face and if it had been just a little wider I would have called it a smirk.
I assumed this must be the legendary James which would explain Gale's attitude.
I'm proved correct once James shakes Gale's hand and Gale quickly introduces him to us after they exchange pleasantries.
"Guys this is Mr. Heavensbee, James this is Katniss, Thom and Darius."
I give a little wave when Gale points to me and James grins again.
"You can all call me James of course, it's lovely to meet you all at last."
He grabs a chair and sits beside Gale, clasping his hands together he takes a moment to analyse each of us one by one and I try and hold back a shiver and the rising uneasiness of the stranger's gaze.
"Well I have to say I'm anxious but also very excited to hear you guys preform. You..all look promising anyway. Hopefully you live up to the things Mr. Hawthorne here has told me about you."
"We hope so too." Katniss says sternly.
From the corner of my eye I catch Gale widening his eyes at her alarmingly which she notices too and quickly she amends herself using a smile and putting on her nice voice,
"It's lovely to meet you James, we hope you have a good time tonight no matter what happens."
The conversation continues.
It alternates from awkward to relaxed before quickly reverting back to awkward once more.
I try not to let myself get anxious. I remind myself of what Thom said to us an hour previous.
It was smart, right. He was right and we'd be clever to listen to him.
I know that.
So why won't my stomach unknot itself?
An hour after James Heavensbee's arrival Thom excuses himself for some air air.
Liking the idea of some breathing space I leave shortly after him.
Escaping the packed, stuffy bar I am welcomed by the brisk, cool air and can't help but be grateful for the change of scenery.
Spotting Thom a few metres away I make my way over to him. He leans against the smooth wall, one foot pressed firmly against the wall for balance while the other rests on the ground.
I stand beside him, my shoes announcing my presence against the gravel. Looking up and catching my gaze Thom unfolds his arms.
"Hey" I smile at him and Thom nods in greeting
"Needed to get away for a bit too?" He asks
"Yeah I mean was it just me or was there a tiny bit of tension in there?"
Shaking his head Thom sighed, "Wasn't just you, I don't know, there's something just feels-"
"Wrong?" I suggested.
Shrugging Thom replied, "We're probably just being suspicious"
"Yeah..."
Rubbing my hands together in an attempt to battle the cold I joke,
"And I thought I'd come out here and catch you indulging in your secret smoking habit."
Laughing Thom grins, "If only I could afford a secret smoking habit."
We stood there for the following moments before silently agreeing to return inside.
Both entering the overcrowded building with small smiles on their faces.
Katniss POV
I can still hear the audience, well not audience, more like a semi-large group of say over 50 people, cheering and clapping following my performance with Gale.
The crowd loved our duet of 'Bring me to Life' while they also adored the boys' cover of Fall Out Boy's 'I Don't Care'.
I had attempted to sway my eyes from watching James Heavensbee's expression during our performances.
Unfortunately I happened to catch it once or twice and in my opinion he seemed to enjoy them.
I try not to get my hopes up as I walk shakily down the steps, my legs apparently turned to jelly the moment I went 'on-stage'.
Gale squeezed my arm gently and grinned at me.
Sae soon led us out back and the fresh air was very much appreciated.
Thom, ever our chivalrous hero brought all our coats with him so we would not freeze.
It was unusually cold and bitter for this time of year yet I suppose it is quite late at night.
Sitting on the ancient wooden benches we pull our coats on without speaking a word.
It was not silent however as we could still distinctly hear the rambunctious chatter from insde the Hob.
We on the other hand had no such desperation to talk.
Thom was distracting himself by playing and picking at pieces of broken wood on the face of the bench.
Darius had his head tilted back and was staring up at the stars.
Gale and I just watched the others and smiled at one another.
"We've done ten times that setlist before in one night and we are all sitting here exhausted!" Gale remarks and I have to agree with him.
Our faces are all burning despite the cold, Darius is half-asleep while the only time I've ever seen Thom looked as bored (or perhaps it was also tiredness) was in math class.
"Well it's been a long week! School, friends, evil teachers etc. etc. we're all wrecked." Darius mutters defensibly
Thom's snigger is interrupted by the back door of the bar opening and James making his way towards us
"Well done kids! That was great!"
All of us automatically sat up straighter. Gale moved to peak, to thank him presumably but James was already in the midst of a speech,
"I had my doubts off course, as one most do in this business. And the first song wasn't what i expected at all but i was still impressed and it was still very good and then you guys pulled out that second song. Really showed the different genres and styles you could do, loved that!"
Pride swelled inside me and we all thanked him profusely
"Oh stop, stop now I just need to get back to the boss and the rest of the company who i will discuss more details with. But there could be a chance, very competitive market so nothing is ever certain but I'd be happy to recommend you guys."
More thank yous and words of gratitude were expressed while James stood there grinning, seemingly lapping it all up.
Eventually he insisted he must leave.
Shaking the boys' hands and unexpectedly kissing my cheek instead he left with a promise of getting in touch soon.
Nobody spoke for several moments. The noise from the bar was getting louder and louder as music had begun to play causing the locals to talk even louder.
We sit on those old, rickety, decaying benches.
Just four random, weird teenagers sitting in the bitter, cruel cold in sheer darkness doing nothing but stare at one another.
All of us reeling from the conversation that just occurred.
That lasts about ten minutes before for some reason, all at once we unanimously all burst into loud, echoing laughter.
AN: And that's it for another chapter!
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