Katniss and the Rebels

Chapter 28: Short and Long Term Plans

AN: Hello again! This chapter isn't that long but trust me the next chapter will be very long and will have lots and lots in it so have no fear! Enjoy!

Peeta POV

I inwardly curse my school for its improper heating system as I reluctantly pull my woolly scarf from my neck and throw it into my locker.

This has to be one of the coldest winters we've had in the past few years and it's only the first week of December.

I don't necessarily mind the winter, I like sketching the children who play happily in the snow, I live for the two weeks holidays at the end of December and I especially like the way Katniss looks with her hair hidden under her dark green hat that protects her ears from the cold.

What I hate is that my principal is a cheapskate who would rather see the students suffer than install heaters in the classrooms and hallways.

"Peet? Peeta? Are you even listening to me?"

"Yes Finnick, you were talking about how excited you are for the new Marvel movie. I remember."

"We need to see it ASAP Peet."

I shut my locker and shrug, "We can see it for my birthday if you want, seeing as you keep insisting that I have to do something for it."

Finnick scoffs, "You're about to turn 18! This needs to be celebrated with more than just our regular trips to the cinema. We need to have a party!"

I raise an eyebrow, "I don't want a party."

"Tough."

"I would never be allowed have a party. Or if I were allowed, my mother would forbid half my friends from attending, including you."

Finnick smirks, "I thought about that so I asked if you could have the party at my house."

My eyes widen, "Finnick, you shouldn't have."

"Probably not but it's too late now. Anyway they said yes, so this Saturday we are having a big blowout party for you and you're just going to have to accept it and pretend to have a great time."

Finnick is grinning widely and something tells me he has been planning this for a lot longer than he's letting on.

"Okay" I reluctantly agree "Sure, why not? Thanks Finn."

Wiggling his eyebrows, Finnick replies "What are best friends for?"

Gale POV

I've always had my life planned out.

Ever since my father died, I wanted my life to mean something.

I knew what I wanted to do and I was determined to do it, no matter what.

I was going to stick with my friends, provide for my family, work as hard as I could before heading west for college after graduation.

There I would make something of myself, I would make my father proud.

I would achieve everything he wanted me to and nothing was going to get in the way of that.

However, life has a way of throwing curveballs into your life at just the right moment to throw your whole world upside down.

Turning down the record deal of a lifetime had certainly not been in my plan.

Achieving almost enough grades to go to college in California was not the plan. I get good grades, just apparently not good enough according to my teachers.

Watching Katniss slowly fall in love with someone took me by surprise. Especially when that someone turned out to be Peeta.

I didn't expect to say hello to people like Delly Cartright almost every day or that boys as intimidating as Thresh would compliment me on my singing because Katniss showed them a video from practise one day.

Though I think the most unexpected turn of events was when I realised that I might like Madge Undersee.

But I can't dwell on that.

I'm still struggling with whether I like her as more than a friend or not.

If I dwell on it, I might do something stupid like tell her how I feel.

No, I think it's a much better idea to keep that piece of information in a box, in the back of my mind for now.

If I have to spend every day trying not to notice the way her blonde hair looks as she pulls it into a loose ponytail in the middle of class, then I will.

I won't notice that the perfume she wears smells faintly like roses and blueberries or the way she bites her lip when she's unsure of something.

I certainly will pay attention in class and not distract myself with how her voice sounded when she whispered my name in Biology to ask if she could borrow a pen.

Okay, maybe I might like her as more than a friend after all.

But I'm not stupid.

Even if Madge did like me like that, school ends in a number of months.

We'll likely never see each other again once high school comes to an end.

It's probably best to pretend that everything is normal.

Because while this could be the best of my life's recent plot twists, it also holds the potential for the most pain.

"Gale?"

I snap out of my self-pity to find the classroom empty and Madge standing in front of my desk, a quizzical expression on her face.

"Gale? Class ended five minutes ago. Come on, it's lunchtime and I'm hungry."

I blink three times before hurriedly shoving all of my belongings into my bag and muttering my apologies.

"Its fine, don't worry about it." Madge smiles brightly at me and I stand.

"Thanks" I swallow "Come on, I want to find out what this news is that half the year has been gossiping about."

I certainly don't notice how close we are as Madge and I walk to the cafeteria.

"Oh didn't you hear? Finnick is throwing Peeta a birthday party on Saturday. It was only arranged this morning but everyone is talking about it. Peeta's sick of it already." Madge laughs lightly and I smile.

"Poor guy, Katniss should be just as enthusiastic. She just adores parties."

Madge snorts, "Oh I remember."

When we reach our table Finnick, Peeta and their gang have joined ours and the conversation is alive with ideas for the party.

"Oh Gale! We were wondering if you'd play at the party Saturday night."

I raise an eyebrow and sit down as Finnick stares eagerly at me.

"Emm I don't know if you'd want that"

"Why not?"

"We don't exactly do…party music."

In the back of my mind I imagine Finnick, Thresh and Peeta drunkenly trying to dance to one of the Rebels' slower songs and I cringe.

"You wouldn't have to play the whole night." Delly intervenes "Maybe an hour or two? Later in the evening. You could just bring your guitar."

The second eyebrow joins the first and I hope my expression is enough for Delly Cartwright to know that I am not putting my guitar at the mercy of reckless, drunk teenagers.

"Maybe" Thom agrees, offering me an understanding nod.

While the others chat about the party, I focus on my food and try to tune the others out.

I succeeded enough to eat most of my lunch until I feel someone's elbow nudge my arm.

I turn and frown at Madge whose face is masked with a look of pure innocence,

"I think you should play at the party you know."

Swallowing my food as subtly as I can, I turn to her, "Oh really?"

Madge smiles, "Yeah, I'd love to hear you play in person. I bet you're amazing."

I vaguely hear a snort from across the table that sounds faintly like Darius but I ignore it.

"I don't know about that." I shrug "I just play guitar mostly and sing a bit. Thom and Katniss do most of the writing."

"Still. I tried to play the guitar when I was younger but I sucked at it."

I laugh, "How can anyone be bad at guitar, you just learn the chords?"

Madge groans, "I know! I just couldn't keep up with the other kids in the class and I could never memorise the chords so after two years my father pulled me out of guitar lessons and pushed me into ballet instead."

"Ballet?" I unconsciously grin too wide as I imagine Madge as a ballerina. Wearing one of those pink tutus, a real one not a make-shift one that Posy used to wear when she was younger, and matching pale pink ballet shoes. Madge's long, wavy blonde hair pulled into a bun as she danced and bounced effortlessly and elegantly around a stage.

Madge blushes, "Yeah. I started when I was nine and I've been doing it ever since."

"Wow, that's impressive."

"Oh shut up." Madge mutters and looks away

"No, I mean it! I imagine it takes a lot of work. I mean…I know absolutely nothing about ballet but it sounds difficult."

"It is but I enjoy it." Madge's eyes meet mine again and they hold a spark that I've never seen before as she talks about her passion. Her blue eyes have brightened somehow and it takes all I have not to let myself get lost in them. "We have a recital in spring, you can come if you'd like but it would probably bore you."

I shake my head, "Don't be ridiculous. Course I'd want to go."

"What? Really?" Genuine shock laces her voice and I realise that Madge possibly has nobody who would offer to go to these things with her. I've only seen her hang out with Katniss in school and Katniss is the last person who would turn up at a ballet recital.

I nod and smile, "Really. Just remind me closer to the time and you can tell me all about it then."

"Eh…yeah of course. Thanks Gale"

The bell sings not a moment later and against my will, Katniss is dragging him to our next class.

It takes everything in me not to look back at the pale blonde with the uncontrollable grin on her face.

Darius POV

The bell rings at the end of lunch and as everyone in the cafeteria stands and heads to class, I walk over to Thom.

"What do we have now?"

Thom frowns, "Math? I think?"

I groan, "Can't we just skip it Thom?"

Thom laughs, "Nope, not happening."

I pout, "Not even for me?"

Thom shakes his head, "Definitely not for you, now come on."

Our math classroom is on the opposite side of the school but Thom and I still walk slowly.

"Strange how our group seems to have grown over the past few months isn't it?"

Slinging my arm lazily over Thom's shoulder, I contemplate his words.

He's right. For the past few weeks our usual group of the Rebels ad Madge has been joined by Peeta and his group of friends.

I don't particularly mind it, we all still only really talk to our own group members anyway but I'm just afraid for Katniss. If she's making friends with Peeta's friends and they break up, it'll be hard on her when they start distancing themselves from her.

"Yeah it has."

"Peeta's nice enough though" Thom says hesitantly

I nod, "Yeah…yeah he seems good for her."

"He looks at her like she's his whole world, he's like a lost puppy." Thom grins.

"Oh he does!" I agree "But that shows he cares so…"

"Yeah that's true."

"You know who else has been looking like a lost puppy these days?"

Thom eyes widen, "Wha-who?"

I smirk, "Gale"

Thom laughs, somewhat nervously, "It hasn't just been me who noticed then?"

"Yes! Oh my god! He never stops staring at her!"

"And she never stops taking glances at him."

"Madge though!" I say "It's mad! I mean she's lovely but I just never thought of them together…"

"I know what you mean. They'd be good together though. If only one of them would make a move."

Thom's careless words cause a spark to ignite in my brain.

"What if we…give them a little push?" I offer slyly

From the corner of my eye, I see creases forming on Thom's forehead and I ignore the itch to gently rub them away.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…at this party that Finnick won't shut up about…what if we…got them together?"

"We are not forcing Gale and Madge to play spin the bottle Darie"

I bite back a grin at the nickname, "I wasn't talking about that-"

"Or 7 minutes in heaven."

"Or that! Would you listen for a moment?"

Thom slows down his pace and sighs, "Go on"

"Right well, here's the plan."

Bending down, I whisper the details of my idea into his ear and when I pull back, his face is thoughtful.

"Well?" I ask anxiously

Thom smirks, "The wannabe love-birds won't know what hit them."

I grin but before I can respond, Thom has grabbed my hand and is practically running through the halls.

"Come on! We're almost ten minutes late for class!"

I laugh as I realise we had been the only ones in the hallways for the past five minutes.

I guess I hadn't noticed.

AN: Okay so I might be shipping a ship in this story that I certainly hadn't thought about putting together at the start of this story but now I may be changing my mind. Can you guess who?

Anyway as always please follow, favourite and review! It makes me write faster!

Thanks for reading!

xTeam Mockingjayx