Katniss walked across campus to an organic vegetable garden situated on the southeast side of campus. Panem University students tended to the plants oblivious to another student wandering the field. Unzipping her backpack, Katniss pulled out her collapsable bow and collapsable arrows. They were more for archery practice than for real competition or hunting. Focusing on a wooden stake in the ground, she aimed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! KATNISS!" Prim screamed as an arrow whizzed past her. She and Rue stood up while brushing soil off their shorts and shirts.
"Those better not be good clothes you wear to class!" Katniss reprimanded automatically.
"They're not!" Prim responded rolling her eyes. "And you scared away our butterfly!"
"Your butterfly." Rue pointed out. "I'm doing research here!" Her intro to agricultural sciences instructor was the principal investigator for the project and hired Rue as a research assistant for three hours a week for 2 credits. Katniss rolled her eyes at the girls' exchange while walking toward the wooden stake in the ground to retrieve her arrow.
"Hey! Don't move that – really, Catnip?" Gale groaned approaching the field, his orange construction vest open revealing his tan pecs and abs. His jeans were slung low pulled down by his utility belt. Several female students looked up from their plant tending to stare at him. In one motion, Gale pulled the arrow out of the stake. "Here ya go." Katniss folded the arrow and stuck it in her backpack.
"What are you building here, Gale?" Prim asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing yet." Gale said with an air of mystery. "Just doing some measuring." Walking up to Katniss, he bumped her with his hips. "So, whacha' doin' out here, Catnip? How do you always know where to stalk your sister?"
"Shut up, Gale!" Katniss replied smacking him in his washboard abs. "For your information, I looked on your schedule and saw you would be here." Prim and Rue exchanged glances knowing better than to tell Gale that Katniss paid Peeta a visit earlier. Prim helped Rue measure the acidity in the soil ignoring the sucking noises of Katniss and Gale's lips as they made out a few yards away. Soon, Gale went back to wandering the field measuring the spacing between certain wooden stakes.
After lunch, the girls went to central campus to attend their respective student organization meetings. After entering the Biomedical sciences building, Prim saw a girl with red hair go into a classroom. Recognizing her as Molly Fox, the microbiology student she met during orientation, Prim followed her.
"Oh hey." Molly said smiling.
"Hi." Prim replied eagerly. "Are you here for the premed club?" Molly nodded eagerly. About twenty-five other students were in the room. As Prim chose a seat in the front row, Atala walked into the room.
"Good afternoon, future doctors!" She announced as several students cheered. "And welcome freshmen!" She smiled at Prim. "For those of you that don't know, I'm the graduate advisor for this clug. Today we're going to talk about our speaker lineup. We usually pick a mix of doctors who give us a glimpse into their practice, faculty researchers that discuss advances in biomedical research, and medical students from Denver to tell us how they got accepted to their school."
"My mom knows a lot about herbal remedies for things." Prim pointed out. "Will we have any speakers related to complimentary medicine?" Atala raised her eyebrows.
"Would that be something you would like to head up?" Atala asked as the eager freshman nodded. She smiled as Prim added notes to her iPad.
Meanwhile, Rue was in the Agricultural Research club meeting watching Jo draw a pine tree on the whiteboard of the classroom. About fifteen other students were in the room. "Girl, you're always drawing trees on the board when I come in!" The group of students laughed as a tall dark-skinned girl with long black cornrowed hair came in.
"Um, excuse me, that's my major!" Jo huffed playfully before the two girls laughed.
"Hey, for all you new people, I'm Seeder, yeah, my parents somehow knew I'd be a PhD student in the soil and crop sciences." Everyone laughed. "I'm from Georgia. Anyone else from Georgia or the south?"
"Me!" Rue piped up. "My folks run a peach farm about one hour North of Fort Benning." Seeder smiled.
"We'll certainly have to talk more. Who is already involved in a research project?" Rue raised her hand thinking about working in the organic garden earlier that day. "Way to go!" The group discussed club activities such as volunteering at a community garden, hearing various speakers, and helping the Agriculture Department host their yearly conference. "That is really cool because you can network with tons of other researchers from all over and ask them about their research and their grad schools."
At 5pm, Rue and Prim walked to Katniss and Gale's place as Gale had promised them he would grill dinner. "So, how was ag club?" Prim asked eagerly.
"Good. They have the hook up for research projects and for grad school connections!" Rue gushed. "Ok, I'm a nerd." Prim giggled.
"Um, I'm a nerd too! Our advisor told us that basically, the premed club provides tons of activities and stuff to help you get into medical school."
"Plus, it's cool to be with fellow nerds, ya know?" Rue asked as Prim giggled.
"How were your nerd clubs, girls?" Katniss asked opening the door to her and Gale's place.
"Nerdy, duh!" Prim quipped as Rue giggled. "Where's Gale?" She asked not seeing Gale strutting around the one bedroom apartment or hearing his loud grunting.
"In the courtyard. He's using one of the grill pits." Katniss explained. "While I - oh crap, I forgot to cut veggies!"
"We can help." Prim offered as she got the cutting board from the cabinet. The girls were soon washing bell peppers, carrots, and onions.
"Ooo, we're doing kabobs!" Rue squealed noticing the package of bamboo skewers. "Let's do the onions first so we get those out of the way." To distract themselves from the strong onion stench, Rue and Prim told Katniss about their club meetings.
"Well, definitely nerdy." Katniss said rubbing her eyes on her sleeve. "You guys need some fun activities too. I know you're both ultra nerds, but seriously, relax some. College isn't all about getting into med school," She gave her sister a significant look, "Or grad school."
"We know." Prim replied. "I just thought I'd pick my academic activities first." Katniss nodded. "I may or may not have learned from someone who nearly failed her wildlife management class because she was in archery, wilderness survival, and baking club."
"PRIM!" Katniss yelped before lobbing a piece of onion at her giggling sister.
"Baking club?" Rue asked wondering how that club fit in with the adventure/wilderness theme. "Oh - right - your Peeta was in that?"
"Yeah, Breadboy nearly made her fail." Gale replied opening the door and dropping a bag of bbq coal on the tile in front of the door.
"GALE! That will stain the carpet!" Katniss yelped. "Keep that outside!"
"It's gonna stay near the door, Catnip!" Gale replied somewhat tersely before pulling his shirt off and wiping his face. "Now are ya gonna bring those vegetables and sticks down here or not?"
"We're gonna, geez, Gale!" Katniss muttered.
"I was sweatin' over that grill out there!" Gale said. "And I only burnt my fingers twice."
"Gale!" Prim gasped. "Let me see! Did it break the skin?"
"Prim, you only went to one premed meeting, you're not a doctor yet!" Katniss teased.
"Shut up, Katniss, he shouldn't let that get infected."
"Nah, I'm alright, Prim." Gale chuckled. "We'll tell you about the fun clubs: archery, ultimate frisbee, the Panem University talent show, archery -"
"Um, you said archery twice." Rue pointed out as she helped Prim and Katniss carry three bowls of diced vegetables to the courtyard grill.
"So?" Katniss said. "I'm going to at least try to teach you two." The two girls giggled. "Maybe after dinner. Gale, can we take our stuff to the intramural sports fields?"
"Why there?" Gale groaned. "I'll have to pack it in the car."
"I don't want these two shooting out our neighbor's windows!" Katniss replied.
"Fine." Gale muttered. "Let's just grill this meat already and eat dinner."