Prim's alarm went off at exactly 7:00 am on the Saturday of the Homecoming game. "Priiiim!" Rue groaned under her covers. "The game isn't until 2:00 pm. Why are you up so early?"
"Our exams." Prim explained. "The professors had until 7:00 am this morning to post grades and now it's 7:02 am!" She reached for her iPad on her desk and logged in. "Hey, Rue, want to check your grades after me?" Rue muttered something as she rolled over and pulled the covers tighter over her head. Prim grinned and looked at her results:
Biology - A+
Biology lab - A+
Composition - A
Physics - A
Physics Lab - A
American Government - B+
"Not bad." Prim commented before logging off of the student website. Grinning, she texted Katniss using the messaging app on her iPad. Katniss! Guess what! I got A's on almost everything! She paused and waited for a response. Katniss? She texted five minutes later. Shrugging, she grabbed her phone and called her sister to share the good news.
"Katniss?" Peeta asked sleepily as his girlfriend burrowed under his covers. "Katniss? Your phone's going off."
"Ok." Katniss muttered before reaching over to Peeta's dresser to look at her phone. "It's Prim. She got A's on everything."
"She's your smartypants." Peeta replied before kissing her soundly before they were interrupted by loud pounding at the door.
"HEY PETE!" Cato yelled from the other side of the door. BANG BANG BANG! "HEY, PETE, COACH WANTS US AT THE FIELD BY 9 AM! WE'RE GRABBING BREAKFAST NOW!"
"Just a sec, Cato, don't come in here!" Peeta called knowing the frat president was known for barging into his fellow frat brothers' rooms. Katniss slid out of bed noiselessly and slipped on her usual tan cargo pants, forest green shirt, dark hiking boots, and brown jacket. "Babe, see you after the game."
"You'll do amazing! Go Eagles!" Katniss responded before kissing Peeta soundly. "Watch out, Cato! And that's creepy!" She yelped as she opened the door nearly hitting Cato in the face. Ooooh, Katniss? Prim's third text asked. Katniss sighed and hit the call button once she was out of the fraternity full of sleeping or hungover college guys. "Lil' duck, it's like 7:15 in the morning!" Katniss groaned.
"But aren't you up checking your grades? I called Mom already and left a voicemail. I think she's at work, but she can check it on her lunch break." Prim said happily as she pictured her mother's face upon listening to said voicemail. Her mother came out of her shell when Prim showed her a stellar report card or if they got to talking about alternative medicine.
"I'll check them after the game." Katniss said. "I'm heading home to fix Gale and I breakfast."
"Heading over from where?" Prim asked before her sister sighed in exasperation. "KATNISS! You stayed over at Peeta's didn't you?"
"Yes, and now your whole floor knows." Katniss groaned. "Prim, I'm proud that you got all A's."
"Well, I got a B+ in American Government -" Prim began.
"Basically an A. You're trying to get into medical school, not law school. Do Rue and your floor a favor and go to sleep, ok?"
"Ok. You and Gale coming at noon to get us?" Prim asked eagerly.
"Yes. Now go back to sleep, little duck. Love you."
"Love you too!" Prim hung up and lay back down grinning.
"Alright, since you got me up, do you want to get breakfast?" Rue groaned from her bed. Even so, the girls giggled and chatted quietly as they got ready for the morning. At Prim's instance, Rue checked her grades which were all A's. "Ok, we celebrate by eating doughnuts at the dinning hall!"
The girls' plans to go to the rec center after breakfast were temporarily thwarted by a mutual decision to return to the room to have a morning nap. Around 10:00, Rue launched her pillow at Prim so they would be early for Finnick's Zumba class. After the yoga class immediately following Zumba, the girls headed back to get ready for the Homecoming game.
Prim grinned at herself in the mirror as she changed into a red shirt with black lettering that read "Go Eagles!" The Panem Eagle was under the lettering and took up most of the shirt. She wove a red ribbon through her French braided hair. After checking the time on her phone, she glanced over at Rue who was behind her closet door.
"Nope." Rue declared before tossing a bright yellow skirt onto her bed. "How about - mmhis m - nope." A green skirt followed. "I swear I washed my red skirt somewhere!"
"Rue, you're wearing a skirt to the game?" Prim asked surprised.
"Girl, didn't you notice how many cute boys were at the game last time?" Rue asked incredulously before rolling her eyes at Prim's shrug. "Aw, never mind, you have Rory. Hey, who are we playing?"
"Air Force. Their colors are white and blue." Prim replied. Rue dug around in her closet some more before finding a short black denim skirt that flared out below the waist. "Ooh, that plus your leggings will look nice!" After Rue put her curly hair in a ponytail secured by a red ribbon, they went to the dorm's lobby where Katniss was waiting.
"Took you girls long enough. Gale's double-parked so we have to hurry." Katniss was in her usual cargo pants, and brown jacket with a Panem University t-shirt underneath. "Hey, babe!" She said cheerfully to Gale as the girls climbed into the back seat.
"I'm stopping for beer." Gale said as he gunned it out of the dorm's parking lot.
"They have beer at Foothills Stadium." Katniss pointed out.
"Yeah, $7.00 for half a red solo cup of watered down crappy light beer." Gale grumbled. "Game doesn't even start for two hours. We'll be fine."
"You don't want to grab good seats? We could see Peeta and the gang stretching and wave hi to them." Katniss suggested hopefully.
"You saw Peeta stretch his legs for you last night." Gale retorted oblivious to Katniss' fierce blushing and Rue and Prim's embarrassed giggles. They pulled into the liquor store conveniently located across the street from Campus and next to several blocks of apartments dedicated to off campus housing.
"Ok, girls, we're going to get beer. You guys get some sandwiches and sodas for yourselves at 7;11. We'll be over in a bit."
"Eating in the parking lot?" Prim asked curiously.
"No. We're not just 'eating in the parking lot.' We're tailgating!" Gale cheered before he and Katniss walked into the liquor store bickering about what type of beer they should buy.
"Right, Fat Tire for Katniss because she can't stand dark beer, and 1554 for me because I'm manly like that!" Gale proclaimed when Prim and Rue got into the back seat and sat next to the two six-packs of beer.
"Whatever, you used to sneak a PBR or two behind Sae's shop sometimes." Katniss replied remembering how she kept watch to warn Gale if her mother or Gale's mother looked out the window while Gale stole a few cans of beer from the cooler Haymitch Abernathy kept on his back porch. As he didn't bother to fence in his small back yard, the deed was almost too easy for Gale to accomplish.
"Yeah, and Rory said he could smell it but he promised he wouldn't tell your mom. He actually smelled it the night before we all came to college." Prim pointed out making Gale blush. "He told me when I got here."
"I'm telling Rory to hush his mouth about that stuff when he talks to you! Ma can hear through the walls in her room even when my lil' runt talks to you in the kids' room."
"That's with the living room / dining room / kitchen separating Mrs. Hawthorne's room from everyone else." Prim explained to Rue.
"I have supersonic hearing to hear my siblings, but my mama's hearing is way more powerful." Rue said empathizing as a big sister. They drove to the outskirts of the city to Foothills Stadium. Katniss opened the six packs of beer as soon as Gale put the truck in park.
"Thanks." Gale grunted before downing one bottle of very dark beer. "Well, c'mon, we're not eating this in here." He said as Prim and Rue began opening their sandwiches. Hopping out of the truck and shedding his shirt in one motion, he tossed his sandwich in the bed of the truck before hopping in. "Kat, pass me the beers." Katniss handed him the beers before offering her little sister and Rue a hand into the truck. Gale shoved a toolbox into the center of the bed to use as a makeshift table for the beer. "aaaaw, yeah!" Gale sighed leaning back against the windows of his trick with his arms behind his head.
"Gale, your pits stink!" Katniss yelped smacking him in his tanned side. "Put your arms down!"
"Aw, damn, I was supposed to deodorize after my shift -" He muttered before Katniss smacked him in his abs as the girls laughed. They cheered and waved at the other cars that pulled into the grass and dust parking lot. Prim and Rue ate their sandwiches and drank their soda while Gale and Katniss entertained them by putting down as many beer bottles as they could before it was time to go inside the stadium.
"It's go time!" Katniss cheered as she watched a security guard open the gates that led up the long concrete staircase to the stadium. "Go Eagles! Go Peety-Pie!" Gale scowled before draining the last beer of his six-pack.
"Yeah!" He cheered before ripping a deafening belch causing several guys around them to cheer and the girls to collectively roll their eyes. "GO EAGLES! C'mon, girls."
"Now, don't act like you just had a whole six-pack." Katniss hissed. "Here." She handed him a piece of mint gum before passing the pack around. They presented their tickets and student ID's to the security guard, who waved them in not realizing that Gale's card expired the previous spring. Rue smiled sweetly and waved to a group of laughing guys as the group walked past one of the two concession stands on the student side.
"Hey, Katniss and crew!" One of the boys from Peeta's frat called. "Pete wanted us to save you all seats!"
"Yay! Nearly the front!" Prim, Katniss, and Rue cheered. They watched re-runs of past games on the jumbotron as the stadium filled up. Gale and Katniss went for one more round of beer before the jumbotron view switched to a podium above the tunnel where the Panem Eagles football team would emerge for the game.
"Greetings, Panem Eagles fans!" President Snow called in his red sweatshirt and white collard shirt underneath. The students gave a rousing cheer. "Our football team will soon play against the Air Force Academy! As a reminder, our Eagle Pride extends off the field as we show respect and sportsmanship to our guests of Panem University -"
"HEY, DON'T BEAT UP THE AIR FORCE KIDS!" Gale announced loudly.
" - I look forward to a good game with all of you." President Snow finished. "I will now turn the mike over to Athletic Director Seneca Crane, who will be a much livelier commentator than me. Go Eagles!"
"Right, all, what he said!" Seneca said as the crowd laughed. "Ok, um - yeah, so our commentators today will actually be two alums of the Panem University Broadcast Journalism department and who have their own sports station streaming on XM Radio - um - oh, that's just a fun fact, XM is not actually sponsoring this game - May I introduce Caesar Flickerman," The jumbotron view switched to the commentator booth high above the field where one of the men with headsets waved. "And Claudius Templesmith!" The other man waved before the view switched back to Seneca. "Performing the National Anthem today is Commander Patricia Paylor, a member of the Panem ROTC pursuing her major in music education and a minor in vocal performance. Performing a marching routine is Squadron Thirteen of Panem's ROTC program led by Dr. Alma Coin, Sargent of the army, department chair and professor of military history."
The students stood respectfully as Commander Paylor sang and Dr. Coin's ROTC unit performed a series of march steps followed by each member unfurling a flag. They ended the national anthem with the unit stanging in a shape of the Panem Eagles flag before everyone cheered.
"Aaaaall right, let's give the Panem University ROTC a hand for their performance!" Caesar Flickerman announced. "Ladies and gentlemen, let the Panem University Homecoming game against the Air Force Academy begin!" Prim, Katniss, Rue, Gale, and everyone else cheered and stopped their feet as the teams ran onto the field.
"Finally!" Gale cheered.
"Go Pete! GO BABY GO!" Katniss screamed as Gale groaned.
"GO EAGLES! LET'S WIN!" Prim and Rue cheered.
"And I hope I get to talk to a cute guy." Rue whispered in Prim's ear.