Chapter 16
Primrose Everdeen POV
Rue and I are having a sleepover at her house tonight, it's the first one we've gotten to have since school started. Our parents are both pretty strict about sleepovers, which is really lame.
"So are you loving cheer as much as you thought you would?" Rue asks me while we're snacking on berries in her room.
"It's so much fun," I say. "But I really wish you were there with me."
"Me too," Rue says. She shrugs. "It is what it is, I guess. Maybe next year."
"I hope so," I say. I pause, there's something I've been meaning to ask her. "So are there any boys you like this year?"
She looks at me. "Are you blushing?" She asks me. "Is there a reason you brought that up right now?"
"I don't know," I say, she might be onto something. "It's just a question."
"Well," she says. "I didn't want to say anything, but I think there is someone I kinda am starting to like."
"Honestly, me too."
"Really? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was embarassed," I say. "It's someone we know, I didn't want you to make fun of me."
"Someone we know?" Rue asks, I nod. "Well now you have to tell me."
"Okay," I say nervously. I take a deep breath. "Okay, it's Rory."
"Rory Hawthorne?"
I nod. "Yeah," I say. "We've been friends for a long time, I'm starting to realize how cute and sweet he is."
"Prim," Rue says. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, why?" I'm not sure why this is so shocking to her, it's not like we know many other guys.
"I like Rory," she says. "That's who I was about to say I liked." I give her a puzzled look, I really didn't see that one coming.
"Really?" I ask. "I wouldn't have expected that."
"Why not?" She asks.
"I don't know," I say. "He just doesn't seem like your type."
If I'm being honest, I always thought Rue's type would be girls. There's nothing wrong with that, that's just how I always pictured her being.
"Well I like him," she says. "He's cute, he's sweet, he's one of my best friends."
"That's exactly why I like him," I say. "I had no idea you felt the same way. Come on, you have to understand that."
She sighs. "I do," she says. "It's neither of our faults." There's a pause as we both think about our dilemma.
"So what should we do about this then?" I finally ask her.
"Well," she says. "I think the best solution is for neither of us to date him, that way our friendship isn't put at risk."
I guess that makes sense, but I was hoping to just let him choose. I guess it makes sense that Rue wouldn't like that option, I think we both know he would choose me.
"Okay," I say. "I guess that's really the only fair solution."
"Okay," she says. "It's a deal then."
Rue and I have never really fought, so I really don't know what to do in this situation. I don't want to be mean to Rue, but I also can't see her actually thinking Rory would go for someone like her. She isn't ugly, she's just not really his type from what I understand. Then again, I didn't think he was hers.
I'll stay true to my word that I won't date him as of right now, but I can't promise anything in the future if he turns out to like me. That may sound mean, but she can't tell me who I'm allowed to date. I love Rue and I don't want this to affect our friendship, so I won't date him anytime soon. This whole situation just sucks.
I want to ask Katniss for her opinion on this situation, but she isn't exactly the go-to person for romantic advice. I thought that was the whole point of having a sister, but I guess she's too cool for that. I may ask her anyway, just to see what her opinion is. Plus, I have no one else and I'm definitely not talking to my mom about it.
Peeta Mellark POV
Wrestling season is about to start since the colder weather is hitting. We start practices in October, and we're having our first meeting after school today to go over all the expectations and paperwork.
I go to the meeting in the cafeteria and find Cato, I sit next to him since there's an empty chair. "Hey," I say when I sit down. "What's up?"
"Not much," he says. "I'm so excited that wrestling season is finally here, aren't you?"
"Yeah," I say. "I've been looking forward to this since the last season ended. Are you worried it'll conflict too much with football?"
"Not really," he says. "Football season ends in November, and it's almost October now. I did both last year."
He's right, I forgot about that. Cato always wanted me to join football too, but it really never seemed like my jam. It's a sport, but I really don't want to hang out with those football guys all the time and most of them aren't in wrestling.
"Do you like wrestling or football more?" I ask Cato. We're still waiting for the faculty advisor to start the meeting.
"Probably football," he says. "I'm not as good at wrestling, plus football makes me more popular and noticed by girls."
"Why do you care about that?" I ask. "You have a girlfriend."
"I can still look around, you know?"
I just roll my eyes. When I look over to the other side of me, I see a guy in the distance that I think I recognize. I think his name is Thresh, but he's not popular and he's never been to a wrestling meeting or practice before. He's a bigger guy, so it makes sense that he would be good at it. Great, now I have to worry about placing lower and my mom freaking out even more.
We get all of our necessary paperwork after the faculty advisor goes over everything we need to know for the season, and then we leave the meeting.
As we're leaving the cafeteria, I see Gale walking down the hallway. I'm not sure what would have made him stay at school late, I didn't think he was in many clubs.
"Hey Gale," I say when I see him. "What's up?" He stops and looks at me confused, I can tell he didn't expect me to talk to him. He works at the bakery now, and I'm not sure why but it seems like he doesn't like me.
"Oh," he says. "Hey. I'm good, how are you?" I can tell he's just trying to be polite.
"I'm good," I say. "What are you doing at school so late?"
"I wanted to get some work done," he says. "My house gets pretty noisy with all my siblings. I feel bad, my mom probably needs my help with them."
I feel bad for him, it must be stressful to have to help take care of all your siblings. Katniss has to do it too, but she only has Prim and she's 12 at this point. Gale has 3 siblings, 2 of them are much younger.
"What about you?" He asks me after a pause. I assume he means to ask why am I at school so late.
"I had a meeting to discuss the beginning of wrestling season," I say. I gesture to the papers in my hand. "I had to get the paperwork so my dad could sign off on it."
"Oh is that coming up already?"
"Yeah,". I say. "It starts in October."
There's another pause. "Well I should get going," Gale says. "Bye."
"Bye, have a good night."
He doesn't respond and walks away. I'm not sure why he isn't a fan of me, it's probably because I'm popular. Whatever, hopefully I can work towards him liking me more and he can help get me closer to Katniss since he's her best friend.
Gale Hawthorne POV
I'm really not sure who Peeta thinks he is trying to be all nice to me, I know he was just trying to brag to me about being a popular wrestler since he was walking out of the meeting. God, he's so annoying. It doesn't help that everyone thinks he's so nice, smart, handsome, talented and perfect.
I get home, and I'm already in a bad mood from having to interact with Peeta. I was right, my mom is trying to cook dinner while my siblings are tearing up the house.
"Guys!" I yell, setting my stuff down. "What are you doing? You know this isn't okay."
They seem to take me seriously, they look embarassed and then start to quiet down. I walk into the kitchen and give my mom a hug.
"Hey," she says. "You didn't tell me you were going to be at school late."
"I know, I'm sorry," I say. "I had a project to work on, and I knew it would be loud in here."
"It was," she says. "Can you help Rory with his homework? I think he went to his room."
"Sure."
I walk towards Rory and Vick's room and see Rory doing homework on his bed. I sit next to him. "Hey," I say. "Mom said you needed my help."
"Not really," he says. "She said that?"
"Yeah," I respond. "You know you haven't been doing that well in science lately."
"I know," he says. "But I don't need your help with homework tonight."
I don't know what to say to that, I can't force help onto him that he doesn't want. I know how much that annoyed me when I was his age.
"There is actually something I wanted to talk to you about," he says after a pause. "But you can't tell anyone, I'm pretty embarassed."
"Okay," I say. "What's up?"
"I think I like Prim," Rory says. "But I don't know what to do about it."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, should I ask her out?" He asks. "I know I'm in 7th grade and guys are doing that now, I'm just nervous and confused."
"Well," I say after a pause. "Think about your friendship with her, you wouldn't want to do anything to ruin that."
"Is that why you haven't asked Katniss out yet?"
I ignore that question. I try to deny that I have feelings for Katniss, but I know it doesn't work and my siblings still know. My mom probably knows at this rate.
"Just don't rush into anything," I say. "See if you can figure out how she feels first. That's the best advice I can give you."
"Okay," he says. "Thanks, Gale."
"Of course."
I leave his room and go help my mom make dinner. It means a lot to me that Rory told me this and asked for my advice. I wanted to tell him to go for it, but I think it's better that he waits it out so he doesn't ruin his friendship with Prim.
That is why I haven't told Katniss how I feel or asked her out. I know she isn't really into dating right now, and I don't want to ruin our friendship since we help each other out a lot. I just hope she doesn't get too close with Peeta, I don't need him adding to this.
