The next day, even though she had spent a good amount of her night crying, Eliza was happy to see her face didn't make it that obvious. About Mindy, on the other hand, the same couldn't really be said. She had stayed in Anne's room until late, with the look on her face to prove it. Her fair skin was marked under the eyes, and she kept yawning every two minutes.
"Look, I wanted to say…" Mindy started, just as they were leaving the canteen after having breakfast together, "I'm sorry about what I said yesterday." Once Eliza turned to her, she clarified, "The orphan thing."
Eliza winced at the word once again, and Mindy covered her face with her hands. "Oh, I knew I screwed up, I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me. Then Anne said, you know, that you looked kinda sad when you left and—"
"You don't have to worry about it."
"No, I do. I'm really sorry. I do this all the time, it's like I say things before thinking."
Eliza didn't answer immediately, while they kept on walking across the hallway and got to the elevator.
"Well, I mean, it's not like it isn't true. I just have to get used to hearing it." She said with a shrug, as they got out on their floor.
"Don't say that! Look, I never told you, but… I don't get along with my parents." Eliza raised her eyebrows in surprise, looking back at her. "I mean, I know it isn't the same thing, believe me. But in this case… Well, let's just say, we've been on non-speaking terms for years now."
"I'm sorry about that."
"No, it's fine. I just mean that… you're welcome to ever talk about it if you need to, alright?" She gave Eliza a playful pinch on her cheek, in an attempt to lighten up the mood. "And please forgive me for being a jerk."
Eliza rolled her eyes, but smiled, while rubbing her sore cheek. "You're forgiven." She was trying to find a funny remark to end the subject on, but they were interrupted by someone's calling a few feet ahead.
"Soldier Hendricks!" The guard from a few nights before said, a sly smile on his face.
"Hey Lance," Mindy answered. "What are you doing here?"
"Breakfast." His eyes swung back and forth between Eliza and her.
"Oh, yeah, this is Eliza, from District 12. Lance is from my sector."
A few days before, Mindy had explained to her how the division of the District was done, and how much it impacted the people they had to spend more time with. She also explained that she wasn't exactly popular among her neighbors, leaving Eliza to wonder why the guard would have come up to them in such a friendly manner.
"Hey." She tried to offer a smile, but thought her discomfort was obvious nevertheless when she couldn't even look him in the eye.
"Hey, Eliza from District 12."
He smiled back at her, without a word about what happened a few nights before.
Maybe she really got lucky, and he just forgot about it.
"Are you on duty tonight?" Mindy asked.
"No, thank the fucking saints." He let out all at once. "We're having extra practice this week to show a few of the 12's most advanced soldiers how to work the bigger guns."
Mindy raised her eyebrows "Already? It hasn't even been a month."
Lance shrugged "It seems it was their request. Look, there's Mr. Bigshot. You can ask him all about it."
Mindy and Eliza looked behind their backs, spotting Gale. He saw them as well, starting to walk in their direction.
"Hey." He said, and then looking straight at Eliza, "You're going to class now?"
She nodded, and was about to ask him the same, but Mindy beat her to it.
"So, are you Mr. Bigshot?"
Eliza's stomach recoiled in embarrassment.
"Who's asking?" His tone far from friendly.
"That's Soldier Hendricks, Hawthorne." Lance answered "You'll find her a charm, once you get to know her."
Mindy rolled her eyes.
"Save your flatteries to yourself, Lance. Anyway, he was just saying you guys asked to see the more advanced equipment. Is that true?"
Gale nodded in agreement. "I just thought it might be good to know exactly what we're counting on. Look, we should be going, if we want to get there on time." He stared at Eliza again, probably eager to leave the inquisitive Mindy behind.
"Sure. I'll see you later?" She asked Mindy.
"You bet. See ya." She winked in goodbye, turning to leave in the opposite direction.
"Lovely to meet you, Eliza." Lance said, continuing his way to the canteen.
Once they were alone, Gale noted,
"I can see you're a success among the 13s."
"Don't ask me how I did it, I have no idea."
Gale laughed, evening out the line between his eyebrows.
"And you? Did you make any friends until now?"
"I'm not that popular. And I've been busy. Katniss is back." He smiled widely at her while saying it, stirring the butterflies in her stomach.
How pathetic, Eliza. We've been through this, you're fooling yourself.
There wasn't even anything to fool herself with. Gale had just reinforced once again what she already knew. He had done it a few days before as well, when he told her Katniss had been rescued and was getting treatment at a secluded area of the hospital. And now the look on his face definitely couldn't fool anyone.
"Are you serious? Is she really ok?" She managed to ask.
"She will be, eventually. I'm not sure how it went, but if they can do that, take people from the Arena right in the Capitol, imagine what else they can do."
Eliza's eyebrows were still raised in shock, as she thought about it. "Was that why you asked them about that? Are you really considering joining the rebellion?"
He smiled again, and it looked almost patronizing. "Eliza, we are already part of it. How could we be compliant with a government that bombs our own home? This is the chance to fight back. Actually, it is the perfect chance."
She didn't say anything. Not because she completely disagreed, but because she wasn't sure what kind of part any of them could take in it.
"You don't think so?" He asked, when she gave no answer.
"It's not exactly that. I'm just not sure I'll be able to, you know...contribute in any way."
He seemed to consider it for a bit, before saying,
"There are many ways to be useful without fighting, if that's really what you're worried about."
She took a glance at him, and blushed. "We'll have to wait and see. Even revolution soldiers need their toilets cleaned."
That brought a laugh out of him. "That's dramatic, but kinda true. If you keep thinking like that, you'll never stop being useful."
Eliza snorted. "Who knows, maybe all this studying eventually takes me somewhere. But with the amount of hours I waste working and training, I don't think I'll ever be ready in time."
"Weren't you laid off from training? That should give you a bit more free time."
"Apparently no. It was just a few days that they gave me out of kindness." Eliza's heart had broken into pieces the morning she saw it written on her arm again, squeezed between cleaning duties and classes.
"So you also study at night?" He asked. "That's the only way I have time for it anyway, otherwise it's impossible."
"At night? Where?"
He frowned "In my room, where would it be?"
"Well, I don't know what kind of superpowers you have, but I surely can't read in the dark."
"In the dark? Why wouldn't you turn on your light?"
"What are you saying? What light? The lights turn off at ten, and most days I can't get to my room before nine thirty."
"Wait, so you don't have a lamp in your room?"
Eliza's chin fell open, and she turned to look at him.
"You do?! Talk about special treatment!" But she smiled while saying it, not actually mad.
"I thought that was standard, that everyone had one." His brows frowned further, as they kept on walking. "So you can't study or even read after hours? How do you study so much then?"
"I take a book with me and read for most of my lunch break. And if I have time before classes, I review some things as well. And during the half hour of leisure, of course."
"That's all? That's still not much, especially with all the classes you're having."
"Yeah, hum..." She hesitated, considering whether or not to expose just how much of a nerd she was. "Sometimes I read in the hallway, because there's always a light on."
He laughed, even if Eliza had hoped he didn't.
"Oh, I know it's pathetic, but I don't want to fall behind!"
"I'm sure you won't fall behind. You already spend any free minute of your day studying."
They reach the hallway of the classrooms and Gale suddenly suggests:
"Look, why don't you come to my room sometime?"
He must have noticed either her silence or the look on her face, because he hurriedly added,
"I don't mean... obviously, just to use the desk. I don't mean it in any other way. It's just...I'm not there most of the time anyway, so...you might as well take advantage of it. Usually I only get there around eleven, or don't sleep there at all."
Eliza was praying that her face wasn't as red as it felt, and stupidly responded with a whispered, "Okay."
"You get it, right? Just so you don't have to read in the hallway and all. There's no implications in this."
She nodded and spared him a glance. He seemed even more embarrassed than her, if that was possible, as he scratched his forehead with his thumb, looking everywhere but except her.
She imagined he was regretting the offer, and would reiterate it any second.
"I mean, I don't want to be a bother," she started. "You don't have to do this." She reassured him right after.
What if people notice? What if they get the wrong idea?
Fuck what other people think.
Eliza heard the words just as if Mindy was there uttering them out.
"It's okay, I'm really not there most of the time. And it's a waste that you're doing that when I have a lamp I barely use in my room. Here," he said, grabbing something from his pocket and handing it to her. "My mother has the spare one, I'll get it from her later."
"Oh, okay. Thanks." Eliza wasn't quite prepared for it, but maybe once Gale realized how weird it would be to have her in his room, he would change his mind.
"Anyway, I'll see you later." He said, stepping away from her, and that's when Eliza spotted Katniss a few feet ahead. Gale reached her, and they started to chat.
Eliza only had the time to feel her cheeks get even redder.
Please know that any feedback is welcome ^^ It is nice to write it and all, but knowing there's someone on the other side reading would also be pretty nice ^^
Thanks for reading this far!