Panem High School {COMPLETED}

Chapter 4 - Katniss

(Katniss's POV)

"Miss Sevina? Why don't you help Katniss?" The girl next to me stares at him in disbelief, then puts her head on her desk. "I'll take that as a yes. You four will be allowed to skip your first period classes to tour the school. I'll speak to your teachers."

I glance at Clove. Already I dislike her. Already she's succeeded in insulting two people and disrupting the whole class. At least she's only going to be helping me for a week.

Her name sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it. I assume she went to one of the middle schools I attended. So she probably won't remember me. I won't bother asking. I probably was in middle school with several people here, I'm just bad with names. And faces. And remembering classmates. And that's why I'm bad at making friends.

When the bell rings, Clove doesn't get up. When almost everyone has left the room, a blond boy walks up to her. "Clove, why don't we show them around together?" She looks up at him, shrugs, and stands up, grabbing her backpack. She's small for a sophomore.

"Are we ready?" The blond boy asks. "Wait, first we should introduce ourselves."

"We already know each other's names," Clove says, somewhat disgusted.

"Well... It's just something nice to do. I'm Peeta Mellark," he says.

"Finnick O'dair," the other blond boy says. He looks like a model.

"I'm Katniss. Katniss Everdeen," I say.

After a minute of us staring at her, Clove sighs. "Clove Sevina." I swear, her eyes haven't left the ground since she stood up.

"Ok then, shall we go?" Peeta smiles as he leads us out of the room.

Peeta shows us around the entire school, locating all of my and Finnick's classes for us so we won't get lost. Finnick and Peeta keep up a nice conversation, and I listen mostly, adding in my thoughts on this or that particular subject a few times. Clove follows a few feet behind us, seemingly uninterested.

"Oh, you're both in drama?" Peeta says. "You'll have to tell me how it is. I thought about taking drama, but I decided not to this year."

Finnick smiles. "My school last year had a terrible drama teacher. We didn't even do a play! Hopefully this will be better."

"I'm sure it will be. My friend Madge helped make sets last year, and went to see the show. She said it was really good."

"What show was it?" I ask.

"It was the Wizard of Oz musical," Peeta says. "The drama teacher likes musicals a lot, I think."

Peeta leads us to a classroom. "This is where you'll have drama. Room 211."

As we walk off again, I glance back at Clove. Then I blurt out the stupidest thing ever.

"Did you skip a grade?"

Everyone stops and stares at me. Clove looks confused. "No..."

I laugh nervously. "Well, um, you just, Uh, you look like you're 13 or something." Im just digging a deeper hole for myself. Why can't I ever think?

Clove frowns. "I'm 15," she says slowly. She glares at me.

I glance at Peeta and Finnick. Peeta looks shocked, but Finnick looks amused. Peeta nervously and awkwardly tries to get us moving again. "Well, um, what was your next class, Finnick?"

After we finish touring the school, we hang out in the cafeteria until the bell rings. Clove still seems mad at me, but she's tolerating me, which is good. I'm such an idiot sometimes.

The bell rings, and we all head off to our 2nd period classes. I don't remember what the class is, but I remember where it is. I walk into the class and sit at the back before checking my schedule. Biology. Great. I've always hated science.

The class slowly fills, and our teacher, a Mr. Crane, passes out our textbooks. Turns out Clove is in this class. She sits on the other side of the room.

I don't listen to a word Mr. Crane says. First day it's always "Welcome to the class!" Or "This is what we will cover this year!" Or something. Nothing I can't look up online.

I spend the next two classes, art and world history, the same way. When the bell rings for lunch, I head straight to my locker and grab the paper bag my mom put my lunch in.

Clove finds me quickly. "I'm supposed to sit with you at lunch." I shrug. Fine with me.

Clove leads me through the crowd to a table. A tall boy is already sitting there. "Katniss, this is Marvel. Marvel, Katniss." He does that sip nod that annoys so much. "I'm supposed to help her out this week."

A blonde girl and a large boy sit down. "This is Katniss," Clove says, and explains again. "Katniss, this is Glimmer and Thresh."

I smile at them. Glimmer rolls her eyes. "Whatever," she says.

Another boy sits down next to Glimmer, and Clove introduces me again. "This is Cato."

Cato. Cato and... Clove? Something clicks. Cato and Clove. Seventh grade. Whittier Middle School. I remember them. Clove and Cato, they were dating, and absolutely adorable. She was so nice. I can't imagine what happened in two years to change her so much.

"Didn't you two go to Whittier?" I ask. Clove freezes.

"Yes," Cato says, surprised.

"I remember you. You and Clove. Are you still dating?" Clove, sitting next to me, is as white as a sheet.

Glimmer is staring at me in shock. "What?"

"Yeah, in seventh grade, you two dated. Remember?" I ask Cato. He glances at Glimmer uncomfortably, and slowly nods.

"What?" Glimmer yells. Almost instantly, the lunch room gets really quiet. Everyone is staring at Glimmer, who is standing up, glaring at Clove.

A look of understanding passes over her face. She smiles venomously at Clove. "I see. You've been trying to steal my boyfriend, haven't you?"

Clove shakes her head. "No! No, I'd never-"

"Shut up!" Glimmer shouts. "You little b-"

"Glimmer, please!" Cato stands up. He looks desperate.

Glimmer glares at Cato, then turns back to Clove. "You. You'll pay for this. I can make your life miserable."

Clove stands up. "Glimmer, please, I didn't-"

"I don't want to hear it! Get out of my sight!"

Clove stands as still as a statue for a moment, then turns and runs off.

I stand. "I... I didn't mean to... I'm sorry..." I grab my lunch and walk off. What have I done?