Panem High School {COMPLETED}

Chapter 9 - Madge

(Madge's POV)

I get to school early, like normal. I like being there before other people. It's quieter. More peaceful. Plus, Gale gets here early too, most days. I like him. A lot. A lot more than I'd ever admit to Peeta or Annie. If only I could find out what he thought about me.

The cafeteria is where we normally hang out before school. I walk in now and see Annie concentrating on a book. She looks up and smiles when I sit next to her.

"Hey!" She says brightly. I smile back.

"What book is that?" Annie reads so many books I can barely keep up. It's quite a feat, considering she's dyslexic.

"The Fault in Our Stars."

"Oh no! Not that! That book ruined my life!" I say, laughing.

She smiles at me, shakes her head, and looks back at her book. I look around and see Peeta walk in, followed by Finnick and Katniss. I wave, and he waves back, then walks over.

"Hey! Madge, this is Katniss and Finnick. Guys, this is my friend Madge," he says.

"Oh, I've met Katniss. Annie introduced me to her in English. Nice to meet you, Finnick," I say, smiling.

Katniss smiles a bit. Finnick is completely opposite. He sits down next to Annie with a broad smile on his face. Annie glances up, quickly and shyly, then looks back at her book.

Over Peeta's shoulder, I see a bouncing blonde head coming this way. "Uh-oh, Glimmer alert," I hiss. Peeta and Katniss sit down across from me.

Glimmer walks up and stops at our table, a very real-looking smile on her face. "I just wanted to thank you, Catnip-"

"Katniss," Katniss corrects.

"Catnip, Katniss, whatever. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for letting me know about Clove. To think, I had no idea that all this time my 'best friend' had been trying to steal my boyfriend." It's all I can do not to laugh at that. Clove was anything but her best friend. Glimmer treated her like dirt. "Also, I wanted to tell you children that you probably shouldn't talk to her. If you know what's best, you'll stay away."

Her tone got more and more threatening throughout that conversation. We stare at her, a bit shocked. Peeta clears his throat. "Thank you for letting us know, but I think we can handle ourselves." He smiles.

She glares at him. "We'll see about that." She turns and is about to flounce off, when I see someone else walk in. Clove. I jump up and run over to her, "accidentally" bumping Glimmer in the process. I don't look back to see her glare.

Clove looks confused when I come up and smile at her. "Hey! How's it going? Want to come sit with us?"

Clove looks over my shoulder, then back at me, skeptically. She looks past me again, and stiffens. "Go away," she says quietly.

"What?"

"I said go away. Leave me alone. Just go away!" She's shouting now. I don't understand. She turns and walks off quickly.

When I turn around, the first thing I see is Glimmer's smug smile, then the faces of my friends, ranging from amusement to confusion to shock. I walk back over to our table, defeated.

"As I said, we'll see about that." Glimmer smugly walks away.

"Why did you do that?" Peeta asks.

"Do what? Try to be nice? Because right now, Clove needs a friend."

"Did it not occur to you that she might not want any?" Katniss asks, sourly.

I frown. "Why wouldn't she?"

"Isn't it obvious?" When I don't respond, Katniss rolls her eyes and sighs. "She wouldn't want any friends right now because Glimmer will target them too," she says slowly, like she's explaining something to a toddler.

I glance at Peeta. It's obvious this just occurred to him too.

Finnick adds, "Maybe she doesn't want to be the cause of anyone else getting hurt."

"I never thought of that."

"You've never had to think like that," Peeta says, smiling.

"Oh, shut up," I say playfully. I guess I'll have to find another way to help Clove. She will probably keep pushing me away, if Katniss is right. Except, Im not so sure I went over to her because I wanted to help her. Was it for her, or for me? To show Glimmer that she has no power over me? I'm not sure.

Gale comes up a few minutes later, and we talk about other things. Gale and I have very different opinions about Clove. Which is hard, especially right now.

The day goes fairly smoothly. Clove avoids me, so eventually I stop worrying about it.

(At some point, I will need some original characters. If you'd like to come up with one, pm me, or leave a comment. There's a chance I'll put it in.)