Panem High School {COMPLETED}

Chapter 22 - Madge

(Madge's POV)

"What was Johanna talking about?" Katniss frowns at me as we walk to lunch. I shrug.

She frowns at me skeptically. "Madge..."

"I don't know what she's talking about," I say, defensively. That's not true at all. Unfortunately, I'm a bad liar.

Katniss stops walking and turns to face me. "I know you're lying."

I look away. I don't really want to explain this. I don't know how, really. I don't hate Johanna, she just really annoys me. I didn't know she knew that. I mean, maybe I act a little cold to her, but so what? That's not a crime.

"Madge."

I sigh. "Katniss, I don't want to talk about this."

She opens to mouth to say something, then apparently decides against it. She frowns at me for a minute. She looks kind of hurt. "Fine, then. If that's what you want." She turns and walks away. What just happened?

When I get to the lunch table, Katniss doesn't look at me. Everyone else looks concerned, except Gale, who is too busy glaring at Katniss.

I sit next to Gale, and other than "Hi," no one says anything. The silence gets very awkward very quickly. Katniss is pointedly ignoring me. Annie gives me a sympathetic look but doesn't say anything. Finnick seems completely oblivious to the awkwardness. He's just eating.

Peeta is the most surprising. Instead of jumping to my defense like he normally does, he seems torn between my side and Katniss's. What? We've been friends since third grade. He's known Katniss since September. This isn't right.

The last few classes pass slowly. I can't really talk to Katniss during class, so I end up waiting until after school. I stop her as she's leaving.

"Katniss? What's wrong? Why are you mad at me?"

"I'm not mad at you," she says defensively.

I look down. "I know that's not true."

Katniss sighs. "Fine. Want to know the truth?" I look up. "Maybe I'm upset that my best friend is keeping secrets from me. Maybe I'm upset that she doesn't trust me enough to tell me. Maybe I feel like if I tell her everything, she should do the same!"

I stare, open-mouthed, at her. "Katniss, it's not that at all! That's not why-"

"That's it exactly!" Katniss yells. I take a step back. "If you can't trust me, why should I trust you?" she yells, then turns and stomps off.

I stand stunned for a minute.

I'm still standing there when Gale walks up. "Hey, Madge!" He notices my expression and his smile fades. "What's wrong?"

I tell him. I don't mean to start crying, but at some point I do. Gales hugs me and rocks me back and forth as I calm down. People are staring, but I don't care. How did I manage to mess up this badly?