It was Him~A THG story

Chapter 3- The Woods

Here is the long awaited chapter 3- hope y'all enjoy :)

"There is no way I can show my face back in that school," I fling my backpack across the bed as I storm into the room, "Prim, he said Peeta Mellark... THE Peeta Mellark, Mr. I'm so smart and the whole school loves me. He's so condescending and narcissistic and has everyone drooling over him for no reason."

Prim rolls her eyes at my rambling, "And yet he volunteered to tutor you?"

"Well yeah I guess," I slump down on the bed as I come to a conclusion, "Oh my god. He must've been dared or something to help the stupid loner girl."

"Only you would call yourself stupid, Katniss," Prim remarks, who sits down on the bed a foot away from me like I'm a snare about to go off.

"It's true Prim, I almost failed math last year and all my other grades weren't too far behind." This is something I haven't admitted to anyone else. I had been too worried about keeping us alive to focus on grades or school so I skipped class, failed tests, and didn't tell a soul at home.

Prim scoots closer to me and wraps her arm around my back, giving me a good squeeze, "Give him a chance then. Maybe Peeta could actually help you if you don't maim him first."

A smile creeps up onto my face. Okay, I was maybe being a teensy bit dramatic. He might not be that bad. I still had a terrible feeling in my gut though, but Prim couldn't know that. I was the big sister, I was supposed to do the comforting here.

"I guess you're right," I turn to her with a grin, "He probably wouldn't cook well so I think I'll leave him alive. For now."

Prim bursts out laughing, one of my favorite sounds in the world, "Okay Katniss, whatever you say."

I look over at the time, "Shoot, I've gotta meet Gale. Make sure you do your homework, I'll be back!" I say gathering all my things and running out the door.

Our house sits on the edge of the forest, it's pretty beat up outside but we don't have many visitors so it's not like it matters. I dart around some scraggly bushes before making my way to the path in the woods. From there I walk... and walk... and walk. I must be a mile in when I see the oh so familiar fallen tree. I climb over to the huge broken log and quickly peek in before sticking my hand in to grab my bow and arrows. Here's my embarrassing story, I got bit by a squirrel the ONE TIME I didn't check to make sure anything else was in this hidey hole I stash my gear in. Let's just say I'll never make that mistake again, though that squirrel was delicious.

As I start rifling through the log for my things all the sudden something grabs me. Now I don't get scared easy, I watch horror movies for fun so I'm gonna blame the squirrel incident for my following reaction because when I tell you that I screamed bloody murder that would be understatement.

"I THOUGHT I ATE YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" I scream as I struggle.

It takes me an embarrassingly long couple seconds to realize nothing was grabbing and biting my hand, instead I was being grabbed from behind, two long arms were wrapped around my center jostling me around.

"Gale, I am going to murder you!" I scream and push away from him, finally coming to the conclusion that my only friend was playing a sick joke on me.

He lets out a low chuckle, "Hey that's what you get for scaring away that deer the other day from me."

"Oh please, like you were actually going to aim correctly and kill it." I bite back, still pretending to be angry with him. It's not hard.

He mocks a pained look, "Now I'm gonna have to get you back for that one. Spoiling my game is one thing but insulting my hunting skills now that hurt Katniss."

"Go cry me a river then." I say all snarky. I said I had one friend, not that I was nice to that one friend. Try not to judge me too hard for being mean though, what can I say with Gale the insults just come naturally. We've known each other since we were kids, he knows I bite but for the most part am all talk.

"I didn't see you after school today, did you skip again?" He asks.

I groan, not even wanting to think of school again. "Possibly. What's it to you?" There's a part of me that wants to tell him about the tutor but another part that hates the idea of looking stupid in front of him. Better to keep it to myself then. He doesn't have to know everything about my life.

"It's not like you're my childhood best friend and I get worried when you suddenly disappear?" Gale questions me, bringing up a fair point.

I shrug, "Fine you caught me, I was with my other best friend... Dale."

His eyebrow raises, "Alright Katniss, whatever you say. If you want to keep playing this game you can but if you'd still want to hunt I'll be heading this way." He starts backing away turning to head deeper into the forest.

Really Katniss? Dale? A fake best friend? Maybe I do need a tutor to fix my brain. I sigh watching him walk away from me. How come I was afraid to let him in? That nagging feeling in my gut started scratching again. I knew I should follow him and explain what was really going on but my feet were planted firmly in the ground. I would take care of everything, of school and my family.