Social Casualty

Chapter 5

Effie's obnoxious voice is heard from the other side of my closed bedroom's door, saying that it's time to wake up. I grunt, not feeling in the mood to move a inche. Getting up in the mornings is probably ine of the hardest things I have to do. Since I don't answer Effie, she keeps knocking in my door, while talking about how important it is to be on schedule. After a while I answer her with a raspy ' I'm up', although it sounds more like M'up. Still, that's all it takes to shush Effie and make her leave. I drag myself off bed and get dressed with the school's uniform. I look at myself in the small mirror that lyes on top of my dresser, to check if I need to brush my hair or if it is fine like this. I end up just running my hand through it and nothing else.

Afterwards I go to the kitchen and take a apple from the fruit bowl and run to my car, texting Katniss while walking, telling her that I'm on the way to her house.

Katniss lives in a fancy house, in Lake Grove Lane, just by Little Lake Conway. Just like most of the people that study at Lionsgates Academy, her parents are extremely wealthy, or more like, her mother is extremely wealthy, I recall Katniss mentioning yesterday about her mother running a clinic here in Orlando. So, of course, when I finally find her house, I'm not impressed by the size of it, even because my father's house (more like mansion) in Atlanta is even bigger. I still remember the first time I was there. I was completely strucked by the size of it, and how fancy it looked. The house was completely neat, the grass was perfectly mowed and the iron guates from the entrance gleamed with the sun. The house seemed surreal, I had never seen anything so fancy before, and when I compared it with the small, two bedrooms apartment I used to live in with my mother, it looked like heaven itself. It took me ages to get accustomed to the life I got when I my custody was given to my father. With mom, everything was very simple, we barely had money to survive. Mom worked as a cleaning lady, and there were days when there was not enough food for both of us. And suddenley living the life of a millionaire didn't seem normal. That's way I always feel so out of place, I never got accustomed to the life I have, I simply don't fit in any of this.

When I arrive Katniss's house she is already by the entrance, a petite blonde girl with two braids beside her. Katniss runs to the car and opens the door to the passenger sit, the little girl, who I assume is her sister Primrose, following right behind her.

"Hi, Peeta." she greets me "This is Prim, my sister. I've told you about her yesterday. Hope you don't mind her coming with us." she says entering the car.

"Hi, Prim. Nice to finally meet you." I greet the small girl. She grins happily at me before greeting me brightly with a Hi. Afterwards she sits in the backsits of the car.

"Put your seatbelt on, Little Duck." Katniss tells Prim, who immediatly follows her orders.

The car is silent for a few minutes, so I start making some small talk.

"So, Prim, you study at Liongates too, isn't it?" I ask Prim, although I already know the answer, since she's wearing the school's uniform.

"Yeah, I started this year." she answers me.

"And how are you liking it, so far?"

Prim shruggs "I like it. I was just disappointed when they canceled the dance classes in the beggining of the year. I was really looking forward for taking them."

"That's a shame." I tell her.  Principal Snow has been canceling the arts related subjects over the years. Every year he cancels a different one, using the money saved on those to apply in the sports teams. One thing I notice is how bigger the football games have been getting over the years. That's another reason why I so much despise the principal. He only cares about the school's image, everything has to appear perfect in the picture. Calm and disciplined hallways, lots of trophys for the displayers, one of the highest exam's averages in the country (which I highly suspect they've been manipulated). Why is it that so many people think that the key to success is how highly people think of you? That shouldn't have any saying on how you live your life, and on how successfull it is.