The Hunger Games - I'm Still Burning

Chapter 1

Yes.

One word. Three letters. A promise. So simple and yet bigger than the both of us. A word uttered from my lips without a moments hesitation.

Peeta down on one knee. A ring. A proposal that led to today. A white dress. Someone unrecognisable in the mirror. Someone I never thought I'd get back to.

Effie clucks around me, adjusting the crown of Primroses that weave through my hair. My hair that, under Effie's guidance, falls down my back in soft, brown waves. My face, after being treated with numerous different facial masks, finally glows with the light of someone who has spent days in the sun. My eyes shimmer as though Effie has gathered the stars in her pocket and neatly stuck them on to my eye lids.

"You just agreed to marry me, real or not real?"

"Real."

I smile to myself, twisting the ring around my finger. The little diamonds stare warmly up at me. Real Peeta, I think.

A teardrop splashing down on my shoulder brings me back to the present.

"Effie we said no tears," I giggle.

"Oh I know, Katniss, but not too long ago this day was a definite impossibility and now..." she stops to blow her nose, "...now look at you."

Now look at me. Who'd have thought it? The girl so adamant she would never marry, never have children. I'm still determined to stick to the latter but there's no harm in making an exception for the first one. Peeta's my exception.

"The dress is beautiful, Effie," I say, turning around to examine the back of it. There's a hole the starts from the middle of my shoulders and trails down to meet just above the small of my back. The rest of it floats elegantly down to the ground.

"It took a couple of tries to get it perfect," she says. Since the war, she's taken to designing and making her own clothes. Although she never says, I get the feeling that it's all for Cinna. Like so many of us, she was inspired by him.

I hold out my arms and inspect the delicate white sleeves. They are soft against my skin, as if made entirely out of feathers. A couple of inches up from my wrist, they turn into lace.

A knock at the door pulls my attention away from the dress. My heart begins to hammer in my chest. Haymitch must have arrived early to pick me up. But it's not Haymitch's head that pokes round the door, it's Gale's.

"Hey, Catnip."

I smile and gesture for him to come in. He steps into the room, revealing a ravishing navy blue suit and tie.

"Look at you, Soldier Hawthorne, you scrubbed up well," I say.

"You're not too bad yourself, Soldier Everdeen."

I laugh and rush to his side to embrace him. His arms swallow me whole, wrapping me in his familiar, boyish smell. I sent his invitation out along with all the others. Not inviting him would have felt wrong. It would have been like telling him that I had never really forgiven him. Peeta didn't have any problems with it, his only request was that I didn't run off with Gale and leave him stranded down the aisle. I assured him that this was not going to happen.

"Katniss, can we talk privately for a minute please?" Gale asks, pulling me out of the hug. He casts a glance over towards Effie, who immediately jumps up, sensing that her presence is currently unwanted.

"I'll go and see where Haymitch is," she chimes, swiftly exiting the room.

"What is it?" I ask Gale, as soon as I know she's gone.