Gale's View of the Hunger Games

Chapter 1

    As Katniss Everdeen walks up to me, I say “Hey, Catnip” She looks over at me with a questioned face.
    “Look at what I shot,” I said as I hold up a loaf of bread with an arrow stuck in it. She laughs, then takes the bread and pull the arrow out of the bread. Then she holds the puncture in the cuts to her nose and takes a long sniff.
    “Mm, still warm,” Catnip said as she was staring at the bread, “What did it cost you?”
    “Just a squirrel. Think the old man was feeling sentimental this morning,” I said. “He even wished me luck.” She didn’t even roll her eyes when she said,
    “Well, we all feel a little closer today, don’t we? Prim left us a cheese.” She pulled out Prim’s goat cheese. My face brightens at this delicious treat.
    “Thank you , Prim. We’ll have a real feast.” Then I fall into a Capitol accent as I mimic Effie Trinket, who reads our names for the reaping once a year. “I almost forgot! Happy Hunger Games!” Then I pluck a few berries from a bush around us. “And may the odds-” I toss a berry to Katniss in high arc and she catches it in her mouth. “-be ever in your favor!” I finish, smiling as I take a bite of a berry. Katniss watches me as I pull out my knife from my bag and slices the bread. I wonder what she could be thinking. We could be dating. We could- run away. From 12. Into the woods. Forever, I think to myself. I then spread Prim’s goat cheese onto the slices of bread, then carefully placing a basil leaf on each slice while Catnip strips the bushes of their delicious berries.
    “We could do it you know,” I say quietly.
    “What?” She asks me back.
    “Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it.” I finish. Katniss looks confused but without thinking, I say,
    “If we didn’t have so many kids.” I said. I then realized what I said and I hoped that she didn’t take that the wrong way. What I meant really was my two little brothers and Katniss’s little sister, Prim.
    “I never want to have kids,” Katniss says.
    “I might. That is, if I didn’t live,” I reply to her statement.
    “But you do,” she says, about to yell. I can hear it in her voice.
    “Forget it.” I snap at her looking away. Obviously she took it the wrong way. I wanted to tell her that's not what I meant but why bother? It's not like she's gonna change her mind. When I look back at her, I see emotions go back and forth across her face.
    “What do you want to do?” Catnip asks.
    “Let’s fish at the lake. We can leave our poles and gather in the woods. Get something nice for tonight.” I say as I get up. After we are done, we swing by the Hob, which is a black market, and then we go to the mayor’s to sell him strawberries because he has a certain fondness for them. After we finish we separate and go home.
          “See you in square.” She says.
          “Wear something pretty,” I blurt out. When I got home, I got dressed and helped my siblings get ready. After that we went to square and we signed in. Finally, we were done and then I say Primrose standing alone so I go and stand by her nod she hugs me. Then I look on stage where three seats are on stage. One of the seats are filled with the mayor, Mayor Undersee. Next to him is Effie Trinket, the woman who draws out name from the glass bowls. I looked at an elderly man say to a woman, “I wonder why they have the empty seat up there.” I'm wondering the same thing myself. Then Effie gets up and stands at the podium and says her stupid and annoying introduction.
    “Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!” I find that Katniss is looking at me so I give her a ghost smile that quickly darkens and then I turn away. I have my name in there forty-two times.
          “Ladies first!” She said as she puts her hand in the bowl that has all of the girls’ names of District 12 in it. She pulls out the name and says,
“Primrose Everdeen!” Prim stands still frozen then the Peacekeepers grab her arms and take her up there while she is screaming in terror.