Peeta's Story- The Hunger Games

Chapter 17

I groan as I hear an insistent knocking at my door. "Time for dinner, Peeta! You can't hide forever!"  

Somehow, Effie's voice seems louder than usual and I wince at the sound. I rub my eyes and yawn, sitting up on my bed. I must've fallen asleep without realizing it because I'm still wearing my day clothes. I push myself off the the bed and realize I have a pounding headache. I am just about to slump back on the bed and fall asleep when Effie second-guesses me. "I'm serious, Peeta!" she yells. "Get out here! They're announcing your scores soon!" 

Her words pass through my mind groggily before I realize what she is saying. I quickly jump out of bed and sigh as I look at my clothes. Surely Effie will scold me for wrinkling them. I dash out the door and almost run into her, typing furiously on her phone. 

"Oh, hello." she says, her eyes raking over my body. To my surprise, she makes no comment about my appearance and leads me to the dining room in silence. The quiet is nice for a change. 

Everyone is in the room besides Katniss- even Cinna and Portia. They smile kindly at me and I smile back. Effie scans the table and her perfectly styled eyebrows knit together in a tight V. "Where is that girl?" she huffs. "I'll go get her." she says, then dashes off. 

"She's really got to relax," Haymitch says before downing some wine. Outside, thunder booms, making me jump out of my seat. "Nasty weather out, eh?" 

Cinna and Portia nod their heads vigorously, debating how the change of weather will affect the week's latest styles. "Probably raincoats will be in season." Portia muses. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Katniss sulkily follow Effie into the room. She sinks into her chair stealthily and looks at me. Her face is red and blotchy, her eyes are swollen, and she is barely recognizable. I frown at her and raise my eyebrows as she shakes her head inconspicuously. I don't know why, but I somehow know she'll tell me what's wrong later. 

She picks up her spoon to drink the soup and then lets it clatter back into the bowl. Haymitch looks up, startled by the noise. "Oh look!" he says, "everyone's here now! So tell me, how bad was it today?" He leans across the table, looking at us intensely. 

Katniss fidgets in her seat and I feel like I should jump in to save her. I begin babbling at top speed, exaggerating as much as possible. "So the Gamemakers were all drunk and wouldn't listen to me so I told them off and then they brought in a guy to fight but before we could fight a Gamemaker fell over and then told me to do something cool so I did a few cartwheels but they were too drunk to care and then I threw around some weights and walked away." I say this all in a breath and then pretend to look at a nonexistent watch on my wrist. "Oh look at the time! The results must be on! Let's go, hurry up, hurry up." 

Effie looks at me and Katniss suspiciously. "There's still ten more minutes. Why the rush, are you guys hiding anything?" 

Katniss throws me a glare and whispers, "We need to work on your acting skills."  

I roll my eyes in response and say "Well that's what happened!" defensively. 

Haymitch turns to Katniss, his eyes narrowed. "So how did you do?" 

She flicks an imaginary piece of dust off her sleeve and looks up. "I shot an arrow at the Gamemakers."  

Leave it to her to be so casual at a time like this. I can't believe she did that, although I can't say I'm surprised. She's always been one for drastic measures, and the Gamemakers must have really pissed her off. After she says this, there is completely silence, and I look around the room amusedly.  

Everyone's expression seems to mirror each others'. As I look from face to face, all I see are mouths hanging wide open in shock. Haymitch seems to be exceptionally surprised and also a bit furious as he glares at her, but I also see what looks like pride etched across his features.