Gale: A Hunger Games Story

Peeta Mellark

I should probably explain about Peeta Mellark. We aren't exactly the best of friends. To think Katniss is stuck with him! Good thing he'll die soon. God, Gale, what the heck? That's a horrible thing to say!!! But seriously, that hand-holding thing is just too much...

I met Peeta in school one day, I was ten and he must have been about eight years old. My friends were the tough kids, the ones who bragged about their muscles, and stole other kid's lunches. I don't know how I got mixed up with them, but I was rather strong and tall for my age so I guess I met their criteria.

Anyway, one day, this kid named Sander, who was essentially the ringleader of the pack, pointed out our next target. It was poor Peeta Mellark, sitting alone in the cafeteria. He was staring at something on the other side of the room and eating his lunch. A sandwich. Peeta's sandwich was fresh bakery bread, the kind I could never afford, and fresh goat cheese with lettuce. It seems stupid now, but all my little brain would think about was eating that sandwich. Sander sidled over to Peeta, picked him up by the collar of his shirt, and barked "Gale, take it," at me. I was normally the stray puppy in the pack, the one who followed the wolves and received the prize, but did little else. So this was a great honour for me. I picked up his lunch, and started to walk away. Something caught me though. Peeta was staring at me with big blue eyes, willing me to stick up for him, refuse to hurt him. I was torn. Steal the lunch and fill your belly? Or save the boy and risk getting beaten up by Sander? I finally dropped the sandwich and ran out of the room. I ended up with both Peeta and Sander hating me, and no sandwich.

This incident seems kind of stupid now that I think about it, but it was the first time I really noticed him there. Poor Peeta though, always bullied, always taunted, always hearing chants of "Peeta the cheata! Peeta the cheata!" And it gets worse. According to kids in his grade, Peeta was always looking at this one girl in the class with this stupid look on his face. It was clear he fancied her, but she took absolutely no notice. I witnessed this too, at lunch and even on the playground. The poor girl. I should know. I met Peeta's little crush hunting one day.

Of course, Katniss has no clue. The joke was kept from both her and Peeta, and honestly, I don't think she ever knew he existed until he was called up for the reaping. But Peeta was the laughingstock of the school, following her around at a safe distance, staring at her, and so on. When I first met Katniss in the woods, this is how I recognized her. It makes me angry the was Peeta feels about my friend, and I feel the strange need to protect Katniss from him. Who hunts with her in the forest? Who shares game and catches with her family? Who is beside her listening to her thoughts and feelings every day in the woods?

Me, that's who.
Back off, Peeta.