Gale's Story ~On Hold!~

Chapter 2

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Character and plot owned by Suzanne Collins!

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Chapter 2 (edited)

"Primrose Everdeen!"

The whole square let out a gasp, while a world exploded inside of me. I don't think any of us could believe that sweet little Prim has been chosen. Prim. The little girl who wept over a cat Katniss wanted to kill. The little girl who had healed Lady the goat we had gotten for her birthday a while back. She was so innocent, so sweet! She wasn't ready to be thrown out there into the grasp of the Capitol. She should be still be protected by her mother and father. The capitol shouldn't be able to harm her yet! She shouldn't have to go through so much at the age of 12. 

My eyes searched for Katniss, pain hidden behind them. Pain not only for Katniss but for Prim too! I loved that girl as much as Katniss did and I knew Katniss wouldn't let her fight. She'd volunteer, like I would have for Rory.

Prim was already walking up to the stage by the time we had all recovered from the shock. Moments later a cry came from Katniss' pained voice as she forced herself to speak.

"I volunteer! I volunteer!" She called rushing forward.

Prim ran after her sobbing, not wanting to let her but I knew what Katniss would want. She would want Prim home, safe and I would help her.

I tore through the crowd and clutched the struggling Prim in my arms, trying to calm her down. She wasn't going up there and that was final!

Confusion rushed through the crowd. It had been years since someone volunteered in 12. Maybe even a first time thing. Of course in Districts 1, 2 and 4 it was no surprise that there were mobs of people trying to volunteer. The children were trained for this there. If you got pulled in one of those Districts you didn't even have a chance of getting to fight unless you threw a tantrum, something pretty common there. In those districts the rules were known by hearth but here nobody really knew them. Effie Trinket even started to object to Katniss volunteering, causing Prim to cry even harder.

Luckily Greasy Say a citizen known through out the district as she sold so called "soup" at the hob came to the rescue. She had the thick rule book out and was flipping through it franticly.

"The first person who either calls out or raises their hand to volunteer is accepted! That's the exact quote from the rule book!" she called.

Again Effie was prepared to object but the Major agreed to it.

"Oh, drop it! Nobody knows the rules here Effie! Just let the girl volunteer and the rest be."

  "Alright, alright," she cooed already asking for Katniss' name. It wasn't long before she was off rambling about how nice it was of her to fight instead of her sister... The only thing she didn't know, but we did was that Katniss had the strength and experience to win. As this thought crossed my mind I gave Katniss a reassuring nod. I'd still have some time to talk to her in the room as far as I knew. That's how it was in the years before anyway.

As soon as Effie finished her unwanted, unneeded speech about Katniss, the districts spirit took over. We all touched our 3 middle finger to our lips and extended them to her. A gesture meaning thank you. Something Catnip definitely deserved.

Tears started to well up inside Katniss' eyes but her face continued to show no emotion. It was as if she was bored to an outsider, but I could see her pain. I shook my head as soon as I caught her eye and she wiped it with a quick motion as if dirt had gotten into it.

When the hassle of the first part was over the reaping continued with the boys. The part that had kept me in fear all night. I even found myself hoping that I would be pulled so I could protect Katniss and then kill myself right before the two of us would have to fight so she wins. I thought about volunteering so I could fight side by side with her...

Effie reached into the bowl a second time, and my stomach clenched again. She slowly wiggled her fingers as if looking for a specific one and my name got pushed to the side. I could see it through the glass. Now all I had to hope was that it wasn't my name that she found perfect. Or maybe that it was my name she had decided on. I don't know what anymore.

She pulled her hand out from the boys bowl with a quick flick of her wrist and some pieces came flying out. Again she waited for emphasize and called out the name.

 "Peeta Mellark."

My hand ached to rise my voice in my throat waiting for the opportunity to call out but a look at Prim changed my mind.

"Don't leave me! Both of you can't leave me!  What about Rory?" She whispered pleading me. Then I looked at Katniss who shook her head obviously realizing what I wanted to do. I nodded letting Prim grab my neck even harder and waited for the end to come, when I could finally leave this crowded square.

Peeta slowly made his way up onto the stage, eyes filled with tears when I realized who he was. The bakers son, a person who I had despised so deeply since 3rd grade. (He was in 1st grade then.)  

***Flashback***

"Peeta make sure you don't get to close the seam boys! They will be the first to die out in the reaping and it's not worth our time to be sulking over one of your friends!" His mother warned him. Peeta answered this with a reassuring nod.

"And don't go getting yourself into trouble!" His father called, but Peeta had stopped.

"Who is she?" He asked pointing to Katniss.

"I was going to marry her mother, but she ran off with some seam guy. Stupid of her! Miners have no brains..." And with that he gave Peeta a final push towards the door shooting me a look I would never forget. It was filled with hate, pride, fear, hope, love and much more.

"And make sure you stay away from him!" he muttered barely audible but loud enough for me to hear.

Since then it's stuck with me.

***End  of flashback***

The mayor the quickly ended the reaping and I led Prim and my brother back to our parents. Looks of worry clouded their face as they saw my expression. They sent Prim and Rory back to a bench, while they tried to calm me down.  It was already to late though. I couldn't stop myself from letting my anger rush out. 

"She shouldn't be going through this. She's too young! Now you see why the capitol need to end!" I screamed. Rory and Prim could hear for sure but oh well! I wasn't going to worry about that now.

"We know. Now come on. Lets get home. You can go talk to Katniss in a little while." soothed my mother.

"It'll be fine Gale! You know it will! Now should we drop by when we're done talking to her?" Asked Ms. Everdeen.

"Your taking Prim? That'll hurt her even more!" I boomed.

"It'll hurt her even more if she can't say goodbye!" my mother ended the conversation and started to lead me away.

"So should we drop by?" Ms. Everdeen repeated her question.

"No, I'll be down by then!" I answered, and we all headed our separate ways.

This was going to be a long 3 months.