1. My Second Family

       There was no poorer district in the country of Panem than District 12. It’s no lie, because if you looked at the other districts, even the ones on the poorer end of the scale, they’re somehow better off than we were.

Within District 12 resides the Seam, the poorest place to live in the district—this was where I lived. The Capitol bombed us, dealing yet another blow to our already poverty-ridden district.

 Ever since the rebellion against the Capitol six months ago, we’d been rebuilding. Progress wasn’t quick since we’re trying to cope with all the losses of life, homes, and resources. The only thing that didn’t get damaged was the land on the other side of the fence boundary in 12.

            Out of my family, I was the only one that survived the bombing. Not exactly something that I wanted to be remembered for. My mom, dad, and younger brother and sister (who were twins) all perished. That day had been the darkest in my life. From then on, I wasn’t myself. It was also then that I hoped the Capitol paid for what they did, and that President Snow went to hell.

Fortunately, he ended up dead.

            Speaking of a president for Panem, a new one was elected. Shockingly, they’re slightly better than Snow. The only difference between him and Snow was that he vowed there would be no more Hunger Games. That was the only difference, and I cannot stress that enough. He increased Peacekeeper security and severity of punishments to the level of rule-breaking. You would think that he would be much more different than Snow and nicer being that he ended the Hunger Games.

            Still, we can’t always get what we hope for.

            I lived in a somewhat maintainable house now, only because it wasn’t mine. I ended up taking refuge with a family who I felt was practically my second. I felt kind of bad since it was one more mouth to feed, but none of them cared. Even though time after time I thought I was intruding, none of them thought I was a bother. They considered me family, and they had no idea how much that meant to me.

            Well, maybe Gale knew how much it meant to me.

He was the one who brought me to his family. Aside from me and him, it was his mother (Hazelle), Rory, Vick, and Posy. There would have been seven of us in the house, but Gale’s dad had died in a mining accident a few years ago. Ever since his dad died, Gale did everything to provide for the family. I tried helping him out, but he said he could handle it himself. I never lost faith in him, so I never tried to push the issue.

            It was another horrible day in 12. Those who had a job went to it, and those who didn’t stayed home to rebuild their old life. Since Gale’s mother didn’t really have a job, she stayed at home with the children. I really hated that she had to watch over them all by herself while Gale went out to get food. From the moment I stepped into the household, I ended up staying home with her. Every day was an adventure, I’ll admit.

            I was helping Hazelle cook what we had while all the kids ran about the house and around it. Well, the boys, Rory and Vick, did. Little Posy didn’t want to get involved with her brothers. She was half their ages; being only five. She was the odd one out in the family. She had red hair and light green eyes compared to her brothers.

I knew how it felt to be the odd one out in the family. I was the only one who got the dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, my family had light brown hair and grey eyes.

            “Katrina!” Posy’s voice rang out. I could hear her feet running to me as she tackled my legs. I grinned down at her as I picked her up. I was only with this family for six months and already I felt like I had been a part of it since the day I was born. “What are we going to do today?”

            “How about I tell you a bunch of stories after lunch?” I proposed.

            “Tell me the one about how the big bad wolf got scared off by the hunters and never came back!”

            The whole big bad wolf story was my version about how the rebellion led to a semi-better Panem. But I wasn’t going to tell Posy the inspiration behind the story; she was still too young to understand that. Her brothers weren’t, but she was.

            “Maybe I will, or I might have a better story to tell you.”

            “Katrina, do you mind fetching the boys from outside?” Hazelle asked me.

            “Hold on.” I stepped outside the door. “Rory, Vick, your mom’s got food ready!”

            Gale had already left this morning to go hunting. I was surprised he and Katniss still did that. Katniss Everdeen, one of the winners of the 74th Hunger Games. She used to live in the Seam until after the Games. Now she resides in 12’s Victors’ Village with the other two victors, Peeta Mellark and their mentor, Haymitch Abernathy.

            “You have to catch us first!” Rory teased me. He and Vick stopped to stare at me.

            “Why don’t you two just obey for once and be good boys?” I whined.

            “Because we’re getting older,” Vick piped. “Are you too old to come catch us?”

            “You both are so immature. I’m going to set you down, Posy. Go run along to your mother while I go fetch your lunatic brothers.” I set her down, and she ran into the house.

I charged for Rory and Vick. They both split. I really wished I could make a clone of myself, that way I had a shot of catching them both. Ha, that’d happen the day District 12 would become rich.

            I managed to catch Vick by the ear and lugged him into the house, and then I went back out and snagged Rory. I was panting as I dragged Rory by the arm.

            “What did I tell you boys about giving Katrina a hard time?” Hazelle whimpered as she gave us what she managed to cook. “Treat her like an older sister, show her some respect. You show Gale a lot, give some to her.”

            “She’s not real family though,” Rory complained. That comment stung a little bit.

            “It doesn’t matter. She is to all of us, and you know that. Her family and ours have always been close.”

            I felt a brief twang in my heart at the mention of the rest of my family.

            “I think of her as family,” Posy piped. I always sat between her and Hazelle; the boys were next to their mother. “She’s the sister I never had.”

            “Katrina,” Hazelle started, “why don’t you ever try and hunt with Gale?”

            “Oh, I don’t hunt,” I said. “That’s more of his thing.”

            “It’d be better if you tried. It could help bring more food in.”

            “That’s why Katniss helps him out,” Rory cut in. “That’s why she still hunts, only to help us.”

            Katniss Everdeen. The funny thing about her and me was that if my hair was her color, we’d be twins. I’m not joking either. You wouldn’t believe how many times Gale’s younger siblings called me Katniss before they got it right. Then again, our names were kind of close, too, so that didn’t really help.

            That girl knew Gale maybe better than I did. However, it took her forever to realize Gale loved her whereas he told me it right away. I was the person who knew before she knew herself. I was there for Gale while she was out fighting for her life during the Games. I helped him get through the burden of knowing that his best friend was in an arena with deadly, trained children.

            As much as I loved being around his younger siblings, I really wanted Gale to come back. It’s not like I loved him in a way that Katniss did with Peeta, I just wanted someone around my age to talk to. It could get tiring when I’d spend the entire day with his younger siblings.

            “I don’t like the thought of killing animals,” I said quietly.

            “Yet you eat what comes home,” Vick chirped.

            “That’s because there’s barely enough food to eat here at the Seam,” I said defensively. “If you were me and hated the thought of killing animals yet you were starving, you’d get past that if it meant you didn’t go hungry.”

            Vick never bickered back at me, I won the argument.

*       *        *

            Gale didn’t come home until just before sunset. Posy pounced on him and he picked her up. I giggled as I watched. I doubted there was a person in the world who hated Gale. He had the charm and the looks, with the dark hair and gray eyes. All the girls fawned over him at school which I despised. But I guess it’s in every girl to drool over some hot guy. I bet I would when I’d lose my self control.

            “I’m guessing game isn’t abundant around this time of year?” I asked as we were in his room later that night. Hazelle was washing dishes while Rory was in charge of watching Vick and Posy. Gale and I were excused from watching them.

            Since there was no spare room, Gale shared his room with me. He always let me take his bed even when I insisted he keep it, and that I was good on the floor. That’s how Gale was; he was willing to put others first before him. That’s how he was providing for us all.

            “Not at the moment. We would have been out longer, but the hovercraft came earlier than usual. It nearly caught us this time,” he reported.

            “You’re getting off your game if that’s happening.”

            “No kidding,” he snorted. “The Capitol is really trying to crack down on us. They have to know we’re there, otherwise why would they be there?”

            “I’m sure they’d be there even if you weren’t,” I thought out loud. “They just don’t want anybody escaping. I can’t blame people for wanting to leave. District Twelve isn’t wealthy.”

            “We manage to get by, that’s tolerable enough for me.”

            “Well, that’s you.” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I sat cross-legged on the floor, Gale sat on the bed. “I mean, people have a better reason to leave, because Twelve is at an all-time low, lower than it was before.”

            “You know what? I’ve been telling Katniss so much about you, why not have you two meet?”

            Random much, Gale? “You tell Katniss about me?” I squeaked.

            “Sometimes, yeah.” He shrugged. “Why are you making it sound like it’s a bad thing?”

            “I never said it wasn’t, it’s just…I don’t know. Anyway, about the whole meeting-Katniss ordeal, are you sure that’s a good idea?”

            “Isn’t it?”

            “Not in the slightest.”

            “Why not?”

            “We’re two totally different personalities.” It was simple: she was tough, I wasn’t. She had been through a war and fought, I had just run for my life so I didn’t die like my family. She had endured what I hadn’t, so God only knew what that did to her mental state.

            “So? You might like her.”

            “I would still rather not.”

            “Why?” Gale now sat off the bed and in front of me.

            “She scares me,” I muttered under my breath.

            “What was that?” he sang.

            “I said she scares me, okay?” I slapped his arm playfully. “Come on, if you didn’t know her, you’d be a little afraid, too, especially after seeing what’s she done since her Hunger Games.”

            “Nah, I wouldn’t be.”

            “And why not?”

            “I’m a guy. Guys don’t fear girls.”

            “Not even girls who can be deadly with any weaponry they can get their hands on?”

“Not even then.”

            “Trina!” Posy squeaked as she ran into the room. She nearly took me out when she tackled me. Other than her mother, Posy always ran to me when she needed someone.

            “Whoa, Posy,” I said. “What’s wrong?”

            “Rory scared me!”

            “Really?” I groaned. She nodded and whimpered. “Your brother, I swear. You would think he’s old enough to grow up. Rory, get in here!” I yelled.

            “What do you want?” Rory barked in the doorway.

            “Don’t take that tone with me, mister. Apologize to your sister right now.”

            “And what if I don’t?”

            “We’ll just see what your mother has to say about it.”

            “Yeah, we’ll tell Mommy!” Posy sided with me.

            “Gale, help me out here?” Rory pleaded. It seemed Rory didn’t like the idea of telling Hazelle.

            “Sorry, kid, I’m with the girls on this,” Gale said. Three to one, we win. “I thought you knew better.”

            “Fine.” Rory sighed. “I’m sorry I scared you, Posy.”

            “If it happens again, I will tell your mother,” I warned him.

            “Are we done here?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Good.” He stomped off.

            “Rory is such a handful,” I groaned as I fell onto my back. Posy lay out on my stomach.

            “Can you put me to bed, Kat?” Posy yawned.

            “Of course, kiddo.” I sat up, scooping her up. She clung to me like a monkey.

I rose and left Gale to put Posy to bed. I came back two minutes later only to find the room empty. I rolled my eyes. Gale was going to try and scare me, or surprise attack me. He got into the habit of that lately, and it baffled me as to why.

            I turned around only to have thrown a punch that Gale caught. I was sure I had gotten him that time, I had pretty good reflexes. Hell, I had dodged objects when Rory and Vick thought it’d be funny to see if they could try and hit me.

            “You’re slacking, Kat,” Gale teased with a smirk. “You used to be quick as a whip.”

            “And you would know the speed of a whip.” Gale had gotten whipped after being caught hunting illegally. All for a turkey he was whipped. He still had faint scarring on his back from it. I never saw them myself, the scars, but I believed Gale when he told me he still had them.

            “Yeah, well, that was a time ago. Now I think if anybody gets caught hunting illegally, they get taken to the Capitol,” he spat.

            “At least there aren’t any more Hunger Games.”

            “That’s the only good thing,” he sighed. Come on, keep talking. I can use chat to distract you so I can get a hit in. I won’t be thwarted twice. I tried to knee him, but he caught that, too. I ended up hopping on one foot. I glared at him angrily. “Do you think I don’t know you, Kat? You need to change your tactics.”

            “I will eventually. Now can I please have my arm and knee back?” I asked.

            Gale released me. “How come she gets to call you that but I can’t?”

            “What? Trina?”

            “Yeah.”

            “She’s young, and she doesn’t do it to get on my nerves.” I grinned. I stretched, yawning.

            “I think you better get to bed,” Gale suggested.

            “Nah, really?” I said sarcastically.

            “Get to bed.” He tickled my side. I squeaked and danced away. Gale knew how to make me do things he wanted. Whether it was using a nickname or tickling me, Gale usually got his way.

            I hopped into bed, actually considering meeting Katniss. I wasn’t lying when I said I was scared of her. If someone pissed her off, she could shoot them in the neck or anywhere that was a fatal shot. Then again, she was with Peeta, so maybe he softened her up a bit. If that was the case, if I ever met Peeta, I’d have to thank him, because then I wouldn’t be so scared of his girlfriend like I used to be.

            “Gale?” I whispered.

            “Hmm?”

            “I might just take up your offer on meeting Katniss sometime.”

            “How about tomorrow?”

Geez, he didn’t hesitate in thinking up a date.  “I can try.” My voice was full of uneasiness.

            “I’ll take you hunting with us so you can watch.”

            “I don’t know…”

            “You said you’d try tomorrow.”

            “But does it have to be when you guys hunt? That’s your thing; I don’t want to trump that.” I would feel left out, and I was sure it’d feel awkward, very awkward.

            “You complain a lot, you know that, Kat?”

            “But you still stand me,” I sang.

            “It’s because you’re my best friend—one of them, anyway.”

            “Right.”

            “Goodnight.”

            “Same to you.” I turned over, facing away from Gale as he slept on the floor, me in his bed.

Tomorrow would be a break from the rut. Tomorrow I’d get to finally meet Katniss Everdeen. The Girl on Fire. The Mockingjay. The girl that was once—and probably still was—Gale’s love interest. 

**For some reason, the books inspired me to write this idea. Or maybe it was around the time they were advertising for the first movie...either way, this idea was born.

If you're into unique plot lines in fan fictions, I'm pleased to tell you that you've found a book that has such :)**