Chapter Three

Gradually, the teasings stopped. A week had passed since that day and everyone forgot. I had gained my role back as the fearless 12 year old and everything went back to normal, well, I thought it was normal.

Until he showed up.

We were at recess. I was coloring a picture on the sidewalk with Annie and Rue. Our hands and faces were covered in every color possible from the chalk. Pinks and blues were in our hair and on our dresses. We were a mess.

But we didn't care. We were having fun and our mothers could easily wash it out like the many times before. I picked up my favorite color, orange, and began to add my name to my picture.

I smiled, wiping my hand across my forehead to brush my dark locks out of my eyes. "You guys want to see my picture?" Rue asked.

"Sure!" I agreed, running over to see what she drew. Rue had always been one of the best drawers in our class. As I was running over, the sounds of laughter grew, gathering my attention.

I stopped, seeing a man play with Rye on the other side of the school yard. All of the younger kids were surrounding him, all of them trying to get his attention. But this man was only interested in Rye.

I could easily tell. The man was acting like we usually did. He was nodding his head at the other kids and slightly laughing, but made sure to always say some comment to Rye.

Why was this man trying to win Rye's approval?

Mrs. Belling called out for us to come back inside, waving her hand to get our attention. We quickly gathered up our things, throwing the pieces of chalk into the bucket and picking up our jump ropes. "Willow," Annie started, walking to my side. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing. Why?" I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows. I didn't feel wrong. In fact, I actually felt happy, besides the strange feeling I had in my gut about that man.

"You didn't go see Rue's picture, so I just thought you were feeling bad again." She answered. I shook my head, making my braids slap my face lightly.

"I was just watching that guy over there. I was wondering who he was." I explained. Annie looked over her small shoulders, narrowing her eyes.

"I don't know. I've never seen him before. Maybe he just moved here." She offered, shrugging her shoulder. I lightly bit my bottom lip, taking in her opinion. That was a reasonable excuse.

I placed down the bucket beside the door, making sure it wasn't in the way. I went back to my desk, knowing there was something off about that guy. He was too friendly with Rye and I didn't like it. I was going to find out why.

Eventually, we were let out of school for the day. Quickly, I threw my books into my backpack and ran outside, meeting Rye before he even got to the tree. "Willow!" He smiled.

"Let's go home!" I quickly stated, turning towards our house. Rye willingly agreed, jogging to catch up to me.

He blabbered on and on about his day today. To be honest, I never thought he would shut up. It wasn't that I was annoyed about him talking, it was just that I could feel the man's eyes on us.

I carefully turned my head, hoping I was just imagining it, but I wasn't. I could see him staring at us as walked home. I slightly picked up the pace, wanting to get out of his sight. Rye didn't even notice. "And then, we met Mr. Hawthorne." Rye continued, catching my attention.

"Who?"

"Mr. Hawthorne," Rye repeated, looking up from the road. "He's the guy I was playing with at recess. He's from District 2, but he grew up here in District 12. He said he was close friends with Mom."

"With Mom?" I asked, arching my eyebrow. Rye nodded his head, slightly furrowing his eyebrows himself.

"I didn't get it either. I thought Mom and Dad grew up together, so wouldn't he be friends with Dad, too?" He pondered, staring at me with his innocent gray eyes.

"Well, he probably knows Dad. But maybe they weren't friends," I offered, facing forward again. "I mean, I'm not friends with everyone."

"I suppose," He sighed, kicking a rock off of the path. "Have you met Mr. Hawthorne before?" He asked after a period of silence.

"No. I've never even heard of him." I honestly replied. If he was a friend of Mom's, why hadn't I heard of him? Mom and Dad have talked about their experiences in school to us before. We've heard all kinds of stories about Mom's friend Madge.

"Oh. Well, he said tomorrow he was going to go to the older school house and talk to you guys." Rye explained. He tugged on the straps of his backpack, pulling it higher onto his back. It was a nervous twitch he did.

"About what?"

"Oh, you know. The rebellion and stuff. He only said a few words to us. He said that he fought for the good guys with Mom and Dad. He also said he got to fly around in these huge spaceship things. They sounded awesome."

I had already learn what those 'awesome spaceships' had done in the rebellion. I knew that they were far from awesome. They were terrible, killing everything they saw that moved.

From that moment, I had already decided that I hated Mr. Hawthorne. I didn't even need to have a conversation with him to know. "Do you think Mom will remember this guy?" Rye suddenly asked.

"Maybe, but don't bring it up with her yet." I quickly replied. Rye furrowed his eyebrows, looking up at with his head tilted to the side.

"Why?"

I blinked my eyes, trying to come up with an excuse. "Well, if Mom does remember him, then it won't be a surprise for me tomorrow. I want to make sure we can talk about him together with Mom." I lied.

"Oh," he answered, looking down at his feet. "That makes sense. I can wait." He agreed as we got to the front door. I let out a little sigh as he opened the door, calling out that we were home.

xxx

Sure enough, Rye was right. The next day, Mr. Hawthorne stood in front of the class, his name written on the blackboard behind him. All of the kids began to whisper, asking each other why he was here. "Willow, who is this guy?" Prim asked.

"I don't know." I whispered back, never taking my eyes off of him. His gray eyes traveled around the room, glancing at each person. But then they stopped on me. I felt my cheeks heat up as we made eye contact.

"Students, this is Mr. Hawthorne. He's originally from District 12 and is here to tell you about his part in the rebellion." Mrs. Belling explained, introducing him to us. Everyone became silent as he cleared his throat.

He had a few spots of graying hair in his dark locks. He was taller than my Dad, even taller than a few of my friends' dads. "I'm Mr. Hawthorne, but you can call me Gale." He greeted, waving at us.

"Hi, Gale." Everyone, except me, replied. Immediately, I locked my jaw. Gale was Mom's hunting partner. He was also Mom's best friend before that awful Reaping. She had told me that she lost touch with him after the rebellion since he didn't want to come back to 12.

"So, I think I should explain myself to everyone. How many of you know Katniss Everdeen?" He asked. "Raise your hand if you do."

I sat still, not wanting to. No one raised their hands and they looked around at each other. They didn't know my mother's maiden name. "I suppose you know her by Katniss Mellark now." He chuckled, making everyone laugh and raise their hands. I rose my hand, not wanting to stand out.

"That's more like it," He smiled, seeing that everyone had them up. "Well, I was from District 12 originally and I was Catnip's best friend." He began. He called my mother Catnip? No wonder she hardly talks about him.

"I was there when Prim was reaped and Katniss took her spot. It was really inspiring to say the least. Next, Peeta, her future husband, was reaped. They were whisked off to the games and survived. It was such an honor to have them come back home as the victors." He grinned, but something in his voice made it sound like he was hiding something. He didn't sound like he really was happy.

Annie rose her hand, slightly shaking it to get his attention. "My mom said that you lived with her in District 13. Is that true?" She questioned.

He slightly scoffed, placing his hand over his chest. "Just let me tell my story. I'll get there," he laughed, making my classmates smile. "After they were brought home, President Snow had told them they had to fight in the Hunger Games again."

Everyone gasped, never hearing this part of the story. I looked around, never hearing this myself. Mrs. Belling sat up in her desk, looking on edge. Gale must have noticed because his tone changed. "Well, after the next games, we were brought to District 13. I helped in the rebellion and together, we all defeated President Snow." He summarized.

I knew there was more to the story. I mean, I had never been told the rest of the story, but it was obvious. There was no way it was that simple. Otherwise, Dad and Mom would have told me. "Any questions?" He asked, clapping his hand together and rubbing them.

"Did you go to the Hunger Games?" Fin asked, leaning back in his seat.

"Thankfully, no. I was only involved in the rebellion." He answered, rocking on his heels.

Everyone continued asking their questions, but I didn't listen. I didn't care about Gale and I didn't care what he did. I knew there was a reason Mom had never brought him up before. I assumed it was because he did something bad.

After what had felt like a century, Mrs. Belling released us from school. Quickly, I shoved my books into my bag, wanting to get out of there as fast as I could. I didn't want Gale to follow me home or to even look at me again.

Swiftly, I tossed my backpack over my shoulder and rushed to the door. "Woah. What's the rush?" He asked, grabbing onto my shoulder. I let out a groan, turning around to face Gale.

His gray eyes studied me. "Look, I've gotta go. Rye's waiting for me." I grumbled, hoping he'd leave me alone. I turned around trying to walk out the door, but he stopped me, snatching my wrist and pulling me back.

"Are you kidding me? I didn't even get your name, Catnip." He stated. Ugh, this stupid nickname.

I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms across my chest. "It's Willow." I spat, wanting to get away from him.

"Geez, you sound like your mother." He smiled, slightly laughing as he rubbed his stubbled chin.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." I replied, narrowing my eyes at him. I was about to run out the door, knowing Rye was probably freaking out. He didn't like being left alone for too long.

"But the eyes," he ticked, shaking his head. "They aren't hers. Those are Peeta's." He explained.

"Your point?"

"My point? Well, how do you think I knew you were your mother's daughter?" He fired back. I shrugged my shoulders, my face straightforward.

"By looking at the attendance sheet? I'm sure it says Willow Mellark. That should be a dead giveaway." I scoffed, glaring at him as I popped out my hip. His jaw slightly dropped, then closed again.

"Funny." He sarcastically grinned.

"Yeah, so if our chitchat is over, I'd like to get back to my brother." I declared, walking out the door. He followed behind me. I could feel him lingering in my shadow, but the biggest giveaway was Rye running to his side.

"Mr. Hawthorne!" He cheered, running to give him a hug. "Did you meet Willow?" Rye asked, looking up at Gale.

"Yes, sir. And just like I figured, she was the sweetest girl I've ever met." Gale played along, making Rye giggle. I rolled my eyes, knowing that was a lie.

"Come on, Rye. We need to head home. Mom and Dad will be worried." I declared, staring off in the direction of our house.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hawthorne. We have to get home." Rye apologized, walking up to my side.

"It's cool, bud. I know how your parents get. And hey, you can just call me Gale." He replied, patting Rye's shoulder.

"Okay, Gale," Rye smiled. "Well, see ya!" He waved, following me on the path back home.

"Bye, Rye," Gale laughed. "And bye, Willow." He added. I huffed and didn't even bother to turn around to look at him. I can't believe he had the guts to come and talk to me. I tried to make it obvious that I hated him, but he continued to bug me.

I stormed my way home, pounding my feet into the ground. "I like Gale." Rye stated, briskly walking beside me.

"Ya, he's the coolest." I grumbled back, narrowing my eyes and clenching my backpack straps. I tightened my jaw, staring forward. Anger was just flowing through my veins.

"I know, right!" Rye cheered, jumping beside me. Too bad this kid doesn't understand sarcasm.

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