Chapter 4: It's happening

Katniss POV

I can't take it anymore. Everywhere I go, and anything I do someone always ends up hurt. I'm just so sick of it all.

"STOP IT!" I stand up and scream. I stomp my way down to them. Both of them instantly stop what they do and stare at my red puffy eyes.

"Jerk." Gale says to Peeta and scampers to his feet. Peeta takes more time.

"Will you two just act your ages! Gale, you don't have any business in our relationship." I say and Gale's face drops like he just witnessed his own funeral. Peeta smirks at him.

"And you! I don't even know where to start. You said you're over it. Over what, Peeta?" I ask and begin to shake again with tears.

"I-" He begins.

"I'm so mad and mostly hurt that I don't want to hear it right now. I'm going home. And you two are coming because you look like who knows what." I say and walk between them and leave them there dumbfounded. I keep walking and then I heard their feet begin to break twigs and crunchy leaves as they catch up with me. I don't want them to be anywhere near me. The walk home was silent. We get home by what I assume to be 7:30. I set them in chairs at the table. First I hand Gale an ice pack for his nose, then I wet a rag and go over and stand in front of Peeta. I may not be a healer but I can take care of miner injuries. I gently wipe new and old blood from his face, and then get him his own ice bag for his blacked-eye. I take one more look over of his face in case I missed something. I absorb that all the damage to Peeta is that his eye is blacked, a busted lip, and a gash near his hairline from where Gale shoved him to the ground.

"I'm real sorry." Peeta says and looks down at his fingers.

"Me too." Gale says. I move over and wipe away his blood too. I see his nose is still bleeding pretty badly, and his lip as well is busted. I give him two wadded up gauzes to him for his nose. He looks kind of ridiculous with those hanging out of his nose. I still have a horrible headache. I could take some of those special pills but we need to save those for when we actually need them.

"I have a headache so I'm going to lay down and try to sleep. If something happens; you can wake me, but otherwise. Don't." I say and wrap my arms around myself and go my bed. I flop down and inhale deeply to calm myself. I roll over and inhale a pillow that smells like Peeta's shampoo. I hold it close and inhale it more. No matter what he says or whatever happens; I don't want to lose the boy with the bread. Ever.

I allow myself to sleep. I might be scared of what lies in my dreams but I have to escape reality. In dreams you can't really die and right here right now I feel as though I might. I have a nightmare that after I wake Peeta and I break off the engagement and Gale has died. I want to wake up but I can't.

"Katniss." A voice is calling me.

"Katniss." This voice has a got an ounce of worry creeping in. Then, I jump up in the bed. Peeta is in the room with me, but he's asleep with his arms over me. My jump awoke him.

"Are you ok? What happened?" He silently asks. I'm still mad at him, but I just had the heebie-jeebies scared out of me. When I see that everything is ok, I fall over in relief. Relief that it was just a dream and I was safe. I reach over and hug his neck. I feel like Scrooge when he wakes up on Christmas morning with a new found happiness and understanding.

"I'm sor-" I begin but Peeta puts his hand over my mouth.

"If you say you're sorry I will scream. You are not the one who needs to be sorry. I shouldn't have yelled. I knew he was your best friend but when he's around I feel like he's trying to take you away. He still thinks of me as the little brainwashed boy with the bread, and I might still be. I'm sorry." He apologizes.

"You're my little brainwashed boy with the bread." I say and kiss him.

"I want to be."

"Good."

"You love me, real or not real?" He sometimes has to ask, either to bring a laugh or he just has to know.

"Real." I say and place my hand on his cheek. It's probably around 4:30 in the morning, most likely everyone is asleep, and when I say everyone I mean Gale. He must feel like crap, and I hope Peeta didn't make a bigger deal about everything than it already was. I should be mad at Gale, and I should even hate him for what he did. But I'm not the type a person to hold a grudge for too long. We spend the rest of the night holding each other close. We both go back to sleep, but he falls asleep before I do and I listen to his breathing. It soothes and reminds me of when we were on the train. I don't dream I just in that peaceful black space.

I wake up before Peeta and slip to the bathroom. I get out and Peeta is still asleep. I step outside our room and down to the guest bedroom to apologize to Gale. I open the door, but the bed is empty and made. I go downstairs to the living room. Empty. So is the kitchen. I leave Peeta a little note saying that I have already headed out to work. I go in pursuit of Gale. Where, where, where? Maybe the school. That's where I go first. There are a few people but not Gale. I go over to Greasy Sae's and go in.

"Have you seen Gale? I can't find him." I ask. She simply points to a dark figure in the farthest corner. I thank her and go back to him.

"Gale." I say and he jumps as if I scared the crap out of him.

"Katniss. What is it?" He asks like he just got back from a funeral.

"Who's Katniss. I only respond to..." I coax him to say my nickname.

"Catnip." He finishes.

"Yes?" I return with a smile.

"I thought you never wanted to see me again. You have Peeta. He won." He whispers.

"He won my heart. Yes. But I never said I never wanted to see you again. You are still the guy who took me hunting on early summer days to escape reality, I hope. You are still the guy who helped me watch both of our families' kids when our mothers had to go do business, when you could've sneaked out with your other friends." I say and hug him lightly.

"Thank goodness." He returns. At that moment Effie burst through the door with my old prep team in tote. I have no idea what is going on.

"Katniss, we've got everything done. All we need is a camera crew, a few witnesses, and you and Peeta. And the camera crew is just down the street filming and I'm sure they wouldn't mind filming your wedding." She blurts. I have no idea what to say. What I do next is on a stupid impulse.

"Gale, come with me. I want you to walk me down the aisle." I say.

"What?" Both Effie and Gale ask.

"Please. Just do it." I say and take him by the hand then start running.

"Slow down." He says from behind me. I run to my house and let go of Gale and run up to my room where I see a beautiful plain white wedding dress. It's strapless and beautiful. I walk closer and see a note lying beside the dress. On the top side it said Katniss in Cinna's handwriting. I wearily pick it up and sit down on the bed then open it.

My Dearest and Beautiful Katniss,

If you're reading this then it's obvious that I'm not there with you. Since you're already this then I should say my congrats and I'd kiss your cheek, but we can pretend. I hope you know that I really wish I could be there. I trust my helpers to do what I've told them to do, but no matter what I know you're beautiful- with or without make-up. I will say once more for emphasis, I wish I could be there, but I'll be watching you from somewhere better than imaginable. Be strong my fearless Mocking Jay. Make me proud. Lots of love and kisses.

~Cinna

I put the note on the dresser next to the bed. I grab the note back and hold it close to my heart. Why? Why did they take my poor and innocent Cinna from me? My team walks in and I cram the note securely in my dresser drawer.

"I see you've seen the note." Flavius says and everyone surrounds me in a hug. They back off and demand I take a bath and that I scrub while they get everything ready. I get out and towel dry myself from head to toe. I find myself once again being rubbed down and done up by my team. They tell me of latest news from the Capitol and different things they find funny. They pick and poke at me for a few hours and then when they take a step back and observe their work I know I'm done. I stand up and take a look in a hand-held mirror. I'm a Beauty Base Zero with some mascara and highlights around my eyes. My dark hair is curled and the top is pulled back in a clip yet curls lay neatly around my head.

"This is what Cinna told us to do... with a few altercations." One says but I'm too baffled at myself to tell who. This is the only time I will ever consider myself attractive, and that might be pushing it.

"Can we mention Cinna as little as possible? If I hear his name again I might ruin my make-up." I say and turn their way. They nod and place a little veil over my hair and face.

"Please, smile. I makes you prettier than any make-up can."

"Thanks." I reply. They put my dress down so I can step into it. They lace me into it and it fits just right. I turn to straighten out the dress, and when I look at the bed again there is a skimpy feather covered outfit. Cinna's doing. I guess he had to get me to laugh somehow. I smile.

"You forgot to put that in her luggage?" Octavia asks. I blush at the thought of wearing that. I didn't know, but in the hours that I've been getting gussied up that my house has been turned into a regal get away.