Can't Catch Me Now ( Peeta Mellark x F!OC)

𓍊𓋼the reaping pt.1𓋼𓍊

(Unedited)

On the morning of the reaping, I wake up next to one of my sisters. Prim must have had a nightmare and went to sleep with our mom. So have I, and honestly, it's expected, it happens once every year. And today is that day.

This is the day of the reaping.

I force myself to get up to go look for plants and berries of some sort. As I sit up, Katniss wakes up. It's the same routine every day for years. The only difference is now that the last five years, it's just been me and Katniss. It used to be me, Katniss, and our dad. That was before he was blown to bits in the mine explosion.

I look over to Prim. She's curled in a ball next to our mom, fast asleep. Laying in her lap is a muddy yellow cat. he's got a smashed face, and half of his ear is missing. Prim named him buttercup. She said it fit because of his color. He doesn't mind me, but he hates Katniss. She tried to drown him in a bucket last year, not even a day after Prim brought him home.

Me and Katniss put on our boots and some plain clothes. Then we head off to the forest that's outside of the district fence. Our house is at the edge of the seam. Our district is nicknamed the seam, full of coal miners leaving to the mines. The fence is there to "keep us safe" from the wolves, bears, wild dogs, etc. The gate is an electrical fence, but we almost never get more than 4 hours of electricity, but that's in the evenings. But we still stop and listen just to be sure that there is no electrical hum. She holds the wire up for me to get through, and I do the same for her.

Once we get through the trees to our spot, we retrieve our supplies. Katniss grabs her bow and arrow, and I grab a basket. Katniss hunts, and I collect plants. Dad had this book full of the names of all types of plants.

After dad died, we didn't have a lot. We mostly survived of Katniss root. The taste is comparable to a sweet potato. Katniss and I start walking through the forest looking for plants, birds, rabits, hopeful a wild turkey of some sort. We walk in silence per-usual, Katniss and I have never been close, but then again, she's not close with anyone, and if she is, it's with

"Hey catnip,"

Gale, after dad died, he started following Katniss around when we came to the forest. I didn't mind him, but I always felt like a third wheel. "Look at what I shot." He holds up a loaf of bread. Bread is kind of like a luxury for most of us in the seam, so when we do get it, it's like a treat. Katniss pulls the loaf off of the arrow and holds it up to her nose, inhaling the scent of the fresh buttery bread. She handed it to me. "Mm still warm."

"What did it cost you?* I asked. "Just a squirrel, I think Mr. Mellark feels sentimental about the reaping. And he even wished me luck, " Gale said.

"I think we all need it." I said, and honestly, it's the truth. Anyone can be picked for the games, and it's definitely scary. "Prim left us cheese," Katniss spoke up. We sat down on and I pick a few black berries from the bush that's next to us, Gale takes one and throws it into Katniss's mouth while quoting Effie Trinket "Happy Hunger games, and my the odds...be ever in your favor!" We all laugh. I pull out one of my knifes and slice the bread, I hand everyone their slice and Katniss spreads the goat cheese across the bread, Gale places a single basil leave on top of each and I pick some more black berries. After eating our bread, I leave to stop by the bakery. I don't plan on going in, but why not stop and look through the windows.

I walk by the bakery and make sure to be a little slower when I pass by the windows, peering into hopes to get a look at the bakers son. Peeta Mellark, we were friends in middle school, but then we just stopped. The last time we actually interacted was after my dad died. We had little to nothing, and I felt like a failure, Katniss was sick, and I had to find food for us, or we would starve. It was raining, and I was sitting under the apple tree that was behind the bakery. My eyes were red, and I had been crying. Peeta saw me through the window, and I gave a small wave. He just turned away to where I couldn't see him. A few minutes later, I heard yelling and then Peeta's mother pulling him out by his ear. He had slightly burned loaves of bread in his arms, any unwanted his mom yelled at him to feed it to the pigs. He waited till she went inside and he then he ran over to me giving me a loaf of the slighly chared loaf. "Take it and run so my mom can't see you," he spoke, then he ran back into the house. Little does he know he just saved my family's life. The bread lasted us a few days, which was enough time for Katniss to recover from being sick. She was soon on her feet and hunting to provide us food again.

And then we never spoke again. But every now and then, we sneak looks over at each other in class or when I'm going to the hub.

But this time, I don't see him in the bakery. So I continue walking, and I head over to the hub. The hub is a big barn/warehouse full of different people selling and trading different things. Sometimes, when Katniss and I get lucky, we can trade the plants or occasional wild turkey for rice, grain, bread, peices of fabric, string ,yarn basically anything that could keep us well fed and clothes on our backs. I stopped by Madges station to trade for some ribbon to put in mine and Prims hair. She likes jam, and if I bring her enough berries, she can make it for herself

"Hey Madge." I say, setting down a smaller basket full of berries, and she hands me a nearly empty spool of white ribbon. I notice that she has a golden pin of a mockingjay. I pick in up just to look at remembering all the times dad would whistle to the mockingjays, and they would whistle the tune back at him. "You can have it." Madge spoke, grabbing the basket of berries and emptying it out. "Thanks, Madge. Thank you." I gave a small smile she nodds and I walked away.

When I get home, there's a tub of warm water waiting for me. I tried and cleaned myself quickly and scrubbed the dirt off my knees. When I finish, I put on an old dress of white dress of mom's, and I help Prim braid ribbons into her hair, and I pull my hair into a ponytail and tie a ribbon around the base. When we leave the house, I can feel the nerves radiating off of Prim. And I can feel my own nerves settling in my gut. We walk into the town square and get into lines. The peacekeepers prick our fingers and stamp our bloody fingers down on a chart that has all of our information. Once they have everyone signed in, they force us into a crowd together, and the mayor reads some bullshit about the history of panem.

The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes, to participate. The
twenty-four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdood arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland, Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last tribute standing...wins.

They take the people of our districts and throw them together in a game of life and death, and we all are forced to watch.Whatever words they use, the real message is clear. Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there's
nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy all of you just like we did to district 13.

"It is now time for the repentance and time for thanks," the mayor says, then he walks off stage.

A bright and bubbly woman trots onto the stage and says her signature. "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!" She has hair that's the color of white corn, and she's wearing a dress covered in monarch butterfly replicas. I look to my right, and a few people over, I see Katniss, and she gives me a small but hopeful smile. It's now time for the drawing. The woman Effie Trinket reaches into a huge glass fish bowl to draw a name. I can feel how tense everyone is. She reads the name off of the little slip of paper.

"Primrose Everdean!"

(A/N): As someone who's been obsessed with Hunger Games, her whole life writing. This is literally giving me life. I'm so excited for this storyline and putting my character in there. I hope you love it. Don't forget to vote!