Social Casualty

Chapter 14

I almost feel proud of myself when President Snow upgrades the school's security system, trying to put an end to the Breadioactive Man and Squirrel Dude's feats. He is obviously not successfull.

Even yesterday, when he managed to get the police to patroll the school's ground, the Breadioactive Man still managed to do another one of his achievements undetected. Obviously, this ocurrence has spread itself around the school, and everyone seems awfully excited that a student actually managed outsmart the cops.

It's been almost a month since the first graffiti was inprinted on the wall, and the results are starting to show. Although Snow managed to get the first graffiti I made out if the wall, many others came to replace it and the best part is, they're not all my own. After a few times without the superhero getting caught, people decided to write their own things in the walls as well, as a way to leave their mark in this hellhole. Talks about the school system started to grow in number everyday, and I can sense that the students are starting to get less afraid to do say what they think. Snow better watch his back, the domain he has on his so beloved school is starting to slip away from his grasp to my own, or the Social Casualty League's.

"He's just so amazing! How someone can enter the school with a police guarding it and slip away unscatted is something out of this world!" Annie beams excitedly.

It's starting to get hard to pay attention to any conversation in this lunch table when everyone seems to be talking about my secret alter ego. Breadioactive Man seems to be what everyone talks about these days. At first I found it funny that my friends would talk about me with me right there listening, when they don't even know it's me, but recently it has been starting to bore me a little. I sigh heavily, while chewing a fried potato that tastes like foam.

"Damn, Peeta! Why is it that you always get that face everytime we started to talk about Breadioactive Man? I thought that you, from all people, would be happy about something like this." Foxface complains.

"Yeah, Peeta. Why are yoy like that? Do you not like him?" Annie pipes up.

I take another bite of my sandwich, and chew it slowly, wondering if I could not say a thing at all. "It's not that." I mumble. "Don't you just think it's stupid that all it takes to get people convinced that this place is actually shit is just a guy in a superhero costume making drawings on the walls? If I well remember I've been saying that this school is a hellhole for years, and only now that you get it!"

"We kind of have a good reason. Don't get me wrong Peeta, but you always were a bit way too much pessimist. It's kind of hard to get what you actually mean if you're always this gloomy." Annie puts up quietly, in that sweet voice she uses when she's trying to say something that I probably don't like. I eye her suspiciously.

"Are you implying something there?" I ask. Annie frowns looking down at her lunch. Out of nowhere the atmosphere seems heavy, and I can feel that usual frustration I get when I realize everyone but me seems to understand what's going on.

Suddenley I feel her stare burning my head from behind. I turn around to see Katniss staring at me from her table, where she eats with Cato and the rest of the popular crew. She gives me an uncertain smile and goes back to eating her terrible sanwhich. I stand there staring at her.

After that day I went to Katniss's house, and Cato showed uo with his parents to discuss the pregnancy issue, Katniss and I stopped having lunch together. I was not particularly mad at her, I know it's not mainly her fault. Apparently, her mother and Cato's parents decided it'd be good if Katniss hung around with Cato and such, to keep up the appearences. Not as boyfriend and girlfriend, just to show that neither Katniss nor Cato were the bad guys in the middle of this. We still talk, and sometimes we also meet up at night like we used to, it's just no longer the same thing. I miss eating silently with Katniss, and taking her to her classes, calming her down everytime Glimmer got to her nerve. Of course that, after she started having lunch with them again, I went back to my friends. In the beginning, I was set on having lunch by myself, not wanting to crawl back to them after ignoring them for so long. But Finnick literally pushed me there, threatening toshove my face in whatever the meal was that day. I thought about fighting him, but he is almost a foot taller than me and way stronger, I don't think I'd stand a chance.