Welcome to Reality [A Hunger Games fan fic]

[4] Welcome to the Bottom of the Food Chain

[4] Welcome to the Bottom of the Food Chain

Katniss's Point of View

What the hell? In my English class there was Darius, the peace keeper from my district, Finnick Odair, the victor from District 4, and Peeta Mellark, the boy who probably saved my life with loaves of bread.

Peeta and Montana complain about dictionaries for a couple minutes until the bell rings. Everyone gets up from their seats, Montey shoves her homework into her backpack roughly. I pick up my bag and slide my paper in, then follow Montey from the room.

As we walk through the halls, Montey begins to whine about how she didn't sleep last night. She talks about it in a way that makes me think she never sleeps, as if tired is a common feeling.

We walk into a huge room, the ceiling a good fifty feet up. There's tables in long lines the length of the room, people sit at the tables throwing food, chatting, laughing. It's a cafeteria.

Montey leads me over to a table in the corner near a giant window. It's a bit secluded from the rest of the cafeteria, which I like. Madge sits there, a sandwich and a soda in front of her. Darius sits next to her, a pizza slice in his hand, and a big guy with dark skin sits across from her. Two seats are left at the table, which me and Montey quickly claim.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Montey asks, taking some money from her bag.

"My seats near the door." Madge shrugs. I realize I'm hungry at that moment, and open up my bag. After a moment of digging around I find a sandwich. I quickly dig in. I look over to where Montey was a moment ago to see she's gone.

"Where'd Montey go?" I ask.

"Went to get lunch." Darius said, giving me a weird look. I nod quickly.

"How's sitting next to Peeta?" Madge asks me, randomly changing the subject. I shrug.

"He really hates having to share dictionaries." I shrug. Darius and the dark skinned guy crack up laughing. Madge just rolls her eyes.

"Thresh, you should talk more. You pretty much just listen to our conversations." Darius pokes the big guy next to him, I guess Thresh.

"Meh. I'm uninteresting." Thresh says quietly. Darius rolls his eyes.

"WHO WANTS TATER TOTS?!" Montey yells, sitting down at the table with a paper boat of the potato based food. She sets the tater tots in the middle of the table and everyone begins to eat her lunch. I decide not to question it and grab one.

"Hey, nerds." A voice growls from behind us. I turn to see a blond boy standing there with his hands in his pockets, a scowl on his face.

"Go away, Cato." Darius waves him off.

"Hell no. I'm talking to you." The blond boy, Cato, snaps. "I just wanted to tell you that if I don't get a A on the homework ginger boy did for me, then you'll all get pounded by the football team."

Darius's face was red with anger, Cato had a evil smirk on his face.

"I didn't make the paper a A, if I did then the teacher would know you paid someone." Darius snarled. Cato glared at him. 

"You calling me stupid?" Cato challenged. Darius shrugged, and Cato's face contorted in anger. "Why you little-!" Cato stepped towards Darius, ready to punch his face in.

What happened next probably surprised me more than Cato about to punch Darius. As Cato swung  his arm back to punch Darius, his hand was grabbed by a stronger looking hand. Cato looked behind him in confusion, to see none other than Gale, who gave him a sarcastic smile

"Walk away, Cat-o." Gale warned. Cato nodded stiffly and shook his hand free from Gale's grip. Without a word Cato stalked off, huffing and puffing. Gale turned to us.

"God, that guys a jerk." Gale said to us. I feel myself nod in agreement. Gale pulled a chair away from another table and dragged it over to ours. "I got stuck in a lunch with none of my friends, and I think I have math with some of you guys, so I'll sit here today." Gale said.

"But you're a senior." Darius said dumbly.

"You're the same age as me." Gale pointed out.

"I got put in school late." Darius snapped. Gale just shrugged.

"Hey, Katniss." Madge interrupted the two boy's arguement. "Are we still going to your house today?"

"Um, yea." I say, hoping that's the right thing to say.

"OOOHHH Can I come?" Gale randomly asks. I give him a 'What the hell?' look. I glance over at everyone else, Montey mouths 'YES', Madge shakes her head, Darius looks blankly into space, and Thresh shrugs as if saying 'Why not?'

"Um, I guess." I manage to say though my mind seems to have gone numb. Madge huffs in annoyance, Darius seems to have snapped out of it and blinks numerous times, Montey does a small happy dance, and Thresh smiles and leans back in his chair. Montey looks down at her now empty boat of tater tots, and pouts sarcastically.

"YOU GUYS ATE MY TATER TOTS." Montey says in a sad voice, then busts out laughing. Jeez, who gave her coffee?