Pieces in the game. (The Hunger Games)

Chapter 22: What did you do?

Lilly's POV.

Although everything in me wants to dig in to the stew and devour it, I know it will just make me sick. "We better take it slow on that stew. Remember the first night on the train? The rich food made me sick and I wasn't even starving then," he makes a good point and across the way I see Kat and Gale nodding. "You're right. And I could just inhale the whole thing," Kat laughs. But we eat sensibly. We each have a roll, half an apple and an egg sized serving of stew and rice. I will admit to emitting a happy squeal when I see they even sent us plates and silverware. Which earned me a few chuckles. I can tell you that I savoured each bite of the food, even going so far as to take tiny spoonfulls just to make it last longer. Though I don't feel so bad as I notice the others doing it too. I sit back when we finished eating and smile. "I want more," Gale says, staring longingly at his plate. "Me too. Tell you what. We wait an hour; if it stays down, then we get another serving," Peeta agrees. I nod as Kat whines, "It's going to be a long hour!". Peeta smiles at her. "We could always sing another song? By we I mean Lilly and you of course," Gale says. I laugh at the blush that comes over Kat's face as she playfully slaps his chest. "That's what I thought," he teases. I moved and got back under the sleeping bag as Peeta crawled back over to me. "Scoot over, I'm freezing," he mumbles. But I smile and let him crawl in before plastering myself to his good side. "So, since you were six, you never even noticed any other girls?" I ask him. "No, I noticed just about every girl, but none of them made a lasting impression but you," he admits and I snort.

"I'm sure that would thrill your parents, you liking a girl from the Seam," I speak quietly as Kat and Gale start up some argument over something. "Hardly. But I couldn't care less. Anyway, if we make it back, you won't be a girl from the Seam, you'll be a girl from the Victor's Village," he points out. That's right. If we win we'll each get a house in the part of town reserved for Hunger Games' victors. Long ago, when the Games began, the Capitol had built a dozen fine houses in each district. Of course, in ours only one is occupied. Most of the other have never been lived in at all. I shudder as a disturbing thought hits me. "But then, Haymitch will be our neighbour!". Kat and Gale shut up and start listening to our conversation. "Ah that'll be nice," says Peeta, tightening his arms around me. "You and me, Katniss and Gale, and Haymitch. Very cosy. Picnics, birthdays, long winter nights around the fire retelling old Hunger Games tales". He chuckles as he finished talking and Katniss groans. "But Haymitch hates me!" she whines and we all start laughing. "Only sometimes. When he's sober, I've never heard him say one negative thing about you," Peeta says. "He's never sober!" Gale protests and I laugh harder. "That's right. Who am I thinking of? Oh, I know. It's Cinna who likes you. But that's mainly because you didn't try to run when he set you on fire," Peeta points out. "On the other hand, Haymitch... well, if I were you, I'd avoid Haymitch completely. He hates you!". "I thought you said I was his favourite?" Kat points out. 

"He hates me more," Peeta declares. "I don't think people in general are his sort of thing". I can only imagine if Haymitch is watching this what a laugh people are getting out of it! He's been around so long, he's practically an old friend to some of them. And after his head-dive off the stage at the reaping, everybody knows him. By this time, they'll have dragged him out of the control room for interviews about us. No telling what he's saying. He's at something of a disadvantage because most mentors have a partner, another victor to help them, whereas Haymitch has to be ready to go into action at any moment. I wonder how he's holding up, with the drinking, the attention, and the stress of trying to keep us alive. I wonder if he actually likes me. I know he has done a lot to help me before entering the arena, but since then, this food was the first thing I received and it wasn't even for me alone. But he has sent a few things through to Katniss and Gale and I wont lie, it makes me a little jealous. As I was pondering over my relationship to Haymitch Katniss voices a question. "How do you think he did it?" she sounds so curious. "Who? Did what?" I ask. "Haymitch. How do you think he won the Games?" as she asks I wonder why I had never thought of it before. Haymitch is sturdily built, but no physical wonder like Thresh or Cato. He's not particularly handsome. Not in the way that causes sponsors to rain gifts on you. And he's sp surly, it's hard to imagine anyone teaming up with him. There's only one way that Haymitch could have won, and Gale says it just as I am reaching this conclusion myself. "He outsmarted the others," his voice is level but his tone is shocked.