A Capitol Photoshot Part 1

RING!! Our telephone rang at about 5:00 on Thurday morning.
"Who on earth would be calling at this time!?" My dad Peeta Mellark yawned, as he stumbled down the stairs of our house in the Victor's Village, of the remade District 12.
RING!! RING!! RING!! "Hello? Peeta Mellark speaking." Dad answered the phone. "Peeta? Its Effie!" "Effie!?" Dad yipped. "EFFIE?!" My Mom Katniss Everdeen Mellark screamed as she raced down the stairs, elbowed Dad out of the way, and grabbed the phone.
"Yea, its Effie." Effie Trinket's Capitol accent made its way up to the top the stairs, where my little brother Cinna (age 13) and I sat listening.
"And how are you dear Katniss?" Effie asked, but before Mom could answer Effie plowed forward. "So President Paylor thought of a wonderful  idea! She has invited you, Peeta, Finch and Cinna to come to the Capitol and shoot some propos, AND do some pictures for a new fashion line your old prep team; Flavius, Octavia and Venia are launching! What do you think?"
There was a pause, and the sound of the phone dropping to the floor.
"Katniss? Honey, are you okay?" Dad asked. Cinna and I raced downstairs, and came to a halt in the kitchen to find Mom clutching the back of the chair, and breathing heavily.
"Katniss, answer me!" Dad said brushing the hair off her sweaty forehead.
"Peeta we can't go! Its were Finnick, Boggs, all those children, and Prim d-d-d-d-d-DIED!" Mom gasped.
"Katniss? Peeta?" Effie's voice came from the phone on the floor. Cinna picked it up and said, "Hey Effie? Yea its Cinna. Can we call you back in a few minutes? Thanks bye." All eyes reverted back Mom clutching the chair, and Dad trying to uncurl her fingers from it.
"Oh Peeta, we just can't go back! I swore the day I killed Coin I would never go back!" Dad nodded at me, as I'm sometimes the only one who can get Mom out of her flashbacks of the Rebellion and the Hunger Games. So I began to sing:

Just close your eyes

The Sun is going down

You'll be alright

No one can hurt you now

Come morning light

You and I'll be...

Safe And Sound

Mom slowly uncurled her fingers and slid onto the chair. 

"Okay. Lets call Effie." 

ONE WEEK LATER....

Mom, Dad, Cinna, and I stood in the Meadow awaiting the hovercraft that would take us to the Capitol. "Whats a hovercraft like?" Cinna asked. 

"Well its kind of like a plane, but it goes super fast, and...." Dad was cut off by a loud humming sound that seem to vibrate in my very bones. "Well lets see for yourself!" Dad yelled over the hum. 

As we boarded the hovercraft, I noticed somebody who I had only seen in old footage of the Rebellion, and who I was forbidden to speak or ask questions of. 

"GALE?!" Mom and Dad shrieked as Gale Hawthorne came towards us. 

"Yes its me. And who are these fine young people?" He asked pulling playfully on my braid. Suddenly a hand covered my view of him and a sharp crack echoed inside the hovercraft. 

"Don't. You. Dare. Touch. Them. Ever." Mom hissed. Gale looked as if he was going to cry. 

"Katniss, it wasn't my fault." 

"Yes. It. Was."

"No, Katniss listen..." 

CRACK! 

"MOM!" 'KATNISS!" Dad and Cinna grabbed Mom's hand before she could slap Gale again. 

"Hey sweetheart, don't wreck his camera face." Uncle Haymitch said, coming from behind Gale. 

Mom turned, and acting as if nothing had happened said, "Hello Haymitch. How are you? Im great thanks!" Then she turned on her heel and walked off down a hallway. 

"Why are you here Gale?" Dad asked, looking as if he would kill, if Gale gave the wrong answer.

"Effie, thought it would be good idea if I came and participated in the propos." Gale said, holding his hand over the side of his face Mom had slapped. 

"I always knew that woman was a twat." Dad sighed. "I'm so sorry about Katniss, she still hasn't gotten over Prim's death." 

"I understand." Gale said holding out his hand. Dad hesitated and then shook it. "So who are these two?" Gale smiled looking over Dad's shoulder at Cinna and me. 

"This is Finch Primrose, and this is Cinna Gale..." Dad trailed off. 

"Gale? His middle name is Gale?" Gale's eyes filled with tears. 

"Um... Yea... It was my idea. After Katniss came out of that little blissful state of seeing Cinna for the first time after he was born, I payed dearly for it." And then suddenly Dad and Gale where both laughing! 

"What the heck?" I asked Uncle Haymitch. 

"Well don't your mom, but Gale and Peeta have been keeping correspondence for years. I've been personally delivering their letters when I visit Plutarch in District 2." Haymitch laughed at the sight of us two in complete confusion. And then his face grew solemn "It was one of the bombs Gale designed that killed your Aunt Primrose." I felt shocked. I knew that Aunt Prim had been killed while trying to help injured Capitol children during the Assault at the time of the Rebellion (we learned about it at school) but whenever I asked Mom about she'd just start sobbing or go into her shock mode.
"What was Effie thinking!?" Cinna asked in disgust.
"I'm not sure... But I think this trip is going to be very interesting." Uncle Haymitch replied

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2