The Boy Who Stares

LabRat3000

Chapter 1: The Dinner

I was on top. You have no idea: the captain of the football team, hottest guy in school, and the most popular. Well, I was.

How did I lose all of my popularity? It's simple. I broke my arm. It started out as a broken arm at least, but when I went to the doctor he said I needed glasses too. When I got glasses, I could actually see what the teacher would write on the board. Then, when we took tests, I just knew all the answers. Apparently, I have photographic memory. Because of my extraordinary grades, I was placed in almost every single honors class. I thought about getting the answers wrong on purpose, but my mother was so happy. So just like that, I went from star athlete, to star mathlete.

I was sitting alone at lunch for a week. I was not going to sit with those other nerds, and my 'friends' weren't going to sit with me. I still look the same, but no one cares about my looks. All they see is that out-of-season loser who wears big, nerdy glasses and is smart and nerdy.

After a week, I was unfortunately rescued by Clove. Clove has been at this school since third grade. In middle school, she was a loud, beautiful, and fun brunette who loved lime green. Over the summer after eight grade, she had a complete make-over. She died her hair black, except for a few streaks which she died hot pink. She threw away all of her bright clothes for black, goth attire. Ever since then, she's been sitting with the group of emo looking losers at the back of the dining hall.

I guess she felt bad for me. She felt bad for me! She sat next to me at lunch. Lunch is the time to talk to your friends. It decides where you stand socially here at Panem High. When she sat next to me, I got up immediately. I was going to move to another table, but she stated, "Fine, leave. I don't care. It's not like I'm going to sit by myself." She knew my weak spot. I sat down next to her. We used to be friends in sixth grade English class, and she couldn't've changed that much.

It was awkward silence. People were almost done getting their food. I looked around. All of my fr- old friends were quietly laughing at me. There was this one freshman kid watching me, but he turned away as I looked at him. I've seen him before in the bakery near my house, but I don't go anymore. I'm sure he's named after a type of bread. Wheat? Loser.

"Hey! Jessie! Over here." waved Clove. I look over to Jessie and smack myself in the face. Foxface was cautiously walking towards us. Her real name was apparently Jessie. My old friends and I used to make fun of her and call her Foxface. She was the only other person in my AP Statistics class, but I never so much as looked at her. I heard she was really smart and fast.

"Hi Clove!" answered Foxface gleefully. I was so confused. Foxface and Clove were definitely not friends, but she still sat with us.

The next surprise visitor is Katniss. She's the only other person that sits alone at lunch besides me, but Clove calls her over anyway. Her boyfriend, Gale, was one of my best friends. He was one of the greatest lineman I've ever played with. Katniss used to sit by him, but she's a freak who'd rather sit alone.

I thought it couldn't get any weirder, but I was wrong. This Clove chick calls over another loser. His name is Thresh. My first impression of him was that he was cool, but I was way off. He doesn't talk to anyone, he doesn't play football, and he isn't even that smart. I thought he skipped lunch because I never saw him eating in the dining hall.

I looked around again, and I noticed that a lot of people were looking at us. That freshman was staring too. I thought about getting up and eating alone. It would tell people, "I'm still too cool for these losers. I'd rather eat alone." I don't know why I didn't do that.

Instead, I asked Clove, "What? What's going on? Why am I sitting at a table full of losers?"

She rolled her eyes. "Cato, if you haven't noticed, you're a loser too. I seriously think all of you guys are cool. Have you seen Thresh play basketball on the streets? Have you seen Katniss shoot her gun? Have you seen Jessie sneak through the obstacle course during P.E.? They're way less of losers than you."

I sat there with my mouth open. Everyone else had the same expression. "Thresh... you play basketball? Why don't you join the team? I obviously can't play with my broken arm."

Then, I heard Thresh speak for the first time in my life. "I play for fun, not for school." Only seven words, but it was seven more word than I've heard him say.

"Katniss, you shoot guns? Do you hunt?" I asked.

"Well... yeah. I find this really creepy. I haven't even told Gale. How did you know, Clove?"

Clove rolled her eyes again. "Jessie is super quick. She does Cross-Country you know."

"That's correct, but I'm sure Cato wouldn't know that. We all know how Cross-Country isn't important to a star-football player." Jessie added.

"Ex-star-football player..." whispered Cato.

"I have the perfect idea! We should all go grab lunch or dinner together! It'll be a lot of fun." suggested Clove.

"I don't know you people." stated Thresh flatly.

"Yeah, like I said, I find you really creepy." agreed Katniss.

"It sounds like an enjoyable way to eat dinner." argued Jessie.

Everyone looked at me. I looked back and realized they wanted to see if I was going. I weighed my options. Stay home and cry over being a loser, or go to dinner with a bunch of losers that may or may not be cool. "I guess I'm going."

When I agreed, Katniss and Thresh agreed as well. Clove addressed all of us. "It's settled then. Let's go today at 7. Today's Friday right? Greasy's." With that, she put her tray away and left.

"She's crazy." voiced Katniss. The rest of us finished eating in silence.

I look around one last time. Most people have gotten over our little table of losers. That blond freshman was still looking at me. I wondered, who he was.

The next class I had was AP Statistics with Foxface, I mean Jessie. The teacher usually just gives us a study hall anyway. We only learn enough for the test by reading and practicing in the textbooks ourselves. It's sort of like an independent study.

"Hey, Cato, can you help me with this?" she asked me. I got up to see what she didn't understand. Just like that, we started helping each other out. We looked over each other's work and corrected it. It helped us improve a lot.

After school, Clove came to find me. "We're going to dinner at seven right? We should hang out before then."

"Why?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she responded.

"Well," I started, "We haven't talked in a few years. Why do you like me now?"

Clove shrugged. "I would've talked to you earlier, but you were mean. Popularity kind of did that to you."

I hate it when people stereotype popular kids. Sure, I wasn't the nicest person, but I'm definitely not the meanest. The meanest is definitely Marvel. He's a jerk, but I hung out with him anyway. He's fun at parties.

"Well, you would be popular too if..." I stopped. I didn't want to be mean like she said she thought I was. "...you didn't change."

She glared at me. I knew she had a temper, but I seemed to have struck a nerve. "Fine! I don't need to hang out with you anyways." She turned to leave, but I put my hand on her shoulder. She was the only person being nice to me, so I wasn't going to reject her like I used to.

"No, stay."

"I want bread." stated Clove. I laughed.

"That's random."

"Drive me to the bakery!" she begged.

"...uh, okay. I don't forgot where it is, but sure." I replied.

"Oh! Turn on Seam St..." started Clove. As she instructed me on how to get there, I realized that Wheat would be there. The boy that keeps looking at me works there.

When we got there, Clove rushed inside. I followed slowly behind her, but I got over it. No one cool would see me here because this part of town is for parents to do their shopping. Clove greeted the man sweeping. She yelled to the back, greeting the female worker. At the register was the blond boy.

"Hi, Peeta," whispered Clove. Peeta was not named Wheat. He said hi to Clove, but he wouldn't look at me. I found it funny, that he would watch from afar but not up close.

Clove literally bought like, eight different types of bread. There was rye, wheat, cornbread, flatbread, and she even bought pita bread. When we got in my car, she offered me the pita bread. I casually took it and nibbled at the top. She then jumped out of the car without an explanation. When she came back, she told me, "I forgot to tip."

I nodded, but she continued. "Oh! I also invited Peeta to our dinner party."

"Why?" I asked. There was something about this kid that I just didn't understand. I wasn't too eager to be friends with him.

"He's one of my best friends." answered Clove. I guessed Clove got bread a lot, or something.

I look at the clock. It was six. I showed Clove, and she rushed me home for some reason. I realized why when she threw me into my room and ripped apart my dresser. "You need to wear... these." she ordered. She picked out some khaki pants and a blue button-up shirt.

I rolled my eyes. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing? We're only going to Greasy's right?" Our suburb, Panem, only had a few restaurants, and only one of them was for people under the age of 21. When we make plans, it's automatically at Greasy's. "It'll get dirty anyway." Greasy's was a sort of fast-food restaurant, but they had their elegant dishes as well. She rolled her eyes.

I look at the clock again. It was already 6:45 pm. "Clove, you've been looking for clothes for me to wear for over half an hour. I don't have time to get dressed. We're going to be late if we don't leave now."

"Oh my god! No! Cato, let's go!" she shouted. She grabbed me by the arm and pushed me into my car when we got outside.

The drive there was only five minutes, so we were six minutes early. Peeta was sitting outside with Thresh, talking about who knows what. When Clove got out of the car, she ran up and hugged Thresh, as if he were her close friend, and then Peeta. I awkwardly said hi to both of them.

"Thresh was just telling my that he played basketball." informed Peeta, to break the awkward silence.

Foxface, I mean Jessie, had slipped over to us. Clove was the first to notice, but then we all said hi. I was more comfortable around Jessie. She laughed at my jokes, and we talked a lot in math class. Katniss walked up to us, and we went inside to eat. I still found it very weird. Each of us would've never talked to each other if it wasn't for Clove.

I held the door open as everyone walked in, and we ordered our food. Peeta and I wanted the same thing, lobster, so Clove told us to share one. Lobster was one of the only things Greasy's cooked besides, well, greasy food.

The lobster they brought out was small. Peeta and I were practically touching hands when we were eating. Peeta was really shy about the whole thing, so I didn't want to say anything. While we were eating, Katniss was telling us a story about how she practically wrestled a bear for some game. I was paying attention, but from the corner of my eye I saw Peeta staring at me. Clove was looking at him with a smirk.

Dinner with those losers was actually sort of fun. They're not as bad as I thought, at least. Peeta watched me the whole time, but I honestly don't mind that much. There's just something about him.

"Cato, can you drive Peeta and me home?" asked Clove a little too innocently. I nodded and we got into my car. Peeta was sitting up front with me. As we drove I learned about a hundred things about Peeta. He loved to bake bread, he was in AP art even though he was a freshman, and he was funny. Clove's house was closest; she gave us hugs and ran inside.

"Peeta, don't you like live in your bakery?" I asked.

He nodded. "We have this floor upstairs that comes with three bedrooms."

When we arrived at his house and got out, I felt like walking him up to the door. He turned around and faced me as we were up there. "Cato, I really had fun today." he whispered shyly.

I put my hand on his shoulder and replied, "I did too. I doubt that I would've had any fun if you weren't there though."

He smiled and looked back. No one was behind him. He took a step closer to me. That's when it happened.

He kissed me and then receded into his house.

AN: Tell me what you think! I personally like the way it came out, but do you?