21.

The weekend went by painstakingly slowly, Charlie came by my door so many times that I lost count. During that time, I never left my room, only drinking water from the sink in my bathroom to sustain myself.

I quickly make it to the school and enter the cafeteria for breakfast.

I hungrily ate away at my food, ignoring how soggy and burnt it was.

"Risking yourself for the school food, huh?"

I look up and see Quinn's friend whats-his-face. I swallowed hard on my food.

"I guess..." I mumbled.

He tilts his slightly as if studying me, then he sat down across from me.

"I'm Gale," He offered his hand with a grin. I put down my food and nervously wiped my hands on my jeans. I took his hand in my hand and gave a firm shake, like my Father taught me.

"Ash Grover," He raised his eyebrows at my formality but said nothing about it.

"Do you think Quinn is hot?" He asked with a smug grin. I choked on my spit, doubling over as I coughed harshly. He gazed down at me with satisfaction of my reaction to his question.

I glared at him as I try to push through the pain my lungs were giving me.

When I was finally able to breathe normally again, I looked up at Gale.

"She is... somewhat pretty..." I croaked.

He smirked, knowingly.

"Somewhat pretty, huh?"

"Yes..." I narrowed my eyes at his stupid smug face.

"You wouldn't mind me telling Quinn, that you called her ugly?"

I scrunched up my face in confusion, "But I didn't call her ugly..."

"Oh, I know...but she doesn't," His smirk grew.

I widened my eyes.

"You wouldn't..."

"I would, in fact, I'm going to do it right now," He gets up and runs out of the cafeteria.

I stumble after him.

"Wait!"