Summary: Katniss storms into the elevator, makes it to the twelfth floor, runs to her room, locks the door, and then begins to sob into her bed. She anguishes over how her private session with the Gamemakers went. Possibilities of their response go through her mind. As time passes, and nothing happens, Katniss calms down, starting to think it through reasonably. She realizes that they still need a girl tribute from District 12, though they’ll probably give her a low training score. (Training is not open to viewers, so the Gamemakers announce a score, 1 through 12, for each tribute so that the audience has a starting place for their bets and so that tributes can try to earn sponsors.)

Katniss decides to go to dinner. Eventually, Haymitch speaks up, wanting to know what happened. Peeta says they were singing a drinking song, so he just “threw around some heavy objects” until he was told to leave. Katniss then admits that she shot an arrow at the Gamemakers. Everyone is stunned.

However, Haymitch doesn’t seem too bothered. He reasons that they wouldn’t arrest her (it would be difficult to replace her) or punish her family (training sessions are private, and the audience would have to be told what happened for it have any effect). They’ll probably just make it hard in the arena, which they have already promised to do. After this, the atmosphere relaxes.

After dinner, they watch the announcement of the scores. The Careers get in between an eight or ten. Most average a five. Katniss is surprised that Rue gets a seven. When District 12 comes up, Peeta gets an eight. Katniss gets an eleven. They’re all shocked, and happy, though Katniss is confused. Haymitch says that they probably liked her temper, since they need to put on a show.

Katniss lies awake in the early morning the next day, a Sunday. She thinks about how she would normally be hunting with Gale at this time. She thinks of how she first met Gale:

It was a Sunday in October, after several months of Katniss struggling to survive without her father. She had shot only a squirrel that day. She was hurrying home when she came across a dead rabbit hanging by a wire. Wanting to examine the snare, she moves closer to the rabbit, when Gale appears suddenly. At the time, Gale was fourteen, and Katniss had seen him only around the Seam, at school, and when his father died in the same mining accident that Katniss’s father died in.

Gale asks Katniss what her name is. At first, he thinks she says Catnip, but is corrected. He mentions that stealing is punishable by death. Katniss says she just wanted to look at the snare, since hers never caught anything. Gale, unconvinced, wonders where she got the squirrel, and Katniss shows him her bow. Gale asks to see it, and Katniss hands it over, saying, “Just remember, stealing’s punishable by death.”

Over the next months, they began to share their knowledge, weapons, and secret places filled with food sources. Gale taught her to use snares and to fish. Katniss showed him edible plants and eventually gave him one of their bows. After a while, they became a team, dividing the work and spoils, making sure they each had enough food.

Gale made Katniss feel comfortable, and the company helped during hunting. They trusted each other with their thoughts. Katniss thinks about how she calls Gale her friend, but also thinks “in the last year it’s seemed too casual a word for what Gale is to me.”

Katniss finally gets out of bed and goes to the dining room to find Peeta, Effie, and Haymitch huddled together. She sits at the table and asks what they’ll be doing today. Haymitch tells her there’s a change of plans about their current approach: Peeta has asked to been coached separately.

Written by HoppingInTrees

Characters in Chapter 8:

Characters: (in order of appearance)
Katniss
Haymitch
Effie
Cinna
Portia
Peeta

Mentioned Characters: Gamemakers
Prim
Mrs. Everdeen
Career Tributes
Rue
Gale

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