A meeting ((April))

((Sorry for the crappy title, I'm terrible at those))

Adla stumbled through the roads of District One, her siblings protesting behind her. Aralia's feet were tired, apparently, and Bowen was hungry. Of course. Bowen was never full, and Aralia always had something to complain about. Rolling her eyes, Adla turned to look at her siblings. "You just ate." She said roughly. She ignored her sisters protests, she knew the younger girl just wanted to go home. She would never understand her sister. All she ever wanted to do was sit at home, to read or something. Adla couldn't do that. She always had to be doing something.

"Yeah, but..." Bowen whined before going off into a list of exactly why he was hungry. Adla rolled her eyes again at the boy, who ignored her. She turned and started walking again before telling them to go home over her shoulder. She wasn't supposed to let them on their own, but she didn't care. No one would know. Bowen and Aralia wouldn't tell, because they were afraid of their older sister. They knew she could turn it on them, and then they'd be the ones to get in trouble. Adla was good at turning everything on them. It came with years of practice.

Adla turned to see her siblings retreating backs. She wanted to at least make sure they didn't stand there like idiots. Their house was just a few yards down the road. She could've walked them home, but she knew they'd get home fine. Adla wasn't really sure what is was that she actually wanted to do. Her friends were all out, doing something. She didn't know what, but she couldn't find them at anywhere they normally hung out at, so that was the assumption.

She continued down the road, ignoring most everyone. That is, until she ran right into some random person on the street. "Really?" the girl tried to say the word at a normal tone of voice, but it ended up being halfway to a yell. Taking a deep breath, she gave a muttered "Sorry," before straightening her black jacket. She always tried to keep her temper in check, though most times it was more of an afterthought.

Finally, finally spring was here! It was about time, if you asked April. As effective as it may be, training in the cold was no fun at all – not to mention that the cold seriously limited her wardrobe. Fortunately for April, she looked good in everything, but still. It was nice to be able to wear dresses and skirts and not have to hide them under a heavy coat. Which was why the now-fifteen year old had decided to blow off her homework (it wasn’t like her grades could get any worse, really, and besides, she could just get a nerd to do it for her later) and take advantage of her free time before training to enjoy the warm weather and show off the dress she’d just gotten for her birthday.

As she made her way into town, April couldn’t help but grin as she took in the colors of spring. Leaves were popping up on the trees, and flowers were blooming everywhere. And, oh! Tomorrow would begin the best month ever – April! It was a bit ironic, really, that April’s birthday was at the very end of March. She often wondered if her parents had expected her to be born a few days later, and then when she’d been born in March they just decided to keep the name April anyways. They denied this when she asked them about it, but April wouldn’t be surprised if they were lying.

Lost in thoughts, April wasn’t exactly paying attention to where she was going, so it was a big surprise to her when she ran smack into another person. “Oof!” Now, April would not have been too upset with whoever ran into her – not everyone could be as graceful and coordinated as she was, after all – had the girl not proceeded to imply that it was April’s fault they had run into each other. It was most definitely not April’s fault even if she hadn’t been paying attention to where she’d been going and she did not appreciate the girl’s rude tone. Before April could even get out an indignant reply, however, the girl apologized.

Well then. At least she seemed to have a bit of common sense. And after a quick check, April determined that her outfit was still intact, so no harm had been done. The offense slowly fading from her features, April took a step back only to find herself face to face with one of her classmates. In fact, April was fairly sure she even recognized the girl as a fellow career, which instantly earned her some respect. Adla, if April wasn’t mistaken. All the anger now gone from her face, April offered the girl her trademark grin and waved her apology off. “Oh, it’s not a problem. We all have our clumsy moments.” Did April stop and consider the fact that Adla could possibly take this as an insult? Of course not. She was far too busy thinking of the fact that she was now faced with a classmate and fellow career that she didn’t know very well, and who could be a very useful person for her to know. So she might as well take advantage of this little mishap, yeah? “So, Adla,” she began. “What brings you out today?” As good a conversation starter as any, really.

((So sorry this took so long! I've been on vacation :/))

Adla recognized the girl from school as April, but the other girl was also a career, she knew. It wasn't like all the careers were a big group of friends or hung out all the time. In fact, Adla couldn't remember ever talking to April. You just knew who was who. Adla's parents were training her, and she knew that April's father trained her as well. It was just something you knew; whether someone was a career or not.

Adla could see the other girl's indignant face before she apologized, and she almost regretted apologizing. It was the other girl's fault they smacked into each other, if that was what she was so worked up about. Adla had totally been watching where she was going. The other girl had been in her way. In another attempt to keep her temper in check, she let it pass.

April grinned at Adla and seemingly waved her apology off. Adla stifled a snort. The rumor mill had told Adla that April was arrogant. Adla couldn't tell if the waved-off apology was a sign of arrogance or not, but that's what she perceived it as. Adla wasn't a great character judge though, so she ignored the instinct. Ignoring the instinct became much harder when April said, “Oh, it’s not a problem. We all have our clumsy moments.” Adla's stifled snort escaped her. "That wasn't my fault," she said, gesturing to herself. "You're the one who ran into me. I was watching where I was going." She didn't expect the other girl to apologize, so she just listened to what April had to say, ignoring the her instinct to continue her rant.

“So, Adla,” April started. “What brings you out today?” Adla let out a suppressed breath. She was going to attempt to make a half-decent conversation with this girl. Who knew if she was going to be a good friend to have someday? Maybe Adla would get into the Games, and it was April's money that bought the water to save her from dehydration? "My siblings. The wanted to go to the bakery earlier, so I took them. They started to complain again, so I told them to go home, and here I am." It was the truth. Adla'd bout them cupcakes and cookies, and that was why she'd been so angry when Bowen had complained about being hungry.

It was a bit ironic, really, that one of the times when April was trying to be genuinely nice, it was mistaken for rudeness. Her waving off the girl’s apology had, in fact, been April’s way of telling her that their collision had been such a non-issue no apology was even necessary. No arrogance intended. But of course, April wasn’t very good at the whole ‘being nice to random people she didn’t particularly care about’ thing, and her reputation apparently wasn’t on her side (though she totally had tons of friends. Duh.), so unfortunately her kindness was taken as rudeness. A shame.

And then it happened twice in the same conversation. Though it was certainly more understandable for Adla to take offense at April’s statement about her clumsiness. Even though the blonde had meant it to be nice. Really, she had. She just wasn’t very good at it. But that didn’t stop her from taking her own offense when Adla blamed their collision on her. The smile on April’s face transformed from a real, bright one, to a strained false one. “Hmmm, really? Because usually when I’m watching where I’m going, I manage to avoid running into people.” Really. This was totally not all April’s fault.

But right. Enemies were bad. Hrmph. April supposed she could concede that their running into each other had been slightly her fault. Maybe. Her expression softening, April took a deep breath and added, “But since I obviously wasn’t paying attention either, I suppose I’m to blame as well.” Except not nearly as much as Adla. “So. Sorry about that.” Adla had better take that apology, because April didn’t give them out very willingly. She was only bothering to do it now to save face and hopefully change the course of their conversation. Adla actually seemed pretty cool-she was a career after all! – and having enemies was much too tiring for April’s tastes.

And then, thank goodness, the conversation was going in a different direction. April’s posture relaxed slightly as she listened to Adla’s somewhat disappointing answer to her question. It seemed she was going to have to keep carrying this conversation for the both of them. Fortunately, socializing was never something April had had a problem with, so she grinned sympathetically. “Ah. So, younger siblings I’m guessing? I have one of them myself, but we don’t really spend that much time together.” She frowned slightly. It wasn’t a conscious decision, to not spend a ton of time with her brother. There was a rather large age gap between the two, five years, so April and Drew’s paths didn’t cross too often. Still, she was quite fond of her little brother. He was definitely living up to the Adams name. In fact, most of the time they did spend together involved training. Yep, one day both of them would have won the Games, and the Adams family would be praised all throughout District One. It was totally gonna happen.

((GUH. This is crazy late. SO sorry <3 ))

((Sorry this has taken so long!!))

April's smile strained, and Adla knew it was fake. “Hmmm, really? Because usually when I’m watching where I’m going, I manage to avoid running into people," April said. "Really." She tried to put the most anger she possessed in the one word, mainly in an attempt of not starting a fight with this girl. Adla would win if there was a fight (of course), but this girl as an enemy didn't sound good to Adla. Adla didn't like having enemies in general, although her attitude said otherwise. She couldn't help it: she was quick to respond, but not to think.

April paused, seemingly thinking about something. Then she said, “But since I obviously wasn’t paying attention either, I suppose I’m to blame as well.” She then apologized. Adla stifled a laugh. The other girl had backed down! She really hadn't been expecting that, but she was happy about it. Her stifled laug turned into a smirk. She took it in the grace her mother had attempted to teach her once and said, "Thanks for apologizing. " Because I was totally right anyway, Adla added in her thoughts. That was something she would have liked to stay out loud, but didn't want to be a brat, so didn't.

“Ah. So, younger siblings I’m guessing? I have one of them myself, but we don’t really spend that much time together.” April said. It was funny how quickly the conversation had gone so quickly from arguing to talking about family. Family wasn't something Adla talked about much, honestly, because no one she knew seemed to care. "Yeah, younger. Bowen's nine, Aralia's eleven." She shrugged. When April said that she didn't spend much time with her sibling, she asked, "Don't you spend much time at home? I'm forced to spend most of the day with them, if I'm at home." Maybe it was just the Carter household, but when she was at home, it was family time. Always family time, though Adla didn't enjoy it.

Adla drummed her fingers against her legs. Her jeans amplified the sound, and so she took her hand away. Family wasn't one of Adla's favorite topics, so she decided to change the conversation in a direction that she was comfortable with: the Games. It was so easy to talk about those, and usually, no arguments arose. Especially when the Reaping hadn't even happened yet. "So, April. Volunteering for the Games this year?" She asked it casually, and it really was a normal conversation topic in District One.

Personally, Adla wasn't volunteering, not yet anyway. Her father had advised her against it, and for once, she listened to him. She was good (whoever trained for five hours a day and wasn't good needed to find another hobby), but not good enough. Someday, she would volunteer. She planned on doing it when she hit sixteen--not too young, but not so old that she wouldn't have another chance if someone volunteered before she could. It seemed foolproof, at least to her.