"Yeah, yeah. Maybe I'll join if I don't have anything better to do." Spoiler alert: he doesn't - not while he's here, anyway. And she's right, it won't hurt.

"Of course I'm going. It's not a Lydia Martin party," he says, bowing his head slightly to her, "but it'll be better than this. And we won't have to worry about the freshmen looking like lost puppies." He wouldn't seem like it, with the stoic way he's been meandering the hall here today, but Gale has always loved a good party. The boys aren't bad, but Lydia has always thrown the best in the school, and everyone - freshmen aside - knows it.