Katniss sighed as she searched through the newpaper for the third time that afternoon. At this rate, I might as well just move back into the dormitory, she thought. Finding a place to rent that fit within her meager budget was turning out to be more of a nightmare than she had expected.
Glancing at her watch, Katniss realized that her Intro to Painting class started in less than 3 minutes and that Annie's apartment was 10 minutes from campus. Hell, it's only been a week and I'm already showing up late to class.
Annie was the first woman who didn't immediately fall for Katniss' high school friend Finnick's charm; that in and of itself merited Katniss's respect and won her friendship when they met during their freshman year of college. This year, Annie was kind enough to let Katniss stay at her apartment until she found a place to rent for the school year.
Katniss quickly changed into the first pair of t-shirt and jeans she could find, braided her hair, and grabbed her backpack and bike helmet.
By the time she made it to class she was completely out of breath from pedaling as fast as she could and running up the stairs to the art studio. She pushed open the door and was greeted by the stares of her twenty-or-so classmates, who were in the middle of taking notes. Her art professor, Dr. Trinket, who stood at the far end of the room, gave Katniss a disapproving look. Dr. Trinket was, as usual, dressed in an elaborate outfit comprised of a blue satin dress with an enormous flower broche attached to her left shoulder, along with a hair piece made out of what Katniss hoped were plastic monarch butterflies.
"Where are your manners, young lady?" Dr. Trinket scolded. "Please take a seat right this minute!" She pointed to an empty seat in the front row.
Katniss felt her cheeks heat up. She quickly made her way to her seat and took out her notebook as Dr. Trinket resumed giving her lecture on painting textures and varying light qualities. Katniss had fought to stay awake during the first two lectures, and it didn't look like today was going to be any different - the only reason she was taking this class was to fulfill her arts requirement for her environmental engineering degree. She drowsily stared at the student-made paintings on the wall next to Dr. Trinket's powerpoint presentation.
It was then that she noticed there was someone sitting behind Dr. Trinket's desk, about 10 feet away from her own seat - someone who was certainly not old enough to be a professor, nor was he a student because he clearly wasn't part of the class. Her eyes hungrily drank in his handsome features. His broad shoulders and well-defined muscles were clearly visible through his blue shirt, which brought out his deep blue eyes and contrasted with his wavy blonde hair. His face was contorted with concentration, as he flipped through several stacks of paper scattered all over Dr. Trinket's desk, seemingly searching for an elusive grade sheet or homework assignment. When he finally found the sheet of paper he had been searching for, he scanned it, pressing the eraser of his pencil to his lower lip. Never before had Katniss wanted to be a pencil so badly.
Suddenly he froze, as if he felt Katniss' stare. He slowly turned his head to look at her. For a split second, his eyes widened and he held a look of surprise as his gaze roamed over her. Then his face broke out into a wide grin. Katniss felt a blush rising to her cheeks. She scowled at him to cover up her embarrassment and turned away from him to face Dr. Trinket, who was still giving her lecture. She heard him chuckle softly, which made her scowl even more.
She attempted to ignore him for the rest of class by forcing herself to pay attention to Dr. Trinket, but a few minutes later she felt a painful jab in the left side of her ribs.
"Hey," she heard someone whisper, rather loudly. Katniss turned her head and saw a girl with a short black bob and stunning green eyes smirking at her. Katniss frowned and turned back to her notes.
"Brainless!" the girl whispered, louder this time.
"What's your problem?" Katniss asked her, annoyed.
"Nothing, brainless. I just thought I'd let you know that your shirt is inside out."
Katniss looked down at her shirt, and lo and behold, her shirt was inside out. The backwards lettering of the "Panem University" logo was visible through the front. She groaned mentally as she realized why the blonde man had been smiling - no, laughing at her. This day can't get any worse, she thought.
When class finally ended, she was in the middle of gathering her notebook and pencils when out of the corner of her eye, she saw that someone had walked up to her. She looked up and her gaze was met by the impossibly blue eyes of the man who had been sitting in Dr. Trinket's desk. Up close, to Katniss' dismay, he was as attractive as he was from afar, if not more so. She noticed his long lashes and the way his smile lit up his eyes. He probably thinks he can get any girl he wants. She felt a wave of anger run through her. How dare he approach her after laughing at her?
"Hey," he greeted her, still smiling. "My name is Pe-"
"Sorry." She cut him off abruptly, no longer meeting his gaze. "I'm late for my next class." She grabbed her backpack and walked away, seething with anger.
In reality, she only had one class that day, as it was a Friday, the day when she had the least classes. It was already 7:00 pm. Other students her age were probably getting ready to go out and party, but Katniss preferred to keep to herself. She typically spent her Friday nights tucked into a comfy corner of the sofa, surrounded by blankets, watching her favorite movies - and she wasn't about to let a bad day stop her from doing that.
At about 11:30, she was halfway into 500 Days of Summer, her third movie, when she heard the front door open and close.
"Heyyyy Kat. What m-movie are you w-watching?" Annie asked from the doorway, her voice slurred and her normally flawless hair and clothes disheveled.
Katniss grinned. "Someone looks like they had fun tonight."
"I've n-never heard of t-that movie b-before," Annie slurred.
Laughing, Katniss stood up. "Someone also looks like they need to get some rest." She led a very drunk Annie toward her bed. When she turned around to put a blanket over her, Annie was already asleep.
The next morning, Katniss attempted to make waffles, which turned out to be a complete disaster. As she gingerly tried to remove the remains of the burnt waffle that were stuck to Annie's waffle maker, she heard Annie walk into the kitchen.
"I thought I smelled something burning. You should really stop trying to cook. I mean, if the number of kitchen appliances you've destroyed isn't enough evidence, then I don't know what is."
"Hey, I haven't destroyed that many appliances..."
"Fin's blender. Fin's coffee maker. My electric griddle. And now, my waffle maker."
Laughing, Katniss replied, "Okay, okay! So I'm terrible at cooking, and I'm slowly destroying all of my friends' kitchens. What do you want me to do, move in with someone else?"
"Actually, yes." Katniss raised her eyebrows. "Last night, before we went back to Finnick's place and-" Katniss groaned, giving her a look that said, I don't want to know. Annie laughed and continued, "You know. Before that, I was telling Fin about how you're looking for a place to move into, and he told me he knows someone who lives in a two bedroom apartment 5 minutes from campus and was looking for someone to rent the spare bedroom for $200 a month. I told him you were interested and he gave me the apartment owner's info." She fished a small piece of paper out of her purse and handed it to me. $200 a month? Unreal!
"Peeta Mellark," Katniss read aloud. Weird name, she thought. She wasn't sure, but she thought there was a female character named Peeta in a foreign film she had seen recently. An email address was scrawled underneath the name. "I'll shoot them an email," she told Annie. "Thank you, and thank Finnick for me, this is a huge help!"
She went back to her room and pulled out her laptop so she could send the email right away. She had no time to waste if she wanted any chance of moving out of Annie's place.
Dear Peeta Mellark, she wrote. My friend Finnick Odair informed me through his girlfriend Annie that you are currently looking for someone to rent the spare bedroom in your apartment for $200 per month. I would like to express my interest in this offer- that is, if it is still standing. I am 20 years old and currently a third year student at Panem University- I'm working toward attaining a degree in Environmental Engineering. That being said, I spend a lot of my time studying and definitely will not disturb you at all when I am in the apartment. Please let me know as soon as possible if you're interested and if so, when I can move in. -Katniss Everdeen
About an hour later, Katniss was in the middle of doing her calc homework when she heard a bing come from her laptop, telling her that she had received a new email. She eagerly opened her email inbox and saw that Peeta had replied.
Katniss - Thanks for the email. Yes, the offer is still standing and you're welcome to move in whenever you like. My address is 4583 NW District Rd. Just let me know when you plan on moving in, and we'll sort out the rent details later. - Peeta Mellark
Katniss almost screamed in excitement. Would it be too soon to move in tomorrow? she wondered. She sent him an email, asking him just that. He replied 5 minutes later: No, tomorrow sounds great. Can't want to meet my new roommate.