Chapter 1: Don't Know Enough About Girls

I adjust the one strap on my faded blue Reaping dress as I stride into the Hob. Ordinarily, I don't visit the black market of District 12 twice in one day, - I already completed my hunting trades this morning - but Mother had some Healing medicines that she was hoping to barter. I offered to take them into town for her. Selling them shouldn't be hard - being the Victor of the 74th and 75th Hunger Games and third Victor overall for my District, people tend to follow my economic transactions, as well as other transactions, wherever I go.

As I make a sale with Greasy Sae, who is one of my best customers for game, a tall man of 21 with ashy blonde hair approaches the stall.

"Morning, Katniss."

I smile up at the new arrival. "Morning, Leven."

Leven Mellark is the eldest of three brothers, the son of the Baker. I first met him when I began trading game at the back loading dock of the Bakery. His father has developed something of a guilty pleasure for my squirrels. Leven praises how I shoot them in the eye, every single time, without fail. He is also the one who is able to help me get away with the trading on the sly, without his mother, the Baker's wife, catching me. His mother is rumored to be a witch of a woman who might even beat her own sons. I have never seen any bruises on Leven, though. He is too strong. But even if the rumors had any merit to them, I would know better than to ask him. And I certainly would not ask either of his younger brothers - Rye, the middle son, is generally a cut-up and jokester. Peeta, the youngest, is very shy; he has hardly ever spoken more than a few words to me.

Leven now hands me a paper bag, all wrapped up at the top. "I thought I might find you here. And it's lucky I did. I baked these fresh today, and Peeta helped with the frosting. For Prim. It's her birthday today, isn't it?"

I blink, surprised that he even remembered. Then, I grant him with one of my rare smiles. "Thank you, Leven. That was very thoughtful."

We are soon joined by a handsome man, about Leven's age, with flaming red hair and the white plating of a Peacekeeper's uniform across his chest. Darius is one of the nicer Peacekeepers in this district, thriving in the black market environment when he should normally be doing his job and tearing the place apart for contraband. He is also renowned as a bit of a flirt with the women - old, young, it doesn't really matter to him. Unfortunately, I am one of his favorite targets.

"Hello, Katniss," he beams.

I nod to him. "Hello, Darius."

He cocks his head at me curiously. "I thought I already saw you here this morning."

"I was, but Mother asked me to trade these medicines for her."

Darius pokes his nose into my satchel. "What luck! One of the boys back at the Barracks has been hit with a high fever. Mind if I take this ointment back to him?"

"Sure," I shrug. "What can you trade for it?"

"How about a nice kiss from yours truly?" and Darius leans his face real close. Behind me, I hear Leven make some kind of strangled noise in the back of his throat. I, however, am unfazed. Darius has been asking me for a kiss as trade payment since I hit puberty. Laughing, I push him away.

"I thought you Peacekeepers had money."

"We're more destitute than you think, Ms. Everdeen," Darius mock-pouts, not one to give up on stealing a kiss so easily.

Surprisingly, I find myself thinking about the trade. It would lose me a coin or two, but fever ointment is one of the least-expensive products anyway. With how long the winters are here in Twelve, running up a fever can be pretty rare, and would actually be a welcome contrast to the cold. And I have plenty of other medicines to barter before the day is out. Reading my silence, Leven jumps right to the point.

"You're not seriously thinking of saying Yes, are you, Katniss?" he hisses to me, but not quietly enough so that Darius doesn't hear. "He's a Peacekeeper! You know how fresh they get. You don't want to lead him on. And anyways, you're not the type!"

His comment oddly rubs me the wrong way. I should remember that he's just trying to protect me. And I am well aware of Peacekeepers even fresher than Darius having their ways with women. But I survived the Hunger Games - twice! I can take care of myself.

"Well, then, I guess you don't know much about girls," I snap prissily, and grabbing Darius by the neck, I yank him down to me and crash my lips against his.

Darius is not a bad kisser. He's quite good, actually, and I find his navigation across my lips admirable, considering this is my first kiss and I have no idea what I'm doing. As I try to seal my lips around his without slobbering all over him, I open my mouth to Darius and he slips his tongue down my throat before I can make a sound. It plays with mine inside my maw, and I find my face growing hot. Taking him by the shoulders, I finally push him away after a minute.

Wiping a hand across my lips, I turn and stride over to the next stall. I can hear Leven's footfalls following after me, and casting a glance over my shoulder, I am quite satisfied to see that he has been rendered speechless and is in disbelief.

"You have no idea what you've wrought. He's gonna be pounding on your door every night before you can say, 'The Capitol'! That better not have been your first kiss, Katniss Everdeen! And what a waste if it was!"

I round on him. "Like you could have done any better!"

Leven's eyes narrow, and for one mad second, I think he's actually going to yank me into his arms and kiss me good and proper, when suddenly Thom - the Miner Foreman - comes hollering into the Hob.

"Fire! Fire! Fire at the Bakery!"

Leven's face goes ghostly white. Glancing at each other, he and I rush out of the Hob and across town, to see that yes, the Bakery is indeed in flames. The fire has progressed too quickly; the building can't be saved. Leven begins circling the premises as close as he dares in a blind panic, screaming for his family: "Mom! Pop! Rye! Peeta!"

It is scarcely an hour later when the bakery has burnt to the ground, and a Peacekeeper approaches Leven with the terrible news: his family's remains were found in the ashes. I watch as the eldest Mellark son and sole survivor of his family collapses to the ground in sobs.