Lying to Myself
Chapter 1
A/N: hey everyone, this is my fist fanfiction, so sorry if it needs work. It has the pairing of Katniss and Peeta, and it's in Modern-day. I'm going to try to stick to katniss POV. First chapter are always the hardest to write… Please review, it really helps my writing a lot J. So enough of my babbling, ENJOY! Oh! And do you guys think I should do a chapter in Peeta's POV?
Disclaimer- sadly, I do not own the Hunger Game or any of its characters, Suzanne Collins owns it all.
"Katniss wake up! We're going to be late!" Prim jumps up and down on my bed. I throw my covers off and trudge to my closet. Prim squeals, hops off my bed, then runs out of room.
Today is the first day of school at Shaw high school in Cleveland, Ohio. We moved to this hell of a city from sunny Arizona. According to my mother, it was a way to 'start new'. Start new my ass. Back in Arizona, I may have had a pretty bad life after the incident, but at least we lived in a nice city. Ever since we moved to Cleveland, I have been taking care of my sister Prim in this terrible apartment, and trying to find a job in this crappy economy. My mother basically abandoned Prim and I after my father died in a car crash, and ever since then I have been forced to pay bills and feed us, while my mother just lays on the couch and cries.
I take a deep breath, and sift through my closet trying to find something decent to wear. I stumble upon an evergreen tee shirt, and some old dark wash jeans. I braid my hair down my back, and make my way to the kitchen. There, I find my sister prim eating a bowl of cereal and my mother lying on the couch with a blank stare on her face. Again.
"Hey little duck, are you almost ready?" I say ruffling Prim's hair. Prim is probably the only person on this earth who can make me smile like this.
"Yep! Katniss, I'm sort of nervous…" She trails off.
There is absolutely no need for Prim to be nervous. She has a bubbly personality, and the sweetest smile a person could have.
"Prim, everyone will love you. Now let's get going."
She finishes her breakfast, and bids goodbye to my mother, which is pointless, because she won't break her stupid trance to even say goodbye to Prim. I never even bother to talk to her. I have built up walls from that woman because she doesn't even have the decency to pay attention to her own daughters.
Prim meets me at the door, ready to go into the seventh grade, while I will be a Junior. It's our first year at this school, although we've lived her for a little over two months now.
We head out the doorway, and begin our half a mile walk to school. The air is hot and muggy, and the sky is clouded; it matches my mood completely.
After a long and quiet walk, we finally arrive. We say our goodbyes while I wish Prim luck, although I'm probably the one that needs it. I walk through the doors to find a hallway big enough to fit the population of California inside. As a matter of fact, it seems like the entire population of California is already inside. All of the students are chatting away to their friends they haven't seen all summer. And being new to the school, I have no friends. Not that I had any in Arizona either.
I push my way thought the crowd. 'GET OUT OF THE WAY!' 'MOVE!' 'OH MY GOD, CAN YOU SEE ME TYING TO TALK!?' are all things that have been shouted at me for the last 3 minutes. These people all earned scowls. I have yet to meet a person who apologized.
Staring at my schedule, tying to find my locker, I slam into someone with a very study build, spilling all my books. Great. I probably just ran into the biggest jock on my first day.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, let me help you with that." He says. Wow, I guess I spoke too soon. I glance at his face to see that he has messy blonde curls, and the most crystal blue eyes, and a bruise right on his cheek bone. He must be on the football team. And judging by his Hollister tee-shirt, and Ambercrombie & Fitch jeans, be probably from the nice part of town. He holds out his hand for me to shake.
"Peeta Mellark" he states. "Are you new here? I don't think I've seen you before," and with that he flashes a sideways smile. I take his hand in mine, and try not to flinch at the warm that spreads through my arm.
"yea, I'm new." I mumble, staring a t the ground.
"Well where's your locker? You looked kind of lost I can help if you-"
Cutting him off, I say, "I wasn't lost, and I don't need your help." I wanted to add not from some rich kid either.
"Well, um….okay. Nice meeting you." And he rubs the back of his neck and strides away. Good. I can find my freaking locker by myself.
Once I do find it, I shove my books in, and head off to class 132, English. Gosh, where is it? Now I really am lost. The hallways start to clear out, and I'm still wandering trying to find class 132. Next I know, I'm sprinting through the hallways, checking door numbers. 130, 131, 132! I bolt through the door out of breath. All eyes are trained on me as if I had three heads, except for a certain blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy who gives me the biggest smile you might have ever seen.
"Name?" the teacher asks, with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot. I almost burst out laughing; this teacher is wearing a giant blonde wig, a hot pink suit, too much eye shadow, and to top it off, she has a ridiculous British accent.
"Katniss Everdeen" I stifle a laugh.
"Well Miss Everdeen, you may not be aware, but the bell rang a good" –she checks her watch- "3 minutes ago. But since it's your first day, I will refrain from giving you a detention. Now take a seat" She huffs a breath, and continues to write on the chalkboard.
I scan the classroom for open seats, and settle on a chair in the back next to a pretty blonde girl, despite Peeta calling my name waving me over to come sit next to him.
"Hi." She says, almost a whisper.
"Hey." I say, sitting down.
"I'm Madge, here's the notes that you missed." She says, sliding notes to my desk.
"Thanks. I'm Katniss."
"I saw Peeta waving at you." She smirks.
"yea, me too."
"I think he likes you." She giggles.
I roll my eyes. "I'm pretty sure Mr. Smiles doesn't like me."
"Mr. Smiles?" she actually laughs out loud this time. I let a smile creep on my lips.
"That's what I nicknamed him. That's all he does."
"Well, would you like to sit with me at lunch? It's really only me and my friend Gale, but I think you'll like him."
"Uh, sure I guess."
I've only been here for one period, and I've already got a boy staring at me, been late to class, and made a friend. I don't really think this year is going to be all that bad.