Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters/ideas that you can find in "The Hunger Games" series, and I also don't own the song lyrics you'll find in this story. Anything and everything you don't recognize obviously probably belongs to either me or Midnight zoe. Thank you! This is the disclaimer for the whole story. It's just easier that way, don'tcha think?

"Time will make you forget me but

Time will make me love you more than before." ~Unknown

Prologue

It was the first day of school, and I couldn't wait, despite it meaning I would be getting closer to the end of my life. Uncle Haymitch had said this would be the second worst day of my life, the beginning of the end…but I didn't entirely believe him. He was grumpy because his drinks were out of stock. His soft spot for me had even been short-lived lately.

I couldn't understand why he'd say that, though. After all, it was a nice, pretty day out, and I was wearing one of the dresses Uncle Haymitch had found for me in a closet, which was a soft, silky purple, now ridden of the coating of dust and grime that had covered it. My long wavy hair was pulled back in a messy bun that I'd put proudly up all by myself, and I'd been allowed to go barefoot, which was the part of my "new" outfit I loved the most.

But the best part of this whole day was that I was holding my best friend's, Peeta Mellark, hand as we walked down the dirty streets towards the small building, having just met up when I'd found him and his dad.

"I'm so nervous, Ari!" he said, looking around as he squeezed my hand tighter.

"Why? You know all these people." I didn't understand what he could possibly be nervous about…you never really heard anything bad about school…except that it meant you came closer to being entered into the Games.

"I—" Just then a girl walked by, head lowered and ignoring everyone as she stalked into the building. I didn't catch much of her except for her dark hair in two braids swinging as she walked.

"Her. I'm nervous about her," Peeta whispered, eyes following the girl. "Katniss Everdeen."

"What's to be nervous about? She's just a girl," I said, shrugging. But Peeta was shaking his head.

"No." He tugged me forward. "C'mon. I've got to see if she can, too."

"See if she can do what, too?"

"Make the birds stop. Like her father."

"Oh." Everyone knew about Mr. Everdeen's voice…it was beautiful, and I loved to hear it, acting much like the birds, falling silent to listen and singing his lines over and over until I heard a different verse, even if that happened to be days later. It would only make sense that Peeta would be interested if his daughter could do it, too.

The first part of the day flew by with barely anything really exciting going on…it wasn't all that it was cut out to be. None of the adults seemed really happy, like they all had something sad on their minds. Maybe they did…I guess the Reaping was coming soon. I didn't let it affect me, though. I just had fun being with Peeta and all the other kids we'd made friends with.

It wasn't until music that anything really happened.

The teacher had us all sit in a circle inside the little room in front of a window. She stood in front of us, looking down with her hands clasped behind her back as she studied us.

"Do any of you know the valley song and would want to come sing it for us?" she asked eventually. I knew the song very well because it was one of my favorites, but I shook my head furiously at Peeta when he poked me in the ribs, saying,

"Go! You can do it!" He smiled encouragingly. But I still refused.

That was when Katniss Everdeen's hand shot into the air, not even a second after the words came out of the teacher's mouth.

"Katniss Everdeen?" the teacher called. "Alright, go on. Come sing the valley song for us." The little girl rose to her feet and stood on a stool in front of the window, the light coming through acting as a spotlight on her as she shuffled her feet in anticipation before she lifted her head proudly and sang beautifully and perfectly.

We were all completely silent, entranced, unable to move or even breathe. She'd captured us all like her father captured the birds.

When she was done, she sat back down, and seconds later everybody started clapping for her, wanting her to sing more. Everybody but Peeta.

"What is it?" I whispered to him, confused. Hadn't he wanted to hear her sing? To see if she was like her father? You'd think he of all people wouldn't be disappointed.

His face was completely serious. "I didn't hear them."

"Hear what?"

Peeta's cheerful smile tugged at his lips, making it impossible for me not to smile with him. "The birds stopped to listen," he said breathlessly. "What do you hear?" And sure enough, when I listened for them, the birds were singing her song.

I didn't think anything of it back then, for really what does a five year old know of matters of the heart? Our friendship continued, but I never really noticed how his eyes would always find her in a crowd, watch her when she walked by, or why he would ask me questions about her that I never had the answers to. I never knew how he longed to talk to her, yet he, the boy who was always so bubbly and friendly, never knew what to say to the withdrawn, striking girl with the wondrous voice.

Maybe if I had jumped up and sang instead of her he would've fallen for me, saving us each the heartbreak. But I didn't, and we had to live with it, because it was that day, the day the birds took up her song, that Katniss Everdeen captured my best friend's heart with her voice. It was that day that he fell hopelessly in love with her. And it was that day I lost him to the girl who would never fully love him back.

That was the day the birds stopped to listen.

A/N: Well hi there everyone! So, this is kinda new to me...usually my genre is Harry Potter and Tangled. But hey! Who doesn't like to try new things, right?

So anyways, this story was created because I was up late one night thinking, well, Katniss had someone back at home who cared for her, so why shouldn't Peeta? And to make it more interesting, I'm going to create stuff that it never said there was proof of it in the books, but since there wasn't any proof, it could be left up to my imagination. You'll see what I mean later on when Haymitch is brought into this. So, yes, this is going to be different, but please give it a chance!

Also, this little story is going to take place over all three of the books. So, depending how it goes with the ideas running and all that good stuff, it could be pretty long. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess.

Oh, and there's one other thing. This is going to be set in alternating POV's starting on Chapter 2. We'll be switching back and forth from my OC to Gale, who will be written by Midnight zoe who's decided to co-write this with me, thank goodness. So hopefully it'll be okay and not too weird.

Thanks for reading and please give this a chance! R&R, and if you've ever read any of my other stuff, you know I love constructive criticism, and just reviews in general! As I've always done, when I get reviews, that'll motivate me to get chapters up faster! And I could always convince Midnight zoe to do the same with hers.

Nike