PPOV

"See that girl over there?" My father pointed to a girl with two long braids hanging down her red plaid dress. She was holding tightly onto a man's hand who I presumed to be her father. She must have been as scared as I was of the first day of school, judging by the death grip she had on him. I nodded my head at my father's question. I had noticed her as soon as we walked into the school yard. She looked pretty just standing there, waiting for the first day of her education. I hadn't looked away from her since I saw her, except to flicker my eyes towards my father's probing ones as he asked me that question.

"I wanted to marry her mother," my eyes snapped back to his and away from the plaid dressed girl. My dad saw that he had my attention and continued. "But she ran off with a coal miner."

"A coal miner? Why would she want a coal miner when she could have had you?" If she married a coal miner then she must be living in the Seem now, and judging from the way my dad specifically mentioned he was a coal miner, she had probably been a merchant. A merchant who would turndown food and a life of relative comfort for likely starvation and a coal liner for a husband? I must have been missing something.

"Because when he sings... even the birds stop and listen." He got quiet after he told me the missing piece to the puzzle. His eyes were distant as he got lost in memories of the past, of the mother of the pretty girl with two braids and a plaid dress.

KPOV

"Bye daddy!" I had yelled as the other kids and I were herded off into school.

"Bye Katniss! I'll walk you home from school today, okay? I'll meet you right here. Love you sweetie!" My dad called to me as I went through the doors and into the school building.

The walls were gray and the floors had been dirty too but that didn't matter to me. I was finally going to school. In District 12, we started school at eight years old, and I was at last going to learn how things ticked. I was so excited that I didn't even realize someone was staring at me until I saw a boy approach me.

His eyes were blue like my mother's, and his hair was as golden as my sister's. Those bright blue orbs sparkled as he came to stand in front of me. His gray pants and blue button up shirt looked expensive, something a merchant kid would wear. I couldn't help but feel a bit wary, but that soon faded when he smiled at me. He obviously didn't care that I was noticeably not in his rank. He seemed friendly, a quality some of the other merchant kids I had encountered had not had. There was no smugness in his eyes, no teasing to be made about my dark hair and gray eyes, a tell-tale sign that I was from the Seem. I had already started to like him, and he hadn't even opened his mouth.

"Hi." He said, almost shyly as he looked down towards the ground. I didn't miss the small smile still playing on the edge of his lips.

"I'm Katniss." I told the boy and stuck my hand out to him. He grinned widely as he took my hand and shook it.

"Peeta." We dropped hands and turned to a lady up front as she introduced herself as our music teacher.

I smiled as she led us into a room. It was the first day and I already had a friend. Dad was right. There was nothing to be afraid of.

PPOV

We sat down together in the classroom we were led into, Katniss and I. The chairs were set up in a circle around a large black thing that the teacher said was a piano. It looked really old, really scratched up, but it was still beautiful, to me at least. I wondered what it did.

The rest of the excited kids took a seat as they stared at the piano, wondering the same thing as I had. Everyone was sitting down, bouncing in their seats as the teacher went to stand by some bench in front of the piano.

"Does anyone know the valley song?" The teacher questioned, looking around the room expectantly. As soon as the words were out of her mouth Katniss's hand flew straight into the air as she grinned eagerly. I wondered if she could sing as good as her father apparently could.

"Good, good!" She clapped her thin hands and went to the corner of the room to grab a stool for Katniss. The teacher stood her up on the stool and told her to sing. Her melodic voice drifted around the room and out the open window where even the birds grew silent to listen. My jaw dropped and I stared at the beautiful girl before me as she hopped of the stool and came to sit next to me. I grabbed her hand and held on, and she grinned at me as the teacher began to teach the class about what Katniss already knew.