(Peeta's POV)

I wait and wait for Katniss to return. Day fades to night, and I crawl out of the cave when the anthem plays. Clover and Katniss' faces light up in the sky. No. It can't be. I repeat that out loud and a rustle emerges from ahead of me. I struggle around for the knife, but Katniss must've taken that with her to the Cornucopia. I am defenseless against possibly Cato or Thresh, and I've already suffered from a blow from Cato's hand. Yeah, I don't want to go back to that.

But instead of a boy's silhouette, a girl's appears. She kneels down to me and whispers softly, "Go back inside. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I'm here to protect you."

For some reason, the girl's sweet voice makes me want to do anything for her. As I lead myself back into the cave, my mind goes astray. She might be leading me into a trap, or she might be as scared as I am and she might want to get some comfort. I pray for the second one to be right and she leans me up against the wall, brushing my blonde hair from my eyes as my body and mind relaxes into sleep.

When I wake up, I smell smoke. Naturally I stand up, ready to run for my life. But a small pair of arms gently pushes me back down. The girl. I don't dare to look up, scared of what I might see. But of course, my eyes are locked to where she would walk over to.

Fairly long, blonde hair, blue-gray eyes, thin, and tall. I take mental notes about her until she turns around and sees my eyes lingering on her. She laughs elegantly.

"Um, may I help you, Peeta?" My heart flutters in my chest when she says my name. My face feels heated, and not just because of the fever.

"Uh, oh, mmm… I'm Peeta Mellark from 12. Might I ask who you are?" I adjust my eyes on her again and see her working at groosling over a fire, thus the smoke.

"I'm Juliana Ryans, from District 13." She brushes her blonde hair away from her eyes and says the sentence like it's not a big deal.

I stand up and walk over to Juliana. "Did you say 13 or am I going deaf?"

Juliana shakes her head. "No, you heard me correct. My great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather and grandmother were the only 2 that survived the rebellion from 13. So here I am. My mother and father are dead, so it's just me. The Capitol didn't want to leave me out, but they didn't do the scores or interviews or anything like that. The Gamemakers didn't want to show the fact that people survived, so I'm not publicized. But, here I am none the less."

It takes a moment for it to sink in, but eventually it does. "Oh. Well… alright. It's shocking but…"

Juliana smiles. "You don't have to lie to me. You don't have to say it's cool to know someone survived that. Don't even say it."

I duck my head. "It is really horrifying though, like 'Oh my god what else is the Capitol hiding from us?' horrifying."

She nods. "I get it. We need to hunt. It's down to us, Cato, and Thresh. We need to get at least one of them out of the Games today."

"I agree, Juliana. We should."

My stomach does flips when we both say at the same time, "Preferably Cato."

Juliana turns toward me. "Why? What'd he do to you?"

I pull my left pant leg up to my thigh and show her the mass of gauze. My heart starts to throb knowing Katniss has threaded that gauze around me. Juliana touches the mass and I wince.

"Oh, Peeta, we need to replace the gauze. It's going into your wound and it's hurting you even more." I don't want my last piece of Katniss gone from me, but I'd rather heal.

"I can't get to the end of the gauze with your pants on. I need to get them off of you."

I blush and duck my head, praying she didn't see me do that. "Uh, sure, whatever, Juliana."

She quickly pulls the black pants off of me and gently starts to unwrap the gauze starting from the top of my thigh. This forced a shutter and Juliana looks over the top of her eyes. "Having fun there, Peeta?"

I blush even more. "Um no. This… hurts." And what I really want Juliana to say is 'Oh you poor thing. Maybe a kiss would make it better.' And then we'd go into a total make out session. What food we wouldn't get for doing that.

Surely every camera is on us. The audience lives on awkwardness. Heck, someone is probably giving us a nickname already. What is it? Jeeta? Peetana? Something like that. I decide to let her in on the whole star crossed lovers thing Katniss and I had going on. She smiles.

"Yeah, I know about that, Lover Boy. Duh. Who doesn't?" She says loudly and then Juliana whispers, "And I'm thinking we should play that game. Like your way over Katniss and into me."

Ha-ha. If only it was just a game. "Sure. Good plan."

Juliana winks at me and then says while re-wrapping my leg, "Well I'm glad Katniss is gone, Mellark. That means I can have you…" She finishes wrapping and I slide my pants back onto my body, leg feeling much better. My heart starts beating loudly in my chest as Juliana gently pushes me down onto my back, laying down on top of me. "… all… to… my…self…." With every word in the last part of her sentence Juliana's fingers prance up my stomach and onto my chest. Her head fits so perfectly into my neck and I know the perfect move to keep the audience hooked.

I reach my hand into my pants pocket and find only one Sweetheart reading "Kiss me". I slide it out and show it to Juliana and give a knowing wink. I linger it there in front of her, making sure the cameras catch the saying. Juliana smiles and whispers into my ear. "Gladly, Mellark." Her hot breath tickles my ear and she puts a hand on my stomach. She leans down and kisses me.

See, I used to share this type of kiss with Katniss. The ones that leave you hungry for more. The lingering ones that you give your all to. The ones that make you feel so good but so bad at the same time.

Strength surges right through me and my mind knows that the guy is supposed to lead.