Chapter One
"Come on Peeta, It's nearly time to go!" Peeta could hear the impatience in his mother's voice as he was finishing up the last few cookies ready to put them in the oven, and imagined her stood in the bakery, tapping her foot whilst she waited for him.
"I'm just finishing this batch, mother. I'll just be a moment."
"I'll let your father take you if you're going to be late. You're not tarnishing my reputation, boy."Peeta could hear her walking away, grumbling about how he was always late, and huffing every now and then. Peeta didn't mind this at all, his first day of school would be way more fun with his Papa. He smiled as he put the batch of cookies in the oven and wiped his hands clean on his apron, freeing his hands of any flour or dough there. He'd been looking forward to his first day of school so much, that he was already dressed in his school uniform, which was underneath his apron and thankfully not covered in flour or cookie dough (else he would've found himself on the receiving end of his mother's rolling pin or hand). He shuddered to think about that, lightly tracing his little fingers over a fresh mark on his forearm.
Peeta went over to his waiting Papa, who was holding out his coat for him, so he could walk straight into it and put his arms through the holes his Papa held out for him. "Thanks, Papa!" Peeta said in his sweetest voice, which caused his Papa to ruffle his hair a bit.
"C'mon, son. Don't want to miss your first day of school, do you?" Peeta shook his head, no. He'd been waiting for this day for about a week now. Or well, since his older brother, Rye had started school at the very least.
Peeta grabbed his Papa's hand and almost bolted out of the door in excitement. "Let's not be late, Papa!" He could hear his Papa chuckling behind him as he allowed his son to half drag him to the school.
-x-
As it turned out, they ended up outside the school gates in no time, and hand ended up being over twenty minutes early. Peeta's Papa was busy attempting to smooth out Peeta's unruly curls and dusting off his school uniform, when Peeta felt him freeze beside him. "What is it, Papa?" He looked up at his Papa, who was looking off to a pretty woman with blonde hair, who was talking quietly to two girls, who were hugging.
"You see the woman with the blonde hair over there?" His Papa asked, briefly looking down to his son. Peeta nodded. "I fell in love with her when I was younger." Peeta's Papa finished quietly.
Peeta scrunched up his face as he looked at the woman in more detail. She was pretty for sure – prettier than mother, anyway. She had a kind look about her, and her face seemed relaxed and happy. She wore a blue dress which complimented her blue eyes, and her blonde hair was in a fancy braid which was done up at the back of her head. Beside her were two girls, one younger than me, who looked a lot like her mother with her blonde hair and blue eyes, the other who looked to be around five, too. I guess she is starting school today like I am, and that we will be in the same year. "So why didn't you marry her, then?" Peeta asked as he watched the girl closely, who was wearing a red plaid dress and had dark hair which she wore in two braids.
His Papa looked down at him, a sad kind of smile upon his lips. "She fell in love with a coal miner from the Seam. Whenever he sings, even the birds fall silent to listen to him." Peeta didn't reply, he just watched the girl with the two braids hug her mother and little sister, before she skipped through the school gates and into the school.
-x-
Peeta took his seat in the assembly, behind the girl with the two braids. Their teacher headed up to the front of the hall, and smiled at them all. "Welcome, welcome! My name is Mrs Green, and I'll be your music teacher from now on." After introducing herself, everyone replied in unison, "Good morning, Mrs Green." At which she smiled again, a little more brightly. "Such happy faces! Now, who here knows the Valley song?" Peeta watches as the girl he'd been watching all morning shoots her hand straight up into the air. "Ah, miss...?"
"Katniss Everdeen." Peeta almost jumps when Katniss speaks up, as if he forgot she could actually speak, and finds himself pleasantly surprised when she has a voice which is just as pretty as her.
"Katniss, would you like to come up to the front and sing the Valley song for the rest of us?" Mrs Green asks kinda, beckoning to the stool next to her. Katniss nods shyly and gets up and walks to the front, then stands up on the stool Mrs Green offers. She closes her eyes and starts singing the Valley song.
Peeta is unable to stop watching Katniss sing, even if he wants to. He listens to her beautiful voice, unsure if he has ever heard a more wonderful sound in his entire (albeit short) life. He then realises that all is silent except for her voice filling the room, and that even the birds have stopped to hear her sing.
He feels like he has been enchanted by Katniss Everdeen, and even when she stops singing, her and her voice are the only things he can think about for the rest of the day.
-x-
As Peeta walks away from the queue, dinner tray in hand, he sees Katniss Everdeen sat on a table, currently by herself, picking at her food. He stops to breathe a little. 'Come on, Peeta. Why are you so nervous about a girl?' He tells himself. Somehow, he knows Katniss Everdeen will never be 'just a girl' to him.
He finally plucks up the courage to walk over to Katniss' table. "Can I sit here?" He asks her, the nervousness coming back, but thankfully not to his voice. He sees her stormy-grey eyes look up and narrow a little. She nods and he takes the seat across from her. She doesn't say anything so Peeta fills up the silence. "Peeta, my name is Hi – uh, I mean -" he is disrupted in his rambling by Katniss giggling at him madly, the wariness previously in her eyes replaced by the smile that reached them, making them twinkle. A bit like the night sky, he thinks.
"Well then, 'Hi'...my name is Katniss Everdeen and I'm very glad to meet you," she says in her most grown up voice, still giggling a little bit as she sticks out her tongue at him. She then gathers her tray, gets up and instead takes the seat next to him, much to his surprise, and then they chat, giggle and tease each other for the duration of the dinner break. The bell rings, stopping them in their tracks, where they were poking each other in the ribs to make the other laugh the most.
He couldn't help but watch her as he happily bounced up and off to her next class, waving to Peeta as she went. "See you soon, Peeta!"
If there was a way that Peeta could describe the feeling in his stomach, he would've said it was like a hundred butterflies had found their way into his tummy and were all flying around in there at once.
He just shook his head, smiled to himself at managing to make a new friend already, and bounced off to his next class, too.
Even when he got home that evening, all he could think about was Katniss Everdeen, the way she sung the Valley song, and the way they'd teased each other at dinner.