Chapter 1:

A five-year-old boy with ashy blonde hair grasped his father's hand with his own chubby one. They were standing outside a building together. "Daddy, I don't want to go to school today."

The boy's father chuckled. "But today is your very first day, Peeta. Don't you want to get a good look at the pretty girls in your class? I assume it's first come first serve, so if you miss the first day, you'll miss your chance at getting the best selection."

Peeta looked at his father with a questioning look. "I thought I was going to school to learn things."

His father smiled and bent down so he was at eye level with the young boy. "Yes, that's the most important thing. But son, it never hurts to have a little fun, too." He patted the boy on the shoulder, laughing to himself. "Your mother wouldn't be impressed if she knew I was filling your head with these ideas."

Peeta didn't really understand what his father was talking about, but he knew it had something to do with the girls in his class. He looked around, and his eyes settled on a little girl who was standing alone among the other children, all of which seemed to be accompanied by a parent.

"See that little girl?" Peeta's father asked, pointing at the girl wearing a red plaid dress and braids in her hair, the one his son was already looking at. "I wanted to marry her mother, but she ran off with a coal miner."

"A coal miner? Why did she want a coal miner when she could have had you?"

He smiled sadly, and answered, "Because when he sings... even the birds stop to listen."

Young Peeta looked down at his feet. "Oh." He was sad that his father wasn't able to marry this little girl's mother. He decided she would have made a better mother than his own, even though he didn't even know her. "What's the girl's name, Daddy?"

"I believe it's Katniss Everdeen."

"Katniss... that's a strange name."

"It's a type of plant, son."

"Oh." Peeta looked over at the girl again. She caught his gaze for a moment, so he smiled. She did not return the gesture. Instead, she adverted her eyes by turning her head in the other direction. "Katniss." Peeta whispered to himself. Then, he said a little louder. "You know, Daddy. That's not such a weird name after all. It's kind of nice. I think I like it."

His father chuckled. "You should become friends with the girl. It doesn't seem like she knows anyone."

"I'll try, Daddy. See you later!" Peeta said, waving enthusiastically as his father left the schoolyard.

Later, all the children were seated in a circle on the floor of the kindergarten classroom. Their teacher was explaining, with exaggerated enthusiasm, the classroom rules and the importance of following them. Peeta saw the girl Katniss, sitting cross-legged directly across from him. She wasn't paying much attention to the teacher; instead, she was fiddling with a loose thread on the hem of the dress. She seemed sort of lonely, as if the space between her and the children sitting on either side of her was larger than the space between the other kids.

At recess, Peeta saw Katniss sitting on the swings by herself. She was going very high and fast, and it frightened Peeta a little, but he still crossed the playground and sat on the swing next to her.

"Hi," Peeta said as she swung past. She didn't respond, so he repeated, a little louder this time, "Hi!"

Katniss looked at him suspiciously. "Hello."

"I'm Peeta! Your name is Katniss, right?"

Katniss kicked her feet on the ground below to stop the swing. "Yes. And you don't have to shout."

"I'm sorry." Peeta was already running out of things to say, so there was an uncomfortable silence between the two for a few moments. "You seem kind of lonely here all by yourself," he said after a while."

"I'm not." More silence.

Peeta began stirring up dust in the dirt with his feet. "Don't you want any friends?"

"I don't need them." Katniss' voice wasn't cold of hostile, just matter-of-fact.

"But..."

"I have to go now." Katniss stood up and walked to the opposite side of the playground, leaving Peeta on the swings, alone.