Welcome to my newest story. For those who've been reading Vacation of a Lifetime, here it is, this is the same story told from the third person POV of the wonderful Peeta Mellark. Now, if you didn't read Vacation of a Lifetime, fear not, this story is independent. In fact, you'll enjoy it more because all sections involving encounters between Peeta and Katniss will be completely new to you.

I hope this story provides everyone the insight that Katniss's story alone cannot accomplish. In addition, I hope that everyone enjoys this one just as much as Vacation of a Lifetime. Now, without further ado, I think it's time to enter into the interesting life of Peeta…

[Linda Ronstadt]
Somewhere out there
Beneath the pale moon light
Someone's thinking of me
And loving me tonight

[James Ingram]
Somewhere out there
Someone's saying a prayer
That we'll find one another
In that big somewhere out there

And even though I know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing
On the same bright star

[Linda Ronstadt]
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping
Underneath the same big sky

[Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram]
Somewhere out there
If love can see us through
Then we'll be together
Somewhere out there
Out where dreams come true

[musical interlude]

[James Ingram]
And even though I know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing
On the same bright star

[Linda Ronstadt]
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping
Underneath the same big sky

[Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram]
Somewhere out there
If love can see us through (can see us through)
Then we'll be together
Somewhere out there
Out where dreams come true
...

Chapter 1: Brokenhearted

She don't care about my car
And she don't care about my money
And that's real good 'cause I don't got a lot to spend
But if I did, it wouldn't mean nothin'

The phone beside his bed vibrated as his alarm tone rang out, successfully waking him up for another day of school. Stretching, Peeta Mellark pulled himself up to a sitting position and gazed out the nearby window at the quiet New York City suburb street. How glad he was that his family did not live right in the big city. He did not want to deal with all that craziness everyday.

Glancing back at the phone he had quickly turned off, Peeta saw that ten minutes had already passed. Why was he moving so slowly today? He walked quickly over to his closet and grabbed a clean pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Comfort over appearance, afterall, because, frankly, what did he care? He had no need to impress anyone; he already had the best girlfriend he could ever ask for. Madeline Cartwright. God, he loved her. Okay, Peeta, stop zoning out. The last thing you need is a whack off the head from your mother for dallying and "making your older brother late to school".

Peeta actually had two older brothers, but his oldest brother had graduated from high school a few years ago and now was a commuter student at the local university. Sometimes, Peeta actually allowed himself to feel jealous that his brother could sleep in until nine or ten every morning. If that wasn't bad enough, his other brother would be graduating this year and would probably be doing the same thing come next school year. It was times like this when Peeta hated being the youngest son. However, he didn't want to be like his brothers. In fact, Peeta aspired to be admitted into the school of art and study painting. It was still in New York, but it wasn't close enough to stay at home and that suited Peeta just fine. Life at home wasn't anything special anyway.

Heading out into the dining room, Peeta found his brother and his father sitting at the table sharing breakfast. Peeta didn't like to eat breakfast most of the time because it was always the same, but his father always insisted. He took his spot at the table and his father passed him a couple pieces of fresh bread. It was a custom. All Mellark family meals always involved something baked by Mr. Mellark. Fresh bread or hamburgers on freshly made rolls, for instance. As a baker who owned his own shop, Mr. Mellark always found something to make for them. Back when his sons were in elementary school, Mr. Mellark would even find ways to slip fresh cookies or cupcakes into their packed lunches.

"It was good to have breakfast with your boys. Drive safely," he ordered, directing his gaze to Peeta's older brother. "I'll be heading over to the bakery now. See you all after I'm done."

As soon as Mr. Mellark was gone, Peeta's older brother grabbed his keys and stood up. "I'm almost ready to leave, Peeta. If you aren't ready to go when I am, I'm leaving you here and you can explain to Mother why you didn't make it to school today."

Peeta didn't even bother to reply; his brother said the same thing everyday. He never seemed to leave without his younger brother, though. Maybe he knew that he would get in just as much trouble with their mother too if he actually followed through with his threat.

Contrary to the song that Peeta had used for his alarm clock that morning, he didn't actually have a car. By the time his parents had gotten the two oldest Mellark sons' cars, there was not enough money for Peeta to get one. That didn't mean that Peeta wasn't saving his own money to someday buy one, though. He couldn't help feeling a little jealous again, though. If money was that tight, why did his brothers have such nice cars when they could've just gotten two old beat-up Toyotas or something?

It was early April and the weather was still a little chilly, so Peeta quickly grabbed one of his sweatshirts and left to go take his spot in the passenger seat of his brother's car. As if to annoy Peeta, his brother started the car and opened both the front windows as far down as they would go.

"Dude, it's freezing. Why are you putting the windows down?" Peeta asked in a yell, shivering slightly.

"To wake me up," his brother smirked, turning up the radio.

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you
Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

"Ah yes, what a perfect song!" his brother laughed. However, they had already arrived at the school and when the chorus ended, he turned off the engine, cutting off the song.

Peeta immediately exited the vehicle and walked briskly toward the school. How embarrassing his brother was…but he'd told him that several times already. Luckily, he wouldn't have to see his brother again until wrestling practice. He wished that he could beat his brother at wrestling before his brother graduated, but it didn't seem like that would ever happen. The Mellark boys, from all the years spent working in their father's bakery, were the two best in the school. Sadly, for Peeta, he would always be second best…at least until next year.

Always the resourceful one, Peeta had no need to go to his locker before class, but that was where he would meet his girlfriend, so he headed that way anyway. Usually, he would always make it there before her and that was fine by him; he didn't mind waiting. However, today, she was waiting for him. Her bus must've came early today. Picking up the pace, he joined him, slightly slamming his back off the nearby lockers. "Hey," he greeted her in that tone that could make most girls in their class…or even in their school swoon in delight.

Looking directly back at him, she replied, "Hi, Peeta."

Peeta's smile quickly disappeared. Her speech…it was too formal. Was something up? "You okay, Delly?"

"Peeta…I think you're a great guy. You're so sweet, but…I just want to be free for awhile, okay? I'm sorry. Please be happy, okay?"

Nodding slowly, Peeta allowed himself to answer non-verbally while he tried to process everything. Delly was…breaking up with him? He was about to ask if it was his fault so he could fix it if it was, but a bell rang through the hall.

"Oh, there's the warning bell. I don't want to be late. Bye, Peeta," she told him and walked off alone to her first class.

No longer did Peeta care about being on time. He didn't care when he walked into his first class two or three minutes late. His mother would probably smack him for being tardy to class, but he didn't care at the moment. All he could think about was Delly and that he was now single again.

The day passed and Peeta was pretty sure that he didn't pay attention to any of his classes today. His notebook was pretty blank; he hadn't even taken any notes. Oh boy, all those tests he was going to fail in the future. How many bruises would that be? Five? Even in wrestling practice that day, Coach yelled at him to get focused. Peeta knew that his brother and his brother's friends were snickering, but he didn't care. Let them laugh. Not like any of them would ever even hope to get a girlfriend anyway.

In the car on the way home that day, Peeta's brother passed him a CD. "Here. It's a 'comfort CD'." He said nothing more for the rest of the ride. Peeta however, fiddled with the CD case the rest of the way. Strangely enough, that helped him to take his mind off the situation…at least temporarily.

When they got home, Peeta immediately retreated to his room. Pulling out his laptop, he decided to quickly check some sites before he started his homework. On Facebook, he noticed that Delly had already changed her relationship status back to "single". Of course she would have, though, she didn't have wrestling practice for two hours afterschool everyday. Peeta's profile still read that he was "in a relationship" so he quickly and sadly switched it back to "single".

He was just about to shut the laptop and begin working on his homework for the night when he remembered the CD that his brother had given him. Grabbing his pair of headphones, he plugged them in while placing the CD into the drive.

There were only a few songs on the disc and none of them were titled, at least, from what Peeta could tell. What kind of "comfort" was this CD supposed to offer him? Speaking of which, how did his brother know that he would need comforting? Did he somehow know that Delly was going to break up with him today? Peeta did not like all these questions. Something just didn't feel right about all this.

Clicking on the first title, an oldies song played into Peeta's ears. He remembered the tune because his parents used to listen to that type of music when him and his brothers were younger, but it wasn't until the words played that he understood…

As I walk this land of broken dreams
I have visions of many things
But happiness is just an illusion
Filled with sadness and confusion

What becomes of the brokenhearted
Who has love that's now departed
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind, baby

Damn them…a break-up song. Thinking it may have just been a mistake, Peeta clicked down to the next song. It was just the chorus of the song, but Peeta immediately recognized it too.

Oh oh, I can't seem to let you go

See I've been waiting all day
For you to call me, baby
So let's get up, let's get on it
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight
Come on, that's right
Honest baby I'll do
Anything you want to
So can we finish what we started
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight
Come on, that's right

After the chorus ended, his brothers had recorded themselves stating loudly, "We love you, Peeta!" before cracking up, proving that the last statement had not been the least bit serious. Annoyed, Peeta removed the CD and threw it across the room.

He no longer felt like doing homework. Instead, he placed his laptop on the floor, grabbed one of the pillows on his bed and lay down, placing the pillow over his face. All his pent-up anger came out in screams that were greatly muffled by the pillow. When he no longer felt the need to scream, he removed the pillow and punched it several times, letting his aggression out with every hit. No wonder his mother had grown so abusive lately. Punching things really did help to relieve tension…although, Peeta had vowed that he would never become like his mother. One pillow was worth so much less than one life.

Finally, Peeta felt all his energy fade. He dropped the pillow on the floor and shut his eyes, allowing himself to drift into an unsettling sleep. An hour or so later, his father returned from the bakery and tried to rouse his son for dinner, but Peeta refused to wake up, grumbling angrily when Mr. Mellark tried, so he just let him sleep, sensing that his youngest son had a rough day by the state of his normally meticulous room.

Peeta's dreams were filled with many things: Delly, his brothers, taunting and teasing, abuse. Was his life really all bad? Was there really so little good within his life?

That ending kinda failed. Sorry. I didn't know how I wanted to end it. This chapter had so much background in it. I promise that it gets better, though. Vacation of a Lifetime is slow at first too, if you recall, for those who've read it.

Next chapter is more background, but then we start getting into the good stuff. Trust me, you don't want to miss it. Thanks for reading. For those who are new to this adventure, welcome and enjoy. For those joining from Katniss's story, again, welcome. I look forward to providing you all with another interesting angle of this wonderful story!

Posted: August 11, 2012