Prim's made it to that age. The age I was dreading. The point in her life in which she trades in two pigtail braids for one long, thick, braided rope. The age in which she leaves her frilly, little girl dresses in favour for something a bit more mature. The age in which she puts her toys away in boxes and paints over the pink color in her room; the age in which she asks me if she can borrow some of the makeup my prep team left behind. The age in which Peeta and I stay up waiting for her to come back home from a date.
It's terrifying.
She's now as old as I was during the Quarter Quell, seventeen. She's grown to be as tall as I am, her beauty both external and internal, outshines everyone else's. She's still working alongside Peeta at his bakery ever since it opened four years ago. She's stayed with us in Twelve and refuses even considering going anywhere else. She'll finish school here and then think about going somewhere else to train as a healer.
If I were honest with myself I'd say that yes, my sister has been an adult for some time now. Probably since my first reaping, such a long time ago, but now that we've reached the end of her high school education, and she's right at the threshold of leaving me here, all alone, I feel as if I've been ran over by a train.
Peeta holds my hand, also just as shaken emotionally as I am, as we stand in the green area at Prims school surrounded by a multitude of people all here to attend the ceremony. The ceremony, Prim's high school graduation.
Peeta isn't handling this occasion well either, having grown attached to Prim as a very over protective older brother. He's been around her for years. She took care of him in the hospital after he was rescued from the Capitol, she was there with him as he faced his therapy, sat beside him as he broke down over the loss of his family in the bombing; I've been keeping a watchful eye on him for days, the idea of Prim moving away from home might cause him to have an episode.
My mother wants Prim to go live with her in District Four. After the war she moved there, unwilling to face the destruction in Twelve. Never mind the fact that one of her daughters was banished there and the other refused to leave her. She works at the hospital, some type of fancy job. She could pull some strings and have Prim trained as a doctor easily.
I would never deny Prim such a grand opportunity, despite how much I resent my mother.
"Hey," Peeta waves his hand in front of my face to catch my attention, "I think it's starting."
Around us, people have settled into the plastic chairs that have been set up in rows before the stage. Behind the stages curtains the occasional head pops out to take a peek at the crowd. Peeta and I quickly drop into our seats at the front row; my heart tries to burst out of my chest.
Peeta wraps his arm around my shoulders and rubs a pattern into my upper arm soothingly. I try to calm down. Prim's only graduating, it isn't the end of the world.
I'll call her, every day, when she moves to District Four. She'll visit; we'll celebrate all major holidays together.
What if when she moves away I never see or talk to her again?
What if something happens to her?
Her train could crash or randomly explode! She could go hungry! What if a crazy Snow loyalist finds her and kills her?
What if she forgets about me? What if she decides that she doesn't need me to have a piece of her new life?
I feel Peeta kiss my temple gently. "Shh, stop worrying. She'll be fine."
I smile for him but my anxiety still continues to spin crazy scenarios in my head. I can't focus on anything. All I can see is Prim leaving and never coming back, over and over again.
Why couldn't she just have stayed twelve forever?
My eyes are trained on Peeta's real leg, which keeps on bouncing up and down. I gnaw on my bottom lip nervous for no good reason. It's not me who's going on stage today.
"Katniss!" My sister's soft voice tries to shout and whisper at the same time, "Peeta!"
Both our heads snap up at the same instant, smiles spreading across our faces in unison. Prim's head is peeking out from behind the curtain, her long blond hair carefully braided into a complicated chignon that I had to video chat with my mother to create properly for her. She waves enthusiastically, her grin wide enough to hurt her cheeks.
"Good luck!" I whisper-shout back and throw her a kiss which she pretends to catch.
Once she disappears behind the curtain I slump against Peeta with a sigh.
"Why did she have to grow up?"
He tightens his hold on me and kisses the tip of my nose, "Because you kept her safe."
That is true. Prim's here today because I made sure she lived, I should be grateful that she's been able to make it this far.
"I wish that she would never leave us."
Peeta nods in agreement "I guess we'll just have to have a kid to fill the void."
I laugh and smack his chest playfully. He's been dropping 'hints' on the kid's situation since our first wedding anniversary. I know he's serious under that thin layer of humor, but I would rather ignore this desire of his for as long as I possibly can.
The ceremony starts then. It doesn't take that long for Prim to walk across the stage since they're going alphabetically and there aren't that many people in her graduating class. This is the first time that I've ever heard of a graduation ceremony. They started having them after the school was rebuilt, I don't really know why they have them, but I'm glad that Prim gets to have a special day like this regardless.
Peeta and I jump to our feet and make a ton of noise when Prim collects her diploma and shakes her principal's hand. Peeta takes a few thousand pictures of her with his new camera that he bought solely for this occasion, shamelessly embarrassing her as he follows her with the camera, telling everyone that "that's his little sister."
When the ceremony is over and Prim stands there laughing at Peeta as he re-positions her oddly shaped blue hat and has us pose before the stage and then the school the flash blinding us as he continues on his picture craze.
"Alright, that's enough Peeta." I put my hands on the camera's lenses, he throws me a pout and I laugh. "Are either of you guys hungry?"
Prim smiles and nods. Peeta throws his arm around her shoulder, the other wrapping itself around my waist. "Let's go then!"
Prim and I both laugh at him. Together, we walk away from the school, Prim telling us about what happened behind the scenes, her face scrunching up in disgust as she tell us about a rude prank a boy played on a teacher. Both Peeta and I watch her in rapt attention as we walk into Sae's restaurant at our small town's heart.
"Ronald!" Peeta shouts at the teenager that comes to take our order "Tell Sae to give us the biggest stake of whatever she's got, and the best of her stew, Prim did it! She graduated!"
The teenage boy chuckles and nods, walking away with a smile on his face; Prim shoves Peeta playfully, something she got from me, and tells him that he shouldn't have. Her graduating doesn't warrant buying something so pricey.
Peeta rolls his eyes "You deserve more than a steak and some soup Prim. Trust me, Katniss went a little crazy."
Prim looks at me, eyes wide, "I said no presents!"
I shrug, completely non apologetic "I must have forgotten that rule. Oh well, you'll just have to accept our presents."
She laughs shaking her head and looks at us fondly. She opens her mouth to speak again but instead of her voice I hear Peeta's calling my name.
"Katniss?"
"Katniss, hey, times up. Time to wake up"
"Kaaaattttnisssss"
I frown and open my eyes slowly. The room is dark except for the few rays of sunlight falling across Peeta's face. He stares at me with a smile pulling one side of his lips up, his laugh lines crinkling. His graying hair is standing in all possible directions, his curls frizzy and crazy looking.
"Willow's downstairs already. You didn't forget about Rye's graduation did you? You forgot to set the alarm." He says softly and reaches down to kiss my nose "He wouldn't be very happy about that."
"Are we late?" I yawn and rub the crust out of my eye.
"Not yet, but Willow is this close to freaking out." He holds his index finger and thumb very close together, "the baby is making her cranky today."
"She's a scary pregnant lady." I comment with a smile and pat his hair down.
"I wonder where she gets that from?" Peeta says thoughtfully and rubs his scruffy chin, I roll my eyes at him.
"I had the dream again." Peeta's eyes turn somber, "she looked so beautiful, all grown up. Embarrassed by both of us."
"Sounds like our kids," he smiles sadly his hand finding mine.
"It felt so real." I whisper. Immediately Peeta lies down and wraps me up in his arms.
"I wish it had been. I would have loved to see that myself." He murmurs the words against my forehead, planting a kiss there.
We manage to steal a few minutes in our bed, simply cuddled into each other before our hormonal pregnant daughter barges into the room and stares at us.
"Mom, Dad! Will you please get out of bed? And stop doing whatever you're doing." Willow wines as she grabs a pillow from the floor and holds it like a weapon "I will use this if I have to."
"Yeah, yeah. We heard you." Peeta rolls off the bed, our daughter helping him put on his prosthetic "Your mother just had a rough night; we'll be down in a minute."
Willow nods and kisses hr fathers cheek before leading down to kiss mine.
"Hurry up!" she calls from the stairs.
Peeta throws me a look, "If I didn't know better I would think she was Effie's daughter."
We both laugh. We get ready as quickly as we can, agreeing that our daughter is under enough stress as it is being pregnant.
I really wish Prim could be here with us, just so I could share family events like this with her.
As Willow herds us out the door I look at the Primrose bushes and smile, of course she's here. She's in my heart, and she'll never leave me.
Thanks for reading please review!
Cassandraishere.