A/N: I know, I know, my mind made another one. Come find me on tumblr - I'm everybirdfellsilent.
Xxx
Katniss woke with a yawn, her eyes fluttering open to greet the day with a scowl.
Stretching as she rose, an unbidden sigh escaped her lips, sounding like a dying cat the further she stretched.
Walking to the bathroom lazily, she snorted at the disarray her braid had found in the night. Gently undoing the plaits, she stared at the counter absently, her mind on no one thing in particular.
Her day. What would it be like? Her first class was art, and she dreaded it. She could barely scribble her name, let alone paint a meadow, per the assignment.
At least she would find some solace at lunch, eating alone in peace and quiet, letting the world pass by her as it tittered on about needless things like gossip and popularity and…. Friends.
She smiled at the thought. She never was very good at that, and despite the sinking feeling in her gut as she could count her friends on one hand, the idea of someone truly being there for her, wanting to talk to her, seeking her out, made her oddly happy.
Her second alarm went off, her warning that she needed to leave soon. Hopping in the shower, she let the water wash away the silly thoughts of friends and laughter. High school was only four years, three of them already gone. She had the rest of her life to do those other things.
Xxx
Art class began promptly with the bell. Katniss had arrived early, watching the students shuffle in like zombies, their faces drawn with caffeine deprivation.
Within the first few minutes, a note was passed her way, her name in scrolling font on its front.
Looking around suspiciously, no one really seemed to stand out. Who would bother to give Katniss Everdeen a note?
Opening it slyly, making sure the teacher was looking the other way, her eyes bulged at what she read.
"I really like you, and I was wondering, do you like me too? Check yes or no."
Below were two boxes labeled 'Yes' and 'No'.
It was signed, "- P.M."
Her eyes widened even more, looking across the room to where the back of Peeta Mellark's head was to her, his neck flushing red.
They were seniors. Not in fifth grade. Who did this anymore?
No one, she thought with a scoff, checking 'No', and passing it back.
The rest of the class her thoughts drifted to the blonde haired boy several rows up. He was considered by most to be the best looking boy in school, the most likely to succeed, and a shoo-in for valedictorian.
What in the world did he want with her?
The clock ticked down to the final minutes of class, and the teacher had everyone start packing up their things.
Katniss was just bending down to pick up her backpack when the bell rang.
Sitting up in bed, her alarm blaring at her, she looked around quickly.
The school was nowhere to be found. Only her room. The alarm clock showed it was her usual rising time, the calendar showing the same date.
A car horn honked down the street, and she vaguely remembered it from that morning.
Checking her notebook in her bag showed none of the notes she had made that morning waiting for class to start.
Tiptoeing to her door, she cracked it open, looking from side to side down the hall. Her little sister Prim shuffled down the corridor, eyes practically closed as her feet slid in her bunny slippers. "Prim!"
Her sister jumped in a way she would usually find comedic, but at the moment, laughter was farthest from her mind.
"God, Katniss! What? You scared me."
"What is today?" She hissed.
"Monday," her sister said haltingly, one hand pausing over the eye she was rubbing. "Why? And why are you whispering?"
Katniss turned back to her room, closing the door, ignoring Prim's muffled muttering.
This had to be a dream. There was no way. It wasn't possible. You can't do it. You can't live the same day twice.
Can you?
Xxx
She repeated her morning routine, went right back to ignoring the world as it ignored her, and they ignored each other in perfect synchronicity.
It was just a dream. She rolled her shoulders as she walked into the front doors of the school, letting the sensation of déjà vu roll off like water on her back.
She set up, watched the zombie march once again, and stared intently at the note when it arrived in front of her yet again.
"No," she muttered as she checked the little box again, passing it back, returning to her project.
The school bell rang and she bent down to pick up her backpack, rising once again to her blaring alarm on her bedside table, same day, same time, same- oh. There was the car horn.
Striding over to the door, she swung it open, startling Prim in the hallway, her bunny slippers hopping high in surprise.
Xxx
The cycle repeated itself for days. She tried to break routines, deciding to eat a bagel for breakfast instead of a shake. Walking a different route. The only thing that changed the day even slightly was the day she decided to show up late.
Bustling in as the warning bell sounded, she ran smack into Peeta who carried a cup of hot coffee. It crumbled between them, coating them both in steaming brown lava.
Katniss had never seen someone's face so red as Peeta's was, looking at her in embarrassment, as well as something else, his eyes trying to avoid how her shirt now stuck to her body.
The note didn't come for several classes, and Katniss was sure she looked a freak, pausing before entering classrooms, looking both ways before entering.
The note came, she said no, and woke screaming in her bed, frustration finally getting the best of her. The scream was renewed at the sight of an older man at the foot of her bed, his face covered in laugh lines as he smiled at her.
Her clock stood still on the stand beside her, and she kept glancing between it and him, unsure which was more unnerving.
"Hi there. Good morning to you, too," the man chuckled, walking around beside the bed, holding his hand out to her. "Angry yet?"
She shook it reluctantly, this unsettlingly not the oddest thing to happen to her this week- well, week of Monday's. "You could say that," she said sardonically.
He chuckled. "Well, sweetheart, get used to it. You are stuck in this hell, this game of life until you get it right."
She narrowed her eyes at the man who huffed in annoyance, rolling his eyes. "Look. Let me put it this way. I'm Haymitch. I am your spirit mentor. You have been chosen to have your destiny pointed out to you, but at a cost. Every decision you make that doesn't get you closer to where you need to be starts you over at the beginning of that day. You do not pass go. You do not collect two hundred dollars, but you have a get out of jail free card."
She stared blankly back at the man.
"Yoo-hoo! Anyone in that brain o' yours?"
"So not only am I stuck in high school, I'm stuck in a Monday."
The man chuckled darkly. "I like you. Now. Since you are new to this, I will help you out." He cleared his throat, looked up at the corner and spoke with bravado. "When opportunity knocks, you must open the door, or else your ass will wind up on the floor."
"Great. I got a fortune cookie for a mentor."
This sent Haymitch into a fit of giggles. "I guess so. You seem oddly okay with all this."
"What can I say? I gotta help you get your wings, don't I?"
Haymitch's face instantly went placid. "That's only in the movies. I don't like you. You are going to be a thorn in my ass."
"Whatever you say, fortune cookie man."
Xxx
Her day repeated again and again, Haymitch unwilling to give her any more clues.
When she got the note again for what felt like an unimaginably high number of times, she held on to it, pondering. Staring at the back of Peeta's head, she got lost in the color of his hair. She wondered what colors she could mix to incorporate it into her meadow. It would be perfect for sunshine on the flowers.
Her breath hitched at the splash of blue when he looked over his shoulder, trying to be small and inconspicuous. He smiled at her, and she couldn't help but smile back. He was infectious. Everything about him. When opportunity knocks, you must open the door.
Over the never-ending week from hell, she had seen how kind Mellark was. Just like his smile, everything about him was contagious - his laughter, his outlook on life, the way he showed kindness to everyone, strove for excellence, and his wit was not to be outmatched.
She had the opportunity to add a friend to her list. A kind friend, who wanted to be with her. Sought her out. A real friend.
Haymitch's voice popped into her head. Whether it was actually him, or just her mind using him as an excuse for the reasoning, she wasn't sure. "When you get that note today, just check 'yes'. Or at least ask him if you can think about it. For heaven's sake. Just don't check 'no'."
Passing it back to him, he smiled back at her, nodding before going back to his painting.
She had checked yes and given him her number.
Xxx
Katniss woke the next day with a start, Haymitch appearing right as she was about to punch a wall.
"Welcome to Tuesday."
She stared at him blankly, a small smile making its way up her face slowly.
"You are more stubborn than a mule. With the personality and charm of a dead slug. But you have potential."
"Thank you, Papa Goose."
"….What now?" He said hesitantly.
"Look it up. Geese are navigators. It's a pun. Just…. Be the wise mentor and nod."
He obliged.
"So. Peeta Mellark is a step in my destiny?"
Haymitch nodded, fighting back a smile. "You could say that."
"After my week of Mondays in high school, I'm willing to try anything." They shared a smile. "Suddenly, I can count my friends on one hand, but my days are limitless. I have the opportunity to live my life. I have eternity to get it right."
Haymitch nodded silently.
"And I could do far worse than Peeta Mellark. I mean, of all the people…. He….. He treats people like people. Like they have real emotions and not just a social agenda."
Haymitch chuckled. "You could live a hundred lifetimes and not deserve him, you know."
"I know," She replied softly, bowing her head to hide the tears she felt rising behind her eyes unexpectedly. Peeta Mellark had rooted his way under her skin without so much as a word. Taking a deep breath, grasping to every bit of steely resolve she had she looked back up into the man's eyes, satisfaction sparking through her in the way he jumped at the fire now roaring in them. "And I intend to to spend every one of them proving you wrong."
"Darlin', what hair-brained scheme do you have now?"
"It's not a scheme," she bit at him. "It's a plan. I have eternity to do this right."
"You're really going to enjoy this, aren't you?" He said disbelievingly, if not somewhat amusedly.
She grinned at him. "I am. I will."
"Well, then. May the odds be ever in your favor."
She leveled her gaze at the sardonic man. "The odds are never in my favor. I am doomed to an eternity of seeing every mistake I can make." She looked around her room being bathed in morning sunlight, her clock standing still. "But I don't have to beat the odds. I have to be the odds."