HEY HEY HEY! this is a one-shot :) I love Peeta! I can manage Gale, but he's too grumpy for my taste... anyway... Enjoy and TEAM PEETA FOREVA!

~~The boy with the Bread~~

Five year old Peeta Mellark walks with his dad, hand in hand, towards the grayish, small buildings. He walks with a small skip in his step, and almost trips. Thankfully his dads hand is there or else he would have face plummeted onto the cement. Today is his first day of school. He's been waiting for this since, like, yesterday. What a long wait. Twenty-four long hours. Ah yes, yesterday.

~ Yesterday morning ~

He was in the bakery, helping his dad roll some dough when he saw some seam kids walking by his families bakery. It was in the morning, seven A.M, and they were carrying backpacks. He knew he would have to go to this strange place called "school" to get a "higher education", but he had no idea when it started. He looked at his dad.
"Daddy, when am I going to go to school like those kids?" He points at the window. Mr. Mellark just laughs.
"What a coincidence Pete." He tells his son "Tomorrow is your first day of school." He puts in the fresh dough in the hot oven and sneaks into the back room. Peeta hears some shuffling and he turns his head in his fathers direction, abandoning the flour. When Mr. Mellark comes back, he carries a medium sized backpack. It's black with some dark blue lines across it.
"Oh my God dad!" He says "That's awesome!" Peeta hops off the crate he use to reach the kitchen counter, and run towards his father. Smiling, his dad gives him the backpack. Peeta turns it around and puts it on his back.
"I love it! Thank you!" He exclaims. Peeta opens his arms and his dad carries him in a hug.
"I picked it out for you a month ago. I was going to tell you about it today."
"Thank you Dad!" He says once more. Peeta barely got any nice things, and even at such a young age he has learned how to appreciate the stuff he had. Mr. Mellark puts him down.
"No problem son." He smiles again. Peeta loved it when he smiled. It maked him look younger. He thought It made everyone look younger.
"Henry!" Peetas mother screams. "What are you doing!"
"Nothing, Amanda." He screams back and sighs. He looks at Peeta. "Keep kneading the dough Peeta, before your mom gets into one of her world famous hissy fits." He winks.
"Nothing?" She screams back.
"Too late." He mutters. Peeta takes his backpack off and hurries back to his crate. He hops on it, and continues to knead the dough.
"Nothing isn't going to make us money, Henry! Money doesn't just grow on trees, Henry! Get back to work!"
"Yeah Yeah okay, I got it Amy!" The oven rings and he walks over to it and gets a mitten. When he opens the oven, Peeta could smell the warm scent that always made his mouth water. Cheese buns. He loved all sorts of breads from cinnamon rolls, cheese buns, even just regular toasted bread. Of course, his family didn't really get to eat the bread they made. Occasionally his mother broke down and finally let them eat a little bit, but Peeta didn't complain. Some kids didn't even get food. Some starved to death. Some didn't even have adequate homes to live in. Some had no homes at all. That's why little Peeta appreciated all the little things he had. Like food, a home, and a family.

He was very fortunate compared to a lot of kids in the seam. His father walks over to where he is and places the baked bread next to him.
"When will I get to bake bread like you Dad?" His dad smiles.
"Not yet Pete. You can barely reach the oven, and I don't want your sweet little face getting burnt." He pinches his cheek.
"But Daaad." Peeta complains.
"But Daaad." He mimics his sons voice. "No buts." Peeta frowns. He reaches for a clean plate and grabs a random mold. He places the dough across the plate and placse the mold on top of it, and makes a heart shaped cookie.
"That's beautiful Pete." Says his dad, inspecting his work. "I'm sure mom wouldn't mind if we baked it for you." One of the few things Peeta could be sure of is that mother wouldn't be Okay with it, but whatever floats his dads boat was okay with him.
"Can I put it in the oven?" He asks, hopeful. His father thinks about it.
"No of course you can't. But you can watch." At least he thought about it. Peeta hops off his crate, and carries the heart shaped mold over to the oven. He stands on his toes, trying to put the cookie in. The only thing he accomplishes is making his dad laugh. His dad snatches the plate from his hands.
"Hey! That's rude!" Peeta says.
"Your not supposed to put the cookie in with the plate." He says, ignoring his sons comment. "That will only ruin the cookie and burn the plate. Maybe even the kitchen." He walks over to a little pantry, and takes out a tray and a piece of baking paper.
"This." says his dad, holding up the baking paper. "Helps the cookie not get burnt. And this." he holds up the tray "Helps cook the cookie." He pokes Peeta in the stomach. Peeta laughs.
"Stop! That tickles!" smiles and then puts the tray into the oven.
"And that is how you bake." He concludes.
"Looks easy." Says Peeta, sitting down on a random stool and placing his head on his hand.
"It is." Says his father, ruffling his hair. "Easy as pie. Just remember to take out the tray, or else it will get burnt." A knock on the door interrupts them.
"Wonder who that is." Asks to himself, and walks towards the door. The person behind the door doesn't surprise him though. Delly Cartwright. Peeta and Delly have been friends ever since they were one years old. Peetas dad would take him out for a stroll, and Dellys mom would go outside with Delly, and they let the kids play together. They became friends instantly.
"Hola, Peetas dad." Says Delly, waving. "Can I come in?" She blinks her eyelashes.
"Of course Delly. Your like family now." He laughs and guides her to the kitchen where Peeta is.
"Peeta. You have a visitor." He says. Peeta looks at Delly and widens his eyes. A little over dramatic, since Peeta couldn't be surprised. She came by every week.
"Hey Delly." He says.
"Hey Peeta." Delly responds.
"Well, I'm gonna let you guys have at it." Says , getting out of the room. "Wait, I forgot something." He says, going back into the room. He walks over to the oven, and takes out the cookie.
"Right on time." He puts in on a plate and hands it to Peeta. "You can decorate it if you want."
"Thanks dad." Peeta smiles. "Come on Delly! Let's go decorate it!" Says Peeta excitedly .
"Okay." responds Delly, eager as ever. They go to the kitchen counter. Peeta hops on the crate and scoots over to make some room for Delly.
"First, we need candy!" Says Peeta. He grabs blue sprinkles and tiny chocolates. "And icing" He adds, grabbing a bottle of white icing and a spoon. "Here." He gives Delly the spoon and icing. "You can put it on."
"Aw thanks!" She grabs it from him and places it all around. Peeta then places sprinkles all over the cookie, and together they put chocolate on it.
"It looks so yummy." Says Delly.
"Want half?" Asks Peeta. It would be rude to eat the whole thing.
"Yeah, thanks." Smiles Delly. Peeta grabs the plate and hops off the crate. Delly follows. He grabs the cookie in his hand and breaks it in half equally.
"Here." Says Peeta, handing her half. Delly receives it gratefully.
"Thanks." Says Delly, biting into the cookie. "Mmm. Tastes as good as it looks." She says with cookie in her mouth. Peeta bites in to it.
"Yeah, your right." He says. They look at each other at the same time and laugh.
"So." Says Delly, after she finishes her cookie. "My mom said we start going to this place called Kindergarten! She even gave me this backpack I've seen all these big kids wear!" She looks excited.
"Really? Me too!" Says Peeta equally excited.
"My mommy said that we even get put into classes! I hope we get the same class." Says Delly.
"Yeah I hope." Says Peeta.
"It's going to be so much fun!" Delly smiles.
"I know!" exclaims Peeta. They kept on ranting on how much fun it would be for a long time. Peeta couldn't wait! As much fun as it was to bake stuff with his dad in the bakery, he wanted to do something different. He was practically put to work ever since he learned to crawl. Oh, he didn't do hard jobs at that age. Only rolled dough. But he was going to learn how to put stuff in the oven (without burning himself) in one year. Right now he just helped knead dough and decorate. They keep talking until Peetas mom barges into the kitchen.
"Peeta! Are you-" She yells, but then looks at Delly.
"Oh, hello Delly." She says. "Didn't know you were here." She turns to Peeta, and in a calmer voice says, "Peeta, the shop is going to open soon. Stop messing around and get to work." She walks away. Behind Peetas back, Delly was sticking her tongue out and had a sour face on. When peeta turned around, Delly awkwardly stuck her tongue back in. He laughed. His mom was always a pain.
"Sorry Delly. Mom said I had to work." He frowns and shrugs.
"Aw. I don't want to go. I can help!" She suggests. She shows her eagerness by going over to the kitchen counter and grabbing the icing packet they used to decorate the cake.
"Uh I don't know Dell." He says, scratching his head "My mo-" he stops mid sentence when a blob of white icing lands on his face. He grabs the icing and flicks it on Delly.
"Gross!" She squeals. She then squirts another big blob of icing on his face, and then he flicks it on the ground. He runs towards the kitchen counter and grabs a pack of his favorite orange icing and shoots Delly in the stomach.
"Oh my God!" Says Delly smiling. Anticipating an attack, Peeta grabs the nearest apron and covers himself, and a second later a huge blob of icing lands on the apron. Angry footsteps echo in the room, and they come closer. In a panic, Peeta runs to Delly, grabs her icing and tosses it on the kitchen counter. Then, he takes off his apron and kicks it under the stool. Not a second later, his mom barges into the room.
"What are you doing Peeta!" She yells, agitated. She looks at the white blob of icing on the floor.
"Clean that up! Didn't I tell you to get ready! The bakery is about to open!" She looks at Delly. "I'm sorry Delly, but you need to get out." She grabs Delly shoulder and moves her towards the door. When outside, Delly turns around.
"See you tomorrow Peeta!" She screams. Peeta waves but doesn't get to respond before an angry door slams into her face. He puts his hand down and sighs.
"Clean this up!" His mom says, passing him a wet towel. She walks away. Sighing once more, he bends down and puts the wet towel on the floor. He couldn't wait for tomorrow.

~ PRESENT ~

Before he knew it, they have arrived to school. Kids everywhere were lining up for the registration line. Peeta tugs at his dads hand and looks at him with anxious eyes.
"Dad, I'm nervous." He admits. His dad goes down on one knee and straightens his collar on his shirt.
"I was too, Peeta." Says his dad with his most soothing voice. "Don't worry. Your going to do great. It's going to be a very fun experience for you." He kisses him on his forehead and gets up. "I have to get some papers from the office. Don't move from this spot." He walks away, towards another building. Peeta was really cold and it made him feel even more anxious. He rubbed his arms. In the distance, Peeta hears a loud screech of a bird. Peeta looks up. Common Mocking jays. Peeta heard some people thought being pooped on was a lucky sign. He didn't believe that. That's like saying getting crushed by a train will bring you good fortune and health. Maybe good fortune, if you survived and found a way to sue the train driver. Peeta laughs at himself and goes under a nearby roof. No way was he going to get bird poop on his nicest clothes. Mother wouldn't be so ecstatic about it either. He lays on on a pole and waits. A few moments pass but then he starts to feel anxious all over again. What if the teacher asks him something and he gets it wrong and the whole class laughs at him. What if he can't do anything right? He gets off the pole and paces in a square. Not so long later, comes back with signed papers. He finds Peeta at a different location than where he told his son to stay and frowns. It was unlike him to disobey even the simplest of orders. Peeta sees his dad shooing him over and he walks over to where he is.
"Okay." Says his dad. "We have to go to that line." he points over to a place where a lot of kids his age were. "Come on." He grabs his sons hand and walks over to the line. He drops his hand.
"Remember what I told you?" He asks him. "Always do your best, no matter how bad anyone says you are. You'll do great." He pinches his cheek and stands in line. Peeta will try to remember that when he's in class, but for now he looks around everywhere for Delly. He can't find her anywhere. She's probably not here yet, he thinks to himself. He stands in line and plays with his collar, adjusting it here and there. He smoothes his hair over. His mother and father has always told him to make himself look presentable. This isn't a big deal, he told himself. If his brothers went through this and lived, well, than so could he. One by one, kids entered the gray classroom and handed the teacher papers. And with each student who passed, Peeta got more anxious. It seemed to go very slow. His father poked him on the arm.
"What dad?" He asks, looking up. smiles. He points over to this girl who is in front of the same line as Peeta. She has black hair and gray colored eyes. She's wearing this red plaid dress and her hair is in two braids. She stands next to this lady with yellow hair and blue eyes. Most likely her mom.
"See that little girl over there?" He whispers in Peetas ear. He nods. "I wanted to marry her mother, but she ran off with a coal miner."

Peeta is taken aback, but not really surprised. He never seemed really happy with his mom.
"A coal miner?" Peeta asks befuddled "Why did she want a coal miner if she could've had you?" He looks at his son.
"Because when he sings . . . even the birds stop to listen." Peeta stays silent. It was weird to hear his father say something like this about another woman that wasn't his mom. Peeta felt sad that his father didn't get what he wanted.
"I'm sorry." He says to his dad.
"Sorry?" His dad asks with humor in his voice. "Why sorry? I have three beautiful boys and I have good health and a good home. You have nothing to be sorry for Pete." Even with his comforting words, Peeta decides not to like this little girl. Or her mother. The girl entered the class. By the time it was Peetas turn in line, he thought he was going to explode. The teacher was a lady and she looked very nice. She had nice milky hair and pleasant hazel eyes. She bent down so her face was level to Peetas.
"Who's this little guy here?" She asks him.
"Peet-" Chokes Peeta "Peeta Mellark"
"Well Mr. Mellark, we're going to have a superb time in my class." She smiles at him and stands up.
"Can I have your sons papers please?" She asks Peetas dad.
"Certainly." He hands her over a copy of yellow papers. She folds it and puts it in a folder labeled M. The teacher looks at Peeta.
"You can come inside now Peeta. Take a seat on any colored square you want. We will give you some supplies based on the color you pick so chose wisely. Put your backpack where you see all the other backpacks." Peeta nervously goes inside of the classroom and places his backpack with the others. In the front of the room he could see there was this big rug with plenty of squares where kids could sit on. Their colors were Pink, Purple, Blue, Red, Green and Orange. All of the girls sat in the pink and purple area, and all the boys were spread out in all the other colors. Peeta noticed the only girl who wasn't on the pink and purple area was the girl who he decided not to like. She was on a green square. Peeta walks over and sits on an orange square. He feels a lot calmer inside the classroom than he was outside. Really calm. Kinda weird considering he was such a nervous wreck outside. After inspecting people inside the classroom, he figured Delly didn't get put in the same class as him. It made him sad, but they could still see each other after school. Peeta sits on his orange square thinking it's kinda odd that there's only one girl sitting on a green square. He stares at her, and he doesn't even notice he's staring at her until she looks at him. She gives him a weird look and Peeta quickly looks away. He blushes. Suddenly the wall becomes very interesting to him and he pretends he was never even looking in her direction. In the corner of his eye he could see her raise her eye brow and turn away to look at the front of the classroom. He sighs in relief. How embarrassing. He knows all the students enter the classroom because they start closing the doors, but in the distance Peeta hears a girl yelling them to wait. Dellys mom. Peeta smiles. So Delly is in his class after all. She runs with her mom and hands the teacher the papers. The teacher seems kinda displeased that they came in late, but accepts their papers. Delly goes inside and walks towards the last purple square, but the girl next to her blocks it with her feet. Preventing a fight, Delly calmly sits next to Peeta on the orange square. It angers him that the girl was so mean, but he decides not to bring it up.
"I thought you weren't going to be in this class." He whispers to Delly. "I'm so glad you are. Why were you so late?"
"Oh, you know. My mom didn't wake me up on time." She whispers back. The teacher comes in five minutes later and introduces herself to the class.
"Hello students!" She says with excitement. " My names is ."
"Hello ." The whole class says in unison. She smiles.
"Welcome to your first day of Kindergarten! I bet all of you are really excited to be here. If your scared, don't be! This is going to be a wonderful experience for all of you and you guys are going to be meeting plenty of new friends!" She walks around the room and hands out folders according to the colors they chose. She walks back up front the classroom.
"You'll be able to put the stuff you got later in your backpack. For now, why don't we all do some friendship exercises. Shake hands with the person near you and say your name." Peeta looks at Delly at the same time she looks at him and they shake hands.
"Hi, my name is Peeta." He says smiling.
"Hi, my name is Delly." She says. They both laugh and look at the teacher.
"Good." She says, pleased. "Now, does anyone here happen to know The Valley song?" She asks. The girl Peeta decided not to like is the first to raise her hand. The teacher smiles and points at her.
"Yes, come up here." The girl stands up and walks towards the teacher. takes out a chair.
"Sit down and Say your name." She tells the girl. She coughs and then sits.
"My name is Katniss Everdeen." She says tentatively. Peeta can look at her better now, and he decides she isn't ugly. She might even be pretty. No, he shakes his head. This girls mom broke his dads heart.
"Please sing The Valley song for us Katniss." Says . A few seconds pass when she finally decides to sing. When she does, the room becomes so quite you could hear a feather drop. She hits every octave like a pro. Peeta sits and the beautiful notes he hears are wonderful. He looks at the window behind her and notices that all the birds he saw earlier were perched up by a nearby tree. Peeta has practically never heard these birds be this quiet. When the song ends, Peeta feels disappointed. He wanted to hear this girl, Katniss, sing more.
"Thank you Katniss." Says . "You may sit down now." She hops off the chair and Peeta finds himself staring at her walking back to her seat, even after she sits down he keeps staring at her. Peeta decides that a girl with such a beautiful voice could never be mean. He shouldn't make such rash decisions. He decides not to hate her, and he finds an urge to talk to her. To become friends.

THE END :) aw I love Peeta so much and his undivided love for Katniss. I wish Katniss would just fall in love with him faster...he's too sweet to wait :( I decided to put the part where Katniss sits on the green area of the rug because I wanted her to stand out from the other girls. I know Peeta should've remembered her favorite color so it doesn't really fit when he asks about her favorite color in Catching Fire, but I liked it so whatever... besides he never talked to her so maybe he wasn't sure it was her favorite color... yeah let's go with that :)