She was never the same after Dad took Prim and left. She became nothing but an empty shell of a person and I resented her for it. All she does is lie on her bed staring into the distance; only moving to eat and go to the toilet .Luckily I can hunt or we both would have starved months ago. Gale always gives me extra scraps of food if he can. I had neglected going to school since I was about 12 because I had had more important things to do. But now the government has made it illegal not to go, so I will be starting at Panem Academy tomorrow.

I didn't manage to get anything because my mind was occupied on other things. Maybe I will have better luck later. I run back to my small house in the heart of the Seam. The Seam is the poorest part of District 12 and the Merchant part is the wealthiest. I only really talk to Seam kids but I talk to the Mayor's daughter Madge sometimes.

I quickly was my face and strip off my sweaty hunting gear. I change into grey skinny jeans, a green tank top and my old black boots. I quickly braid my dark hair down my back and run down the stairs. I stuff a handful of mint leaves into my mouth and grab my rucksack and I am out the door.

I chew the leaves slowly on my way to school. I really hope Madge is in some of my classes it's too bad Gale is in the year above me. The high school is in the Merchant part of town not far from the bakery. I have never really been to this part of town I usually like to stay where I belong. As I get closer to the school a few Seam kids give me a quick glance and nod. Gale is waiting for me at the gates, "Hey Catnip!" he shouts. Oh god he just had to say that awful nickname didn't he. I glance over to the other kids some of them are looking at me with large grins on their plump faces. Shit! Well that's my name sorted for the rest of the year.

"What did you do that for? I thought we agreed not to use that name any more." I ask him. He smiles, "Sorry Catnip!" I punch his arm and scowl at him. "Come on Katniss I will show you where to get your locker key and time table.

The school is massive inside, the floors are all white marble and the walls are a luxurious purple. "Fancy eh?" Gale says. I just nod. He shows me to the office and says goodbye and makes his way to home room.

"How can I help you?" The lady at the office asks me politely

"I came here to get my locker key and timetable. This is where you get it right?" I ask her

"Yes dear, if you could just tell me your name" She says sweetly

"Katniss Everdeen"

"Oh yes, here you are here. Okay you are locker number 39, here's your key and timetable". She hands me the small gold key and the bit of paper with all of my classes. I'm in art first, Great!

It takes me a while to navigate the corridors and when I finally get to my class I am nearly 10 minutes late. I open the door and the whole class put down their pens and stare at me. "Ah you must be Miss Everdeen?" Our teacher asks. She has a Ludacris green wig on and her makeup is so weird and unusual. I glance down to my schedule Miss Trinket! Oh yes she's defiantly from the Capitol.

"Well why don't you sit next to Mr Mellark there and he can tell you what the class is working on!" She points at a very handsome blonde boy sat at the very back of the room.

I take my seat next to him. He is unbelievably good at art, his painting of a girl looks so realistic; it kinda looks like me. He looks up but I look away so he doesn't notice I was staring at his work. "You like it?" he asks me softly. I guess I wasn't as discreet as I thought, "Yeah, it's…well yes!" I mutter. Well done Katniss, I think to myself. He just laughs. "I am Peeta by the way!" he extends his hand and I shake it. "Katniss!" His hand is really big; almost double the size of mine. "Okay Katniss our task is to draw something we see every day that we think is beautiful. It can be a person or an object or a living thing. He moves his canvas from my sight as he says this and turns away from me.

I take out a pencil and start sketching a picture of a Primrose flower. I am actually better at drawing it than I thought I would be. I am shading the petals light yellow when Peeta taps me. "What is it?" I ask him. He turns back to his painting and then slightly fixes something and then shows it to me. It is utterly breath takingly stunning. He has captured so much life and personality in one tiny canvas. The detail is so precise and fine and he has individually done the strands of hair. But it is the girls eyes that mesmerise me, they are a light grey colour but they are filled with sadness and loneliness but are still alluring and beautiful. "I find it so easy to draw her like this because she is so beautiful already all I need to to is put her on canvas!" he tells me softly. "I walk by her every day but I never had the courage to talk to her" he pauses, "Well at least not until today!"

It takes me a while to relises who he is talking about. I don't understand he thinks I'm beautiful no one thinks I am beautiful. Peeta drew me, that's me the girl I was admiring on the canvas was me. The girl with the mysterious grey eyes is me. Is that how he really see's me? I start to blush but the bell rings sparing me from any further embarrassment.