Peeta:
"Peet, are you playing?" Gale asks me. I give him a confused look because I must've been more zoned out then I thought. "Basketball? Do you want to play?" he repeats slowly. I just roll my eyes.
"Nah, I'm ok. You guys go ahead." Usually I would play, but I'm not really up for it. Maybe I'll just draw some more. I start to get out my pencil and notebook when I hear a quiet voice.
"I can sit here with you if you like," says Katniss quietly. Why would she want to sit here with me, of all people?
"No, it's ok. I'll be fine by myself. You go have fun." I reply. She just nods, stands up and walks over to Johanna, Gale and Thresh. I can't help but notice she looks a little sad. Did she actually want to sit with me? No, she couldn't have. No one would want to miss out on something to sit with me. I shake my head and go back to my notebook. I start drawing the lilies my dad got for Mother for their anniversary a few weeks ago, but I end up drawing them as dead and wilting. I sigh. I turn the page and try to think of something to draw when I hear Johanna cheering. I look up to see Katniss shooting the ball from the middle of the court just as Gale tried to take it. It goes in perfectly. That was amazing. I smile a little as I watch her stick her tongue out at Gale. He just laughs and rolls his eyes. Thresh comes back with the ball and they start playing again. It doesn't take long for the girls to get the ball back and Johanna makes a slam dunk. I'm pretty impressed. Gale and Thresh are getting their asses handed to them by two girls.
"Maybe I should've played. You two look like you need the help!" I call to them. The girls both laugh while Thresh and Gale both glare at me and flip me off. I just smirk a little and shake my head.
"Ok. Whoever makes this point wins," says Thresh.
I see Katniss and Johanna smile at each other then go after the ball again. Thresh throws the ball to Gale, but Katniss comes out of nowhere and steals it. She passes it to Johanna who throws it in effortlessly. I start clapping quietly and the girls start bowing with huge smiles on their faces. Gale and Thresh hang their heads in defeat and they all walk back over by me. I'm kind of glad I didn't play now. That was pretty entertaining.
They start talking as they sit down and I just go back to my drawing.
Katniss:
That was so much fun. Though, I wouldn't have minded missing it one bit just to sit with Peeta. He actually started to look almost happy while he watched us play, but now he's back to drawing and isn't even talking with us. I sigh and turn to Jo and find her watching me.
"What?" I ask a little defensively. I don't like when people stare at me, it makes me uncomfortable.
"Oh, nothing, Brainless. Just wondering when you'll actually find some guts," she says while smirking at me.
"What?" asks Gale. I just shake my head at him and look at me shoes.
"It's nothing, just an inside joke we have." I say nervously.
"I'll tell you later," whispers Jo to Gale and Thresh. I look up at her horrified.
"No, you won't," I say a little too loud. I glance at Peeta as he looks up and we make eye contact for a second before he looks back down. As I watch him draw, part of a song comes to mind. It's so perfect for how I feel about him and I wish I could play it for him…
Somehow I found
A way to get lost in you
Let me inside
Let me get close to you
Change your mind
I'll get lost
If you want me to
Somehow I found
A way to get lost in you.
Maybe someday I'll get to listen to it with him. I wonder if he would understand… but I probably won't get the chance. I can still hope can't I?
The bell rings, so I grab my stuff and head to History. When I get in the classroom, I find Madge and take the seat next to her. We don't get to talk much because the teacher comes in and hands us a bunch of papers. She starts telling us about everything we'll cover this year and when there's only about 15 minutes left of class, a piece of paper slides onto my desk.
"How was gym?" Madge. I smile and get out my pen.
"Awesome. Jo and I whooped Gale and Thresh's asses in a basketball game. Even Peeta looked a little impressed. J" I slide the paper back to her. She looks a little shocked but then covers her mouth with her hand to stop from laughing.
"I'm sure he was. ;-) I'm impressed and I wasn't even there!" She slides it back and I smile.
"I wish you could've been there with us. That would have made it perfect." I smile and the paper back to her. She reads it and starts grinning.
"Are you sure it wasn't perfect enough with Peeta there?" she writes back. I sigh.
"No, he didn't even want me to sit with him."
"Aww Kat, I doubt it was because he doesn't like you," she writes back looking sad. I shake my head frowning.
"It's pretty obvious he doesn't like me, Madge. And I'd be ok with that if he was actually happy. You know?"
"Yeah, I know, Kat. But what can we do? He won't talk to anyone."
I sigh as the bell rings. "Time for lunch, Madge. Let's go find Jo." I say as we both get up. We're both quiet as we walk to the lunchroom. We start looking around for Jo, but I can't find her. I turn to Madge. "Do you see her?"
"Yeah, and you're not going to believe this," she says shaking her head and smiling. She points to the back corner and I turn. I see Johanna in the corner at a table with Gale, Peeta and Thresh. They're with a guy and a girl I don't know. "Come on Kat." We walk over and Madge sits next to Gale. I take the only seat left, next to Peeta and on Gale's other side. "Hey guys!" Madge says smiling. They all say "Hey" back.
I nod. "Who's this?" I ask gesturing to the new kids.
"This is Finnick and Annie. They're both seniors in my English class with your uncle," explains Gale. "They just moved here from California."
I smile and look at Annie first. She's really pretty with long brown hair, the brightest green eyes I've ever seen and a small stature. She looks tiny compared to the tall boy sitting next to her. Finnick is extremely handsome with shaggy copper hair and dark green eyes. He's is incredibly attractive in his own right, but nothing compared to the blue eyed boy next to me.
"Why the hell would you leave California for Pennsylvania?!" exclaims Johanna. We all just laugh, except Peeta, who just does him small smirk.
"That's Jo's way of asking what brings you here," I say still laughing.
"Both of our families just moved here, because our dads got transferred by their jobs. They scientist for the Crane company," explains Finnick. We all start asking Finnick and Annie questions about California, them moving, everything. I notice Peeta's be really quiet, so I glance at him and see he's drawing again. I lean forward a little and see that he's drawing a beautiful woman with light hair.
"That's amazing," I whisper. He hears me and looks up. "Can I ask who it is?"
He looks back at the picture for a long time before answering. "My mother." He looks at the picture a little longer before closing the notebook and putting it in his backpack. I notice he has that really sad look on his face again, so I reach out to touch him arm. Just as I lay my hand on his arm, he flinches slightly and pulls his arm away.
"I'm sorry," I whisper. He just shakes his head, not meeting my eyes. He stands up and grabs his things before leaving. I watch him leaving, trying to figure out what I did wrong.
Peeta:
I can't believe I drew Mother. It was what I remember her looking like when I was little, when everything was still good. I can't figure out why I would draw her. I hate my mother. She's a horrible, terrible person and she's the reason why my brothers left. I can still see the looks on their faces the day Mother kicked Bry out for getting his girl pregnant and when Danny snuck out of the window while she slept, promising to come back for me after he found Bry. Bry was kicked out over 3 years ago and Danny left almost 2 years ago. To say it's been rough is an understatement. It wasn't so bad when I had my brothers, but since it's been just me it's been unbearable. And it doesn't help that I still miss my dad…
I shake my head to clear my thought as I walk into the art room for my free period. Miss Portia doesn't mind me being in here, because I just draw or paint quietly at the back of the room. I set up some paints and paper by the seat in the back corner of the room by the window. I hear the bell ring and glance up to see two huge silver-grey eyes looking at me. We stare at each other for a few seconds before she looks away. I sigh and go back to my painting. Stop letting yourself hope, dummy. I start painting the sky outside the window and I'm so focused on it that I don't realize how long I've been there until the bell rings. I blink and look around just to catch a glimpse of Katniss leaving the room. I look back to my painting to see the sky of it is not the same blue outside the window, but a very familiar grey.
