I stroke Prim's soft hair. She lies asleep in her cot, snuggled up to her teddy. I turn around as I hear my father coming own the stairs.

"Morning honey" he yawns. I skip over to him and give him a quick hug.

"Morning" I reply. I sit down next to Prim again and begin to stroke her hair. Until I here a scream. His scream.

I rush out the door. Sprinting towards the sound. I have to find him.

I turn around the corner and I see him , Peeta . Face in his hands. Shaking. What happened? Why did he scream like that?

I sit beside him and gently touch his arm. He looks up at me. One side of his face is bright red. I gasp. Now I understand. I feel tears forming in my eyes.

"Who did this to you?" I whisper. He just shakes his head and puts his face in his hands again.

Peeta does not deserve this. Nobody deserves this, I think, suddenly angry.

I do the only thing I can think of. I sit infront of him crossed legged like him, and I lean my forehead against his. Wrap my arms around his shoulders and whisper "I love you" over and over again until his tears have dried and he has gathered the strength to wrap his arms around me as well. We sit there in silence until he says something. His voice hoarse.

"Why do you always help me?" I look up at his confused face.

"Because you're my best friend and I love you" I reply without hesitation. He nods but even doing that small action he winces in pain. "Who did this to you" I repeat now that the tears had stopped.

"Mother" he whispers I can barely catch the words. "…take my key …refused … rolling pin." He says this so low that I only catch a few words. He sticks his hand underneath his shirt and pulls out a key. It's silver and it sparkles in the morning light. "It's the only thing that I have of my father, I couldn't let her take it away" he tucks it back into his shirt.

"I'll get mother to help your wound" I say helping him up. As I notice it's beginning to bleed.

"Please don't tell her how I got it, or else they'll take me away" I don't understand what he means be 'they' but I agree.

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A few months past, but Peeta still has a massive bruise on the side of his face. I don't know how he keeps smiling and being so jolly.

Every day we would go to the Meadow and look up at the sky looking for creatures in the clouds. I always find myself smiling whenever I am with him and whenever he laughs I get a strange bubbly feeling in my stomach. I don't know what it is or what it means.

I remember the day at the funeral when I knew I couldn't do anything to make him feel better. I had to watch helplessly as the misery took over him, but when I saw him smile I felt so overjoyed. I saw the mist leave his blue eyes and they returned clear and beautiful again, so I leant over and kissed him on the cheek. His face lit up like the sun and I have never felt more happy at that moment, knowing that I might have helped him through the darkness just a little bit. I hate seeing him in pain, and I knew no matter what I would always try to make Peeta smile because it was the prettiest smile in the entire world.

"Look" I exclaim as I point to the sky " It's a dolphin!"

"And there's a monkey"

"Where?" I ask because I can't see it after scanning the azure blue sky.

"Beside you!" Peeta chuckles as he begins tickling me. I flail my arms and legs about breathless from laughter.

"Peeta! Stop!" I shriek. I begin tickling him as well and I jump on top of him pinning him to the ground. "Ha" I say triumphantly and I smirk at him squirming. I admire his tousled blonde hair and his amazingly clear, blue eyes while I'm distracted he rolls me over and pins me to the ground.

"Ha" he says and smirks. We start laughing and lay down in the grass. Peeta sits up and I lay my head in his lap. He begins to play with my hair absent mindedly. He sighs and says wistfully "I want to freeze this moment right here, right now and live in it forever." I'm surprise that someone so small and young could come up with that. Peeta has always been good with words and all I can say is,

"Okay"

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That night I lay in bed smiling, thinking back over that perfect day. I think about how pretty his eyes are, so blue and clear. Eventually I fall asleep thinking about my best friend, Peeta Mellark.

I jerk awake by the sound of his scream. "Peeta" I whisper. I leap out of bed. Getting ready to strangle the horrible witch. I sprint towards his house. He is in the same spot he was last time, with a big, red welt over his arm. "Peeta" I whimper. I do what I did last time. Foreheads touching. Whispering 'I love you'. Not letting go. After a while a say "I'm not letting you go back in there tonight." He looks up at me. "Come on" I help him up gently, and half guide half lift him to my house. We creep in the door and into my bedroom. We crawl into my bed and I let my head rest on his chest and his arms go around me.

"You must think I'm so weak and pathetic" he mutters. I can't believe he is saying that. He can't help that his father died, leaving him with a wicked old witch that beats him.

"No Peeta. I think you are the bravest person I know. You never let her bring you down. You always keep your head up. Never think that, okay?" he nods and snuggles down into my bed.

"Thank you, Katniss" he whispers as sleep brings him under. I let his steady heartbeat coax me into a deep slumber.