Sorry it took me longer than usual to upload. I try my hardest to work on the chapters a little bit every day, but its hard with school.

Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter! I know it's similar to the book, but I promise it will be different! let me know what you guys think! And by the way I'm always open for suggestions!

Thank you to everyone who keep reviewing the chapters! It makes me so happy when I get reviews! Keep it up! 3

And now introducing...

Chapter 6

When the reaping ends, I start to walk towards Katniss, wanting to hold her tightly against me and tell her that everything will be okay, but am stopped by a group of people surrounding us. A crowd of Peacekeepers marches us into the front doors of the Justice Building and conducts us to separate rooms where I sit alone waiting to say my goodbyes.

The first people to come in are my brothers and parents. There isn't much to say to each other, but each of them gives me a quick hug, and then we sit in silence until a peacekeeper comes to take them away. Before my father leaves the room he turns to me to speak in a hushed tone.

"Peeta, when you're out there in the arena, just remember who you truly are." I raise my head from resting on my hands to stare up at my father; to try and understand his words. But before I can ask what he means, the peacekeeper pulls him out of the room, and out of my life probably forever.

The next people to come and say goodbye to me are a surprise. Prim rushes into the room with her mother close behind her. She runs into my arms and I hug her close to me. I feel tears start to sting behind my eyes, but I don't let them fall; won't let Prim see how frightened I am.

"Take care of her Peeta," Prim says crying, her head against my chest.

"I promise I will," I tell her, letting a tear roll down my face, but I'm quick to wipe it away. Mrs. Everdeen comes to sit next to me on the soft coach and puts her hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you for being such a good friend to Katniss. She needed someone like you in her life." I can see Mrs. Everdeen has tears springing to her eyes, but she doesn't let them fall. She has a worried look on her face, and I instantly know that, even though she has not showed in the past, she truly does care about Katniss and doesn't want to lose her.

"I'm going to try my hardest to get her home," I say, looking her sternly in the eyes.

"But that means-" Prim says pulling away to look at my face in shock, but I cut her off.

"I know what that means, Prim. But Katniss' life is more important than mine and you need her in yours." Before either of them can respond, the peacekeepers are back to take them away.

Prim starts to cry and before she is pulled out of the room she yells to me, "Your life is important to Katniss, Peeta. I can see it in her eyes how much she loves you." And with that she is gone.

She loves me? My heart starts to race at the thought of Katniss loving me. But what kind of love? In love, or family kind of love? I wish I could have the courage to ask her how she really feels about me, but I'll just have to find a different way.

The ride from the Justice Building to the train station is short. I've been right not to burst out in tears because the train station is full of reporters and cameras trained on my face. But even so, I know everyone can see the sadness in my eyes and I don't attempt to cover it up.

After a few minutes of cameras recording us, we are loaded onto the train. The doors close and we are off. I sit on the coach and stare out the back window and watch as District twelve slowly fades away.

I'm not aware of Katniss' presents until she puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Peeta…" I turn away from the window to face her and can see the fear in her eyes. I quickly rap my arms around her and cover my face in her soft hair to hide the tears that now flow silently down my face. We sit in silence for a couple of minutes, both holding on to each other as if we are all each other has. When she pulls away I can see tears rolling down her face that I wipe away with my thumb.

"Peeta, I'm scared."

"I know, me too," I reply, fear clearly noticeable in my voice. I'm about to say more, when Effie Trinket interrupts us.

"Supper will be in an hour. You might want to change and take a shower before then." Katniss gives me a weak smile and quickly gets up to leave the room. I head down to my room as well and get ready for supper.

When I'm done getting prepared I head down to where the dining room is and sit down in a seat to wait for everyone else to arrive. When Katniss comes into the room with Effie, she gives me a small smile and takes a seat next to me. Her hair is still wet from taking a shower and she wears a dark green shirt. My eyes momentarily catch something shiny and gold on the upper left side of her shirt. I'm about to look at it more closely when Katniss notices me staring at her and I quickly turn my head to the plate of food in front of me in embarrassment. Haymitch never shows up, so we decide to start dinner without him.

As Katniss and I stuff our faces with the various foods laid out before us, I notice Effie watching us closely with squinted eyes. I look up from my food and give her a questioning look.

"I'm just surprised that you guys have decent manners," she says with a hint of redness in her cheeks. "The pair last year ate everything with their hands like a couple of savages."

After a couple seconds of silence, I see Katniss put down her fork and knife out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head in her direction and notice that she has started eating her food with her hands. I suppress a smile as I see Effie's reaction of Katniss' sudden change of table manners. I decide to join the fun and put my fork and knife down as well. Katniss looks over to me and we both try to contain ourselves from bursting out in laughter.

Once we finish eating Katniss and I both wipe our hands on the tablecloth instead of using a napkin, and then head over to a different compartment to watch the recap of the reaping. When they finally show the District 12 reaping, I can't help gaping at the screen while I watch the action take place. Prim getting called, Katniss volunteering, Prim not willing to let go, me stepping in to take Prim away and let Katniss ascend the stairs, and to cap it all off, me getting called. District 12 definitely had the most excitement during the reaping.

When the recap is over, I'm exhausted and ready to go to sleep. Effie is the first to get up. She bids us both goodnight and leaves the room. Katniss and I stay up a little while talking and comforting each other. After an hour Katniss yawns and I get up from the coach.

"Well, I think it's time you and I get some sleep, sound good?" I ask Katniss as I stretch out my hand to her and she gladly takes it to help her stand up.

"Sounds like a great idea," she says with a small smile. We walk out of the room together and walk to Katniss' room. We stop outside her door and I turn to face her.

"Goodnight, Katniss," I say as I stroke her cheek. I drop my hand from her face and turn to leave, but before I can start to head to my room, Katniss grabs my wrist, catching by surprise.

"Wait," she says pleadingly. I turn back around to face her and see fear in her expression. "Peeta, I'm scared. I know I'm going to have nightmares. The other tributes are already haunting me."

"Katniss, there is nothing to be afraid of for now. They can't hurt you yet."

"I know, but…" tears spring to her eyes and spill over onto her face. I'm shocked and quickly move forward to wipe the tears off her cheeks. Katniss wraps her arms around my neck and starts to sob. I hug her closely to me and stroke her hair, attempting to calm her down.

"Katniss, what's going on?"

"I just can't believe they're going to make us fight each other," she says in between sobs and gasps. I want to go home, Peeta. I don't want to close my eyes and have nightmares about people that I haven't even fought yet! Just… just stay with me tonight, please?" I pull away from her enough so I can see her face and look her in the eyes.

"Always." And with that, Katniss pulls me into her room, and we fall asleep in each other's arms, letting the movement of the train calm us. Safe and sound.