Peeta is still, but he doesn't push me off. Slowly, Scarlett scoots back into her seat and I slide off of his lap to my seat.
A long, very loud silence passes over the table. "What'd the principle want?" Peeta blurts.
"He changed my schedule." I say.
"What? No!" he takes the page out of my hand and inspects it. "Oh, hey, we have more classes together. We have science now, and we have Economics."
I sigh. "I was sort of happy not having a math class I don't know. I'm terrible at math."
Scarlett isn't very happy right now.
It's not that I don't like her, because I do, it's just that I don't like the fact that she moved in with me, Mom and Prim. Sure, I like having the new room and I'm really happy about it, but…she's not my sister, she's Haymitch's daughter. She needs to live with him.
Plus, I'm not very good at sharing. I do not want to share my Mama with my cousin. I have no problem sharing with Prim, but I'm not okay with sharing with someone else.
"Well maybe I could tutor you." Peeta says. I shrug.
"Maybe."
"So, did you talk to your Mom about this weekend?" he asks.
I hand freezes. "Um…"
"She said no?" he guesses.
"I uh…might have sort of forgot."
"Oh…"
…..a…..
I'm in my bedroom, laying in my library. I hear someone clear their throat in the doorway.
Haymitch.
"Katniss," he sits down on my floor bed next to me. "Didn't I tell you to be nice to her?"
"Yes." I say. I've been waiting for this conversation.
"Look," he sighs. "I told you that your just as much my kid as she is and as Prim is." He says.
"Yeah?" I mark my page and shut my book.
"Please just try…"
"I was trying!"
"Katniss, I find that hard to believe. You wouldn't even let her sit with you."
"What?" I laugh. "Are you kidding? Are you fucking kidding? That is not what happened."
"Well that's what Scarlett says."
"I'll be right back." I get up and walk out of my room and into Prim's. She's watching TV. "Come here. You won't fucking believe this."
"What?" she follows me back to the library.
"Tell Prim what you just told me." I say.
"Scarlett says you two were being rude and wouldn't pay any attention to her. She says you didn't drive her to school like you were supposed to, you didn't help her out, you made fun of her, and then you wouldn't let her sit with you at lunch."
"Are you kidding?" Prim asks. "That isn't what happened!"
"Well what happened then?" he stands up. Prim falls down go the hole in the floor that has the huge bed on it and puts her hands behind her head.
"We overslept. Katniss woke me and her up. We got Chick-Fil-A and ate on the way to school. Then we went to lunch and Katniss got called to the principal's office to get her schedule changed. Scarlett was all over Kat's little boyfriend-"
"He's not my boyfriend!"
"Let me finish." She snaps. "And then Scarlett took Kat's seat and was being a real snob about it so Katniss sat down on Peeta's laugh and Scarlett backed off. We both helped her find her classes. We did nothing but kiss her…" she doesn't say the word.
"We kissed her fucking ass." I cross my arms.
"Well…" he sighs. "I guess I see why you sat in the kids lap."
"Yeah, she doesn't know what she's talking about."
Haymitch sighs. "I'll go talk to her."
He walks away. Prim, after saying how stupid this whole thing is and how she doesn't want to share Mom, walks away and slams my bedroom door.
I'm angry and stressed, so I walk into my bathroom and slam my door, taking my phone with me. I start a hot bath in my huge bathtub, and when it's filled enough for me to have to sit straight up to keep my head from going underwater, I strip naked and get in the tub.
Why'd I do that? Why did I get all jealous and sit in Peeta's lap? That isn't like me.
I do not like Peeta Mellark.
I do not date.
I am Katniss Everdeen. I am Katniss Everdeen and I plan to keep it that way.
I sit there for a long time, and then I shave all over the place. I drain the water and then get in the shower and wash my hair and body. I shut off the water, wrap a towel around myself, grab my phone and toss it on my bed on my way to my closet.
I need lazy clothes.
I rummage around until I find a pair of gray sweats and a white tank top. I get a bra and a pair of panties too, and pull on the clothes. Then, I go back to the bathroom, hang my wet towel, put my soaked hair in a bun and lay down on my bed.
I get bored after a while and walk into my living room. I turn on the huge TV for the first time.
Mom and Prim watch Pretty Little Liars together all the time, and I think it's stupid.
But I've never seen it, so I go on Netflix, lie down and play the first episode of the show.
Mom walks in, and she gasps. "Oh my god! Prim!" she shouts.
She walks in and squeals.
"Shut up or I'm turning it off." I say.
Mom smiles and taps my legs. I move them and she sits down and pulls them on her lap, and Prim sits where my head is and lets me put my head on her lap.
"You've got some weird letter, honey." Mom hands it to me. It's a simply envelope that says Katniss on it. It's handwritten, too, and there's no address. My address isn't even on it, which means someone put it in the mailbox.
"Who's it from?" Mom asks.
"I don't know." I rip it open and pull out the piece of paper. It's just a piece of printer paper. I unfold it. (310) 246-2134.
"What is it?" Mom asks.
"It's a phone number."
Prim grabs the remote and pauses the TV. "Someone came to the house to put an envelope in the mailbox that only says a phone number. They didn't put an address or anything and you have no idea who it is from?" she asks.
I grab my phone off the table in front of me.
"What are you doing?" Prim demands.
"I'm gonna see who this is." I sit up and unlock my iPhone. I hear a soft knock on the door and we all look over our shoulders and see Scarlett.
"Am I intruding?" she asks.
"Not at all." I say. I'm not going to be mean to her.
II scoot closer to Mom and she sits down between Prim and I.
"What's that?" she points to the number in my hand. Prim explains what's going on.
"That's weird." She says.
"Are you going to call them or text them?" Mom asks.
"Well…" I shrug. "I'm going to call."
"Seriously?" Scarlett asks. "God, I would block the number. That takes balls. The four of us laugh.
I dial the number. "Put it on speaker phone." Mom says.
It rings and rings and rings, and then stops.
"Hello?"
It's a voice I don't know.
"Um…" I bite my lip for a long time. "Who is this?"
"I'm a dude." He says.
"Yeah, I sort of got that part." I'm silent for a very long time.
"What's your name?"
"Katniss." I say.
"Katniss what?" he asks.
"I don't know you. I'm not telling you anything about myself. My name is Katniss. That's all you need to know."
He laughs loudly. "LITTLE BROTHER! YOU GOT A FUCKING PHONE CALL!"
We all hold our breaths for a long time.
And then I panic and hang up.
"Katniss!" Scarlett laughs. I burst out laughing, and then the four of us are laughing hysterically, and mom laughs so hard that she has to go to the bathroom.
When she comes back, my phone starts ringing.
It's the boy again.
"Speaker!" Prim says.
Slowly, I press answer and put it on speaker.
"Why'd you hang up babe?" the same boy asks. I can hear someone shouting in the background and then a crash and more screaming.
"They're fighting." Mom whispers.
"HEY!" a women screams the in background. "Give your brother the phone and act your age!"
Then I hear silence, and a loud, irritated sigh. "Um…hi Katniss."
"Peeta?" I ask in shock.
"Uh…yes."
"Who was that boy?"
"My brother…" he frowns. "Come outside." The line goes dead.
"Go." Mom says.
"Oh, maybe he's gonna ask you out!" Scarlett grins. I stand up and toss my hurl my phone across the room on the way out. It lands on my bed. The three of them follow me out of my room and upstairs. My tank top has ridden up to about an inch below my belly button and my sweats are rolled. I open the front door and nobody's out there.
But I look down at the porch, and I'm actually shocked at what I see.
There's a chisel sitting there.
I actually laugh. There's a little piece of paper attached to it, and I kneel down in front of it and peel off the paper.
Now all I have to do is find that impossible book and I'm all good, right?
Don't take this, because it's my Dad's and I found it in the garage.
-Peeta
I shut the door and go back downstairs. The girls follow me again, not understanding. It's between Peeta and I, and they wouldn't understand anyways. "You're crying." Mom sits down on my bed. Scarlett and Prim sit with me as I pick my phone up and text Peeta.
Me: You made me cry.
(310) 246-2134: Oh god, I'm really sorry. Come outside again.
I save him as a contact. "What's that say?" Prim asks, pointing to the note. Mom takes it from my hand and reads it out loud.
"What impossible book?" Scarlett asks. She already knows my entire childhood, because we sat her down and told her at dinner last night, so she knew what we were talking about.
"On the first day of school he wanted to know everything about me and I don't open up easily. I told him I'm like a book that's cemented just and impossible to get open, and he said he'd have to get a chisel. He put a chisel on the porch and left this note, and not he wants me to go outside again. I think it's actually going to be him this time."
"So go." Mom says.
I look down at my sweats and tank top and decide I don't care. "But I don't want him to see me cry."
"Well…he really likes you, obviously." Scarlett frowns. "Just go."
I sigh and leave my phone and note on the bed and stand up.
Again, they follow me. They wait out of sight, but still in hearing range. I open the door, and the chisel is gone, but he's standing there. "God, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to make you cry."
He looks me up and down and sighs. "It's okay…" I look down.
"Are you busy tonight?" he asks.
"I'm never busy." I mumble.
"Want to go to the beach?"
I eye him for a long time. "Give me five minutes." Then I shut the door in his face and go back downstairs.
"It's not a date." Mom says when I walk into my closet. "He would have specified. You are going to the beach, not to some restaurant. Don't look like your trying too hard."
Then they start helping me.
"Hey, what about this?" Scarlett asks. I look at her. She has a blue flowing dress that doesn't hug a random part of my body.
"The beach, Scarlett." Prim reminds her.
She sighs and puts the dress back. "You guys need to hurry up and go on a date. I want to help."
"I know!" Prim groans.
"We are not going to go on a date."
"Bull." Mom says. "Yes you are."
"This!" Prim flings a blue bikini top at me and matching bottoms, and then she tosses a pair of matching blue sandals, a white half shirt and white sunglasses. "Go! Leave your hair down!"
I walk into the bathroom and get dressed quickly. I take my hair out of the braid, put the sunglasses on my head and decide that I look adorable. When I walk out, I am handed a purse that has my phone, wallet, car keys and money. They follow me upstairs. "Be bold Katniss." Prim says.
"What time do I have to be-"
"Ten." Mom says. "I gave you money if you go to dinner, and if you don't go to dinner you ca eat when you get home."
"Okay." I walk out of the door. He changed, too. He has on blue and white bathing suit bottoms and a white muscle shirt and Sperry's.
"You don't mind walking, do you?" he asks.
"No."
We walk down the driveway and then down the sidewalk. He has his hands in his swimsuit pockets.
After a long time of silence, I start flipping out. "You're being awfully quiet." He says. I look at him and shrug.
"There's nothing to talk about."
He laughs. "Katniss, I've known you for three days and all I know is you have a Mom and sister. I don't know where your Dad is. I know you have a cousin named Scarlett and I know where you live. I am dying to know every little detail. You can't at least tell me something that isn't that bad?"
"Well…" I bite my lip. "What do you want to know?"
"Let's just…" he thinks for a little while. "I'll ask you something and then you answer and ask me something, okay?"
"Um…okay."
"Okay." He lets out a long breath. "Where's your Dad?"
I glare at him. "I'm not answering that."
He sighs. "Why not?"
I stop walking and he turns to face me. "That's almost the whole book. You've not even flipped the cover yet. You've only gotten strong enough to read the back, which only talks about my family."
"Your Dad is family." He points out.
"No he isn't." I cross my arms.
He sighs. "Alright, sorry, it was rude of me to ask." He sighs. "It just…" he gently pulls me arm so I start walking again. "It feels like I've known you all of my life."
"What's your question?" I ask.
"Okay…what is your favorite color?"
"Green." I walk beside him. "What's yours?"
"Orange."
"Ew." I frown. "Orange like a highlighter?"
"No, orange like…" he looks around. "Like that." He points at the sunset. "I love that color."
We stare at it for a while. "It's pretty." I agree.
"Yes." He smiles and starts walking again. "So…where are you from?"
"New York City."
He looks at me in shock. "You're a New Yorker?"
"Yes."
"Wow."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask. He laughs.
"You just don't seem like that type of girl. It's your turn."
"Are you from here?"
"No, originally, I'm from Florida." He admits. "What do you like to do?"
"I read and write all the time."
"Really?" he asks.
"Yes, I have a library in my bedroom."
"Wow." He sounds surprised.
"What about you?"
"I paint and draw."
"Wow." I mumble.
This goes on for a few hours. We've been sitting on the beach for a long time.
"Any past boyfriends?" he asks.
"Two. Gale Hawthorne and Cato Harris."
"And?" he asks.
"Gale was pissed because I wouldn't have sex with him, then he left and the next day he was making out with a girl named Madge. Same with Cato, but the next day he was grinding some whore named Glimmer."
"What bastards." He mutters.
"Have you had any girlfriends?"
"A few; I broke up with them and some of them broke up with me." He shrugs. "I didn't love them."
It's nearing ten, so we begin to head on home.
He walks me to my door and turns to me. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" he asks.
"Okay." I nod my head. "Bye."
He darts forward and kisses my cheek. "Bye." And then he's gone, leaving me speechless.