My Love

by KatPeeta23

When Katniss runs into Peeta in the street, she swears she knows him from somewhere. If only she knew where... It's much longer and there's much more than it sounds. And there's a lot of drama.

10. Chapter 10

This is gonna suck.
I have nobody anymore.
I'm better, I guess. I shower and eat all three meals.
It's two days before thanksgiving and I'm walking into the airport to go to my parents.
I haven't talked to Peeta, heard from Peeta or anything.
But I do know, from a rumor, that Peeta moved out of the state.
And for some reason, Peeta's family still wants me around.
So that means that I'm spending thanksgiving, against my will, with my family and Peeta's family.
I haven't heard from Finn and Annie. But I know from Mom that they're gonna be there.
We're still the closest thing they have to family.
God I don't even bother to try and act like I'm okay, simply because I'm not.
I fucked up so bad, and have almost gone to Peeta's house in multiple occasions.
I drive past his house every day, but two weeks ago, my heart shattered even more when the unmistakable "for sale" sign was put front on the lawn.
I'm bony and don't care, I'm emotionless now, except for my nightly breakdown.
It's fine though, I'm used to it now. I deserve it anyways.
This plane ride is gonna suck.
This whole vacation is gonna suck. And then I'm gonna come home all lonely, just like before.

"You look like shit." Is the first thing Jo says when she sees me.
It's snowing outside.
All Peeta's family, all my family, Finn, Annie, everyone. They're all here.
Except for the one I miss like crazy but knew he wouldn't show up.
I sigh.
"You guys know I don't want to be here, right?" I ask.
"Yeah, but we really don't care." Mom says.
You know what's fucked up? The Mellark's are here with me, when they should be with Peeta.
I broke his heart and they're acting like they don't even care.
"No Katniss, you look really bad." Jo says. She never uses my name. She looks concerned. "You really skinny and your voice is weak and that look that shows love and happiness, that sparkle, it's gone."
I still don't say anything.
"What would Peeta say?" She asks.
Damn her.
Everyone stiffens.
They've been planning this. To bring him up just to see my reaction.
I snap my eyes up to hers.
I clench my jaw to keep from sobbing.
I can't stop the tears from forming in my eyes.
And I don't bother to stop them from spilling.
I quickly drop my gaze.
"I don't know." I whisper. I sniff.
Yes I do. I know Peeta. I know exactly what he would do.
Even though I broke his heart, if he saw me right now, he'd be ashamed.
He may even cry.
He would hug me and then feed me and make sure I bathe.
He wouldn't even care that I hurt him. That's just who Peeta is.
"Katniss," it's Annie this time.
She gently tugs my chin up so I am looking at her. "What would Peeta do?"
"He would be ashamed, no matter how depressed I made him, he would be ashamed. He would push down all his emotions and help me." I say.
"And what would you do? If it was Peeta?" Mrs. Mellark whispers.
I sigh.
"The exact same. Because I love him too much not to do anything." I whisper.
They all sigh, overly relived.
"You love him." Finn whispers.
"Of course I love him. Breaking up with him was the biggest mistake of my life and I'll never forgive myself. And I probably won't get married either, because my heart is set on one person." I whisper.
More tears come and I wipe them.
Mom has tears, so does Mrs. Mellark, and most of the other girls.
"Katniss." Prim whispers. "What are you doing then?"
"Yeah. Honestly." Finn says.
More tears come and I struggle to contain myself from breaking down. Again.
"What would you do, if Peeta was listening right now? What if we set you up, forcing both of you to come here, just so we could get you to talk and make him listen." Haymitch says quietly.
"And then if we left for...an hour? And gave you guys some time?" Mr. Mellark adds, all of them eying me carefully.
I snap my eyes up to look at him.
"Are you saying what I think your saying?" I ask, for the first time in almost two months, feeling a tiny shred of hope.
"What would you do? If you saw Peeta right now?" Cinna presses.
I think this through throughly, just in case he is actually listening.
I open my mouth to speak and then close it again, biting my lip and then releasing it.
"I would...tell him that I'm sorry I was such an asshole. I'm sorry I burnt the cake, even though he'll probably just laugh, which I miss so much, I'll tell him how much I love him and how much it hurts without him. And I'll tell him that you never realize how much you actually love someone until you lose them." I say. "And I'll tell him I'm sorry for destroying his birthday." I add.
"Well. What do you say we go out?" Mrs. Mellark suggests.
I stare at them.
"Wait. I wanna see this first." Prim says.
Everyone nods.
Rye gets up and walks off.
I hear hushed whispers and my heart starts racing, my palms start sweating and I drop my gaze.
Someone whispers something and I hear an angry sigh.
The sharp intake of breath is unmistakable.
I slowly lift my gaze.
He looks the same. Well...kind of.
His blue eyes are lights, duller, the sparkle is gone from his eyes.
He has bags under his eyes, but he's still just as perfect as I remember.
We both stay completely silent.
"How sweet." Prim whispers.
With that, they all walk out.
Finn pauses and turns to me.
"Please don't mess this up. Don't lose your temper. And don't lie. You need him, Kitty. Be smart, please. I may have left you, but I want you to be happy. I'm coming back. It's killing Annie and I. I love you, be smart." He kisses my cheek and then leaves, shutting the door softly behind him.
I have been planning this in my head for I don't know how long, and now that the moment is here, my mind blanks out.
I bite my lip.
He sighs and shoves his hands in his pocket, watching me silently.
I play through every way to say this in my head.
I open my mouth and close it multiple times, struggling.
Even though this is supposed to be serious, a small chuckle escapes his lips.
God dammit I can't think. Damn my ADD kicking in.
"Okay I'm just gonna wing this because I really can't think straight." I begin.
He stays across the living room, my by the door.
"I fucked up. Big time. I got moody and destroyed not only your birthday, but both our hearts. Being without you is killing me. I miss you. Your laugh, your smile, your eyes, the way you annoy me because you think it's cute when I'm irritated." I say. "And you know what? I miss the way you told me to scrape the burnt part off that cake. And I would have done it, but I got snippy and freaked out." I say. "And I'm sorry. I will forever regret the day I walked away. That's the biggest mistake I've ever made. That's the biggest mistake I will ever make in my entire lifetime. If I murdered someone, that wouldn't even come close." I say. "And I'm so sorry. And...I never stopped loving you." I still don't feel like that's good enough.
I won't lie when I say I wrote a song for this.
And I know Prim has a guitar in her room.
But I never sing in front of people. Nobody really knows I've got a bit of talent in the music department.
He watches me.
I head for the stairs.
He looks panicked.
"I'll be right back." I say.
I jog into Prim's room and grab her guitar.
I strum the strings to make sure they're perfectly in tune and go back downstairs.
He looks confused.
"I don't feel like what I said was enough to explain and apologize and show you what I'm really getting at and I had a lot of um...time on my hands, so I sorta wrote a song..."
I sit down on the couch and he remains standing. His hands are still in his pockets.
He takes them out and runs a hand through his hair, crossing them.
I'm so nervous.
I clear my throat and start to strum, then sing.

Suppose I called you up tonight
And told you that I love you
And suppose I said I wanna come back home
And suppose I cried and said I think I've finally learned my lesson
And I'm tired of spending all my time alone
If I told you that I realized you're all I ever wanted
And it's killing me to be so far away
Would you tell me that you love me too
And would we cry together
Or would you simply laugh at me and say

I'm crying, but I keep going.

I told you so
Oh, I told you so
I told you someday you'd come crawling back and asking me to take you in
I told you so
But you had to go
Now I've found somebody new and you will never break my heart in two again

If I got down on my knees and told you I was yours forever
Would you get down on yours too and take my hand
Would we get that old time feeling
Would we laugh and talk for hours
The way we did when our love first began
Would you tell me that you've missed me too
And that you've been so lonely
And you've waited for the day that I returned
And we'd live and love forever
And that I'm your one and only
Or would you say the tables finally turned

Would you say I told you so
Oh, I told you so
I told you someday you'd come crawling back and asking me to take you in
I told you so
But you had to go
Now I found somebody new and you will never break my heart in two again

Now I found somebody new and you will never break my heart in two again

It's everything in me not to sob hysterically, to the point where I throw up.
I've done that on multiple occasions. I get up and go back upstairs, putting Prim's guitar back.
I go back down, wiping my tears.
His arms have fallen to his sides, his face locked in an unreadable emotion.
I can't say anything else. I can't. I practically just asked him if I could have a second chance.
"I didn't know you could sing." He whispers.
I shrug.
"Me either. Nobody really knows. Except you." I mumble.
He looks at me intensely.
"I'm sorry too." He says.
I furrow my eyebrows.
"You didn't do anything wrong." I say.
"Katniss, building up a relationship takes two, fucking up a relationship takes to. Maintaining a relationship takes two. There is no relationship without a you and I." He says.
"Maybe but you still didn't do anything wrong." I say quietly.
"Lets just agree to disagree. Dwelling on this will get us nowhere." He says.
Us.
I wipe my tears again.
"I'm sorry for laughing when you burnt the cake." He says. He snorts. "We were so angry at our parents for not being friends over something so stupid, but look at us. We're broken up over a cake." He says. "We're just like them and we don't even know it." He says.
Noes my chance.
"But we don't have to be. We can fix us. We can get back together and I swear to you I'll work my ass off to make sure you, and maybe one day our children are happy for the rest of your and theirs lives." I say. "Please. All I'm asking is for my boyfriend back." I whisper, willing myself not to break down for the umpteenth time today.
"All I want is you." He whispers. "Your all I've ever wanted. I just didn't realize how much until I lost you for the second time." He says.
I stare at him hopefully.
"So...?" I ask.
"So yes. Yes I want you back." He says.
I smile. Boy am I glad I've been keeping my hygiene up, keeping myself washed and my teeth brush.
My smile starts out small and then slowly grows.
"So...we're good?" I whisper.
"We're good," he confirms.
We're silent, staring at each other for almost ten minutes.
It's had to he at least forty minutes now, since I took almost twenty just to find out what to say.
We both begin to fidget.
When it gets down to one minute before the hours up, and I hear the car doors slam, I lunch into his arms, my legs locking around his waist, locking our lips hungrily.
I've missed his lips too. They're so soft and sweet and gently and sends fire through my body, goosebumps raised on edge.
I never want to be more then reachable away from him.
He knows that. He must.
He tightens his grip on me.
I hear several gasps and the front door shuts again.
I laugh softly against his lips, while he smiles.
I'm still in my jacket and boots.
And so is he.
"Do you really want to be stuck in the house with them, with all the questioning and assumptions?" I whisper.
"No but we should at least thank them." He murmers.
"Can't we do that later?"
He grins.
"Alright."
I hesitantly hop off of him. He entwines our fingers and wait.
I walk out back. We both smile a little at the sight of the snow covered oak tree.
There's a forest behind my house...well my parents house.
There's this place my Dad took me on the worst days I was upset about Peeta as a child, and I wanna take Peeta there.
I head for the forest and Peeta stops, hesitant.
"It's alright," I say calmly.
He slowly, reluctantly, starts to follow me again.
We walk through the forest, in silence for the most part.
"You know just because we're older doesn't mean they're not gonna freak out." He says.
I shrug.
"Your twenty one. I'm twenty. They're gonna have to deal." I say.
He smirks but remains silent.
We're almost there, about an hour later.
"Can I um...get on your back so I can cover your eyes?" I ask shyly.
"You don't have to ask." He says.
I hop onto his back and place my hands over his eyes.
"Okay, just walk forwards. There's gonna be some branches hitting you, just ignore them." I warn.
He start to walk forwards, running into the branches.
He does exactly what I said.
It looks the same, except for the layer of snow on the ground.
"Okay," I whisper. "Don't open your eyes till I tell you to." I whisper.
He nods.
I jump off him.
"Okay. Open."
He opens his eyes.
There's a lake in the forest with an old run down hut next to it and for miles around us is a meadow that's filled with purple flowers in the spring and summer.
He looks around in amazement.
"It's so beautiful." He says.
The lake is frozen and covered in snow.
He starts to walk around.
I let out a strangled cry when he places his foot on the ice, grabbing his arm and jerking him backward.
"What? What is it?" He asks, frantic.
I bend down and sweep away the snow with my hand, revealing the extremely thin ice.
"Oh," he says.
"Yeah. We're uh at a lake, actually." I say. "And a huge meadow, the is all purple flowers. But there's always one dandilion right about-" I sprint across the meadow, which is huge and stop right in the middle. "Here!" I shout.
He jogs over to me.
"How do you remember that?" He asks.
"Because when I was little, after you moved, Dad used to take me out here when I was really upset and it was the worst day. I remember he would fish while I sat right-" I tap a spot on the ground. "Here." I say. "I would sit there and inspect that flower. I wondered why there was a random yellow flower in the middle of a purple field. I would wonder what would happen if I picked it." I say.
He watches silently, a small smile forming on his lips.
"And one day, I did." I say. "And then I got so mad at myself because I thought it wasn't gonna grow back. I cried all day and Mom tried to help me keep in alive till next spring. She knew it was gonna grow back and she knew that flower wasn't gonna stay alive. But then when I went back the next spring, the flower was back." I whisper, smiling at the memory. "My Mom actually took a video of my reaction. I think I cried, actually, I was so happy." I say.
He reaches out and tucks some hair behind my ear.
"Why dandelions? What's so special about them?" He asks.
Does he not remember?
"It was you." I whisper.
He looks confused.
"When we were four, my grandparents got into a car accident and I cried and cried. You came over one day and saw my crying. You ran outside and got a dandelion. You gave it to me. You said 'to remember them'." I say. "And it reminded me of you."
He's thinking hard, his face scrunched up in concentration.
"I think that little flower helped me through everything. Without even realizing it."
I'm making it clear that the "little flower" is him.
I feel tears well in my eyes and I struggle not to let them spill, but they do.
He pulls me against his chest, hugging me tightly.
It was only a few tears, then I was done.
He and I both knew I was done crying but neither one of us move from the others arms.
It's a long time before we even move, and by a long time, I mean an hour and a half.
He reluctantly pulls away.
It's starting to snow and its getting windy.
We could be getting a blizzard.
"We should go." He whispers.
I nod, silent.
I grab his hand and head back.

We walk in the back door. They're all chatting and laughing, happy.
The second the door slams though, they fall dead silent.
Their eyes flit between the two of us, the snow which is now thick and dangerous, and then our linked hands.
I hold up our linked hands.
"Uh...thanks." I say.
"For what, hon?" Mom asks.
"For this. We really couldn't have done it without you guys..." Peeta trails off.
I can tell Mom and Mrs. Mellark are struggling not to cry.
They look at each other and then at the same time, burst into tears and run at us, Mom hugging me and Mrs. Mellark hugging Peeta.
I awkwardly pat her back.
Mom pulls away, once again at the same time as Mrs. Mellark.
Peeta and I enhance a look, struggling not to laugh.
"Why are you crying, exactly?" I ask, laughter evident in my voice.
"I don't know but I can't stop!" She sobs.
Both of them walk off to the bathroom.
Jo gets up, walks over to me, slaps me and them smirks.
"Fuck up again and I fuck you up." She snarls, hugging me and then Peeta.
She goes back to her seat.
Finn gives Peeta a boy hug and then turns to me, hugging me like he hugs Annie.
"I'm willing to come back. If you'll let me." He whispers in my ear.
I nod.
"Of course." I say.
He releases me.
My Mom comes out.
"Katniss, I have to talk to you." She says. Her voice is authorative and I know that's the "don't fucking argue and just do what I say" look. Her eyes flicker to Peeta. "And Peeta too, actually."
Everyone looks concerned, but Prim, who just looks normal.
I silently follow her upstairs with Peeta behind me.
She leads us into the office and turn to us, tears in her eyes.
"I need your help." She says, pleading.
"Okay. What's wrong?" I ask nervously.
She points to the computer screen.
I frown and look at her and then walk over, Peeta behind me.
I can see 'Everdeen, Maria Primrose' in the top corner.
I frown and lower my eyes.
I see all Prim's seven teachers and then look to the right.
20% F
0% F
11% F
0% F
26% F
13% F
0% F
My heart drops and tears fill my own eyes.
Prim's a senior. And she's failing all her classes.
Peeta sees the tears in my eyes and then looks at the computer screen.
His eyes widen.
"What the hell is this?" I whisper.
Prim goes to a fundamental school. If you don't turn your homework in, you get two demerits and no points, getting half credit on the next day, if you don't get your homework signed, you get one demerit and still get points. F you get five demerits in one class in one marking period, you get a 5 demerit slip, where you go to the guidance counselor and get talked to.
If you get another 5 demerit slip, you get IAC and then you and both parents have to go to a meeting with you where they decide to kick you out of put you on probation.
Peeta doesn't understand.
I look back at the screen.
She has 11 demerits in gym.
GYM!
The only way to get demerits is if you don't dress out!
She has at least two demerits in every class.
The tears start slipping down my cheeks.
"She's gonna get kicked out." I whisper.
"I know. When we go back downstairs, we're all, all the adults and kids, are sitting her down and talking to her." Mom whispers.
"Wait why's she gonna get kicked out?" Peeta asks.
Mom starts to explain the fundament program.
She has all the teachers I had.
I was a straight A student. They'll remember me.
I don't say anything has I grab a printer paper and write down her schedule.
This town is so small everyone knows everyone and we all know where each other lives.
And I'm going to visit a few of my old teachers.
"I'm going to talk to her teachers." I say.
"Now?" Mom asks.
"Right now." I say.
"Katniss you don't even know them." She says.
"Uh yeah I do. I had all these teachers." I say.
"Can you please just wait till we're done talking to her?" She pleads.
"Mom please. I just need to go over there it won't take long." I say.
She sighs.
"Alright. Okay fine." She says.
"Don't start talking without me." I say.
"We wouldn't anyways. Your Prim's role model. She listens to you more than anyone." Mom says.
I sigh and walk downstairs.
"What's wrong?" Prim asks.
"Nothing." I say.
"Your crying. You have tears on your cheeks." She says.
"Well nothing's wrong." I say.
She stares at me.
Everyone knows damn well what's wrong.
"Well I'm going out for a while..." I trail off.
"Can I go?" She asks.
"No."
"Where are you going?" She presses.
"Dammit Prim!" I burst. "I'm going out!"
I snatch my phone off the coffee table and storm out of the house.
First place is Mrs. Alexander for English 4.
She lives two houses down.
I walk down the street.
There's a few cars in the driveway and I remember these teachers are on break too.
I sigh and knock on the door.
I hear laughter and the small patter of feet and then the door is open by a man.
"Yes?" He asks.
"Hi um...is Mrs. Alexander here?" I ask.
He nods and puts up a finger.
"Debra!" He calls. He smiles at me. "She'll be just a moment."
He closes the door.
I stand there awkwardly.
I fold Prim's schedule and put it in my back pocket.
The door opens and Mrs. Alexander's eyes widen.
"Katniss Everdeen! Well I'll be!" She says.
"Hi Mrs. A." I say.
She gently hugs me.
There's children running around, laughing in the background. Her grand kids. She used to tell us all about them.
"What can I do for you?" She asks.
I sigh.
"Do you have some time? I kind of need to talk to you. I can come back later though." I say.
"Sure, sure, come in." She steps aside and allows me into her home.
She leads me to the kitchen where it's quiet.
"What can I do for you?" She asks.
"You have my little sister in your class. Primrose?" I ask.
Her jaw goes slack.
"Prim is your sister? I expected better from her. Especially if she's related to you." She says.
"Yeah um...so did I." I say.
She gives me a sorry look.
"We're about to have a huge talk to her and hopefully whip her back into shape. Can you tell me why she's failing? She'll probably lie." I ask.
"Well...I'm not quite sure. She doesn't turn in any of her work, she texts the whole class and has had detention multiple times." She says. "I have a feeling she gets it but just doesn't want to do it." She says.
I sigh.
"Hence the reason she's failing all her classes...she's not doing her homework because she doesn't want to." I say. "Just like me. I messed up the first semester and fixed it in the end." I say.
"Exactly like you." She says.
"Okay. That's all." I say.
She smiles.
"Alright then. It was good to see you." I smile and nod.
"You too." I walk out.
Now that I think about it, I really don't need to see the rest of her teachers. I know exactly what's going through Prim's mind because it went through mine for all of high school except for the last year of senior year.
And I know what this 'intervention' is going to be like, because I had one myself.
I walk back in the front door and everyone looks up.
All the seats are taken so I sort of fidget.
Everyone is staring at me expectantly.
Audrey gets up out of her seat next to Jessica and sits against her Mom's legs.
I sit down. I'm in the middle between Jessica on my right and Peeta on my left.
Everyone is sitting very formal, silent.
Mom raises her eyebrows at me.
She wants me to start.
I sit back, propping my feet up on the coffee table.
She knows what the say to me and when to say it. She knows when she's about to get in trouble with me.
"So Prim's goes school going?" I ask, sounding genuinely curious.
I can lie great unless its to Finn, Annie, Jo and Peeta.
She grins.
"Great. Straight A's." she says.
Ha. Liar.
I smile.
"Really? I didn't know F and A were the same letter!" I say.
Her faces falls.
Everyone remains silent. Mom obviously told them to let me talk to her first to see where we get. If she keeps it up, then we all start in on her.
She doesn't say anything, she just stares at me.
"So I just got back from seeing Mrs. Alexander." I say calmly.
"What the fuck! Why!" She bursts.
I don't shout at her. I know that's just gonna piss her off.
"Because your failing." I say. "And I wants to know why. I didn't bother asking you because I knew you'd just lie about it. So now I know that your not doing homework. I know about the IAC. All the classes that you have nothing other than F's in." I say calmly.
She sighs.
"Why does it matter? I hate high school. You wouldn't understand." She waves me off.
She was thirteen when I fucked up and I think she was at her friends house, so she doesn't remember.
I pause, thinking my words through.
"Prim, let me tell you something." I say.
She clenches her jaw and sits back.
"When I was fourteen and went into ninth grade, I stopped giving a fuck about school. I didn't care. School was my personal hell. I hated it. So, my solution to what I stupidly thought was torture, was to stop doing my homework. So I did. I stopped doing homework. And then I started to fail. The only points I had were all participation because I didn't do shit. I knew everything about it, everything about what I was doing. I just didn't care. So I stopped testing. I just put random answers. I stopped caring." I say.
Everyone looks shocked. Well not my parents and Finn and Annie and Haymitch and Jo. They know because they're were all my intervention.
"I failed ninth grade, I failed tenth, I failed eleventh, and you know what, I almost failed twelfth. I kept up my actions until right now, three years ago. Then one day, when you were thirteen, you went to your friends house. Finn, Annie, Mom, Dad, Haymitch and Johanna sat me down and made me realize something." I say.
She doesn't say anything.
"Do you know what they made me realize, Prim?" I whisper.
She shakes her head.
"They made me realize that high school reflects badly on your life. It makes you look terrible in colleges. High school is the start to the rest of your life. High school gets you into goofs colleges. Good colleges and good grades gets you into good jobs." I say. "Good jobs get you money. Money gets you a house. A car. A phone. Food. Electricity." I whisper. "Then you can start to do whatever you want. You have your own life. Your own money. And eventually, one day, a family." I say. "All because of school." I whisper. "After I realized that...I won't lie when I say I was scared shitless." A few people chuckle. "So I started studying. I started doing my homework. I started saying no to my friends because I knew damn well I had a test the next day. I did my projects." I say. "And then I had straight A's." I say. I pause and walk to the book shelf.
I grab my yearbook and go to Prim, leaning over the back if the chair and flipping to the page.
I point to the words.
"See? Most improved. I fucked up big time. And then I fixed it." I say, shutting the yearbook and sitting back down. "Prim, I know your extremely pissed right now. I know all the swear words under the sun are shooting through your head right now, but I promise I'm not trying to piss you off. I really just want the best for you. If your having trouble in anything, you can come to me. I know all your teachers will help you because I had every one of them." I say.
I see panic in her eyes.
She gets up and runs upstairs, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Mom gets up to go after her.
"Don't. It's sinking in." I say, crossing my ankles.
"Was the story actually true?" Peeta asks.
"Yeah." I say.
I get my yearbook again and sit back down.
Finn and Annie come up behind me.
"I haven't looked at this thing in forever." Annie says.
I sigh and lean against Peeta.
"Me either." I say, flipping through the page.
"Oh man I hated her!" Annie says.
I wrinkle my nose.
"Delly Cartwright. The school prick." I say.
"You have to admit she was hot." Finn says.
"She was not!" I say.
Peeta tilts his head to the side.
"She is kinda hot." He says.
Him and Finn start laughing and they high five while Annie and I just roll our eyes.
We keep flipping through the pages when Peeta stops me.
"But she's much better." He says, winking me at.
I look at the picture and see me.
I giggle a bit and flip the page.
"Whoa! Did Katniss Everdeen just giggle?" Jo says.
Peeta furrows his eyebrows.
"Katniss giggles all the time." He says, confused.
A light blush starts to appear on my cheeks.
"From what?" Rye says, nudging Graham and raising his eyebrows, Graham nudges Justice and Justice nudges Kegan.
Of course they think about sex when Peeta says I giggle all the time.
"Not that." Peeta says.
"Well I've certainly never heard Katniss giggle." Haymitch says, sniggering.
Everyone old enough to get why this is funny starts laughing.
I keep my gaze solely on the yearbook.
"Katniss?" Peeta asks.
I slowly lift my gaze to his. His eyes are dark blue. Dark blue is just and love.
"Do you only giggle around me?" He whispers in my ear. I blush deeper.
"Um...yeah." I mumble.
The laughter cuts off that the exact same time.
I turn around.
Prim is standing behind me with a ton of textbooks.
She drops them on my lap.
"Help." She says, not asking.
"I can help you with everything but Art." I say.
I slide off the couch, arranging all the books on the coffee table.
"What am I helping you with?" I ask.
She fidgets.
I sigh knowing she doesn't know.
"Okay...give me the most complicated equation you can do and get right." I say.
I go to the bookshelf and get a whiteboard and then another one, going back to Prim and taking out all her expo markers.
I don't even need a calculator.
"What's your subject you struggle the most in?" I ask.
"Math." She answers easily.
Perfect.y best subject.
"Okay well I know for a fact that Mrs. Capella gave you a shitload of math work over break." I say.
She nods.
"Planner." I say.
She grabs it out of a stack and flips to the page she wrote her homework in.
I grab her Algebra textbook.
I try so hard not to laugh because I know she's struggling and I'd probably break someone's hand for laughing at something I find hard.
"See! What the fuck is X? That doesn't even make sense!" She bursts.
Okay apparently she's been struggling for a while.
She doesn't know what X is.
"Prim. Are you guys doing review?" I ask.
"Yes." She says. "And then we have a two hundred point on it on Wendesday." She says.
"This Wendesday?" I ask.
"Yes." She says.
I pause. I look at the time on my phone.
It's three. Mrs. Alexander could he home if she went to work.
"You guys don't have a week off for Thansgiving?" I ask.
"Only on Thursday and Firday and the weekend obviously." She says.
It's Tuesday.
"Prim tomorrow's Wendesday." I say.
Tomorrow she has a 200 point test. And she doesn't know what X is.
"How many questions are on this test exactly?" I ask carefully.
"Um...100. Two points each." She says.
"And they're all on this?" I ask.
She nods.
I sigh and start to write down the first problem.
"Is part of the reason your not doing shit because you don't get it?" I ask.
"That's why for math. For the rest I just don't do it."
I can tell she's telling the truth.
I sigh.
"Okay. 23X+11= 80." I say.
She writes it on her white board.
"Now show me what you think it is." I say, taking the calculator my Mom is holding out to me and handing it to Prim.
I don't need a calculator.
She's quiet for a few minutes and then shows me the problem.
She got 144.
I narrow my eyes slightly.
Oh wow. She added 80, 11, 23.
Oh shit.
"Erase it." I say calmly, writing down the problem on my board.
I stare at my board, finding the answer in two seconds.
"Okay." I say when she's got the problem written down. "First, do you know what this kind of problem this is?" I ask.
"One step equation." She says, looking at me.
"Right." I say. "Okay, so what's the opposite of addition?" I ask.
"Subtraction." She says.
"Right. So eighty minus eleven." I say, putting -11 underneath the underneath 80.
She puts 69.
"Okay. So the answers sixty nine." She says.
"No it's not." I say. "Because we still have 23X."
"What's x!" She bursts.
"X stands for a number." I say. She looks irritated.
"What's 69 divided by 23?" I ask.
"Three." She says.
"Right. So x=three." I say.
"That makes no sense!" She shouts, pissed.
"Okay," I say, frustrated. I run a hand through my hair. "What's 23 times 3?" I ask.
"69." She says through her teeth.
"Plus eleven." I say.
"Eighty." She says.
I erase my white board.
"Watch." I say.
She sighs and watches as I write, talking it out to her at the same time.
"23 times 3 plus eleven equals eighty." I say.
She nods.
So I have 23•3+11=80
I then right underneath I put 23x+11=80.
"Okay Prim. 23x means 23 times X. Since we didn't know what X was, we have to find out. So we did 11 minus 80 which is 69. Then we took the 23 to unnatach it from x and divided it by 69. We got three." I say.
I put a multiplication sign and circle it, drawing an arrow and pointing it between 23 and X. I then put X=23 and circle it.
She better get it, because if she doesn't, I'm gonna ducking scream. I'm not very good at describing it.
She sighs.
"I'm confused." She says.
I clench my jaw to keep from screaming in frustration.
Peeta gives me one glance, reads me and slips off the couch, on Prim's other side.
"Okay, watch." He says.
I don't fucking get how he can be so damn calm.
"Lets use another problem." He says.
I hand him my white board and marker.
1X+2=4
I would laugh at how easy he made this if I wasn't so frustrated.
Prim stares at it.
"But how can you get four if your adding two and one?" She demands. "That's three." She says.
"How many more do you need to get four?" Peeta asks.
"One." She says.
"Right. Now watch." He says. "If you take 4 and subtract it from 2, you get 2. If you divide 2 by one then you get one." He says while writing it. He watches her. "Do you get it?" He asks.
"I...think so." She says.
He sighs and erases the problem.
He writes a new one. 5X-20=100
Prim does what we've showed her.
80 plus 20 is 100. Then she divides 5 and gets 20.
"Yes!" Both Peeta and I exclaim at the same time, high fiveing her.
I can see she's happy.
We keep giving her problems and she gets them all right.
"Wait. What about this." I say.
I get up and lean over Peeta, my shirt resting on his head because its a loose long sleeve shirt that's supposed to have a tank top underneath but doesn't.
So I'm kinda flashing Finn and Annie, who both snicker, shaking their heads
The three of us are in our own little world.
I gently pluck the marker from Peeta and write 8X=1040
Prim goes to intense.
"Okay, look." I say. "Imagine you don't have the plus or minus something. Or you already did it. Then what do you do?" I ask.
"Divide the number attached to X." She says.
"Exactly." I say.
"130?" She asks.
Peeta looks up at me.
I reach in my back pocket and lean down so I'm typing in front of him.
"Yup." I say.
It's only one step, which shocks me with seniors.
Eventually Mom comes up and hands us three plates of dinner.
We eat while moving on to Chemistry.
That takes three hours.
After we finish art, Peeta starts to look a little tired.
We get the basement to ourselves. The basement is like another house under a house. You could live in there. That could be your home.
Everyone's gone to bed. We had to be working on math for five hours. And then three hours and we still have a ton of other subjects. Prim has to be up at six. It's midnight.
"Peeta baby, why don't you go down to bed?" I suggest.
He yawns.
"But..." He gives me a pained look, obviously wanting me with him.
"I'll be there in a bit." I say.
He still looks hesitant. Prim is working on American Government.
I give him a loving kiss. "I promise." I whisper.
He sighs and stands up.
"Alright. Night." He says.
It gets really really cold in the basement and if your sleeping alone its gonna suck.
Prim and I keep going.
We take an hour for each subject. Its three in the morning now, when we finish.
I'm so tired and so is Prim.
"Please make sure to pay attention in class today." I say at the door to the basement, her at the door to upstairs, me down.
"I promise."
She disappears upstairs.
I go down, shutting the door silently behind me.
I strip into my bra and underwear and them pull in sweatpants and long sleeves.
I plug my phone into charge and then slip in next to Peeta.
Even though he's dead asleep, he reaches for me, pulling me against him and wrapping his arms around me, sighing into my hair.
I sigh back into his chest.
I've missed this.