Chapter 10: Halloween Part II

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.

Peeta:

"Thanks so much for doing this, Peeta. I promised I'd go but, well, yeah." Delly shook her left leg, currently in a cast. The poor girl had broken her ankle during cheer practice.

"No worries, Dell. I don't mind." Peeta had volunteered to take Delly's little brother, Mike, trick-or-treating. Really, he saw this as an opportunity to get out of his house.

Monday was a usually a work day at the bakery, but his dad had felt it necessary to give him, and the rest of the younger staff, the day off as a treat. He must of thought they were all hoping to party that night, but it was a Monday. Not smart. Glimmer did invite him to a party, but Peeta turned her down. No doubt, she'd still attend without him.

Peeta agreed to look after Mike so he wouldn't have to lock himself in his room. His mother was home and being around her was overwhelming. He could avoid her most of the time, with school and the bakery. Not on Halloween. Today, they were both in the same place.

Peeta could not look at her because if he did, all he would feel was anger and shame. Like it was his fault that she was cheating on his dad. And he felt like her accomplice because he knew the truth and he couldn't bring himself to say anything. It was a secret that only they knew.

How could she do it? She could go out during the day and be with another man, then come home and still hold his father's hand. Sit and eat dinner with him. Share a bed at night. She was despicable. If Peeta stayed there to witness it, he would be no better.

"Wooo! Candy! Candy!" That was Mike, bouncing down the street in his deluxe Superman costume, the one with the foam muscles.

"Mike, try that house." Peeta pointed to house with a large inflatable ghost on the lawn. Nice decor often indicated good candy. The houses in their neighborhood were the kind that gave out full size candy bars. Rarely did they ever see apples or other healthy snacks. Who wanted that on Halloween?

The streets were full of people from Merchant Circle and others. Peeta kept a close eye on Mike. The little boy ran ahead and into the crowds forcing Peeta to almost jog after him.

"Hey!" A little girl with dark hair was pulling her bag away from Mike. She was dressed as a fairy and had glitter all over her face. Two older kids appeared behind her. Katniss and Gale.

"What's wrong?" Katniss asked, leaning down to comfort the now crying girl. Gale watched both of them intently, hovering protectively.

"That boy tried taking some of my candy!"She cried.

"Mike, you knock on the doors, not take candy from other kids." Peeta said. Both Katniss and Gale finally realized he was standing there.

"Peeta! Hey." Katniss said. Her grey eyes flickered over to Gale, then back at Peeta."He's with you? I didn't know you had a younger brother."

"He's my friend's brother. She couldn't make it, so I volunteered to bring him out." Peeta told her.

"That's nice of you." Gale said. Peeta thought it odd that he was being so polite. Especially since Mike had made the little girl (probably his sister) cry.

"I had nothing else to do. Sorry about Mike, though. He's really into candy." Peeta said with a laugh.

Katniss smiled. "So is Posy! That's why she made Gale drive us up here. You guys have the full size candy bars!" Gale glanced at her, that smile still on her face. He looked at her as though she was the greatest thing on the planet. The way Peeta gazed at her when she wasn't looking.

Peeta began feeling a bit uncomfortable around the two, Obviously, this was something they agreed to do together. As a couple. He had heard from Glimmer, who heard from Finch (the girl knows all), that they were dating.

Gale's the best for Katniss. He loves her.

"Great, huh? Mike apologize to, uh..." He trailed off, already forgetting the little girl's name. It was hard for him to remember anything around Katniss, unless of course, it was about Katniss.

"Posy! I'm Posy!" It was the fairy who answered. "He took my candy! It's in my bag because I got it." She scolded Mike. The two were around the same age, but clearly Posy was slightly more mature.

"Mike?" Peeta asked expectantly. Mike frowned and hugged his bag of candy close to him.

"I'm sorry." It came out as a grumble.

Posy looked up at her big brother, blinking her large grey eyes. He gave her a slight nod, encouraging her to reply.

"It's okay, Mike. Don't do it again, it's not nice." Mike 'hmph'ed in response to her words before moving to hide behind Peeta.

"Guess we should keep walking." Katniss said. "We have a lot of houses left. You guys should try the house with the ghost on the lawn. They have Reese's."

Peeta didn't tell her they had already visited that house. "We'll go there next. See you guys at school." He took Mike's hand and continued walking. Mike turned around to glare at Posy, who wasn't looking back.

"She's mean. I just wanted a chocolate bar. I was going to trade her for a lollipop!" Mike said.

"I bet they have chocolate at another house. Wanna try another?" Mike grinned and pulled away, already running toward another house. This one had spider webs all over the bushes and orange lights over the porch. When Mike returned, he held up a Hershey's bars high in the air, triumphant.

Katniss:

She and Gale continued their walk through the neighborhood, Posy remaining ahead. Her excitement had only been temporarily dulled by the encounter with Mike the candy bandit.

Katniss couldn't get that out of her head.

Peeta's so caring. Volunteering to go with Mike when he probably had some party to be at! That's so sweet.

"Kat?"

"Hm? What?" She asked.

"Nothing. You just looked a little distracted. Are you tired? We've been walking around for a while now."

"No, I was just thinking. I have a biology thing due tomorrow and I can't remember if I finished it or not." She lied. She wasn't about to tell Gale that she was thinking of Peeta.

It wasn't fair to Gale. He was such a great guy and one of her best friends. They had only been on one date but it was obvious that he cared about her; she'd known that for a while now. Any girl would be happy dating a guy like that. Plus, he was handsome. But looks were a bonus, Katniss was never a superficial person.

Peeta was cute, too. Blonde hair and those baby blue eyes that never held anything but calm. Katniss had never seen eyes like that.

Back when they were lab partners, in chemistry, Peeta never once showed any frustration. It was a tedious thing, having to always follow directions for lab and then solving impossible equations. Even Katniss had to take a break from numbers and letters. Not Peeta. He kept on working and still managed to be patient while Katniss struggled. He even had the patience to help her with the lab reports.

"Gaaaallle!" Posy whined. "I'm sleepy, can we go home?" Gale caught up to his sister and scooped her up. Katniss took the candy bag from her hands, letting Posy wrap her small arms around her brother.

"Let's go." He told her.

"Lots of candy, Posy. Don't eat it all in one day." Katniss said. All Posy did in response was nod, sleep already slowing her down.

Katniss stared at the siblings. Gale was the ideal older brother, always caring for Posy, Rory, and Vick. Katniss knew that bout him, it was something she'd witnessed plenty of times. As his girlfriend, Katniss thought she should be impressed by him. But she wasn't. He was just being the Gale she knew.

This is what our relationship would be. Always routine and never anything new.

What a horrible thought. Horribly true. She already loved Gale, not romantically, but like her best friend. Katniss couldn't love him any more than she already did. Over time, the newness of their relationship would fade and Katniss would still feel nothing more.

Peeta sees Gale with Katniss, and he's okay with that for now. It's not like he hates Gale, he agrees that he'd be good for her. He mentions a party that Glimmer's going to without him, and that kind of indicates a rift forming. He and Glimmer deal with their problems in different ways. He's all about school and work. Glimmer can go out and party. That's going to ruin them.

Then, Katniss contemplates her new relationship with Gale. She realizes that it wasn't a good idea to go from best friends to more. She knows everything about Gale because they've been friends for ages. Since she knows him so well, she's starting to understand that if she doesn't already love him, she won't in the future. Really, she fears she'll take him for granted and they'll end up hating each other.

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