Chapter Thirteen

Surprises

The next morning, Peeta is still here. The sun isn't even up yet, but the birds are still chirping. I stretch my arms out, waking myself up. I sit up, scratching the top of my head. Patting Peeta's arm, I try to wake him up so that he can go back to his room.

"Peeta," I talk to his sleepy state, poking his side. "For the person who has an early schedule most days, you don't look like it right now." I tease him, continuing to poke him awake.

His eyes flutter open slowly. He rubs his eyes, waking himself up. "I rather just stay here." He rolls on his side, hugging my pillow. I push his shoulder, jolting him forward and almost off the bed.

"If you don't want us to get caught, then I suggest you move your ass." I say deadpan.

I watch him as he rubs his eyes. He opens them up, and stares at me. His eyes glisten, while I shy away. He isn't afraid to just openly watch me. Sitting up and planting his feet on the floor, he slows himself down to give me a kiss on the cheek before getting up. "I'll see you at school." He says to me, lowly, before opening the window and returning to his room.

My phone rings loudly. It's not even 6:30 so who the hell could be calling? I pick up my phone, and press the accept button. "Hello." I say gruffly into the phone.

"Katniss?" I hear Clove's voice question. "Look, are you going out today?"

"Yes I am, but you could have asked me at school," I groan, indicating to her that I'm still tired. "Why are you calling this early anyway?"

"Since there's no other time to talk about this, I was wondering if you ever told Peeta about...Gale?"

I sigh, not ready to start my morning off with this conversation. "If you must know, then yes. We've talked about it briefly."

"Good. At least he knows. He's the one that really matters…" She trails off. I hear her phone microphone makes a loud noise. I'm assuming that she's still in bed too and turning around on it.

"What do you mean?" I question her, trying to figure out the angle she's trying to get at.

"You told me not because I'm one of the closest people to you but because you can trust me. Peeta is no doubt the one you rather spend time with and I'm not upset about it. It's good that he knows, and it's no one else's business unless you want it to be made known." Clove's words shock me, but just a little. I can trust her, that is a fact, but I hope she understands that I do care for her a lot. I love all the girls in our group, excluding Delly for now, and I don't want it to be a competition between them and Peeta.

"I hope you know that I consider you a close friend Clove," I whisper, but it's loud enough to be heard on the phone. She chuckles.

"Of course I know. It's good to hear you say that."

Johanna bailed on school today, so it's just me until lunch time. Each class goes by slower than usual because I'm missing my friend's company. By third period, I decide to head to the courtyard to finish up last minute homework in study hall for Mr. Heavensbee's class. I walk down the hallway, passing the locked classrooms in session. When I open the exit door, the fresh wind hits my face and tosses my hair in different directions. Not many people are out here, in fact the only other person I see here is Foxface.

I don't know Foxface's actual name. She's a junior, but is graduating early with our class. The seniors gave her the nickname because of her fiery orange hair, and her fox like features that highlight her face. She doesn't speak that much to us, but occasionally people will make jokes with her and she'll go along with it.

I decide to sit at the table farthest from her. I know that if I were sitting alone, that I wouldn't want many people near me. She doesn't look up to me either, so I'm in the clear with that. As I sit down, I pull out my phone that was in my school bag's front pocket and my notebook. I need to finish these chemistry equations while I have time. They're not too difficult for me, so this should be finished in thirty minutes while giving me enough time to squeeze a nap in. That, or text Peeta while he's in class.

As I'm working my problems, I sense a person behind me. I'm always hyper aware of my surroundings, thanks to my dad and...Gale. I turn around and see Enobaria walking towards me. When she sees my face, she lets a devilish smile loose, showcasing her sculpted teeth.

"Hmmm, Everdeen is it?" She asks swooping down on the seat. When I don't respond, she squints at me, furrowing her eyebrows. "Alright, so it's going to be like this now?"

I close my notebook quickly, surprising her. "You're friends with Glimmer, and Glimmer hates my guts," I remind her. She scoffs, looking me up and down. "Why would I want to talk to you?"

She takes out a nail file and holds her unpolished nails out into the sunlight. She starts to file them, going back and forth quickly. "Ever since you came here, Everdeen, you've messed up Glimmer's chance to ask Peeta out," She doesn't look at as she's explaining this to me. I never asked for this information and I don't care about it either. "It's common courtesy to let her have a chance before you, the new girl proceeds. I mean after all, she's known him longer than you." She finally meets my stare. I know she's trying to be intimidating, but this isn't working on me. Especially over a boy.

"If she's known him longer than me, then maybe she should have told him that she wanted to date him," I start to pack my notebook back into my bag. "But instead, she cannot clearly fight her own battles, so she attacks me and class and then sends her little minion to do her dirty work. Sounds like your girl needs to woman up."

Enobaria's eyes fill with anger. She snarls, making her appear animalistic. "You little-"

"Settle down, Nosferatu," Delly chimes in, sounding the meanest I've ever heard her. "Don't make me report you to administration for harassment. Go away now." She sets her bag on the table and sits down. Enobaria scoffs, but she does get up and storms off into the building. Delly's expression is neutral, not her usual happy go lucky self. She takes out a breakfast bar and starts to unwrap it.

"Thanks for that…" I say awkwardly. She holds her hand up, acknowledging me.

"Glimmer and her posse aren't hard to scare off. They try to act like they're the top dogs, but once you mention any hint of authority, they scramble." She says in between chews.

I don't know why Delly came here, but it wasn't to hang it. It was a coincidence that she appeared when she did. "Did you want to talk about something?" I prompt her, ready to get this over with.

"Oh yeah, that," She puts her bar down. "You see right through me Katniss, and I don't think anyone has ever. I'll be honest with you, when I saw you and Peeta getting closer, I was really jealous. For one, Peeta and I have been friends since we were children and he's never noticed me in the way that I've wanted him to." She pauses her speech to take out her water bottle. She quickly unravels the cap, and takes a sip before continuing. "Well, I've liked him since we first started middle school. Expect I was pudgier and unattractive, but I told him how I felt despite that. Of course, he rejected me but he was never mean about it like the other guys in our grade. He even called me beautiful, even if I barely believed it," She sighs, taking another moment to think. "So I had multiple points to prove. One, I needed to lose weight and have a convenially attractive body. Two, I had to show people that I had plenty to offer. I joined so many after school activities and became known as the peppiest in the class, and I basically developed this persona."

"Well, what are you usually like?" I ask her, wondering if she has more going on then she lets on.

She shrugs her shoulders. "I've let myself manifest into somebody I'm not. It's not that I don't enjoy doing the sports and governing that I do here, but I hate feeling like this fake person all the time. It's pathetic."

I scoot towards her to offer her some support. I rest my hand on her shoulder, and she looks up and gives me a genuine smile. "Katniss, I don't hate you for liking Peeta. I feel terrible if I've made you feel like that. If anything, he deserves this. A person to make him happy. It's been a while since I've seen him light up a room. If I can't be the one to do it, then I can get over it." A tear falls down her face and she looks down immediately. I reach for my bag, finding the spare tissues that I have in it and hand it to her. "Thank you." She says, wiping her face.

"All is good between us Delly," I assure her. The fact that she came over here and poured her heart out to me means a lot. She isn't the robot I thought she was. "Not many people are mature enough to have a convocation about serious things...I'm glad that you are."

"Here's to a fresh start."

Hey Guys! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I wanted to settle this Delly and Katniss tension and I hope you like this outcome. Beware though, Glimmer might have something up her sleeve...anyway, I'll try to update again on Wednesday, and if not then it'll come sometime this weekend. We're almost at 2,000 views and that's just insane to me. Thanks for the follows and favorites! And let's not forget those reviews! All these things motivate me to pop out these chapters like they're nothing. So sit back, and enjoy the read!