hey everybody! i hope you'll enjoy my new everlark au.. im not writing on a schedule, just going when i feel inspired, but im really excited about this one!

please leave a review! 3

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PEETA

Katniss Everdeen is the last person I'd ever expect to see on the cheerleading squad. I've been a fullback on the varsity football team for three years - at this point, I've grown familiar with the cheerleaders and I know who to expect. Delly Cartwright, Madge Undersee, Fauna Lockhart, the usual suspects. They stopped catching my attention about a week into my sophomore year.

I don't think I've so much as looked towards the sidelines during practice until today, when I heard Katniss's voice. It's not that I hear it often, but it's familiar. In a high school as small as ours, every voice is familiar.

"Damn it!" she curses - loudly, at that.

I've never heard any of the other cheerleaders cuss, so the expletive is what caught my attention initially. What kept it was seeing Katniss on the ground, one knee to her chest, groaning.

"Motherfucker," she spits, and I can't help but laugh.

I watch her stand up and dust herself off, tossing glares at the other girls on the squad. With a big breath that lifts her chest, she allows them to lift her again - she must be the flyer - and her knees quiver as they attempt what had gone so wrong before.

"Mellark, which team are you on?" Quincy Phillips asks, shoving me hard with his shoulder. "You gonna try out for cheer?"

"He just likes to stare at their asses," Brom says.

"Don't we all," Leaf chimes in.

I like my teammates. They're a solid group of friends. It's not like I tell them any deep, dark secrets, but they're good company.

"Looks like they got a new recruit over there," Orion Herm says. "See her? The skinny brunette?"

"Katniss Everdeen," I say, before I can stop myself. As luck would have it, everyone's attention shifts to me and a few guys start to chuckle. I try to cover for myself and play it down while knowing that nothing can save me. "Uh… that's Katniss. Everdeen. I think."

"Katniss Everdeen, huh?" Orion says. "Who would've thought she'd even make it to senior year? Not me."

"No fucking way."

"Why don't you tap that, Mellark?" Leaf says. "She'll give it up to anyone, I hear."

"Even you, ya fruit."

"Fuck you," I mutter, rolling my eyes and picking up my helmet.

Saving me, Coach blows the whistle and signals that the water break is over. We all head back to the other end of the field for drills, but throughout the entire practice, I keep an eye on the sidelines.

…

After practice is over and the guys disperse to the locker room, I hang back. I try to seem nonchalant as I head over to Katniss, who's in the midst of patching up a scrape on her knee.

"Hey," I say.

She lifts her head up and meets my eyes, her hands pausing their work as she does. "Hi," she says tersely.

"Didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't," she says, and I watch her fingers as she opens the Band-Aid. "I heard you coming from a mile away."

"Oh." I laugh. "Uh, are you okay from earlier?"

She looks up again, and this time she's glaring. "I'm fine," she says, smoothing the bandage over her knee.

"It was a pretty hard fall."

"I've had worse," she says, standing up. When she does, the Band-Aid wrinkles on her knee - I notice, she doesn't.

"Your Band-Aid is-"

"Thanks," she snaps again.

"Yeah," I say, running one hand through my sweaty hair. Typically, I'm pretty smooth. At least, I'd like to think that I am. But I've been a blubbering idiot around Katniss since we were eight years old.

There's no way she remembers that, but I can't forget it.

"Hey, um…" I say. "I heard about your dad. I'm really sorry."

Her eyes flash and she yanks her backpack up from where it had been sitting on the bench. She takes a breath like she's about to say something, but when she parts her lips, no sound comes out. Her eyes are glistening - but I doubt it has anything to do with crying. Katniss Everdeen doesn't cry; at least, I've never seen it. I wonder if anyone has.

"He was a good guy," I say. "I remember when he would-"

"I have to go," she says, clutching her backpack close to her chest. She avoids my eyes, staring down at the turf instead.

"Oh, alright," I say. "See you around."

She turns on her heel and hurries away, shoulders up by her ears, and leaves without a word.

"Well," I say to myself after she's out of earshot. "Fucked that up. Fucked that one right up."

…

"I heard from Laith that you were talking to the Everdeen girl again."

I jump when I hear my older brother, Sage's, voice from behind me. I fumble with the paper I'd been sketching on, quickly closing the book to hide it from his view.

"Jesus," he says. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," I say, one hand flat on the sketchbook. "And what do you mean 'again'? I haven't talked to Katniss for years."

"You probably have the last time written down somewhere," he says, pulling up a stool. "Were you adding today to your Katniss log just now?"

"Funny," I say.

"So, she's on the cheer squad, huh?" he continues, though I wish he'd leave me alone. I thought I'd get more time to myself once he started community college, but I've had no such luck. He still lives at home and he's more in my hair now than ever. We get along better than me and my oldest brother, Cale, do - but I still wouldn't have complained about a break from him. We've been lumped together since the day I was born, being that we're only one year apart.

"Uh-huh."

"Not what I expected from a girl of her ilk," he says thoughtfully.

I raise my eyebrows at him. "Since when do you use words like 'ilk'?" I ask. "Do you even know what that means?"

"College is turning me into a learned scholar," he says, tapping his temple.

"Yeah. Wonder if Blythe has anything to do with that." His new girlfriend, who graduated at the top of their class. He claims she'd been hiding a crush on him for years, but I'm still not sold. At least she gets him out of the house, though.

"Maybe Everdeen joined the cheer squad to keep an eye on you," Sage says.

I lift my eyebrows again, scoffing as I do. "She doesn't know I exist," I mutter.

"How could she forget about her first love?" Sage presses, batting his eyelashes for effect. "Maybe she's finally ready to ditch that sasquatch Hawthorne and be civilized."

"Gale's her friend," I say, trying not to sound defensive. Everyone knows that she and Gale Hawthorne are close - they're next-door neighbors. Their sisters are the same age; it only makes sense.

"You could be her 'friend' if you tried a little harder," Sage says.

I roll my eyes. "I don't know her anymore. I just talked to her today to make sure she was okay."

"Yeah, and to get your rocks off."

"No," I say - too quickly.

"Sure," he says, chuckling as he stands up to head to the front of the house where the bakery is. His shift starts in five minutes. "Old habits die hard, don't they?"

…

I get to practice early the next day so I can make sure I'm the first one there. A few members of the cheerleading squad are already on the track, so I try to act inconspicuous as I toss my stuff down and glance at them from the corner of my eye.

Katniss is there. She's off to the side, her hair in a loose, woven braid, wearing a pair of black shorts and a practice shirt. What sticks out is the big, blue bow positioned in her hair, a bit off-kilter - it looks out of place, but adorable at the same time. I've never seen her wear something like that.

I don't know if Katniss remembers our shared past, how close we used to be as kids. It seems silly to assume that she doesn't, but I don't really have a choice to think otherwise given how aloof she acts around me. And everyone else, I guess. Besides her sister and sometimes Gale.

It was ten years ago, when we were eight, that we had our first kiss just to see what kissing felt like. We were as close as two kids who grow up together could be, until her dad got sick and she stopped coming to school as often. After that, I wasn't sure how to act around her anymore. And, as childhood friendships often do, ours fell apart.

The first time we exchanged more than a nod or a tight smile was yesterday, and yesterday was pathetic. I'm determined to at least let her know that I'm genuinely sorry about her dad, because he was a good guy. When I didn't want to go home, he always made sure I knew that I had a place at their table. I'll never forget that.

As I'm making my way to the track, a few girls catch sight of me and wave. I wave back, and that motion grabs Katniss's attention. She watches me as I make the trip the rest of the way over.

"Hey," I say. I wanted to open with something better than stupid 'hey,' but what else is there to say? I know she's not exactly a chatterbox, so my goal is to keep the conversation short, but my mouth immediately gets away from me before I have any say in the matter. "Nice bow."

Her eyes darken and one hand shoots up to touch the fabric in her hair. She thinks I'm making fun of her.

"No, no!" I say. "I really do like it. It looks nice."

She lowers her hand and the look in her eyes reminds me of a cornered animal - she's trying to predict my next move, and I'm trying to predict hers. I'm probably a little easier to read, if I had to guess.

"It's stupid," she says. "They're making me wear it."

"Part of the uniform?"

She shrugs one shoulder and rolls her eyes lightly, and I can't help but smirk. Her surliness puts a lot of people off, but not me. It's just who she is.

"You're not exactly the first person I expected to see on the squad," I say.

"Believe me, I know," she replies.

"Katniss, quit talking to your boyfriend. We're doing stunts!" Delly calls. She meets my gaze and winks, saying, "Hey, Peeta."

"What's up, Delly," I say back.

"He is not my-" Katniss begins, but realizes that none of the girls are listening. She looks at me with those gray eyes and says, "I gotta go. They're going for round two, trying to kill me with stunts."

"How does it make sense throwing you around when you're the newest one?" I ask, trying to keep her around for a little longer.

"You tell me," she grumbles, then turns to go.

"Hey, wait," I say, catching her elbow. She looks down at my hand, so I let her free. "I meant it yesterday, you know. About your dad. I really am sorry. He was such a cool guy. I'm gonna miss him."

She presses her lips tightly together and studies my face, but doesn't say anything in response. At least I know she heard me this time, though, and she knows that I mean what I'm saying.

She gives me a little nod, then turns her back and jogs towards the rest of the squad. Before I head to join my own team, I catch sight of Delly forming the shape of a heart in the air with both pointer fingers, and Katniss slapping her wrist to get her to stop.

…

That evening, I'm the last one home and the sun is just starting to set. To avoid my mom, I go in through the front, through the bakery entrance, where my dad is counting down the drawer.

"Thought Sage was on tonight," I say.

"He's with Blythe, wouldn't you know," Dad says.

I chuckle to myself. "That's like, the fifth night in a row. She's gotta be sick of him by now."

"He's happy," Dad says, shrugging. "I got a chance to talk to him before he left. He told me you've been talking to Katniss again."

I close my eyes for a long moment and take a breath. "Once. Well, twice. Apparently it was important enough to tell you about."

"Apparently so," Dad says, the corners of his mouth lifting in a smirk as he continues to count the bills in front of him. He loses his smile when he says, "It's a shame, what happened to Alder."

"Yeah, I know," I mutter.

"I hope you extended our condolences to Katniss."

"I tried," I say. "That's what I've been… when I've talked to her, that's what I've been trying to do."

"Not just flirting?"

"Dad."

He laughs and replaces the money in the till, all counted up. "We were slow today. I put together a care package that I want you to take to the Everdeens." He glances out the window. "You can take the car."

Admittedly, my stomach jumps at the thought of a legitimate reason to see Katniss. I play it cool, though, nodding and tucking my hands into my pockets. "Alright," I say.

"If you're trying to impress anyone, I'd recommend a shower first," Dad says with a grin.

I throw my head back and groan. "I'm not trying to impress…" I don't even bother finishing the sentence because we both know it's not true. "I'll be quick," I say.

When I get out of the shower, I run a comb through my hair and throw on a hoodie and a pair of jeans. Dad tosses me the keys and I pick up the package, setting it carefully in the front seat before heading out to the Everdeens' neighborhood.

It's a little bit of a drive to get there; they live on the outskirts of town, where the houses are a bit more rundown. If it had been up to my mom alone, I wouldn't have been allowed to come play here as a kid. Luckily, my dad and Mrs. Everdeen had been friends in high school, and once in a while my mom listened to what my dad had to say. Back then, at least.

I pull up in their gravel driveway and see soft, yellow light coming from the living room window. From behind the curtains, I see the shadow of what must be Primrose flitting around. The last time I was over here, she was barely a toddler. I haven't interacted much with her since, only seen her in passing around town, at Katniss's side.

My hands are sweating, so I wipe them on my jeans before picking up the box. I let out a long, slow breath, trying to calm myself down, and roll my shoulders back before walking up the front path and knocking on the door.

"Someone's here!" Prim shouts, soft footsteps quickly following her voice.

"Hey, wait. Wait. I'll get it." Katniss pulls back the drapery on the window of the door and meets my eyes with a jolt. "Oh," she says, then unlocks it. "Hey…" she says, looking behind me like I might have brought friends. "What are you…?"

"Who's here?" Prim asks, peering around Katniss's side. "Peeta!"

"Hi," I say, smiling. I lift up the box and say, "My dad. He, um, he put this together for you guys. Kind of a care package sort of thing. He wanted me to bring it to you."

"Oh," she says, staring at it. I extend it to her, gesturing for her to take it, and she finally does.

"I'm not sure what's inside it-"

"Let's open it!" Prim says, snatching the box from Katniss. It's half as big as she is. "Come on, Peeta, don't you want to see?"

I shoot Katniss a wry smile, and she looks at me with what might be a bit of lightheartedness in her eyes. "I don't have to-"

"Yes, you do," Prim insists, setting the box down so she can grab my wrist and yank me inside. "We haven't had a friend come over in ten thousand years."

"You can come in," Katniss says softly, gesturing towards their entryway. "Prim, put the box on the table."

"So we can open it!"

"I do kinda wanna see what's inside," I say, trying to make Katniss feel comfortable. Why I'm trying to make her feel comfortable in her own home, I have no idea.

Prim deposits the box on the table and while Katniss helps her find scissors, I glance inconspicuously around the house. Mrs. Everdeen, Veil, is nowhere to be found. She used to be the first one to greet me at the door, back when me and Katniss were kids, with Prim on her hip. She always had a smile - one that I can still see so clearly in my head. The absence of her is palpable. The absence of Alder is, too.

But unlike Alder, I can sense that Veil is somewhere in the house. I don't want to bring down the mood and ask where, though, so I concentrate back on Prim's excitement as she opens my father's gift.

"Cookies!" she cheers, lifting out a bundle of them wrapped in blue cellophane. "And cupcakes! Katniss, look. Pink frosting!"

"Peeta," Katniss says, looking up from the treasures inside the box. "You didn't have to do this."

"I didn't," I say, shrugging. "It was my dad."

She shakes her head - not disapprovingly, more in disbelief - as she looks at what all Prim is pulling out. Muffins, pastries, more cookies, and…

"Cheese buns," Katniss says, and the first hint of a smile all night appears at the corners of her eyes.

Dad remembered. Katniss always used to love those things, savoring every last bite like he didn't make extra for her every time she came over.

"I'm so hungry, Katniss, can I have something? Please?" Prim begs, sticking out her lower lip and putting on a puppy dog face.

I know better than anyone that if Katniss is going to give in to anyone, it's Prim. So, of course, she says, "Fine."

"Peeta, you too!" Prim says, pushing some treats in my direction. "You pick something, too."

"Oh, I don't need to," I say. "It's for you guys. It's yours."

"Have something," Katniss says.

"Please? We want you to! We want you to eat with us," Prim says, quick fingers working on unwrapping an intricate bundle of cookies.

"I mean, if you insist," I say, smiling. I pick something simple - something that they won't miss - and sit down on the bench beside Katniss.

Prim tears into a cookie like it's her last day on earth. "Is this because of our dad?" she asks.

"Prim, chew," Katniss says with an eye-roll.

"I am."

"Chew, then talk."

Prim exaggeratedly chews the bite of her cookie, swallows loudly while staring at her sister, then looks at me. "Did your dad make all this for us because our dad died?" she asks again.

"Prim."

"Why can't I say anything?!"

"You just… you… ugh," Katniss sighs, rubbing her temples.

"He wanted to let you guys know how sorry we are, yeah," I say. "Your dad was always kind to me."

"You used to be over here all the time," Prim says, picking a chocolate chip off the top of her cookie and popping it into her mouth. "Even though I was little, I remember. You can still come over, you know. Why don't you come here anymore?"

"I… I don't know," I say.

"Prim, you're being weird."

Prim sticks her tongue out at Katniss and says, "You're the one who likes him-likes him."

My face flushes red and I can barely believe what I just heard. Katniss has gone completely still and Prim, who seems to have no idea that she just dropped a bomb, keeps on eating. The last thing I want to do is call attention to what she said, though, I don't want to put Katniss on the spot, so I change the subject.

"So, um, cheerleading?" I ask, clearing my throat.

It's the first thing that came to mind. I'm still going over Prim's words though. Katniss likes me? Likes me-likes me? Like, has a crush on me? Or more of a 'just friends' thing? We haven't spoken in years. I had no idea she even thought about me, let alone still had any warm feelings towards me.

My mind is going to be turning itself inside out for the foreseeable future over one sentence said by a twelve-year-old.

"Yeah," Katniss says, trying to recover.

"I wouldn't expect that from you."

"Me, neither," she says. "But there were no openings on any other teams, and if I want any sort of chance of getting a scholarship…" She sighs and shrugs. "I don't even know if it matters. I should probably just quit before they crack my head open, or something."

"No, you can't quit!" Prim says. "People at school finally think I'm cool because my sister is a varsity cheerleader. Even if you suck at it, which you kind of do."

"Thanks," Katniss deadpans.

"Is your knee, um, okay?" I ask. "From yesterday."

"My knee?" she asks, turning to face me for only a second. When our eyes meet, the apples of her cheeks flush red and she turns away again. "Oh, my knee. Yeah, it's fine. I'm used to cuts and scrapes like that. It's fine."

"Yeah, 'cause she's out in the woods all the time like an animal," Prim says. "So unladylike. You and Gale the squirrel lover out in the woods being gross."

Something toils in my stomach at the mention of Gale. Distaste? It's not jealousy, is it? There's no way I am jealous of Gale Hawthorne, who's basically like an older brother to the Everdeens. He's two years older than us, which means that he was much too cool for me and Katniss when we were little. Now, though, they spend a significant amount of time together. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Well, I am sure how I feel about it. But it's a stupid way to feel, so I'd rather pretend I don't know.

"Why do you think I go out there so much?" Katniss asks playfully. "To get away from you."

Prim crosses her arms in a huff and lifts her chin, but the smile on her face lets me know she's joking too. She finishes her cookie and reaches for another one, and though Katniss eyes her as she does, she gets away with it.

"You better stay here more now that Mom's hiding away all the time," Prim says, her voice lower.

"Prim."

"What? It's true," she says, resting her cheek in one palm and then looking at me. "Mom has been in her room for like, a week." She sighs. "I miss her."

"I bet," I say.

"She's sad because of Dad," Prim continues. Katniss watches her carefully. "But I'm sad, too, and I'm not hiding." She looks at her sister. "You're not hiding."

"My brother is like that," I say, chiming in after a long silence. "My oldest one, Cale. You don't know him, Prim. But when we were little, and all of us would fight, or get mad, or get sad, he would bottle all of his feelings up. He dealt with them on his own. It's not how me or my other brother, Sage, work, but… it worked for him. He had to kind of process what was going on in his head by himself before he felt okay enough to be normal with us again." I shrug. "It confused me a lot when I was younger, but I understand better now."

Prim looks at me for a while, those crystal blue eyes deep in thought, before nodding and directing her attention back to the treat in her hands.

I don't want to wear out my welcome, so I get up before long and say that I should get back home to finish up the book that we're supposed to read for English class. School starts in a few days, and I'm not even halfway done.

Katniss walks me to the door, telling Prim to go wash up for bed. She lingers while I put my shoes on, and I take my time tying them. I don't want to go. Although the weight of sadness lingers in the air, it's still nice being at this house. It's just as comfortable as it was when I was younger.

"Were you telling the truth back there?" she asks, arms crossed. I meet her eyes and find hers already searching my face. "To my sister. About Cale."

"Oh," I say, one hand on the doorknob. "Yeah. I was."

Katniss nods. "I think it helped. To hear that," she says. "She's been confused. So… um, thanks."

"Yeah," I say. "No problem."

"And thanks for the sweets. Your dad really didn't have to do that."

I smile. "In his mind, he did. Don't forget that he always used to call you his favorite daughter."

She smiles a little and looks at the floor, touching a scuff mark with the toe of her socked foot. "I shouldn't have stopped coming…" she begins, but trails off into a quiet sigh. "Even with Dad and things here, I really did like being…" She sighs again. "I don't know. I'm glad you stopped over. And I'm glad we can see each other. At practice, you know."

"Me, too," I say. I have to actively try to keep my smile at bay so I don't come off crazy. "Yeah. I'm really glad about that, too." I turn the knob and open the door, met with the cooling September night air. "So… practice, tomorrow," I say. "See you there?"

She shoots a smile back at me - a small one, but one that matters. "See you there," she says, and I turn to leave with a warm glow in my chest that hasn't been there for years.