Peeta and Thresh shoved each other out the door of their Law class on their way to the cafeteria. Peeta was already dreaming of tacos for lunch when Thresh jabbed Peeta in the gut with his elbow and then wiggled his eyebrows at the girls. Peeta gave Thresh a sly grin and his blue eyes twinkled with mischief. They'd been doing this every day for weeks.
The two of them approached Madge and Delly, who were sitting on the floor with their backs to Delly's locker, totally engrossed in their phones. Faster than lightning, their hands snaked out to grab the girls by their ankles and dragged them out onto the floor. Delly was still squealing and kicking in an attempt to make Peeta let her go when Katniss walked out of her French class, located right across the hall from Delly's locker.
Peeta dropped Delly's feet to the floor with a thud, ignoring her yelp of pain when her ankles hit the floor. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "Hey Katniss," he said, as she approached. Katniss shot him a scowl worthy of the Grumpy Cat t-shirt she had on under her hoodie and turned her attention to Thresh, her expression turning into an amused quirk of her lips.
"Thresh, what exactly are you doing to my friend?"
Thresh, still holding tight to Madge's ankles, gave Katniss an unrepentant grin. His eyes danced and his straight white teeth lit up his entire face. "Oh hey, Kat. You know. What we do best. Tease the girls, right Peet?"
Katniss rolled her eyes at Thresh. "You never change," she sighed. They knew each other, Peeta remembered. Thresh had dated Katniss's friend Rue for over a year. In fact, Peeta figured his gentle giant friend probably still had a thing for the pixie-like Rue. He hadn't gone out with another girl since their break-up a few months back.
"-you, Peeta?" Katniss asked.
"What? Sorry," he apologized, hoping the heat on his cheeks wasn't too apparent. "I didn't quite catch that."
Katniss shook her head. "I asked if he was corrupting you," she repeated, the slight crease in her brow giving away her annoyance. Just great, he thought. She thinks I'm an idiot.
Thresh slapped Peeta on the back. "He taught me everything I know. Didn't ya, Peet?"
"On the wrestling mat, maybe," Peeta replied.
"Well, you better watch out, Kat. You never know when we might take you by surprise."
Katniss's silver eyes rolled again. "Good luck with that, Thresh." She turned her attention back to Madge and Delly, who had resumed their positions against the locker. "Madge, are you going to have lunch in the cafeteria today?"
Peeta only half listened to Madge's polite refusal, something about working on a project with Delly. Instead, he was watching the look of disappointment on Katniss's face as she waved to her friend. He'd just opened his mouth to invite her to eat with him and Thresh when she waved to the group and headed down the hall.
"It is so on, Kat," called Thresh.
She smirked at them over her shoulder and disappeared around the corner.