He barely had his coat off the next morning when she pounced.
Katniss's grey eyes sparked in fury. "You!" she sputtered. "You tricked me!"
"K- Katniss. Just hold on a minute," Peeta's arms flew up defensively.
She brandished the bouquet of daisies in his face. He was relieved to see they were still in one piece and didn't wilt overnight. Those little water picks he stole from the kitchen drawer must have worked.
"I don't know how you managed to get them in here before I arrived, but I bet you had a good laugh over it, didn't you?"
"Laugh? What? No," he protested.
"Sure," she sneered. "It's all just another prank to you, isn't it?"
"Katniss-" he tried to cut in.
"Well guess what, Peeta? It's not funny."
Turning his back on her, he slammed his locker and jabbed the lock closed. Taking a deep breath, he turned to face her, shoving his hands in his pockets. "You said I couldn't take you by surprise, but it sure seems like I did. I wasn't trying to embarrass you or piss you off. Most girls would think it was sweet."
She scoffed. "Well, I'm not like any of the other girls you've bought flowers for."
He looked down at the yellow daisies in their green cellophane wrapper. They'd seemed so cheerful in the grocery store display. He'd been hoping for a reaction from Katniss, but never considered they'd cause this level of drama.
He cleared his throat nervously. "I've never bought a girl flowers before."
Katniss's gaze fell to the flowers and when her eyes met his again, the temper in them had banked to a simmer. "Never? Not even for a girl you're taking on a date?"
Peeta didn't date, not really. Mostly, he just went out with friends in mixed groups and enjoyed the company of whoever among the girls was unattached that night. It was easy, uncomplicated. There was only one girl in the whole school he was seriously interested in, and she was not especially happy with him at the moment.
"Never."
Her pretty pink lips formed an O and she adjusted the flowers in her arms, holding them a little closer to her Guns 'n Roses t-shirt.
"You better put those away if they embarrass you."
Katniss shuffled her booted feet and nodded, turning to go back to her own locker. She only got a few steps away when he found his voice again.
"Hey Katniss?" She whipped around, looking puzzled. "What colour is your dress?"
"My what?"
A sly feeling stole over him. He finally had her off her guard. "Your dress? For the dance? What colour is it?"
Katniss gaped at him. "What?"
His arms crossed over his chest. "I won the bet. We're going to the dance together. So what color is your dress?"
Her silver eyes blinked twice.
"You're not gonna welch on me, are you?"
Katniss swallowed.
"Green," she choked. And then she fled, her dark braid trailing behind her.