Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins does.

Ch. 3

Katniss's POV:

"Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen."

I was calm on the outside; but on the inside, I was jumping for joy. I was paired up with my crush Peeta Mellark.

"You may use the rest of class to discuss your projects." Mrs. Trinket told us.

I picked up my books and went to Peeta's desk at the front of the class.

"Hey Peeta. What do you want to do for the project?"

"I was thinking that we could do portraits displaying our personalities." (A/N: I know nothing about art, so I don't know if this is an actual thing.)

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

I had no idea what he was talking about.

"I mean that instead of painting a self-portrait that we could paint our personalities." He explained to me.

"How would we do that?"

"I'll show you."

He took out his sketchbook and a pack of colored pencils and started asking me questions.

"Favorite color?"

"Forest green."

He started to draw. I tried to see what Peeta was doing, but he kept covering his sketchbook.

"Favorite flower?"

"Dandelions."

"Favorite animal?"

"Mocking jay."

"Favorite place?"

"The woods."

He continued sketching, switching between various colors every now and then.

"I'm finished." He said. "It's not that good though."

He showed me what he was drawing. And it was beautiful. It was a picture of a meadow of dandelions with the woods outside of it. There was a flock of mocking jays in the sky. Peeta made the picture come to life by shading things lighter or darker than others. I felt as if I was there, standing in the meadow. It was surreal.

"What are you talking about Peeta? This is amazing."

"Katniss, there's no need to sugarcoat how bad it actually is."

I wonder why Peeta thinks his artistic ability isn't good. Is he just that self-depreciating? He's so modest. Gah! I'm thinking too much again. Hold on think Peeta's asking me something. I come out of my thoughts to see Peeta staring at me. I try not to blush; but when I feel my cheeks heating up, I know it's a lost cause.

"What did you say?"

"I was saying that I have to work at the bakery today; so if you want to work on the project, you're gonna have to come to the bakery to work on the project."

"Sure. I'm just gonna have to ask if my friend can bring Prim home."

Just then the bell rang.

"I'll meet you at the front doors after I let Prim know where I'm going."

"Ok."

Peeta's POV:

Oh my god. I can't believe that I just did that. I invited Katniss to the bakery. What if she saw my mom yell at me? Or worse. If she saw my mom hit me. I groaned. What did I just get myself into? I kept chanting in my head as I walked outside to wait for Katniss.

It's been ten minutes already. I was getting anxious. My mom was go to be extremely pissed at me for being late. I was about to start heading to the bakery without Katniss when she burst through the doors. She was panting and out of breath as she told me why she was late.

"Sorry…. I'm late… I was…. telling…. my sister…. that Johanna…. was bringing her…. home."

"It's okay, but we gotta get going."

I grabbed her wrist and started dragging her to the bakery. She kept tripping over her feet, but I didn't care about that. I was more worried about my mom and how pissed she was going to be. But if I looked back I would have noticed a faint blush on Katniss's cheeks.

The bakery was closed when I got there. My mom usually closed it around 3:30. I called out to my mom when I entered the bakery.

"Mom, I'm here, and I brought a friend from school." My mom walked out from the back. She was smiling, but I could see the anger in her eyes.

"Peeta, I'm glad you're here. Can you come and help me with the cupcakes? You know how terrible I am at frosting."

"Sure mom, I'll be right there."

I turned to Katniss.

"You don't mind waiting here, do you?"

She shook her head.

"Great, just find a table to work on. I'll be right back."

I went toward the back where my mom was waiting for me. She was tapping her foot impatiently.

"You're late."

I looked down at my feet, not meeting her gaze.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled.

She slapped the back of my head and glared at me.

"I'll deal with you later. Now finish these cupcakes for tomorrow." She said, walking back to the front.

"Yes mother."

I walked back out to the front to see my mom glaring at Katniss. She looked really uncomfortable.

"Mom, I'm finished."

"Thank you Peeta. I'll be in the office if you need me."

I sat down at the table and started to get out what we were going to need for the project.

"Your mom seems nice."

"She usually is, but she can be a little intense." I explained to her, lying through my teeth. "Let's get started on our project."

We spent the next few hours talking about ourselves. I told her that my favorite color was sunset orange, my favorite flower was a primrose (she laughed a little when I said this), my favorite animal was also a mocking jay, and my favoriite place was the beach. I also learned some more about each other. I learned that Katniss loves archery and her little sister Primrose which explained why she laughed about my favorite flower. She found out that I love to paint and wrestle. I told her about my family before the accident, and she told me about hers. It was around five o'clock when Katniss had to leave. After she left, my mom came out of the office.

"Get back here in the kitchen and help me finish making these pastries Peeta."

I spent the next couple of hours in the kitchen with my mother baking pastries. It was times like this that I felt like she was back to how she was before the accident. We closed the shop at seven, and it looked like my mother had decided to let me off. But that thought was quickly crushed when I saw her standing at the top of the stairs, staring me down.

"Come here boy. It's time for you to learn your lesson for being late."

She took me to the office. It's where she usually gave me my "punishments" as she called them. It always smelled of smoke, but my mom never smoked. She just burned them for whenever she wanted to burn me. She slapped me when I got through the door. I was used to the hits, but I still stumbled back.

"You are an idiot! Do you not understand the words early or on time?!" She hit me harder with each word.

I tripped over a chair leg.

"Get up! I didn't say you could sit down!" She started to kick me when I wouldn't get up. "Useless piece of shit!"

She grabbed a cigarette from the ash tray and pressed it just under my ribs. I let out a scream of pain. I passed out after that. When I came to, I found a note that said I would get no dinner for tonight. I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost nine. I went upstairs and got ready for bed. I passed out when my head it the pillows. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Was the last thought I had before I fell unconscious.

Let me know what you think about the chapter. Constructive criticism is always welcome. - GDoD.