Katniss first felt hopeless, drained of faith and positively fuming. She came out renewed, full of jive and all in all, dramatically opposite. How the transformation occurred went past her notice but all she knew was that she was gripping somebody's hand so hard that it might break. But who cared anyway? Prim was safe and that was all that mattered. She could just scream at the relief and at last, she felt her heart slow…to a stop. She felt her eyes go wide again and watched with unrequited dread and confusion as a boy whom she recognized from years ago took his place on stage. Ashen blond hair, stocky build and those blue eyes. No one should have eyes as blue as that Katniss thought. She had only woken up at the crack of dawn and had caught the most magical shade of blue that resembled that of the boy's. It was Peeta Mellark.
She had never addressed the owner directly but he left the deepest impression. Without really realizing it, Katniss's gaze skittered all over him and she found herself admitting that he looked more handsome and grown up than before. Her eyes landed on his and for just a quadrant of a second, their eyes met. A moment later, his eyes flitted away quickly and she blushed to the roots of her hair. Why does he have this control over the regulation of my body temperature? she thought and later cursed herself. Then something hit her-Peeta didn't look so much as scared at all. There were no traces of fear or horror or anything. He only held a bored, tired and sober look like a child who was hearing the same lecture over and over again.
"Oh." Effie said and then quickly recovered by adding "What an exciting day, come on, take your place then." And ushered Peeta near the podium. All Katniss could actually do was keep from letting her jaw drop. Her mind was processing only one thought which was 'What is he doing?' Oh well, and another clawing at the back of her brain going 'Why him of all people?' Putting both thoughts together, Katniss vaguely reminisced the day it all started. The first day she saw him…