And she never did forget the deed. She wasn't sure of Peeta though. She vividly remembered going to school the next day, trying hard to locate Peeta when she saw a large crowd near the end of the hallway, just outside her class. When she neared, she saw a bunch of girls, Cidy Bason, Emma Pelter and several other popular girls. And the surprise of seeing Peeta being flocked by them was overwhelming. There weren't only girls, but boys from the rugby and football team, slapping Peeta on the back and giving him the smile. The one that they reserved for cool kids. Katniss had wanted to approach Peeta before but she immediately recoiled. Drawing her hand back, she walked into class, hunching and keeping her face down. However, luck was not on her side that day. "Hey Kitty!" someone called. Katniss turned and met the eyes of the coolest people in class. All in all, Katniss never was one to give a damn about people's perception of her. But at the moment, among the sea of unfriendly faces, she knew that Peeta's was looking at hers, watching her every move.
To make matters worse, Ryan Reynolds made his way over and grabbed her already torn bag from her narrow shoulders and lifted it up. It was meant to snatch her bag away but since Katniss was so skinny, it lifted her from the floor as well. This cracked the whole group up and Katniss, not wanting to, felt something sad swell up in her. It was while she was holding her tears when a slightly tanned arm reached up to grasp Ryan's arm and yanked it off Katniss. Katniss felt herself fall to the floor, only to be held up by an arm that was so…muscular. Katniss noticed this with a wave of discomfort, only to realize that this belonged to Peeta's. He was holding her up by the waist with one arm and settled her to the floor. Katniss straightened up and looked not at Ryan but Peeta in a silent plea to help her get her bag back. She didn't need to. Peeta was still holding Ryan's arm and tightened his grip so hard that Ryan's face turned an interesting shade of purple and Peeta's tendons stuck out against his fair pallor. There was no need for words. Ryan had shrugged the bag off and handed it to Katniss, the look on his face showing all signs of rebuttal but he didn't say anything. He retracted his arm, only to be stopped by Peeta.
"Apologise to the girl." his voice was laced with venom. This time, Ryan had something to say. "Hey, who the hell do you think you are?" he cried, trying to act cool but still grimacing under Peeta's grip. "Who the hell I am doesn't matter. What a decent person should do is apologise. Or didn't your mother teach you manners?" Peeta was still calm although his eyes held something that promised a good deal of bloodshed. Ryan laughed, his tone something like unbelieving. And that was when he said the wrong thing. "Alright, my mum didn't. But at least I have a mom. That pathetic little spawn doesn't even have anybody. Nothing!" he yelled, his words hitting the right spot. Katniss couldn't take it. She felt the tears that she held back spill, staining her cheeks and wetting her lips. She let her hair shroud her face, willing herself to stop. Moments later, she looked up to see Peeta staring at her, his eyes full of shock and recognition. He scanned her attire all the way down and she saw recognition in his eyes. He was able to relate the fact that Katniss lived with Aunt Julian and not her parents, her clothes and most of all, her absolute patheticness. Then something sparked in his eyes and although Katniss had had many dreams about evil monsters since her Daddy died, she saw this come to life. It was inside Peeta and Katniss was scared.
Before she could react, she saw the swift motion of Peeta's hands moving to grasp the front of Ryan's shirt and dragging him the two feet space between them, then connecting his fist solidly with Ryan's face. She heard a gratifying crack and the thud of Ryan falling flat to the floor, slumped unconscious and blood trickling down his chin. Although she didn't want to, she screamed. And the popular kids who had been watching all the while kept screaming and screaming and screaming too. It was chaos. She barely registered what was happening. All she kept her eyes riveted on was Peeta. He was looking down, wiping his bloody fist against his coat and something like exhaustion took over and his body leaned forward. He let out a sigh and looked around briefly, then his gaze landed on Katniss. And for a moment, it was just them, the blue-eyed boy and the grey-eyed girl. Everything around them was happening in slow motion when all of a sudden, Mr Albert, the strictest teacher in the entire school grabbed Peeta by the back and led him to the office. Katniss watched as Peeta walked away. And Peeta never looked back.
Since that incident, Peeta and Katniss had never so much as breathed a word to each other. Katniss was first sad because she thought that he was finally the true friend that she had been searching for all this while but when he cut all forms of communication from her, she deemed that he didn't care. She was only something dragging his popularity down and popularity was essential to survive. So for eleven years, he would always linger in the most hidden part of her mind, but never gone. The only closest form of communication was when she dropped her books in the hallway and Peeta, who was laughing and hanging by her locker with his other friends on the rugby team, bent down and collected her books, handing them to her within a couple of seconds. Then he walked away. On several occasions too, she had walked over to the 5th grade class to get Prim when she turned and found Peeta's gaze on her. Usually, it flitted away to stare at the grass or a building and Katniss would once again feel this heaviness in her heart. Once, it happened exactly the same way, only that Peeta didn't look away. He kept staring, his eyes holding no form of emotion except one of longing. A pure look of longing. To do, to do what? She saw Peeta start towards her, only to be stopped by one of the other guys. As if being awoken by some lazer shock, he drew back and caught himself. And that was it. He walked away as if the whole thing didn't happen and Katniss was left to fight the turmoil of emotions.