Hi! Unlike the ones so far, this is based off of something mentioned in the book. I made up an age for this because I don't recall the book being specific on this. If I'm wrong, please correct me!

I hope you enjoy it, and please review!

iii. Strong

"Peeta!" Peeta whirled around, "Peeta, wait up!" It was one of his friends, Louis, calling after him.

"What?" Peeta asked, standing still. He looked for Louis among the large clump of school kids swarming around him, but didn't have such success until Louis was straight in front of him.

"We're finally old enough to try out for wrestling!" Louis exclaimed, shoving a piece of paper in Peeta's face. Peeta looked down on the paper, it read:

Wrestling Try-Outs

Age 13 and older

Monday! Don't be late.

"I'm assuming you're trying out, then," Peeta said, still staring at the bright blue piece of paper.

"Of course," he said, giving Peeta a sock in the shoulder, "You should too! It'll be a lot of fun!"

"Oh, I don't-" Peeta began, looking down the hallway.

"C'mon Peeta," he said, "You won't regret it. You'll be great at it too, from lifting all that bread."

Peeta considered it. Louis was right, though, he had gotten quite strong from lifting bread in and out of the oven for the past few years. And who knows, maybe it would be fun.

"Sorry," a girl said, bumping into his arm. He looked up. It was none other than Katniss Everdeen, his secret crush for years. She hadn't ever talked to him, really, but where their arms met Peeta felt a slight tingle.

"So," Louis pestered, pulling Peeta from his daydreams, "How about it?"

"Hmm… I guess," Peeta said, "Why not." The truth was, he figured that maybe if he joined the wrestling team, maybe it would catch Katniss' attention. Maybe she'd notice him. Maybe she'd like him. There were a lot of 'maybes' coming from this, and they weren't ones that Peeta planned on missing.

"Exactly," Louis said, nodding his head, "So, try-outs are Monday! Get ready." He then stormed off down the halls, probably looking for another one of their friends to convince.

***

Louis had successfully been able to convince two more of their friends to try out. On Monday the four of them stood in the far right corner of the room. The room was packed with many district 12 schoolboys of various ages.

Every time one more student entered, Peeta continued to think that this wasn't such a good idea. He had not only convinced his parents that this was a good idea, but he also got them into thinking that it was going to be the best thing that ever happened to him. If he didn't make, they would be devastated.

"Competition looks tough," Louis commented, scanning the room.

"Yeah," one of his other friends said, "I doubt I'll make it."

"Attention!" the wrestling couch shouted, "We'd like to begin try-outs. Now. Please form a line from shortest to tallest."

Peeta found himself almost exactly in the middle of the line, while all of his friends were on the shorter side. Maybe Peeta did have a chance, being one of the tallest boys in his class.

The coach had them do various warm-ups and some weightlifting before going into combat with one another.

Peeta won his first match against one of his classmates. It wasn't too hard to win, because the boy was on the weaker side. However, Peeta felt terrible when he had to pin the poor boy to the ground. It just didn't feel quite right.

In his second match, it was against someone who was against two years his senior. It was a close match, but resulted in Peeta loosing. While he was disappointed in himself for not fighting harder, his friends assured him that it was nearly impossible to win against someone who was two years older.

A few minutes later, it was time for his third match.

"The winner of this match will get to be on the time, while the loser won't. Let's have: Peeta Mellark vs. Louis Ballot. Fight!"

Peeta and Louis approached each other on the mat. This wasn't what either of them wanted, at all. They both wanted to be on team, together.

Peeta felt bad to have to punch one of his best friends in the face. At least Louis new the match was a friendly one, right?

After various blows to one another, Peeta finally came out victorious. He knew that he should have felt proud of him making the team, and he knew that his parents sure would be. But he, himself, wasn't as proud. It felt like he had betrayed a friend to get his position on the team.

"Sorry, Louis," Peeta apologized.

"No," Louis said, shaking his head vigorously, "Don't be. You deserve it. Now I can cheer you on, at games. Plus, I can always try out next year."

"You sure?" Peeta asked.

"Positive," he said, giving Peeta a large slap on the back.

Maybe Louis and his parents were right from the beginning. Maybe this would be the best thing that ever happened to him.