Thank you to all the people who have reviewed, followed and favorited! I think I'm going to continue this story, I've got the next couple of chapters already outlined. Keep reading, I promise you won't regret it.

I also am not so good with tenses, so I'm sorry if I switch back and forth sometimes but I think this chapter is pretty consistent. Anyway, enjoy!

I glanced at my watch for the hundredth time, afraid of being late for my first committee meeting. Turning the corner, I didn't even register the tall blonde until I was walking straight into him, dropping my files and papers everywhere. "I'm so sorry," we stuttered at the same. I immediately got down to pick everything up, irritated that I was now running 5 minutes behind schedule.

"It was totally my fault," he offered, kneeling on the ground to help me collect my scattered items. "Glad it's not coffee because then I'd be obligated to take you out for a new one."

I scowled, snatching the papers from his hand while searching for a pen. "So am I, especially because I'm already late."

"And hey look, now we're both late. Where are you heading?" As this stranger extended a hand to help me up, I was stunned silent when I realized he was far from one. He looked surprised too, but regained his composure instantly the way all good politicians do. "Katniss Everdeen," he breathed, running a hand through his hair. "Never thought I'd see you again."

I felt his eyes glance over me once, making me suddenly aware of my black blouse, green blazer and black pencil skirt hidden under a dark pea coat.

"Mr. Mellark," I said quickly, my face heating up in embarrassment. Had I really just snapped at the man whose campaign I would be working on for the next 8 months? "Nice to finally meet you," I said in an attempt to regain some professionalism.

"Mr. Mellark is my dad. You can call me Peeta," he suggested while nodding in the direction of the hotel elevators. I followed, speeding to keep up with his long strides. "You never answered my question from before. Where are you heading?" He asked, in an attempt to make small talk while the elevator descended from the 16th to the 12th floor.

I gave him a confused look, but his genuine smile gave no indication that he was joking. "To a meeting with you, actually. I'm you're new fundraising chair."

That one clearly caught him by surprise, because the elevator arrived before he was even able to form a response. "Oh wow," he managed to get out as we stepped into the elevator. "Shows you how much I know about my own campaign," he joked, trying to play off his lack of knowledge.

I laughed along, not only because he was my boss, but because of the pink tint that started to spread across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose that I couldn't help but admit was cute. Seeing him in person was much different than looking up pictures online – online, you couldn't see the freckles that lined his nose, or how when he smiles, his whole face lights up. "Don't even worry about it, it was all on pretty short notice," I offerd, trying to distract myself. I hated to admit it, but Madge was right. Peeta was very attractive.

Dressed fairly casually in a tailored blue button down and khaki slacks, I spotted evidence of free time spent in the gym in his arms that looked like they could carry a hundred briefcases. His haircut was professional but youthful, slightly messy from his habit to run his hands through it. His words brought me out of my daze.

"So what brings you here to my campaign? You know, aside from my good looks and boyish charm?" His last words caught me off guard. Did he catch me staring at his arms, or subtly checking out his dimples?

I faltered. "Uh, um, what did you say?"

Peeta rubbed the back of his neck, the blush returning. "Oh I'm sorry, was that inappropriate to say? I've been hanging around interns for weeks, and they laugh at pretty much anything I say." The elevator opened at the lobby, and I felt slightly relieved to make my escape.

"Well, I'm going to take the SEPTA, so I guess I'll catch you at the office," I called behind me as I tried to speed to the entrance. A two minute conversation with my boss, and I had already managed to embarrass myself three times. But just as quickly as I tried to lose him, Peeta caught up with me.

He flashed me the grin that got him elected to the Philadelphia City Council. "Oh man, what a coincidence, I take the SEPTA too!"

I shivered as the cold air hit my face. Warm D.C. weather was one of things I missed the most. I gave Peeta a look of disbelief as we walked side by side to the subway. "Ok, you can't blame me for that one. We're staying at the four seasons. Your management team has offered me money for rent. I've seen your finances. I think it's reasonable for me to assume that you would get driven to work every day."

He shrugged, giving me indication that I was probably right. "And while I do have a preference for private cars, traffic in this city is terrible," he remarked, emphasizing the last word. "Plus, Haymitch thinks that if voters see me taking the train just like them, they'll be able to relate to me more."

I nodded with a smile. "Taking a page from the Bloomberg book, I see. I hope you know how lucky you are to have Haymitch as your campaign manager, he is truly a political genius." Peeta scoffed at my remark as we turned the corner.

"You think I don't? Everything I've done so far was thanks to him. I couldn't have beat out Brutus Rockwell for his city council seat without him. He's a smart guy who also hires smart people."

Peeta's subtle compliment almost flew over my head, but I sent him a small smile in return as we ducked into the subway. I expected it to be similar to the D.C. metrorail, but I froze as we entered the station. Peeta stopped a few feet in front of me, giving me a confused look as he pulled out his farecard. "I have no idea how to ride this. How to I buy a metrocard? Where is the station attendant?"

He playfully rolled his eyes at my moment of stupidity. "Wow, good thing you ran into me or else you would have been completely clueless. We're already late so you can just swipe in with mine, but how about I show you around the city and how to work the SEPTA sometime?" I raised my eyebrows skeptically.

"Do you not have a campaign to run? Or a job as city councilor to do?" He shrugged, handing me his subway pass.

"I mean, it's still February. I've already declared my intent to run. It's all behind the scenes stuff until the primaries in May - race really heats up in the summer. You and Finnick are only here because money is the most important part of the campaign, to be honest. But I actually do have to swing by city hall at some point in time today to do some work. I'm trying to get a park built in North Philly," he casually remarked as we waited for the train.

I keep myself from gasping, but his last words sparked my interest. "A park?" I asked, trying not to seem too interested.

"Yeah, some developers are trying to turn this beautiful strip of forest into one of those huge chain restaurants. I'm trying to work out a compromise where the land gets turned into a park, but where they have sole licensing for food trucks and such," he explained nonchalantly. I looked at him in awe, surprised that someone could care enough about a park to try and fight big developers with lots of money.

The station slowly filled up as people waited for the next train to North Philadelphia, scheduled to arrive in two minutes. "That's really great, I've always had a soft spot for parks and forests."

He looked at me with a small smile. "That makes sense, considering that you were the winner of Bakerfield's junior hunting championships in what, 2002? All the boys in town were sore about it for days because they got their asses kicked by a girl." A loud horn signaled the arrival of the metro.

I studied Peeta's face as we boarded the train. "I can't believe you remember that," I said incredulously. "I was a freshman, so you must have been a senior? To be honest, I didn't know anybody even knew I existed in high school." My mind flashed back to lunches spent alone in the cafeteria, trying to get ahead on my work I knew I wouldn't have time to finish at home.

"You know, you miss a lot of things when you're not looking," he said distractedly as the train lurched into motion. I let his cryptic words pass, waiting for him to get out of his daze. Eventually he turned back to me eventually, the same chirpy focused Peeta he was before. "So Katniss, tell me how you've been?"

By the time Peeta and I walked into his campaign office 25 minutes later, I had to admit that he was every bit as charming as everyone said he was. He could spin any uncomfortable silence into laughter, and turn any boring story interesting. But as we walked through the door, I noticed a subtle change. As interns ran to him for his signature on some papers, or asked him his opinion on an idea, he was no longer the Peeta whose cheeks would turn pink while telling an embarrassing story. He was Mr. Mellark, the young business and city councilman who was running for the House of Representatives.

"Glad you two finally decided to grace us with your presence," Haymitch's deep voice called out, grabbing our attention. He was leaning against the wall just past the receptionist, stack of papers in one hand and coffee in the other. "We're all waiting in conference room C."

Once we were all seated around the big round table, I looked around at the people I would be working with for the next 9 months. Haymitch made no motion to do introductions, but I was sure they had looked me up on the internet the same was I had looked them up. To my right was Johanna Mason, the campaign's technology chair. Her short brown hair and permanent frown gave her an unapproachable vibe, but Peeta had mentioned on the train that she works best alone. Next to her was Delly Cartwright, the loud and overbearing head of the field department. She was responsible for interacting with voters on a local level – running phone banks, canvasses, and other smaller events.

To my left was Finnick, looking as handsome as ever in a perfectly tailored navy suit. He and Peeta were huddled together closely, appearing to be deep in a serious conversation. On the other side of Peeta was Effie, whose over-exaggerated makeup and bright clothes made me question how she found her way into politics in the first place. She was the communications/publicity manager, taking care of all of Peeta's public events and media portrayal.

Directly across from me was Haymitch, who winked at me before banging his fist on the table. Everyone jumped in their seats, immediately turning their attention to him as he stood up. "Welcome everybody to our first committee meeting," he boomed, looking everyone in the eye before continuing. "We have a lot of business to get done, so let me get straight to the point. It is currently February 8th, primaries are held on May 20th and elections are on November 4th. That means we have 4 months to get the democratic nomination, and 10 to win Alma Coin's seat in the House of Representatives. Right now, our goal is to get the Democratic nomination over Enobaria Willis, who is, as I'm sure you all know is cutthroat and will do everything in her power to win. However, all that means is that we have to be even more aggressive. Polls are showing that Peeta Mellark has very little name recognition." I caught Peeta wrinking his nose out of the corner of my eye. "Do any of you guys have any suggestions to change that?"

Everyone looked around at each other as Haymitch opened the floor for discussion. Johanna spoke first, her voice confident. "I think we should start with an ad campaign in the district, so while people are watching TV they can see Peeta's face and connect it to the name."

Finnick flipped through a couple of papers before speaking. "TV ads are way more expensive than you think, plus they're becoming way less cost effective with the inventions of Netflix and Hulu. As of now we have about one hundred and fifty grand in donations from private companies. I think that we shouldn't be spending more than 20 grand on advertising that may not be cost effective." He turned to me. "Katniss, thoughts?"

I widened my eyes as everyone turned their attention to me. I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm my nerves. Why was I even nervous? I had spent days outlining various ideas, just in case someone asked me. "I think that we should try an event that both creates name recognition and is inexpensive, something like a charity day of play at the Old Pines Community Center. Its family friendly, and we could do ice skating and mini basketball tournaments. I've already called for a quote and they said they would do it for a discounted price of $1,000 provided we advertise their summer program on the flyers. We'd charge a base price of seventy five dollars per family of four, then add 15 for each additional kid. It's minimal organization and pretty low cost, I'm sure we could host it in less than a month."

Everyone in the room was silent for a second, mulling over my idea. I caught Peeta giving me a big smile, slowly nodding his head in approval. Johanna looked at me with distain, annoyed that her idea had been flat out rejected.

"Plus," I continued. "It gives the children of the community something active to do in this cold weather. All we need is Delly to round up some volunteers to supervise the kids and serve food to the adults, and I can call some local restaurants to see if they would like to cater. Johanna can update the website and social media, and Finnick and I can make sure some major donors stop by. All Peeta has to do is show up, and look pretty."

"Does anybody have any objections to sweetheart's plan?" Haymitch asked, looking around the circle. When he received no replies, he gave me a smug smile. "Ms. Everdeen, you now have your first task of the Mellark 2014 campaign. For all issues regarding the Old Pines Day of Play, you may all report directly to her. Next topic."