The engine to Gale's truck revs up before he backs out of the parking space of the student's parking lot.
Katniss knows what is coming initially. She only has to wait for Madge (whose amazing idea of smooshing Katniss between herself and Gale at the front of Gale's old, blue, refurbished truck left her vulnerable to her facial expressions) and Gale to begin with the relentless questions.
"Okay, Catnip, what's going on with you and Mellark?" Gale asks bluntly.
Huffing in annoyance, Katniss turns to him, "Nothing, Gale."
His lips only get wider as she fidgets uncomfortably by his side. "Catnip, I thought we already discussed about how much of a horrible liar you are."
"Besides," Madge says as Katniss opens her mouth to protest. "It's already obvious. I mean not just from that one little bit a few minutes ago, but it's the fact that your eyes tend to linger a little in the hall when he's around."
At this point, Katniss is aware she is blushing harder. "I do not-"
"Yes, you do, Kat." Madge corrects before Katniss even finishes.
The brunette in the middle makes a new resolution for the next ten minutes. Stare straight ahead at the rode and do not look at Madge or Gale. Surely she can do that, right?
"You know he asks about you a lot." Gale states almost thoughtfully as they slow down to a stop at a red light.
Katniss eyes widen as she hopes neither of them caught them doing so. But that's highly unlikely because she is, in fact, sitting right between the questioning duo. "He…He must be asking about someone else. That's crazy, Gale."
But her best friend only scoffs and the car begins to roll once more. "Please, Catnip, how many people do you know whose name is as unique as 'Katniss Everdeen'?" Gale challenges as her took a sharp right turn.
"Well…" She trails off.
"Exactly!" Madge chirps, "Katniss, you can't deny the fact that someone might just like you. You're a very likeable person."
"Madge, just because some one asks about me does not mean they like me. That's like you asking how I'm doing and people jumping to the conclusion that you and I are now lesbian lovers." Katniss states crossing her arms over her chest while as she continues to face forward in the car.
Madge sighs once more. "Katniss, I don't understand why you think it's so hard for some one, especially a guy, to take a little interest in you. You're one of the nicest, most loyal, and caring people I know. So, why do you think it's practically impossible for someone to take romantic interest in our best volley ball player on the varsity team?"
There is silence as Madge and Gale wait for Katniss to respond to Madge's mini rant. About two minutes pass and finally Katniss opens her mouth to speak.
"Madge, I just can't. Alright? Maybe you think I'm wrong here, but no one want to deal with me and my family drama, and all my shit."
"Kat-"
"Hush, Gale." Katniss quiets holding her hand up, signifying for him to be quiet. "I'm lucky to have you and Gale as my friends and Rue, and Johanna, and Marvel, but I just don't think I need... or want or even deserve anyone right now."
Gale parks the car outside of Katniss' gate to her house. "Kat-"
"I gotta go, guys. Thanks for the ride home, Gale. You have to pick me up tomorrow. Remember? My car was left at the school because you insisted on having this discussion." Katniss interrupts.
"But Katniss-"
"Get ready for our game tomorrow, Madge. Make sure to sleep a lot okay?" She snaps. But Katniss immediately regrets snapping at her. She just wants to get out of the truck.
Madge nods her head solemnly and moves to get out of the car to allow Katniss the ability to exit the car as the brunette retrieves her things from the back of Gale's truck.
She made her way to the large, black, iron gate with two large 'E's on both the right and left gate door. Her fingers punch in the code to enter on the concrete walkway that leads around both sides of a large, elegant, concrete, bird decorated fountain. She turns and waves at Gale and Madge in Gale's car and turns to enter the gate.
As they sped off, in the old, pick-up truck Katniss watches them go. She regrets the way she acted in the car, but she couldn't help snapping. She just didn't want to talk about Peeta Mellark at that moment. Especially after being embarrassed by being caught starring at him.
Her lips release a small sigh and she looks up across the street only to see the one and only Peeta Mellark standing at the stone fence of his own house. Unlike her gate, his is made of different types of stone all stuck on the wall designed like a mosaic. The wall stretches all the way around excluding the gate to allow access. And instead of two large 'M's on both sides of the gates, the last name is spelled out on top of the gate. Katniss' wall around her large home and land was made of grey concrete blocks and covered in security cameras.
He's wearing the shorts her had practice in and a white, cotton t shirt that clings deliciously to his wide chest. His back pack is slung lazily over his left shoulder and his duffle bag over the same one. Both now lock eyes with each other as they stare at the other from across the vacant street.
"Hey." Peeta greets as he raises his hand to offer her a small waver.
But she only stood still. Her mouth was slightly agape and she can''t seem to speak. Instead, she bolts into the gate's opening and practically ran to the large, glass and metal, locked, double doors. She fumbled for her keys before she flung the door on the right open and ran inside and slammed the door shut only to hear the loud shut of the door.
She's breathing hard from her fastest sprint ever and she is only now catching her breath.
"Katniss?" A high, proper voice asks from the top of the white, marble stairs.
Her head snaps up and she pushes herself off of the door she didn't know she had leant on to for support.
Katniss' eyes fell on Effie Trinket. She's the manager of the house hold of Everdeen. Effie manages every staff member and every order made by Mark, Evelyn, and Katniss Everdeen. Effie is a very eccentric woman. Her current color of the month is pink and her hair now matches her outfits. She is wearing a pink, short, pencil skirt that came to her mid thigh and tall, pink pumps. Her blouse is white and the buttons are light pink. Effie's make up is very bold and very unique. She likes to color coat everything. Why? Katniss is uncertain.
"What on earth could have compelled you to slam the door so loudly?!" Effie practically screeched with her hands on her hips.
Katniss' panting hadn't faded and she took a few moments to breathe before answering. "I… I want-wanted t-t-to get in the hou-house faster." She stammers out.
"Well, no need to slam doors and such!" Effie prompts. "Now, your mother and father are out and will not be back until seven. Dinner will be served at seven thirty sharp in dining room Coral. Do not be late. Oh, and wear something nice and light. We're having guests. It's very important." And with that last bit, Effie trotted off back to her office, her heels clicking behind her.
Katniss let's out a sigh and made her way up to her room on the fourth floor. She climbed the sleek, marble steps and turned right into the west wing of the house. Her steps couldn't be heard by anyone or anything in the stone, marble corridor. Katniss' mother insisted the house have a color scheme. Turns out, what she meant was make the south wing one color scheme, the north wing a color scheme, the east a color scheme, and so forth. And Katniss often questioned the purpose of the color schemes.
She didn't understand why her mother insists on sending her to the farthest end of the house away from her father and mother. And she doesn't understand why she has been sent to the darker colored wing either. Sometimes she thinks it is because they don't want to hear her loud music. And others is because they don't want to deal with her problems so they let the maids take care of it.
In the wing she lives in, the colors were silver, black, and green. She trudges silently down the next corridor to her left and climbs another flight of spiral, white, marble stairs to the fourth floor. There is an elevator but she likes to walk up the stairs. That way they are getting used and she is getting a nice workout as well.
At the top of the stairs the marble continues to the right and left of the staircase as well as straight ahead. She made her way straight ahead of her and to the last door in the corridor.
Her room was behind a plain, white double door and had silver handles to pull down on to open. She pushed down on the handles and her doors swung open. Two walls are painted light grey and two others are painted a darker shade of grey. A very unique light fixture hangs from the high ceilings and it appears to look like dripping water. Her room consisted of a king sized bed straight diagonally to her right. The marble floor is still a consistent thing even in her room, but under the bed, there is a soft, black, rug. On her bed there is a plain, deep, green comforter and a black head and foot board. Near the foot of the there is a black desk with a white modern, desk lamp. Standing next to the lamp, there is a shiny, silver, stone doe on the shelf. A pen and pencil holder sets next to the doe and her laptop is on the main desk. A long, black, dresser is on the left side of her room and has white, leaves and silver vines painted on the surface. Next to the long dresser, there is a body length mirror and a shelf filled with all kinds of books. Straight across from the door, there is a door that leads into the lofty, large bathroom. On the marble floor, there is a small, white rug in front of the large, jetted tub and shower. Another door next to the shower, leads to the toilet and the door next to the sink, which is across the marble floor from the tub, leads to her closet. The closet is filled with her dresses and such while the dresser in her room was filled with her comfortable clothes, underwear and bras, etc.
Sighing, Katniss sets her bags down and lies down on her bed but not before setting an alarm for six forty-five at night, therefore giving her enough time to take a quick shower, get ready according to her parents standards and get down stairs.
As she laid her head down, she let her eyes close slowly, drifting to sleep.
Her phone goes off an hour and fifteen minutes later playing "Somewhere in Neverland" by All Time Low. One of her many bands she enjoys to listen to.
Groggily, Katniss opens her sleep filled eyes. There was a little light coming from the windows from where the sun had begun to set. The slither of golden light comes in through the drawn black curtains. Sighing as she slowly sits up from her bed, as she rubs her eyes and stretches. Slowly, Katniss drags herself out of bed and into her bathroom. She sleepily reaches for the knobs in the shower and eventually turns on the warm water.
She strips down to nothing and throws her clothes into the dirty clothes hamper. Then she proceeded to take her braid down from its tight, messy restrictions. Katniss' hair was practically black and it was long and straight.
Katniss opens the glass sliding shower door and steps into the tiled box with the warm, ready water coming from the spray. She uses her tea tree mint shampoo, which was her favorite, to soap up her hair and the mint body wash to wash her sticky arms, sweaty legs, smelly arm pits, and stinky feet. As she stood under the shower spray, she revels the warm, small trickles of water that ran soothingly down her body.
Not knowing what time it was, Katniss finishes cleaning herself and steps out of the shower and into the cool air. She shivers a little as she wraps a towel around her small body and encased another around her head to hold her long ebony hair.
She finishes drying off and walks into her room and towards her dresser to retrieve a strapless, black bra and black, cotton, lace trimmed underwear as well. Slipping on both the bra and underwear, Katniss then moves to her closet she had reluctantly filled with dresses she had only worn once or twice.
In the end, she chose a simple, green dress with spaghetti straps, a figure fitting torso, and three layers of thin material making up the skirt that gradually gets longer in the back than in the front. It was mid-thigh high in the front but ended below the knee in the back. The back was a little more extravagant. It dips lower on her back and that was the only thing she didn't like about it. When she looks at the time, she had twenty minutes left. Knowing she had no more time left to try on another dress, she grabs a pair of black flats and went to quickly blow dry her hair before braiding in while holding her phone under her arm as she practically ran down the hall. But as soon as she gets to the top of the stairs, she feels around her neck, and she doesn't feel what she's searching for. She doesn't feel the arrow necklace she, Madge, and Gale had all decided to buy together. She never went anywhere without it. Hers points east. Madge's points north. Gale's points south. They have one that faced west but they had no one to give it to. The three of them have always been together. They all wear necklaces but Gale was a little reluctant at first until Katniss had begged and pleaded for him to.
She races back into her room and fumbles around her sink for it until she finally held up the chain attached to the arrow pointing east. Smiling in triumph, Katniss clipped the necklace around her neck securely.
Finally, Katniss is ready and she runs back to the stairs, phone in hand and necklace secured around her neck.
It takes her ten minutes to get to dining room Coral. And when she arrives she is shocked to see her family and their guests there five minutes earlier.
Her mother looks up at her in the door way and gives a tight lipped smile. You know the strained, fake smile you get when you know you don't look the way you were expected to? It's that look. Evelyn Everdeen makes her way over to her daughter.
"Katniss, may I speak with you outside of the dining room?" Her mother asks through gritted teeth.
Reluctantly, nods her head and follows her mother outside of the room. As soon as she is outside, Katniss felt a hard grip above her elbow and sharp, red fingernails digging into her skin.
"Why the hell are you late?" Evelyn hisses through gritted teeth. "And for the love of God almighty, Katniss, take your hair out of that dull, boring braid!" She seethes as she rips the hair tie out off the end of Katniss' tightly woven braid.
Katniss' head is yanked harshly down on her right as her mother practically rips out her hair rather than the hair tie itself. Now, her mother is rearranging her some what wavy hair, so the way Katniss had it parted left more hair on the right side of her head. Her hair, now in small waves, is now being put behind her ear and as a loud laughter rang out in the dining room, a sudden smack is delivered to Katniss' right cheek. But no one hears. Or it seems that way.
"Look what you've made me do now!" Evelyn fusses. "Now you have a damn mark on your face. Well, serves you right. You don't show up on time for dinner and then you don't even put any effort into you appearance." She tsks. "Now, you keep that covered for the night. And if anyone asks about the mark, come up with somethin believable." Snapped Evelyn. "Now, get your scrawny little ass in there and eat with us. Be polite."
Katniss refuses to allow tears to fall from her steel silver eyes. She knew tears meant more punishment. Which meant she had to wear more make up to conceal her injuries. As they made their way back into the room, she heard her mother mumbling and complaining about the family that was present with us that evening. From what Katniss gathered, her parents didn't particularly like them but they bring good business so they have to be polite and pretend they like each other.
Entering the room behind her mother, Katniss kept her head down and makes sure to cover the hand print imprinted on her right cheek. So she quickly sat down next to her mother who was on her father's right and head of one end of the table.
"Ah, finally joined us, Katniss?" Her father teases.
But Katniss only nods her head mutely.
"Katniss, Evelyn, you must meet our guests!" Mark Everdeen encourage". "Katniss, Evelyn, meet the Mellarks. Grey, Cynthia, Peeta, this is my daughter, Katniss, and my wife, Evelyn."
And Katniss' world froze. Her eyes widen. Her palms began to sweat. And her breathing escalates.
Peeta Mellark is in her house. Peeta Mellark, the boy she had ran away from earlier today. The boy she has awkwardly watched in practice earlier that day. The boy she likes. Him and his family.
She doesn't hear them exchange greetings she only looks up enough to see that she sat next to Mr. Mellark on the left of him and his son sat on his right with his wife next to her father on his right. Big blue eyes stare across from her and only the left side of her face could meet this stare. From what she could see, Peeta is wearing a white button up, dress shirt with no tie and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The top few buttons of his shirt are unbuttoned giving her only a glimpse of the same, perfect chest she had seen earlier that day.
"Katniss." Her mother hisses from her right. Katniss looks up at her mother and is met with a cold, stern look. "We're about to pray."
Quietly, Katniss turned back to facing forward and knelt her head and closed her eyes. Normally, the Everdeens did not pray, but they did tonight for the Mellarks and only for show.
Dinner is served and Mr. and Mrs. Mellark engage in a deep conversation with her parents. She can feel his gaze from across the table practically burning into her bent head. She knows whose gaze is focused on her. For a while, she does't look up. She doesn't dare look up. But after she felt his gaze being lifted off of her, she looked up to see he was no longer occupying the seat in front of her. A sigh of relief was let out of her lips, but as she stood up from her seat, she was only met with that intense, blue eyed gaze that basically burns into her soul.
Both stand quietly. Him with his hands shoved into his pockets and she resuming her previous position of looking down at her feet. And that's when she realized he wore black dress pants and ... black converse? Well, she can say she didn't expect that in the least.
"Are my shoes really that interesting?" She hears his rich voice tease.
Her head jerked up and she found herself lost in a sea of blue. After a little, she finally stammered out, "Um... well, I ..." Damn, what iss with her and stuttering or stammering today?
He only chuckles lightly.
She manages a small smile, but makes a huge mistake. Due to her nervousness, her hand comes up the side of her face and pushes the hair covering her face back behind her ear, revealing the somewhat faded but still red, angry, hand mark of her mother's hand.
Peeta's eyes widened and he let out a small gasp. "Katniss, what happened?"
He sounded so concerned for her. But when he reached out as if to touch her, she flinched away.
"Katniss?" He prompts.
"I..." She wracked her mind for an excuse, and then one hit her. She only hoped he bought it. "I was hit in volley ball today. It's no big deal." Katniss said quickly.
But he steps forward. "A ball in the shape of a hand?" He questions.
They are now only inches apart and she can see concern and worry in his azure eyes.
"No, I-I was hit by another girl... she... she, um, went up to spike the ball, but she hit me in-instead."
He still looks skeptical. And she knows he doesn't believe her for a moment. So she does what she does best.
She runs. She runs to her room and flings open the door to her bathroom. Her shaking fingers open the cabinets she keeps her razors in and she takes a deep breath before pressing the cool blade to her skin.
xXx
She ran away. She was right in front of him. He had her in a conversation (granted, not the best conversation, but still). Peeta is now worried. He wants to know if she is okay. He wants to scoop her small, strong body up into his arms and hold her close. Make her feel safe. But she ran away and he's worried. Maybe he got too close. Maybe he made her uncomfortable. Hell, he didn't know. But she looked beautiful tonight. Absolutely breathtaking. Her small frame is mistaken on the court for volley ball, the other team judging her by her size, but she was their best player. And she surprises them all.
What he did know sas that he feels drawn to her. He's always had a huge crush on Katniss Everdeen. The little girl in the red, plaid dress across the street and behind the double E iron gates.
Sighing to himself, he made his way back out of the house, out the front door, and across the street. He lets himself into his own house after accessing the gate with the passcode. He makes his way up to his room on the third floor of his parent's large mansion.
Sliding the rustic, barn door away to access his room, Peeta sighed again. His room was pretty damn big. A king sized bed sets across the room from the sliding door with a grey comforter and a white head board. The night stand on the right of the bed and next to the bathroom door is white and has a black lamp sitting on top of the surface. His dresser is to the right of the room and tall and wooden. Across from the dresser is his pale, grey desk he sits at most of the time. On the wall with the door, there is a small closet that contains his evening wear. The bathroom is large and elegant with a tub some one could swim in and a shower that could fit a horse. The grey, tiled floor is rustic and matches the room and hallway from which Peeta entered.
Only wanting to sleep, Peeta unbuttons the dress shirt, kicks off his shoes, and throws off his pants before climbing under the covers and thinking about Katniss Everdeen.
xXx
The next day, Katniss hurriedly gets ready and is soon out the door. Gale and Madge are already there, ready to take her to school.
Today is game day. And on game days, Katniss tends to get anxious and nervous.
But now, she is ready to play some ball.
Her first few hours go super well. But it's in the afternoon when everything starts to hit her. At lunch she doesn't eat very much despite Madge and Gale's pleads to. But she declines.
Now, she's getting ready for her game.
Pulling the black jersey with a big, white number twelve on the front and back outlined in gold as well as the black, spandex shorts, she sighs. She is confident she can do this. Right? This is one of many games and she can do this.
The only thing holding her back is the fact that it is the first game of the season. She has been training super hard for this but, nerves keep coming back. Today they compete against the Capitol Cougars to prove once and for all, who the dominant cat is:
The panther, or the cougar.
xXx
They're on their last match of the game. The team's best server steps up to serve the ball with a confident stride. Her spikey, short hair and determined expression with her tanned, curly body makes her seem intimidating to the other team. It is very well known that Johanna Mason, number seven, does not miss a serve.
As soon as the ball has cleared the net, both sides move quickly to their designated spots. The rally lasts for some time before the ball is set to her outside position.
She moves quickly and gracefully around the court with absolute concentration and focus. She is air born as her feet leave the ground and her hand makes contact with the purple, black, and white volleyball.
SMACK!
The ball is spiked perfectly, winning the last point the team requires to beat the Cougars.
Cheers erupt from the crowd and the players shake hands. She doesn't see him as he makes his way down the black, white, and purple bleachers hoping he could catch Katniss before she went to change.
"Katniss!" Peeta's voice yelled as she spins around to see pushing through the crowd to get to where she stood with Madge Undersee, number three.
Her head turns to him and she smiles shyly at him. But she doesn't know how much he loves that smile. "Peeta?"
This must be some parallel universe. They hadn't talked alot over the years, but he's always considered them somewhat friends. He opens his mouth to say something before being cut off by Madge.
"Oh, Katniss, you guys should have a picture! You just won us the first game of the season against the Cougars!" She says as she practically bounces up and down.
To his surprise, Katniss grins shyly, as faint pink blossoms across her cheeks, and nods her head. He hands Madge his phone and Katniss tucks herself under his arm and into his side.
His arm falls onto her shoulders with her arm wrapping around the back of his waist, and both smile widely for Madge.
As Madge hands him his phone back, Katniss is whisked away by someone else. "You're a special person, Peeta Mellark."
When his eyebrow is thrown up she smiles. "Katniss hates pictures. I practically have to bribe her to talk a selfie with me, let alone a full blown picture."
At this piece of information, he smiles himself. "Really?"
"Really."
Katniss taps on his shoulder and he turns to face her. "Um... do you, um, think you might... be able to send those to me?" She asks with her pretty cheeks turning slightly pink once more.
She watches him grin and he nodds. "Yeah, sure... uh, what's your number?" He asks.
She gives him her number and as he selects the pictures to send, she is whisked away again, but she was as happy as can be.
She can't believe that just happened.
xXx
AN: hope you enjoyed! Thank you all so much for all of your kind support and words :)