Peeta forced himself to get up the following morning. He had promised himself that the Hunger Games weren't going to change him, but here he was sulking in his bed. He hadn't slept most of the night. At first it was because he was too upset about everything that happened since they returned home, but after hours of lying there he finally fell asleep. As soon as he was in a deep sleep the terrors started to come, and nothing he had tried could stop them. He was reliving the games again and again, each he had to watch the Careers kill Katniss right in front of him, each time in a different way, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
He walked into en-suite bathroom, and splashed water into his face, before looking into the mirror, "Peeta get a hold of yourself. Katniss won't see in a new light if you let her see you like a heartbroken puppy." He felt if he could just showed her the kind of person he was, maybe she would change her mind about him. Maybe then she would see him more than the boy who saved her, who she felt indebted to.
First step to becoming the old Peeta again was to go to the bakery for his shift. He was always the happiest when he was at work, decorating the cake & cookies. He always dreamed of taking over the bakery one day. His brothers worked there, but they didn't have the same passion for the job as his dad & he did.
Peeta brothers were in the back, working on the bread for the day, while Peeta decorate the cookies. He was making them with a Primrose design today. He smiled thinking how kind Katniss's sister was to him yesterday.
"So Peeta we heard you lost your leg because of the games?" Rye said. "Does that mean you have some Bionic leg?"
Peeta just rolled his eyes. Of course they had to bring it up. Did they not realize he wanted to talk about something else? "Yes they gave me a new leg, they had to cut it off just below the knee."
"Can we see it?" Heath asked, wondering if you could tell the difference.
Peeta was just about to lift up his pant leg to show them, when his mother walked into the back of the bakery. "We don't need to see Peeta's new leg." Looking at her youngest son, "Just because you lost your leg, don't expect that you will get any special treatment at work. You will still be expected to do everything that you did prior to the games."
Of course she would think that he wanted special treatment, Peeta thought, even though he hadn't even asked for any. If anything he wanted to be the same, make him feel normal again. Of course this would be another thing that his mother could try to hold over his head. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, "I'm wasn't going to..."
"Of course you were," she said getting into his face. "Peeta we both know that you're weak compared to your brothers. I mean you had to have a seam brat help you survive the games. You couldn't even take care of yourself."
"That's not true, we took care for one another," he said, as he tried to stop from the tears from coming.
"Oh that's right, because you both are so in love. Didn't I teach you that their kind aren't even worth the breath we breathe," she slurred, with hate. If there was something she hated more than her youngest, it was people from the seam.
"Stop it!" Peeta yelled, "I won't have you talk about them like that." He couldn't handle his mom putting them down, especially Katniss. Just because she didn't love him back it didn't make her a bad person. She did what she had to do to survive.
"Peeta, you will end it with this girl, or I WILL" She demanded. No son of hers was going to date anyone from the Seam especially that girl. The daughter of the woman her husband always loved.
Peeta knew he should come clean and tell her that there was no relationship, but he didn't want her to think that she had won. If he had his way, he would win Katniss's heart. "I won't."
Mrs. Mellark slapped her son across the face, "I will not have you disobey me. Just because you don't live under this roof, doesn't meant that you don't have to listen. You are still 16yrs old, and I AM YOUR MOTHER!"
He wanted to say 'Yeah a mother that likes to put the fear into her kids,' but he chose to keep his mouth close. He had already said enough. The old Peeta wouldn't have opened his mouth, and just took what she said.
The bell of the front door rung, "This isn't done," she said to her son before heading to the front to help the customer.
Peeta let out the breath he didn't even know he was holding. He knows it could have been much worse. This wasn't even in the top 10 bad things that she's done to him. When he threw Katniss the bread, he came back inside to find that she had rolling-pin in her hand. She had struck him across the back so many times that he broke a few ribs.
Rye came over to him, "Did you have to say anything? Peeta you know that it only makes things with her worse."
"I know. I wasn't thinking. I didn't get much sleep last night," he said trying to blame on that. When had it become his fault that she blew up. She's the one that should control herself. What had he ever done to deserve anything of this from her? It was a question he had asked himself so many times.
Rye smiled, "Didn't sleep well...does that mean Katniss stayed the night last night?"
Of course his brother would think thats the reason for it. "No Rye. Katniss and I haven't done anything like that." He was well aware that his brothers were well-known at the slag heap.
"Are you sure? You both looked rather cozy in the cave," Heath said, remembering how they were wrapped in each others arms.
"We were both just trying to stay alive. Our body heat helped us from freezing to death. Besides I don't think Katniss is ready for that type of relationship." 'Especially with him,' he thought. He was too embarrassed to admit to his brothers that she had led him on, that it had been all for the cameras. If he did, it would mean that he had been a fool to think that a girl like her could ever love a guy like him. A guy that was broken, and felt like no one loved him. He wasn't ready to give up on Katniss yet.
"Well she definitely is something. Are you sure that Gale hasn't tapped that? I mean I've seen him at the slag heap. I really can't see him and Katniss just being 'Friends."
He wanted to deck his brother for that remark, but he knew that it wouldn't help his situation with his mother at this moment. "Heath, she told me that he's just like a brother to her. I mean Delly and I are just friends, and we haven't done anything."
"If you say so," not so convinced by it. He had seen the way Gale looked at Katniss. There definitely was more than beneath the friendship, maybe not on Katniss's end, but definitely on Gale's end.
Peeta brought the Everdeen's a few goodies from the bakery. It was the least he could do for his new neighbors.
He slowly brought up his hand to knock on their front door, but hesitated for a minute. Should he really be here, Katniss sure had wanted to forget about him and the Games. No if he wanted to show Katniss the guy he really was, and win her over then he needed to start with getting to know her and her family. So he knocked on their door.
Prim answered the door, "Hey Peeta," she smiled.
"Hey Prim. A little birdie told me that you like cookies, so I thought I would bring some by for you," he smiled.
"Really," she said excited.
"Of course," he takes one out of the bag, "See."
"Is that a Primrose?" she asked.
"Yeah. I may have chosen to decorate them with you in mind."
"Thank you, thank you," she said giving him a big hug. "Mom, mom look what Peeta made just for me," she hollered to her mom in the other room.
He smiled, just knowing that he had just made this little girl's day.
"Hello Peeta," Mrs Everdeen says as she comes to the door.
"Hello Mrs Everdeen. I was just dropping off a few things from the bakery for you all."
"That is real sweet of you. Would you like to come in for tea?"
He knew he should probably decline at this point, but he didn't want to be rude. "Of course."
He looked around as Mrs Everdeen led them into the dining room. The place almost look identical to his. Maybe a few colour changes.
He was startled from his thoughts by her voice, "What is he doing here?" she scowled. Her words hurt more than he could have imagined. Here he was trying to do something nice for her family, and she acted like him in her house was the end of the world.
"Katniss!" her mother cried, horrified by her daughter's words. "Peeta was generous enough to bring over a few things from the bakery.
Katniss just stared at him. He tried to offered her a smile to let her know he wasn't upset about her comments. "No Mrs Everdeen, it's alright. Katniss is right I should be here. She needs her space. I'm just going to leave."
Katniss looked surprise by his response, but before he left he looked at her, "Katniss I brought you over some cheese buns. I thought they would be something you would prefer over the cookies. Bye Prim. Bye Mrs Everdeen, maybe some other time."
As he walked off, he overheard Mrs Everdeen yelling, "Katniss, I can't believe how rude …." Then he heard the door slam shut. He assumed that Katniss didn't want to hear what she was saying, and stormed off.
He walked back to his place. It hurt to know that all they had been through, that she was bound to push his away. Was he that hard to be around, was that why all his family decided that they couldn't live with him. Was he unlovable? No, he told himself, those were his mother's words sinking in his head. He had man friends. Where are they, his brain yelled at him, none of them have yet to come see you. But he kept telling himself that there had to be a reason like the start of school. His heart began to feel heavy, as he thought of spending another night alone in this big house, with nothing but his thoughts to eat away at him