'Oh my god, Crap what do I do. This can't be happening. What do I say?' sadly I'm not given much more time to think because she's already walking towards me. 'This could be my second chance.' I think.
"Peeta?" She says as she recognizes me.
"Katniss, Hi, Uh w-what are you doing here," I question. I know why she's here but I have to ask anyway.
"I'm just here to trade for bread as I always do on a Saturday," she states like it's the most obvious thing in the world. She holds up two perfect squirrels as if to prove her point.
'"Oh," is all I manage to get out. 'This is so wrong its not meant to be like this. This is only the second time I have spoken with her and its going worse than the first'.
"Where is your farther. Usually he's the one that I trade with?" she questions pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Um, Ah, Well h-he's kind of off sick so I had to take over. My brother would be with me but he kind of found me sleeping in the backroom, and he said he wouldn't tell Mum if I took he shift." I don't know why but I feel the need to justify my actions to her. Its stupid I know but that's just me. Usually I'm great with words but when I'm around Katniss, my tongue goes dead.
"Why did you fall asleep in the bac-. Wait don't worry just- how much bread will these get me?" she holds up the squirrels again as she asks.
I walk into the pantry and grab two loafs of fresh white bread. I hand her the bread (not bothering to make even the slightest bit of conversation) and she hands over the squirrels. As she turns to leave I feel like I have to say something but what?
"Bye Katniss, see you at school!" I somehow muster up the courage to shout. She turns to me and shouts back, "Bye Peeta!"
I feel the fresh breeze from outside caress my face for a second as the door opens to let her out. Once again I'm left to my thoughts. I slump back into my chair as I ready my self to go through the rest of the working day. All I can think about is Katniss. How I could of made our conversation less awkward. I know that half of the awkwardness was on her behalf, but still I feel like it was my fault in all entirety. The hours fly by as I work the day away. I do menial tasks like sweeping the floor or cleaning the oven. Its mind numbing but it has to be done.
After about 5 hours of cleaning and baking I'm finally done for the day. I walk over to the clothes pegs reserved for our aprons and I place mine on there. I walk up the stairs and grab my jacket before heading back down. I'm ambushed by coal dust as I walk out of the front door of my house. After years of living in District 12 you would of thought I would be used to the coal dust but no, you never get used to it because there is always afresh batch burning down in the mines. I don't know what to do with myself today. Usually I would get up and go meet my friends but because I was working all day I probably have missed them. I pass house after house as I make my way through town looking for something to do. As I reach the town center I think I see Delly sat on a bench curled up in a ball. I walk over to her thinking its only right that I comfort my friend. As I approach her I see that she doesn't look too good.
"Delly?" I call as I walk up to her. She doesn't respond to me.
"Delly!" I call again. She still doesn't respond then I realise why 'Delly' hadn't been responding it wasn't Delly at all but it was Katniss. I tense up not knowing what to do. 'Should I comfort the girl I love but barely know or should I leave her be'. It seems my feet are making the decision for me as I start to walk towards her. It's not a very nice day today. It's windy, gray and cold. Katniss is only wearing only a thin t-shirt and a pair of loose fitting pants so she must be cold. I take of my jacket as I approach. When I reach her I can see tears streaming down her face. I wrap my jacket around her as I take a seat. She tenses up when I do and turns to meet my eyes.
"Peeta?" she says alarmed. She hurriedly wipes the tears from her face, "What do you think your doing?" Her eyes are cold when I meet them to speak.
"W-well I saw you over here a-and I thought I should help you; what's wrong Katniss?" I reply evenly.
"I don't need your help and its none of your business what's wrong with me. And there's nothing anyway so leave me alone!" She shouts attracting the attention of many nosey onlookers. I know there's no point to it but I try again anyway.
"Are you sure nothing is wrong because it doesn't look like it" I question keeping my tone even. She turns to me with a cold glare. She see's the pity in my eyes and turns away. I know pitying her isn't going to help her so I try to keep my face even
"ARGGGHH, HE KISSED ME; HE KISSED ME, THAT'S WHATS WRONG!" she shouts. I'm taken aback at how upfront she's being with me. A new batch of onlookers is attracted with this latest outburst so I shoo them off.
"Okay; who kissed you Katniss?" I ask keeping my voice even all the while my heart sinking with the thought that someone other than me had kissed her. Jealousy burns in the pit of my stomach.
"GALE DID," she sobs, "We were coming back from a hunting and, and he grabbed me, turned me around and KISSED ME!"
"Oh" I don't know what else to say so I just rub the small of her back. At first she tenses up to my touch, but soon enough she relaxes into it.
I don't know how long we sit there for me rubbing her back her sobbing but soon she starts to regain her self. I feel her sit up against my hand and turn towards me.
"Why are you so nice to me Peeta?" she asks. I'm taken aback by this because I cant just come out and say 'Because I love you' that would be to upfront and awkward but then what do I say 'Because you're my friend'? No that's lame.
"Honestly I don't know why, but I am" I reply truthfully.
"Oh, well, t-thank you" she says confusion lacing her tone of voice.
"That's alright" I reply. She starts to walk away when I find a new courage burn inside of me.
"Katniss wait up, I'll walk you home!" I shout and I that moment I know I'm totally crazy because she'll probably just blow me of again but then I hear her turn and say, "Come on then." My heart swells I'm actually doing this. I can't believe it. I jog up alongside her and slow my pace to match hers. We walk in complete silence apart from our footsteps till we reach the part of Town where the Seam and Town meet.
"I guess I'll see you later then Peeta; bye," she says as she turns to continue her walk home.
"I said I'd walk you home not half way there, so I will" I reply. She looks at me with confusion in her eyes like she is going to say something but she just turns away and with that we continue our walk. I've never been in the Seam before apart from school trips to the mines but they don't count because we are always escorted through the Seam on them. So this is a new experience for me. I pass run down house after run down house as we walk. People stop and stare at me as I pass them. I see a group miners making there way home from work; I nod my head to them and mutter "Good afternoon".
Katniss' face fills with confusion. "Why did you do that?" she questions.
"I was just being polite, what's wrong with that" I exclaim.
"Most people from Town think that they're above interaction with people from the Seam," she states.
"Well I'm interacting with you aren't I?" I say
"Yeah you are I guess" she shakes her head and continues to walk. As we get closer and closer to her house I can see another olive skinned figure sat on her doorstep. I hear Katniss stop as she notices the figure too.
"Oh no. Not now I'm not ready for this," she says exasperatedly. I strain my eyes to look at the figure better. When I get a good look at him I realise it's the one person I didn't want to see, Gale Hawthorne. His gaze moves to us. His eyes are puffy and red; to be honest he looks a mess. Katniss starts to back away when she sees the state he's in (probably realizing that she's responsible for it). Gale gets up from his perch on the doorstep and the next thing I know he's on top of me. His fists are crashing in to my flesh and bones making terrible sounds. I try to push him off of me, but its no use he's too big. My eyelids become heavy as the beating continues. I so confused to what is happening. 'What did I ever do to him? Unless he got the wrong Idea when he saw me and Katniss coming towards him, Crap.' I think to my self still trying to push him of me. I can hear Katniss shouting "GALE NO, ITS NOT WHAT YOU THINK!" It's no good though he keeps on bashing me for unjustifiable reasons. I feel my self-drift out of consciousness. I fight as hard as I can to stay awake but my mind takes over and every thing goes black.
My whole body aches as my eyes flutter open. Sunlight shoots right through them so I close them straight away. Where am I is the only thought that goes through my until I hear a little voice say, "Mum! He's awake."
I hear footsteps approach me. I try to sit up but its no use I'm to weak. My muscles escape from even that one try. I feel something moist being laid across my head. Its cool and soothing, I like it. I relax down into what I believe to be someone's sofa. I attempt to open my eyes again. It takes a few tries for me to build up the strength but soon enough they open. When they do open I'm met with the sight of a middle age woman who appears worn and tired. She has blonde hair and blue eyes. She smiles sweetly at me. I come to the conclusion that like her.
"Where am I?" I ask her.
"Your in Katniss' house. I'm her mother," she replies sweetly. 'Katniss' house WHAT?' I think.
"How did get here?" I ask her.
"Well after Gale had beat you into oblivion Katniss fought him off. And carried you in here" she replies with a chuckle.
"Oh," is all I manage to get out to reply with.
"You should get some rest, you don't look to good" she remarks. She then gets up to leave. Once again I'm left to my thoughts like why Gale jumped me and why Katniss stopped him. I let these thoughts drift around my head for a while until I fall asleep.
I hear a crash to my right. I open my eyes to see Katniss walk through the door, probably coming back from hunting. I see her eyes turn to me.
"Hi," she says, her voice seeming distant.
"Hey, how are you?" I mumble out, the floorboards creek as she makes her way towards me. The sofa droops as she sits down on the end. I feel the soft fabric of the sofa against my back as I sit up.
"Fine," She answer's solemnly.
"I can tell your not Katniss" I state knowingly.
"Gale is really angry at me, you know for running away from him after he kissed me." She says Hapicrently "
I'm really sorry for what he did to you. He thought that there, there, there was something going on between us." She sighs, her head dropping lower with each word.
"That's all right. I shouldn't have walked you home in the first place. It's my fault, I-I'm sorry," I say forgivingly.
"No don't apologise, please. It was my fault he beat you up. I shouldn't of let you walk with me, because then you wouldn't have been out cold for 3 days," She says her head dropping even lower than before.
"I was out for three days? My Mum's gonna kill me I was meant to work on Monday. Ahh crud," I say worriedly.
"Well my mum did tell me to tell you that you are well enough to go home," Katniss says meeting my eyes with hers.
"I should probably get going then before my mum gets to pissed, I'll see you around. Bye." I reply before picking up my jacket and rushing out the door.
I hear a faint "Bye Peeta" coming from inside the house as I make my way through the Seam. 'Wait what. Did I just have a proper conversation with Katniss? Oh my lord I think I did!' I think to my self, making myself feel giddy.
On my second walk through the Seam I take in a lot more about it, like that the houses around here are a lot more run down than the ones in town. They all seem to be built with some gray type of wood, it doesn't look to strong but I guess it must be because the houses are standing. I can see the white uniform houses of the Town as I exit the Seam. I pass what I believe to be a park as I make my way home. 'Crap, what am I going to say to Mum and Dad. Oh lord; I could say that I was at Josh's (a long time friend of mine) house. Yes that's what ill say. They'll believe that' I think as my feet pass over the dead grass of my front lawn (if you could call it that. More like front desert). I walk around to the back door of the bakery; we use this as our personal entrance to the bakery as opposed to the front door witch leads to the shop. I feel warm air caress my face as I enter my house.
"Mum, Dad, I'm home" I shout out. I hear feet pounding from upstairs. Suddenly I'm enveloped in a gigantic bear hug. I make an educated guess that this is my dad, because if it was my mum it would of been my cheeks that would be hurting not my ribs.
"Dad you're suffocating me," I say through his grasp. I take heavy breaths as I escape from his death grip on me.
"I was so worried about you. Three whole days you just disappear for. No note, No message. You just leave. Where have you been?" he says in a tone that is full of shock, anger and worry.
"I was at josh's" I reply.
"Why didn't you tell me where you were going? Your mother and I were worried sick!" he replies sternly. I know my Dad was worried but I doubt that my Mum was.
"I did. I left a note" I lie. I feel bad for lying to him but I'd rather have that on my consciences than to have two angry parents watching my every move.
"Oh, I must have missed it" he says looking confused. He shakes his head and states "Well I'm just glad your back" He smiles through this sentence and I know he means it.
"I'm sorry for going without properly telling you," I say returning his smile.
"I'm going to go to my room, I'll see you at dinner I guess."
My arm brushes against his as I make my way past him and up to my room.
I throw my self on my bed as soon as I get there. As lie there my thoughts turn to Katniss; as they do every day. I feel like I forgot to do something. I ponder this until I realise, 'I FORGOT TO THANK KATNISS FOR TAKING ME IN AFTER GALE BEAT ME UP. Crap at least I know what I forgot now. I guess I'll just have to speak to her again.' A smile plays on my lips as I think this to myself.
(A/N) I would just like to thank anyone who has read this story. I would also like to give an extra special thanks to all those who have reviewed this or added this to their Favourite Story's or Story Alerts. Thanks Guys it means a lot to me .