Chapter 4 – PPOV:

A/N: First, I want to say I've managed to make a longer chapter for all of you. I know how much some of you want me to update. Second, I am so happy with all the emails I'm getting with FanFic telling me that one of you added my story to your favorites, added my story to your story alerts, added me to your author alerts, and took the time to review my story. You really don't know how happy I get when I see them. It really means a lot. Thank you so much! :D

And by the way, Peeta may use an expression some of us use in our daily, modern lives (i.e. rage guy, cereal guy, troll face, etc.), just not in the modern words (i.e. smirking, shock, crazy mental state).

Bluedog270: Thanks for reading! I hope you like the next update! :-) eviekins: Thanks! I'll try to have my next update live up to the other chapters ;) THGgoddess4ever: I will keep writing this. Glad to see you're enjoying it so far! :-)

Disclaimer: Again, I do not own The Hunger Games or Katniss or Peeta or Prim or anyone else, sadly…

I walk into the bakery to hear a shrill voice yell, "Peeta Mellark, where the hell have you been?" Since I know she must be stressed right now, I decide to test her. "Sounds like somebody was worried about me," I say smirking. "I certainly was not worried about you, you worthless boy!" she says, clearly upset that I had mocked her. "Yeah, I believe that," I say, brushing past her and waving her off.

"Peeta Mellark, you get back down here this instant!" she shrieks. I don't listen to her and proceed up to my bedroom to change my clothes. After I change, I go back downstairs, hoping to avoid my mother at all costs.

"Peeta…" my mother growls in a dangerously low voice, "You better be ready to apologize for talking to your mother the way you did."

I turn on my heel to face her. "And why would that be? Why should I respect you if you won't respect me as a child that's still growing and developing! You would hit me when I made a simple mistake or if something was a little bit off! Or because you were just upset! I don't want to deal with that! Nothing around here is my fault! If you're having issues being tended to, why don't you just do us all a favor and move off to a wealthier district?"

"I am your mother and you will not speak to me like this! I brought you into this world and-"she starts, but I cut her off, my anger rising inside of me. "Brought me into this world, did you? Then show something for it! You certainly aren't proud of it! You think you could've done better! Why can't you just be grateful for what you have and stop complaining about every living thing!" I spin around and leave, taking a few loaves of bread unnoticed for Katniss, because my mother is staring ahead with her mouth agape.

I venture out into the Seam and make my way to the outskirts of the district where Katniss lives. I knock on her door, and she opens the door. "I brought you something," I say, holding out the loaves. She smiles at me. "Peeta, you shouldn't have…" she starts. "It's alright, Katniss. Mom didn't see me take them," I say in an attempt to reassure her. She takes the loaves and hugs me. "Thank you," she whispers. "Come in," she says, stepping aside to let me in. She places the loaves carefully on the table. "Peeta, there's something I want to show you. I heard you're something of an artist, so I thought you might want to see…" she says.

"Something of an artist?" I ask. "I'm not accusing you of anything!" she says. I shake my head. "No, I'm not just something of an artist…" I mumble. She gives me an odd look, and I say simply, "I'll show you some other time." She nods. "Come on, do you want to see it?" she asks, moving toward the door. I nod and follow her. For a few minutes, we walk soundlessly, venturing closer and closer to the official outskirts of District 12.

We come to the electrified fence that separates 12 from whatever lies beyond it. Katniss pulls me behind a large shrub by the fence, pointing to an opening in the chain-link wires. She sits down and gestures for me to do the same.

"So, you know how they charge the fence with electricity sometimes?" she asks. I nod. "Well, you don't want to be electrocuted, naturally, so I want you to put your ear up to the fence and listen for the buzzing. If you don't hear it, then you can go under. Okay?" she explains. I nod again and we both crawl up to the fence, listening for the telltale sign that electricity is coursing through it. There is no buzzing, so we get down on our stomachs and crawl under using our elbows and knees.

Katniss leads me through a field of tall grasses until we reach a lush green meadow blooming with wildflowers. I gasp and Katniss giggles. "I figured you would like this," she says. "Like it? I love this place!" I say. She laughs, making myself smile, and I put my arm around her. It's only about midday, so I assume that we will spending some time here.

We walk through the meadow until we find a large, flat boulder overlooking the unknown land that is outside of 12. We sit on top of it, and stare out into it. As I look further, imagining what may be there, I see something shimmery and blue in the horizon. "Katniss," I say. "Yeah?" she asks, turning toward me. "Do you see that?" I ask, pointing to the shimmers. She squints, then says, "That blue stuff?" I nod. "What's that?" she asks. I shrug. "I don't know. But isn't it cool?" I say. She nods, then turns to smile at me. "You pay good attention to detail, Peeta," she says. "It's what you have to do when you're an aspiring artist," I say.

She smiles and settles back down, pulling my arm around her shoulder. "Do you think you could draw this?" she asks. "Sure," I say, smiling down at her. She reaches up and gently pulls my face down to hers and kisses me. I return it immediately. When we finally pull away, she sighs and puts her head in my lap.

I reach down and stroke her hair. She smiles at me. "I love you," I whisper. "I love you, too," she whispers, then sits up to kiss me. She pulls back suddenly and her face is a mix of emotions that I can't read. She turns around quickly.

"Gale?" she asks.

A/N: Haha, a cliffhanger. Man, I love those… I'm glad I got this huge chapter in. I must really be on a roll tonight, because this is about twice the size of my usual chapter. As usual, review, review, review! I really want to know what you guys think, since you know how much your opinions mean to me. Thanks for reading! I'll try to update later tonight! :-)