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Chapter four: Finding home.
Katniss' P.O.V
"Katniss? You aren't listening to me? Are you?" I spun round to Prim, tearing my eyes away from Peeta who is sat in the corner of the living room with Gerry.
"Sorry, Prim. What did you say?" I look at her, smiling.
"Forget it." Prim sighed and I looked at her apologetically. "Do you want to play scrabble?" She asked and I mentally rolled my eyes but agreed. "I'll get the box and you can ask Peeta and his friend to play." Prim scuttled from the room and I walked over to Peeta and Gerry as casually as possible. Gerry smiled at me but Peeta didn't even look up.
"Hey, do you guys maybe want to play scrabble?" I asked and realised how sad that sound. Peeta passed his phone to Gerry he laughed at the screen and passed it back to Peeta. "Peeta?" I ask.
"What?" He snaps and I blink a few times. He blatantly looks at his watch and I feel myself blush, Peeta clearly doesn't want to talk to me.
"Scrabble," I manage to say and Peeta makes a bored noise in his throat. "Prim wanted you to play." I say as an excuse.
"Well if Prim's playing, of course!" Peeta pushed his phone into his jeans pocket and him and Gerry stood up. He was only playing because of Prim. That's okay though because I didn't love him, I didn't even fancy him anymore.
We all sit down as Prim unfolds the board and passes around the bag with the letters in.
"I'll go first! Then to Peeta, then Prim then Katniss!" Gerry said and put down the word 'love' Peeta scoffed and put the word 'hate' using the 'e' from love. I scratched my neck, I felt like he was striking out at me. Prim put down 'happy' and Peeta smiled broadly at her. I wanted one of those smiles. I smirked to myself and put down 'pitta' like the bread, we weren't allowed names but it was just coincidence pitta sound like Peeta.
"How do you spell Antigua?" Prim asked and we looked at her, confused.
"Do you want to put it on the board?" Gerry asked and Prim looked at him innocently.
"No, I was just curious." We all laughed at her.
I looked up from my book and gazed around the room. Peeta was sat next to me on the sofa, also reading, Prim and Gerry were facing each other lying on their stomachs playing chess, Rye was fiddling with an old looking camera and Evan was staring at his laptop screen. His fingers unmoving, I assumed he had writer's block or something.
"What are you reading?" I asked, leaning towards Peeta slightly, he didn't answer. "Peeta?"
"Hm?" He kept his eyes on the book and turned the page.
"What are you reading?" I asked again.
"A book." He replied shortly and I sat back. I was just trying to be damn polite, why was he being a dick today?
"Are you sure? It kind of looks like a boat." I say sarcastically and he turns the book over in his hands then hums slightly.
"Hmmm, no, it's definitely a book." Peeta says and I glare at the side of his face. "I'll try reading a boat sometime. Sounds... Riveting." His voice is dripping with sarcasm and I gape at him.
"Don't mind Peeta," Gerry said from the floor. "He's annoyed that he got rejected." I blush, I had rejected him last night. Peeta shot a look at Gerry. "Some girl in a club last week told him that he should call her when he leaves high school." Peeta threw a cushion at Gerry who swatted it out of the way, laughing. So Peeta goes to clubs, okay. Nothing to do with me.
"He shouldn't be in clubs anyway." Rye piped up from the other side of the room and Peeta growled in annoyance. "He isn't even eighteen yet." Rye muttered in his continually bore tone.
"He has a name." Peeta said roughly and I smiled at Prim as she hurried out of the room.
"Yes, well I'm sure none of the girls he picks up remembers his name either." Rye said and Evan looked over at him then at Peeta then back to his laptop.
"At least I can pick up girls, Rye. The only person remotely female you can get is Linda!" Peeta raised his voice. "And believe me, because I fucking know, she's shit in bed." Rye slammed the camera on the table and turned to Peeta. "But that might just be me saying that because I had a cigarette in my head while she fucked me!" Peeta stood up just after Rye did.
"Don't talk about our Mother like that!" Rye yelled and prodded a finger to Peeta's chest. "You're a liar, Peeta! Everyone knows it!"
"Don't pretend, Rye, that you couldn't hear me shouting!" Rye paled slightly, Gerry stood up and put a hand on Peeta's shoulder but he shrugged it off. "That you couldn't hear my screams of pain when she burnt me! That you couldn't hear her orgas..." Peeta was cut off when Rye punched him square on the nose.
"What the hell is going on?" Ben appeared in the door way. As Peeta turned round to look at him, blood gushed from his nose. "Jesus christ, boys!" Peeta hurried out of the door and Gerry followed him quickly. When Evan slowly left, I left as well and as soon as I did Ben started talking in a rushed voice to Rye.
I walked into the kitchen and watch quietly as Peeta sat down on a leather chair as Gerry passed him a towel to wipe his blood on.
"Tip your head back and pinch the top of your nose." I mutter and they both look at me. Gerry nudges Peeta so Peeta does as I said and winces in pain.
"Dude is it broken?" Gerry exclaimed and Peeta glares at him.
"I don't know, it freaking hurts." Peeta mumbles and I walk over.
"Let me see." I say and Peeta turns to me. "Move your hands." Peeta takes the towel from his face and I tip his face back towards the ceiling by pushing my finger underneath his chin. "Tell me when it hurts." I say and he rolls his eyes.
"Well it hurts no-Ow! Ow! Fucking ow!" Peeta growls through his teeth when I pinch the bridge of his nose.
"Don't be a baby." I tell him and take the towel from his lap.
"It hurt." Peeta says bluntly then closes his mouth when I wipe the blood from his face.
"Peet, I gotta go and get Elijah from his swimming lesson. You alright here?" Gerry says and Peeta stands up quickly making me step backwards, they both leave the room and I head upstairs to find Prim.
I check my room first and I'm not surprised when I see her looking out of my window. I stand next to her and she continues to watch a squirrel bound through the snow.
"Have you been crying?" I ask and she nods so I cross my room, heading for the bathroom to get some tissue. I push the bathroom door open then stop when I see Peeta facing away from me in his boxers. "Sorry." I mutter and he turns and shrugs. "Why are you being weird?" I ask suddenly.
"I'm not... I'm getting in the shower." He says and turns the water on. "You should have knocked." He scolds me and I feel myself blush.
"You're being weird, Peeta." I say and he smirks. "What?" I say smiling back.
"You're calling me weird when you just walked in on me and then didn't leave. That's weird." He says and I stop smiling. "We're almost brother and sister now."
"Almost, but not quite." I find myself saying back and he scratches his left shoulder.
"So you just don't like me anymore? Like as in... Love." He says and I swallow. I refrain from reminding him he's the one that left me.
"I signed papers," I confessed to him, he nodded indicating he did too. "I promised I wouldn't get involved with one of the Mellark's. If I did they'd separate me from Prim and send her back to the foster home we were in." I say quickly and Peeta steps close to me.
"The foster homes' where you got those horrible bruises on your shoulders?" He asks quietly and I bit my lip.
"Not just on my shoulders." I murmur and he frowns. "If I get involved with you, the things they nearly did to me would happen to Prim." Peeta's eyes search my face as my eyes drop to his body, taking the muscles in.
"What nearly happened to you?" He whispered in a worried tone and I realised if I didn't leave now I would do something I shouldn't.
"I have to go." I say and Peeta nods gently before I practically run from the room.
"Where'd you go?" Prim asks when I step back into my room and collapse on my bed.
"The loo." I mutter, throwing one of my arms over my face. Prim sits next to me and I sigh.
"Is it because of me?" Prim asks and I peek a look at her.
"Is what because of you?" I ask, confused.
"That you won't get back with Peeta." She says and I swallow. "He makes you happy Katniss."
"So do you." I reply quickly and she laughs.
"Yeah, but I can't make you feel the things he can." My mouth drops open in shock.
"Prim! Shut up! Ew!" I exclaim and she laughs again.
"Oh come on! I'm not stupid, you expect me to believe that during the summer you and Peeta used to just hold hands and cuddle?" She says, laughing and I blush madly.
"I don't want to talk about this with you!"I whine and she continues to laugh.
"You know I'm nearly fifteen right?" I roll so I'm face down, buring my embarrassment. "We do sex education in school!"
"Stop! This is weird! You're my little sister! I don't want to talk about sex!" I whine again and she lays down next to me.
"Did you do other stuff with Peeta?" She asks and I scream in horror and roll away, falling off my bed and thumping to the floor. I landed on my bum and now fall back on the floor laughing so hard no sound is coming out.
"Are you alright?" I hear Peeta say and as I look up I laugh out loud because he is stood with a towel around his waist, his body shimmering with water and his hair flat on his head from the water. "What happened?" He asks, smirking and I feel the tears fall from my face.
"Katniss... Fell." Prim managed in squeaks which made us laugh harder. "Now... You...naked." Prim is almost wailing with laughter and I clutch my stomach.
"Think...I'm getting... A six pack!" I yelled and Prim roared, Peeta grinned and I continued to laugh and groan in pain at the same time.
"Peeta...done a lot... Of laughing to get... eight pack... Then!" Prim roared and I calmed slightly to let my eyes travel over his body. I bit my lip as I laughed and Peeta shook his head in amusement.
"You guys are going to die from laughter. So immature!" Peeta said and Prim pointed at him.
"You're immature!" She shouted, her laughter subsiding.
"Me! I'm nearly eighteen! You aren't even fifteen!" He pointed back, laughing and Prim launches herself at him, she was kneeling at his side and she grabbed the towel, making his face contort as he struggled to keep the towel up.
"Prim!" I shouted at her and she looked over at me just as Peeta's towel opened to reveal a large erection. Peeta quickly covered himself up, and looked at me.
"What?" Prim turned back to Peeta and we were quiet for a few seconds before we erupted with laughter. "I don't get it!" Prim cried and I rolled onto my side with laughter.
"That was way too close! No more towel grabbing Prim!" Peeta laughed and Prim stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. "Jesus! That would have been horrifying!" Peeta exclaimed and I managed to sit up, my back against the bedside table.
"More for Prim or you?" I asked and he laughed.
"I don't even know! Both?" I giggled again and Peeta sat down on my desk chair, from this angle I could see the bulge under his towel.
"She'd have been scarred for life and you would have died of embarrassment if she saw! Her face was right there!" I held in another laugh as I wiped my tears away.
"I couldn't help it! I'm a horny teenager!" Peeta defended himself and we both fell silent, looking at each other.
"You've grown." I say quietly and he smirks.
"You noticed." He replies and I nod.
"Kind of hard not to." I say and he nods. Peeta opens his mouth to speak when Melissa shouts through the house that dinner is ready. Peeta stands up and I copy him, he opens the door for me and I step out.
"I should go and errrrrr, you know." Peeta says and I stop the images in my mind.
"Peeta Smith Mellark! You have twenty seconds to be dressed before I make you eat dinner naked!" Melissa yells when she walks past the hallway and sees him in a towel.
"That's not fair." He mutters. "This is your fault for falling out of bed. Give me a second." He says and steps into his room.
"You have eight." I reply and watch as he pulls a pair of black jeans up under the towel, throws the towel over his desk chair, and walks out unfolding a t shirt.
"Why did you fall out anyway?" He asks as we slowly make our way to the stairs.
"Prim asked me what we did at summer besides sex." I reply and he stops at the top stair.
"Are you trying to make me even more uncomfortable downstairs?" He asks and I look down at his crotch.
"Your flies are undone." Peeta growls softly before pulling up the zip and doing the button. I trot down the stairs and he follows me, pulling the top of his head through his top as he goes.
The only seats left at the table are next to each other so when I sit next to Evan, Peeta sits next to me. Lasagna is already served on our plates and everyone else is eating. So Peeta and I dig in.
"School's closed tomorrow, Peeta and Katniss." Ben mumbles through his food and I nod.
"I volunteered to go in and shovel some of the snow to get rid of it because of the exams going on." Peeta says and then chews some food. "I'll take Katniss in and she can go and see Mr Burns and get her timetable and stuff, if that's okay?" Peeta turns to me and I nod because my mouth's full.
"Sounds good." Ben remarks and we eat silently for a while. "I was thinking of taking Prim and Katniss into town tomorrow, if you'd like dears, but if you going with Peeta he can take you in after school?" Ben asks and Peeta drinks some water.
"I'll take you to see my friend Delly. She works in a spa, you can have a massage or something if you want?" Peeta asks me and I smile.
"I don't want to be a burden." I'm pretty sure everyone in the room rolled their eyes.
"Katniss, you and Prim are our family now. We want to spoil you both! I'd love to spoil some daughters instead of sons for once!" Ben says with a huge smile and I put more food in my mouth as Peeta finishes his glass of water.
"You look tired, Katniss." Evan says suddenly and I look up at him as he sips from a bottle of beer.
"I don't sleep well." I reply and he nods.
"You should go to bed earlier." Rye chips in and I look at him with a fake grateful look.
"Well she'd never thought of that!" Peeta says snarkily and I look down into my food.
"Boys." Ben says and they instantly stop their staring contest. "We have chocolate cake for pudding, Katniss, but you can go to bed whenever you want dear."
"Thank you, could I go up now?" I ask and Ben looks slightly shocked but nods. "I sleep better when it's light." I explain quietly and he nods again so I stand up.
"Leave the dishes." Melissa says kindly and I thank her and leave.
As soon as I hit the bed I sigh, I really do sleep better in the light but it doesn't mean I sleep well. It takes a matter of minutes before I slip into an fitful sleep of tossing and turning.
My eyes spring open and my heart is pounding. I'm sweating heavily and I start to sob. My clock says its two a.m and I slip out of bed.
I shouldn't but I need to right now. I need to feel safe after the nightmare. I barely even recognise I'm only in an old t-shirt and knickers but I silently close my door as I slip out of the room.
The hallway is dark and scary so I'm thankful I only have to take three steps before knocking lightly then pushing the door open and looking for the bed.
Peeta sits up on his elbows to look at me, he drags a hand over his eyes and squints.
"Katniss?"
"Sorry for waking you. I-I-I had a nightmare." I stutter and he breathes deeply and automatically lifts up his duvet for me to get in. I close the door and practically dive in next to him.
"It's fine. You're shaking." He notes and I nod. "Come here." He whispers so gently and I turn over and cuddle into Peeta's chest.
"Thank you." I mutter as he wraps his arms round me.
"What was it about? The nightmare?" Peeta asks and I tilt my head to look up at him. His eyes are closed.
"I was in the foster home and I walked into the bathroom to shower and a boy from the foster home followed me in and he grabbed my wrists and pushed me against the wall." I gulped but calmed as Peeta ran one hand in small circles on my back and the other up and down my arm lightly. "He pushed me to the floor and kneeled on my thighs and held down my arms so I couldn't move. He pulled down his trousers and started jacking off then he rubbed it on my stomach and ripped my knickers off." I finished Peeta's thumb brushed my tears away.
"Was it imagination or recollection, Katniss?" He asked and I shook as I breathed in. "Oh god." Peeta murmured when I didn't reply. "I won't let anyone hurt you, Katniss." He muttered and I listened to his breathing and his heartbeat as I slipped into a perfect sleep.