Teach Me
A/N: I think I'm gonna keep Katniss's dad alive, I have plans for the story later on.
Chapter 6 - "Only the dead have seen the end of the war"
Standing awkwardly outside the school library, as I fumble with my fingers and my head bowed low. The gleaming sun hits the top of my blond hair as my jaw aches with pain, the sensitive skin around it stings with might and the bruise is stained a purple and green color everybody will see it. Hopefully, people will still think of me as invisible, however, I got into a fight with the most popular boy in school- he's going to bend the truth. This morning I told my father I'd do an early shift for the bakery to avoid any questioning and concerning looks from my father. Rye was still sleeping when I left, so I didn't need to bother thinking of an excuse to the reason why I have a bulging bruise and a swollen jaw on my face. They are going to find out sooner or later though.
My feet inch closer to Katniss, her eyes are deep-rooted into a book, she didn't notice me until I sat down in front of her. She lets the new information sink in, I sit there vulnerably as her eyes plant onto my face. "What the hell happened?" She screeched as her voice cracked into a sorrow sigh. Katniss made me tell her about what happened, so I did. I told her how Cato was taunting me and he always does that to me so I couldn't stand it anymore and whacked him one, but he clearly hit me harder as he has a larger build than myself. "You should see him." I chuckled sadly, trying to lighten the mood but Katniss has her fingers placed onto my jaw, my face jerks at her touch; the skin is still too sensitive to be touched. Even though I want her hands to be on me, it hurts way too much. Her fingers leave my face and her hand touches mine, the blood rushes to my face, blinking furiously to distract the new presence.
"We are going to the First Aid room." She pauses "And... After school you're coming to mine, my mother is a nurse, she will get you something for the pain."
Katniss follows me to the First Aid room, we enter quietly. An old lady sits down with a mug of teach firmly in her fragile, wrinkled hands. The steam from the tea touches her nose as she inhales the warmth, her worried eyes look up to me and gasp. "I'm guessing you need ice to heal that bruise of yours." She stands up and searches for the ice-packs. "I'm Mags by the way." Her eyes still search for the ice and Katniss stands behind me. Mags hands me the ice-packs and instructs me to keep this on for a while to reduce the redness and maybe make the bruise numb to also reduce the pain. We leave the small First Aid room, leaving Mags with her tea and biscuits. Katniss has hold of the ice-pack, she holds it up to my jaw- my face flinches with the sudden change of temperature and also the slight pain of the coldness. Bringing my hand up to hold the ice-pack, our hands touch for a brief second before she withdraws her petite hands. "C'mon, we have second period together. Science" she says softly and she leads me to the science lab.
Cautiously, I keep the ice-pack close to my face as people stare at me with wide-eyes and curious faces. Katniss takes a seat next to me and digs into her pockets to find a pen, I take two pens out of my pocket and hand one over to Katniss. "Thanks." She whispers as Mr Bean begins the lesson, she takes the pen willingly out of my hand and begins to write down the title in her book and I do the same.
The lessons went terribly slow, all the teachers rambled on about exams and what to include to fulfill your potential grade. Exams baffle me, you sit at home for hours to try and remember as much as you can and then when your exam has finished you will probably forget everything you wrote down. Or, when they tell you to stop writing, would 5 more minutes improve your grade? Trying to remember the last of the facts to get a grade that probably has no relationship with your current knowledge later on in life. School tries to confuse education and they give us new information we will never need in life.
Katniss jumps from behind me as we sit into the sun to have lunch, she pulls out some sandwiches and an apple. I prepared my lunch earlier and I have: a cheese and tomato sandwich, 2 scones and a packet of crisps. The green grass is refreshing as the smell of cut grass seeps into my lungs, I inhale loudly and Katniss laughs silently. Daisies and dandelions surround our premises and Katniss picks the petals of the daisies. Taking a humongous bite out of my sandwich Katniss begins to speak up. "How's your jaw?"
I took the ice-pack off when it started dripping with water in my hands, other than that I haven't even noticed the pain of it but now and then it stings. "Stings a little, but it's fine." I reply as she takes a swig of her water.
"That's good, you still wanna come around my house? I need a companion to help me revise." She smiles as her eyes squint when the sun touches her face. Her brown hair is golden in the sun, and her eyes are more green than usual, I like it. Finishing my sandwich quickly, I move onto my raisin and cinnamon scones, Katniss has finished her lunch and she sits playing with the grass besides her. "You want a scone?" I question as her face scrunches up. "I'm full, if I eat this too, I'm sure my stomach will burst." I insist and I hand the scone out to her, she gratefully grabs it with her smooth hands and moans into the scone; the crums drop onto her lap and I laugh uncontrollably.
"Thanks for laughing at me, Peeta." She says sarcastically. I give her a smirk in return.
Standing outside my locker as the students rush past me to exit the school, I haven't seen Cato all day, probably ashamed to come to school. However, I'm looking forward to going to Katniss's house but nervous at the same time. A small finger tapped on my shoulder, I whip my head around to see Katniss and Prim standing with smiles on their faces. "Sorry, I took so long. I had to pick up this one" she ruffled Prims hair as Prims braids sway with Katniss's movements of her hands.
"Hey Peeta!" Prim jumped as she flings her arms around my waist, awkwardly putting my hands around her shoulders, I feel her smiling into my t-shirt and she lets go. Katniss rolls her eyes. "The cupcakes were really nice by the way." She smiles, I completely forgot about the cupcakes, I'm glad they enjoyed them. "Are you coming back to our house?"
"Yes he is, Prim." She cuts through Prim. "Lets go" Prim holds Katniss's hand and I follow one step behind as Katniss leads the way.
Their house isn't too far from mine but they would have to walk more than me to reach school. The walk was silent but filled with thoughts and emotion, I focused on everybody's footsteps and breathing as we tardily approach Katniss's house. The house was a decent size with an adequate sized garden, they had flowers following the path to the front door and a blossom tree arching over the garden, reminding me of our day in the park. Smiling to myself, Katniss invites me in, I hesitate at first but their house is warm and welcoming. Smelling the smoky, fresh smell again but a hint of spice invades my nostrils; the same smell of Katniss, minus the spice. The wooded flooring echoes my footsteps as Prim rushes upstairs, I'm guessing to her room. Katniss parks herself on the dinning room chair and motions me to sit. Thinking carefully of my choice of options of where to sit: I could sit directly next to her, but that would be to close, I could sit a couple seats away from her, but that's too far. I settle for the seat opposite as she pulls some biology texts books out of her bag.
Her leg courageously keeps kicking the inside of my ankle, I flinch every time when her skin touches mine. I write some notes from my chemistry text book, I soon get bored with reading and pull out a blank piece of paper, my pencil touches the write sheet and I begin to doodle what comes into my mind. Katniss sighs when she looks up at me. "We have art tomorrow, can't you wait?" She teases as she scans my piece of paper.
"I'm bored." I tell her truthfully.
"Well, follow me." She grabs my hand and pulls me to the stairs, she lets go and races up the stairs, I stand there watching as her hips sway from side to side. I follow her up into her room.
Her room is a light blue color her covers are a forest green color and her curtains are a dark blue. Shifting awkwardly in the doorway, Katniss sits onto her bed and motions for me to join her, cautiously, I sit on her bed as her eyes stare into mine.
"You know, you're a baker." She point out the obvious. "I want you to teach me how to bake something. It doesn't have to be now but, maybe some time soon?"
"Ok. You can come round tomorrow if you'd l-like?" I blurt out before considering her question. Maybe she didn't want to do it straight away, or she didn't want to do it tomorrow. I tense up and clench my fists together to release the pain onto myself.
"Relax, tomorrow is perfect." She smiles gratefully. Her feet are tucked under her legs and her hands are left into her lap. "Do you trust me, Peeta?" She questions as my eyes wonder in response, I carefully examine the question. I wouldn't be here if I didn't trust her, I wouldn't let her tutor me if I didn't trust her and I certainly wouldn't invite her over tomorrow if I didn't trust her. What is trust though? Is trust were you can rely on someone? Someone you tell your secrets with? Or simply just hanging around with them? I take my time to think for a moment. I trust her enough to touch me, I trust her enough to go round her house.
"Yes, d-do, y-you trust m-me?"
"Of course." She smiles again and rests her hand on my shoulder. Before either of us say anything- something catches my eye... That picture I gave her is on her bedside in a frame, that's enough to show that she trusts me. I smile and wipe off the invisible dust on my trousers. She caught my eye looking at the picture. "That was the day I knew I trusted you." She speaks up. "No one has ever given me something like that. Something that you're good at, you gave to me. I really appreciate it. And of course, it's the most perfect picture I've seen ever." Her words make me blush- I've never been complemented on my art work. My mother doesn't say anything because she feels like she has seen better and my father is as quiet as a mouse, but I idle him.
A/N: Sorry this chapter was late, but there it was. It was my sisters birthday the other day so I was busy and I've been preparing my two speeches for my speaking and listening, I'm a shy person so my teacher told me to work on my delivery, she wants the whole class to do a speaking and listening speech It's not fair, I hate it:(. The big scene is coming up in the next chapter! Stay tuned:) Take care, Bye!x