Someone asked about my age, but I will not tell you. As I said in the previous chapter, this is loosely based on my life. Not everything is the same, but the basic relationship between Katniss and Peeta is very similar to what happened to me. Just because I started my story in October of freshman year does not mean I'm a freshman. I don't really care how old you think I am, but I just don't like sharing too much personal things about my life on the internet.

Chapter 2 – Homecoming Part 2

"What time is it now?"

Peeta takes his phone out. I sort of wish he liked dancing so we could go on the dance floor.

Wait. Did I just think that?

I shake it off and direct my attention back to Peeta. "It's ten fifteen." He shoves his hands in his pockets and stares off to nothingness. Quite a sight we are; the lonely girl who has friends but doesn't talk and then the guy who could talk to anyone he wants but for some reason chooses the girl. I can feel people's eyes on us, but they look away as soon as I catch them. "Katniss, you want to head back outside?"

I nod and start walking to the doors. Once we're outside and next to the lame tree, I start to shiver again. I lean closer to Peeta and start to feel a little warmer. I rest my head against the brick wall behind us. Peeta stiffens a little bit but relaxes after a few seconds. "Any reason you're leaning against me?"

I step a little further away from him. "Sorry, I'm just cold. You're like a human heater." Fuck, did I really just say that?

"Well if you're cold we could just go back inside."

"No, no I'm fine." I shake it off and wrap my arms around myself. As I do so, two sophomores start walking towards us. George and Matt. They think they're so cool, but they're not. Playing Halo all weekend long doesn't make you cool. End of story. "What do you want?" I avoid making eye contact with them.

"Aww! Look at the cute freshman couple!" George says in some foreign accent. I don't care enough to know.

"We aren't a couple." I mumble. I just want these guys gone so this night isn't as horrible and it's turning out to be.

"Oh, our apologies Mrs. Mellark." Matt smirks.

I roll my eyes. "Look, could you dick heads please go away so I can try and have some sort of fun tonight?"

"No can do, young grasshopper. We need to talk to Peeta here." Matt smiles and looks to Peeta. "How far have you gotten in Halo?"

I lean back against the brick and drown out their conversation. I don't play video games nor do I have the desire to. "Hey Katniss?"

I look up and see Peeta standing beside me. "Yeah?"

"You wanna go inside now? It's been close enough to fifteen minutes."

"Sure." We go back inside.

Music is still blasting and people are still grinding – and more of them for that matter – but it's just a little bit stuffier. I listen closer to the music and frown. "You know, I'm not a fan of Lady Gaga in the first place but I do like some of her songs. Journey on the other hand is one of my favorite bands. You can't put those two together."

Peeta stares at me like I have two heads. "Uh-"

I chuckle. "Just listen to the music, if you can even call it that." He narrows his eyes and bites his lip. "You hear it now?" I give him a half smile.

He nods. The DJ must be half asleep because he is mixing Just Dance with Don't Stop Believing. "That has got to be one of the worst things I have had to experience all night."

"What's the worst?"

"I don't know, maybe it's spending all this time with you," he jokes.

I backhand his stomach. Peeta covers it and my hand in fake pain, but fails to realize my hand is still there. I giggle. What the fuck am I giggling about?! I want to say, but I keep in inside. "Peeta, I'm sorry, I don't do those kinds of things until marriage." I say as seriously as I can. He backs away and widens his eyes. I just laugh at his expression, but he seems to be getting annoyed with me. "I'm sorry, it's just that you closed my hand with yours and I could feel the waistband of your pants. To be honest, it wasn't the most awkward situation I've been in with a guy."

"Oh really?" I nod. "May I ask what situations you have been in?"

"Yes." I nod and wait for him to say something else, but he just raises his eyebrows. "Oh you mean now?"

"Yes, I mean now," he says with a laugh.

"Well, you remember that stupid field trip last year?"

"Elitches wasn't stupid!"

"No, that was actually fun." I start smiling at a memory from there that has to do with Peeta…

"Come on let's go on the bridge! If we catch it at the right time we could get soaked down to our underwear!" Delly pulled on Peeta's arm.

It was our whole group of friends; at the time it was me, Delly, Peeta, Clove, Madge, Glimmer, and Johanna. Yes, Peeta was in a group of girls, but his guy friends ditched him back at the Mind Eraser.

Delly flirts with Peeta way too much. (She doesn't see him as any more than a friend, well that's what she had told us. I think I believe her from all the stories she tells us about some 17 year old who lives in South Carolina.) Actually, everyone flirts with him in some way because he lets them and is an easy target. He doesn't realize it but he almost flirts back. I've heard people say that he isn't the most attractive guy at the school, which may be true, but he isn't as bad as I've heard in the hallway.

"But Delly, what if I don't want to get soaked down to my underwear? This shirt is annoying when it's dry, let alone wet!"

I shake my head, "Well then why did you wear it." He opens his mouth then closes it for lack of response. Normally Peeta Mellark cannot be rendered speechless, but it is not unheard of. "Let's just go."

I grab Clove and Johanna's arms. If we're going to do this, might as well just get it over with.

I hear screams as we walk onto the bridge. The log is making its way down the hill and then a wave of water splashes all over. I hold on to the handrail so I don't fall on my face, which would hurt.

After we go back to retrieve our shoes and phones, I hear Peeta complaining about his shirt. I look up and see him trying to wring it out while still wearing it. "Peeta, just take the damn thing off." I shake my head and go back to tying my shoes.

"Katniss?" He sounds so surprised…

I look up after finishing the knot and find all eyes staring at me. "What? I just heard you all complaining about how you haven't seen any shirtless guys so there you go!"

Everyone's faces go red, but Peeta's is the worst. "Uh-"

Johanna, who now I notice doesn't have a read face (lucky bitch) says, "Yeah Peeta, what if you have a six pack? It's on my bucket list to touch a guy's six pack."

"I do not have a six pack." He mumbles.

Delly pats his shoulder and says quietly, "Peeta, we all know you take karate. Of course you have a six pack."

"I do not have a six pack!" Some people passing by give us odd looks. I just scowl at them until they look away. "Fine, I'll prove to you that I have nothing but flab under this shirt."

"Yeah, abs of flab then." I say with a smirk.

Peeta sheds his shirt and lo and behold there is an outline of a six pack there. It's not anything major like the Hollister models, but there's still one there. I wanted to touch it, but there were people there…

"Hey, Katniss?"

I shake my head. "What?"

"You've been staring at my stomach, I think my stomach. Am I showing?" He puts his hand on his belly as if he's pregnant.

I crack up and cover my face with my hands. "No Peeta, I was just thinking about Elitches. What were you saying?"

"I was saying I think you meant the stupid field trip, I mean 'college visit' to that community college."

"UHG! That was one of the worst days of my life! Anyway, so we had that EMT class that we visited. All the girls had to wear dresses or skirts, as you must remember."

"Oh yeah I do." Peeta smirks.

"Haha, no." I shake my head once again. "So when we had to pick up the person and put them on that flat boardy thingy, I was in a group with Greg." Peeta nods and I continue. "So I didn't get to choose where to go and the asshole supervisor had me roll him over."

"I don't get it."

"Then let me finish." I give him a small smile so I didn't come across rude. "Well I had to kneel by him in my dress and put my hand in his pocket."

"Well, uh that was interesting."

"I swear it was so awkward, like the time we played the nervous game in study hall and Johanna put her hand in Aiden's pocket and was grossed out because she thought she touched his other thigh."

"Why is that so gross?"

"Because it wasn't his thigh."

Peeta presses his lips together and closes his eyes. When he reopens them, he says, "I still don't get it."

"Peeta, I hate spelling things out for you." I let out a small laugh. "What is between the legs of a man?"

"Uh, oh. Oh! Oh God that's nasty! Did she really touch it?"

"Hell if I know, probably! It was through his pant pocket though, so it could have been worse."

"Anyway back to awkwardness at the community college, did you go into the bathrooms?"

"Um, yeah?"

"Well apparently the girl's bathroom and a free condom dispenser in it but the guys didn't."

I pinch the bridge of my nose with my fingers and close my eyes. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Nope. But it was a college, what do you expect?" I nod. "We should walk around and see if there are any of our friends that aren't dancing."

"Why not?" I smile slightly

Peeta stuffs his hands in his pockets and we start walking

..

So the story about Elitches actually happened. The eighth grade field trip to a community college actually happened. Yes, one of my friends may have actually touched a guy's dick during the nervous game, but it was in band, not study hall. And the condoms. But most importantly, NEVER mix Lady Gaga and Journey. that is a mistake that should not have even happened once.

I don't know when I'll update my other story, Because of You, at this moment in time, but it will be updated in the near future. I am aware that someone has written a story with the same title, but I would like to point out that I put mine up way before they put up theirs and I have not taken anything from theirs to my knowledge.