Chapter 6

Katniss P.O.V

Prim stopped running when we were far enough away from Gale. She stopped to catch her breath. I patted her on the back. That had been very odd, I won't lie. I didn't expect to run into Gale that quickly or for Peeta to be there. I didn't expect Gale to say we were friends either and I thought a hunter was supposed to expect the unexpected. Ha!

"How do you two know each other?" I asked. Prim smiled as she continued to walk toward the Victors Village. Peeta gave a sheepish smile.

"That day I was reaped, Prim came and talked to me. . ." Peeta said. I looked at Prim questioningly, she nodded.

"Why?" I asked.

"I knew he –"

"Just to talk." Peeta said. He eyed Prim warningly. I got a feeling there was something he didn't want her to say to me. Oh well, I could coax it out of her eventually.

"Really? And I guess you have become best friends since then." I said. Prim and Peeta smiled. I took that as a yes.

"Prim will be coming too." Peeta said. "To the Capitol, I mean."

"Really? And you didn't think to tell mother . . .or me?" I was a little hurt by that, naturally.

"Mom knows," Prim said. Now I was really hurt. "Cinna came to see you this morning but you were out hunting, that's when he asked me if I could go. I was going to tell you later."

"I see." I said. So that's why Prim was awake and dressed by the time I got back home. Usually I have to force her out of bed on a weekend.
By now we were close to the Victors Village.

"Gale looked upset." Prim added. I nodded.

"He did." I said.

"What happened with you and Gale?" Peeta asked. I shrugged. Truthfully I didn't want to talk about it. Not now. I was a happy right now. Everything was fine, I guess.
I didn't have to worry about Gale anymore. Things could go back to normal. I could go back to believing that relationships were a waste of time. Because in truth, they are.
All I needed was my family . . . and maybe a friend. Peeta, Madge, maybe Gale. I was perfectly content having friends and nothing more.

"Gale, wasn't for me." I said. By now we were standing in front of Peeta's door. I expected for Cinna to be the one to open the door but I was surprised to see Haymitch Abernathy. And he smelled awful.
Haymitch was the other District 12 winner. He was a drunk, to put it simply. I had never, not once, seen him sober.

"Uh, hi, Peeta. What are you doing in my house?" Haymitch slurred. Peeta had a disgusted look on his face.

"Haymitch, you're supposed to be upstairs getting ready." Effie Trinket came to the door and was beginning to drag him away when she saw us. Her eyes lit up.

"Finally, I see normal people!" she exclaimed. "I have been surrounded by these dopes all day. Come in, come in." she said. Her pink hair was falling to the side and her clothes were slightly messed up. Clearly she had been struggling with him all day.

"Cinna!" Effie called over her shoulder. "Peeta's back." She left to take care of Haymitch. Prim and I walked into the house to realize it was a mess. It was nothing like the other time I was here, all neat and clean. It was still clean, yes but now there were piles of clothes, people of different colors running around the room, chaos. By people of different colors I literally mean people of different colors; purple, blue, green, and more.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Getting ready to go the capitol, I bet." Prim said. oh. Wow, this was a lot of getting ready for a trip.

"They want us to look perfect." Peeta said.

"And perfect you will be." Cinna said as he walked down the stairs.

"When is the trip?" I asked. Surely they had a week to get ready and I didn't understand why they needed all of this stuff. It wouldn't be that hard for one person to put on makeup and get dressed now is it. what else is there to do?

"In two days." Cinna answered. Two days. Well, the sooner the better. "Prim, you come with me. I have a few dresses I want you to take a look at." Prim smiled, she looked at me asking for permission before she went with Cinna. I nodded and urged her forward. She disappeared up the stairs with Cinna.

"Come with me, it'll be a while before their done." Peeta said.

"Huh?" I said. A while? To try on a few dress? Peeta chuckled.

"You'll see when it's your turn." He said. He gestured for me to follow him outside to his backyard. There was a white seat hanging on the roof of the back porch. When I sat down, it moved. I panicked a little since I had never been on one of these. Peeta sat down next to me and rocked us back and forth. It was nice out here.
There was a fountain and in front of the small garden filled with lilies, roses, and primroses was an easel. Peeta was painting the garden and the flowers. I looked at Peeta next to me.

"This is nice." I said. It was there was a fence separating the forest from the house but you could still see the mountains and trees towering above us. The sky was a pretty blue. Here you could forget you were in District 12.

"I come out here often." Peeta said. "When it's chaos inside."

"Is it always like that?" I asked. "With people running around all over, trying to get you ready for something that isn't for two days?"

"Yes," he laughed. "But Haymitch said it will calm down after a while."

"When they have a new victor." I muttered. Peeta was silent.

"Since when are you and Gale not friends?" Peeta asked.

"Since yesterday," I whispered. Now that we were alone it was a little easier to talk about this. Peeta was silent.

"Yesterday?" Peeta said. I nodded. His face was unreadable. "When you came to see me . . . did you really want to? Or was it just because. . ." he sighed.

"I don't know. I just ended up here for some reason." I said. "But I'm glad I did. It was fun and it cheered me up." I added. At this Peeta smiled.

"Good." He said.

"So you and Prim have known each other for how long exactly?" I said.

"Since I came back. She came over after school sometimes. She planted the Primroses." Peeta said. "And the lilies and the roses." He laughed. I was a bit upset by this. I knew Prim wasn't coming home after school but I just assumed she was hanging out with some of her friends.

"She was the one who gave me the courage to talk to the girl I liked." Peeta whispered.

"Really?" I asked. "That sounds like Prim."

"Yes, she's really sweet you know. You're lucky to have a sister like her." Peeta said.

"You have brothers." I said. It's true but I never see them around. They usually like to work in the bakery and when I do see them they are always with a group of people.

"True." Peeta said. We sat in comfortable silence for a while. "You know I was surprised when you said you wanted to come with me."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I never thought you liked me." He said.

"You're my friend now Peeta. It'll be . . ." I trailed off unsure of exactly what the Capitol will be. "Interesting." I said.

"It'll be fun. You're going to have a hard time not laughing at the people there." Peeta said. "And the food is exquisite but if you eat too much it'll make you sick."
I scrunched my noise.

"Somehow it doesn't sound appetizing if it'll make you sick." I said. He laughed.
We stayed out there talking for a long time. I started to wonder how long Prim is going to take until she came outside.

"Katniss!" Prim walked toward me looking amazing. The dress was a pretty blue that reached her knees and it shimmered in the sunlight. It looked almost like a waterfall.

"How do I look?" Prim asked.

"Beautiful." I said. "You'll look wonderful."

"You should see all the dresses Cinna has for you! They are absolutely gorgeous. I helped him pick out your dress by the way." Prim said. Cinna walked behind her.

"Don't I get to pick my own dress?" not that I care to but I was a little nervous Prim picked out a silly pink, fluffy, girly dress. That would be something she would pick.

"Nope," Prim said. She smiled. "Trust me you'll love it."

"Not likely." I murmured. I wasn't a big fan on dresses. Looking pretty didn't seem important to me, Prim was the only one, besides my mother, who cared about how she looked.

"Trust her." Cinna said. "It's perfect for you."

"All right. . ." I said unsure. "Can I go see it?"

"Nope." Cinna said.

"Why?"

"Wait two days, Katniss." Cinna said.

"I guess they mean for it to be a surprise." Peeta laughed.

"Oh, it'll be a surprise all right." Prim said. This, of course, made me nervous.

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