a/n: HAAI :) I realized that this story is going painfully slow, and it's gonna take a good six or seven more chapters to get close to the end. So I apologize in advance if you feel like it's going to quickly. BUT THE FLUFF STAYS ! I'm a sucker for fluff.

and about Fox-face's name. In the early screenplay of the movie, Fox-face was given a name, and her name was Marissa. Even before I knew that, I thought of her name being sorta similar, and I don't want Thresh to call her FOX-FACE.

hmm, quote of the chapter... from... SNOW !
"Just remember Mr. Mellark. We don't give second chances."

"You and your hair Mellark," Katniss grumbles in the passenger seat of my truck. "you're lucky I'm your girlfriend, or else you and your hair would be getting it by now." Katniss hisses at me, pulling the window up again.

My heart jumps as she says 'your girlfriend'. I still haven't quite gotten my head around the fact of Katniss being my girlfriend. She's always been my best friend, my friend that's a girl. She's always held the title of two words, not one word that has so much meaning.

"Oh please," I scoff. "You love me and my hair." I laugh, pulling the truck into the school parking lot. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Katniss scoff and pull her backpack onto her shoulders.
"Fine. It's one of your more endearing qualities." she finishes, slamming the truck door closed and making her way into the school doors.
"Yeah, but it sticks up everywhere," I whine, clicking the lock button of the remote and jogging to catch up to her. Katniss laughs and grabs my hand. I smile.
Although she hasn't been treating me any different verbal wise, her affections show through her body language. She's been grabbing my hand more, snuggling into me a little when I put my arm around her, looping her arm between mine when we walk to the park.
We pass a mirror on the way to my locker and I stop, trying to pat my hair down and make it less unruly. I've been into the clean look lately.

Katniss reaches for my wrist, jumping slightly. My eyebrows furrow and I lock eyes with her in the mirror. She shakes her head and scrunches her nose.
"Don't." she says. "I like your hair. It's cute." she blushes and turns away to open her locker. I smile and feel my heart swell at the compliment. I give my hair a once-over and turn away.

The clean look has lost it's appeal.

I grab my books and head out for another long day.

Madge and Katniss partner up for an English project, leaving me with some huge, dark-skinned boy. He towers over me by a good few inches and makes me feel like a little boy with glasses again. It's not like I'm short, I'm well over five-five. But this guy, he could easily be six foot seven, give or take.
He's huge.
"Hey, I'm Peeta," I nod at the boy. He grimaces but smiles despite his obvious irritation.
"Thresh," he introduces. Thresh and I spend the next period talking about our project, and when we're not, we talk about ourselves.
I learn he has a life similar to Katniss. They're not poor, but they could use a more stable household. His little sister, Rue, is twelve years old and is pretty sure she knows Prim.
"Yeah, she was talking about a really nice blonde girl, is that your sister?" he asks curiously.
"Nah, she's my girlfriend's sister, but she always jokes around saying she looks more related to me rather than her." I laugh. Thresh smiles and I feel pretty proud of myself. Thresh is an awesome guy, and his little sister looks sweet by the picture he showed me.
"Who's your girlfriend?" he asks. "If you don't mind me asking, I don't mean anything by it," he quickly adds. I laugh and reassure him.
"It's alright man," I laugh. "It's her," I point to Katniss and Madge's direction where they sit working quietly, exchanging an occassional burst of laughter.
Thresh looks genuinely surprised as he watches Katniss.
"Katniss Everdeen?" he sputters. I furrow my eyebrows and push down the burst of panic that rose in my stomach.

"Yeah, what's up?" I ask suspicously. I trust Katniss. She wouldn't do anything stupid.
"Oh it's nothing, it's just a lot of guys like her, and I heard about her scholarship," she explains. My heart drops back to a normal pace and I sigh in relief.
"Don't do that to me man, you scared me into thinking my girlfriend cheated or something," I laugh, holding a hand to my chest. Thresh's laugh is booming and loud and infectious.
"Don't worry dude, I don't think she's the kind of girl that would do that," he chuckles. I nod and smile.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" I ask. Thresh frowns and shakes his head.
"No, but I do like this girl, her name is Marissa." he says. Marissa. I rack my brain to see if I'd met her.
"She sounds familiar, she might be in another one of my classes. But I think they call her Foxface there," I laugh. Thresh chuckles and he nods.
"Yeah a lot of people call her that," he laughs. The bell rings, signaling the end of the period and I rise as Thresh pats me on the back.

"You're a cool guy, Mellark."

"Hey Peeta?"
"Hmm?"
"I've been wanting to tell you about something for a while, I'll tell you at home," Katniss whispers. Instantly, I review the entire day, thinking of anything that might have ticked her off.

I forgot to give her a cheese bun this morning.

My hair.

My snoring.

My hair.

Her food.

Does she want to break up with me already?

Crap, is she on her period? Oh no maybe she is, was she wearing her polar bear shorts this morning? Was she craving ice-cream?

I run a hand through my hair stressfully trying think of the things I might have done to put her off. I feel hand grasp my arm and fingers intertwine with my own.

"Relax, it's not anything bad," Katniss quietly reassures. I breathe a sigh of relief and lean down to whisper in her ear.
"Were you wearing your polar bear shorts to bed?" I ask quietly, my face burning at the question. Katniss furrows her eyebrows and shakes her head.
"No, I wanna talk to you about the orientation program," she says.

Oh.

"I was thinking, since I have to take a train ride to the campus, we could meet up with Mr. Abernathy from the record label about the deal, since the campus is a few minutes away from his office," she explains. My heart jumps. The record label was a touchy subject for us, and we hadn't talked about it since our fight.
"We could give it a go together Peeta, and if it works out, I could put off college for a year and do that with you." she whispers, walking back to the truck for the ride home.
"And if it doesn't, then I go to college." she finishes, looking up at me for my reaction.
It's a good idea, but what bugs me is the fact that this deal could make her put off her college opportunity. A scholarship is hard to come by, and I don't want her to cast aside her dreams of college.
But the idea of us being together in this kind of deal excites me.
I spin her around and we share a laugh in the school parking lot. I touch my forehead to hers, steadying her as she wobbles from the spin.
"Is that a yes?" she smiles. I touch my lips to hers in a passionate, love-filled kiss that portrays all of my thanks for her.
"That is a hell yes."

so in summary: Katniss admits her undying love for Peety's hair, Thresh and Peety meet, Peety questions the routine of his girlfriend's monthly troubles, and Katniss decides to give the record label a try.

Phew.

Next up, meeting with our neighborhood-friendly drunk, Snow, fan-girls, and the Everlark ship gets remodeled.