Thank you for the reviews and the follows. I hope you can enjoy this one too.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Hunger Game s or the film/novel Don't Say a Word. This story is for entertainment purposes only. I make no profit out of this and all of the characters, unless otherwise no ted, belong to their respective owners, the great Suzanne Collins and Andrew Klavan.

Chapter 3: Payback's a Bitch

Fuck.

That's the only thought that came to Peeta's mind as he stood in the middle of what was once CTH's gym. He flashed his flashlight around the gym as he inspected all the damage. He and his teammates had done a number to it. There was toilet paper all over the bleachers and in the basketball hoops. Neon colored silly string was covering the ground and some chairs that were left behind. Thom and some of the other guys were spray-painting the walls with vulgar pictures and sayings as Darius was putting whip cream all over some basketballs that he found. The whole place was a mess.

The night had gone really well thus far. The whole team met up at Gale's house at midnight, telling all their parents that there was a 'last day of school before winter break sleep over.' They went over their plan and put all their 'supplies' into their cars. From there they drove to Career Technical High School and broke into the gym. It surprised Peeta how easy it was to break in. It was as if God was on their side and had decided to let them in easily.

"What do you think Peeta?" asked Gale as he stood next to his best friend with his arms crossed over his chest.

Peeta turned towards Gale and smirked, "I think we did a great job." he said, "Those Mutts are never going to know what hit them."

Gale mirrored Peeta's smirk and nodded his head in agreement as he looked at his teammates who were putting the finishing touches to a mural on the wall.

"Alright guys," he said, "let's go."

They all headed towards the exit and were about to open the door to leave when suddenly the gym lights suddenly came on. The whole team turned around to see what looked like a huge CTH janitor and two police officers.

"Run!" Peeta heard someone yell.

The whole team ran outside and scattered around trying to get to their cars.

Bad idea.

There were cops everywhere. People were running around trying to escape the cops as cars were starting drive away with some guys hanging on for dear life.

Peeta stood on the steps of one of the gym's entrance, looking at what was going on. He couldn't believe he was so stupid. How could he not think they weren't going to get caught? Peeta was literally frozen in place until he felt someone tugging on his arm.

"Peeta c'mon man move!"

Peeta looked at who it was pulling him and saw Gale's distressed face. He finally snapped out of his frozen state and started running behind his friend. They both ran around the corner and through a door that led inside the school.

"Shit, shit, shit!" yelled Gale, "What the fuck are we going to do? We can't get caught! If we do, our seasons over, not to mention we might get suspended, or worse expelled and there goes our free pass to college! No scholarship, no college, no college parties, no hot college girls…oh God! Our lives are ruined!"

Peeta sighed as he pushed his friend and held him up against a locker. "Gale!" he yelled, "Snap out of it! We're not gonna get caught!"

"We're not?" asked Gale as Peeta held him tighter by his shirt.

"No!"

"Then what are we going to do?"

"I don't know, but you've got to calm down! You're the one that was pumped up about this plan, remember?"

"Yea, that was before I knew we were gonna get caught. Trust me, if I knew I was never gonna get the opportunity to date a hot college girl, then I would have never agreed to this."

Peeta rolled his eyes as he let his friend go.

"C'mon," Peeta said as he started walking down the hall, "maybe there's another way out."

Both guys walked down the dark hallway with nothing but a flashlight lighting the way.

They finally decided to walk into a classroom where there was an open window. Peeta pointed at the window as Gale surveyed the room.

"I'll go out first and make sure that the coast is clear. If it isn't, you're gonna have to find another way out." Peeta said.

Gale nodded his head and watched as Peeta slowly climbed out the window. Once Peeta landed on the ground, he felt a smile form on his face. He was about to tell Gale that the coast was clear when a flashlight suddenly blinded him. He turned around and came face to face with three policemen.

Fuck.

"Peeta, how can you be so STUPID?" yelled Jon Mellark.

He and his wife had just returned home from picking up his son at the police station at three o'clock in the morning. When they got home, they ordered Peeta to sit on the couch where his parents had been yelling at him for the past 15 minutes.

"Dad, I said I was sorry," said Peeta as he leaned back on the couch.

"Sorry isn't gonna cut it out for you today!"

He watched his father pace back and fourth in front of him while his mother sat in the couch next to him.

"Peeta," she said, "why would you do something like this?"

"I already told you guys," Peeta said exasperated, "We were just getting them back for what they did to us. Remember when they completely trashed my car, and dad got so mad that he had to pay extra to get the paint off the windshields? We just wanted to get them back for that, and dad, even you said we should get even with them!"

"Yes, but I meant on the field son! I never said to go trash their gym. The only way to get even with them is to put their money where their mouths are and kick their asses on the fucking football field!"

"Jon watch your language" scolded his wife.

"Well I'm sorry Lucille, but when I get a phone call at 2 o'clock in the morning telling me that I got to pick up my son from the police station, I tend to yell and get angry!"

"Well your yelling isn't helping anyone!" yelled Lucille as she stood in front of her husband.

"Yeah? Well I could care less if my yelling helps anyone at this point! Because seriously, who else do you know that has to pick up their son from the police station when he's supposed to be at a fucking SLEEPOVER?"

"Daddy?" said a small voice coming from the top of the stairs.

Everyone turned to look towards where the voice came from. They suddenly saw the youngest member of the Mellark family groggily walking down the steps in her pink Barbie pajamas and her pet stuffed goat Lady. Her blonde locks were separated by two messy braids and her thumb was in her mouth as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Primrose, sweetheart," said Lucille as she walked over to the blonde six-year-old, "Did we wake you?"

Young Primrose Mellark nodded wiping her eyes and walked towards her mom who wrapped her arms around her and picked her up.

"I heard daddy yelling and I woke up," said the young girl. "Lady woke up too and started crying. I tried to calm her down but she said she was scared, so I told her I would make it stop."

"I'm sorry Prim," said Jon as he looked at his daughters innocent eyes, "It's just that daddy gets angry sometimes and yells. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to scare you."

Prim looked towards the couch and noticed her big brother sitting with his head hung down in shame.

"Is Peeta in trouble?" she asked.

Peeta suddenly looked up and met his sister's blue eye's. He didn't know why, but for some reason, in that moment he saw her, his thoughts went back to Katniss. Her eyes seemed so innocent and shy that day he asked her for a pencil. He wondered how they looked now, blank, cold, hard, dead. He didn't know, and he figured he never would. All he knew was that if the thought of suicide came into the innocent mind of someone like Katniss, would it also enter the mind of someone as young and as innocent as Primrose?

"Yes," Jon's voice snapped Peeta's mind back to reality, "he is."

"Why?" asked Prim.

"Because he did something very bad, and now he's going to be punished for it."

"Does that mean he can't take me ice skating next week when you and mommy are gone?"

Lucille sighed and looked at her daughter, "Prim sweetie, why don't you go back to bed? I'll go up there in a minute and tuck you back in."

The young girl nodded her head and got down from her mothers arms. She ran over to her dad and hugged him, "Goodnight daddy," she said.

"Good night sweetheart." he said as he bent down to give her a kiss on her forehead.

She then ran over to Peeta and gave him a hug, "Goodnight Peeta." she said.

Peeta wrapped his arms around his little sister and smiled, "Goodnight Prim."

She then smiled at him and ran back up the stairs towards her room.

Jon sighed.

"Peeta," he said after a while of silence, "I'm sorry I yelled at you like that. I'm just trying to get you to understand how stupid you acted tonight. You're lucky that they're not pressing any criminal charges."

"I know dad," said Peeta looking up and meet his father's eyes, "I'm sorry."

It was Lucille's turn to sigh, "Maybe…maybe we shouldn't go to Mammoth next week."

"What?" asked Peeta, "Mom, no…you can't."

"Why not?" she asked. "You act completely irresponsible now, what makes us think you're not going to act irresponsible when we're gone?"

"Look mom," said Peeta as he stood n front of her, "I know I fucked up tonight,"

"Language Peeta." his father interrupted him.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "I-mean, I know I messed up tonight, but you shouldn't let my stupid mistakes ruin your vacation plans. I know you guys have been saving up for it since last winter and I feel bad to make you guys just let it go to waste."

Lucille heaved another sigh and looked towards her husband.

"You know Lucy," said Jon, "he has a point. We did pay for it already and you know how hard it is to get a full refund on two plane tickets on such short notice? It's just going to be for a couple of days. I'm sure Peeta can handle it."

"But what about Prim? I don't want to leave her hear if Peeta is going to pull something like this again."

"I won't mom. I promise that nothing will happen to her."

"I don't know." she sighed.

"C'mon mom, please?" said Peeta as he knelt down on his knees and pouted his lips.

"Yes mom, please?" said Jon as he imitated his son.

"Jon, you were the one who was yelling five minutes ago."

"I know, but think about it honey. This was supposed to be our second honeymoon. Do you really want to lose the chance to go be alone, not to mention the fact that full refunds might not even be an option?"

Lucille looked at the two most important men in her life and gave a small smile, 'Like father, like son.' she thought.

"Fine," she said as both men gave a sigh of relief, "but hear this Peeta." she continued as she stood in front of her son, "If you mess up one more time and if one hair on Primrose's head is harmed, you are grounded until graduation. You got that?"

"Yes mom. I got it," he said with a smile on his face.

Peeta slowly crept into the pink room. Toys were scattered everywhere making it hard for him to sneak up on the sleeping figure in the bed. He was just about to take another step forward when the sleeping figure suddenly sat up and gave a cheeky grin.

"Peeta!" she exclaimed.

"Shhh," said Peeta as he got closer to the young girl and sat down on her bed, "you don't want to wake mom and dad do you?"

The young girl widened her eyes and shook her head. Peeta began to chuckle as he looked into his little sisters eye that clearly mirrored his own. Her soft blonde curls, which were now completely loose from her braids, dangled down her shoulders and seemed to shine in the moonlight coming from the window. To Peeta, it seemed like she glowed. Her angelic face was squirming with laughter, as he did nothing but stare at her.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to tuck you in tonight," he said softly.

Prim's face suddenly turned sad as she looked at her big brother, "I told daddy that I couldn't go to sleep unless you scared away all the monsters from under my bed and my closet. But he told me that you went to Gale's house and that he would scare the monsters away instead."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that Prim. Did he scare them away?"

"He said he did, but I still think there's one under my bed, and Lady said she heard one in the closet."

"She did, did she?" asked Peeta as he stood up and knelt down on the floor.

He lifted the bed sheets to look under her bed, "Nope," he said, "no monsters down here. I guess dad really did scare them."

He then stood up and walked towards the closet. He opened the door and stuck his head in, "Nope, no one in here."

He was about to close the door when he suddenly yanked the door open again, "Wait a minute," he said, "Dad missed one."

He turned back towards his sister who had a scared look on her face, "This will just take a minute." He then stepped in the closet and slightly banged on the walls.

"Take this you ugly monster!" Prim heard her brother yell. Suddenly, the banging stopped as she heard Peeta gasp for breath, "P-P-Prim," he said as if he was out of breath, "I n-need help!"

Prim quickly jumped out of bed and ran towards the closet; she opened the door and saw her brother sitting against the wall, reaching for her, "H-Help me! The monster's trying to get me! H-Help!"

"How Peeta?" she gasped.

"All you have to d-do is say 'Peeta is the best brother in the whole world' and he'll go away forever."

The young girl quickly nodded her head and said, "Peeta is the best brother in the whole world!"

Peeta suddenly stopped moving and hung his head down. Prim's eyes widened with fright as she walked towards her brother. "P-Peeta?" she said in a small voice, "Are you alive?"

Peeta suddenly inhaled a deep breath and looked up at his sister. "Prim! You saved me!"

The young girl smiled as her brother picked her up by the waist and ran around the room. Prim started to giggle as he tossed her in the air before he finally placed her on her bed.

"There," he said, "no more monsters in your room."

"Thank you for making them go away."

"Don't worry about it. I promise you that as long as I'm here, nothing will ever hurt you, ok?"

Prim smiled as he pulled the covers up to her shoulders and tucked her in. "Did you brush your teeth?"

Prim nodded hear head.

"Let me smell."

She suddenly blew a gust of fresh minty breath that reached Peeta's nostrils.

"Ah, Delicious." he said as he gave her another smile and kissed her on the forehead, "Now go to sleep." He stood up and began to walk towards the door.

"Peeta?" he heard Prim say. He turned around and looked at her.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Are you still going to take me ice skating next week?" she asked.

Peeta let out a chuckle, "Yes, Prim. I promise I will."

She smiled at him again as he turned to leave but was once again distracted when he heard Prim call him again.

"What?" he asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"You forgot to give Lady a kiss too."

Peeta laughed quietly as he walked towards the bed, bent down, and gave the pet goat a kiss on the forehead.

"There," he said, "now will you go to sleep?"

Prim nodded her head as he walked back towards the door.

"Peeta?" he heard her say just before he was going to close the door.

"What is it now, Prim?" he asked.

"I love you."

Peeta smiled as he looked at the lying figure on the bed.

"I love you too," he said as he shut the door.

There's not Katniss in the chapter but these events do lead up to their meetings. Please bear with me.

I hope you guys can take the time to review and leave me feedback :)