Disclaimer – I do not own The Hunger Games or any of its characters. All credit goes to Suzanne Collins.
A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, favourited and put this story on alert. You have no idea how happy that makes me. I never thought that I'd get 40+ reviews, let alone 1 when I first started, so thank you!
I've got a Beta Reader who is really lovely, her name is Sarah (TheSilverOak) and I want to thank her so much for helping me with this chapter.
The next couple days at school go by in a breeze and before I know it, it's Thursday. I leave the classroom when the bell rings and head down to the grassy area. The grass is starting to grow; they should cut it down, I think as I continue walking. My thoughts are interrupted when I see the sight of Peeta standing in my spot with his back pressed against the tree bark and his arms folded across his chest.
I have to squint my eyes to make sure that I am seeing things correctly. Of course it is him. The sun hits him perfectly, bringing out his features. His ash blonde hair shines in the high noon sun. His sharp eyes were focused solely on the cloudless sky. Why is he standing there? I think to myself.
The bell rings moments later and his eyes avert from the cloudless sky to me. Ours eyes locked, grey against blue. He pushes his weight off the tree and starts to walk towards me. I hear footsteps approaching from behind me and I turn around to see Prim with a radiant smile painted across her face. "Hey, Katniss!" she says cheerfully, which brings a small smile upon my face.
"Hey, little duck. Good day?" I ask her, taking her small hand in mine.
She nods her head. "Hi Peeta! It's nice to see you again," she greets him excitedly.
I turn around and face Peeta, who is smiling brilliantly at Prim, his blonde curls glowing in a ray of sunlight. "Prim, just the girl I was looking for," he says with a genuine smile.
"I am?" she questions curiously, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
He smiles and nods as he reaches into his school bag. Tentatively, I take a few steps forward, intrigued to see what he's taking out. He hands her a small brown paper bag and I immediately grab it off him.
"Katniss!" Prim shrieks.
I ignore her shrieks as I open the bag and pull out the contents. A cookie frosted in the shape of primroses.
Prim's eyes light up and a huge smile spreads across her face. "Those are Primroses!" She grabs the cookie off me and begins to observe it more carefully. "How did you get them?" she asks, looking up at him.
"Did your sister ever tell you I work at the bakery?" he shifts his gaze towards me and I return him with a glare.
She shakes her head, "No, she didn't." She furrows her eyebrows and looks up at me.
"Well, I design the cakes. Frost them and the cookies as well," he explains.
"The cakes are beautiful!" she sighs dreamily. "Aren't they, Katniss?"
I look into the bag to see what else is in it and there are about five more frosted cookies. I look up and meet his eyes once again. "We can't afford this," I say coldly, returning the bag to him. "Prim, give the cookie back."
Her smile falters as the words escape my mouth and I widen my eyes at her as a gesture to return the cookie.
She begins to hand the cookie back when Peeta shakes his head in disapproval. "I'm not asking for anything; it's a simple gift," he clarifies.
"A gift?" I say, spitting out the word. "For what?" I ask as I cross my arms across my chest.
"Isn't that what friends do?"
"Friends?" I ask spitting out the word from my mouth as if it were a foreign language.
"Maybe we shouldn't talk about this here. Why don't we go for a walk?" he suggests as he hands Prim back the cookie.
"Oh, please, Katniss!" Prim pleads.
"I don't know, Prim, we have to get home," I say to her authoritatively.
"You can walk with us to the edge of the town," Prim says politely. I flash her a look but she grabs my hand before I can say anything and the three of us start walking to the edge of the town.
Prim walks in front of us, silently skipping and eating the cookie happily. "Peeta, you know I can't afford to pay for these," I gesture to the bag I'm holding, careful not to rattle them in case they break.
He shakes his head, "Katniss, like I said, it's a gift. A friendly gesture from one friend to another," he explains again.
"If either of us should be owing anything to the other, it should be me," I whisper.
"You mean about the bread?"
My eyes widened in shock. "You still remember?" I ask in disbelief. After all these years, I thought it was just me who could never forget that memory.
He nods his head. "You still remember?"
"How could I forget? We were starving and you—" my voice breaks as I think of the possibility of what would have happened if he didn't throw me the bread. Would I still be alive? But the thought that haunts me the most is what would've happened to Prim. The thought of anything happening to Prim is too painful to imagine.
"I owe you," I whisper again. "What you did for me, my family, was more than I could've asked for," I say, meaning every word.
"You don't owe me anything," he says in his usual calm demeanor.
"And that time at the bakery a couple weeks ago, you never said anything but I knew you were telling me that your mother was there and not in the mood for funny business. If you—who knows what she would've done?"
We reach the end of the town a couple minutes after and we both stop at the area separating the merchant area from the seam. We stand in silence for a moment and I stare down at the ground until I feel Prim's small hands enclose mine. "It was nice walking with you, Peeta, we should do it again sometime," she says, taking the last bite of her cookie. "Oh, and thank you for the cookie! It was delicious," she compliments licking the remaining cookie crumbs off her lips.
A smile grazes over his facial features. "How about next week? Thursday's are my days off from working."
Her eyes light up in glee, "that would be great!"
"Enjoy those cookies and don't eat too much," he smiles cheekily.
"See you tomorrow?" he asks me.
"What?"
"I mean as in see you at school," he clarifies.
"Oh, yeah," I tell him before we both go out separate ways. This time, it's me. I look over my shoulder and watch him jog off into the merchant area. It finally hits me now that he's going to be walking with me and Prim next Thursday. What have I got myself into?