Chapter 3 – Peeta's POV
"No worries, Katniss." I said. She laid her head down on her desk. Her brown hair was in a braid. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. Oh come on Peeta, you just met the girl! She sounded like she had been to hell and back with her father and ex-boyfriend, also considering she came to sit in the back of the room with the new kid. "Katniss?" I whispered, but there was no response. She was asleep.
By the time the bell was about to ring, I put my hand on her shoulder and shook her a little. She jerked up and stretched. "How long was I out?" She asked with a yawn.
"The whole class period. The bell is about to ring." She glared at the clock and put her back pack on. I copied her. "What do you have next period?"
"Huh? Oh sorry, choir. I think." Katniss looked at her hand where some markings with pen were written. "Yeah, choir. It's the only form of art I don't completely fail at."
"Well, let me walk you there." She half smiled. I guess she was still tired. "I have choir too, if you were wondering." Then the bell rang. We walked around the library, which was awkwardly placed in the center of campus, to the 'C' building where all the arts and such were. Katniss looked down at her feet. "Is something wrong?" She continued staring at her shoes, but then opened her mouth.
"Yeah, it's just that he was my only friend and he tried to force me to do things that I didn't even want to do. I have no one else." She looked at me. I understood. Whoever this guy was really needed to learn how to treat women. You can't force her to do anything, especially that, if I'm thinking what she is. "Peeta, you have been so nice to me, and since you're new, I'm going to give you a chance."
My heart skipped a beat. This beautiful girl in beside me was telling me that I could be with her, nearly all the time! "Yeah, that would be great." Katniss smiled then the smile faded. She pushed me aside and pushed her forearm into my chest against the brick wall of the library. There was anger in her eyes.
"If you try anything like that, and surely you know what I am talking about, you will want to think that we never met. Okay?"
"Katniss, the last thing I would do is hurt anyone, especially a girl as beautiful as you." As soon as I realized the last half of the sentence came out aloud, I slapped my forehead with my hand. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I thought to myself. How could you be so stupid?
"You think I'm pretty?"
"I said beautiful, not pretty." She blushed, but never pulled back her arm. She looked into my eyes keeping a straight face, much better than I could. Finally she let us continue the walk to choir.
"I'm sorry, Peeta. You took me off guard. You have been sweet, kind, and-" She paused looking at a tall boy with brown hair, looking away from us. He looked older than her, at least a year or two. "Shit, hide me!"
"Who is that?" I asked.
"Gale, my, my ex."
"Damn, girl! He's, uh, big!" I could see that he could take control of her easily. How did she get away from him?
"Yeah, I know. Just hid me!" I followed orders. She walked on the left side of me and slowly moved ahead of me so Gale wouldn't see her from the corner of his eye. We were so close. I could have put my arms around her waist and kissed her. I leaned in and stopped myself. "What are you doing?" She looked back at me. I looked back to see Gale walking towards the doors.
"He's coming! Run!" Ha, saved myself there. We made it into class and took our seats. The teacher had shaggy, dirty blond hair. He wore a button up shirt that could have the top three buttons not undone and filthy jeans. There was a bottle under his desk which to me looked like a beer bottle. I didn't bother to say anything. He stumbled up to the front of the classroom and fell. Everyone laughed.
Katniss laughed too. Her laugh was soft and sweet. She turned to me and whispered, "That's Haymitch and pretty much the only reason I take this class. He is almost always drunk."
I made eye contact with him once he stood up. "You, new kid." He pointed to me. "Welcome. I'm Haymitch, and in this class we sing. Most of the time. But right now, you are going to watch last year's concert because I am obviously not in the right state of mind to teach." Katniss pulled her legs up to the edge of her chair and put her head down.
"What is it?"
"I had a solo in this concert." Katniss's voice was muffled.
"Why is that bad?"
"It's not, that's the problem!" Haymitch started the video. Katniss was on the screen and she looked like she was about to pass out. But then she closed her eyes and the music started. Her voice spread throughout the room, singing some sort of slow song. It was amazing. By the time the video was over, my mouth was wide open. Katniss raised her head and laughed. "Was it that good?"