Hello there, first of all I would like to say thank you for reading this story. I was delighted to see the feedbacks given. To one of the reviewers which pointed out the story is similar to another story, I read the story to see what it is about. I am sad to say that maybe some of the ideas in my mind may collide with it. However, I am trying to come up with other ideas in order to minimize any collision with the other story. During the course of composing this story, I have controlled myself not to read other stories in order to prevent any similar writing style.

As for Beta, I am pretty new to this site and just registered myself a couple of days ago. I read the guide about Beta after reading the feedback. But I am stuck at the part where I need to create connection. Anyone care to help? I really appreciate your constructive feedbacks. It surely helped me a lot to come up with this new chapter.

To another reviewer, whether or not it is a love triangle, you will have to wait and see what is coming next. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.

To Dramione-Fan 17, thank you very much. You have followed this story through and always put a smile on my face when I see your feedback.

Also, tell you a secret, while composing this story, I will be looping Safe & Sound by Taylor Swift ft. The Civil Wars. If any one of you are curious about the outfit which I described in this story, feel free to PM me and I will show you how the outfit looked like.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who clicked on the " favourite" button, clicked on the "follow" button, and those who took time to actually view this story.

Keep the feedbacks coming in and if I make any mistakes, please point them out for me. This is to ensure a smoother pleasure while reading this story.

If you notice, I actually changed the rating from K+ to T because of the characters are in university. So I have to change the rating accordingly to reflect the language used.

As a token for being supportive, I decided to post this chapter up!

Cheers~

R&R!

Chapter 3

Katniss POV

Flashback…

"What?" I whispered to Madge.

"That cute blonde has eyes on you," Madge let a small smile and signaling her left eye brow to the boy's direction.

I looked to the direction where she signaled me to, and I was surprised that the boy is one of Mr. Mellark's son. The shy one.

I quickly turned away and I felt my face was heating up a little.

"Are you blushing, Katniss?" Madge whispered.

"What?! No, I am not!" I was a bit too loud until Mr. Beetee stopped his lesson.

"Is there any problem there?" Mr Beetee asked in a stern voice.

"No…" I murmured.

And it hit me because the blonde guy who is staring at me right now has the same set of eyes as Mellark's. We stared at each other for a while until…

"The Miss with the green top, is there any problem there?"

Everyone looked at me when he asked me that. Great, now everyone noticed me.

"No, sir, just looking for my pen and … I found it!" I let out a small guilty smile and showed my pen to him.

"Oh very well then… class, please turn to chapter..." Mr S continued his lecture and everyone turned to him.

At the corner of my eyes, I saw Madge was scribbling another note. I saw an evil grin on her face and she passed it to me.

"Rekindle the past life experience, much? Teehee. Anyway, isn't he cute?" I stared at the note for a few seconds while wondering if he is actually the Mellark. I wrote a note with a deep thought and passed it to Madge.

"Yeah, the whole scene where I will create a commotion and everyone turned to me. Thanks to you AGAIN. Does he look like someone we might know?"

Madge took another post-it note and scribbled something on it and gave me a wink when she passed the note to me.

I read the note given to her, "Is that your pick up line to a cute guy? Because it sure sounds pretty lame," I looked at her and mouthed to her "Talk to you later"

1 hour passed and it is time for a 15 minutes break. This is the time where the students will go to wash room, or grab a quick breakfast before the class resumed.

Madge turned to me and said softly to my ears, "Katniss, I didn't know you like to use cheesy line to strangers."

I shook my head and gave her a serious look by squinting my eyes, "Look, don't you think he resembles someone back in Texas? You remember that faithful morning before I got the news…"

Madge's face changed slightly a little. Probably she thought it may be a sensitive issue to talk about my father's death. But she was giving a hard thought on my remark.

"Katniss, you don't think that guy was the boy that made Mr… hmmm Bee or something stopped the whole class for you? The world is not that small you know."

"Mr Beetee…" I corrected her.

"But probably you are right, I am lucky enough to actually meet you here, let alone be in the same class with you. What are the odds?" I chuckled while trying to convince myself.

"Oh, speaking about the boy when we were 7, urmm, you know he approached me one week after you left Texas," Madge stopped her sentence for a while.

I turned to her again and anticipating for more.

She continued, "He asked me about your whereabouts. It was funny though, because he was really shy. He was practically stuttering when he asked me. So, I told him you have moved to New York after your father passed away, I could see sparkles in his dejected eyes. He ran off to the field moments later."

I did not answer right away because I was dumbfounded. Why would he want to ask about me? We did not interact at all when I collected and returned the clothes to the Mellark. He was always hiding at the corner. Out of curiosity, I asked Madge, "Oh, but what made you think he asked you such? And what happened to him after he asked you?"

Madge instantly replied me, "Hah! I knew you would ask that. Obviously he was into you. Told you he had eyes on you but you did not believe me. But if you asked me what happened to him, aside me remembering he ran to field, I really could not remember. It seemed like he just disappeared from the public. You know like not disappeared as in disappeared from the world, but more like keeping a low profile? Like didn't check out other girls or something?"

Madge let out the most sinister laughter after finishing off her sentence. I closed her mouth to stop her as she was a little loud.

"Oh c'mon Madge, we were like 7? Our minds were so innocent and you thought about all that nonsense? But you know what, let's just forget about it." I playfully shoved her off. It happened ages ago and I have decided this is something insignificant. Such petty things are the least things I would want to care about.

"Katniss, I feel like my bladder is going to burst. Follow me to the wash room?" she pulled me from my seat before I even had the time to react to her question.

The wash room was situated quite near to our class. Well from the map which I glanced quickly before I bumped into Madge, I realized this university has a lot of access to wash rooms.

"Urghh Katniss, why are you walking like a snail? Did you stuff any stones in your boots because it sure feels like?"

I laughed at her cute statement, "If you are in a hurry, why don't you just run to the wash room? I will catch up with you since I am not the one who is having emergency" I raised both of my hands to my eye level and flexed the index and middle fingers of both hands when I mentioned emergency.

"Fine, suit yourself. See you in a bit!" Madge stormed to the nearest wash room.

I smiled to myself and fold my arms while walking towards the wash room. I took my time since I did not have the urgency to go to the wash room. I felt my phone vibrated in my back pocket. I took out the phone and saw an incoming message. I unlocked my phone and saw the message is from Gale.

G: "Hey Catnip! How are you doing? What time is your lunch break?"

K: "Stop calling me that. I am doing really great here! Found my long lost friend back in Texas. Having my 15 minutes break now. Lunch will be at 12 noon. U?"

G: "That's awesome, tell me about it during lunch. Haha, means we are having lunch together. Give me a call once you are at the cafeteria. Chaoz"

I was still walking towards the wash room but my eyes were on my phone. I was about to reply his last message till I fell on the ground.

"Dude! Look where you are going," I hissed at the guy (even though it was my fault for not paying attention). I did not take notice at the guy's face as I was looking for my phone. As soon as I located my phone on the floor, I began to reach out for it.

"Hey, I am terribly sorry," the guy took my phone and offered his hand to me.

My eye level was still at his hand and I still did not bother to look at his face. I took the phone but I got up myself. I always don't believe in accepting helps from others. I guessed that's how I am ever since I moved to New York. I don't like to feel weak by depending on others and learned to stand on my own feet and be independent. When I got up, the guy was still standing there, and our eyes met.

It was that guy from my class, "the Mellark". That was my name for him because for the most obvious reason, I did not know his name yet. He has the friendly blue eyes which made anyone drawn to his gaze which reminded me of that little boy in Texas. I did not know how long I stared at his eyes till he waved in front of my face as though he wanted to snap me back to reality.

"Hey, I am sorry again. Are you hurt?" gosh, why he kept on apologizing to me.

"Urm it's okay. It's not even close to a minor accident. No cuts, no bruises," I looked at him while rolling my cardigan up to show him I was fine.

He let out the cutest smile, "That's good to hear. By the way, I am Peeta" he offered his hand, probably to shake my hand.

I reluctantly gave in and shook my hand, "I'm Katniss." He grasped my hand thoroughly to make a firm handshake.

"I know…" he mumbled softly but it was clear enough for me to hear those words.

"Katniss, I am done!" Madge was screaming as if she was announcing the world that she has taken care her small "emergency". I was startled by her scream and let go his hand. Before I could say anything, she was already looking at Peeta while giving me a mischievous grin.

"Ah, someone has a new friend there," Madge nudged me from the side.

"Madge, this is Peeta. Peeta, this is Madge. We are all in the same cl…" Madge pinched my back before I could finish my sentence. It was painful enough for me to stop.

"Hey, nice to meet you, Peeta. Guess I will see you around?" Madge waved at him and dragged me away.

I could still feel he was watching me from behind but I was not tempted to look back. Madge was still dragging me away till I stopped her pace.

"What was that pinch for?"

"Girl, you are such an amateur. How can you ever reveal that you are in the same class as him?" Madge gave me the look as if I am the world dumbest girl.

"Why not? He is in our class right?" I questioned her seriously.

"If you actually said that means you are letting your guard down. Haven't you heard the phrase 'Play Hard To Get'? So if you showed him that you are aware that he is in the same class as you, you are actually revealing to him that you stalked him in the class, you fool," Madge shook her head to show her disappointment at me.

"What? Oh my, what are you talking about? This is just some complicated shit. Look Madge, first of all I really want to tell you this from the bottom of my heart that I am not looking for any relationship in my life. And... I would like to replace the word stalked to notice which I don't see any harm in being honest to him just now."

"Did I hear wrongly? No relationship? Isn't that a biggest bull. Girl, you are so attractive, everyone in the hall is practically looking at you, and here you are telling me no relationship…for life?" Madge rolled her eyes.

It's true that people would just stare at me which annoyed me. But one thing I know is not because of how "attractive" I was, it is more like how hideous I am. Almost all the girls I see in the hallway were wearing dresses and tight fitting skirts. They were probably just wondering how oblivious I was to actually make myself more presentable.

"Madge, I don't think they are looking at me because of that. They are just annoyed at how my appearance like. Everyone here is wearing trendy clothes, but me? I am wearing something ordinary. They must be thinking I am not fit to be in this society," I chuckled while giving that remark because I was supposed to be the one who feel annoyed and not them.

"You have no idea what are you talking 'bout. But you know what, I'm tired to try to convince you. So, whatever," Madge actually showed her thumb and forefingers of both hands to form the letter "W". This girl is really entertaining.

"On a serious note, why no relationship? Have you ever been in any relationship?" Madge was giving a concerned look.

I shook my head light and said, "Hmm, you know ever since my father passed away, I witnessed how love can break someone's life apart," I paused a while.

"My mother has shut herself from the world, even towards Prim and I. I really do not want to be in that state because I want to protect the people I care about, people like Prim and Uncle Haymitch. I don't want to see them hurt especially Prim. It's hard for her because she was very young when our father passed away. She has no one to look up to. So I have to set an example and replaced the mother's figure in her eyes. I have never allowed myself to be interested at someone in a romantic way and that's how I keep my distance from love," I was looking on the floor while telling her my thoughts.

Madge just gave me a warm hug and pat my back, "Oh dear, I really have no idea how hard your life is. I am sorry that I wasn't there for you."

When we pulled away from each other, I saw a tear rolling from her cheek. I used my finger from my right hand to wipe it away, "Please don't be silly. It's not your fault." I took my left hand to squeeze her right hand, a sign to assure her I am fine. She smiled at my gesture.

We held hands and walked to the room silently.

I was concentrating in the class till 10 minutes before it ended. Suddenly there was a loud thump at the back of the class. So everyone turned back to see what was that about.

It was Peeta, he dropped his heavy text book on the floor which caused the loud noise. I could see his face was flushed and he was apologizing to everyone for causing the commotion. Madge let out a soft giggle and I shushed her instantly. It wasn't my act to protect him exclusively from humiliation but I was never fond of such action. I always live by the principle on not to ridicule, humiliate or demean others. I guessed I developed this when I was being tortured from the past.

When Mr S resumed his lecture, my mind went away to our recent encounter.

"That's good to hear. By the way, I am Peeta" he offered his hand, probably to shake my hand.

I gave in and shook my hand, " I'm Katniss"

"I know…" he mumbled but it was clear enough for me to hear those words.

What does he mean that he knows? He knows my name? How could he possibly know my name? Or maybe he wanted to say he knows something but couldn't finish the sentence because we were interrupted by Madge? What he wanted to tell me?

"Okay, class, see you tomorrow," Mr S announced to the class to end the session.

Urggh, I hate myself for allowing my mind to wonder around. I missed the last 10 minutes of the lesson. I turned to Madge, "Hey, did you copy the notes just now? I was lost for a while."

Madge was giving me a questioning look, "Well, you can have mine but who stole your mind away?"

I know she was expecting me to say Peeta which was actually the truth. But to avoid any further questions from her, I just told her, "Well, I did not go to the loo during the first break. So my bladder was pretty full and I was concentrating to distract my urge to pee." Wow that was a fast lie.

"You should have just excused yourself to the wash room. It's not that Mr S will stop you. Let's empty the tank and head for lunch," she ushered me to the exit.

Before I left the class, I took a quick peek at my desk to check whether I left anything. I realized Peeta was staring at me. But as soon as I caught his gaze, he quickly looked away and packed his things. I shook my head and told myself that maybe it was just pure coincidence. Perhaps he wanted to look at other things but our eyes met halfway.

After taking care of my fake urgency to wash room, we headed to cafeteria. I told Madge that we will be having lunch with Gale which she was cool about it. When we reached the cafeteria, I was overwhelmed with the number of students filled up in the huge cafeteria. I took out my phone and dialled Gale's number.

"Hey!" Gale answered the phone

"Hey, I am here already. I am actually standing at the entrance. Where are you?"

"Here!"

I stopped talking for a while and felt weird. It seemed his voice from the phone was different. As my mind was trying to fix the puzzles, someone turned my back and hugged me.

"Right behind you, oh no, I mean in front of you!" Gale was hugging me tightly.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Madge was looking at us. I asked Gale to let go and introduced him to Madge. They both shook hands.

"Let's go grab some food. I am famished!" Gale was rubbing his stomach.

Madge and I happily obliged to his instruction as we were hungry too. I grabbed one tuna sandwich and one cheese bun. Before I made payment, I saw there was some soup-of-the-day promotion. So I ordered them too. Madge ordered Spaghetti Bolognese while Gale, he was a monster. He took a set of burger and fries added with one jumbo hotdog. He also added two pieces of fried chicken on his plate.

"Someone's hungry," I looked at Gale. He just winked at me.

We walked to an empty round table which could fit five people. We are actually pretty comfortable with our seats and Gale was practically counted as two people since he is so tall and well-built.

"So, Madge right?" Gale asked seductively while leaning closer to Madge.

I raised my right eye brow to his question and gave him a signal him not to mess with my friend. He looked at me, and nodded to assure me that he will behave.

He cleared his throat and asked Madge in a serious tone, "So how do you know, Katniss?"

Madge smiled at him and told him the story of how we met. They exchanged their stories, where Gale told her about his first encounter with me and how was life in high school with me. It sure brought back some good memories and I was glad to say that my high school life was rather peaceful. I would love to continue that streak here.

Suddenly, Gale stopped his conversation and was waving at someone, "Hey, over here!"

"Good grief, you are so loud," I scowled at him as his voice was piercing my ears. I was rubbing my ears and not concentrating at who he was waving to. I looked at Madge and her eyes popped out of surprised as though it will come out any time. So I leaned in closer to her face to follow her gaze.

"Hey Peeta!" Gale gave a bro hug to Peeta.

"Girls, this is Peeta, he is my room-mate Peeta these two wonderful ladies here are…" Gale was halfway introducing Peeta to Madge and I.

"Yeah, we know him. He is from our class. Noticed him when he dropped that text book on the floor," Madge giggled while pointing at the law text book.

Gale was surprised and he told Peeta to get something to eat and join us.

"It's okay, I have brought my own lunch," Peeta told Gale.

"That's cute, a guy bringing a lunch box," Madge grinned at me.

When he opened his lunch box, I saw 3 cheese buns, and they smell really good. I was staring at his lunch box.

"Katniss, behave! You are behaving like you want to snatch Peeta's lunch," Gale smacked me from the back causing me to cough lightly.

"Excuse her, Peet. She has this weird obsession with cheese buns. As you can see, her lunch will always revolve at least a cheese bun," Gale pointed the cheese bun which I was holding with my left hand.

"It's okay. Hey Katniss, you want to exchange one of my cheese buns with yours? Maybe you will like it," Peeta offered me his lunch box.

Without any second, Gale swiftly took the bun from my hand and exchanged it with one of the buns in Peeta's lunch box. I was stunned by his action.

"Peet, don't bother asking her because she will refuse your offer and debate with you. You will puke blood to ever be involved in Katniss' hot debate," Gale turned to Peeta.

I glared at Gale for embarrassing me in front of Peeta and Madge. Without hesitation, I stubbed Gale's right foot with my boots and smiled at him. He did not shout but I could see it in his face that he was in pain.

"I will accept it this time, Peeta," I smiled at Peeta while stepping Gale's foot even harder. Gale's face turned bluish.

Peeta nodded and smile at me.

I took a big bite of the cheese bun and my taste bud was exploding with the gratifying flavour I felt firework in my mouth while munching every single bite of the cheese bun. Every time the cheese melts in my mouth, it sent me straight to heaven.

"Katniss, you looked as if you are having an orgasm," Gale was laughing at me while pointing at my face.

I stopped my motion, and realized I got carry away with the cheese bun but I was too late. Madge was bursting with laughter and I bet if she could roll on the floor, she would do so. I wanted to step on Gale's foot again for exposing me but he moved his foot away. Prick!

Only Peeta was watching me quietly. He just looked at me and gave me that cute smile again.

"Katniss, you seemed to enjoy the buns more than I do. Why not you have the rest and I grabbed some other things?" Peeta pushed the lunch box to me.

Before I could say anything, he continued his sentence with, "Besides, I have been eating these buns for so many years. I was afraid that I'll be sick with these until I found someone who enjoys them so much." Seemed like he knew me pretty well, but I guessed that's because of Gale!

I sighed and accepted his offer. It wasn't my gesture to just accept things but I was trying to prove Gale wrongly on his sly remark about me and my stupid debate.

Peeta left the table to get his food at the counter.

"Katniss, what is your next lesson?" Madge asked.

"Hmmm, Principles of Biology and Lab" I answered.

"Whoops, same class as you." Gale interrupted.

It was actually one of the subjects for freshman year. Other subjects for my first year in Bachelor of Sports and Science are General Descriptive Chemistry I and Lab and other core courses.

"Aww, I guess I will see you after your class? Probably we can grab coffee or something?" Madge asked.

"I am sorry, Madge, I need to rush home after class. Gotta pack my stuffs."

"Pack? You are leaving here?" Madge asked in disbelief.

"No no no. I am moving here," I smiled at her while I pat her shoulder.

"Really? That's a good news! I am staying here too. We will be so much nearer to each other. Can I come and help, you know to speed up the process?" her eyes were glowing with hope.

"Help, no! But you are more than welcome to follow me to Uncle Haymitch's house. Prim would me more than happy to see you!"

"Whee, that's great, pinky promise?" she was offering her pinky finger to me.

"Promise" I smiled at her and returned her gesture.

"What did I miss out? I see something cheery is happening here?" Peeta looked delighted.

"It seems the girls managed to be closer to each other. Apparently, Katniss is moving to the campus which I only get to know NOW," Gale said sarcastically while looking at me.

I mouthed"Sorry" to him.

"Wow, that's great news Katniss!" Peeta smiled even wider after hearing the news which annoyed me because I personally don't know this guy, and here he is trying to be pretentious and being so happy about it. Who does he think?

"Why are you so happy about? You don't even know me," I scowled at Peeta and walked away.

Peeta was surprised by my action and his face changed colour.

"Peet, don't worry about it. That is Katniss. She has always been temperamental. It's very hard to approach her and it took me so long to crack her shell. If you are interested to be her friend, then you have to patient and persistent, or else just ignore her. Heard of ignorance is a bliss?" Gale let out a sigh while explaining to Peeta.

"It's okay, Gale. I understand," Peeta let out a small smile yet had sad eyes on his face.

"That's the spirit, bro, I gotta run and catch up with Katniss. See you later," Gale stood up and slings his bag on his shoulder.

Madge was sitting quietly while observing the whole incident.