PEETA'S POV
"So some girl was following her down the street?" Finnick asks and he runs his fingers through his hair.
"Yeah, I swear!" Madge, that girl from Kitty's gymnastics saw Kitty. "She was telling her to kill herself! I've known Katniss since we were little, and she had that look like she was going to do it. The girl pushed her into the street! She almost got hit twice, and the first time was by me!"
Haymitch comes out of the bathroom. "My sleeping pills are gone, and the silver wear drawer was left open. She's definitely going to do it." He sounds dead. Johanna and Annie are here too, because when Finnick got the call from his Dad, he freaked out and started crying.
"We need to find her!" Finnick shrieks. "I won't let my baby sister kill herself.
I have this weird memory tugging at my brain.
Oh yeah. I was going into her room to see what kind of soda she wanted and she was climbing out of her window.
I snap my fingers. "I know where she is!"
Everyone starts asking where, but I run upstairs and open her window, and I jump out onto the trampoline.
"Peet where the fuck are you going?" Finn shouts. I run as fast as I can through the forest.
I can hear her crying in there, and I can hear the pills rattling.
No, she can't. I walk into the room. She looks terrified. She's turning the pills over in her hands and muttering under her breath about how nobody loves her and she isn't cared about.
But she's so wrong, because I love her, and I always have.
She looks at me and starts crying harder. "Get out!"
"No." I say.
"Please." She buries her head in her hand. "Just let me get it over with! I hate my life! Nobody cares! It's never going to get better! I just want to be happy again! I want to be me! I want to be me again!"
"Katniss, put the pills and the knife down. Let me see them."
"NO!" she screams on the top of her lungs. "LET ME DIE!"
"No!" I pull the pills and the knife from her hand and throw them out the open door. "You don't want to die! You aren't invisible! I care Katniss! Killing yourself won't make you happy again! I can make you happy again! I'll protect you, I swear!"
"And I will." Finn walks in.
"And me." Johanna walks in.
"And me." Annie walks in, too.
Marvel walks in and says, "Same."
"YOU GUYS DON'T UNDERSTAND!"
"I understand!" Johanna insists. "I was bulled by the same bitch all through middle school! Annie saved my damn life when I was going to do exactly what you are trying to do!" Johanna says.
"She bullied me all through elementary." Annie says.
"And I was bullied in elementary and middle, Katniss, I know how it feels. You aren't invisible." I add.
"Kitty," Finn says. "Glimmer's a fucking dumbass. Don't listen to her! Please don't leave me! You're my little sissy!"
"I won't ever be happy again."
"That's not true." Marvel says. "All of us are examples. It gets better." He says.
She keeps crying in silence for a little while. "Don't let me kill myself." She whimpers.
Finn picks her up. "I don't plan on it. Let's go home."
….a….
"I don't know if school is a good idea." Dad argues with everyone, who I suppose I can now call my friends.
"She needs to go," Johanna says. "Trust me. Glimmer wants her to stay home. She needs to get better, and the only way she can get better is to stand up to Glimmer. We'll protect her."
"Alright," Dad agrees. "The school has been notified of what happened. How it happened, too, and I'm sure they'll have an eye on that girl." Dad pauses. "I am trusting you guys with my only daughter's life. Don't break my trust." He walks out.
Johanna turns to me. "Step one of getting better." She opens my drawer and gets out a bra, underwear, my camo skinny jeans and a black tight tank top. In the summers, we don't really have a dress code; we just have to have on something so we aren't in our bra and underwear. Technically that's how it is year round. She grabs me some black vans and no show socks. "That is your outfit for tomorrow. No hoodie."
I about to protest but she cuts me off and says, "No. The hoodie is a bullying target." She pauses. "You are not using a braid." She adds. "You can use it every now and then for a hairstyle, but don't' use the same thing every day because that's boring and it's highly frowned upon." She thinks for a second. "Step two, stop ignoring her. Yesterday when you told her off for calling you fat, she had no comeback. Don't bully her, because that makes you the worse person, just thank her."
"Thank her?" I ask weakly.
"Yes. Annie, let's demonstrate. Katniss, I am you."
"You're a skank." Annie says to Johanna.
Johanna looks at right in the eyes, smiles and says, "Thank you."
"That's all I have to do?"
"Yes, because she won't have anything to say."
I nod.
"Step three," she adds. "No more cutting. If you cut, you'll just feel worse and it's a recipe for disaster."
"That's going to be hard."
"No it won't." Dad says. "I put a lock on the silver wear drawer downstairs and only Finnick and I will know the code. If you need a knife, you will be watched with it by someone of age." Dad looks at Finnick. "Got that sport?"
"Yeah," Finn says.
"What about the blade in my bathroom?"
Dad looks at me.
"Oh, I stole that." Peeta says.
We all look at him. "What?" I ask.
"On Friday when you were sleeping I snuck in here and stole the blade. You'll never see it again."
"Okay." Dad says.
"Step four, and this is probably the hardest one." She hesitates. "Without the hoodie, guys are going to look at you. You'll get complimented. Don't just blush and ignore. You need to accept them or you'll look like a nerd." She pauses and grabs my glasses off my bedside table. "You can take these with you, but if you have contacts, don't wear them."
I nod.
"And your grades, well, they're dumbasses for making fun of you because you have straight A's." she pauses. "And try, if you can, to talk. Like…if you know the answer to the question in class, answer it. If someone starts talking to you, reply. If you see one of us or someone you know, like that Madge chick that almost ran you over, wave. Don't be shy. You are your own individual person. Don't let someone define you." She sighs. "Next…and I doubt you'll be allowed to do this, but try and get tatted."
"What?" I ask.
"After I got better, I talked my parents into letting me get a tattoo to remind me that I'm not worth shit. I would just keep getting Henna's."
"Um…okay. I'll get a Henna. I don't really want a tattoo."
"And the last thing," she pauses. "Smile, always smile at people. You even smile and wave at Glimmer in the hallway because you are just that much of a badass." She pauses. "I think that's all. If I think of something else, I'll let you know."
"You kids are welcome to stay the night if you please." Dad says.
"I'll take you to get the henna after school tomorrow if you want me to." Peeta says. "And I'll stay the night then." Peeta never needs to ask to stay the night on school nights because Dad is so close with Peeta's parents that they just know when he doesn't come home, it's because he's here.
"Alright," I reply to Johanna.
"Wait, what is this henna you speak of?" Dad asks.
"It's like a tattoo, but it only lasts for two weeks or a month." Johanna says. "Oh yeah," Jo says. "Always, and I mean always tell yourself the exact opposite of what Glimmer says. If she called you a skank or something tell yourself you've never had sex, if she calls you ugly, tell yourself you are beautiful."
"Is that all?"
"Yes. Now let's go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a big day."