Peeta opened his eyes as soon as he awakened from his sleep. His head ached badly and his vision was still heavily blurred wherefore he shut his eyes again. The memories from last night faded his mind and his brain tried its hardest to recollect a correct order of what had happened.
Peeta brought his hands to his still closed eyes and rubbed and massaged those several times in order to adapt them to the bright light and soothe the uncomfortable sting in his eyeballs. When the burning feeling in Peeta's eyes had calmed, he straightened himself into a sitting position and observed his surroundings.

Eventually Peeta was lying in his bed in his new room. The deep burgundy red cover was still lying on top of his torso. He starred down his body and noticed that he'd been wearing simple boxer shorts and a grey t-shirt.
Then the blonde remembered that it was his father who picked him up from the alleyway yesterday after he'd been having a nervous breakdown on the bench. Peeta's father must have brought him into his room, exchanged his clothing and laid him down in Peeta's bed.
Peeta felt ashamed and embarrassed of what happened the night before and he was extremely relieved and thankful that his father found him in the dark.

Peeta's gaze travelled to the right to his night clock which announced that it was still early in the morning. School would only start in two hours and Peeta had enough time to get ready for it. He stood up from the bed and walked over to one of the cartons, which were still placed next to the door frame, to grab out a towel and take a warm shower. He still had to unpack the remaining boxes and stow his clothes and a few other things in his drawer.

Peeta went out of his room and walked down the hallway until he reached the next door on his left. He opened the door with a silent creak and walked into the bathroom. Also this room was bigger than the old bathroom and it had its own shower. Since the whole floor was like belonging only to Peeta he had the whole bathroom for himself.
He stripped off his shorts and t-shirt and made his way to the shower now fully naked.
Peeta turned the faucet on and a few warm drops immediately landed on his head, which were followed by even more water drops that formed to a soft and comfortably warm water stream which trailed down Peeta's stocky chest and abdomen until the water graced his groin and then flew down his inner thighs downwards to his feet.
Peeta took a deep breath and inhaled the warm water vapor. He leaned his head back so that the water was now trailing down his neck. He stayed like this for a few seconds until he let the water pour on his face. The warm water soothed and eased Peeta's muscles as well as his headache; a hot shower always helped him out. He leaned down to grab the shower gel and shampoo and started to wash himself.

About ten minutes later Peeta was standing in front of the mirror in his bathroom and dried his body with the mellow, yellow towel. After that he went for his head and tried to rub off most of the moisture. Within seconds he dried the wetness out of his wheat blonde hair. Sometimes, depending on how the light fell onto Peeta's head, his hair became a slight golden shade.
He put the towel into the laundry bucket and grabbed for the hairdryer. Peeta blow-dried his hair just for a few seconds so it would fall naturally into his face and would dry in a quicker pace. After Peeta took his boxer shorts and t-shirt into his hands, he decided to walk out of the bathroom and dress up.

Back in his room Peeta took out blue denim jeans, a white t-shirt with round neck and a simple dark blue wooly sweater which underlined Peeta's blue eye color, and a fresh black socks and a black boxer brief. He stripped the clothes on and added a splash of his favorite cologne on his neck left and right.
Peeta then took a glance to his clock which said it was 7AM. He had to be in school in an hour so he should go get downstairs, grab the last things together and find a good walk to his new high school.
Peeta swung his school bag over his shoulder and walked down the stairs.

He stepped into the kitchen and was stopped by the glare of his father who seemed to be waiting for Peeta for a few minutes already.

"Peeta we need to talk." His father said as he stirred with a spoon in his coffee.

"About what?" Peeta asked as he walked over to the fridge to take out the orange juice. He knew what his father wanted to talk about but Peeta hoped he could avoid that discussion.

"Don't act like everything was normal, because it's not. What happened yesterday? You told me those mental breakdowns had stopped!"

"They did! It was just the new dark surrounding that scared me. I promise it won't happen again, I just lost things. Dad, it's nothing you should be worried about. Okay?" Peeta tried to end this conversation as soon as it started.

"Peeta you're wrong, it is indeed something to be worried about! You will not go to the new school today but instead we will drive to the city and search for psychological help."

Peeta's mouth dropped and he frowned about what he had just heard-
"Are you serious right now? After all that had happened you want me to get a psychologist that recalls all the shit of my past? Too late, you should have thought about it when you drowned yourself in self-pity and alcohol and left me alone in my room for several months."

"Peeta you don't understand-"

"No, now it's your turn to listen to me!" Peeta yelled and threw a hateful gaze towards his father.
"Once in my life I've got the chance to start all over. I want to leave the past behind and go on, we will never be able to change what had happened. Just because you found me sobbing on a bench at night, it doesn't mean that I'm a wreck. When I needed help no one gave it to me, I was all alone and had to deal with the shit by myself. I will go to school and I will leave now." Peeta walked towards the kitchen table, grabbed an apple and made his way to the entrance door.

Peeta's father stood up and aimed towards his son and grabbed him by his arm. "Peeta Mellark, you're my son and you're only sixteen years old, which means that you're still not of age. You're going to do what I commend you, I'm your father!"

"Oh really? It didn't feel like I had any father at all over the last year." Peeta yelled and freed himself from his father's grip, who was stunned by his son's certain statement.
"Sometimes I wish I had died in the vacation house as well as mom and Lucas. It would have saved me a lot of pain and sleepless nights."

Peeta furiously stormed out of the house and slammed the door behind him. He swung the backpack over both his shoulders and walked down the sidewalk. He didn't understand his father at all, he was such a dickhead. In an attempt to calm him down, Peeta looked at his watch to see if he still got time to get a latte macchiato at the coffee shop which he'd seen yesterday down the street.
It was only 7:12 AM. Without even knowing how he could reach the school the fastest he decided to first of all take a stop at the coffee store.

A few minutes later Peeta came to the corner with the cute, little shop on the opposite street. He crossed the street and opened the big glass door. A silent ring sounded as the door went open and Peeta stepped inside. The familiar scent of hot, sweet coffee welcomed his nose and the sound of brewing coffee filled the air.
Next to the glass cabinet there stood the girl Peeta met yesterday. Katniss peeked through the glass and looked at all the delicious, diverse cupcakes and cookies once more.
Peeta decided that a talk with the girl would be a good distraction; also maybe he could go to school with her, but of course only if she wanted to.
He walked towards Katniss and tapped on her shoulder.

"Good Morning Katniss."

She turned around to meet the barely familiar voice.

"Ohh Peeta it's you, good Morning! Nice to see you again, I kind of thought I'd seen the last of you after yesterday."

"Sorry I had to leave so quickly. My dad gets mad quickly when I'm not home on time." Peeta's voice fell hoarse and he nervously fumbled with his fingers.

"Ah, it's fine. Don't worry. So should we go to school together or do you want to order anything?" Katniss asked and turned her body towards the exit.

"Well actually I wanted to order a latte but it seems like I forgot my money anyways, so let's just go." Peeta said the truth; he did forget his pocket in his room.

"Nah, it's fine. I take it for my account." Katniss turned around and walked towards the showcase. "One latte macchiato, please." She ordered.
A few seconds later the latte was ready to-go and Katniss paid two dollars. She walked towards Peeta and handed the coffee to him. "Here you are."

"Thank you so much! That's probably the nicest thing someone's ever done for me." Peeta confessed and took the hot cup into his hands. The warmth directly spread through his fingers which gave him a comfortable feeling. It was a very windy late summer day so the warm coffee was a perfect thing.

The two left the coffee shop and began their walk to school. For a while there were only the sounds of their footsteps, the silent howling wind and Peeta, who sipped on his hot coffee, audible.

"So Peeta, are you excited because of the new school?" Katniss asked and interrupted Peeta from taking another sip.

"Well, to be honest yes I am and not only a bit." Peeta admitted. He felt so comfortable around Katniss that he even thought about telling her his story one day.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it'll be fine. All in all the students are quite okay and at lunch you can for sure sit with me and my friends."

"Thanks Katniss. What kind of people are there? I mean, are there any of those typical cool teens?"

"Well, yeah there are a few but I think every school has them. There are Marvel, Gloss, Glimmer, Cashmere, Clove and for sure their headquarter Cato Hadley. You should beware of him; he's very muscular and edged, very strong, he has bright blonde hair and ice blue eyes with a gaze of a killer. He's one of those bad boys you wouldn't want to cross on the school hall during the break."

"Uhm…killer gaze, blonde and a muscular build? That actually reminds me of the guy I ran into yesterday. Was he like this tall?" Peeta asked as he motioned a height with his hand which he placed one head over his in the air.

"Ohh, yes that was definitely him! He often jogs and walks around this area here, but did you say u ran into him? What happened?" Katniss turned her head to look into Peeta's face.

"Well, I – you know I had to hurry, so I kind of ran and on the next corner I bumped into him and spilled my coffee all over his body and clothes. I don't know he seemed to be very angry and outraged so I just stood up and ran off. He called something but I didn't hear it. I was really scared. Damn; I should have guessed that he goes to the same high school. Now I probably got some problems. Great…" Peeta's voice fell silent and he almost fell like throwing up.

Katniss seemed to notice Peeta's sudden pale face color. She touched his shoulder and turned him around.
"Hey, hey it's okay. He isn't that cruel, you need to really upset him so he's after you. Just act normal and behave carefully towards him, maybe he even forgot about yesterday. You should just know that he already broke a few noses so better don't let him attack you physically."

"Katniss I'm sure that was upsetting enough, who wouldn't be fucked up if someone spilled hot coffee all over your stuff and who would forget something like that? This Cato guy probably will confront me as soon as I step through the school door."

"No, don't worry. We've got Gale, Finnick, Johanna, Madge and Annie on our side and together we're at least as strong as Cato and his folks. So there is no reason to be worried, the luck is in our favor."

"Thanks Katniss, you really calmed me down. At least I shouldn't worry as long as I'm still not in school."

"Exactly." Katniss said and winked.

After a few more minutes of walking they reached the high school and stepped into the entrance hall.
It was 7:55 AM and in five minutes Peeta should be in his first class, though the matter was he didn't even have his timetable yet.

A few people aimed towards Katniss who Peeta thought would be a few of her friends. One of the boys had ebony brown hair, grey eyes and an olive skin tone just like Katniss herself. The other boy had bronze-brown and slightly curly hair; he was tall and had a very stocky build. Then there was a girl, who had blonde shoulder-long hair, which curled towards the end, and bright blue eyes.
They seemed to be friendly, but Peeta wanted to avoid any further discussion about whom he was and where he came from so he quickly turned around to Katniss.

"I will just stop by the school office, get my timetable and introduce myself to the headmaster. See you later at lunch." Peeta whispered into Katniss' ear.

"Okay, good luck. We're always sitting on the right side of the windows." Katniss said back and Peeta nodded with a smile.
"Bye!" She called as Peeta walked off.

Peeta reached the hallway with the red door that had 'SCHOOL OFFICE' written on it. He went to the door and knocked gently. The door immediately opened.

"Ah, you have to be Peeta Mellark, am I right?"

Peeta nodded.

"Hello Peeta and Welcome to Silver Lake High. We've got the best education in the whole town I tell you that right now." The man laughed and stretched out his hand to Peeta. "I'm school Principal Mr. Plutarch Heavensbee. Nice to meet you, Peeta."

"Thanks Mr. Heavensbee, I really like it here. It seems to be a nice school." Peeta said and shook the Principal's hand.

"Well, I hope so!" Plutarch laughed again. "I am very busy at the moment, but my guidance counselor Ms. Effie Trinket will tell you all the important stuff and give you your timetable. See you soon, Peeta."
The man smiled and tapped Peeta's shoulder before he walked off and left the hallway.

"Hello Peeta, I'm Effie Trinket but you can just call me Effie. Welcome to Silver Lake High.
Here's your timetable. Your first class will be geography with Mr. Abernathy." The woman in a pink and white costume with platinum-blonde hair said as she gave a piece of paper towards Peeta. Her voice was very high and her tone sounded nearly fake-friendly.

Peeta mumbled a 'thank you' when Effie already grabbed out a stack of books and a big notebook and pushed these into Peeta's hands, who let out a silent sigh.

"Yes, I know these are quite heavy but they are only for your best. Those are your now belonging education books. The one on top of the stack is a book about rules and instructions of Silver Lake High. Oh and before I forget it, this is your code for your locker. The code is '1234' and your locker number is 74. Don't forget to change the code as soon as you opened it. Now hurry up and go to class!" Effie put the key on top of the rulebook and pushed Peeta on his way.

"Thank you, bye Effie." Peeta said as he stumbled towards the lockers. His number was 74 so it was on the left side. It was already a few minutes after eight so he had to hurry.
Finally he found his locker and turned the number wheel until the lock clicked and the small door opened. Peeta threw his books inside except the geography book and quickly shut the door. He gave in a new code, '1375', and looked at his timetable. Mr. Abernathy's s geography class is in room 102.

Peeta hoped the teacher wouldn't be in class already and ran down the hallway as quickly as he could.
He just ran around the corner as he suddenly met a harsh impact and fell down to the ground.
Peeta looked up to meet the same ice-blue piercing eyes he'd crossed yesterday after he spilled the coffee all over the boy's body.

"Holy crap, aren't you the dude who ran into me yesterday as well? I can all too well remember that you spilled your hot drink over my clothes!" The blonde tall guy said with an angry but also playful voice.

Peeta felt even more frightened than yesterday and he didn't understand how he could be so stupid and run into this guy again.
"I-I'm so sorry, I-I-"

"You still owe me a new top, you know that right?"

"Of c-course, I-I, but I d-don't … have a-anything w-with m-me." Peeta mumbled and forced himself to stand up, but the blonde brute was still way taller.

"Hey, know what? It's fine; I've got enough money to buy me a stack of new tops just because I want to. Just take care of yourself the next time you cross a corner." The opposite boy said and had a mysterious smile on his face.

"I-I d-don't understand… so-" Peeta was confused but he had been interrupted.

"You should go to lesson; you don't want to be too late for class, do you?" Cato asks and turns around to walk down the hallway where Peeta came from.

Peeta was stunned, confused and shocked. Was that the boy Katniss said that was threatening, dangerous and should be bewared?!
But Peeta was ripped from his thoughts when the blonde turned around. Peeta looked expectantly at him and almost feared that the boy had changed his mind.

"What's your name?"

"P-Peeta. Mellark. Peeta Mellark." He said confused and tried to find out what the tall blonde was up to.
Cato suddenly smirked that mysterious smile again and took a step back.

"Welcome to Silver Lake High, I'm Cato." He said and then turned around and left the corridor.

"I know." Peeta thought. He knew this name already. Katniss had mentioned it to him previously but Peeta would have never matched this name to the person he just talked with. Even yesterday after Peeta had spilled the coffee all over Cato, he seemed to be a killer machine but from what Peeta had just experiences, Cato was way nicer than he had ever imagined. Was there anything that changed Cato's mind or were people just wrong about him? He would probably have to find out by himself.

The school bell rang and the first two lessons were finally over. Mr. Abernathy was a really nice and cool teacher, but his geography lessons were extremely boring.
Katniss also had geography with Mr. Abernathy and luckily the seat next to her was free. As soon as Peeta stepped into the room, Katniss had waved him towards the empty seat next to her, but Peeta had to introduce himself to class with two sentences before he was allowed to sit down.

Outside the geography class Katniss caught up with her friend Madge, who was the blonde girl Peeta had seen earlier this morning. They greeted each other and then all three made their way to the cafeteria.

"So Peeta, do you like it here?" Madge asked as she waved her hair from her right shoulder.

"Yeah, I like it. People are pretty nice towards me." Peeta said and smiled.

Katniss quirked an eyebrow towards Peeta, who had a wide smile on his lips.
"What's up, Peeta?"

"Well, I told you about Cato this morning, right? Before class I ran into him again…"

"So? What did he do?" Katniss asked and her face filled with shock.

"Nothing. He actually did nothing; he asked me for my name and welcomed me to Silver Lake High. He said I wouldn't need to pay his top, because he would have enough money to buy him as much as necessary."

"Wow, really? Are you sure that was Cato you ran into, like completely sure? That doesn't seem to come from Cato at all." Katniss asked and played with her braid.

"Yes it was him; he even mentioned his name towards me." Peeta responded and looked at Madge.

"That's so weird; normally Cato would have thrown you up the wall the second you bumped into him. Though it's good he didn't, that would have been a fucked up first day." Madge said and smiled.

Peeta nodded and Katniss just said how lucky he was.

Then they reached the cafeteria and they were aiming towards the table with Katniss' friends.

"So, there we are Peeta. This is our table. Let's sit down; I want to introduce you to everyone."

Peeta nodded nervously and stepped to the group of people.

"Everyone, that's Peeta Mellark, he came here this weekend and now he's visiting Silver Lake High. He is really nice so let's welcome him. This is Gale, Finnick, Annie and Johanna." Katniss said and winked towards Peeta.

They all greeted Peeta in a chorus of 'His' and he greeted back.

Peeta put down his school bag and geography book next to Katniss' seat.
"Get you something to eat. You just need to take something from the counter with the food on it. I need to write down homework for my next class so could you get me a salad, please? That would be really kind." Katniss pleased and Peeta nodded.

Peeta went to the counter with the food and got himself spring rolls. They were his all time favorite food. When he wanted to take the last salad for Katniss, suddenly a tall guy pushed him harshly to the ground, which caused him to throw his food on the floor.
Peeta looked up to see Cato with a row of other smirking people standing behind and next to him, which looked like as if they could be the school elite.

"Back off, newbie. Want to take the last salad? Well, you should know who's in charge. We are. This is our salad." Cato said and laughed loudly. He took the salad and threw it on the floor.

"Well, I'm not hungry for salad right now. What a pity, but now you can have it." Cato kicked the salad towards Peeta.

"W-what? I-I didn't d-do a-anything. L-Leave m-me alone!" Peeta stuttered and his heart was beating loudly.

"Fuck off, Cato and leave him! Congrats it's just his first day and you already managed to ruin his impression of our school. Now you've done your job and you can piss off." A boy yelled. Peeta turned around to see that it was Finnick who came to help him.

"Be careful Finnick, you don't want me to come for you, do you? But fine, I think this newbie had enough, let's go guys." And with that Cato left the cafeteria with his folks behind him.

Finnick helped Peeta up and guided him to the table. A few minutes ago Peeta was hungry as hell but now he felt like vomiting.
"Thank you Finnick." Peeta mumbled and Finnick responded with a smile.

Back at the table Katniss took Peeta's hand and asked if he was alright. Peeta said yes, he was just totally confused and shocked.

"But what happened? I mean, you told me he was nice to you this morning, right?" Katniss asked nervously.

"I don't know Katniss, I have no idea, I just know that I will avoid Cato for the rest of my school life." Peeta answered and took his school bag as the bell rang to say that the next two lessons are going to start. He waved goodbye and walked out of the cafeteria.

The rest of the school day was quite okay.
After lunch Peeta had two hours of math lessons and unfortunately he sat two seats further next to Cato. The teacher was Mr. Beetee, who was quite lame but clear and well organized at explaining.
After that Peeta had two lessons of his favorite subject with Katniss. It was nothing else than arts. Their arts teacher was Cinna, who liked to be named just by his forename.

After school Peeta and Katniss exchanged numbers and they walked home together. Both noticed that Katniss only lived two streets from Peeta apart which meant they could meet each other and learn together often.

When Peeta came home his father wasn't there but a white note with a message laid on the table.
'Please take the bakery this evening. I'm out and we need to earn money. You know how to make the buns and cookies. Bye – Dad'

"Great." Peeta thought, but he didn't have a choice. He walked upstairs to his room and sat down on his bed. He put out his math homework and started to work on the first task when suddenly Peeta's phone vibrated in his pocket.

He picked it out to find a text message from Katniss.

- Hey Peet, want to come over and talk? Got pizza -

- Hey Katniss, I would love to but I need to do homework and have to work at the bakery later, next time of course -

- Aw, okay. See you tomorrow then. Have fun with your homework – K -

Peeta sighed, he really wanted to catch up with Katniss but he couldn't skip the work at the bakery.

An hour later Peeta finished his homework.
He went downstairs, through the kitchen and living room and finally to the backside of the house to open the door that led through the house and into the bakery. He then walked to the front door of the bakery and turned the sign to 'OPEN'.

This evening there were only four customers.
Two women who lived in the neighborhood ordered cherry tea and biscuits, a girl from school Peeta had seen at lunch bought two breads and completely to Peeta's surprise Effie Trinket entered the bakery to order a big vanilla cake with pink frosting and butter cream. She said she needed it for a birthday party for someone from her family.

Not it was 8PM and the bakery was about to close. Peeta still didn't hear anything from his father. He went into the kitchen and was just pushed the last tray of buns into the oven so they would be fresh tomorrow in the morning. After that he started to do the dishes when suddenly the door of the bakery opened and the all too familiar ring sounded through the room.
Damn, Peeta forgot to turn the sign to 'CLOSED' and lock the door.
Since it was his own fault he couldn't leave the customer. Anyways he and his father needed the money so either way he would help the customer, but after that he would definitely shut the door.

"I'm coming, one moment please." Peeta called and dried his wet hands with the kitchen towel.
He hopefully thought that the person just wanted to buy bread or something.

When he walked through the kitchen door frame and into the bakery he stopped for a moment, surprised with who stood in front of him.
It was Cato and he had this mysterious smile on his lips. Just the sight of this killer machine already brought Peeta's knees to wobble. He decided to treat Cato as a normal costumer and not to show how confused and frightened he really was.

"How can I help, we're actually closed." Peeta said bluntly.

"Hello Peeta. You sound angry, is something up?" Cato asked with a playful tone.

"Cato, I don't want any trouble. So, please tell me what you need so you can leave and I can clean the kitchen." Peeta said sternly. It felt weird to say Cato's name after the little time they actually know each other.

"Good good, because I don't want any trouble as well. I don't need something, but I came here for a certain reason. I hoped I would meet you here."

"M-me? W-what? If y-you don't want anything y-you can l-leave r-right now, because I'm not up f-for any fights." Peeta stuttered as his fear seemed to grow bigger.

"You don't need to worry; I'm not going to hit you or something." Cato said in a calming tone as he stepped closer towards Peeta.

"What do you want then?" Peeta asked and his fear seemed to shrink, instead his curiosity and confusion grew even more.

"I want to excuse, I'm sorry that I threw you to the ground, I shouldn't have done that. It was the pressure by my friends, who wanted me to show you who the leader is." Cato explained silently and stroked his left arm while he looked to the floor. "I'm sorry."

Suddenly Peeta felt another feeling that spread in his stomach. It wasn't threatening or cold but warm and calming. Did he just feel that Cato looked cute?
He shook the thought off and went back to reality.

"Yeah… it's fine. Just don't do it again, that would be uhm nice." Peeta awkwardly said. Cato was someone he didn't understand at all. What was he going for?

"I won't. See you tomorrow then, Peeta." Cato said and winked. He turned around and left the bakery as quickly as he came, leaving Peeta, who didn't even have the time to respond, alone in the bakery.

Peeta walked to the front door, he locked it and turned the sign to 'CLOSED'. He then went back to the kitchen and finished the dishes quickly.

An hour later Peeta laid in his bed. He was really exhausted from the work at the bakery. While he tried to fall asleep he couldn't free his thoughts from Cato; the mysterious boy, who confused Peeta's mind.

On a further note Peeta wanted to know more about this Cato guy. He had something that awakened his interest. What was that? What was the special something that had Peeta all tied up about Cato?
He wanted to find out as soon as possible.