Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games. These characters belong to Suzanne Collins.

"Damn it! Why is she being so difficult?" Gale yells in frustration. He had asked Madge to homecoming every day this week, and she showed no sign of giving in. "I know she wants to go with me!"

"How do you know?" I ask. My voice is still hoarse, but I can manage to talk if I drink enough tea.

"She hasn't said yes to anyone else." Gale jumps up from sitting on my bed and begins pacing around my room. "I'm gonna have to do something drastic. Something no one will expect. I didn't want to do this, but she's brought me to this point."

"Gale, please, just sit down and chill for a second before you do anything crazy."

"No, Katniss. No. You know what I'm gonna do?"

I roll my eyes. "What, Gale?"

He takes a deep breath, "I'm not gonna tell you."

"Okay then." I lean back on my pillows and close my eyes. I think I can hear his brain working. I feel bad for him, but at the moment I feel worse for Madge.

"Come to school on Monday. You'll see." He walks out my door and runs down the steps. I hear him murmur goodbyes to Prim and my mother and then slam the door. He peels out of the driveway.

It's Saturday. I missed school yesterday because my mother insisted. Honestly, I didn't mind so much. It felt good to sleep all day. At least I had some time to decide what I needed to ask Peeta. Hopefully I will be able to say it without getting distracted, which seems to be a regular occurence.

I hear someone answer the door downstairs. I can hear talking, and I am surprised to hear a male voice. Did Gale come back?

Moments later, Prim knocks a couple of times and then peeks into my door. "Katniss, you got a delivery."

"What?"

She pushes the door open further. She has a box in her hands that I recognize all too well. It's from the Mellark Bakery. She walks to my bed and places it on my lap. She is waiting for me to open it, but I already know what's inside. Cheese buns.

I go to school on Monday, not necessarily because I'm better, but because I have to see what Gale is going to do. He doesn't meet me at my locker like normal, so I can only assume he is busy. When I get to Mr. Abernathy's classroom, it is nearly time for first period to begin. I take my seat, next to a smiling Peeta. "Thank you for the cheese buns, Peeta."

His smile widens, if that is possible. "No problem. I just hope they made you feel better."

"Hey, uh…I don't think I can thank you enough for…helping me out the other day. I was kind of a mess." My tone almost sounded sarcastic, but I've never been more sincere.

"Anytime."

At that moment, the PA system squealed. The shrill and chipper voice of Miss Trinket echoed through the room. "Good morning, students. I would like all of you to make your way to the gymnasium for a short assembly. Thank you!"

"An assembly on a Monday? Weird," says Peeta. "Walk with me?"

"Sure."

We exit the classroom and head toward the gym. It's hard not to get separated in a hallway full of people, but somehow we are able to manage it. I can tell Peeta wants to talk to me, and I to him, but the student body is in an uproar about getting to skip first period on a Monday. The noise makes me wish I were laying in my bed at home.

When we get to the gym and take a seat, he asks, "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

I wish I did. "Nope."

As the last of the students take their seats, it is clear to me that no one knows why we are here. I can see Miss Trinket standing next to Mr. Abernathy, whispering something in his ear. Mr. Abernathy begins to laugh and looks at her in disbelief.

"Goooood morning, Panem High!" The voice is familiar, but I refuse to believe it. The voice rang throughout the gym, silencing everyone. I search the gym for the source. I see Gale entering the gym from the back entrance. Whoever gave him that microphone is insane.

"Yo, Gale!" I hear someone shout. His name is repeated in a wave across the gym.

He is wearing a suit and tie, which I have never seen him in before. He did say he was doing something drastic.

He continues, "I'm sorry for pulling you out of first period," the student body starts to clap, but he raises his hands to silence them, "But there is something important that I need to do."

I try to spot Madge.

"For a couple of weeks now, I've been asking this girl to homecoming, and she keeps refusing." The crowd "aaawwwwws". "I tried to think of what I could do to make it clear to her that I was serious, and that nothing would make me happier than to see her on my arm next Saturday for my last homecoming dance." More "aww's" echo through the crowd. They are hanging on his every word. I see a group of freshman girls swooning from across the gym. Some people start to yell in their disbelief that anyone would turn down Gale Hawthorne. Gale only likes to pretend he's not popular. I never realized how popular he actually was until now. I look over at Peeta to see his reaction to the situation. He looks terrified. My attention returns to Gale.

"Madge Undersee," Gale says, and the crowd begins to cheer. Once they have quieted down enough, he continues, "I would like to ask you one last time, with the whole school as my witness, will you please, please go to homecoming with me?" He runs across the gym to pick up a bouquet of flowers. He starts searching the crowd to find her.

After a few moments, she stands up. The crowd begins to cheer. She makes her way down to Gale, slowly. Gale showed no sign of nervousness while talking to every single one of his peers, but now I could tell he is sweating bullets.

She walked straight up to Gale and stood only inches from him. She wiggled her finger at him, indicating that he needed to bend down so she could say something in his ear. The whole gym waited with bated breath.

Gale returned to an upright position. HIs facial expression gave away nothing. "Panem High…"

The student body shared a collective intake of breath.

"SHE SAID YES!"

The crowd roared. Gale lifted a red-faced Madge off of the ground in a hug. He's lucky. I would have slaughtered him on the spot. I start a slow clap and look over at Peeta again. His mouth is open slightly, his chest is heaving, and his disbelief is clear.

I touch his arm and lean toward him. "Are you okay?"

He only nods. I don't really understand his reaction. He seems like a guy that would love this kind of thing.

Then it hits me. He wanted to ask Madge to homecoming.

When we return to first period, Peeta doesn't speak to me. I want to comfort him and tell him I'm sorry for not telling him something was going to happen. Although, Peeta and I have never really talked about Gale before. I've never felt the need to update him on our friendship. Also, I had no idea that Peeta was interested in Madge. Surely, I would have told him about Gale if he would have told me about Madge.

When the bell rings, I grab his arm as he gets up to leave. His eyes are sad. "Do you want to meet at the bakery today?" He looks unsure, but he eventually nods. I let go of him and watch as he exits the room. My heart is breaking for him. It's my turn to make him feel better.

I walk Prim home from the bus stop. She is arguing with me about coming along to the bakery. I tell her that Peeta and I have important things to talk about and she would only be in the way. She crosses her arms and stomps into the house. "I'll bring you back a treat." She stops.

"Well, I want a cupcake," she snaps.

"Fine," I smile and close the door.

I hustle to the bakery. It looks like it's going to rain, and it would be a bad idea for me to get caught in it right now. My body was pissed before I took it outside in the cold. I take out a tissue and walk into the bakery. The floor is freshly mopped, so I step carefully on the black and white tiles. There is no one up front to greet me.

I decide to announce my presence. "Peeta?" I say loudly.

I hear shuffling. He eventually appears behind the counter. He offers a small smile and a wave. He looks beyond upset. I meet him by the edge of the counter. I hesitate slightly, but I wrap my arms around him and hold him to me tightly. His arms wrap around me in return.

"I'm so sorry, Peeta."

I feel him pull back a little. "For what?"

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about Gale asking Madge to homecoming." He pulls away from me completely now. "I had no idea that you wanted to ask her, or I would have told you that Gale was going to ask her."

"You think that I wanted to ask Madge to homecoming?"

"Yes. I saw the look on your face when Gale asked her this morning. Honestly, if I would have known I would have told you. I am really, really sorry." I walk close to him and grab his hand. I am really proud of myself. I am doing for him what he would do for me. I hope to convey to him that I value his friendship, and that I am able to reciprocate. It may be awkward, but this is as much as I can give right now.

He looks at my hand in his. "Katniss, I appreciate your sympathy, but I think you might have gotten the wrong idea." My brow furrows. "I didn't want to ask Madge to homecoming."

"Oh…then what's wrong?"

I can tell he is having difficult deciding if he wants to tell me or not, but he does. "When Gale started talking this morning, I was afraid he was going to ask someone else. I was terrified, actually. I thought I had missed my chance." I remove my hand from his.

I am very confused now. As far as I know, Gale has never had an interest in any other person other than Madge. "Who did you think he was going to ask?"

He clears his throat and looks down at the floor. "You."

It takes everything in me to not laugh in his face. Me? Gale ask me to homecoming? Never in a million years. It has never been like that between us. Wait…

"I always see you two together. I knew that you were friends, and I thought that you might be leaning toward being a couple."

Peeta was afraid that Gale was going to ask me to homecoming? Why? "I don't understand."

"I was afraid I missed my chance. My chance to ask you to go with me." He won't look me in the eye. His face is dark red.

Oh my god. I don't know what to say.

"I was so relieved, but I was scared, too. In that moment I felt like I was going to lose you forever. I was waiting for the right time. I didn't want to scare you off. I like you…a lot."

"Peeta…"

"It's okay to say no. You just needed to know." He won't look at me. I'm not really sure what to do with myself. My palms are sweaty. I fidget awkwardly.

It was my goal to be the best friend I could be when I arrived, and I don't want to let him down now. I decide to be honest. "Well, I'm flattered."

He glances up at me, "Really?"

"Yes. No one has ever asked me before." He seems shocked by this statement. "Honestly, though, I don't know if I would have said yes if they had."

He chuckles, "Yeah, I thought not. So, is that a no for me as well?"

"I'm sorry, but no. I can't go with you." His gaze falls back to the floor. "But, I am willing to do something else with you."

HIs head shoots up. He looks astounded. "What?"

"I hate school functions, and I hate dancing. I will not go to homecoming, but if you are willing to miss it, I will do something else with you. If you want." It's my turn to be shy. How could I ask him to miss homecoming? It's kind of bitchy, but this is all I can offer.

"Well," he starts, "It looks like I'm not going to homecoming this year." I look up to him, and his smile is the brightest I've ever seen it. He looks overjoyed. "I'll pick you up a six next Saturday then?"

"Fine," I reply with a smile. Instead of standing here and making the situation awkward I say, "Great. Um, before I leave, can I have a cupcake for Prim?"

"Anything for Miss Primrose," he says.

"She wanted to come with me today. I promised her I would get her a cupcake if she stayed home." I don't know why I said that. Like he cares.

"You should bring her next time. Maybe I can teach her how to make her own."

"I'm sure she would love that," I say. I haven't smiled this much in years. Peeta really is the nicest person I've ever met. "I'll see you tomorrow, Peeta."

I turn to leave. "Is there anywhere special you want to go next Saturday?"

"I'll let you decide. It was really your idea in the first place. For us to do something together." I continue walking toward the door.

"See you tomorrow!"

"Bye."

I get about a block away from the bakery, and the full weight of what I've done hits me. Hoooooly shit.

A/N: Well, guys, it's all out in the open (Peeta's feelings at least). I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I had fun writing it. I was looking for inspiration when it came to Gale's plan to win over Madge, so I looked up ways people have done it in the past. They are called "promposals". I can't believe they are actually a thing. There are some seriously cute things that people have done, but I couldn't imagine Gale doing any of them. They were still fun to look at, though, I highly recommend searching it.

I wanted to share something else with all of you. I have never felt ashamed of my love for The Hunger Games series, but someone on this site made that happen made me feel stupid for loving something that they didn't. I was close to throwing in the towel because they upset me so much, but it made me feel worse to think about this going unfinished. I am really glad that there are people out there that love these character as much as I do, and I appreciate all of your support. Thank you for being awesome and reminding me that I'm not alone in my love for these characters. Screw them.