Five to Twelve Chapter 28, a hunger games fanfic

A/N: Thank you, all of you, for the support. The faves, follows and reviews have been amazing. Thanks as always to dandelionsunset for her great beta work (particularly on this chapter, as my kids are out of school for the summer. The number of typos has gone up accordingly.)

Chapter 27—the firsts

Katniss and Gale went hunting on Saturday morning, like always. That part of the day had gone well. They'd bagged several squirrels and rabbits. Gale was in a good mood, smiling easier than Katniss had seen from him in a long time.

So the hunting was fine. It was the trading that hadn't gone very well.

Gale took the squirrels to the bakery, only to find that it was already closed for the day. Worse, he ran into the witch. "You know those rabid dogs we sometimes run into?" he asked. "That's what she looked like. Snarling and crazy and foaming at the mouth."

Rooba took all of the rabbits, but that still left them with more squirrels than either of them needed. They wanted bread. Or coin. Or both. Greasy Sae eventually bought a couple of the squirrels, but she just couldn't give them the kind of trade they were used to getting from Mr. Mellark. The other traders either didn't want squirrel meat, or couldn't trade for what they needed.

Eventually, they divided the squirrels between them and called it a day.

"Are you headed out tomorrow morning?" Gale asked as they walked back home.

"Yep. Peeta wants to learn, so we're headed out past the water tower."

"Not a lot of trails that way," Gale reminded her.

"That's why I'm taking him there. I don't want to risk scaring anything off until I know how he moves." Gale and Katniss both could move through the wilderness in near-silence. Katniss didn't know if that would be the case with Peeta.

When they parted ways, Gale said, "Good luck tonight! I'm sure the townies will love you," and gave her a playful shove.

"Oh, shut up," she grumbled. She heard him chuckle as he walked towards his house.

Once Katniss got home, she had a few hours with nothing to keep her occupied. She unexpectedly found herself in a state of nerves about the toasting that night. She would be meeting—or at least singing for—relatives of hers that thought of her as the poor, Seam trash cousin that nobody wanted to acknowledge. Plus, she was going to be singing for a large group of people influential in the District. If she blew it, none of the band members would be able to make any money, and it would be completely her fault.

She had herself so worked up by mid-afternoon that she actually managed to annoy the always-patient Prim. "Katniss!" she scolded. "Get. A. Grip!" She eventually took pity on older sister and ran her a bath. While Katniss tried to soak some of the grime out from under her fingernails, Prim walked in with a mug of mint tea. "Drink this, and calm down."

Somehow, being scolded by the most patient person in Twelve lifted Katniss' mood a little. She inhaled the aroma from the tea and sighed, "I love you, Prim."

"I love you, too. Hand me the soap, I'll wash your hair."

She helped Katniss wash her hair and made extra sure that her nails were clean. Then she brushed and cleaned Katniss' boots while Katniss finished her bath. She helped Katniss get her hair as dry as possible with the towels. "Are you braiding it?" Prim asked.

"I don't know. I haven't thought about it much. Madge thinks I should leave it down."

Katniss finished combing her hair, and got dressed. Prim studied her, tapping one finger on her mouth. Then she ordered Katniss to sit down. Prim took a small section of hair at both temples and pulled them away from Katniss' face. She secured the pieces together behind Katniss' head, then braided them with a thin, pale, yellow ribbon intertwined through the dark strands.

Katniss looked at herself in the mirror. She looked—different. She could sort of see what Madge meant when she'd tried on this outfit. You look like a girl.

"You look beautiful, Katniss," Prim told her.

Katniss hugged her and kissed the top of her head. "I had a lot of help. You're an amazing sister. I don't know how to thank you."

Finally, it was time to go and she started her walk to the Justice Building. The closer she got, the more nervous she became. She fervently wished Peeta could be there tonight for their first performance. Being near him was like a balm. Her emotions were usually all jumbled up and turbulent. Somehow, Peeta calmed the waters.

Except when he didn't. The other night, when he'd pulled her close and whispered in her ear to explain why he'd been laughing—there wasn't anything peaceful or calm about what she felt. His lips ad barely touched her skin and she suddenly wanted him to...well, she wasn't exactly sure what she had wanted, but she'd felt an acute sense of disappointment when he pulled away.

The idea of him kissing her still scared her, but she had been thinking about it since that night. She'd thought about it a lot.

Sooner than she wanted to be there, Katniss found herself at the Justice Building. A Peacekeeper sat behind the marble counter in the lobby. He glanced up at her as she approached.

"I'm here for the Bay wedding," she informed him.

"Invite?" he said, holding out his hand.

"I'm in the band," she explained.

"Nobody told me anything about a band."

"We were hired by the groom," Katniss told him, trying to keep her irritation at bay. It wasn't the Peacekeeper's fault that nobody had said anything to him, and angering a Peacekeeper was never a smart plan.

"Look, I can't let you in if you don't have an invite."

"Hold it," Katniss heard a male voice from down the hall. She looked to her left to see a young man trotting down the hall towards them. The Peacekeeper half-stood out of his chair to see who it was. "Well, there's your groom," he said, sitting back down in his chair.

The young man hurried up, his hand outstretched towards Katniss. "You're Katniss Everdeen?" He took her hand and shook it without waiting for an answer. "Nice to finally meet you. I'm Ander Bay." He let go of her hand and handed a piece of paper to the Peacekeeper. "My fault, I just remembered I needed to tell you about the band. Here's a list of the musicians. They should be arriving before the guests."

He turned back to Katniss, holding one arm out to show her the way. "I'll show you where you will be setting up." He started walking the way he came, going at a very brisk pace. Katniss had to nearly jog to keep up. He realized it after a moment, and slowed down. "My apologies. I'm a bit nervous, big day and all that. Probably not the ideal way to meet you for the first time."

"It's fine," Katniss reassured him. Now that he had slowed down, she could finally get a good look at him. Ander was expensively dressed, wearing black slacks, a starched white shirt and a multi-colored, embroidered waistcoat. He had blond hair and blue eyes, no surprise there. Ander was quite tall, at least as tall as Gale. He had a lean physique and a square, clean-shaven jaw.

Basically, he looked like any other Merchant man, except for his eyes. They looked just like—"You and my sister have the same eyes," she blurted out, then wondered why she even bothered. What did he care?

"Do we really?" he smiled at her. "I'd like to meet Primrose sometime."

"You would?" Katniss was floored.

Ander sighed. "Katniss, if it had been up to me, we would have grown up knowing each other, just like normal cousins. It wasn't, any more than it was up to you. But I'm an adult, and you're close enough now. And we don't need our parents permission anymore." He stopped at a door, and held it open for her. "This isn't the time to talk about it, though. Maybe after Mona and I have settled in, we can have you over? We'd like to get to know you better."

He ushered her into a cavernous ballroom, gave her a quick, apologetic smile and said, "I have to go. Rye knows how to setup, but tell him if he needs to find me, I'm two doors down the hall on the left." Then he hurried off, leaving her alone.

The ballroom was enormous, even bigger than the gymnasium at school. A few dozen round tables with matching chairs took up much of the space. The tables were all within easy reach of a long tables holding chafing dishes.

One end of the room had semi-circular rows of chairs set up around a tall, unlit brazier. Katniss realized that the bride and groom were going to toast their bread over it. Personally, she found this a bit impersonal. The whole point of a toasting was to cook your first food as a married couple in your home, not turn it into summer barbecue.

The other end of the room held a small stage and a dance floor. The stage was maybe three feet tall, and about 15 feet on each side. Somebody had placed instrument stands, a microphone and speakers on it.

Katniss frowned. She'd never used a microphone before. Could she just unplug it? She followed the cord to the outlet, which was behind the stage. She had to bend down get to it. She had just reached for the plug when the door at the other end of the ballroom opened.

Katniss recognized her grandmother, who walked in with a middle-aged man. Katniss was nearly positive it was her uncle, Ash Bay.

Instinctively, Katniss ducked behind the stage. It was about three feet tall, so she was well-hidden—as long as nobody walked over and looked behind the stage.

It sounded like Mrs. Bay was mid-rant. "...and I don't know why you let him work there, Ash. Municipal clerk," she sniffed. "It's such a menial job. I can hardly bear the shame of it."

"Not now, Mother. Would you please drop off those stupid forks, so we can go find Ander?"

"They aren't stupid, Ash, they're tradition. I used them at my toasting. You used them at your own toasting. Al used them at his, if you'll recall. Oh, what am I saying. Of course you don't recall. You were so drunk, we might as well have invited Haytmitch Abernathy. I could hardly bear the shame of it."

Bear the shame of it seemed to be a theme with Mrs. Bay.

Katniss heard some metallic clinking, then sagged in relief when she heard their footsteps leave the room. She stood up cautiously once she heard the door close and looked around. Two forks, with stupidly long, ornate handles, lay crisscrossed on top of the brazier.

Microphone forgotten, she sat down on the edge of the stage and tried to calm her nerves.

Thankfully, the next time the door opened, Rye walked in, and followed by Peeta. Peeta carried the Five to Twelve sign. Rye gave her a quick once-over, head to toe, then nodded in approval. "You clean up OK, Everdeen."

"You don't," she sassed back, walking towards Peeta. Actually, they both looked great. Rye wore charcoal-colored slacks and a pale-green linen shirt. Peeta wore pressed khakis and a blue, cotton sweater.

Peeta put down the sign when she got to him and hugged her. "You're breathtaking," he whispered into her ear. The second he touched her, she calmed down.

"Prim and Madge get most of the credit for that. I'm really glad you're here. I thought you weren't coming?"

Peeta explained about the last-minute invite from Ander. "So, it looks like I'm officially your escort." Peeta said it with such pride and affection that Katniss smiled for several minutes afterward.

The sign was—well, "amazing" the only word she had for it. She knew it was made from plywood because Peeta had been telling her about it for the last few days. But you had to get up pretty close to realize that it wasn't actual concrete. Peeta propped the sign on an unused instrument stand, and placed it on the stage.

The rest of the band arrived shortly. Rye immediately began doing sound checks. Katniss lost the argument about the microphone. Rye explained that in a room this large, her voice wouldn't carry over both the band and the noise from all the guests. She got the hang of it after a few tries. It was weird to hear. She knew how her voice sounded inside her head. Hearing it though a speaker was almost like hearing somebody else.

Rye ran them through "Lovesong" all the way through. Several workers—nearly all of them Seam, by the looks of them—were busy lighting the chafing dishes, and setting out food and drinks. They stopped what they were doing and listened to the entire song. Once it was over, they applauded and cheered, which seemed to give Rye a boost.

Declaring himself satisfied with how they sounded, Rye led them off the stage and through a door discreetly set into the wall. It opened into a small, kitchenette-type of room. A large platter of sandwiches and a bucket of drinks awaited them. "We'll hang in here while the toasting takes place, and they eat dinner," he informed them. "The sandwiches are for us, so dig in."

Katniss cut a sandwich in half, then wrapped the other half in a napkin, intending to take it home to Prim. "Katniss, it's ok. Have the whole sandwich," Peeta chided.

"I'm fine," Katniss lied. "I don't want to eat too much before singing." Actually, she could have easily eaten two or three of the sandwiches.

"You're as rotten a liar as Prim," Peeta declared. "We'll send you home with a sandwich for her, all right?" Am I that transparent? Katniss wondered.

"It's OK, Everdeen," Rye reassured her. "There's three or four sandwiches here for everybody, and I don't want to hear your stomach growl on stage. Besides, they probably just throw out any leftovers."

Katniss felt like she'd been kicked. They throw out the leftovers? People were starving in this District. Children were literally risking their lives to get tesserae for their families—and perfectly good food was going to be thrown away?

It made her so angry, she felt like shrieking at Rye. She knew it wasn't his fault or even his decision, but the casual way he said it infuriated her. And why would he know any better? He grew up in a family that fed good, nutritious bread to their pigs if it wasn't perfect enough.

She didn't realize she was shaking until Peeta touched the back of her hand. She jumped at his touch, she'd been so lost in her rage. That was when she realized that the room had gone silent. All the guys were staring at her.

Peeta took something out of her fist. It was the table knife she'd been using to cut the sandwich. In her anger, she'd bent it in half and folded it in on itself.

"Nice goin', jackass," Mandor muttered at Rye.

Katniss stood up and went to the sink, mortified that she'd lost control over her emotions like that. She ran cold water and gently splashed a little on her face. She heard Peeta come up behind her. He held back her hair so it wouldn't get wet, then handed her a towel to dry her hands and face. "Didn't I tell you?" he said, trying to lighten her mood. "Rye sounds smarter when he doesn't talk."

The rest of the band had started talking again, now that Katniss' temporary insanity was under control. Peeta went back to the table and brought her sandwich back to her. They stood by the sink, apart from the others, and ate. She finished her sandwich, then sipped water while she quietly told Peeta about meeting Ander, and what she'd overheard her grandmother and uncle say. He told her that Nathan Brown had given him the job, and about the meeting with his father.

Everyone else chatted and joked around as they ate, with Rye occasionally shushing them. "There's a toasting going on just outside that door," he'd remind them. After a while, he walked over to Katniss and Peeta. "Everdeen, look. I'm really sorry." His eyes were troubled and his usual mask of sardonic indifference was nowhere to be seen. "I don't actually know what they do with the leftovers. I just said that because I didn't want to see you skip a meal or go hungry when it wasn't necessary."

"It isn't your fault, Rye," she told him. "Do I need to pay for the knife?"

"What knife?" he joked.

Eventually, a man who looked a lot like Ander stuck his head in the door. "Five minutes," he told Rye.

Then he noticed Katniss. He glared at Rye. "What is she doing here?"

"Singing," Rye answered coolly.

The blond man muttered under his breath, and left.

"That," Rye explained, "is your other cousin, Al."

Katniss could feel her face heat up, not from embarrassment, but from anger.

"No scowling, Everdeen!" Rye warned her. "You're singing love songs, not battle cries. So don't go out there looking like you're about to chuck a knife through somebody's eyeball. And look—don't let that dickhole get to you. He's such a huge douche that his wife is voluntarily fucking a Peacekeeper."

"Not just any Peacekeeper, either," Mandor rumbled. "She's fuckin' Purnia."

"Wait," Dalton looked deeply confused. "How is that even physically possible?"

Mandor started to use his hands as finger puppets to demonstrate, but Rye barked at them to get on stage, goddammit.

Katniss knew she was blushing, but at least she forgot to be angry. She got onstage with the rest of the band and looked out over the crowd. About 200 people milled around, or sat at their tables, finishing dinner.

The crowd was mostly Merchants and Municipal families, but she recognized a handful of the Peacekeepers. She knew a few people from school, including Delly Cartwright. Mayor Undersee was leaning over to listen to somebody talk to him. Madge stood next to him, holding the arm of a frail woman who could only be her mother. Mrs. Undersee looked pretty out of it. Madge looked bored, but smiled and gave a little wave when she saw Katniss.

Rye asked, "Ready, Everdeen?" She nodded. Rye turned on the microphone, and asked if he could have everybody's attention. The crowd quieted down.

Rye asked the bride and groom to please come forward. Ander walked onto the dance floor holding the hand of a very pretty young woman in a beautiful, white dress. Rye announced that "Mr. and Mrs. Bay are now going to have their first dance as a married couple," then cued the band to start playing "The Toasting Song."

Most of the crowd turned back to their conversations, or kept eating. A handful actually watched Ander and Mona dance, but by and large, everybody ignored the whole thing.

Until Katniss started to sing. Almost as one, the entire crowd turned and stared at the band. Katniss wasn't sure why they all stared. It was just "The Toasting Song." Maybe everybody was surprised to find a lone Seam girl in their midst.

The only people who weren't staring were the bride and groom. They only had eyes for each other. No longer nervous, Ander looked relaxed and happy, his eyes shining down on his wife. Despite her negative feelings about marriage in general, Katniss thought they looked very sweet.

By the second verse, Katniss realized that rehearsing in Madge's basement couldn't compare to singing for a huge crowd of strangers. She didn't know who or what she should look at. She tried closing her eyes, but that felt silly after a few seconds.

Thankfully, Peeta wandered into view behind the crowd, so she decided to just look at him while she sang. Even from stage, she could see his megawatt smile, and she could hear her own smile in the song as she completed the last few phrases.

A heartbeat of silence met them as they finished the song, before the room exploded in thunderous applause. Even though he needed only a few paces to get there, Rye somehow managed to casually stroll over to the microphone. "Ander, Mona, congratulations. We'll now open the floor up to everybody." He went back to his spot and started playing the opening bars of "A Thousand Years."

Katniss had to admit, she was pretty impressed with Rye. He sounded like he'd done this a hundred times before.

As Rye ran them through their set list, Katniss observed the wedding guests. It was an odd feeling. Somehow, being watched by everybody made her so anonymous that she could watch them in return without them being really aware of it. Nearly all of the guests were in a good mood. Little kids chased each other. Clots of teenagers gossiped. A few little girls danced by standing on their daddies' shoes. Katniss managed not to get choked up at that, but it was a close thing.

Most of the adult couples on the dance floor smiled at each other, or chatted happily. Some of them actually smiled at her.

But there was one table full of people who just sat in stony silence—her grandparents, her uncle Ash, a middle-aged woman she could only assume was Ash's wife, and her stiff-necked cousin, Al. Ash was clearly in his cups, and drank several glasses of wine while she sang. Al appeared to be alone. Maybe that's his wife over there talking to Purnia, Katniss thought.

Soon enough, though, Katniss forgot about the Bays and all of the other wedding guests. She mostly just watched Peeta and enjoyed being able to sing.

Peeta stayed at the back of the room and gazed at her. Madge talked to him for few minutes. Later, Delly joined him. While he and Delly talked, a couple of Merchant boys she vaguely recognized from school walked over. Peeta seemed less than happy to see them. They walked away shaking their heads, while Delly glared at the backs of their heads.

About two-thirds of the way through their set, they started playing "Wicked Game," which Katniss quite liked. It reminded her of "Barefoot." Both songs were about forbidden love, and had a lonely mood about them that appealed to her.

The world was on fire and no one could save me but you.

It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.

Her grandfather suddenly turned his head towards her. The look of hatred he gave her was so intense, so furious, that she almost lost her place.

After that, she kept her eyes on Peeta, and he kept his eyes on her.

For the last song of the set, Mandor played the first bar of "Take Me for Longing" on his banjo over and over, while Rye talked into the microphone. "Thank you, everybody, we're done for the night, but it's been great to be here celebrating with Ander and Mona. I'm Rye Mellark, I play guitar. Our flat-picker here is Marsh Brocket. Our banjo and mandolin player is Mandor Guy. That big dude back there on the double bass is Dalton Cartwright. Our lead singer is the lovely Katniss Everdeen. We are Five to Twelve, and we are FOR HIRE!" Then they launched into the full song.

It was silly and cheesy and the crowd absolutely loved it. Rye's enthusiasm infected the guests, and the dance floor filled up one last time. When the song ended, almost everybody gave the band a standing ovation.

One table, quite noticeably, did not.

Rye herded them back into the room behind the stage. The boys all whooped and gave each other high fives. Rye was radiant with joy. Peeta and Madge walked in, Peeta carrying the sign. "I can't stay long," Madge told them, "I need to help Dad get Mom home. But you guys were amazing. Rye, Dad sent me in to ask you to come by a little early tomorrow night before rehearsal. I think he wants to discuss the Spring Festival with you."

"Right on," said Rye, his smile somehow getting even wider.

Madge gave Katniss a quick hug. "You did great," she confided. "We'll talk tomorrow night. Tell Prim she's welcome to come."

As Madge left, Ander walked in. He thanked the band profusely, and paid Rye with a small bag of coins. Before he left, he pulled Katniss aside. "Thank you, Katniss, for doing this. Not everybody would sing so beautifully for the family that shunned them. I was serious about what I said earlier. Mona and I would like to have you and Prim—and your mother, if she wants—to come over for dinner in the next few days."

"I'd like that," Katniss said.

As soon as Ander left, Rye opened the bag of coins. A small paper note rested inside. He looked momentarily confused as he read it, then threw his head back and laughed. "Hot damn, he paid us extra." Then he read the note out loud.

Dear Rye,

I know we agreed on the amount of 100, but given the quality of music you played tonight, Mona and I feel a bonus is in order. Thank you for making our toasting the most memorable the District has seen in a long time.

Sincerely,

Ander Bay

P.S. You are undercharging for your talent. Next time, ask for more.

"And he paid us an extra 50." Rye quickly divided up the coins. Katniss tried not to get too excited, but she hadn't held that much money all at once since the last time she'd bagged a deer. This was comfortably enough to buy food and sundries for at least a week. She wrapped the coins up in a napkin and placed them in a paper bag with the sandwich she was taking home for Prim.

"Ready?" Peeta asked her.

"Almost. I really need to use the bathroom before we go."

Peeta held the paper bag for her, and told her he'd meet her out front.

Katniss found the women's room and walked in. Delly Cartwright was washing her hands at the sink.

"Katniss!" she shrieked. She hugged Katniss without bothering to dry her hands. "Ohmigawd, Katniss, y'all are so amazing! I had no idea you were so talented. Dalton's been bragging for days about how awesome y'all are. He said your singing was good, but he didn't say you were, you know, good good. To hear him talk—and you know he talks all the time—he's the best musician in the band and all y'all look up to him." Delly rolled her eyes discussing her older brother.

Katniss smiled. She couldn't help it. Delly seriously was a little too enthusiastic for Katniss' comfort level, but she'd never been anything but nice to her. Still, it was kind of funny that Delly thought Dalton talked too much.

"Thanks, Delly. And Dalton's fine, he's just..."

"An unbearable idiot. I don't know how y'all stand it every night," Delly huffed as she finally got around to drying her hands with a towel.

Katniss shut herself in a stall. Delly kept talking. "You know, Peeta's just over-the-moon-happy that y'all are finally seeing each other. He's been talking about you since we were, like, five years old. Will and the others are idiots if they think they can peer pressure him into giving you up."

Huh? Will was...Peeta's friend from wrestling, right? Was that one of the Merchant boys talking to Peeta earlier? Katniss had predicted that Peeta's social standing would take a nosedive, but he hadn't said anything about it all week. And what with all the worrying she'd done over Peeta's other problems, she'd honestly forgotten about any issues he might be having with his friends. "Are they giving him a hard time?" Katniss flushed the toilet and came out of the stall. This is the longest conversation I've ever had with Delly Cartwright, and it's taking place in a bathroom.

"They're freezing him out. You know how they treat you because you're Seam? Like y'all don't exist?" Katniss nodded as she washed her hands. Of course, she knew. "That's what they're doing to Peeta. Only it isn't working out for them very well, because Peeta clearly doesn't care. I told Will yesterday that it's kinda hard to kick a guy out of your little clique if he's already walked away. But they all act like you're just some temporary infatuation, and that Peeta's going to come crawling back to them once he 'gets over you.'" Delly made air-quotes with her fingers.

Katniss dried her hands. She would never admit it to Delly, but that was one of her biggest fears, too—that Peeta would realize that he deserved better, and go find his place in town somewhere far away from the Seam. And her.

"Anyway," Delly continued, "that whole crowd, all the wrestling guys? They always underestimate Peeta." Delly was trying to fix her blond curls with her fingers as she spoke. "Rye's all assertive and outspoken, so everybody expects him to make waves. But Peeta? He's so nice that they don't notice how smart he is. Or how stubborn. That's why the only person who ever beats him at wrestling is Rye. He knows better."

Katniss had always dismissed Delly as being something of an airhead, but here she was, sticking up for Peeta, so maybe she wasn't such a pushover, after all. "Ohmigawd, I hate my hair," Delly declared.

"I need to go," Katniss told her, "but thank you for telling me about his friends. I didn't know."

"If this is how they treat him, then they aren't really his friends," Delly said firmly. Katniss decided that Delly Cartwright deserved more credit than she'd given her before.

At that moment, the bathroom door swung open, and Katniss found herself face to face with her maternal grandmother. It was like looking at a melted wax version of Rosemary. An unhappy, melted wax version.

Mrs. Bay stared at Katniss for a moment, her face growing hard and ugly. Then she sniffed, "I would have thought all of the hired help would have left by now."

"You thought wrong." If this old biddy thought an upturned nose would intimidate Katniss Everdeen, she was out of her Merchant-class mind.

Mrs. Bay narrowed her eyes and pointed a gnarled, large-knuckled finger at Katniss' face. "I'll have you know that, just because our foolish grandson went behind his father's back and hired your tacky little group of musicians, that doesn't mean the rest of us want anything to do with Seam trash like you. So don't you dare start thinking we're kin."

Delly's hands flew up to her mouth at the woman's rudeness, and gasped out a muffled, half-whispered, "Ohmigawd."

"Oh, believe me, I won't," Katniss steadily replied. "I could hardly bear the shame of it." She allowed herself exactly two seconds to enjoy the offended look on Mrs. Bay's face. Then she turned to Delly. "Ready?"

"Yes," Delly said as she lowered her hands from her face, her shocked eyes staring at Mrs. Bay.

The girls walked out of the ladies' room. They'd made it maybe 10 steps before Delly started squealing. "Ohmigaaaaaaaaaawd, Katniss!" She waved her hands around as she talked. "I can't believe how rude she was. No wonder your mother ran off and moved to the Seam. Did you see the look on her face when you spoke to her?" She gushed all the way down the hall.

Peeta and Rye were chatting with Dalton and his parents at the front of the building. Once they had collected Delly, the Cartwrights gave Rye and Katniss several enthusiastic "good jobs" and "well-dones," then left.

Rye had his guitar case slung over his shoulder, the Five to Twelve sign tucked under his arm and an incandescent smile on his face. Between leaving the kitchenette and walking to the front of the Justice Building, he had already landed two more toasting gigs that would take place in May.

Katniss realized that she'd never really seen Rye happy before. Funny? Yes. Focused? Absolutely. Sarcastic? That was pretty much his default setting. But happy?

No. She couldn't name one time she'd ever seen Rye Mellark happy. In fact, the only time she had even seen him genuinely smile was when Prim hugged him after he brought them breakfast.

Rye carefully set the sign on the ground, then turned to Peeta. "Dude, thanks for the sign. It's, you know, not bad. For an idiot savant." The matching grins on the boys' faces let Katniss know that this was probably high praise from Rye. Then he unexpectedly gave Katniss a hug. "Thank you," he told her. "This would not have happened if you hadn't been on board."

"You made this happen," Katniss admonished. "All I did was show up." Rye bid them goodnight and headed home.

Peeta insisted on carrying the paper bag with the sandwich. He took Katniss' hand and they started towards the Seam.

Katniss suddenly felt very overwhelmed. In the span of a few hours, she'd met her cousins, had her first performance, heard that Peeta's friends expected him to eventually dump her, and had a confrontation with her hateful grandmother. Of all of those, one upset her the most.

"Peeta?" she quietly asked. "Delly says your friends are freezing you out."

Peeta sighed. "Katniss, I don't want you worrying about them."

"I'm not worried about them, Peeta. I'm worried about you. It's been going on all week and you haven't said anything about it...did they really say that you'll come crawling back to them once you get over me?" She tried to hide how much this bothered her, but failed.

Peeta stopped walking. He carefully set the bag on the ground and pulled Katniss around so she faced him. He tilted her face up to his. "Katniss," his voice was thick with emotion. "There is no getting over you." His eyes were so serious, Katniss' heart ached for him. "This right here, with you, is the only thing I've ever wanted. It's the only place I've ever wanted to go."

Peeta wrapped one arm around her waist, holding her close. His other hand cupped her cheek. He gently brushed his thumb across her mouth. Katniss felt a small thrill run through her. "So don't think that ending those friendships means I've made some noble sacrifice," he whispered. "I am exactly where I want to be."

He was so sincere, and so beautiful, that Katniss let her instincts take over. She slid her arms around his neck, stood on her toes and gently pressed her lips against his. Peeta relaxed his lips against hers and cradled her face in his hands like it was the most precious thing he'd ever held. Katniss wondered why she'd been afraid of this. This was the softest, strongest, most beautiful feeling she'd ever had. It was perfect.

She pulled away reluctantly, and searched his eyes. His whole heart was right there for her to see. "That was my first kiss," he confessed.

"Really?" She looked at him in wonder. "Mine, too." Knowing he'd never kissed any other girl made her ridiculously happy.

Katniss brushed the bangs off his forehead. "We need to start walking again, or I'm setting myself up for another Slag Heap lecture from my mother," she explained.

"Oh?" Peeta picked up the sandwich bag, tucked her arm under his and laced their fingers together as they started walking again towards her house. "What does Rosemary Everdeen's Slag Heap lecture sound like?"

"It's mostly a list of 'don'ts.'"

"I'll bet it is. Do you think she'll be up watching the clock tonight?"

"Maybe, but she'll forget about it as soon as I tell her I ran into my grandmother in the ladies' room."

She described for Peeta what had happened with Mrs. Bay, which led into a description of the conversation she'd had with Delly before that. Peeta was troubled. "I hate that you feel bad about something that wasn't your fault to begin with."

Katniss disagreed—of course, this was her fault—but didn't say anything. She felt so close to him after the kiss that she didn't want to ruin it by arguing.

They got to the Everdeen home to find two little girls and their pissed-off looking mother standing outside. A man inside the house was hollering in pain and, from the sound of it, bawling his eyes out. "Daddy broke his arm," one of the little girls informed them. "Momma says that's what he gits for drinkin' all the likker."

"Is that a fact?" Peeta asked her, clearly amused. Katniss pulled him a few steps away, irritated at the presence of the family. She had sort of been hoping for a second kiss. But if the little darlings on her front porch couldn't keep their mouths shut about Daddy "drinkin' all the likker," they sure wouldn't hesitate to announce "they're kissin'!" at the tops of their lungs.

Katniss spoke in a low voice to Peeta. "I better get inside. I'll meet you tomorrow morning, same time and place as last week?"

"Yes. Good night, Katniss." His smile cut right through her irritation and she found herself wishing for morning to hurry up and get here.

"Good night. See you tomorrow." He handed her the paper bag, which seemed heaver than it should be, and then left.

Katniss walked back up the porch steps to go inside. As she passed the patient's family, the woman drawled out, "Do yourself a favor, honey. I don't care how cute he is. If your fella drinks, run like hell."

"Yeah. Uh, thanks."

Prim and Rosemary were in the kitchen, trying to coax a very loud, very intoxicated man in his 30s off the table. His right arm was in a splint, his face was wet with tears. Every time Rosemary tried to talk to him, he'd hiccup, "who're you, again?"

Rosemary saw Katniss and hitched her head back towards the porch door. "Get his wife in here, would you, Katniss?"

When the woman walked in, both of her kids clinging to her skirts, her husband started blubbering out, "Clara, I'm sorreeeee!"

Clara ignored him and listened to Rosemary's instructions on how to care for the break, what his restrictions were, and to make sure he came back in a week. The man just continued to sob. His wife threw his good arm over her shoulder, told him to hush up, and left with the children in tow.

"What a crybaby," proclaimed Prim. Katniss laughed. The man must have been really unbearable to earn Prim's ire.

Katniss opened up the paper bag. Instead of the one sandwich she had planned to bring home, four had been neatly wrapped in paper napkins. No wonder Peeta wanted to carry the bag home. Peeta had placed her wrapped coins on top. She handed the coins to her mother, who placed them in a jar in the pantry. The sandwiches went into the cupboard.

As she helped them clean up, she told them about the toasting, and meeting Ander and her confrontation with Mrs. Bay.

Prim was riveted. "And then what did you say?" she asked, stopping mid-swipe as she cleaned the kitchen table.

"Something along the lines of, 'oh, don't worry, I won't. I couldn't bear the shame of it.'"

Rosemary laughed, and came over to hug Katniss. "You are so your father's daughter. Do you know Cal said nearly the exact same thing to her not long after we were married? She'll be steaming mad about this for weeks." This seemed to give Rosemary a lot of satisfaction.

They finished cleaning, and everybody went to bed. When Katniss and Prim were snuggled under the covers, Katniss whispered, "Prim, I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise me that you won't squeal or make any noise at all, OK?"

Prim got a very excited look on her face. She probably had a good idea what Katniss was going to say. "I promise!" she whispered back.

"I kissed Peeta."

Prim did, in fact, start to squeal, but she clapped her own hand over her mouth. "Tell me everything!" she whisper-demanded. When Katniss had finished telling her, she had a dreamy look in her eye. "That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard. How do you feel about it?"

Self-reflection wasn't Katniss' strong suit and she knew it. But for once, she had something that didn't confuse her at all. "Happy," she replied. "It makes me happy."