Chapter 6

Katniss Everdeen POV

Today I'm taking Prim and Rue on a hike with me. It's something that's free that we can do that gets them out of the house, Rue loves the outdoors.

"I really enjoyed your first game," I say to Prim. "I'm sorry mom couldn't be there." It honestly really pisses me off that mom wasn't there, of course she made some excuse up about not feeling well.

"It's okay," Prim says, shrugging. "I figured she wouldn't show up."

That makes me sad, I know she wanted her there. I hate that she's starting to get used to mom being unavailable, I was hoping mom would fix it before Prim got old enough to understand.

"I just still wish I was on the team," Rue says. "I had fun watching, but it just made me wish I had been out there with you."

"I know you'll make it next year," Prim says. "Just try out again, I'm sure you're guaranteed for the team next year."

"I hope so," Rue says. "Katniss, do you still do archery."

"Yeah," I say. "I'm a little out of practice, but I still do it."

"Will you teach me?" Rue asks me.

"Maybe when you get to be in high school," I say. "You're a little young right now, and it's pretty dangerous."

"You learned when you were in 8th grade," Prim says. "You pretty much taught yourself."

"I had Gale helping me," I say. "And I had grown up seeing dad do it."

"Still, it's not fair," Prim says.

"Don't you want to learn?" I ask her. "Maybe I can teach both of you when you get to high school." The thought of that makes me chuckle, I really can't see Prim being interested in archery.

"I don't," Prim says. "I wouldn't be good at it, and it would hurt. But it doesn't mean I don't want the opportunity to be able to if I did want to learn."

"You're crazy," I say, chuckling. "I'll teach you both when you get to high school, or just Rue if you don't want to, Prim."

"I'd be more interested in baking," she says. That's new, I haven't heard that one from her before.

"Since when?" I ask.

"Since I met Peeta a couple times both at your school and in the bakery," she says. "It would be so much fun being around all of those treats all day."

"You'd eventually get tired of it," I say. "But maybe Peeta can teach you when you're old enough to take yourself there."

"Can we go to the bakery today?" Prim asks. "Rue and I really want to go, we haven't been in a while."

"Not today," I say. "We actually have to go soon, I have to meet Gale this afternoon so we can start heading to the markets to trade. And you really shouldn't bother Peeta, I'm sure he's busy and doesn't have time to give you free stuff."

Sometimes he and I will trade stuff we find around town for little goodies from the market. It's a way to get small luxuries for our families and siblings.

"Can we stay a little longer?" Prim asks.

"No," I say. "We have to head back, but you guys can hang out at the house. Mom won't mind, she'll probably just be in her room."

We walk back home together and Gale picks me up not long after. I feel bad being a buzzkill, but I have to do what's necessary for my mom and Prim. Everything I do, I do for them. I don't mind, but it sucks that I have to be more like a parent when I should just be the fun older sister.

Primrose Everdeen POV

Rue and I sneak over to the bakery after Katniss goes to meet Gale, even though she told us not to. I know Peeta won't mind us coming by, despite what she says. We walk in and Peeta is already at the front counter.

"Hello Prim," he says when he sees me. He looks over at Rue. "Rue, right?" She just nods.

"Do you have anything we can try?" I ask him, trying to sound nice about it. "We were really hoping we could grab something."

Peeta pauses and looks behind him into the kitchen. "I think I have a couple of cream puffs I can spare," he whispers to us. "Just don't say anything about it, please."

I smile and Rue lights up. Peeta walks over to the cold case and takes out a couple of cream puffs. He quickly bags them up and hands them to us.

"Thank you," Rue says. "We really appreciate it."

"Anytime," he says. He lowers his voice to a whisper. "Well, any time my mom isn't looking."

I quickly nod and we head out.

"He's so sweet," Rue says. "Katniss should hang out with him more."

"I know she's super against dating," I say. "But if she wasn't I would want her to date Peeta so we can get more free treats."

"I'm surprised she isn't dating Gale," Rue says. "They basically spend every second together anyway."

"Ew no," I say. "He's basically my brother, that would be so weird. It would be like if I dated Rory."

"I don't know, Rory isn't bad looking," Rue says, shrugging. "You never know."

"You're ridiculous," I say, chuckling.

I hope to get a boyfriend at least in high school, but guys don't really look at me or Rue like that. I'm not sure why, I think we're cute and nice enough. It seems like guys are into a specific type of girl, and it's a type that we don't fit.

Peeta Mellark POV

I always love a visit from Prim, she and Rue are honestly the nicest kids. I walk to the back kitchen after they leave, and my mom is standing back there with her arms crossed. Shit, she must've heard or seen me give them free cream puffs.

"Peeta," she says. "What was that about?"

"It was just a visit from Katniss' little sister and her friend," I say, casually. "They just wanted to come and say hi."

"Did you give them anything for free?" She asks, tapping her foot.

I think about lying, but I realize there's no point since she probably saw me do it.

"I just gave them each a cream puff," I say. "They're really sweet kids, they deserve it. I gave them the worst looking ones that I'm sure you wouldn't want to sell anyway."

"You keep doing that, you're going to run us out of business. Don't let me catch you doing that again. Stay back here for the rest of the day."

That's a better reaction than I was expecting, normally she yells at me or hits me. She probably didn't want a customer to potentially walk in and see that.

It pisses me off that my mom is so heartless, bringing a little joy to kids like Prim and Rue who don't have much brightens up my day a lot. I wish she could see that. I stay in the back for the rest of the day, just like my mom told me to. Customers love me, so it's on her if she wants to be up front and lose out on business.

"Peeta," my dad says, walking into the back kitchen as I'm folding boxes. "What are you doing back here?" I'm usually up front on the weekends unless I have homework.

"Mom got mad at me for giving Prim and her friend Rue free cream puffs," I say. "She secluded me to be back here for the rest of the day."

My dad sits down across from me. "Peeta," he says. "I get that you want to be nice, but doing stuff like that reflects badly on our business. People come in here expecting free stuff."

That isn't true, but I know my dad just doesn't want my mom to have a reason to take her anger out on me. "I'll work on stopping it," I say. "Sorry."

"I'm not mad," my dad says. "But your mom is just going to react worse next time, so please don't do it again. I say it for your sake." He walks out front to go meet my mom and help her with customers.

I know my dad is just scared of my mom, but it still really sucks. I feel like she puts a damper on the bakery as a business, and I think customers feel the same way. They're not as happy to see her as they are to see me and my dad. I wish she would try to be kinder and more personable in all areas of her life.