Chapter 4

Katniss Everdeen POV

Sometimes if I have time, I like to sit outside at school after everyone leaves and play guitar. I played a little over the summer, but I need to get back into it. I'd never tell anyone that I sing and play guitar, it's too embarassing and I'm not even good at it.

I'm playing guitar under a tree and singing "Safe and Sound" by Taylor Swift. Prim loves that song, I used to sing it to her a lot to put her to sleep after our dad died. I hear the leaves rustling behind me, and I stop. The thought of someone hearing me really stresses me out, I'm used to getting made fun of and this spot is great to be alone.

I turn around and see Peeta Mellark not too far away. He and I have talked before, but we don't know each other well. I start to get up because I'm embarassed that someone heard me and I feel awkward about it. I'm pretty socially anxious, I barely even feel remotely comfortable around my close friends.

"No, you don't have to go," he says. "Sorry, I didn't meant to bother you. I just liked the song you were playing."

I turn around and pause. "Thank you," I say. "I just don't like for people to hear me because I've been made fun of for singing and playing guitar."

"Well I think you sound great," he says. "You have a beautiful voice."

"Thanks," I say, smiling at him. "I better get going." I start to walk away.

"Maybe one day you can teach me some chords," he says. "I'd like to learn." I turn around, that statement surprises me because I barely know him. I don't know why he would want to learn from me.

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says. "I've been meaning to learn an instrument at some point."

"Yeah, maybe I can teach you," I say. "I'll see you around."

I start to walk home, thinking about the interaction we just had. It was weird to me since we've never really talked, but it might be nice to have some more friends. I feel like I don't really identify with my female friends sometimes, and I honestly spend more than enough time with Gale.

As I'm walking home, I run into Johanna. She's probably walking back from cheer practice. "Hey," she says. "Can I walk with you?"

"Sure," I say.

"What were you doing at school at this time?"

"Just enjoying time outside," I say. "Fixing up my guitar." My friends know I used to play, but they don't know how often I still do.

"I saw you talking to Peeta Mellark," she says. "What did he want?"

"He just though it was cool that I used to play guitar," I say. "He thought maybe I could teach him some chords someday."

"That's weird," she says. "Do you even know him?"

"Not really, but we've talked a few times over the years. I thought it was weird, too."

"Maybe he wants to hit that," she says, laughing. "It wouldn't surprise me."

"Shut up," I say, playfulling pushing her. "Why does everything have to lead back to boys or sex?" I love Johanna, but I wish we talked about more subjects. There's so much more to life than surface-level high school stuff.

Annie Cresta POV

I know I'm weird, I know I act differently from the other girls at school. It's really hard on me. I've never had a boyfriend, and sometimes I can't believe I even have friends. I honestly don't even really want a boyfriend, no guy would understand what I go through and they definitely wouldn't want to put up with it.

I have great parents and a wonderful older sister, I feel very lucky that they're willing to help me so much. My sister Maeve just started college this year, but she's staying in town and going to the community college. We aren't super wealthy. We aren't poor like the Everdeens and the Hawthornes, but it was still best that she went to the community college to save money.

I get home from another crappy cheer practice. Clove and Glimmer didn't say anything to my face because Johanna would've kicked their ass, but I did hear them whispering about me. I knock on the door to Maeve's room, and she tells me I can come in.

"How's it going?" She asks me. She looks at me and sees that I'm tearing up. "Oh, no. Hey, come sit with me." I sit on the edge of the bed, sniffling. She's always been so supportive of my struggles, which I'm incredibly grateful for. People outside of my family and close friends treat me like a burden.

"Dod cheer practice not go well?" She asks me, I just not. "Tell me what happened."

"The girls are just so mean to me," I say, crying. "If they aren't making fun of me to my face, they're whispering about me or just looking at me funny when I have my quirks. I don't know if I can do this."

"Annie," she says. "Why don't you just quit? Why are you putting yourself through this?"

"I like cheering, and I'm not bad at it. I've done gymnastics before. Most of my friends are in cheer, and I thought it would be fun to be with them."

"If you're hurting this much, and you're crying most days after practice, is it worth it?" I pause, maybe she has a point.

"You love swimming," Maeve continues. "And you're really good at it. Have you ever thought about joining the swim team?"

"I'm not that good at swimming," I say. "I like it, but not enough to compete in it."

"You were the fastest out of all us cousins growing up," she says. "I know your practicing over the years has done something."

I do love swimming, but trying a bunch of new things at once sounds really daunting. "None of my friends do swimming," I say. "The thought of trying something new alone is even scarier."

"Just think about it," she says. "Please."

I wipe my eyes again. "Okay," I lie. "I'll think about it."

"Go get your homework done," she says. "We'll talk later." I get up and leave the room.

I'm not going to think about it. I do love swimming, but trying out one new thing is more than I usually do. If I quit the cheer team, I won't have the courage to try something else and I'll feel like I failed for being a quitter. I wish I could just be normal, it really sucks to be considered the weirdo at school.

Peeta Mellark POV

Katniss Everdeen has a beautiful voice, I'm glad she didn't yell at me when I found her outside singing and playing guitar. She's gorgeous and I'm definitely into her, but she's kind of scary and intimidating. She looks like she could put you in your place if you tried her. I kind of lied about wanting to learn a musical instrument, but maybe it'll be a way I can get to know her more.

When I get home, I'm a lot happier than I usually am. Normally I'm dreading coming home to my mom's nagging. Luckily she's still at the bakery when I get home. It's below our house, but even that is enough distance from her sometimes.

"Peeta," my dad calls out. "Come here." I'm taken aback because I thought he was at the bakery with my mom, but I walk into his office.

"Am I in trouble?" I ask him.

"Where were you?" He asks me. "You're usually home earlier when it's not wrestling season."

"I was just talking to some friends," I say, avoiding eye contact with him. "It's not that late."

"Just don't make a pattern of it," my dad says. I walk out. I know my mom put him up to this, he normally doesn't care.

As I'm walking into my room, my phone rings. It's Finnick. I sit against my bed where I know sound doesn't travel as far so my dad can't hear the conversation.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Where were you today?" He asks. "You said you were staying at school late, but when practice was over we couldn't find you. We wanted to invite you to eat with us."

"Sorry," I say. "I got distracted because I was talking to Katniss. It's probably good that I didn't wait for you guys because my dad was all over my case about being home late."

"You were talking to Katniss?" He sounds surprised.

"Yeah."

"That's more than you've done with her in four years, congrats man!"

"It's not that big of a deal," I say. "But it's something, and it was really nice."

"What did you talk to her about?"

"Just about the song she was playing on guitar. She said she would teach me some chords if I wanted her to."

"Oh," he says. "I didn't know she played guitar."

"Yeah, me neither," I say. "I don't think she plays it publicly very much."

"Well still, congrats on having a conversation with a female," Finnick says. "One step closer to getting laid."

"Whatever," I say. "I gotta start my homework before my dad notices I'm on the phone."

"Bye, Peet," Finnick says before hanging up.

It's nice that I got to talk to Katniss and I hope to talk to her more, but it seems like Finnick only talks to girls to get into their pants. I want Katniss to know I'm not like that, and it's fine with me if we just become closer friends. I hope she doesn't get a bad vibe from me automatically because I hang out with the popular jocks at school.