Katniss Everdeen glared at the cracked mirror which was propped up against her dresser and huffed audibly.
Why do I even care? She wondered, as she raked her fingers through her loose waves and refashioned her braid for the fourth time. She coated her chapped lips with a sufficient layer of lip balm and straightened out her white tank top accordingly. She narrowed her eyes as she looked back towards her reflection and pulled at an invisible thread in the worn denim of her shorts. She nervously glanced back towards her closet and the pale yellow sundress that she had been fretting over all weekend. The desk fan whirled around the stuffy heat of the room, causing the pages of the calendar on her bedside table to ripple in the oncoming draught.
Monday.
Peeta was supposed to be having lunch with her today.
Don't get your hopes up, Everdeen her thoughts sneered back at her as she lunged for her school books and marched out of her bedroom.
Her younger sister was eating some kind of granola bar in the kitchen, which was otherwise silent aside from the low humming of the refrigerator. The slapping of her sandals soon filled the emptiness as she marched towards the fridge and peeled away the bright orange post-it note that had been placed beside a cluster of magnets. The various bottles of milk and soda clinked and rattled inside as she pressed her back against the door and sighed at the familiar loopy handwriting which filled the square. She already knew what it was going to say.
Working late again. There's milk in the fridge for cereal, but no bread left.
Be back about 9.
Mom.
Katniss eagerly grabbed a bowl of cereal for herself and glanced around the room as she chewed. The ugly floral wallpaper was starting to peel again and the blue tiles beneath her flats were cracking in places. Her eyebrows furrowed as she wondered how much of her next pay-check she could contribute towards some kind of redecorating. Her mouth pulled into a grimace though as she remembered the tiny electrical sparks that had been exploding out of the microwave. Maybe next month, she told herself with a sigh. The gentle clanging of cutlery against ceramic swiftly brought her out of her musings, and she curiously glanced over to the sink where her sister was washing last night's dishes.
"You look nice" her sister said, offering her a small smile.
Katniss ducked her head and immediately felt stupid for relenting to the thin coat of mascara that she had applied to her lashes.
"Thanks, little Duck" she muttered, peeking over at the tiny blonde. She suddenly felt ridiculous and wanted nothing more than to sprint to the bathroom and scrub it all off, but it was too late now.
"Let's get going then" she sighed.
After she dropped Prim off at her classroom, Katniss made her way through the bustling hallways and towards her Biology laboratory. The crowds of overzealous teenagers pushed past her and jostled into her rucksack as she fought her way through and stumbled over to her locker. She sifted through the assortment of brightly coloured fliers which had been thrust inside before placing down her books. Katniss began to fumble through her various folders in search of her timetable when an overwhelming mist of Victoria's Secret body spray floated through the air and sprinkled over her skin. She cringed at the sickly sweet fragrance and glanced to her left in the same moment that the platinum blonde chignon of her offender was shoved into her face.
Glimmer Anderson.
Katniss sputtered around the series of long, synthetic blonde strands that had been thrust into her mouth and pulled away in disgust. Glimmer stood with her back towards Katniss, completely oblivious as she used one hand to douse herself in perfume whilst the other curled around her iPhone as her fingertips pounded against the screen.
Glimmer Anderson was without a doubt the most popular girl in school. And probably the dumbest, too she thought sardonically. If she had a brain, she'd be dangerous.
Fake giggles, hair extensions, trust funds. All of these combined to create the hot mess that was Glimmer Anderson. She staggered around school in her designer wedges and padded bras like she owned the damn place. And to some extent, she did. It was fucked up, but wasn't every stupid school hierarchy? Glimmer was one of those girls who liked to appear effortless, as though she had just rolled out of bed looking flawless and wandered into school amidst a breeze of butterflies and daisies. In her natural habitat, she was most likely to be uttering the phrases, Oh, this old thing? Or I don't even have any makeup on!
But if you weren't a salivating teenage boy and you actually looked close enough, you'd realise that she wasn't quite as contained as she seemed. Her 'messy' buns were held in place by about forty bobby pins and half a can of hairspray. Her 'natural' tan from summer break was actually all blotchy and orange between her manicured fingers. And her 'flawless' skin was caked in expensive foundation that she troweled on after gym class.
Not that Katniss hated her or anything.
But it was kind of hard not to hate a downright drama queen who giggled behind her claws and taunted the younger or less fortunate kids.
"I just don't know how he could do that to me" she heard Glimmer sniffle. Katniss tilted her head, her interest suddenly piqued.
"Fucking Peeta Mellark" she heard her friends commiserate in unison. "You could do so much better than him anyway babe" one piped up from behind the sticky wand of her lip gloss tube.
Katniss felt her cheeks burn with heat at the mention of Peeta, ducking her head and rushing into class as the bell shrieked through the now rapidly thinning crowd.
Katniss scampered across the corridor and slipped into her lab before the teacher slammed the door shut behind her. A loud chorus of curses from the latecomers trapped behind the door echoed throughout the room as their hands slapped against the frosted glass. Katniss heaved a sigh of relief as she plopped herself down onto a wooden stool and shoved her rucksack beneath her desk as Mr Heavensbee starting droning on about Osmosis. She zoned out almost instantly, her gaze flitting up towards the thrumming hands of the clock which was placed above her teacher's balding head. It wasn't that she didn't care; it was just that she had already covered this topic in meticulous detail by herself. Katniss had never put much stock within the teachers of Panem's education system and that, combined with her slight social anxiety was why she had been home schooled for so many years after her father's death. But when her mother just didn't have the time or resources anymore, both her and Prim were shipped back to Panem Community School. Much to Katniss' chagrin, of course. She was still a straight A student, but she preferred to learn the topics herself at home with a tub of ice cream rather than listening to the incessant blathering of her teachers. It's not like she had much else to do at home anyway, except for her weekly cleaning shifts at Capitol. Besides that, she only ever spent her weekends eating junk food and watching Breaking Bad.
Katniss pulled out her spiralled notebook and flipped to the back. She started to doodle carelessly in the margins, and the rough outlines of trees soon began to fill the frayed edges of the paper. She tilted her pen slightly in order to add shade to the barely legible leaves, when suddenly the movements of her wrist morphed the billowing greenery into an almond shaped pair of eyes. The ink of her ballpoint was black, but she knew almost instantly that the pair of eyes she was drawing would have been a clear, glistening blue if possible. She ripped out the page as silently as possible and crumpled the paper in her fist, throwing it back into her bag with a scowl.
Peeta fucking Mellark.
She rested her head in her hands and sighed. She had actually enjoyed her time with him on Saturday, and now he was about the ruin it. Because, the slightly shy Peeta Mellark who helped her clean the clogged toilets at Capitol did not collaborate with the confident jock who sauntered through school. The jerk who winked at the popular girls and pinned them against their lockers as they giggled was certainly not the same guy who had blushed and fumbled when he asked to have lunch with her. But in the back of her mind, she kind of hoped that he would come and find her at lunch like he promised. That he'd approach her where she sat at the back of the cafeteria and make a joke about the lunch ladies spaghetti or something. Or that he'd sit down next to her and nervously rub at the back of his neck whilst she teased him about his drunken antics. But this was Peeta Mellark. He may not have remembered her, but she certainly knew him. His reputation, more notably. A different girl every week, the same silver flask getting him wasted every weekend. Whilst Katniss would spend her weekends with Walter White, Peeta would spend his with Jack Daniels. She decided not to get her hopes up about having a new lunch companion today. Or any day, really.
When the bell rang for lunch, the collective sigh of her classmates resounded over the frantic rustling of papers and shuffling of feet. The relentless chatter filled her ears like the squawking of parrots as she shuffled down to the cafeteria. She flinched as a football went soaring over her head and a large redhead dived past her to grab it. She cautiously peered back over her shoulder as she walked through the large double doors of the cafeteria—which were haphazardly propped open by two plastic chairs—and snatched up a tray. She filled it with a sandwich, a cookie and bottle of Dr Pepper before she pulled a note from her pocket and queued up to pay behind a gaggle of girls from the year below. Katniss kept her head down and let the loose, wispy hairs from her braid hide her face as she made her way to her usual table at the back of the hall, out of sight from any of the annoying cliques. It was yet another cliché about school life, but in her mind it was alarmingly accurate. In small clusters around the room sat the jocks who guffawed over their protein shakes, the book worms that pored over their textbooks and the hipsters who fiddled with the thick rimmed glasses that they didn't even need. And if she poked her head around the large pillar in front of her, her eyes would indefinitely be met with an explosion of pink tracksuits, designer tote bags and fake smiles.
Katniss picked the thickly sliced tomatoes out of her ham salad sandwich and waited. Don't get your hopes up her head chanted. The five words had been chiming through her mind all day with the intensity of Big Ben.
Fifteen minutes later, and Peeta clearly wasn't coming. Not that she expected any less. Twenty minutes. She opened her bottle of soda and took a swig. Although she was hidden from view, she could still hear Glimmer's shrieking from her vantage point. She could almost picture it, her French tipped talons waving through the air and her overly glossed lips pouting as she bored everybody with her overdramatic tales of fabulousness. Katniss rummaged around in her rucksack for her headphones and cursed inwardly when the image of her iPod charging on her nightstand back at home leapt into her mind.
Katniss looked down, huffing in frustration. Upon closer inspection, her milk chocolate chip cookie looked a little stale. It was clearly one of those days. She took a hesitant bite anyway, just as a large hand was placed upon her shoulder. She jumped, her natural instinct causing her fingers twitch in search of her pepper spray, but a startlingly blue pair of eyes pulled her up short.
"Hey" she sputtered through a mouthful of cookie, crumbs spilling from her mouth.
Smooth.
"Hey" he replied, a beaming smile forming on his face as he took a seat opposite her.
"Sorry I'm late" he continued, seemingly oblivious to the epic battle that she and her napkin had waged against the crumbs on her chin.
"I had detention and then I couldn't find you anywhere. It's a nice little hiding place you got here, Everdeen" he added as he pulled a bottle of water from his bag.
He looked good, really goddamn good. He'd obviously just come from gym class, his flaxen hair slightly damp and sticking to his forehead. She watched in appreciation as a small bead of moisture trickled down his neck and underneath the collar of his white football jersey. She took a brief moment to wonder whether it was sweat or shower water which formed the droplets that trailed down his body. When she looked back up to meet his gaze his blue eyes twinkled with mischief, perfectly complimented by the darker blue of his school issued gym shorts.
"Well, like I said… invisible" she replied, forcing herself from her daydream. She placed down her napkin and gestured towards herself. "I like it though" she defended, with an infinitesimal shrug of her shoulders.
"I like it too" Peeta replied, his grin stretching impossibly wider to reveal the pearly white teeth that even years of braces on anybody else probably wouldn't have been able to perfect.
Yeah, cause you'd be embarrassed to be seen with me otherwise.
Katniss coughed uncomfortably, a particular nervous tick of hers which Peeta picked up on immediately. She was grateful for the quick change of topic as he pointed down to her pitiful looking cookie and quirked a fair eyebrow.
"You know, I could make you a much better cookie than that with my eyes closed. And my hands tied behind my back probably. Or I could make you a brownie, a macaroon, or whatever you'd like really" he stated with a palpable sense of pride.
Peeta Mellark, a baker? What kind of alternative universe have I just fallen into? She thought as she looked over at him dubiously.
He chuckled at her astonished expression, quickly offering her a curly fry from his plate.
"Yeah, I mean I like to cook… but don't tell the guys about that. They'll probably call me a pussy or something."
Katniss cringed at his crass language and nodded dumbly.
Oh yeah, 'the guys.' Because I obviously know 'the guys' Katniss thought sarcastically as she restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Here he was, ruining it, just as she predicted.
Peeta shuffled awkwardly in his seat before leaning forward to grab a spare napkin from the edge of her tray. The action caused her to catch the scents of cologne and shampoo that lingered on his skin and made her squirm in her seat. He smelt amazing. Not like stale sweat or whiskey like last time, but just nice.
The unusual pair sat together for the rest of their lunch period and Katniss found herself slowly warming back up to him. She fleetingly wondered how they must have looked. The dark haired, hostile and scowling Katniss Everdeen stealing fries from the plate of a blue eyed, grinning Peeta Mellark. Peeta shared his lunch with her, and she had to admit that the large cheese buns he produced from a crumpled paper bag tasted incredible. Katniss moaned at the first taste of the creamy, mild cheese as it melted on her tongue, completely oblivious to the way Peeta's eyes darkened at the way she sucked her fingers clean afterwards. She teased him about how he had heaved and gagged at the smell of the men's toilets at Capitol and he changed the subject seamlessly by quizzing her about all of her favourite things. The time flew by so quickly, that they both looked around in shock as the insufferable chimes of the bell interrupted their game of paper football. The cafeteria had cleared considerably at this point, and Katniss breathed a sigh of relief at the relative calm that filled the giant hall. They hurriedly cleared the discarded papers and napkins from their table, grabbing their bags as they stood up to leave. Katniss led the way to end of the table, a huge grin taking over her face as she turned back around to brag about her victory once more. But she soon stopped in her tracks and the smile dropped from her face. The playful words died in her throat and her jaw dropped open in surprise. Peeta stood behind her, his chair pushed back behind him as he stretched his muscular arms over his head. The seemingly innocent movement caused the bottom hem of his jersey to ride up over the waistband of his shorts, revealing to her a perfect smattering of fine golden hairs that trailed down his torso.
Stop staring, Katniss! Stop. Stop. Stop!
"So, Katniss. I have a favour to ask." Katniss looked up at the sound of his voice.
Jesus Christ, anything.
The more rational side of her brain however, decided to offer up a more diplomatic response.
"What?"
Peeta ran his hands through his wavy hair, which was completely dry now and curling up delectably around his ears. He began to rub the back of his neck again.
He was nervous, or embarrassed.
"I'm not stupid, but… it's fair to say, I've been slacking in English recently. Abernathy is giving me such a hard time, and I mean you seem really smart. You're really…" He stopped for a moment and looked to be composing himself.
"Would you tutor me?" he finally asked, red faced and grimacing.
Was this really a good idea?
The image of his toned stomach popped back into her mind, and the idea of studying that dark blonde trail of hair made her mouth feel like it was stuffed with cotton wool.
Say yes!
"Um. Sure. I mean, why not?" Katniss replied, her voice coming out all breathy and annoying. Ugh.
"Great" he grinned back at her. "Well, when are you free?"
"Um… Well, you can come over and study at mine whenever you're available, I guess."
Peeta smirked, his confident persona visibly resurfacing as his lips quirked into a crooked grin that she was almost positive had made panties drop all over campus. If nothing else, Peeta Mellark was certainly an enigma. He was confident and charming, with a cheekiness that was both infuriating and endearing. Yet sometimes, there was that side of him that came out all blundering and shy and adorable.
"Well, I believe we have English now. So lead the way milady" he chuckled, offering her his arm.
When the pair finally arrived at English class, Mr Abernathy gave them his trademark scowl.
"Oh Nice of you to join us, sweetheart" he slurred in her direction.
"As for you, Mellark. You still owe me that detention after school. No messing me about again this time" the greying teacher growled.
The pair sighed and sat down together at a desk near the front, much to the pleasure of their classmates who jeered at their scolding. Katniss ducked her head in embarrassment and traced her fingertips over the graffiti which had been carved into the desktop.
Mr Abernathy took a hearty gulp from his thermos—which everyone knew was spiked with white liquor—before wheeling in an enormous, ancient looking television. His weathered hands wiped at the grime on the screen before he slipped in a dusty old video cassette of Dracula and retired back to his desk. The video kept jumping and sticking in places, to which their surly teacher simply gave the television a harsh series of thumps. Nobody seemed to be paying attention to Christopher Lee and his creepy red eyes anyway. Finnick Odair had his arm draped over a mystified looking brunette at the back as he whispered into her ear. Cato Roberts was making paper airplanes and throwing them at the back of Clove Dyer's head. Katniss certainly wasn't paying attention herself. She was too painfully hyper aware of every movement that the blonde sitting next to her made. It was seventy five minutes of torture.
As the ending credits appeared on the screen, Katniss felt a gentle nudge to her elbow before a small scrap of graph paper was placed in front of her.
So when's our date? She read and frowned back over at Peeta before grabbing his pen.
What date?
Don't you remember? You invited me over to your house ;) he quickly responded. Katniss smiled despite herself.
Yeah, to study. It's not a date. Don't get too ahead of yourself, Mellark.
At that moment, the overhead lights blinked back to life and caused the class to moan in unison as they covered their eyes in protest.
"Right, that's the end of the day folks. Off you go, I'm sure you've all got homes to go to!"
Katniss looked over to the clock in surprise, 3.15.
"Not so fast, Mr Mellark" Mr Abernathy snarled as Peeta dived for his gym bag and got to his feet. "Sit back down. You still owe me that detention."
Katniss glimpsed back over at Peeta as he cursed under his breath and deflated back into his plastic chair.
"Busted, Mellark!" jeered Finnick as he sprinted down the aisles and wrenched open the door.
"Um. I'll see you around then" Katniss said as she awkwardly lifted her rucksack higher up onto her shoulder.
"Yeah, bye Katniss" he responded, his hand reaching out to just barely squeeze hers where it rested between them. Katniss blushed—for perhaps the millionth time that day—before rushing off into the car park before she had the chance to do anything stupid in response.
Katniss sat on her couch at home, stuffing her face with buttery popcorn. She tried drowning out the whining of Zooey Deschanel whilst Prim watched New Girl on Netflix, but it was without much success. It was nearly ten o'clock, and their mother still wasn't home yet. Go figure.
Katniss looked over at her younger sister as the dimmed light from the television screen illuminated her pale creamy skin and shiny golden braids. Primrose Everdeen was truly the antithesis of her older sister in every possible way. Prim was kind, gentle and placid whilst Katniss was sullen, quiet and brooding. But it worked, and the pair seemed to bring out the best in each other. Katniss always used her fiery temper to encourage her sister to stand up for herself more, whilst Prim often used her easy-going nature to teach Katniss to be more patient with their mother. It was evident to anyone who ever glanced their way that the sisters loved each other fiercely.
Katniss dragged the nail brush over her sisters little toe, covering it in a final coat of soft pastel blue before she placed her foot back onto the sofa to admire her handiwork. Katniss had no real interest in pedicures or beauty herself, but she often found herself doing these small acts for Prim. It's not as though their mother was ever around to do it. Katniss yawned and looked back over to the television screen, just as Zooey Deschanel rammed a turkey into a washing machine.
This is most definitely my cue to leave.
Katniss frowned as she pushed herself up from the sofa and took her bowl into the kitchen. She had no interest in watching the annoying television programme with her sister anymore, despite Prim's insistence that it was hilarious once you got into it. As she scraped the remnants from her bowl into the trash, her eyes began to feel heavy as the long day at school caught up with her.
"Hey, Primmy. I'm going to bed now, okay?" she whispered as she popped her head around the door frame.
"Sure" her sister replied through a mouthful of popcorn, her eyes barely moving an inch from the display.
Katniss grabbed her rucksack and wandered through the neglected hallways of her home, running her fingertips along the crumbling plaster as she made her way into her bedroom. She pulled the elastic from her braid and let her hair cascade down her back as she stretched her arms over her head. She closed the faded purple curtains that she had owned since childhood before she padded over into the tiny bathroom. She quickly changed into her pyjamas, washed her face and brushed her teeth before finally snuggling down beneath her duvet.
The night air was cool against the skin of her arms, a soothing contrast to the sheer humidity that they had been experiencing in the daytime. Panem was never known for its sweltering temperatures, but if the sun ever did make a rare appearance, its residents seemed to go crazy. The potbellied, fuzzy haired men all decided to whip their shirts off around town, the bored housewives ran into their front lawns with gallons of tanning oil and large foil reflectors, and the girls at school wore dark, oversized sunglasses and bikinis under their dresses. When in reality, it was only around seventeen degrees.
Katniss closed her eyes as an errant bead of sweat trickled down her neck and between her breasts. She rolled onto her back as she willed her body to relax into the lumpy old mattress. But for some reason, her limbs felt antsy all of a sudden and her eyelids flickered when she closed them. The room was slightly stuffy, and so she reached over and clicked on the fan which sat on her desk. It was rather a clunky looking machine, but it served its purpose. She closed her eyes once more as her skin prickled with gooseflesh from the cooling breeze. But this time, images of Peeta seemed to dance behind her eyelids and taunt her. Much to her dismay, her body flushed and butterflies filled her stomach almost immediately. She could hear his laughter in the cafeteria. She could feel his large, calloused hand squeezing hers in English class. She could still smell the overwhelming scents of cologne and body wash and all of the other indescribably male scents which had emanated from him today. And most importantly, she could still picture the golden trail of hair that lead alluringly down into his shorts. She wondered, for a brief moment, what it might be like to kiss and lick her way down that golden trail and where it would lead.
Unbidden, her hand slipped beneath the elastic waistband of her underwear. Her tentative fingers moved to trace her opening and she gasped when she felt the slickness that had gathered between her thighs. Katniss collected the moisture with her fingertips and dragged them upwards to graze her clit.
What the fuck was she doing?!
This needed to stop. It wasn't that she had never gotten herself off before, because she had. She was a normal, hormone fuelled seventeen year old with needs, despite what everyone else thought. But it was usually a gallery of faceless men moving over her and thrusting into her that sent her whimpering into her pillow. It was most definitely not images of Peeta Mellark. Katniss bolted upright in bed and tried to control her erratic breathing. She darted across the room to her rucksack and she delved through it in search of the plastic pill box that sat inside. The small blue container only held basic things like ibuprofen and herbal stress relievers, and she swallowed an ibuprofen dry to alleviate her rapidly forming headache. She choked as the capsule scraped and lodged its way down her throat and she just hoped that it would ease the headache that was developing at the base of her skull. She sank down onto the carpet and crossed her legs as she glanced back towards her rucksack. She probed through the canvas in search of her battered old copy of Frankenstein, praying that a bit of mindless reading would exhaust her mind and ease the tension in body. Her clit seemed to throb mockingly and so she clambered onto her knees and squeezed her thighs together in response. As she flicked passed her notes and opened the dog eared book, a small piece of graph paper swayed down into her lap. Confused, Katniss unfurled the paper and gulped at what she read.
Lunch was nice today. Same place tomorrow?
Ps, I can't wait for our date ;)
PM.
A/N: I'd just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has followed/favourited/reviewed this story so far! I didn't know if i'd get much of a response at all, so to get any sort of feedback was beyond what I expected. That being said, I would really love to hear what you thought of this chapter and what you might like to see happen in that chapters to come :)