Chapter-2

Chapter 2

"Prim! Get up, it's time for school!" I yell from the kitchen. I let Prim sleep in today, since we stayed up late last night and she was obviously very tired when we went to bed.

"Okay Katniss, you don't have to yell so loud," says Prim sleepily.

We split a slice of bread for breakfast, Peeta's bread, and for the first time in a while, Prim and I are in a good mood in the morning. Prim is always in a good mood, trying to see the light in such a dark world, but me? I know how terrible of a country Panem is. I used to say these things out loud, until one day, my mother heard me and yelled at me to stop. I didn't understand why at the time, but having grown up since then, I know how dangerous my words can be.

I was sitting on the floor with Prim after getting home from the woods with my father, making rope necklaces, singing a song I learned. I didn't know the true meaning behind the song.

Are you, are you,

Coming to the tree,

They strung up a man,

They say who murdered three,

Strange things did happen here,

No stranger would it be,

If we met at midnight,

In the hanging tree.

Are you, are you,

Coming to the tree,

Where the dead man called out,

For his love to flee,

Strange things did happen here,

No stranger would it be,

If we met at midnight,

In the hanging tree.

Are you, are you,

Coming to the tree,

Where told you to run,

So we'd both be free,

Strange things did happen here,

No stranger would it be,

If we met at midnight,

In the hanging tree.

Are you, are you,

Coming to the tree,

Where necklace of hope,

Side by side with me,

Strange things did happen here,

No stranger would it be,

If we met at midnight,

In the hanging tree.

Are you, are you,

Coming to the tree,

Where told you to run,

So we'd both be free,

Strange things did happen here,

No stranger would it be,

If we met at midnight,

In the hanging tree.

Suddenly, my mother snatched the rope necklaces away and was yelling at my father. I started to cry because my mother never yelled. But my father explained to me that the lyrics weren't good, and to not sing it again because it will upset my mother. I haven't sang that song since that day, but I still remember every word.

We hurry out the door, not wanting to be late for school. We walk at a normal pace, but on our way, I see Prim slow down behind me.

"Come on Prim, we're going to be late, we have to go." I call out to her behind me.

But Prim continues to slow down. I look at her, and she looks nervous and pale, like she saw a ghost.

"What's wrong, Little Duck?" I ask.

"Those girls over there," she points, "always make fun of me because I have blonde hair and blue eyes, but live in the Seam."

The Seam people all have dark hair, and grey eyes. I do too, as did my father. But my mother was a healer, and lived in the Merchant side, until she met my father. Her parents were both Merchants too, so she has the same blonde hair and blue eyes as Prim. They do look out of place in the Seam, being the only two people to have blonde hair and blue eyes here.

My father was from the Seam, and went to the healer's shop to trade some herbs he found in the woods. My mother must've really loved my father to give up her life in the Merchant side to come live in the Seam with my father.

"I'm sorry Little Duck. Don't listen to them, okay? You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met. They're just jealous," I say as I pinch her cheek.

She giggles, and we continue walking. They see us, and slowly make their way over towards us. There's three girls, all from the Merchant side. The three of them are bigger than Prim, being a grade above her.

"Hey Prim, hey Katpiss," the girl in front says with a grin. The two behind her laugh.

I've been made fun of for my name my whole life, it's nothing new. But it does anger me knowing they make fun of Prim, when she's nice to everybody she sees.

"Leave them alone, Sarah," I hear a boy say to my left. I look over and see Peeta, with a giant bruise on his right cheek, which are deep purple and red shades. On his left cheek is a smaller bruise, not as bad. His lip is split, and he has a cut on his right temple near his eyebrow, and a small cut on the bridge of his nose. He looks like he got hit by a wagon.

"Whatever, Peeta, why do you care anyway. They're Seam. They deserve this," Sarah says smugly.

"Leave. Now," Peeta says calmly, but you can hear he's starting to become angry.

Sarah and her friends walk away, grinning at Peeta. Even with his face beat up, he still does look handsome, so I don't blame them.

"Sorry about them, they can be jerks sometimes."

"It's okay Peeta," Prim says sweetly, "I'm just glad you were here. They never leave me alone."

"You're welcome. I'll walk you guys to school if you would like," Peeta says with a warm smile towards Prim.

"You'd walk with us? Are you sure? People might judge you for hanging around Seam people," Prim says.

"Don't worry about it, I don't care what people say. I don't really believe in the whole Seam vs. Merchant stuff anyways."

We walk in silence for half of the way there. I don't know what to say. I want to thank him, for saving us, for saving Prim, but I'm angry, because now I owe him something I can't pay back. Life. How could I possibly pay him back anyway? We have nothing left, but the bread he gave me yesterday.

"Hey Prim, want the rest of my orange? I'm getting full," Peeta says, exaggerating by patting his stomach twice.

Prim eagerly accepts, thanking him because she hasn't had an orange in forever. They are expensive, as 12 doesn't grow them here, so the only way to get them is by buying them at the Hob. They get them from District 11, the agricultural district.

Why is he being so nice to Prim? I don't understand, like Prim said, we're Seam. Merchants don't associate with the Seam, unless it's to pick on us. So why is he being so nice?

"No problem, if you're still hungry, I have 2 cheese buns you can have. They should be warm still."

"Really? I can have a cheese bun? I've never been able to have one before, but I hear they're really good," Prim says excitedly.

"You've never had one? Wow, you don't know what you're missing out on! Here, try one," he says laughing while handing one to her. He hands one to me too.

"Peeta, I don't have anything to trade for this. I can't accept a whole cheese bun," I reply quietly.

"Don't be silly Katniss, I don't want anything in return. Just have it, I'm not going to eat it anyway."

I take the cheese bun reluctantly, looking at him to try and figure out what his motives are. It doesn't make any sense why he's treating us so nicely. I bite into the cheese bun, and oh my god. This is the best thing I've ever tasted, and I can tell Prim feels the same way by the smile she has on her face.

"Mmm, Peeta, this is amazing! I've never tasted anything so good before!" I tell him.

"Thanks, I made them this morning. Good to know you like them, I'll bring you two more tomorrow."

"You don't have to Peeta, this was enough, really. Thank you. For everything," I tell him gratefully. "I don't know how I can repay you."

"There is one way you could repay me, Katniss."

"How? I'll do anything, Peeta. You saved me and Prim yesterday. We hadn't eaten anything like that for weeks."

"I don't want anything in return, Katniss. Seriously, it was the least I could do. Just forget about any debt you think you owe me, that's all I want from you."

"Peeta! Look at your face! How am I supposed to forget about it, when you took a beating to give us the bread?"

We're almost to the school now, it's only another couple minutes until we get there.

"Trust me Katniss, I've taken worse than this. Don't worry about me."

"At least come by my house after school, my mother has some old herbs and medicine that I bet can help take away the pain a little."

"Alright, I will, thanks. Meet outside the school?" he says.

"Yes, we'll just have to wait for Prim once we meet up. She has to talk to her teacher after school today, but it shouldn't take long."

"Alright see you then," he says with a smile. "Bye Prim, bye Katniss."

"Bye, see you after school!" we both say. I can't help but smile when I look at Prim. She looks so happy, finishing her cheese bun, with a grin on her face.

I've never been good at friends. I never had time for them, I needed to focus on feeding Prim. But Peeta, I think he's the closest thing to a friend I have right now.

The school day goes by slowly, but as the bell is about to let us go home for the day, I'm starting to get nervous. I've never really had a friend outside of school. I head to my locker to grab my dad's hunting jacket and put my books away, and start walking to the entrance of the school.

I see Peeta standing next to Delly Cartwright, another girl from the Merchant side. He's eating crackers and sharing them with her. She too has blonde hair and blue eyes. I actually don't mind Delly, she's always been nice to the Seam people. She's kind of like Prim in a way, seeing the good in all people.

As I walk up to Peeta, he says bye to Delly and greets me. "Hey Katniss," he smiles, "want some crackers?"

"No, that's okay, thank you though," I reply with a tiny smile.

I see Prim walking out of the school now, smiling when she sees me and Peeta. I can tell she really likes him.

"Hey Little Duck, how was school?" I ask.

"It was alright, I just have a little bit of homework to do."

We start walking towards the Seam, but Peeta wants to stop at the bakery first to grab some things. To be completely honest, I don't want to. His mother hates Seam people, and I don't think she'd like it very much if she saw her son hanging around us. He tells us to just wait outside, and he'll be right back. Prim loves looking into the window at the cakes, admiring their frosting and designs. I hope one day, I can get her one of those cakes. Maybe for her next birthday.

When he gets back, he has a brown paper bag in his hands. He smiles at us, and we continue walking to our house. On the way, he opens the bag and hands Prim a cookie. She accepts, and I can tell she enjoys it. He offers me one, but I decline. He hands it to me anyway, and I thank him.

The cookie has small chocolate chips in it. I can't imagine how expensive the chocolate was. I've never had chocolate before, but the taste is amazing.

We get to the house, and walk in. I invite Peeta to sit down on the couch in our small living room. Prim goes to get the first aid kit, and I sit down next to Peeta on the couch.

"Why did you give me the bread?" I asked.

"I saw you outside getting yelled at by my mother. I looked out the window, watching you slowly walking over to the tree behind the bakery. I watched you collapse, and felt terrible. I could tell you were hungry, I couldn't watch you starve outside of my house and there was only one way I could get you bread. I had to burn it, so my mom would make me feed it to the pigs. You know what happened after," he says, rubbing his cheek.

"You burned it on purpose? To give to me? Didn't you know she was going to hit you?"

"Yeah, I knew she would. Trust me, it's no big deal, this isn't the first time she's hit me," he says laughing, but I can see the sadness in his eyes.

Prim comes back now with the first aid kit, and starts cleaning up his cuts, and he winces when she gets to his lip. His mother hit his lip pretty hard to split it like that. It makes me feel terrible, knowing it's because of me that he was beat.

"All done," Prim says. His face looks a little better, but it's still covered in different shades of purple and red.

"Thanks Prim, you'll make a fine healer one day," he says with a small smile. Prim just laughs, but I know that this is true. Ever since she could walk, she's helped my mother fix people up. I think she really does enjoy helping people.

Prim asks him if he'd play cards with us for a little bit, and we do. Peeta hasn't played cards ever, he says it's because he has to work at the bakery and because his brothers don't ever want to. He says his older brother Rye, can't because any free time he has, he spends with his girlfriend. His oldest brother, Nan, doesn't talk to Peeta unless it's to yell at him. He's the closest with their mother, and treats Peeta just like her, besides the hitting.

When we get done, Peeta says he needs to head home, or else his mother is gonna have a fit. We say our goodbyes, and as I close the door, I notice Peeta left his bag on the table. I grab it, and run after him, trying to give it back.

"Peeta, you left your bag on the table," I say, trying to catch my breath.

"It's okay Katniss, they're for you and Prim," he says with a smile.

"Are you sure? Won't your mother be mad?"

"If she finds out, she will be. As long as you won't tell, I won't." I smile at this. He starts to walk home, and I go back to my house. When I get inside, I open the bag. 2 loaves of bread, and four cookies. 2 cookies have small little katniss flowers of icing on them, and the other two have small primroses of icing. I smile and cry, but they aren't sad tears, they're happy tears. Because of Peeta, I think we can really survive. He saved us.

A/N: There is chapter 2! Hope you enjoyed it! This is my first story, so feel free to review and give some constructive criticism, feedback, and maybe what you'd like to see from this story in the future. I don't plan on romantically involving Peeta and Katniss yet, they are only 11, so I think it'd be a little weird. Plus, I still have a lot of things left to do before the story really begins. I know both chapters ended with "He saved us," but I just thought it was fitting. Have a good week and stay safe! :)