Chapter-3

A/N: So I'm going to introduce Gale in a chapter or two. I'm not too sure how I want his character to turn out just yet. I have an end goal for this story, but I'm still trying to figure out the middle, to be honest. So bear with me! :)

Chapter 3

It's Friday morning, the last day of school for the week. We're one week away from my birthday. Peeta's bread and cookies he's given us, along with the small trades I've managed at the Hob, have kept us well fed. Peeta, Prim and I walk to school together every morning now. It's been nice, having another person in my life other than Prim.

"Good morning Peeta," I say with a small smile. I never used to smile, until Peeta and I became friends. Prim actually brought it up, and now that I think about it, being friends with Peeta does make me happier.

"Good morning girls," Peeta says with a big smile. Peeta's smiles are not hard to come by, which is odd considering how his mother treats him. But he still seems to find ways to be happy, and his happiness radiates off him every day, making anyone he comes in contact with happy too.

"Do you guys mind if Delly walks with us? I feel bad, I haven't really made much time for her recently. Plus, I'm sure you guys will like her, she's very nice." he says.

"Of course!" Prim says excitedly. Peeta and I laugh.

Peeta calls Delly over, and introduces us. She's a little loud, but Peeta was right, she is very friendly. As we walk, Peeta and her chat, occasionally asking Prim and I questions and trying to get us to join in the conversation. Prim eagerly does, I can tell she loves having new friends.

We get to school, and Peeta invites me to sit with him and Delly at lunch this afternoon. They also sit with a girl named Madge. She's also a Merchant girl, with her blonde hair and blue eyes. She's the mayor's daughter, so I've seen her when her father is doing a speech at the Justice Building. Actually, she's the girl who handed me the medal of honor for my father, after the mining accident. He stayed back with another man, Mr. Hawthorn, to save as many people as he could from the mine before it exploded. They sacrificed themselves.

The day goes by slowly, but lunch was surprisingly fun. Madge is quiet, like me, but I like that about her. I did notice a couple girls glaring at us from across the cafeteria, though. Sarah being one of them. I guess they have a crush on Peeta? He's cute, but I've never been able to focus on liking boys. My main priority, my only priority, is protecting Prim.

Madge invites us over to her house after school, so once the bell rings, I walk Prim back home, and head to Madge's house. It is a huge home, probably ten times the size of my house. She even has her own bedroom. It'd be quite hard to miss it, being in the center of town.

I see Madge and Peeta outside, waiting for me. I greet them, thank Madge for having me over, and we go inside.

"Where's Delly?" I ask Peeta.

"She couldn't make it. Her parents needed help at the shoe shop, one of the employee's has the flu." Delly works at the shoe shop in her spare time, selling shoes, making them, and repairing them. I've only been there once, with my father, to get his hunting boots repaired. It's a very nice shop, but it costs a lot for any services there.

"I'll go get us some snacks, I'll be right back," Madge says, leaving Peeta and I alone.

"Your birthday is coming up, right Katniss? Isn't it May 8th?" Peeta asks.

"Yes, it is coming up soon," I reply quietly.

"You don't seem too excited," Peeta says with a laugh. "What's your favorite icing?"

"Icing? I don't know, I've never had icing before."

"You've never had icing?" He looks genuinely surprised. "Well, do you like chocolate?"

"Umm, I guess I do, I've only had chocolate in the cookie you gave to me and Prim. But I really liked it, if that's what you're asking."

Madge comes back with crackers and an orange-brownish cream. I tried it, and it's really good. Prim would love the taste of it.

"How's the peanut butter and crackers, Katniss? I wasn't sure what kind of snacks you liked, so I guessed," Madge says.

Peanut Butter. That's what it's called. But it doesn't taste anything like butter, but it's still delicious.

"It's perfect Madge, thank you," I say with a tiny smile. She smiles right back.

We hung out at Madge's house for a couple hours. She tries getting me to tell her my crush, but I told her I didn't have one. I don't know why she was so interested, even if I did like a boy, I don't understand why she would want to know so badly.

When I get home, Prim runs over to me and almost tackles me onto the ground.

"Jeez Prim, are you trying to kill me?" I say with a giggle.

"Sorry, I just missed you. How was your day?"

"It was great, actually. Here, I brought something for you," I say with a smile.

I pull out a couple crackers and a small cup of peanut butter. Prim tries it, and has the same reaction as I did.

"Mmm, what is this? It's so good!"

"Peanut butter. It is pretty good, isn't it?" I say, laughing hard at the peanut butter on the edge of Prim's nose.

"Yes. I wonder where Madge got it from. It's probably super expensive, though. I really like it."

"Yeah, but hey, it's only a week left until I turn 12. Then I can get the tesserae, and we won't be as hungry anymore."

"But Katniss, you'll be putting your name in the reaping jar. I don't want you to get picked," Prim says quietly, with a tear in her eye.

"Oh Little Duck, I won't get picked. There's thousands of names in there, I promise we'll be okay. Let's forget about it and eat dinner, alright?"

We eat some more of the bread from Peeta for dinner. There's only 1 loaf left, between me, Prim, and the little amount our mother eats, we're running out quickly. But it should last us 4 days.

As we get ready to go to sleep, I tuck Prim in and climb in after her. I forgot to tell her our plans for tomorrow, which I think she'll love. We don't have school tomorrow, so we can hang out with Peeta tomorrow.

"Little Duck?" I whisper, not sure if she's up or not. Of course she is though.

"Katniss?"

"Do you want to come with me to the bakery tomorrow? Peeta invited us over. His mother and father are spending the day at his aunt's house, so Mrs. Mellark won't be there."

Peeta's aunt is pregnant, and almost a mother, so Peeta's parents take the weekends off to be with her.

"We can go to the bakery? Yes, I'll go, what are we going to do?" She's smiling wide now, excited about tomorrow. I'm excited too, if I'm being honest.

"Peeta said he'll teach us how to make bread. He said he thinks it'll be a fun day for us if we want to go."

"Okay, I can't wait," Prim says excitedly with a huge smile. I can't help but smile back.

I kiss her on the forehead, whisper goodnight, and go to sleep, dreaming about tomorrow.

When I wake up, I realize the sun has been out for hours. It's probably around 11 in the morning. Peeta said to be there at 10 so we could bake it and have it for lunch. He probably thinks we didn't want to go there now.

"Prim, get up, we're late. Get up," I say, shaking her gently.

"5 more minutes," she says.

"Sorry Prim, but we're late. Peeta's waiting for us." She shoots up when she remembers the plans we had for today.

"Why didn't you just say that Katniss?"

We hurry and get dressed, eat a slice of bread each, and run out the door. We jog to the bakery, already feeling bad about being late. We get there and knock on the back door. The bakery is closed because his parents aren't home.

Peeta opens the door, and gasps when he sees us. After a couple seconds, he smiles and invites us in.

"Didn't think you guys were coming," Peeta says with a small grin.

"We overslept, sorry. I know you wanted to start at 10, but I guess we were really tired," I say quietly, feeling bad about being late.

"It's fine, I'm not mad. Let's start baking," Peeta says, handing us each an apron.

We start kneading the dough, and Prim is actually doing well, but her hands are a little too small to work with. I am doing terrible. Peeta has to keep correcting me on where I should push down, and I'm getting frustrated.

"Katniss, relax, you're doing great," he says warmly.

"I'm doing great? I'm horrible at this!" I say laughing. Peeta joins in, laughing too.

"Here, I'll show you where your hands should be."

He stands next to me, grabbing each of my wrists. He moves them around, and I push down on the dough. He laughs because I'm pressing too hard, clearly still mad about not being able to do this right.

"There you go, look, you're a natural!" He says with a warm smile.

We finally get the dough right, and put it in the oven to bake. As we wait, we talk and eat strawberries. When the bread is done, we take it out and let it cool off for a few minutes. When Prim and I each eat a slice of our bread, we smile at each other. It may not be Peeta's bread, but it is still really good.

We spend another couple hours with Peeta, and head home. I can tell Prim's exhausted, even if she won't admit it. We lie down, and she's asleep in minutes.

I'm tired too, and I find myself struggling to keep my eyes open. As I fall asleep, I can't help but smile, thinking about today with Peeta. I'm glad we became friends.

A/N: So short chapter, but next chapter will be a good one. Katniss's birthday will be next chapter, so be excited! Have a good day! :)