~Peeta's Birthday~

Katniss's P.O.V.

I finish stuffing the bag with tissue paper. I put the card on top of it. I write on the gift tag, 'Happy birthday Peeta!' I grab the bag and leave my room. Prim is in the living room.

"Prim, tell mom I'm going to the party now. I'll be back later." I say.

"I will. Have fun, and don't get hurt again." She says,

"I won't. He was the one who stood up for me, anyway." I say.

I head out the door. I walk down my street. He lives by the bakery. Which is across the intersection at the end of the block. I walk past the park. I feel a little bit of anxiety. But I don't see those bullies there.

'Thank goodness. They can't have Peeta's gift.' I think.

I press the cross button on the street light. I wait patiently for it to turn. I walk across the crosswalk. I get to the bakery. I go inside. It smells of delicious things. I see all the food on display. Cakes, pastries, cookies, bread. I want to taste all of it.

"Hi, can I help you?" The man behind the counter asks.

"I'm here for Peeta's birthday. I'm Katniss." I say.

"Hello, Katniss. If you go to the side, there is a door. Just ring the doorbell." He says,

"Thank you." I say.

I go back outside. I go and ring the doorbell. I wait for someone to answer. The doorknob turns. It isn't Peeta who answers the door.

"Hi! I'm here for Peeta's birthday." I say.

"Come on in." the man says.

I go inside.

"Peeta! You have a visitor!" He calls.

Peeta comes to the top of the stairs. I smile and wave.

"Hi, Peeta." I say.

"Uh...hi." He says,

He comes down to me. "What are you doing here?" He asks.

"It's your birthday! You asked if I wanted to come, so I came." I say.

"Oh...I didn't think you would come." He says,

"Of course I'd come. You're my friend." I say and smile. " I got you this."

"You didn't have to get me a gift." Peeta says.

"I wanted to." I say.

I handed him the bag.

"Am I early?" I ask.

"No..you're not. No one...uh...showed up. Only you." He says kinda quietly.

"Oh..." I say. "Well, now we can really party!"

Peeta smiles. "I was just playing video games. My parents are working. My brothers are with their friends. And my grandpa is just..my grandpa." He says,

I smile. "I don't really play them. But I'll try." I say.

"Come on, I'll teach you." He says,

I follow him upstairs. We sit in the living room on his couch.

"Here." He says, He hands me a controller. "You press A for jump. B for shooting. Y for attack. Those will let you turn and move in different directions. Got it?"

"I think." I say.

"Good. Let's go." He says,

He puts a headset on.

"Oh wait, here." He says, He hands me on too.

I put them on. I can hear people talking.

"Press that button to log on." Peeta says.

He starts to talk to the people I can hear.

I try to remember what to do. I follow what they do.

"Oh my gosh! Wait, what do I do when they are coming to me?!" I ask.

"Press Y and A!" Someone tell me.

I do. "Oh! I did it!" I say excitedly.

"Nice one, Kat!" Peeta says.

"Thanks! Let's keep going!" I say.

The time goes on. We played the game all day. We don't even realize it is nighttime when we complete the whole game.

"Woohoo!! We did it!" I exclaim.

I high five Peeta and then hug him. I realize what I'm doing. I let him go. And look away embarrassed. Peeta does too. I feel blush.

"Wow. It's 8:30 already." Peeta says, breaking the awkward silence.

"Oh dang. We've been playing for a long time." I say.

"Yeah. Do..you want some cake?" Peeta asks.

"Sure. Playing that game did make me hungry." I say.

We go and cut ourselves some cake. It is really good.

"This is so good!" I say.

"Thanks. I made it." He says,

"Really? Wow, you're good." I say.

He laughs a bit. "Thanks. It must run in the family." he says.

"I am so buying everything in your bakery." I say and laugh a bit.

He does too. "Thanks for spending my birthday with me, Katniss." He says,

"You're welcome. I'll always spend time with my best friend." I say and smile.

"Thanks." He says,

I hugged him again. "I'm glad I'm you're my friend. You're so awesome." I say.

I let him go. "I better get home. My mom will worry." I say.

"Okay. Do you want me to walk you home? It's kinda dark." He says,

"Sure. Thanks, it is pretty dark." I say.

Peeta and I get up and leave. We walked to my house.

"If you want to hang out again, this is where I live." I say.

"Okay, great. I definitely want to." he says.

"Yay! I had fun playing video games with you. I just have a sister. She'd never play with me even if I had games." I say and laugh.

I hugged him again. "Bye Peeta." I say.

"Bye, Katniss." He says,

I go into my house.

Peeta's P.O.V

I get back home after walking Katniss to her. My grandpa is enjoying the cake.

"Where were you?" He asks.

"I walked her home." I say.

"You do know I can drive, boy." He says,

"I know." I say.

"You two seemed to be having fun. You were very loud." Grandpa says and smiles.

"We did. We beat the game actually." I say.

"She seems nice. Maybe a keeper when you get older," he says.

"Ew! Grandpa, I'm not going to date my best friend." I say.

"You never know. Grandma was my best friend. Then I married her." He says,

"Well that was when you were young. I'm not going to date Katniss." I say.

"If you say." He says and shrugs. He takes his cake and leaves.

I try to get the thought out of my head.

'That's weird. I couldn't date Katniss. She's just a friend.' I think.

I go and get the gift she gave me. I take the card out first.

Happy Birthday, Peeta!

Thanks for being my friend. I hope you have the best day ever.

<3 Katniss

P.S. You're my hero :)

I take out the tissue paper. There is some sort of case. I open it up. Inside is a bunch of art things.

'How did she even know?' I think.

There is a picture at the bottom of the bag. I take it out. It's a picture of her. On the back is a heart.

'So you never forget your best friend!' Is written on the back.

'I'll never forget my best friend. Never.' I think.

~ A Few Years Later; 11h Grade; Juniors~

Katniss's POV:

It's just one more day in school. Just one more day of trying to weave through the halls to the classes I would rather sleep through. Cato and Glimmer went to a different high school than I did, but now there is Brutus and Enobaria, who believe it or not are worse than Cato and Glimmer put together. I have math next, so I turn into the classroom and sit down at a table near the back.

"Mind if I join you?" I look up to see the baker's son looking down at me, waiting expectantly for an answer. I shrug and rest my head on my hand.

"Shouldn't you be with all those popular kids? You know, Finnick, Johanna, Beetee." he sits down and smiles.

"I'm tired of sitting with them. Too loud." I roll my eyes.

"Oh really. Too loud. Sure." This guy is really trying. No, maybe that's a stretch. He's not doing a great job, at any rate. I can hear the smile in his voice.

"Haven't seen you in a while. Where've you been?" I groan, picking up my books to sit away from this guy who is trying to be nice but is only disturbing the peace. "Sorry, don't answer that. Please don't leave." I sit back down and fiddle with my pen.

"Are you sure you have nowhere else to be?" I look up and catch him staring at me. He jumps and looks around.

"Uh, yeah. I, uh, should go do something, or..." he rustles around the books he had put on the seat beside him and shoves them into his bag. "Sorry."

I smile a little. "No rush, you can stay here if you want." I didn't mean to say that, but he sits back down before I can correct myself.

"Thanks." He relaxes once again in the seat next to me.

"So, uh, why were you staring at me earlier?" I watch him fidget in his spot, shifting from side to side and staring intensely at his feet.

"No reason," he mumbles. I raise an eyebrow and catch his gaze for a moment. "Fine. Your really pretty-" his face turns pink and he covers it with his hands. "and I, I like you." That was pretty abrupt. He looks through his textbook and I can hear his heart beating, its too fast. "Heh, I sort of knew it was hopeless, you don't have to-"

"Mr. Mellark? Is there something you wish to share?" the teacher, Miss. Mags, is glaring at Peeta and looking very impatient.

"Uh, nothing Miss. Sorry." she turns back to the board and I slide my email on a small strip of paper over to Peeta.

---------------------

Katniss POV

It's finally graduation day. Finally, an escape into the real world, outside of the classrooms and textbooks, away from the crabby old teachers who clearly don't want to be there. But for most, they can retire. As for us, sadly, we'll have to go onto college. Then work our lives like they do. Then retire. Many many years later. And I am not looking forward to it, but I need to do something with my life. I give myself a once over in the auditorium bathroom. A lot of other girls are too. Everyone wants to look good. I can't blame them. I bet they have some lover to impress or family to make cry. I just want to look like me. Maybe a tiny bit nicer. My family, and my boyfriend are going out after this whole thing. I am mainly looking forward to spending time with Peeta for the last time in an eternity. We are going to have to experiment with long distance. He is going to college about three hundred miles away from me three states away. I am staying here. I need to for my family. Prim would die without me close by. Even if I have to die without Peeta. I love him. And he loves me. But.. sometimes family comes first. But we have holidays and school breaks. And social media, texting, email, Skype, and calling one another. So we will never be far apart. I go out of the bathroom and into the auditorium. I found my seat. I am far away from all my friends. Since they have last names far from mine in the alphabet. My phone vibrates in my dress pocket. I move my robe and get it out.

❤Peete-Babe: Look up and behind you. Three to the left of Johanna.

A smile spreads on my face. I do what he says. I see him with a big smile on his face. He blows me a kiss. I accept it and give him one back. I mouth, "I Love you." He mouths it back. Johanna sticks her tongue in her mouth and rolls her eyes. I give her a playful glare. The principal starts the graduation. The valedictorian, Fintch Gardens, gave a long but nice speech. The principal and vice principal speak next. Then the school district superintendent starts to read off all the graduates. Finally they get the 'E's'. I go to the back.

"Katniss Elise Everdeen."

I go out on stage. Immediate cheers and yells from my friends and family erupt. I accept my diploma and wave at all my loved ones. I sit back down and the. I embarrass my friends when their names get called. And I scream, "I love you." when Peeta goes up. Then the last of the names get called and everyone sits back down. We move our tassels and then throw our caps in the air. I feel the arms of the one I love wrap tightly around me. I turn around and kiss him.

"Congratulations." I say.

"Congratulations." He says,

~

The last day of our young lives has come to an end. We are adults. Well, I mean we were about a year ago. But now we are even more of adults. I snuggle with Peeta on my couch. We have The Perks Of Being A Wallflower on. We haven't said much to each other. Besides, "Pass the popcorn or more candy or hand me the Dr. Peper."

"Oh, Kat.. I got a gift." Peeta says.

I sit up and pause the movie. "A gift?" I ask.

"A gift." He says,

He pulled out a box from the side of the couch. He sets it on my lap. I take the bow off and open the box.

"Aww... Peeta. She's adorable." I say and pick up the puppy.

"A parting gift, since we may not see each other for a bit." He says,

I moved the box away and put her on my lap. She's a small pitbull puppy that is brown and white.

"How can I say goodbye now?" I asked him.

"Like this." He says,

He leans in and kisses me. Not like a kiss we have shared in our dating. I pull away.

"I'll definitely won't be able to, now." I say.

"Neither will I." he says.

I rest my head on his shoulder. I press play on the remote. I spent the last night with the love of my life  and new love of my life in peace and comfort. 

Me and @the_geek_guy loved writing this! 

HEY ALLL!!! DANG HAS IT BEEN A LONG TIME FOR THIS BOOK!! SORRRYYYYY!!! Anyways,
we hope you liked it! We have decided to make this book about 15 chapters. I have other responsibilites with other books and we both have lives to live and school and yada yada, blah blah blah. But we will be working on this more, K? Also please vote and comment! BYEEE!!

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