The Hunger Games- Prim's Story

Chapter 20

I take the soup and say, "Yes you are, but now you've proven you're good to keep around." 

He rolls his eyes and gives me one of the bowls of broth and a spoon. "You know, the only reason Haymitch sent this is because of me."

I put down my bowl of precious broth and put my hands on my hips. "Excuse me? I was the one being cute. That's what the crowd wants."

He looks at me pointedly. "Absolutely not," he says, "It was all me, I was acting very brotherly."

I glare at him and he grins. We continue to eat our broth silently. Until I say, "Peeta? How do you know when you like someone? Like, like-like someone."

To my surprise, he takes some time to think about this question. Which I find kind of funny. I mean he had a crush on my sister forever, he should be an expert. He ponders for a while until he says, "I guess there are two ways.  It can sneak up on you, or hit you, full force." 

"What happens when it sneaks up on you? When do you know?" I press on. 

He shrugs and says, "I wouldn't know, would I?" 

He really wouldn't. I've heard their love story a million times. I always get Peeta to tell it to me, I could hear it over and over again. It's a very sweet love story, albeit peculiar. "Will you tell me the story?" I ask.

"I don't know about that Prim. I don't know if Katniss would like that," he answers. Of course. 

"Please! It would make me really really happy," I wheedle. 

"Fine," he says, smiling. I think he likes remembering the story. "Back when we were really little, back in-"

"In kindergarten!" I interrupt happily. 

"Yes, in kindergarten. And I saw your sister in her pretty little dress, her hair was in two braids, not one. And-"

"And that boy came up behind her and pulled her hair! And she obliterated him!" That's one of my favorite parts of the story. I was little back then, I don't remember it at all, but by the way Peeta and Katniss describe it, I feel like it's just as much my memory as theirs. But she didn't really obliterate him- she just caused a lot of damage. He pulled one of her braids and she whipped around. She kicked him in the knees and he fell to the floor. She glared at him, and with him crying on the floor, she kissed my mother and me goodbye and walked into the classroom, stepping on his arm on the way in. 

"Yes, she did. I was very very scared of her after that. But my dad pointed her out, as if the whole kindergarten class wasn't staring at her already. And he said to me-"

"He said, 'Do you see that girl? I wanted to marry her mother, but she ran off with a coal miner.' and then you were upset because my mother married my dad instead of yours and he said it was because my father could sing so well the birds stopped to listen."

"Are you going to let me tell the story?" He asks, laughing. "Yes, that's right. And when we were in class, the teacher asked who could sing the Valley Song for the music assembly. Her hand shot straight up, and when she sang, it was like the world stopped. All the birds fell silent to listen, and at that moment, I was a goner."

His eyes have glazed over and he's deep in his thoughts. I poke him in the arm and say, "And? Come on, finish the story."

He smiles and continues. "And for ten years, I couldn't get up the nerve to talk to her. But then in March of last year, when we were fifteen-"

"After what happened with Gale," I grouse. 

Instead of berating me for interrupting yet again, he asks, "What happened with Gale?"