As Radiant As The Sun

Chapter 8

Sorry for the super long wait!!

Katniss Point of View

I wake up with a start when someone pushes open the door loudly. I sit up super fast and look up to se Peeta's mom standing there looking at us. Peeta's head has popped up too, his eyes are wide. "What is a girl doing in my house?!" She yells which makes me jump. 

"Mom, This is Katniss,  she's my best friend, and she's going to be staying here for awhile." He says nervously. Why is he nervous around his mother? 

"Why aren't you in the bakery? You missed most of your shift yesterday, You should be there!" She's getting louder. 

"Mom, I missed maybe five minutes. I was just on counter duty anyways.  There were no pre-ordered cakes, It's fine." She gets closer to Peeta, and hisses in his face. 

"No, Its not fine. You have to be there, Its your job. You understand?" 

"Yes mother. I'm sorry." 

"NO YOUR NOT!" What she does next shocks me. She slaps him. Right across the face. I gasp. 

"Peeta?" I stutter shocked. what kind of mother would do this to their son? His mother gets up in his swollen face he's clutching, gives him an evil eye.

"You better not be late this afternoon. You'll get worse then that. No matter if your friend is here or not." She gets up, scowls at me, and walks out of the room. I immediately jump to the floor snd help Peeta sit up. 

"Are you okay?!" he ignores me. 

"Katniss, did she hurt you?" He mumbles. 

"No. Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine, It happens every morning." 

"I'm so sorry." 

"Don't be. Your family is completely gone. I have a Dad who loves me. Right?" 

"I guess." he smiles. 

"Okay. lets get ready for school." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

School was boring and uneventful. I can't stop thinking about Peeta though. I never new his mom beat him. I'm kinda worried. We're walking home side by side making comments about our day until we get back to his house. I sit on the couch and complete my math homework.  Peeta, is at the bakery with the rest of his family is at the bakery. I finish and lay on the couch for abut an hour, until Peeta walks in. He's home early. "Hi Katniss! My Mom left to visit her family earlier and my dad let me leave early. The group will be here in about a half hour." I nod and smile. I'm so grateful that Peeta is letting me stay here. By now I might even be dead. But I'm not, Thanks to Peeta. "Do you want some hot chocolate?" I nod smiling. He walks into the kitchen and sets a pan with water in it on the stove. I follow him and sit down at the bar. We talk about some things that happened when we were little, well he mostly does that, until I decide to go back to the living room and work on my plant book that my father started but never got a chance to finish. I document a couple of the plants, but don't draw them, because I can't even draw a stick person. There's only a few have drawings. I've done majority of the book.  I hear the doorbell ring and Peeta goes to answer it. He directs them up to the living room and I begin to put the book away, careful not to bend the pages. The group it talking loudly while they take off their coats and shoes. By the time their done screwing around, I'm done putting away my book. Peeta comes upstairs with my hot chocolate closely followed by everyone else. 

"Here you go." He hands me the coup of hot chocolate. I smile and look up at him. 

"Thank you." He nods and sits down next to me.