Complete

Chapter 19

Katniss P.O.V.

I've just put Rye down for his afternoon nap when the front door opens. I quickly go downstairs to find Peeta standing in the living room.

"Hey. What are you doing home from work so early?" I ask him.

"No reason," Peeta says as he shrugs his shoulders at me.

"Oh. I get it," I say. "It's been a month ago today. You wanted to come home to see if I'm okay."

"Katniss..."

"Well, I'm fine, and you could have just called."

Peeta just stares at me for a moment. "Well, it's good to see you too," he says sarcastically.

"I don't need you to come check up on me."

"I'm sorry that I've offended you, but you haven't been exactly honest with me when I ask you how you're doing."

"I am being honest. You just don't belive me."

"Because you're obviously not fine."

"Did you come home just to fuss with me?"

"No. I actually came home because I wasn't busy and I just wanted to see you," Peeta tells me. "But you're the one who immediately thought that I came home for the wrong reason as soon as I walked through the door."

"And you call me a liar," I scoff. "Peeta, I know exactly why you came home so early. You're afraid that I can't handle myself."

"I never said that."

"You didn't have to."

"Katniss, what is going on with you?" Peeta asks me. "Everything will be fine between is, and then all of a sudden, everything I do is wrong."

"What about you? All you want to do is fuss at me."

Peeta lets out an exhausted sigh and shakes his head. "Everytime, Katniss. Everytime you start getting mad at me, you find a way to blame it on me. If I fight back, you get that much more mad. If I don't fight back, you say that I'm ignoring you. What do you want me to do?"

"To leave me alone."

The phone starts ringing, and Peeta shakes his head at me.

"I'll be right back," Peeta says as he angrily walks off. I roll my eyes and walk upstairs to check on Rye. He's still sleeping, so I start back downstairs.

"Katniss," Peeta says as he meets me at the bottom of the steps. "I have to go pick Willow up at school."

"Why?" I ask him. "Did she get sick?"

"No," Peeta says as he shakes his head. "Apparently she got into a fight at school."

My heart starts racing. "A fight? Is she hurt?"

"I don't know," Peeta says. "Listen, all the principal told me was that I need to pick Willow up because she got into a fight, and that Willow said she was standing up for another kid."

My mind goes back to mine and Willow's conversation a few weeks ago.

"She told me that there was a kid who was being bullied," I say.

Peeta nods his head. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay," I reply. Peeta walks out the door, and I sit down on the couch. I take a deep breath and put my head in my hands.

I was doing so good for the first couple of weeks, but now I feel like I can't keep anything under control. I'm alright around the kids, but for some reason, I'm constantly mad at Peeta. Everything he does drives me crazy, and I can't stand to be around him.