Peeta's Story- The Hunger Games

Chapter 33

..soo i know you guys are on the verge of killing me. *cringes* SORRY! i had so many tests last week, plus i had to finish this article to be published in a book AND write a short two page bio for myself for this thing and blah blah blah blah blah. so yeah, and i'm sorry this is only like 1.25 pages... i was going to save this to upload til tomorrow because i hate short chapters, but then i realized if i didn't post SOMETHING, you guys would come after me with tracker jackers... so here you go. again, SORRY

i'm going to try to finish this part tomorrow :)

LOVE YOU ALL!

-amanda

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Through the crack in my eyelids, I see her whip around, startled. She frowns and takes a cautious step in the other direction. "Peeta?" she whispers. "Are you there?"

I decide to wait a few seconds before responding, watching in amusement as she looks around, her back facing me. She turns around and begins to slowly walk my way again, frowning in concentration. "Peeta?" she asks again.

I hold back a laugh and say "Can you try not to step on me?"

Her eyebrows furrow as she looks around, obviously confused. Finally, she crosses her arms and pouts like a whiny child and I lose it, cracking up. As I laugh, a sharp pain courses through my chest and I feel lightheaded as I wince in discomfort.

"Close your eyes," she orders, with a half amused half annoyed expression on her face. I obey immediately and hear her gasp. "You're really good at hiding yourself. Must be the baker genes in you. Frosting and camoflauging must go hand in hand or something."

I chuckle. "Yup, it's the final defense of the dying."

Her expression suddenly turns severe. "You're not going to die." she says stubbornly. She turns to my legs and begins brushing the mud off them rather violently and I wince at the pain.

"Um, Katniss?" I begin tentatively.

"What?" She continues cleaning me off with a resolute expression on her face.

"You're kind of hurting me." I sigh in relief as she removes her hand uncertainly, looking rather uncomfortable.

"Sorry," she murmurs, turning beet red and pulling my leg onto her lap. "Let me look at how bad this wound is." She surveys my leg intently, and a stray lock of hair falls over her face, shielding part of it from view. I am tempted to reach over and tuck it behind her ear, but I doubt I even have the strength to. She looks so beautiful right now, even with her mud-smeared face and charred hair.

"Come over here, I have something to tell you," I say, putting on my most innocent face.

She leans over me and I my breath hitches for a second at her close proximity. "We're supposed to be in love, so feel free to kiss me whenever you want."

She throws her head back and laughs loudly, her cheeks turning light pink. My heart sinks. She thinks I was joking, even though I wasn't. I feel an ache in my chest that I ignore as I wryly note what that would have looked like to the viewers watching us on TV. The boy whispers into the girl's ear, and she laughs, blushing. To them, it must look like we are lovers, but they are wrong. I struggle to keep a smile on my face for the camera. Might as well keep up with the facade.

She looks up from examining my leg with a worried expression on her face. "I can't see any of this, so we'll just go wash you off, okay?" I nod and she walks over to my arms and gives them a hearty tug. My leg shifts onto higher ground and I cry out in pain at the fire that is now coursing through me. Its feels like my leg is being torn apart, though the rest of my body is strangely numb. Katniss watches me with a tortured expression. "Just a few more pulls, and we'll be there," she whispers, encouraging me. She pulls me again, and I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block out the pain. Tears seep out the corner of my eyes and I'm sure that I'm gripping her hands so hard that I'm cutting off her circulation.

"Okay, change of plans," she says, looking at me unsurely. "I'll just roll you over into the lake. Is that fine?"

I nod, even though I see some obvious flaws in this plan and grit my teeth in anticipation. And sure enough, after she rolls me over onto my stomach, the pain starts again, except this time it is even worse. Rocks pierce my skin where bumps have formed from the tracker jacker stings and my leg is throbbing so much that it almost feels numb. I grind my teeth together, but somehow a cry of pain escapes me as she rolls me back onto my back. It hurts less now, but I don't think I can stand being rolled over again. Tears drip down my face and I lift my arm to try to wipe them away, but it hands there, limp and useless. I can barely even wriggle my fingers.

Katniss wipes her face, smudging her lashes with droplets of mud. "I'm just going to clean you out. This obviously isn't working."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "No more pain?" I realize how much of a baby I sound like, and she does too because she laughs.

"Nope, just keep an eye out and make sure no one sneaks up on us." She takes out three water flasks and examines them, pouring the contents of one into another and filling the empty one up. As she pours it over me, I feel the pain being soothed, and everything hurts less. Even though I'm supposed to be on the lookout, I am slowly lulled into a state in between sleep and consciousness. My leg is only throbbing now, but a giant headache is coming upon me, making me dizzy.

She finally clears all the mud away and stares down at the tattered remains of my clothes. Gritting her teeth, she seems to be steeling herself. "Okay, let's see how bad this is." She kneels down next to me and begins peeling my clothes off.

--

so....... it was meh. but i'm tired. and pissed. and life isn't the best right now.

also, sorry if i don't respond to your comments, i try to, but i only get notifications on my phone, and when i go on the computer, i just sorta look at the first chapter, and last, and comment as much as i can. i'm really glad you liked the last chapter though, maybe i should start writing when i'm half asleep because that seems to give me the best results :P

so yeah, don't hate me too much!

xox amanda

ps. check out wilsonknight. she's an awesome reader. and has cool stories (that i still need to catch up on :P)