Everlasting

Chapter 3

Katniss P.O.V

"What's wrong?" I ask Peeta. He looks over at me and sighs.

"Willow's teacher talked to me today before we left," Peeta says.

I look at him and raise an eyebrow. "And?"

"Willow isn't even trying," Peeta says as he runs a hand through his hair. "She's not trying to get along with the other kids. She's not trying to get her work done."

"Peeta, that's not like her," I say. "And she does good on her homeowrk."

"I guess it's because she knows she'll get in trouble with us if she didn't," Peeta says. I sigh and shake my head.

"Her teacher said she was doing good at the beginning of school besides the crying," Peeta says. "But she said that now all Willow does is sit in her seat and ignores everybody. When they go outside for recess, Willow just stands in a random corner until they go back in." My heart literally breaks for her.

"Why didn't her teacher say anything sooner?"

"She thought it would get better after the break, but it was worse today."

"What are we going to do, Peeta?" I ask him. "We've tried talking to her and it isn't helping anything."

"We'll have to start getting strict, Katniss," Peeta says. I sigh and nod my head. "Listen," Peeta says to me. "We'll sit her down and talk to her first. Tell her that if she doesn't straighten up, then we'll have to start punishing her."

"Do we need to talk to her now?"

"Let's wait until after supper," Peeta tells me. I nod my head.

"Okay," I say. Rye lets out a loud scream and I laugh a little. "I'd better go check on him." Peeta nods and I kiss his cheek before walking back to the living room. Willow looks up at me with wide, panicked eyes.

"I didn't do nut'ing, Mommy! I promise! Him just started crying!" She says quickly with tears in her eyes.

"It's okay, Willow. I know you didn't do anything," I tell her softly. "Why don't you go upstairs and do your homework? Okay?" She nods and slowly stands up. "Willow?"

"Yes, Mommy?"

"It's okay, honey," I tell her. "You're not in trouble. I promise. I know you didn't do anything to Rye. He just started crying. Don't feel bad." She smiles at me and then starts up the stairs. I pick Rye up and slowly start to rock him. He immediately stops crying and I laugh as I sit down on the couch with him.

"You are already rotten, little boy," I tell him. I kiss the top of his head and he looks up at me. "I think you scared your sister," I tell him. Rye's little eyes start to close and I hold him close to me as he falls asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once we're done eating, Willow hops down out of her chair, but Peeta stops her.

"Hang on a minute, Willow," Peeta tells her. "Come sit back down. We need to talk to you for a minute."

"Did I do sum'ing wrong?" Willow asks as she sits back down. "Am I in trouble?"

"Not exactly," Peeta tells her. "Me and Mommy just need to talk to you about school."

"Oh," she says as she looks over at Rye laying in my arms. "I'm sorry that I cry."

"Willow, it's not just that," I tell her. "Your teacher told Daddy that you aren't doing your work like you're supposed to and you're ignoring the other kids." Willow frowns and looks down at the floor.

"I do my homework."

"Willow, school is more than just homework," Peeta tells her. Rye starts squalling and I look over at Peeta.

"I'm going to take him upstairs to the nursery and change his diaper." Peeta nods and I take Rye upstairs. "Promise me something," I tell Rye as I lay him down on the changing table. "That you'll like school better than your sister does." He looks at me and his little eyes widen a little bit. I hear Willow stomping towards her room, and I can tell by her sniffling that she's crying. I go out into the hallway to see Peeta walking towards Willow's room.

"I've got her," I tell Peeta. "You take little man here, and I'll go talk to Willow." Peeta nods and takes Rye from me.

"Come here, baby boy," Peeta says as he holds Rye close to him. I take a deep breath and go into Willow's room.

"What's the matter, baby girl?" I ask her. She looks up at me and pouts.

"Daddy said I will be in trouble if I not change my a'tude."

I laugh a little. "You mean attitude?" I ask her. She nods and sniffles. "Well, Willow, you have to learn that school is important. You can't just sit there and do nothing. You have to do your work and you need to make friends."

"But I not want to," Willow says. I sigh and pull her up into my lap.

"This is what Daddy was talking about," I tell her. "You can't just decide that you aren't going to do good in school just because you don't like it. Me and Daddy keep telling you that you have to go to school, and you become stubborn and decide that you aren't going to listen to us or your teacher. Honey, you can't just decide that you're going to tune us out without there being consequences. We're your parents. You have to listen to us." Willow looks up at me and starts breathing really hard. "Baby girl, you need to calm down."

She starts shaking and pull Willow back to look at her. I have experienced this too many times to not know what's going on. Willow is having an anxiety attack.

"Willow, calm down," I tell her softly as I rub my fingers through her tangled hair. I try to talk to her, but nothing is helping. "Peeta!" I holler.

"M-Mom-"

"Shh. You're okay. All you have to do is calm down. Okay?" Willow nods, but I know how hard it is to calm down. Peeta walks in and rushes over to us. I can tell immediately that he knows what's going on. I pass Willow to Peeta and he wraps her up in his arms.

"Where's Rye?" I ask quietly.

"In his crib," Peeta says. Willow lets out a short sob and Peeta kisses her forehead. "You're okay," he says softly. "Me and Mommy are right here." Willow finally calms down, but I know she's still upset.

"Willow, why are you upset?" I ask her. "Me and Daddy weren't fusing at you." Willow shakes her head.

"I n-not wanna g-go ba-back to s-s-stool," Willow says between short breaths. Peeta and I look at each other and frown. Our baby girl is absolutely distraught.

"Willow, litsen to me," Peeta says quietly. "Is something going on at school?" Willow shakes her head. "If there is, you can tell us." She shakes her head again and looks over at me.

"I just miss you all," she whines. 

"That's no excuse for the way you're acting," Peeta tells her. She looks at us and I know she's going to start crying again.

"Can I just go to sleep?" she says quietly.

"Not until you tell us what's going on," Peeta says. Willow just looks at us.

"Willow, Daddy and I are worried about you," I tell her. "Where's our happy little girl at?" Willow doesn't answer. She just hides her face in Peeta's shoulder and eventually falls asleep. "Well, that solved nothing," I say as Peeta lays Willow down on her bed.

He looks at me and sighs. "I don't know what's wrong with her."

"What are we going to do?" I ask Peeta. He just shrugs.

"Let's just go to bed right now, okay?" he says. I nod my head.

"I'll go get Rye."

"Why?" Peeta laughs. "He's in his crib."

"But he's slept in our room every night since he's been born."

"He has to sleep in his crib at some point."

I laugh and nod my head. "Alright," I say. "Let's go to bed." But I soon learn that I'll be getting no sleep tonight, because all that's on my mind is both of our babies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This would have been updated sooner, but The Hunger Games was on TV so.... 😂