Panem High

Chapter Four - Grenade

A/N: This one is going to be a little on the shorter side, but it'll be a good one, I suppose. Lol, enjoy!

%Mystery Boy%

He pushed open the doors to the bakery and waved at the guests eating late lunches at the tables and greeting him as he passed. School had been a very long and very boring day. But it was only the first of many days he would have to attend that hell on Earth. He sighed and made his way to the back room. He pushed open a second door and headed up a large set of stairs that led to their house (which was on top of the bakery. It was a lot bigger than it sounded).

He trudged to his room, hoping to speed past his step-brother, Lux Baxter. But, of course, he wasn't fast enough. "Hey, fag! Trying to hide from your big bro?" Lux shouted, getting up from the couch. "Not a good idea, Peeta." Peeta sighed and tried to make a beeline for his room, but Lux caught him by the straps of his backpack. "Get back here, you shit," he growled. Peeta shook his backpack off his shoulders and darted forward, struggling to open the door to his bedroom.

Lux laughed carelessly. "You're so predictable, kid. I put a new lock on your door while you were at school," he began, throwing the backpack to the side, and reached into his pocket. "It now locks from the outside. And I have the only set of keys." He then proceeded to dangle a set of keys in front of him. Peeta lunged forward, reaching for the keys, but Lux chuckled and pulled his hand away, and Peeta went stumbling past him.

"Come on, man. Give me the keys, I'm tired of you and your shit," Peeta groaned. Lux smirked. "Then you'll have to fight me for it. Come on, you know you want to land one on my face, come on! Let's go, idiot!" he shouted. He set the keys down on the table, and Peeta's eyes immediately rested on them. Should he just grab them and run? Or should he punch Lux in the face, then take the keys? For years, Peeta restrained from beating Lux up, and just dealt with his constant bullying. Peeta knew he was fully capable of making Lux stop, but he just didn't care after a while.

"Do you really want to be unconscious the day before you start school?" Peeta asked. Lux barked out a laugh. "Are we talking about you?" he asked. Peeta shrugged, "Depends. I might knock you out so fast you won't have time to fight back," he said, acting bored. Lux clearly looked amused. "In your dreams, you-" he began, but Peeta cut him off by doing what he never thought he'd do. He jumped forward and punched Lux in the jaw. Lux immediately crumpled to the ground, eyes fluttering shut. Peeta ran a hand through his blonde curls, tongue darting out and licking his lips.

He grabbed the keys off the table and stepped over Lux's unconscious form. He picked up his backpack and sauntered over to his room proudly. He unlocked the door and entered his room. He collapsed on his bed and closed his eyes.

Peeta thought back to gym class.

He was just throwing a ball back over to the other side when something caught his eye. A red ball was whistling straight for the side of Katniss Everdeen's head. He made a run for it, hand outstretched. His fingertips caught the surface of the ball, and it rested on his palm. Peeta tightened his grip on it, and steadied himself. She turned around quickly, and his eyes locked with hers. He sort of smiled and chucked the ball to the other side blindly, not really caring where it went.

Turns out it just barely missed Johanna Mason. Katniss turned around at the sound of her friend's shout. Johanna threatened Peeta to watch out, calling him Bread Boy. Peeta flushed a red color, and took off running to the far right.

He pretended not to notice Katniss turning back around to thank him, but realizing he had left. He saw her frown, and one of the new students come up and ask her something with a smile.

Peeta sighed, and opened his eyes. Katniss Everdeen was a complicated subject for him. He'd never actually had a conversation with her, but they'd exchanged a few words. They weren't important enough for her to remember, of course, but Peeta had committed all their discussions to memory. He knew if anyone found out about that, they'd either call him a loser or a creep. He'd already gotten enough negative comments from Lux.

He had a justifiable reason for this, though. Peeta was in love with Katniss, and he had been since they were in first grade. He'd never felt this way about anyone before, but he never had the guts to go up and talk to her. So, he just kept to himself and hung out with his friends, and occasionally sent out longing looks in her direction.

Peeta thought he was insane for loving her. He'd never spoken with her for more than ten minutes! But, he came to the conclusion that he loved her enough to trade his life for hers if need be. He'd take a bullet for her. When he first realized this, he was worried he'd turn into one of those stalkers who were "in love" with someone to the point of obsession.

But no, Peeta Mellark wasn't obsessed with Katniss Everdeen.

No.

He was simply just in love with her.

A/N: Oh god, I'm regretting doing this. Peeta sounds obsessed with her, xD. Haha, this is bad.

Anyways, Mystery Boy is Peeta! Pretty obvious though, wasn't it? Yeah...

Hope you enjoyed!
Happy Holidays!
-everywhereandnowhere