MISUNDERSTANDINGS

I sat on the bank flipping stones in to the clear blue water. It was a mild enough day for early March but I didn't feel the cool breeze or the warm sun. I stared unblinkingly out at the waters, my mind in a daze. She was leaving.

My stomach was in knots at the thought. The past twelve years I had admired her from afar. Her lush brown hair that skimmed her waist in wild soft curls. Her deep silver eyes that could mesmerise me from a distance. Her soft toned body that had filled out so that my artist's hands yearned to touch it. She was perfection in my eyes. Katniss Everdeen.

I had first laid eyes on her the very first morning of school. She was in a red dress with her hair in two braids. I had just sat down at my new desk when she came into the classroom. I had looked up, our eyes had met and that was it for me, I was a goner. I was too young at the time to know what I was feeling but as the years went on I realised what it was. Love at first sight. I let out a long sigh wondering what to do and feeling hopeless at the same time. In two weeks the girl I loved would be living in another state and there was nothing I could do about it.

I had only heard the news that morning. I was busy working the early morning shift in our family bakery when a group of kids from my class called in. I chatted easily with them talking about the upcoming soccer match I was playing the next week and the spring dance which also loomed on the horizon, when Delly, my friend pulled me to the side.

"Peeta, I've something to tell you and I know you aren't gonna like it" she whispered.

"What is it Del? " I asked a bit anxious now cause she was being so mysterious.

"There is no easy way to say this but…. Katniss is leaving"

I tried to make sense of her words. Katniss leaving? "What do you mean "leaving" Del? Leaving school? What?"

I see her look at me with pitying eyes "No Peeta, leaving Seam, for good".

I felt as if my stomach had just dropped out. She couldn't be leaving, I had talked to her just last week and she never mentioned anything. She had seemed distracted sure, but I thought nothing of it. Katniss and I had developed a cautious friendship, mainly through two of our best friends going out. Finn and Annie had started going out last fall and were inseparable ever since. At the beginning I had hoped their relationship would have helped push me and Katniss together, and to a certain extent it did. At least we communicated now, passing hi's and general conversation, but it was all very awkward. Any time I tried to get friendlier she shut me down and made a quick exit. She was skittish.

The thought that she was leaving now was agonising. I thought we still had part of senior year and the whole summer before I had to face the prospect of not seeing her. I had promised myself I was going to make a move before Fall, I was gonna at least ask her on a date. I was committed to doing it. Now all that went up in smoke. Delly went onto explain that Katniss Mother had got a promotion at work and they were moving to the West Coast in two weeks.

So here I sat, looking out at the lake wondering what the hell I was gonna do.

I didn't register the sound of footsteps until I felt the tap on my shoulder and I realised I wasn't alone anymore.

"You heard huh?" I looked up into the eyes of my best friend. Finn had been my best friend as long as I could remember. He was older than me by eight weeks, our mothers bonded during their pregnancies and we had been playing together from the moment we were born. Nobody knew me better. Nobody knew how much Katniss meant to me only Finn.

"Yeah man, I heard. Well I guess that's it." I dropped my head again as a fresh wave of pain engulfed me.

"Bullshit Peeta! She hasn't left yet! This is your chance man, don't blow it!" I looked up at him again wondering what the hell he was going on about.

"She is leaving Finn. There is nothing left to blow!"

I could see Finn getting exasperated with me.

"Look man I haven't said much cause I could tell it was only a matter of time before you two got your shit together but Peeta, time is running out man. She likes you! Anyone can see it. Do something now, today, before she is gone and you never see her again!"

I look at him in confusion. Likes me? I shake my head.

"Dude, it's apparent to me and anyone else who is in radius of you two that you like each other. Jez anyone can feel the tension between you, it's crazy! All those lust filled looks she keeps giving you – how have you not seen?"

I shake my head in confusion. I have met Katniss eyes more often lately but I thought that was due to my stalker tendencies rather than anything to do with her. As for the tension, I could always feel an electric wire between us. Like I could always tell where exactly she was in a room without looking.

"You're wrong man, she avoids me any chance she gets. If I thought for one minute she liked me I would have made a move. She doesn't and I just have to try to accept that" I glumly drop my head to my chest again.

"Peeta, she is running scared. Listen to me; I am your best friend. I wouldn't hang you out there unless I was one hundred per cent certain." He practically shouts at me now "Do something. She likes you!"

I raise my head to look into his sparkling green eyes. Could it be true? Finn is nodding at me as if he has read my thoughts and hope begins to flood my chest. Katniss likes me? A flash of deep silver eyes infringes on my brain. Katniss likes me! I don't really believe it but all of a sudden I don't care. If there is even a chance, I have to take it because I know my feelings are not going to go away. I have to try something because I am more sure than anything that if I don't take this chance I will never stop thinking "what if" for the rest of my life.

I rise slowly, shaking the dust of my dark blue jeans. Determination flooding my frame.

"She likes me huh? Finn you better be sure about this because I'm about to have the most important conversation of my life"