Oh please, could you continue your latest drabble with high school!Everlark/cheerleader Katniss and artist!Peeta?! Because I've been thinking about it all day (yk, off and on) and I need more. Lol. I'm thinking they become friends; she breaks up with Gale because he's not what she's looking for, and stuff happens for P and K... I'm sure whatever your creative mind comes up with will be great! 😘
As I stand on the track in front of the roaring crowd, I'm confronted with a sea of faces... but I only care about one of them.
While clapping my hands and trying not to freeze in the chilly autumn air, I crane my neck and search for Peeta while cheering at the same time.
"Ready? Okay!" I shout, following Madge's lead. "We're fired up, we're sizzling hot. We've got the heat, we will not stop! When it comes to football, we can't be beat! Goooooooo Ravens!"
I bounce around with the rest of the squad, and my pigtails with ribbons in them bounce with me. The ribbons are pink today, not blue, because Peeta gave them to me special. As I think about him, I lift my hand and twirl the silky ribbons around my finger, curling it into a spiral as we set up for the next cheer.
"Hold on, wait a minute, us Ravens put some boom in it! Ramp it up, knock it out, the Ravens always stay on top! Goooooo Ravens!"
We clap and hoot and holler again, then all the girls set up to toss the flyers in the air - of which I happen to be one. I get lifted by Delly and Lavinia, then stand high above the ground with my arms poised over my head, smiling so hard that it hurts.
Then, I see him, and my smile grows even wider.
The girls toss me up and I tumble down, landing gracefully in the cradle of their arms. We all cheer afterwards, and I wave at Peeta while hopping up and down - mostly to keep warm, but there's excitement there too.
The game lasts forever and we win by 3 points. I don't stick around after, though, because as soon as everyone starts filing out of the bleachers, I make my way out of the stadium too.
I'm not very tall, so it's a struggle to see over everyone as they crowd the parking lot. But, as I'm doing my best to weed through the locals, I hear, "Hey, cheerleader."
I spin around with a grin to find Peeta right there. "Hi," I say breathlessly, then throw my arms around him.
I hug him tight and he lifts me off the ground. I bend my knees so he lifts me even higher, then he spins me once. "Hey, beautiful," he says, then sets me down. He touches the ribbon on my left pigtail and says, "You wore them."
"Of course I did," I say. "I told you I would. I love them."
"Even though they don't match your uniform?" he says.
"I don't care," I reply, then hold one of his hands with both of mine.
"Katniss!" Madge shouts from behind me. I turn around, hair flying, to see that she's approaching with a few other girls from the squad. "You're coming to Briony's, right? I'm leaving."
I curse myself for promising Madge that I'd be at the party tonight; I don't want to go. I didn't want to go when she invited me, but I needed to get her off my back somehow and saying yes was the easiest way to do it. I see now how stupid that was.
"Um..." I say, then glance at Peeta. "Can Peeta come, too?"
Madge chomps on the gum she's chewing and raises her eyebrows. Flora, who's standing beside her, giggles and hides it with one hand.
"It's kind of only for cheerleaders and football players and, like, whoever they're dating," she says, looking Peeta up and down. "Sorry."
"It's fine," Peeta says to me. "I know you promised her. We can just hang out later."
I turn around to face him. "You sure?" I ask. "I can just tell her no."
He smiles and shrugs it off. "It seems like she really wants you there," he says.
"Uh, yeah, I do," Madge says. "'Cause you promised."
"Yeah, come on," Flora says. "It won't be the same without you. Don't ditch us."
"Don't ditch us for him," Madge says, snickering.
"Don't be rude," I say, frowning. "I'll come. But I can't stay for very long."
"Oh, please," Madge says, then grabs my wrist. "We all know you're gonna get trashed, make out with Johanna Mason, and forget your own name by the time the night's over."
I flush red. "I am not," I say. Then, I look at Peeta. "I'm not gonna do that."
"Hey, it's a free country," he says, but I can see that he's uncomfortable.
"I'm not," I insist.
"She's done it before," Madge says, widening her eyes and speaking in a hushed tone like she's telling Peeta a secret. "She turns into a little slut when she drinks! Isn't that right, Katniss?"
"God, stop," I say, getting angry. "Let's just go."
Before I can give Peeta a hug goodbye, Madge and Flora herd me away from him and into Madge's car.
"God, he is such a fucking freak," Madge says, turning the engine on and putting it in reverse. "When is he gonna realize that you're only hanging out with him 'cause you feel bad?"
"That's not why I hang out with him," I say, glaring at her.
Flora snorts from the back seat. "Oh my god, don't tell me you actually like him," she says.
"Yeah," I say, "I do. And I think he was planning on asking me out tonight before you two came and interrupted."
"Well, thank god for us then," Madge grumbles, making a left turn. "Gale's gonna be at Bri's, anyway. Maybe seeing him will knock some sense into you."
"I heard he wants you guys to get back together," Flora says, sitting forward so her head is between mine and Madge's shoulders.
"Gross," I say, crossing my arms.
"You're calling that gorgeous man gross?" Madge says, eyebrows lifted. "And claiming that you like Peeta. Jesus, are you on meth or something? Are you high right now, Katniss?"
"I'm not high," I say, rolling my eyes as we pull up to the house. "Let's just go in."
...
Briony's house is jam-packed, crazy loud, and overwhelming. As soon as I get inside, I want to leave. I'm considering sneaking out, but Gale corners me before I can slink back out the door.
"Hey, hottie," he says. "Saw your little ass flying around earlier."
His breath smells like straight up tequila, so I take a step back and wave the air in front of my face. "You're drunk," I say.
"Nah," he says. "Let me get you something."
"I'm not staying," I tell him.
"Yeah, you are," he says, then leans over me to grab a red Solo cup. He fills it with something red that's in a bowl and rests his hand on the small of my back as he scoots past me, but I don't let his grip stay for long. I take the cup and sidestep away, successfully removing his hand.
"Nice win," I say. I take a sip of whatever he poured, but it's awful. I resist the urge to cringe, though, because I don't want him getting me something else.
"Right?" he says. "It was pretty fuckin' awesome."
"Uh-huh," I say, resting my lips on the edge of the cup.
"You looked so fucking good, too," he says, then scans my body with his eyes. "Still do. God damn, this body." I must make a face, because he starts laughing and says, "Don't pull that look. You act like I don't know what your faces mean."
"If you know what it means, maybe you should stop," I say.
"You're cute," he says, chuckling as he takes a swig of a random cup he picks up off of a table. "Wanna sit? Look. Couch is free."
I don't agree or disagree, but the movement of the crowd gets me over to the couch before long. Luckily, Madge is there too, so I'm not alone with Gale. But, pretty soon, her current crush, Marvel, sits down and takes up all of her attention.
Irritated, I lean back and clutch my drink with both hands while Gale sits too close. "You're not gonna drink it?" he asks, tapping my cup. "Come on. You used to get so trashed at these things. Didn't you make out with Jo Mason once?"
"I don't remember," I say.
"No fuckin' shit, you don't remember," he says, laughing. "You were gone that night, babe." He takes a big gulp of what he's holding. "It was still sexy, though. You feel like doing it again?"
"No," I say, answering quickly.
"Damn," he says, finishing his drink. "That's cool, though. More for me, right?" He leans in and, with a hand on my thigh, tries to kiss me - but I shove him off.
"Get away from me," I say, standing up in a hurry. "We broke up. Don't touch me."
"Jesus, you tease," he says. "Calm down." He laughs and rolls his eyes. "Acting like I haven't tapped that ass about 30 times before tonight, like all this is brand new. Okay."
"Fuck off," I say, then throw my drink on him in one quick, jerky movement.
"You bitch!" he shouts, but I don't stick around for the aftermath.
Instead, I weave through the throngs of people until I make it to the front porch. It's chilly outside, but I'd rather be cold than spend one more second inside that awful house.
As I'm hunched over on the steps, I pull out my phone and call the first person I can think of - and he picks up on the first ring.
"Hey," Peeta says, "what's up? You okay?"
"I need you to come and get me," I say, then give him the address. "Please, hurry."
It's not ten minutes later that Peeta pulls up in front of Briony's house, so fast that his tires squeal. He clambers out of the car with a worried expression, then hurries to where I've just begun to stand up.
"What's going on?" he asks, pulling me into a tight hug. "You alright?"
"I'm fine," I say, but I'm crying, so my words probably aren't all that convincing. "I just wanna go."
"Okay," he says, "come on. I'll take you home."
As we're walking to the car, Gale shouts from an open window. "Cocktease!"
Peeta looks over his shoulder and his whole body tenses. He meets my eyes for a moment, gets me to the car, then stomps back to the house. I can't hear what Gale starts to say as he leans out the window, but I can hear his scream when Peeta closes the pane - hard - on his fingers.
I have one hand covering my mouth as Peeta storms back in a red-faced rage. "You ready?" he says, opening the passenger's side door for me.
"Yeah," I say, then get in. Once he's in, too, I say, "Did you just slam that on his hands?"
"Yep," Peeta says. "Should I not have?"
"No, he deserved it," I say. "I'm just... I can't believe you did that."
"I've had enough of his shit," he says. "I hear it every day before fourth period, and every day during AP History. And tonight... I'm just ready for him to shut up."
"I think that did it," I say, glancing over my shoulder as if Gale's going to run down the street and chase us.
But the road is empty. It's just me and Peeta, alone in a quiet, warm car, heading away from the scene.
...
When we pull onto my street, he stops at the curb in front of my house and we both stay quiet for a long moment. "Sorry if that was out of line," he says. His vim and vigor is gone and he's back to the Peeta that I'm familiar with.
"It wasn't," I say. "I can't tell you how awful it was in there. I never want to go to one of those parties again."
"No," he says.
I take a deep breath and rest my head against the headrest, looking at him through the dim light. "And, if I do go again, I want you with me," I say.
He shakes his head. "Well, Madge said..."
"I know what Madge said," I say. "And I know the stupid rule. We'd be following it." I pause for a second and say, "Can we date?"
Peeta blanches and blinks hard. "You... want to be my girlfriend?" he asks.
"Yeah," I say.
"Seriously?" he asks.
"Yes, seriously," I say. "Why, do you not want that?"
"No, of course I want that!" he says. "I just... I never... you're... and I'm... your boyfriend? How..."
"Peeta," I say, then roll my eyes lightly. I lean over the console and hold his face in my hands, then give him a long kiss on the lips. I pull away slowly, still holding his jaw, then nuzzle the tip of his nose with mine. "I've liked you since you drew me," I say. "Even before that, honestly. I like you a lot."
"I like you... so much," he says.
I kiss him again and smile through it. "I'm not ready to go home," I whisper, keeping my forehead pressed against his. "Let's drive."
Peeta nods, and I take his hand and rest it high on my leg. He looks over, meets my eyes with a grin, and squeezes my thigh.
Then, we drive.
