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badnovels · 7 years

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The First Day

by sunsetsrmydreams

To Jessa, who blew up our world with a tiny drabble inspired by a grocery store. Thank you for being so encouraging!

And a shoutout to @louezem for The Wedding!

And I am so fucking sorry because there is some Galeniss in here. Rated…I’m going to go with M? But it may be E. There is a description of dick. You have been warned.

Part one of two.

——-

It’s her first day, she’s nervous as hell. Of course she would have to teach at the same school as Peeta. Damn her terrible luck!

This is a disaster.

What if she runs into him?

What if he tries to talk to her again like they’re old friends? She has to choke down the lump in her throat.

Maybe she should quit.

And move….across country…maybe Canada.

Taking a deep breath, she attempts to calm herself. She’s a grown-up and she going to act like one. If she sees him, she will hold it together this time. Their relationship was over years ago, if she runs into him, she’ll be distant and polite. She will be unmoved by his presence.

She vows to the mirror in her hallway that Peeta Mellark will never know the pain she still carries.

From now on, he will be nothing to her.

Walking into the school with her head held high, she makes her way to the Guidance office. A slim woman with platform heels and a huge blond beehive comes straight towards her.

“Ms. Everdeen!” she trills. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I’m Effie Trinket and I’ll be showing you around today. Follow me, please.”

“Ms. Trinket, Mr. Abernathy already took me around and I was a student here so I’m pretty sure I know where everything is,” Katniss explains as kindly as she can while trying to ditch this woman.

“Tut tut. Ms. Everdeen, it is not only my job to show you around our beautiful school but I will also be introducing you to the staff,” Ms. Trinket replies forcefully.

Katniss’ heart drops. Her first day hasn’t even started and she is already going to be forced into a meet and greet with Peeta. Great.

She follows a teetering Effie around the school as she points out this and that, introducing teachers along the way. So far Katniss’ luck has held out. Peeta is nowhere in sight.

Katniss breaths a sigh of relief, walking a few steps behind Effie as she leads her down the hall and through a large carved mahogany door that is, apparently, original to the school.

“This is the teacher’s lounge. Many of us like to have lunch here and feel free to make yourself at home whenever you have a free period.“ Effie says as she makes her way to the mirror to fix her hair.

Katniss looks around at the comfy leather couches, a table and chairs, vending machines and refrigerator. It’s actually quite….homey.

“Ah. Here is another one of out teachers now!” Effie squeals as she rushes back over.

Katniss squeezes her eyes shut for a moment before plastering a smile on her face. She turns.

But it’s not Peeta who stands before her.

This man is textbook tall dark and ruggedly handsome. In fact, he is the exact opposite of Peeta. Katniss likes him immediately.

Effie continues her introduction “Ms. Everdeen, Science, meet Mr. Hawthorne, History.”

Mr. Hawthorne smiles and holds out a hand. Which she promptly shakes.

“Gale Hawthorne.”

“Katniss Everdeen.”

“It’s great to meet you, Katniss. It about time we got some new blood around here.” He grins at her.

“Yeah, I suppose you have a lot of lifers here considering the teacher I’m replacing is 65 years old,” she says dryly.

He laughs. “We have a hour before class starts, I know you have to set up you classroom, but would you like to sit for a minute and chat?”

“Um, sure.” She can’t turn him down. He’s handsome and friendly, plus she could really use an ally in this place. He introduces her to several more teachers as they wander in. He motions her over and they take a seat at the table.

They’re discussing their class schedules and laughing at last year’s hijinks when she hears someone clear their throat loudly right behind her. She turns on instinct and immediately wishes she hadn’t.

Peeta is practically standing over her shoulder. She has no idea how long he’s been there but due to the strange expression that he is trying desperately to hide she guesses he has been there for a while.

“Katniss,” he states.

“Hello, Mr. Mellark.” She’s proud that her voice doesn't waver.

“I see you’ve met Mr. Hawthorne,” he mutters.

“Yes, I have, but now I think I should be getting to class.” She gathers up her notes, looking at Gale she smiles. “Thanks for the chat and for the suggestions, I’ll try to implement them.”

As she walks out she can feel Peeta right on her heels.

“Katniss, wait,” he pleads.

“I don’t have time for this Peeta, I need to get to class,” she says lowly.

“You had time to sit and “chat” with Mr. Hawthorne and you can’t spare a minute to talk with me?“ he fumes.

She rounds on him, eyes blazing. "Don’t you dare act jealous! I haven’t seen you in years, I owe you nothing.” Turning, she stalks to her classroom and starts to prepare for the day.

Peeta, wisely, does not follow her.

Katniss survived her last class, quickly packing up her things and making her way out of the school. She’s surprised to see Mr. Hawthorne waiting for her at the doors leading to the parking lot.

“Hey. How was your first day?” he asks excitedly.

“I think it went well, it’s my first year teaching at this grade level, I’m just hoping they don’t chew me up and spit me out,” she laughs.

“Your tougher than that, I know it.” He smiles. “I’m not going to beat around the bush….would you like to go to dinner with me on Friday?”

“Like… a date?” she asks cautiously

“Yep, a date.”

“Um…s-sure,” she stutters.

"Great! I’ll see you Friday.“ He turns and strides to his car a few rows over, giving her a little wave as he pulls out of the lot.

What did she just do?

Katniss starts walking toward the row where her car is parked, berating herself for accepting Gale’s dinner invitation to dinner.

When she looks up, she can’t help the "fuck” that leaves her lips.

Because, standing beside her green Honda, in all his glory, is Peeta Fucking Mellark.

Moving home was such a bad idea….

She tries to keep calm as she stalks to her car, but all she really wants to do is punch him. She needs to scream at him again for breaking her heart when he got her former best friend pregnant. She wonders if these feelings will ever go way?

She still remembers that day. She had been miserable for the weeks she was without him, she drove all the way to his dorm to apologize and ask him if they could try again. She knew long distance would be hard but it couldn’t be any harder than this.

She’ll never forget walking into his room after finding the door ajar and seeing he and Madge wrapped together in a strong embrace. Katniss was shocked but still saw the white stick, clutched in Madge’s hand, with those treacherous pink lines.

When Peeta saw her out of the corner of his eye, he went pale and dropped his arms, turning his whole body toward her, a look of agony on his face.

Katniss’ voice was barely a whisper. “Explain this."

He did.

And all hell broke loose.

She cut them out of her life, finding it easier to deal with the pain if it was wrapped up tight in a little box and shoved to the furthest corner of her mind. She changed her number, her email and deleted her social media. After confiding in Prim, her sister tried to comfort her, so afraid that Katniss would turn into their mother.

But she needn’t have worried. Katniss was a survivor. But she still spent most of that vacation home in bed.

One afternoon, she heard Prim screaming. Katniss lunged out of bed and raced in down the hall in skidding into the living room just in time to see Prim chuck the phone against the far wall. Katniss had never seen such a display from her sweet sister, so she just looked on with owl eyes.

Prim turned to her face red with anger. ” Damn telemarketers! They won’t be calling here again.“ She runs over and hugs Katniss tightly before retreating to her room.

Katniss knew it wasn’t a telemarketer. But when she saw Prim trying to protect her, she knew…she had to do better.

She bent down and picked up the pieces, sliding the battery pack back into the phone before snapping on the cover. Miraculously, it still worked.

She moved on, kept that hurt broken part of her secret.

But four years later when she heard Peeta and Madge were getting married, she couldn’t stop herself from driving to the church.

For some reason, she had to see it with her own two eyes.

The tears came without warning as Katniss watched them walk out, each taking time to hug their little girl.

Katniss catches Rye staring at her from the yard, she can read the sadness on his face from across the street.

When her gaze moves back to the bride and groom, she notices Peeta watching Rye, following his gaze straight to her car.

Time to go.

She pulls away quickly, refusing to look back, closing the book on that part of her life.

Remembering that day makes her feel less bad about the scowl etched on her face as she approaches him.

"Peeta, what are you doing here?” She moves past him to open her car door just enough to throw her things inside.

"We need to talk, Katniss. Please,” he begs as he runs a nervous hand through his ruffled curls.

“We don’t. We have history, can’t we just forget it?” she says dismissively as she tries to keep her face indifferent.

“I don’t want to forget,” he says quietly.

She snorts. “Sure. You had no problem forgetting when you were balls deep in my best friend without a condom. So fuck off, Peeta.” She jerks open her car door further, moving him out of the way as she climbs inside trying to ignore the absolutely crushed look on his face.

Pulling out of the parking lot, she looks back and sees him still standing there, hands hanging limply at his sides,shoulders hunched.

“Fuck,” she whispers. How is she going to get through this?

Peeta stays away for the rest of the week but she can feel his eyes on her. When she accidently meets them, they are wounded and sad.

She reminds herself that this is not her fault.

On Friday Gale walks her out and they go over their dinner plans. She can’t wait. She needs this. One night when she’s not thinking about the biggest betrayal of her life.

Rooting through the boxes in her disorganized closet she finally finds it, the only sexy black dress she owns. Pulling it on over her lace boy-shorts, she forgoes a bra, she doesn’t really need one anyway. Shaking her hair from it’s braid after adding the barest hint of makeup, she’s ready to go.

Gale picks her up at seven sharp. Anticipation is a feeling she hasn’t felt in so long. She can’t help but grin, and Gale is even more handsome when he returns it. The drive is quiet but nice.

Twenty minutes later they walk into the restaurant, and after checking their reservation, the hostess leads them to the dining room and sets menus on their designated table.

Katniss stops abruptly, her eyes widen and she stands frozen.

The Universe must really fucking hate her, because sitting not three tables in front of them are Peeta and Madge, a stack of papers sitting between them. Madge flips through busily.

Peeta sees her first.

He always had a weird sixth sense when she walkes into a room. His eyes round, his mouth falls open and she watches him whisper her name.

He glances at the man by her side before moving his burning eyes back to her. Katniss doesn’t miss the way he flushes as his eyes rake over her body, taking in every inch of her.

A second later Madge looks up from the paperwork to see Peeta’s lustful gaze and follows it till she meets Katniss’ eyes.

Katniss panics.

“I’m sorry, but we need to leave right now," she states and takes Gale’s hand.

Perplexed but accommodating, he says, "Okay, lets go.”

Following her as she dashes out of the lobby not stopping till they reach the car. He doesn’t bother to ask her about it on the drive home.

She fucks Gale on her couch that night, third date rule be damned.

His cock is hard as steel and a good size, that’s all she needs. She knows she’s using him but she’d do anything to avoid the tangle of emotions that threaten to choke her.

After sliding the condom into place, she rides him hard and fast and she can tell he’s not going to last at this pace, so she moves her hand down her body, rubbing circles over her clit.

It feels good.

She lets her eyes slide closed for a moment, but in her mind she sees broad shoulders and blond hair, her eyes spring open. She keeps them open, trained on Gale’s face, gabbing a fistful of his dark hair, he grunts. He grabs her hips, rocking her harder against him until he comes, groaning loudly. Katniss follows seconds later with a quiet moan.

She can tell he wants to stay afterward but when she doesn’t invite him to, he leaves her with a soft kiss and a promise to see her at work. She feels like shit.

She really wishes she had thought this through.

When Monday morning comes around she contemplates quitting….again.

She walks quickly into the teachers lounge hoping to grab her morning cup of coffee without running into anyone. Looking around, she lets out a sigh of relief when she sees she’s alone.

She almost makes it.

Gale meets her at the door, leaning down and laying a quick kiss on her lips. Katniss looks up startled, she hears a strange sound to her left and turns to see Peeta, his eyes clenched and face pale before he does an about face and heads in the other direction.

Gale doesn’t notice.

“I had a great time Friday. Are you free tonight?”

She doesn’t know why she says yes.

#thank you!#i can't believe this grocery store drabble affected yall like this #man #also #i know you warned about gale and katniss but I Wasn't Quite Ready #but katniss is right he can't be jealous right now #but yes i can tell yall want peeta to suffer lol #sunsetsrmydreams #submission

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