For those of you who have been beyond patient while waiting for this update, you all deserve cupcakes of every color of the rainbow made personally by Peeta Mellark himself. And sprinkles. And every other cupcake topping on the planet. My sincerest apologies for the wait!

Katniss – 5 – Thistle

"It was a one-eyed, one-horned, Flyin' Plum People Eater, One-eyed, one-horned Flyin' Violet People Eater, One-eyed, one-horned Flyin' Lav-en-der People Eater, Sure looked strange to me!" Peeta sings over and over again as they sit out on the playground drawing with Miss Trinket's chalk. He's been going through every purple-ish colored crayon he can think of.

"Peeeeeetaaaaa," Katniss whines, "Those aren't the right words!" And then tosses a piece of chalk at his head for good measure.

When she taught Peeta the song she had learned in music class last week, Katniss thought it was just fun to sing. And Peeta had agreed. But, "It is fun Katniss, but why do they only use the color purple!? There's so many different types of purple!" He had argued with her, and went on to look for all of the purple crayons that they kept in the paper bag in his backpack, just to prove his point.

They spent that day after school at her house having her daddy help them read every single one of them.

So, now she has to sing it the normal way in music class, but when she's singing it at lunch or on the playground with Peeta, he always does it his way. Which is the wrong way.

"No Peeta! The music teacher says we have to sing it with the word 'purple!'" She tells him for the zillionth time, because yesterday, when the rest of the kids in music class were singing 'purple,' she sang 'plum', and the teacher said she was being silly.

Because singing about a purple monster eating people isn't silly.

Peeta just keeps humming the song, which, is a little bit better, but now she keeps singing the words in her head to his humming, and using 'plum,' 'violet,' and 'lavender' instead of 'purple.' She glares at him, but he only looks a little bit sorry for messing her up. Then, his face transforms with excitement almost instantly, remembering something. "Oh! Wait Katniss, I've got one more!" He says eagerly as Miss Trinket blows the whistle, signaling recess is over.

Katniss rolls her eyes and starts picking up all of the chalk while Peeta goes on. "It was a one-eyed, one-horned, Flyin' THISTLE People Eater! Cause, you know, thistle's a light purple!" He explains as he helps her pick up the rest of the chalk.

Peeta's been doing that a lot lately. Using the word 'thistle' when they're at school or over each other's houses.

At lunch, the sprinkles Mr. Mellark puts on the cookie they split look just like her thistle crayon.

At recess, he uses thistle chalk to draw a puppy.

At her house, some of her mommy's flowers she grows on the porch are actually thistles.

Thistle, thistle, thistle. She thinks he's worried that she forgot his birthday is coming up, which, she hasn't. Peeta's her best friend. Of course she knows when his birthday is. She has it marked on the calendar in her room. But in May, when she picked the thistle crayon, she thought it would be easy to find something that color to give to him for his birthday. Except, it wasn't, isn't.

Because now summer has passed, they're in first grade, it's October, and Peeta's birthday is in two days. And she still doesn't have a thistle present for him. But she has to prove that she can find a present the same color as one of his crayons.

Peeta got her a present the day before her birthday, and it was the best. She's had months to find the perfect gift, and she can't find a single thing that matches the crayon she always keeps in her backpack, or in her pocket, or on the little table near her bed.

They share a giant cookie every day for lunch, they play with the chalk at recess a lot, and the flowers on her porch are a little scary looking and poke her fingers. She can't use anything she's seen that's thistle, plus, Peeta's the one that has found them all.

Peeta can find all of these thistle things anywhere he looks, and she just, can't.

But he looks at her, and he's so happy, that she just gives him a big smile and grabs his hand so they can run to where the rest of the 1st graders are lined up by Miss Trinket.

"My daddy made us a giant sugar cookie to share today," he reveals as they head back to the classroom.

And yeah, he's her best friend.

Normally after school, Peeta will walk home with her and her dad and come over her house to play, or Katniss will walk home with him, Graham, and Rye and they'll play around in the bakery or up in his room. Sometimes, Mr. Mellark lets them help decorate (and then eat) the cookies and cupcakes he makes. Peeta's always look nicer than hers.

She blames his art class.

But today, Katniss's daddy asked her to go shopping with him at The Hob right after school, so she waves goodbye to Peeta at the end of the day and walks over to where her dad is waiting for her.

It's weird, not walking to one of their houses with Peeta, but they'll do it tomorrow.

Her dad waves to Peeta, who happily waves back immediately, and then they turn to start walking back home. Once there, she takes her crayon out of her backpack and stuffs it in her pocket.

She goes to say hi to her mom in the living room quickly, who's holding a sleeping Prim in her arms. Katniss whispers her hello, places a soft kiss on baby Prim's head, and then rushes to the door where her daddy is waiting for her. She watches as he smiles at Mom, who also has a similar smile of her own.

"Ready to go, sweetie?"

She nods her head and takes his outstretched hand, heading out to their car in the driveway.

At the store, Katniss is told not to wander too far away. "This store is pretty big Katniss, so stay where I can see you, okay?" Basically, that means wherever he goes, she goes.

The store is big, and isn't like the bakery, where the Mellark's only sell food and drinks, or the store that Delly's parents work at, where only shoes are sold.

The Hob sells everything.

Her dad starts walking toward a certain area of the store, so she follows, taking his big hand in her small one as they go. Katniss knows what he's looking for as soon as they're in the aisle.

Wood.

Her dad likes to make little animals and other things out of pieces of wood he gets here. He buys big chunks of wood that he makes into prettier things with the special knives he uses that she is 'absolutely, under no circumstances allowed to ever touch.'

He calls it a 'hobby.'

She just likes that he made her a katniss flower out of wood that sits on her nightstand. It's even painted. Prim's supposed to get one that's a primrose flower for her room now that she doesn't sleep in Mommy and Daddy's room all of the time.

He finds what he's looking for fast and holds onto it with one hand while he takes hers again with the other. As they walk toward where he has to pay, Katniss continues looking down the different aisles and all of the different things in each one.

Fishing stuff, cooking stuff, sports stuff, art stuff.

Katniss halts in her steps, pulling her dad back where they're hands are joined.

As they pass the art aisle, Katniss's eyes catch on something that just happens to look a lot like purple.

A light purple.

A thistle kind of purple.

"Wait daddy!" She yells excitedly as she lets go of his hand and bolts down the aisle, running to where she sees the color.

Down in the middle of the art aisle, amongst so many things, are packs of pencils of all different colors. Sure, there's red and yellow and purple, but there's also different shades of the colors. A word Peeta had taught her after learning it in art class.

And there, right where the other shades of purple are, are pencils that look just like the crayon she's been carrying around for months. Hoping, praying that something that color would show up at some point.

She grabs the pack of pencils and feels a smile so big grace her face that her cheeks hurt.

But she needs to check. Needs to be absolutely, one hundred percent sure that this is the color that she needs. So she grabs the crayon out of her pocket to hold it next to the pack of pencils.

And that's it. That's it!

"Well would you look at that," her dad says from behind her. It sounds like he's smiling, but she doesn't look away to see for herself. She can't believe that the pencils she's holding are thistle. "If I'm not mistaken, those pencils there look a lot like the color tistle."

Katniss giggles at that, both from the joy she's feeling and her dad saying the word wrong. "It's 'thistle,' daddy," she tells him as she turns to look at him. He knows about the color for Peeta's gift, but hadn't had any idea about where to find something thistle when she had asked.

"Well," her father responds with a laugh, "if you ask me, I think that's as close to thistle as you're going to get. Who would have thought you'd find them in the store that has everything," he says with a wink. And then, after a moment, "Actually honey, they look like regular pencils, it won't be that color if Peeta were to use them. Is that okay?"

"Yep! They're perfect!" So perfect, she's afraid that if she looks away, they'll disappear, or be a different color when she looks back.

But they don't. They're still there in her hands, and they're still thistle. Still perfect. "He can draw with them first, and then color in the pictures afterwards." Because Peeta loves art and loves to draw and these pencils will do just that.

Her father nods his head in agreement, "Well if that's the case, how about making them a little more personal?" He asks.

She looks up at him and feels her nose scrunch at his question. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I can put his name on them if you want? I'll use one of my special knives that'll be small enough to use on the pencils."

Katniss can do nothing more than barrel into her daddy's legs to give him the tightest hug she possibly can.

And with that, Katniss gets Peeta's present for his sixth birthday, thistle pencils with the words 'Peeta Mellark' neatly etched into each one of them.

Katniss and Peeta were super excited to find out that Miss Trinket was going to stay as their teacher for first grade. Miss Trinket's a little weird, but they like her. There's not enough students for two classes, so it's the same class as kindergarten, but now they learn first grade things.

It's great, because she and Peeta are in the same class again, and Miss Trinket always puts their desks next to each other.

It's not so great because of Cato Baxter.

Once a week, everyone in the class gets to pick a special class that they want to go to for a little while in the morning before recess and lunch, like music, art, or gym. On Monday's, Katniss goes to her music class with the other students who chose music. On Wednesday's, Peeta goes to art class.

That also means that on Wednesday's, Katniss has to sit next to Cato and his friend Marvel without Peeta at their table of four desks.

And, to put it nicely, they're really big meanies.

Friday's are the best, when they're both at gym and she and Peeta have the area to themselves.

But today's Wednesday, and Peeta's not here.

"Katniss and Peeta sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Cato whispers loud enough for her and Marvel to hear, but Miss Trinket doesn't as she explains the directions for the worksheet they're doing.

"Stop it Cato, that song is dumb," Katnis whispers back. She tries to ignore them, she really, really does, but Cato always sings it when Peeta's not around, and it's just not nice.

And he just keeps doing it. And then Marvel joins in. And Peeta's not here. And Miss Trinket doesn't hear them because she's across the room helping someone.

So she really, really tries to ignore them and works on spelling the words on the worksheet. And it works, until Cato stops singing and starts asking her dumb questions.

"Hey Katniss, did you give your cooties to Peeta?" Marvel snickers as she looks up to glare at them.

"There's no such thing as cooties," she tells him matter-of-factly. She knows. She asked her daddy the first time Cato had asked her that question.

But he only laughs at her, which makes her face feel super warm, and then says, "Peeta definitely has them, that's what happens when you're friends with a giiiiirl." And then him and Marvel are both laughing at her and her face feels like it's on fire.

"Stop it, he's my best friend," she says as seriously as she possibly can. "There's nothing wrong with that."

But they keep laughing, and Cato's saying, "You're so stupid Katniss, a boy and girl can't be best friends," and Marvel starts singing "Circle, circle. Dot, dot. Now you got your cootie shot," and he's drawing circles and dots on himself and Cato and then on Peeta's desk, and she feels tears about to fall, and–

"SHUT UP CATO!" She shouts at them, and then her hand flies to her mouth as her wide eyes find Miss Trinket staring at her from across the room. Everyone's looking at her and she hates Cato Baxter more than anything in the world.

"Miss Everdeen," she scolds, "we do not speak like that in first grade."

"But–" Katniss tries to argue as Cato and Marvel smirk at her.

Miss Trinket holds her hand up to stop her. "No 'buts' darling, the first graders in my class have manners. No recess for you today, you will stand by me outside until lunchtime."

Katniss doesn't say a word, doesn't even get to try and explain what was happening. She closes her mouth, gives Cato and Marvel the meanest look she can muster up, and tries with all of her might to keep the tears where they're at in her eyes. Everyone's still staring at her and she hates them too right now, so she keeps her head down and starts working on the worksheet again through blurry vision.

The only reason Katniss knows Peeta has returned from art class moments before recess is because he asks her what they're going to do once they're outside.

She ignores him.

"Katniss?" He asks again. "Do you want to play with the chalk again?"

She lifts her head to give him the same look she had given Cato and Marvel after she got in trouble.

He doesn't ask her again, he just looks scared and confused as she refuses to speak to him. She doesn't even know why she's mad at Peeta too. He wasn't even there. But, if he was, Cato and Marvel wouldn't have been so mean to her.

And she wouldn't have gotten in trouble.

Peeta says her name again as she looks back down at her paper. "What's wrong?" He asks worriedly.

"She lost all of her recess time and has to stand by Miss Trinket," Cato tells him with a smile.

She refuses to lift her head. Refuses to see the surprise on his face or let the tears she's been trying so hard to hold back fall.

So when Miss Trinket calls everyone to get in line for recess, she stands up without a word and walks away from Peeta. And when everyone gets outside, she stands next to Miss Trinket without even being reminded.

Peeta shuffles his feet up to them as everyone runs around the playground and asks, "Miss Trinket, can I stand here too?"

To which she replies, "Oh no Peeta, Katniss is in trouble, you're not. You go play with your friends." And he looks at Katniss with such sadness in his face. She hopes he can feel the anger in hers.

He can go play with his friends. She's not his friend anymore.

He goes over by the jungle gym where Finn and Thresh are playing, but he doesn't go climb it like they are. She pretends not to see how he watches her stand by Miss Trinkett for the entire recess, looking like his feelings are hurt.

Because why should he be hurt? She's the one who got in trouble because Cato was making fun of Peeta and her. She's the one who was embarrassed in the front of the class. Not him.

When the whistle is blown, signaling recess is over and to line up for lunch, it's the loudest she's ever heard it. She's never this close to Miss Trinket when it's blown.

Katniss is the first one in line, first back to the classroom to grab her lunch, and first back in line to go to the lunch room.

Peeta sneaks in as the second person in line and whispers, "My daddy made us a chocolate chunk cookie today, your favorite."

But she's still angry.

She turns around to look him in the eyes and says, "Go share it with your friends, cause we're not anymore."

Then, she turns back around and follows Miss Trinket to the lunch room and sits down the other end of the table by herself.

"Where's Peeta? I thought he was coming over our house today," is the first thing her father asks her when she walks up to him after school.

She shrugs her shoulders and tries to ignore that awful feeling in her tummy when she says, "I don't know, he went home with Graham and Rye."

Her dad gives her a funny look, and then looks back to where the rest of the students are waiting for their parents to come get them. "Katniss, are you sure?" And when she nods her head, he asks, "Did something happen in school today?"

To that, she shakes her head, and then takes his hand and tugs him in the direction of their house.

They walk home without either of them talking, and she can feel her dad look down at her every few moments until they're at their driveway and she runs up into the house so he won't ask her anymore questions.

If she pretends nothing happened, then maybe mommy won't notice and daddy won't say anything else.

She walks into her room as soon as she drops her backpack to the ground by the front door and is met with looking at her crayon sitting on the table by her bed, right next to the katniss flower her dad had made and Peeta's present, all the pencils bunched up and tied together with a bow her mom had helped tie the night before.

For a moment, she thinks about breaking the crayon.

And then that awful feeling in her stomach gets stronger and she can't believe that she had even thought about ruining one of Peeta's crayons for even a second.

He trusted her with it.

She flops onto her bed, head turned away from her nightstand, and tries her very best to ignore the burning in her eyes.

Just as the feeling in her stomach grows to the point that she thinks she might throw up, she hears the house phone ring in the kitchen and she just knows it can't be anything good. She waits a few moments before going to investigate.

She tip toes past Prim's room where she and Mom are, and makes her way to outside the kitchen where her dad is talking on the phone.

"All right Gabe, I'll talk to her," he says as he catches sight of Katniss standing by the entrance. She feels her shoulders slump and the tears return at the look her father gives her. "I'll give you a call once I get this side of it, kay?" He pauses to listen to the other person, nods his head, and then hangs up and places the phone on the kitchen counter.

Her father walks over to where she refuses to move, and bends down onto his knees so that his face is right in front of hers. She stares at her feet until she can feel his fingers lift her chin to meet his face.

"Do you know who that was on the phone?" He asks.

Katniss nods her head and mumbles, "Mr. Mellark," as tears start falling down her cheeks and she hiccups without meaning to.

"Oh hey, sweetie, come here," he says as he gathers her up in his arms and holds onto her tightly, rocking them back and forth. "Katniss, what in the world happened at school? Gab– Mr. Mellark said Peeta walked home by himself today because Graham and Rye were told that Peeta was coming with us. He came home sobbing that you didn't want to be his friend anymore."

And knowing that Katniss made Peeta cry makes everything that much worse, so she starts crying harder than she ever remembers doing, and tries to explain through bleary eyes and a snotty nose about the mean songs Cato and Marvel were singing, how they called her stupid, how she lost her recess and Peeta didn't play because she couldn't play, how she told him they weren't friends anymore…

"And Cato," she sobs into her daddy's neck, "he said a girl and boy can't be best friends, and I know Peeta has other friends that are boys that can be his best friend, and I just hate Cato Baxter, Daddy, I really do."

He keeps rocking her back and forth until she finally stops crying, and then picks her up and takes her to the bathroom to get her tissues and a cold cloth to pat her face with. Then he places her back on his lap as he sits on the edge of the tub and continues to rock her.

Once she finally calms down, she asks in a quiet voice, "Daddy, does Peeta hate me?"

She can feel him take in a breath. "Oh no, Katniss, Peeta loves you very much," and then he adds, "and I don't want to hear that word coming from you again. It's not a very nice word, and I know you don't feel that strongly about anyone, even mean boys in your class."

She looks up to see his silver eyes shining, like he's as sad as she is. "But will he still be my best friend? I wasn't nice to him at all," she explains as she realizes Peeta may never want to talk to her again.

What would she do then? Choose to stand by Miss Trinket at recess?

"Does it matter that I'm a girl and he's a boy?"

Her father continues to sway them as he asks, "Do you know who my best friend is, Sweetie?"

She shakes her head, because really, how is she supposed to know that? "I didn't know you when you were five," she tries to explain to him.

At this, he chuckles. "No," he laughs again, "that's true. But my best friend when I was five is different than the best friend I have now."

That feeling in Katniss's stomach returns with his words. "You mean, he won't be my best friend anymore?" She begins to panic, "I'll have to find a new one? And he'll get a new one?!" She shrieks with worry.

He father shushes her, and looks like he's trying not to smile, which really isn't very nice. "Katniss, hold on, let me finish," he says as he turns her so she is completely listening to him. "Yes, my best friend when I was younger is different than my best friend now," Katniss opens her mouth to argue, "but," he continues, "that doesn't mean that'll happen to you and Peeta. You two can be together for forever if that's what you both want."

Katniss can feel herself relax a little at this. "So, who is your best friend?" She asks curiously.

Her dad looks both ways as if someone is listening to their conversation, and then leans in closely to whisper secretively, "Your mommy."

Her eyes widen at this. "But she's a girl," she tells him, just in case he forgot.

Again, he chuckles. "Oh, I know. And yet, she's still my best friend." He looks at her seriously when he says, "There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a girl best friend if you're a boy, or a boy best friend if you're a girl. Sometimes, it doesn't last forever, which is okay. And sometimes it does, which is okay too."

"And you get married if it lasts forever, like you and Mommy?" She questions.

"Uh, not necessarily," her father explains, "that could happen, but not always. You can be married, but you don't have to be. There's no rules to having a best friend, it's whatever works best."

Okay, she thinks, there's no rules to having a best friend.

She wraps her arms around his neck after realizing that she and Peeta can be best friends, if he still wants to be. "I love you Daddy," she whispers into is hair. She hopes he knows it means 'thank you' too.

He wraps her up in a bear hug and holds her tight as he whispers, "I love you too, Sweetheart. Just make things right with Peeta tomorrow, okay? Make it a good birthday for him."

She nods her head again and then hops off his lap to head back to her room where the crayon and wrapped pencils are waiting for her.

Peeta had written a note with her cupcake for her birthday, so she goes and gets a piece of paper from the computer printer, tip toeing past Prim's room again, and runs into her room to write her own note.

Or well, draw her own note.

The next day, it's Peeta's birthday.

Katniss packs up his gift and card, and she can feel the weight of them in her backpack as her father nudges her towards the entrance of the school. "Have a good day," he says as he bends down to kiss her on the forehead, "and tell Peeta I said 'happy birthday.'"

She takes the deepest breath she ever has before and marches her way into the school, determined to make it to the classroom without being distracted. She needs to make things right with Peeta, and she needs to do it now.

She's just outside the hallway when someone pulls on her hand and halts her in her steps. She whirls around to see Peeta letting go of her hand and looking like he was just crying. "Peeta?" She asks, because she was supposed to find him in the cubbies and fix everything, and now she's doesn't know what to do.

"Katniss, I'm so, so, so, so sorry. Whatever I did, I'm sorry. I promise I'll never do it again," he tells her as his blue eyes start getting watery.

She doesn't know what to say, so she throws her arms around him, his backpack making it a little harder, and holds on tight for a moment before letting go. "No Peeta, I'm sorry," she says when she pulls away, "Cato and Marvel were being mean, and then I was mean to you, and it was wrong. You're my bestest friend in the whole wide world," she says sincerely and hopes that he feels the same.

And though he looked like he was just about to cry, the smile he gives her when she says that makes her smile just as brightly. He nods his head seriously when he says, "Good, cause you're my best friend too. Forever and ever."

With that, her smile widens until she remembers what else she had to tell him. "And Happy Birthday!" She yells as she waves her hands in the air, and Peeta positively beams.

"You remembered," he says with awe.

Katniss scoffs, "Of course I remembered, here, I have your gift in my bag," she says as she slides her bag off of her back.

But Peeta shakes his head. "The only gift I want from you is to promise you'll always be my best friend. And," he adds, "that you'll share my daddy's cookies with me at lunch. They're too big to eat on my own."

Katniss looks up from her bag, and she just can't help the way she charges into him for another hug, one that he returns this time. "Deal."

But as he pulls away, he says, "No, you need to say it out loud."

So she does. "Peeta Mellark, I promise to always be your best friend. And to eat cookies with you at lunch." At his nod and smile, she also says, "But you're going to take my present too. I worked really hard to find you something that was the color thistle," she tells him sternly.

He giggles, "Okay, I can do that." She can see the delight in his eyes, and she can feel the excitement in her bones. She wants him to love his gift so much, because it's the color of her crayon, and she was actually able to do it. She did it.

"Close your eyes," she orders as she pulls the pencils and card out of the backpack. He rolls his eyes, but does it anyways.

"Now stick out your hand." He does, and she places the bundled pencils in his hand. "Now open your eyes," she says.

And when he does, he looks down at his gift and whispers in wonder, "thistle pencils."

She watches as he traces the side of one of them, and then pauses as his fingers trace over the letters her dad had written into them. He pulls one of the pencils out of the bundle to inspect it closer, and she stares at his fingers as they gently trace over his name.

When he looks up, she does too. "You got me thistle pencils with my name on them?" At her nod, he's the one to wrap his arms around her in a hug, whispering "thank you, thank you, thank you," into her ear.

She laughs as they let go for the third time, "Peeta, they're just pencils," she says, because she can feel her cheeks getting warm, but not like they did yesterday. She's happy.

Peeta's her best friend again and she's so very happy.

"They're not just pencils, they're thistle pencils. Thistle pencils with my name on them." She smiles as he can't help but look at his name on them again. "I knew you could do it, Katniss," he says with pride.

She doesn't know what to say to that, so she looks down at her hands to find that she's still holding his card. She flings it out in front of him so that he takes it. "I made you a card too, with the thistle crayon obviously. It's a picture," she explains shyly as he opens it.

Peeta's cheeks must hurt from the smiling he's doing, but he doesn't seem to care. He gazes at the picture she drew of him, with his curly hair, holding his pencils. She even wrote his name super tiny on every one of them. Then, above the picture of him, she had used the crayon to draw a banner that says Happy 6th Birthday from Your Best Friend.

"You should take art class," he tells her when he tears his eyes away from the purple drawing.

And knowing they're best friends, and that he loves his gift, and that she really was able to find a gift the color of a crayon, she knows that he's going to be her best friend forever. She wants them to be just like her mommy and daddy.

So she goes and presses her lips super quickly to his cheek, and stands back like she was a half second before that.

When he looks at her with his cheeks starting to turn pink, she says, "I'm going to marry you someday Peeta Mellark."

And then she grabs his hand and walks into the classroom so they can put their backpacks in their cubbies. She reaches into his backpack and grabs the brown paper bag that's always in there.

"Now," she holds the bag open in between them, absolutely giddy with happiness, "pick a crayon."

Who's ready for an age jump?

Also, I revamped my writing tumblr. There's not much there, but you can come say hi: andthelightbulbclicks.