Capitol Academy

Chapter 1

"YOU'RE GOING OUT WITH THE TEACHER'S DAUGHTER?!"

"She's only three years younger than me!" I snap back, but I know it's not going to help.

"Seventh graders and sophomores are not to be mixed!" Glimmer Jewels shrieks, her hands flying in the air.

Sometimes I don't even know why I talk to Glimmer.

I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Marvel Emerald, and I'm a sophomore at Capitol Academy, an elite school run by one man only… we call him "President Snow". Everybody here has been picked out of many by escorts President Snow sends out to the neighboring schools. They are sent out at a specific time every year, so we call this time of year the "Reaping". If you are chosen, they send you a letter, but it doesn't matter because they force you to attend anyway (A rumor is that one year, they actually had to drag one girl from her home screaming). Then every year, on the first day of school, a hall monitor—we call them "Peacekeepers" because they keep peace in the hallways—is at the doorway, registering the name of every student and giving each new student their "district number", which ranges from 1 to 12. This number actually doesn't really mean anything—it only helps the President and faculty keep track of all of the students, and it also gives you something to have in common with your new classmates. (They say it's random, but I'm pretty sure they give us certain numbers on purpose.) As for me, I'm part of District 1, and so is the junior who is currently freaking out beside me.

"You're going out with a seventh grader," Glimmer wheezes for the millionth time.

I roll my eyes and lean back on the metal lockers. Normally when Glimmer is freaking out like this, I usually walk away, but today, we're waiting for them to surface in the crowd.

Speak of the devil: Cato Vincent and Clove Lever, juniors, suddenly appear in the crowd, walking toward us.

Every single year, ever since Capitol Academy was founded, certain people from Districts 1, 2, and 4 always form a clique—doesn't matter what year you're in: freshmen, sophomores, etc.—and shut off everyone else. It never fails to happen. People always call those cliques the "Career cliques". There is always more than one Career clique in the school at one time, but the instant they're made, you can't join them or leave. As for me, I'm part of a Career clique (which was formed this year) made up of me, Glimmer, Cato, Clove, Cog (a boy from District 3), and Finn Wayve (a girl from District 4). Cog always has robotics club meetings in the morning, and Finn usually has swim practice, so mostly it's just me, Glimmer, Cato, and Clove that meet up in the mornings.

"Hey Glimmer, Marvel," Clove greets us smoothly, hanging on Cato's arm.

"What's wrong with Glimmer?" Cato jerks his head toward the spazzing Glimmer.

Luckily, Glimmer is too hyped out to answer, so I reply, "Nothing."

Cato opens his mouth as if to say something, but at that moment, Thresh Gullah from District 11 accidently bumps into him. Thresh has dark skin, black hair, and brown eyes (like her…), and he is huge. Seriously, he's as big as Cato, possibly even bigger, and that's saying something. Cato glares at him as he continues on, not bothering to apologize.

Cato has had an extreme hatred toward Thresh ever since last year; normally, this isn't worth mentioning, since Cato pretty much hates on everyone outside the Career clique, but his hatred toward Thresh is more extreme than any other. Last year, when Thresh was a sophomore and Clove and Cato were freshmen, Thresh accidentally (though people speculate it was on purpose) gave Clove a concussion. Even though she's better now, Cato, who is extremely protective of Clove for some reason, now hates Thresh with a vengeance.

RING! The hall begins to empty as people rush to their first classes.

"Does anyone have study hall?" I ask as we start down the hallway.

"I have bio," Clove groans, "and Cato has history."

"I have art," Glimmer says, recovered from her freak-out. "Marvel, you have way too many study halls."

"Not my fault I'm a sophomore," I grumble as we part ways.


My sky blue eyes dart up and down as I scour the bookshelves for A History of Panem.

"Come on, where are you, A History of Panem?" I grumble as I enter another aisle.

"Here." A hand reveals the thick book.

"Thanks—" I reach for the book before I notice who the hand belongs to: a girl with dark skin, brown eyes, and thick hair; the girl who likes me, and the feeling is mutual. "Rue! What the heck are you doing? Don't you have class right now?"

Rue Jonquil smiles. "Our teacher let us come to the library to check out a book for our book reports." Capitol Academy is split into two parts: the high school and the elementary school, which goes from K to eighth grade. Both parts share one huge library.

She adjusts the yellow headband she's wearing over her thick black hair. "You were looking for this book, right?"

"Yeah… how'd you know?"

She winks. "I saw your paper on the table earlier, labeled A History of Panem. I just connected one to the other- I'm smart that way." She taps her head.

"Thanks," I mumble. Primrose Everdeen, Rue's friend and classmate, peers into our aisle.

"Rue! Stop talking to Marvel and get your book already!" It's not a surprise that Primrose knows my name; after all her sister, Katniss Everdeen, a junior, hates me. She probably rants about me all the time. I think she disapproves of me going after her friend, Rue, but I think the main reason is because Rue got a stomachache from eating spoiled food once when I was with her, and Katniss thought I caused it, even though Rue's food was from home. Luckily, Prim is one of those people who doesn't believe in hating people until she meets them face-to-face, and she's doesn't think I'm that bad.

"Okay!" Rue waves at me before following Prim into another aisle.


"Please pass your A History of Panem papers to the front."

I pull out my hastily typed paper and hand it to Cog, who sits in front of me.

He glances at it for a moment. "Did you do this in study hall?" he whispers.

"Shut up and just pass it to the front."

Mr. Undersee, the history teacher, takes our papers as they reach the front. I heard that he used to be a mayor before coming to teach at Capitol Academy, and I kind of think he was forced to teach history.

"Well, I see all of you have turned in your papers, so let's continue… now that we've learned about the history of Panem, I guess we are going to go into the geography…"

See what I mean? It's like he's as bored with the subject as we are.

Exactly ninety minutes later, I am released from the torture of history. Cog and I walk out the doorway and find Finn waiting for us. We all have Algebra II next, so we walk together to our destination.

I don't like walking with Cog and Finn. They're those rare Careers that want to talk to other people other than the Careers in their clique, so they say hi to others in the hallway and talk about what so and so did. Most of the time, they talk to me about some random person I don't know, so my times with them are mostly made up of me nodding.

This time, they talk about Finnick Odair, the swim teacher. He supposedly just graduated from Capitol Academy, and as Finn puts it, is "hot stuff". He apparently is going out with Annie Cresta, one of the biology teachers here, who is supposedly "not right in the head". And that's basically all I hear before

"Did you hear about that little girl in the clinic?"

"Yeah, I feel really bad. Wasn't her name Rue or something…?"

I stop in the middle of the busy hallway. Cog glances back at me. "Marvel, what's-"

In one fluid motion, I lung for the two people that had passed me and grab the collar of the boy's shirt.

"What happened to Rue?!" I scream at the boy. "What happened to her?!"

I can hear my ragged breathing in the now silent hallway. I feel the pressure of many eyes on us, but I don't care. The boy, I think from District 5, gulps.

"Uh, I think she broke her hand or something…"

The boy's companion, a girl with red hair and a fox-like face, purses her lips. "She broke her wrist when someone pushed her over."

I'm off and running the second that last word drips from the girl's lips.


I practically mow down the clinic's door and find Thresh, Katniss, and Prim sitting in chairs next to a bed with Rue on it. Rue is staring listlessly at the ceiling. Dr. Everdeen, the part-time nurse who is also a doctor at the local hospital, glances up at me for a moment before tending to Rue's left arm. Prim is crying while Katniss pats her on the back and whispers soothing things. For a moment, I don't understand why Thresh is here; then I remember that he and Rue are almost like brother and sister.

"Where's Mr. Jonquil?" I ask stupidly.

Katniss glances up at me, almost too mentally busy to remember her grudge against me. "He's teaching right now, so he can't come yet."

Dr. Everdeen straightens up. "Rue's going to be fine… it's just a sprain." The tension in the room is cut, and Katniss is back to giving me her normal moody demeanor.

"She's in a fragile state, Marvel, so I wouldn't bother her," Katniss snaps, her head swiveling back to shoot me a glare.

"I wouldn't say that, Katniss," Dr. Everdeen says, giving me an apologetic look. "He can visit if he wants." Thresh stays silent, only leaning forward in his chair to take a closer glance at Rue. Prim wipes at her eyes.

"I was only pushing her forward in the crowded hallway…" she blubbered. "I didn't think I had pushed her that hard!"

Dr. Everdeen pats her daughter's head soothingly. "Next time, please don't do that. Now get along to class, everyone." As on cue, the bell rings.

Thresh slowly gets up and leaves after giving Rue one last long look. Katniss slowly brings Prim out of her seat and walks out after Thresh. After the door closes behind Katniss, I take a seat in Thresh's chair, the one closest to Rue. Dr. Everdeen gives me a look.

"I'll be on my way as soon as possible, ma'am. I just want to stay for a moment."

"Well, she's sleeping, so don't wake her up. I'm going to go tell Mr. Jonquil that his daughter's okay." Dr. Everdeen washes her hands in the bathroom nearby and walks out the door, closing it behind her.

Rue gives me a weak smile. "Don't you have class?"

I shake my head. "You're more important. What happened?"

Rue turns her gaze back to the ceiling. "Well, Prim and I were walking back to class, and it was really crowded in the hallway, and we were in a hurry to get back to Ms. Trinket's class from the bathroom, and Prim pushed me to tell me to hurry up, but then I tripped and I fell…" She suddenly turns her head to face me. "But it wasn't her fault," she says hurriedly.

"I believe you," I say. A moment passes before she speaks up again.

"You can go to class, Marvel. I'll be fine." But the pain in her voice tells me she wants me to stay. She knows I really can't stay any longer. My mind makes a fast decision, and I shake my head.

"No way, of course I'll stay with you. How much could I miss in Algebra II?" I bow my head for a moment before I suddenly say something I've never said before to anyone: "Because my favorite place to be is with you."

Not only does this surprise me, it surprises Rue as well, because she looks at me with her mouth open. She knows as well as I do that I never say things like that, nor do I like saying so in the first place. I can feel my face heating up, but Rue finally says, "Same with me."

She holds out her right hand to me, and I take it slowly. I bring it up to my lips, and Rue giggles as I lightly kiss her fingers. "Thank you," she whispers after a moment. I smile sheepishly.

Dr. Everdeen seems to know to stay away, because she doesn't come back until after the bell has rung, and doesn't seem surprised to see me still sitting next to Rue, still holding her hand.

Note from the author: Surprisingly, I think this is actually the first fic of putting the tributes in high school, but I'm pretty sure I'm wrong. (If there is actually someone else who's written something like this, then rest assured I did not copy from them) This chapter actually took me a while to write because I didn't know what to make happen to Rue, so I ended up writing Ch. 2 and 3 before finishing this. *sob* What do you think of the background story and the last names? I'm still not happy with the ending, but it's all I can come up with for now.