Saturday, May 8th.

Dear Mrs. Coin,

We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong. What we did was wrong. But we think you're crazy for making us write this essay telling you who we think we are.

What do you care?

You see us as you want to see us; in the most simplest terms, the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Correct? That's they way we saw each other at 7 o'clock this morning.

We were brainwashed.

Saturday detention is a joke. I already spend too much time in this indoctrinating prison, and I don't want to waste my Saturday in the library. The sun is just creeping up over the edge of the school as I near it - Panem High School, home of the Mockingjays. The only school I know of whose mascot is a big dumb bird. Not even a predatory bird like an eagle or a vulture. Nope, it's a mockingjay. A bird that is a step above a hummingbird in terms of beauty and a step down in terms of usefulness.

My boots clop against the gravel of the street, and over my headphones I can hear the squeal of tires as someone just avoids hitting me. Without looking, I flip the car off and continue over the lawn. Grass squishes beneath my feet as I get closer to my cell for the next nine hours. I tug my flannel a little tighter around my torso, regretting not having worn my leather jacket over it. The breeze moves in and out of the gaping holes in my jeans and only relents as I get into the building. I flick my cigarette back behind me and the large, imposing doors slam shut.

Once I get to the library, just shy of 7am, it's no surprise to me that Volts is already here because he's an insufferable nerd. He probably slept here last night. His name is actually Beetee Latier but I've called him Volts since he accidentally shocked himself with an outlet at his house freshman year and came to school with his curly black hair standing straight on end. Since then he's kept his hair cut short to his head, but the nickname stuck. He's got thick Coke bottle glasses that make his eyes as wide as the ones in the anime he reads, that I enjoy to steal and report to the administration anonymously as porn.

I don't think he knows it's me that does it. But frankly, I don't care.

The jock's already here, too. Mr. Future Prom King, Finnick Odair. He's ridiculously handsome with his chiseled jaw, perfectly coiffed golden hair and muscled physique. He gets his ass slapped by a lot of different types of jocks, but he excels at swimming. Rumor has it he got a full ride scholarship to the University of Florida - the greatest men's swim team in the country. Goody for him. Chain yourself to another educational institution. Sheep.

On the other side of the room, in the desk behind Volts, I see Annie Cresta, a red-haired girl with wide, sea-green eyes and a nervous disposition. I don't know what she did to get detention, but it was probably something crazy. She's a little off. The kind of "off" where even I don't fuck with her. Maybe it's sympathy. Maybe it's self-preservation because in this country, kids who get bullied take guns to school. That's not how I'm going down, that's for sure. Her big "secret" is a while back that she killed a guy and that's why she transferred to our school a few years ago. But I don't put too much stock in secrets. People who start that shit are just motormouths who are so bored with their lives that they invent things to talk about so they don't have to pause and reflect on how pointless their existence is. I should know, there are a bunch of rumors about me. Some true, some not. I prefer to neither confirm nor deny, and instead let everyone go fuck themselves.

To my great surprise, Katniss Everdeen is sitting in the front row of the desks, a chair away from Odair. For whatever reason, Katniss is incredibly well-liked among the student population, though she maintains an aura of indifference toward her popularity. Her clique includes the gossipy queens of the school, though I'm not sure I've ever seen Everdeen smile, especially in their presence. She certainly doesn't get into trouble, though. It stops me in my tracks right next to her desk. She's trying to stare straight ahead and not look up at me, so I slam my palm on her desk and she startles. "Katniss Everdeen. What did you do to get detention, hm? Blow your trig teacher so he'll pass you?"

Her eyes flame with anger and she looks up, squinting at me in annoyance. "Fuck off, Johanna."

"If you're having trouble in trigonometry, I could tutor you," Beetee offers, giving Katniss a small smile that she half-heartedly returns. Queens like Katniss have no time for nerds like Beetee Latier, even if she pretends she isn't one of them.

I stare him down until he reverts his attention back to his desk and I return my eyes to Katniss. "Saucy," I smirk, waggling my eyebrows at her. "Better watch that pretty mouth. It might get you into trouble. Again." I saunter to the last desk in the last row, planting myself in the plastic chair they've provided for us and putting my backpack on the ground. On cue, Assistant Principal Alma Coin walks into the room. She's an attractive older woman with pin-straight gray hair and green-tinted hazel eyes that scrutinize everything with every scan around the room. We've spent a lot of time together over the last four years of my time here. Not sure why, but I seem to attract trouble. Go figure.

"Well, here we are." She clasps her hands in front of her sensible lady power-suit. "Congratulations on being on time -"

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Katniss interrupts, raising her hand. Coin narrows her eyes at her. "I don't think I belong here. I think there was a mistake."

Coin doesn't even bother responding, instead turning her attention to us as she walks down the aisle between the two rows of desks. "You have exactly eight hours and fifty-four minutes to think about why you're here. To ponder the error of your ways." Katniss turns to watch Coin as she makes her slow walk and I catch her eye. I make a gesture with my fist to my mouth, protruding my cheek with my tongue, sucking some imaginary dick. Katniss sneers at me and lifts her eyes back to Coin. "You may not talk. You will not move from the seats you've chosen. And you -" She jerks the chair I've put underneath my feet and my boots fall to the floor. "Will not sleep."

Coin turns to the rest of the group and claps her hands together once. "Wonderful. Your assignment here is to write a one-thousand word essay on the paper provided about who you think you are. Describe yourself to me. Be creative." She looks down at Annie Cresta's desk, where the timid girl has already drawn a rather large octopus woman on her paper. "Not that creative." She sighs and when she reaches the front of the library, she points out the door. "My office is right across the hall. If there is any monkey business going on, I will hear you."

"Is this going to be graded?" Beetee asks, nervously pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

Coin shakes her head, her curtain of hair waving. "No, Mr. Latier. But it will determine whether or not you'll be back here for a repeat performance next Saturday." She scans the room again and her eyes fall to me. "And when I say essay, I mean real words. Not the same word one thousand times. Is that clear, Mason?"

I wink at her. "Crystal."

"Are there any questions?"

No one says a word. Odair has been staring down as his desk angrily this whole time. Must be that pent up steroid aggression. Cresta's lost in her world again and Katniss is staring straight ahead. I raise my hand. "I got a question."

"Yes, Miss Mason?"

"When you walk, do you have to shove the stick back up your ass?" I lean on the desk and try to gesture with my hands. "I mean, does it wiggle out when you walk and you gotta push it back in?"

Coin, to her credit, doesn't even flinch at my words. I get a small giggle out of Finnick, though. "I'll answer that question next Saturday, Miss Mason." I sink back into my seat. Well, fuck. She picks up on my despondent expression and smirks at me. "Mess with the kitty, Miss Mason, and you get the claws."

Once she's left the room everyone sort of lets out a breath of relief. I prop my feet back up on the empty chair and pick up the pencil they provided us to write our precious essay. I have no intention of writing this dumb essay, so I begin chewing the little metal band around the eraser. Next to me I hear a loud snap and everyone turns to look at me.

"Not me," I say, putting my hands up. "It was Red." Annie removes her hand from her mouth and places her fingers in her lap. "Keep eating your hand and you won't be hungry for lunch." She glares at me and spits the nail she was chewing on the ground at my feet. I stand up abruptly and she flinches, but a grin spreads across my face. "You know, I've seen you before." She looks familiar, other than my seeing her around school. She's got flame red hair that's all bedraggled around her face, to the point where you can barely see her eyes. For some reason, though, I'm sure I've seen her outside of school.

Katniss turns back around and twirls her pencil around her fingers. I tug my lower lip between my teeth and crumple my essay paper. With as much precision as possible, I launch the paper ball at her. Unfortunately it sails over her head, but it does grab her attention. She glares at me over her shoulder, then scowls and returns to staring ahead quietly.

"What if we have to pee?" I ask suddenly, and everyone but Katniss turns around. "We'll have to establish a bathroom for ourselves." I get up from my seat and make my way toward Katniss's desk. "I nominate the desk of the prom king and queen. Any objections?"

"Sit down, Johanna," Finnick advises me tiredly. I glare at him. In another lifetime, we were friends. Before he became a jock and I became ...whatever I am. But that was long ago and he doesn't have the right to boss me around.

"Or what, Flipper? You'll splash me to death?" I taunt, rolling my eyes at him.

"He's right, just sit down. You'll get us in more trouble," Katniss pipes up.

My lips turn upward and I look down at her. "Oh, you've got something to say? You're gonna make me sit down, hm?" I cock my head to the side. "Not afraid I'll kill you today?"

"Like I couldn't take you," she answers immediately. Her answer surprises us both and I raise my eyebrows.

"Is that right?" I drawl, sitting on the edge of her desk. I lean down on my palm and lean toward her. "You wanna take me, prom queen?" In spite of her bravado a light blush comes across the tops of her cheeks. It makes me notice the faint smattering of freckles that dot her olive skin.

"You wish," she snarks back.

"O-ho-hoo, feisty. You know you're pretty sexy when you're angry, princess." I purr at her and she rolls her eyes. I look behind her at Beetee. "Hey, homeboy?" Beetee raises his eyes over his glasses to look at me. "What do you say we close that door? Then we can really see if Katniss can take me."

"Hey," Finnick calls. I choose to ignore him and stare down at Katniss, who's meeting my gaze forcefully. I wasn't just blowing hot air - she really is very attractive when she's mad. It's sort of frustrating. "Hey!"

"What?" I shout at him, ripping my eyes away from Katniss's to look at Finnick.

"Just leave her alone, all right?"

I roll my eyes at his pathetic attempt at chivalry. "What did you do to get in here, huh? Forget to wash your jock strap?"

"Guys," Beetee butts in from the other side of the room. "I think we should just put our heads down and do our paper."

Finnick cocks an eyebrow and turns in his seat to face Beetee. "Just because you live in here doesn't mean you're in charge, so shut up."

"She's just trying to get a rise out of you," Katniss advises to Finnick, who turns back in his seat and nods. His strong jaw is still set in anger but he relaxes somewhat inside his oversized varsity jacket. "Just ignore her."

"Sweetheart," I condescend, patting the space in front of Katniss. "You couldn't ignore me if you tried." I swing my legs off the desk and walk back to my chair, sitting down and leaning on my forearms. "So!" I call into the room, but no one turns around. Well, Annie is looking at me but I'm not trying to get her attention. "So, you guys like, boyfriend and girlfriend?" I pout, looking at the backs of their heads. "Goin' steady? Or maybe just plain fucking?" Neither of them turn, so I smirk and continue. "C'mon, Gilligan, level with me. Every so often do you take the princess on your boat and give it to her in the poop deck?"

"Enough!" Finnick yells, turning around to face me in a rage. "Knock it off!"

"Chill out. I'm not the one who put you in detention, remember? Remember who the real enemy is, Odair."

"Hey!" Coin calls from across the hall and everyone freezes in place. I don't hear the click-clack of high heels so I assume she's still gonna stew in her office for a while. Maybe work on dislodging the stick in her ass.

Katniss and Finnick glare at me, Beetee is trying to avoid my gaze, and I think Annie is actually giggling a little. I'm glad someone is enjoying this show other than me. If I've gotta be stuck in detention all Saturday, then I wanna have a little bit of fun. I get up and walk to Katniss, then hoist myself up on the banister next to her and Finnick. "What do you say we close that door, hm? We can't have any fun with her barking in here."

"The door is supposed to stay open," Beetee reminds me.

"Yeah, and how about you just shut up?" Finnick adds, looking up at me. "There are four other people in this room, you know."

I place my hand on my chest. "Oh my. The fish boy can count." I snap my fingers. "I knew you had to be smart to be a swimmer."

Finnick scoffs. "Like you're one to talk." He levels his sea-foam green eyes at me. "What have you done?" Katniss snorts in agreement and I cock my head and continue to bore my eyes into Finnick's. "You know, Johanna, you don't even matter. You could just disappear one day and nobody at this school would even notice."

I divert my eyes to Annie, who has stopped laughing and is watching me intently. My gaze finds Fininck's again and I contort my mouth into a grin. "I should join the swim team then, hm?" Katniss chuckles softly. "Student Council? Chess League?"

"Nah, none of them would take you," Finnick objects, shaking his blond hair.

I pout. "I'm wounded."

Somewhere in the room Beetee pipes up. "I'm in the math club."

Katniss narrows her eyes at me. "You know what I think?"

"Very little and not very often?" I counter.

"I think you're afraid." I place my tongue over my teeth and widen my eyes, motioning for her to continue. "You're a coward. You're afraid they'll reject you."

"Oh my god," I feign excitement, placing my hand on my cheek. "You understand me so completely." I jump off the banister next to her, startling her slightly. "Has it ever fuckin' occurred to you that the reason I'm not in all these activity clubs is because those of you that are, are fucking assholes?"

Katniss rolls her eyes at me. "How would you know? You don't know any of us."

"I'm in the Physics club," Beetee murmurs.

My eyes are burning into Katniss's gray ones, but I look over her head at Beetee. "What are you babbling about, Volts?"

"I was saying that I'm in the Math Club, the Physics Club and the Latin Club." Beetee shrugs his shoulders, spinning his pencil in his hands.

I cock my head to the side and plant both my palms on the desk next to Katniss. "Hey. Cherry." Katniss flares her nostrils at this nickname but looks at me. "Are you in the Physics Club?"

"No, that's an academic club," she dismisses. I chuckle at her answer and she sighs. "There are different types of clubs," she clarifies defensively.

"Oh?" I look back over at Beetee. "I'm sure the dork doesn't see it that way. I'm sure he thinks all the clubs are the same. Hey Volts." Beetee gazes up at me. "What do you do in your Physics Club?"

He adjusts his glasses. "Well, we um. We talk about Physics. Properties of Physics. New developments ...in, um, Physics."

I grin. "So it's a social thing. Demented and pathetic, but social."

"I-I guess you could say it's a social situation. We, um, we talk. There are other kids in the group. And at the end of the year we have a big party at the Hilton."

"Yeah?" I sit on the edge of Katniss's desk, folding my knee in front of me, and right in front of her. "You party it up? Get a little drunk? Hit on the other nerd chicks?" I jerk back and forth on the desk, thrusting. "Fuck 'em 'til they can't find the square root of 135, hm?"

Beetee shakes his head. "There's no square root of 135. Well, not a clean number. It's 11 and change." My disinterested and slightly annoyed gaze makes him stop. "No, we don't. We don't party like that. We get dressed up but we don't get drunk or high. My cousin Wiress, she once got high. She started eating weird foods, couldn't finish her sentences. Started to feel like she didn't belong anywhere."

"Kind of like you," Katniss interjects smugly, tilting her head to me. Just the very corner of my mouth upturns at her.

Finnick adjusts himself in his seat. "Look Coin's gonna come back any minute now. I've got a meet next Saturday and I'm not gonna miss it because of you guys. So just sit down and shut up."

"Oh my stars, wouldn't want to miss a big meet! Do you like to see the other guys' big meat, Finnick? Is that why you like swimming? The tight Speedos. The hairless chests. See their junk shrivel all tiny when it gets wet and cold?" I lick my lips and wiggle my eyebrows at him.

"What would you know about it, hm? You've never competed at anything in your life," he adds menacingly, gripping his fist on the desk.

I hum in thought. "Not true, if we're competing to see who gives the least amount of fucks about you in this room, I win." I slide off the edge of the desk and walk around until I'm in front of Finnick. "Because the thing is, prom king, I don't care that no one likes me. You do. She does."

"No I don't," Katniss scoffs.

I roll my eyes. "Oh please. Did you wake up and put on all the make-up for Coin? No, you did it because you wanted to look good. Why do you want to look good? To impress other people. Why do you want to impress other people? Because you want them to like you. Ergo, you care what people think."

"So do you," she protests, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I certainly don't."

"Yes you do," she insists. "You wouldn't be doing all this now if you didn't want us to think you were some kind of hard-ass. But instead, you just look like an asshole. So congratulations, everyone in the room hates you. You got what you wanted. Now you can sit down and shut the fuck up."

My jaw clenches and I move closer to Katniss in the most predatory way I can. I lean forward and grasp her necklace in my hand. It's a gold rope with a little medallion on the end. The symbol of our school, the mockingjay. "You think you know me, rich kid? You think you can sit here with your thousand dollar leather jacket and pure gold fucking necklace that your daddy bought you and tell me what I'm like? What I think?" I get closer to her face. "You wouldn't be able to live for a minute in my head."

I toss her necklace and it bounces against her shirt and rests backward. This door needs to be closed because now that I've really gotten under their skin, I wanna pry open these little fuckers. With a little finesse I manage to undo one of the pins that keeps the door ajar and it slams shut behind me.

"Johanna, that's school property. You shouldn't be messing with it." Beetee looks at me warily from his seat and I ignore him as I return to mine.

"Fix it," Finnick presses, looking between me and the shut door. "Johanna that's not funny, just fix it."

"Just fucking relax, preppy. God it's like you weren't born with just a silver spoon in your mouth. They also shoved it right up your ass."

The Assistant Principal storms in the room and the door closes loudly behind her. "Who closed the damn door?" she demands, standing in the front of the room with her hands on her hips. She narrows her eyes at Finnick. "Mr. Odair, who closed the door?"

"It just shut, ma'am," Finnick explains. "We were just sitting here."

"How would we know?" I support from the back of the room. "We're all sitting here like you told us to."

"Miss Everdeen?"

Is she gonna play? Let's see if she's got it in her. Let's see if she can remember who the enemy is. Katniss shrugs her shoulders. "We didn't get up, the door just closed." To my surprise, she does. Guess she's a little brighter than I thought.

"I think maybe there's a screw loose," I add sagely with a nod. "You should get that checked out."

Coin's heels make little noise against the carpet as she moves forward. "Miss Cresta?" Annie makes a weird squeak and plants her face on the paper she drew on, hiding herself.

"She doesn't speak, ma'am." Coin narrows her eyes at me.

"Give me the screw, Mason." I chuckle at the unintended double entendre and by the firm line Coin's mouth has moved into, I can tell she is not pleased. If there's one thing a woman in power does not appreciate, it's being undermined. Unfortunately for her, she makes it so fucking easy. Her holds her palm flat out toward me. "Give it to me, Mason."

I mean, come on. It's like she wants me to take it the wrong way. "Oh I'd love to Alma, but the administration frowns upon that kind of thing, don't they?" The room erupts in laughter and Assistant Principal Alma Coin is not happy with me. What else is new?

"The library is equipped with two fire exits," Beetee informs. "You can leave that door closed and we can still exit safely, should there be a fire."

Coin nods curtly at him and I flash Beetee an appreciative smile, which he returns with a small nod. "You're not fooling anybody, Mason. The next screw that falls out is gonna be you."

The older woman stamps toward the exit in an angry huff. "Fuck you," I mumble under my breath. Coin stops in her tracks and turns around, leveling her eyes at me.

"What was that?"

"I said fuck. You," I repeat, louder. Katniss and Finnick turn around to face me, their expressions of disbelief identical.

"That's another Saturday for you."

"Oh come on."

"That's another one. You wanna keep doing this, Mason?"

"Sure why not?" I counter hotly. "Let's add another one. Any more than that and I'll have to check my calendar. I'd check my phone but since we were instructed to leave them home, I am unfortunately without my date book."

"That's another! Let's just keep going. Instead of going to prison like you should, you'll be here."

"Great."

"That's another. I'm doing society a favor."

"With that haircut, I'd say you're doing everyone a disservice. Especially your cheekbones."

"That's another."

"You think I give a shit?" I look down and Katniss is mouthing for me to stop. What the hell does she care? It's enough, though, to make me stop. At least for now.

"That's another." I frown at her sourly. "You through?"

"How many is that?" I ask, tilting my head to the side.

"Seven," Beetee says, looking nervously between us. "Seven including the one from earlier when Johanna asked about the stick up... the stick..."

"Make it eight," Coin replies coolly.

"Hey, it was seven!" I protest.

She smiles sweetly at me. "It's eight now, Mason. Two months. I've got you for two whole months."

"I'm really looking forward to it," I reply glumly.

"You know Mason, you should be looking forward to it. Consider it an opportunity to think about why you want everyone to believe you don't care. You ought to spend a little more time actually doing something with your potential rather than wasting it being a smart-ass." She eyes the rest of the room. "Don't be a bad influence in these kids, okay? These are good kids. Not rebels without a fucking clue."

She whirls around and makes her grand exit. I grumble to myself, stewing in my own anger. Then I stand on my chair, then on to my desk. "Fuck you!" I scream, tilting my head up toward the ceiling. "Wouldn't want that, would we? Whole class in rebellion against this fascist fucking school? You know, you can't put everybody in here!" My chest pants in anger and frustration and I realize the other four pairs of eyes are on me. I leap down from the table and storm off toward the second level of the library.

There's a nice spot on the second floor of the library with some awful books that I take a seat in for some solitude. It feels like about four days go by until I hear some footsteps approaching my self-given cell. It's probably less than an hour. "Approach with caution."

Katniss appears at the end of the small aisle, leaning against the bookshelf and chuckling. "Or you'll what? Yell at me like you did to Coin?" she asks amusedly. She nods down at the book in my lap. "Are you up here reading?" I'm not sure if I'm more offended at the surprise in her voice, or the fact that she's partially correct in being both surprised and skeptical.

"No," I reply, tearing one of the pages out and letting it fall slowly onto the pile of other pages I've ripped out. Katniss frowns at my actions, shaking her head. "Lord Berrin doesn't really do it for me."

"Lord Byron," Katniss pronounces, rolling her eyes. She eyes the book. "The Corsair. You should actually read that. I think you'd find you have a lot in common with a Byronic hero."

"A moronic hero? Are you trying to insult me, Everdeen?" I toss the book on the carpet and stand up, leaning against the back wall. "I can't believe you even find time to read this junk between your spa appointments and, like, going to the mall with like, your friends." I toss my hair for good measure. She flips me the bird and I chuckle. "Such an obscene gesture from a pristine little girl."

"I'm not that pristine," Katniss denies, clenching her teeth.

"Oh no?" I laugh. "I'd be willing to bet a million dollars that you're a virgin, Everdeen." I begin crossing the aisle toward her, stepping over the ripped out pages of the book. "All those other girls you run with, they're the sluts. But not you."

"You don't know anything about me. Or my friends."

I tilt my head and continue toward her. "I know that you're a virgin. Have you ever even kissed a boy on the mouth?" She lowers her gaze. "A girl?" She shoots daggers at me. "Don't look at me like that. I don't know what goes on at your little preppy sleepovers." I step closer toward her. "Ever been felt up? Over your bra, under your blouse, kicking your shoes off, hoping to God that your parents don't walk in?"

"Shut up," she whispers. I plant my arm on her left side on the bookshelf so she can't escape the aisle and lean in toward her.

"Oh come on. You can tell me. You ever get hot and heavy? Chests heaving, some jock's fumbling hands desperately trying to undo the button on your jeans? Hot breath panting and moaning into your ear?" I place my forefinger on her sternum and drag it straight down her stomach over her shirt and between the opened zipper of her leather jacket. "Fingers pressing into your hot skin, scratching, clawing until finally the hand gets to that one spot where you can just feel the ache?"

Just as I'm about to reach the button of her jeans she swats my hand away angrily. She pushes me forward and into the other bookshelf, trembling with unspent anger. Oh I like feisty Katniss Everdeen. This I can work with. "You don't have to be such an asshole, you know." She shakes her head and walks away from me, clamoring down the stairs back to the first floor of the library.

Well I can't play with her if she's going to keep walking away from me. But I do like a chase.

Around noon Coin comes in to announce it's lunchtime. I raise my eyebrows at her. "We're gonna eat in here?"

"No, Mason, I thought I'd take you all to the River Palm for some steaks." I roll my eyes at her sarcasm. "You." She points at Finnick and flicks her finger. "And you! Hey! In the back! Wake up!" Annie looks up, puffing air out of her mouth to push hair away from her face. "You too. Come with me. We'll get sodas from the teacher's lounge. Let's go."

The three of them vacate the library, leaving me with Volts and Katniss. "Hey Volts," I call, irritated by the insane silence. "You a virgin, Volts?"

Beetee mumbles nervously, unable to look over at me. "I fail to see how that's relevant."

"It's not," I shrug. "Humor me. It's okay, Katniss is a virgin too."

Katniss loudly grumbles and turns around in her chair. "Give it up, Johanna."

"You give it up. It's not a red diamond you got up your skirt." Beetee snickers and I look over at him. "Who are you to laugh? You can't even find some desperate dork to get your dick wet?"

"It's fine to be a virgin," Katniss responds, her gray eyes moving to Beetee. "It's fine to be whatever you want. And it's certainly nobody else's business." Beetee and Katniss share a smile and I roll my eyes high in my head and lean back in my chair, awaiting my precious ration of soda.

They return about twenty minutes later with all of our drinks and place them on the first desk. I move up between where Finnick and Katniss are sitting, spin the chair around, and plant myself between them. I lob a soda over my shoulder to Annie, who catches it and returns to making her lunch. Katniss pulls out a single tray from a brown paper bag. "What's that?"

She looks at me. "Sushi."

"Sushi," I repeat.

"Yes. Raw fish, seaweed and rice."

There's a long pause as I look toward Finnick, who shrugs. I'm sure he's eaten his fair share of fish. Seems cannibalistic, but it's probably true. "You're gonna eat raw fish but you won't put someone's tongue in your mouth?"

Katniss sighs exasperatedly. "Can I eat?"

I shrug. "I don't know. Give it a try," I say warily with a grin. She chuckles and turns back to her lunch, withdrawing a pair of chopsticks from within her bag. Next to her Finnick takes out a sandwich, a banana, a bag of chips, a bag of cookies, another sandwich, an apple, and a half a pint of milk. "Wow."

"Problem?" I shake my head. Finnick sighs and returns to his luxurious spread of a lunch.

"Do you want some?" Katniss offers, holding out a roll of sushi between her chopsticks.

I eye the roll for a moment, then return my gaze to hers. "No, that's not the kinda fish I'm accustomed to eating. I like my fish ...warm."

A grin spreads out on my features as I watch the slow realization of my entendre fill Katniss's eyes. She barely stifles a chuckle. "You're nauseating."

I saunter across the room to Volts and snatch his bag from over his head and sit in the seat next to him. From within his perfectly creased brown bag I take out a small thermos. "Milk?"

"Soup."

"Ah. A PB&J with the crusts cut off. Some apple juice. And a healthy snack. Wow. Well Volts, this is quite a nutritious lunch. All the food groups are well-represented." Katniss and Finnick giggle at me and I smirk. "Did your mom marry Mr. Rogers?"

"Mr. Latier," he corrects, with just the hint of a smile.

I get up from my seat and waltz to the center of the room. "For your viewing pleasure, lunch and a show. A short production called 'Life at the Latiers.'" I clear my throat and shake out my hands, cracking my neck. My voice drops. "'Hey son!'" I raise it comically high. "'Yes dad?' 'How would you like to go fishing this weekend?' 'Gee, Dad. That'd be swell. But aw nuts, I have homework.' 'That's okay, Son. You can do it on the boat!'" I cock my head to the side and look at Beetee. "Warm?"

"Not even close," he murmurs, turning back to his lunch. The smiles on the faces of everyone else seem to fade as well. I sit back down in my seat in the back of the room.

"What about you?" Finnick inquires. "What about your family?"

I scoff. "My family? Oh that's easy." I get back up and stretch out my limbs. Again I intone the deep, booming voice of my father. "'You dumb, worthless, freeloading, piece of shit whore.'" I flip my hair and mock my mother. "'You forgot lazy and disrespectful.' 'SHUT UP WOMAN, go make me a goddamn turkey pot pie.'" I swing my hand up, knocking my imaginary mother back into the wall. "'Oh? What about you, Dad?'" I ask in my voice. "'You shut up.' 'No, Dad, what about you?' 'Shut up!' 'NO, Dad. What. About. You?'" I scream, then imitate getting punched in the face. The rage of my pantomime courses through me and I place my hands on the back of my chair, gripping it. The plastic groans in protest as I dig my nails into it.

"Is that for real?" Beetee asks, sipping from his juice box and looking at me earnestly.

"You wanna come over sometime?"

Finnick shakes his head. "I don't believe it. I don't believe you." My eyes darken dangerously as I stare at him. "I think it just goes with your image."

"You don't believe me?" I ask.

"Did I stutter?"

I laugh harshly and walk slowly over toward him. I roll up the right sleeve of my flannel and reveal a long, jagged scar down my forearm. "You believe this?" I withdraw my switchblade from my back pocket and slam it through Finnick's banana, pinning it to the wooden table. "Looks about the right size for this switchblade, huh? See this is what happens in my house when you leave sawdust on the floor of the garage. Some asshole breaks into your room, takes your switchblade, and uses it on you. Did. I. Stutter?" I spit into his face. My eyes catch Katniss's for a fleeting moment before she looks down at her feet.

Snatching my switchblade I stalk off toward the back of the library. A pile of reference books sit atop a computer desk in front a set of stairs. I swipe all the books off with my hands, tossing them all on to the floor. My boot stomps against the top of the desk and I hoist myself up, climbing the staircase on the side. I slip my legs in between the stairs and sit there, resting my forehead against the edge of the step.

Katniss follows close on my heels as she and the rest of the group try to silently traverse the hallways. Coin stepped out and though I don't know where she went, surely it'll give me enough time to get to my locker. "What do you have in there?"

"I told you, brainless," I whisper exasperatedly. "Two things that will liven this place up."

"How do you know where Principal Coin went?" she asks urgently.

"I don't."

"Then how do you know when she'll be back?"

"I don't." I grin at her. "Being bad feels pretty good, huh?" She doesn't respond but by the cat who ate the canary grin she has, I'd say she's not exactly hating it. We finally reach my locker where I undo the padlock and remove a small radio from my locker and I hand it to Katniss. Then, inside a few paper bags, a small baggie of weed.

"Drugs," Beetee says blandly. "We came here for drugs."

I close my locker and peek down the hallway to begin our journey back. "Johanna that's not funny. Put it back." I ignore Finnick's warning as I lead the group back toward the library.

We round the next corner and I spot Coin leaning over the water fountain, gargling into it. "Shit," I whisper, pointing down the hallway. "Go, go!" Everyone begins scampering the other way as we try to take the back way around to get to the library. I can hear the clicking of Coin's heels and we all stutter to a stop and run in the opposite direction, attempting to avoid detection.

"The activities hall," Finnick says confidently.

"No, the cafeteria," I counter annoyedly. Finnick hesitates. "I've done my fair share of sneaking around."

"Yeah and look where it got you. We're done listening to you." Finnick doesn't wait for anyone to agree and takes off toward the activities hall. Beetee follows suit, then Katniss, begrudgingly. Annie looks at me and shrugs her shoulders, eyes widened in alarm. I roll my eyes and follow them down the abandoned hallway. We get to the activities hall and, surprise surprise, the gate is down, blocking us access of cutting through. "Shit."

"Great job, Flipper," I commend with an eye roll.

"Why didn't you just listen to Jo?" Katniss asks, nudging Finnick in the shoulder. Jo? I don't think I told her she could call me that. But it sounds kind of adorable and I don't correct her.

Coin's telltale high heels come clacking toward us and everyone stares at each other in panic. I grab Beetee and shove the bag of weed down the front of his pants. "Go cut back through the cafeteria. She can't catch us all." Everyone takes off toward the cafeteria except for Katniss, who looks anxiously at me. "What, Everdeen? Just go."

She shakes her head and poorly hides a small smile. "Byronic hero." With that she takes off toward the rest of them, and I enter the nearby gymnasium. From the rack set up near the wall I grab a basketball and begin loudly dribbling, attempting terrible shots from around the court.

The push door opens as I take another shot, actually getting it in the net for once. "Miss Mason!" Coin barks, her hands on her hips and her normally pale skin flush. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"Practicing. I'm hoping if I nail a couple of these free throws, they'll let me on the team." I run up and bounce the ball against the backboard, sinking it in the net once more. I dribble away from her, passing the ball through my legs. "Maybe catch me a scholarship."

"Mason, give me the ball." I pretend to shoot it at her quickly and she flinches. I smirk and put the ball on the ground, rolling it toward her. "Let's go." She leads me out the doorway and back to the library, manhandling me by the collar of my shirt.

"Get your fucking hands off me," I protest, knocking her arm away.

"Collect your things, Mason," she instructs coldly. She looks to everyone else, who are innocently sitting at their desks. "You won't be entertained by Miss Mason any longer. Since she cannot comply with the rules of detention, you will all be without her services for the day."

"Boo hoo," I pout, picking up my bag off the floor.

"Everything's a big joke to you, huh Mason?" Coin asks, crossing her arms over her chest. "That fire alarm you pulled yesterday? That was really funny to you, huh? False alarms are funny? What if your fami-" She cuts herself off and my eyes narrow. "What if your home was on fire? Your bedroom, all your heavy metal CDs and whatnot?"

I shrug. "If the house was on fire, I'd lock my parents in and hand out marshmallows to the neighbors."

The four of them snicker at my morbid joke and I smirk up at Coin. "Oh, you all think this is funny? Why don't you check back on Johanna in five years, hm? When she's a strung out junkie turning tricks on the corner to feed her addiction. Then we'll see how funny she is." My lips set into a firm line and Coin's thin lips turn upward. "What, Mason, you gonna cry? Let's go."

I pluck my sunglasses out of the pocket of my flannel and put them in front of Finnick. "Better hallway vision." Coin leads me out of the library and down the hallway toward an unmarked door. She shoves me inside the room and as she clicks on the overhead light with a small chain, I realize we're in the janitor's closet. "The fuck is this?"

"This is the last time, Mason, that I let you embarrass me in front of those kids." I sit down on top of an abandoned desk and look up at her. She removes her blazer and places it on the edge of some other piece of furniture they stored in here. "I am well paid, and I own a house, and I have a family. I am not going to jeopardize that over some little shit who thinks she's a smartass. But when this is over? After you graduate?"

She trails off and I quirk my eyebrow. "Are you threatening me?" I ask, unable to hide my disbelieving grin.

Coin nods her head slowly. "Yes, I am. I am the dawn of a new age here in Panem High School. The old principal would've eaten you and spit you up but I am here not to punish brats like you, but to rehabilitate them." She inspects her nails for a moment. "But some always fall through the cracks, don't they? And no one would notice if you did. Not your deadbeat father or your addict mother. Not your so-called friends at those awful dive bars you hang out in. Nobody would notice."

"Great speech," I mock, dropping my gaze to the ground.

She steps toward me again and I look up into her steely eyes. "You just better watch your mouth, Mason. I could have you on your knees in this closet faster than your whore mother and nobody would ever fucking believe you." She pauses, tilting her head to the side. "But you would like that, wouldn't you? Doesn't matter. If I were going to dip into the student population for some thrills, I certainly wouldn't drag the depths of the pond." With that she grabs her blazer, folds it over her arm, and storms out of the closet.

If she thinks I'm going to stay in this closet and brood, she's got another thing coming. Her words pluck at my heart, sure, but that just makes me more determined to fuck her day up just a little bit more. Nobody knows me, especially not some tight-ass mega-bitch with no sense of humor. With that in mind I shuffle my backpack back onto my shoulders and stand on the desk. With one sharp pull I tear off the grate on the air duct and hoist myself up into the duct.

I'm not done with those dweebs in detention. And I'm certainly not done with Miss Katniss Everdeen.