Liberty High, a hunger games fanfic

Chapter 1:
Blame It On the Rain

Delly woke up and quickly dressed for the day, wearing jean shorts and a floral, flowing tank top. It was exactly a week before school started which scared her a bit. The summer flew by so fast! She was to go over to the Mellark's house and help Peeta pack for college today. The baker's son was her childhood best friend, although they were reunited last year when Delly moved back from the UK. She would also be a freshman in college this year, but the move messed up her grade in school and left her a year behind.

After eating a banana for breakfast and getting ready, she checked her phone. Two new texts appeared on the screen, one from Peeta and another from her best friend, Lavinia Keener. She tapped on Peeta's first.

Can u come 12 instead of 11? I have to do some stuff for my mom.

Delly shook her head and replied back, Sure. She woke up at 9 AM for nothing. Lavinia's text provided a bit of a solution, though.

Jared, Colton, and I are going to get ice cream at Dairy Queen wanna come?

She smiled at this. Jared and Colton were part of the friend group that adopted her when she moved to a new school last year. Liberty High was just a town over, but it was a lot smaller and a bit more rundown than Panem. Thankfully a lot of people were nice and she made friends easily. She had barely seen Colton all summer though, so it would be nice to hang out again.

Of course! was Delly's reply to both.

This way it was more convent for her too; Dairy Queen put her closer to Peeta's house. She drove herself over after locking in the details.

"Hey!" Lavinia smiled at her as she stepped out of the blue car. Delly gave the dark red-haired girl a one arm hug in greeting.

"Hello," she said cheerfully and pulled back only to give Jared, Lavinia's twin brother, a small hug. He towered over her at about six feet and had short, dark blonde hair and blue-green eyes. Colton also received a hug. He was shorter than Jared and his hair was darker with bright green eyes.

The group set off to get in line, Colton's hand once again falling into Jared's. They shared a light conversation, discussing the dreaded start of school and happenings over the summer.

"Apparently the freshmen coming up are a good class, unlike the seniors," Lavinia commented to her twin at which he laughed while the two seniors took offense to it.

"Please, those juniors are nothing but trouble," Colton grinned to Delly. He pulled Jared closer to him and gave the junior a kiss on the cheek, "Especially this one!"

Jared's face flushed red while Lavinia rolled her eyes and turned to look at her best friend.

The four soon ordered, Jared and Delly getting Double Fudge Cookie Dough Blizzards while Colton got a simple cone of twist ice cream. Lavinia opted for a Butterfingers Blizzard.

"Thanks for coming, by the way," Lavinia said quietly to her best friend while the boys were lost in their own conversation. "You know how those two love birds can be."

"Adorable, but suffocating," she finished the redhead's thought. It was true. Jared and Colton seemed to be in their own world at times.

Soon it was 11:45 and the blonde had to leave for Peeta's residence. The group diffused with wishes of good luck for the first day of school. The drive was short; time always seemed to fly when it had to do with the baker's son for Delly.

"Hello," Mr. Mellark greeted the teenager as she walked into the kitchen, instantly at home. This was her second home, after all. "Peeta's up in his room."

"Thanks," the blonde flashed the baker a grin before heading up the staircase to the right of the kitchen. "Peeta?"

"Hey you!" he smiled to his best friend since childhood and opened his door. His room was always rather clean to the amazement of the girl. A suitcase lay open on his bed with three piles of clothes sitting beside it. She sat on his desk chair while the to-be college freshman took a seat on the bed. Delly turned and started to clean off his desk, placing things in a plastic stack of drawers.

"How's your summer been, Peter?" Delly always teased him when they were younger about how much his name sounded like Peter. It was now a permanent nickname. "Peter" went to packing everything in the suitcase after plugging his friend's iPod into his stereo.

She finished placing all the writing utensils in a pencil box and stashed it away. "I've been good, although rather busy. I had to take summer gym this year and band camp ate up all of August. How about you?"

"I got to see Katniss a lot," Peeta smiled dreamily, a slight hint of love in his clear blue eyes. Delly forced a smile in return, although she kept her head down. "Other than that well, I've just been around."

"Good," was all the girl could manage. She couldn't help but feel a slight blush come to her cheeks when he moved closer to unload his desk drawers, placing a hand on her shoulder briefly. The two friends continued to talk in quietly, Peeta casually asking about Delly's relationship status. She shrugged it off and said she didn't have enough time. As Peeta continued to talk about Katniss, the song "Blame It On the Rain" came on. It struck home with the senior, ironically appropriate for her current situation.

The two finished the desk soon and went to pile all of Peeta's cleaning supplies and toiletries into a laundry basket. "Hey, do you want to see the couch I got?"

"I don't know, do I?" his best friend replied.

"You do."

With that, the baker's son led his childhood best friend into the garage. In an empty bay sat a once-white sofa, now splattered with an array of colors. Delly shook her head slightly while smirking at him, knowing it was exactly like him to do do this. The two retrieved a snack from the kitchen before going back to work. The taste of cool pineapple popsicles melted into their mouths as they returned to Peeta's masterfully painted bedroom. The walls were always changing in their displays of artwork. They served as the painter's primary and favorite canvas. Currently a newly finished recreation of Starry Night took up the spot over Peeta's bed, even extending a bit onto the ceiling before colliding and meshing into another painting.

The boy caught his friend appreciating the artwork and smiled to her. "It took me most of the summer."

"You never cease to amaze me," she replied with a small cock of the eyebrow. Peeta went over to a box in the corner by his closet and picked up a fair sized, framed painting. He made his way back to his best friend and handed it to her.

"You should keep it," the baker's son said appreciatively, "It was always your favorite."

"Oh, I couldn't!" Delly told him bashfully, blushing at the thought of keeping a piece of Peeta's beautiful artwork.

"Yes you could," he smiled to her and made her take it. The two worked diligently the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening. The baker invited his son's best friend to stay for dinner but she politely refused, knowing her mother and father would want her home after being out all day. The best friends now stood in the driveway next to Delly's blue car, the painting under her arm.

Peeta placed his arms on her shoulders and looked into her clear eyes. "I'll miss you, D," he murmured so only she could hear. The boy pulled her into an embrace which see kindly accepted. A single tear fell from her closed eyes onto his shirt.

"I'll miss you too, Peeta," she replied. He pulled back to look into her eyes and gave her one last smile before kissing her forehead and stepping back.

"Don't you forget to text me," he smiled to her as she got into her car.

"And don't you forget to call me," she grinned back.

As she drove home, her forehead still stung from where his lips had touched. She hung the painting over her bed that night, two blonde children laughing with each other. Perhaps the reason why Delly loved this particular painting so much was because it reminded her of her and Peeta as children. She sat down to write in her diary at her desk, the lavender walls of her room the only to know of her tainted feelings for the boy. She sang softly to the song that played earlier as it played again on her iPod. She decided then that this song and the feelings that came with it were too private for even the Glee Club to hear. Pencil against paper, her lips delicately formed the words.

You, got me caught in all this mess.
I guess, we can blame it on the rain.
My pain is knowing I can't have you,
I can't have you.

Turning the page, Delly delved deeper into her feelings for Peeta. Where they came from.

Tell me does she look at you the way I do,
Try to understand the words you say,
and the way you move?
Does she get the same big rush,
When you go in for a hug and your cheeks brush?
Tell me am I crazy, or is this more than a crush?

What they are now.

I catch my breath,
The one you took the moment you entered the room.
My heart, it breaks at the thought of her holding you.

And where they are leading.

Does she look at you the way I do,
Try to understand the words you say,
and the way you move?
Does she get the same big rush,
When you go in for a hug and your cheeks brush?
Tell me am I crazy, or is this more than a crush?
Is it more than a crush?

Thinking about all that has happened in the last couple years and her move back to the United States, she decided that perhaps having a crush on Peeta was her natural reflex to cope with everything else.

Maybe I'm alone in this,
But I find peace in solitude knowing,
If I had but just one kiss this whole room,
Would be glowing.
We'd be glowing,
We'd be glowing.

What concerned her now was...

Does she, tell me, does she look at you the way I do,
Try to understand the words you say,
and the way you move?
Does she get the same big rush,
When you go in for a hug and your cheeks brush?
Tell me am I crazy, or is this more than a crush?
More than a crush

Is this more than a crush?

She would probably never find out if Peeta felt the same; he did have Katniss, after all.

Closing her diary, fingers careful on the delicate pages, Delly decided the only feeling she could trust for now was...

Hope.

Author's Note: And that's the end of the chapter! I've been working on this since August so thanks to a little bit of nagging from Celtic and a little bit of inspiration to write, it's finally complete! Next chapter will be the actual start of school; I just wanted to introduce some of the characters. This story starts with Celtic's sequel to Hunger Games High School and follows the same timeline as it (basically). All couples are the same in both (once I catch up). For right now this is at the end of August, but hopefully I can get back into real time soon! Thank you to everyone for letting me use your characters (although no one has really appeared yet...these are my characters for now, kind of...). I hope you guys all have a good day and expect an update soon!

Review Question: Because this is chapter one, I'm going to be cliche. What do you think? Is the writing style okay?

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games, any lyrics used, and rights to all characters go to their respective owners.