Prologue:
So it's my first semester here at UF and although I'm expecting to flourish academically I can't say I'm enjoying the much talked about social scene. See the thing with me is that I've always been labeled as the outcast. When we grow up, we're all trying to figure out who we are. Some of us already know. Other people label some people. The frat bro. The sorority sister. The average Joe. The nerd. The hipster. The list of labels is far too long, but I've learned no one knows who you are until you know yourself. Me? I know who I want to be, but I'm hung up on who everyone thinks I am. I shouldn't even care what they think they're wrong. They don't know my story or me.
Before I snap out of my soliloquy I better explain to you my story –Oh and another thing about me, I like to have internal monologues to a non-existing audience. Cinema has always fascinated me, so I constantly feel the need to break the fourth wall. No I'm not crazy by talking to myself, I simply like to think of it as an internal journal –now back to my story.
When I was born my mom was really disappointed. See, she already had two sons so what she really wanted was a daughter. When I was born I basically pissed on her hopes and dreams. Now I was born on November 11, at 11:11 PM. I'm not saying that's the reason for everything but my mom (prior to my birth) tried to genetically engineer me so that I'd be a girl. When that didn't work, she wished the minute I was born that I'd be a girl. According to my older brothers when I arrived home I was Peeta Mellark, the boy, but the next day when everyone woke up, I was Pippa Mellark, mommy's little girl.
Okay, now I would understand why you'd think I'm crazy, but I swear it happened. My mom was overjoyed because she finally had a girl. However, that only lasted for four days. Then I was back to Peeta, rejected again by my mother. As I grew up my family realized that every month I would have to be a girl for four days. It was difficult with school and everything at first, but when I hit puberty, I realized that I could control which four days I wanted to spend as girl. That meant I could choose days that I wasn't in school if I wanted. The school never questioned my absences because I had a "doctor's note" explaining a fake medical condition that required me to leave for one to four days of the month. If I didn't pick which days I wanted to be a girl, then I would automatically have to be one for the last four days of the month.
I resented my mom for what she did to me, but I've been trying to figure out on my own how to stop the transformations. So far I've had no luck. My hypothesis is that my will to stay male was so strong that I rejected complete transformation as a female and instead I just have to become one for four days out of the month. I call it "male menstruation" or my "manstruation."
I have no problem with girls, in fact I am straight, so I really do like them. However, I would just rather be a male. This has nothing to do with my sexuality. I was just born a male and I'd like to stay that way. My brothers Rye and Bing say I should embrace being able to be a female, but knowing them they are just saying that because they'd just stare at their own bodies the whole time.
Luckily, I've been accepted as a biochemistry major at the University of Florida. I have also been accepted to do some research of my own while I'm at UF that centralizes around my condition. I've already explained to the head of the department, Mr. Haymitch Abernathy, my condition, which led to my research position. He was skeptical at first, but after a review of my academic record and a visit to UF where I showed him my female self, he understood I wasn't joking. He also wrote a letter to each of my fall semester professors explaining what was happening so that I wouldn't get marked of for attendance when I'm Pippa. To everyone else, it's a secret. My professors understood and they also knew that they couldn't share this information with anyone.
I don't usually inform this many people. But I didn't have any other choice. In two days I start classes. I have chem, human sexuality, and calculus the first day. I'm excited for this semester, but I'm really dreading the dorms. It's hard enough sharing a room as a normal human being, but since I have that weird transformation condition, this will only further complicate things. I move in today so we'll see how that goes.
CHAPTER 1:
Mr. Mellark pulled up to the hall and Peeta made his way to the office on the first floor to pick up his keys. As he waited for the person behind the desk, he took in the room around him. It was painted lime green with silver mailboxes lined up on the walls. There was a coin machine to change cash into coins in the right corner of the room. There were also several couches in the right side of the room and tables with chairs on the left side. The walls without mailboxes had modern looking paintings that attempted to make the lobby area seem more "college like."
The man behind the counter cleared his throat causing Peeta to jump a little and turn his attention to the man.
"Name and floor," He said.
"Peeta Mellark, and I'm on the first floor," Peeta responded.
"Here are your keys, scan card to access the floor, and complimentary welcome box courtesy of the school," he said as he handed Peeta the previously mentioned items.
"Thanks."
"No problem, I'm Gale Hawthorne. I'm the Resident Adviser of your floor, well just the males of your floor." He said.
"Nice to meet you," Peeta smiled, as he took a mental picture of Gale since he would probably be seeing more of him. He was tall, dark haired, grey eyed, and tan.
Peeta walked back outside towards his dad. He helped his dad unload the car and carry things up to the dorm. The staircase leading to the first floor was nowhere near as nice as the lobby. The tiles were faded, some were broken, and some tiles didn't even match the others. He silently hoped the actual hall wasn't as ugly. Lucky for him, it wasn't.
When he entered the floor he saw several girls exit out of the room across from the door. They giggled as they walked down the hall.
"Oh great, I forgot this floor was co-ed," He thought to himself. "As if a roommate wasn't distracting enough."
He found the door that said 121 and saw Peeta and Cato written on the door. Peeta opened the door and sighed as he took in the room. His roommate was big, blonde, and muscular. He was definitely someone Peeta didn't want to butt heads with and he didn't look like the type of person Peeta usually associated himself with.
"Sup, I'm Cato," He introduced himself, holding out a hand for Peeta to shake.
"Peeta," He said, shaking Cato's hand.
Mr. Mellark shook Cato's hand next and the room fell quiet.
"Well, I've got to finish unloading the car," Peeta said, breaking the silence. He opened the door and walked down the hall.
As he walked towards the door leading to the staircase, he saw a girl, who looked about fourteen, exit one of the rooms. She had blonde hair that was in two braids, blue eyes, and a lanyard around her neck with keys on them and a student ID card. From what Peeta could see, he knew the ID didn't belong to the blonde girl. She must've been someone's sister, he decided. A few seconds later, a blonde woman, most likely in her forties, opened the same door and called out to the girl.
"Prim, wait. You still have your sister's keys around your neck," the blonde woman called out.
"Well how else am I supposed to get back in, mom?" the blonde girl, who must be Prim, asked.
Without thinking Peeta tapped Prim's shoulder and said, "I'm going downstairs to get a few things, I can let you back in if you want."
She looked at Peeta hesitantly before she smiled and agreed. As they walked downstairs, the girl introduced herself as Primrose Everdeen.
"I'm here helping my sister unpack," She said, as she pushed the ground floor door open.
"That's nice of you. My brothers are older then me, so they didn't really feel the need to help me since I helped them move into their dorms," he said, trying to make conversation.
Prim went to her own car and grabbed a box while Peeta picked up two bags from his own car. On their way back upstairs Prim talked about how she wanted to apply, when the time came, to UF and possibly apply to their medical school. She hoped to one day be a doctor. Peeta smiled at her enthusiasm while she talked. They parted ways when they reached the first floor and Peeta entered his own room.
"Of course, the one person who actually wants to talk to me doesn't even go here!" He thought to himself as he setup his side of the room.
Peeta had his side nice and organized. His bed sheets were dark green and he had matching green pillows. He put up a poster of the periodic table that had different alcoholic drinks, and although he wasn't too much of a drinker himself, he still found it comical.
Cato had camouflage bed sheets and graphic posters of women. "Disgusting," Peeta thought. "Everyone's entitled to their own forms of expression and decoration, but he should respect women more. And I'm not just saying that because I am one 1/8 of the month."
The afternoon turned to night in a short time. Cato asked Peeta if he wanted to go with him to a frat party, but Peeta politely declined. It wasn't really something he had interest in.
"Are you sure? It's gonna be awesome man!" Cato exclaimed as he chugged a beer. Evidently he was pre-gaming.
"No, I'm alright. I'm just gonna go walk around and explore campus," he said, trying to hide his disgust.
Peeta slipped on his shoes then made his way out the hall. When he got to the ground floor he checked his phone for the time. "8 pm, I should probably get back by 10," he thought to himself.
He followed the sidewalk, not really walking with a purpose. The campus was big, but not too big. It had several dining halls, many resident halls, and two gyms. Peeta walked to the football stadium and slipped through the gate. He knew he wasn't supposed to be in the stadium at this time, but he didn't think anyone else would be there. He made his way down the steps to the field and hopped the small wall separating the stands and the field. He hopped the fence and walked towards the center of the field. It was nice out; the air was humid, but bearable. He sat down on the grass and laid back, breathing in the night air.
He felt himself drift off, but just as he was about to fall asleep he heard someone else walking on the field.
"Hey there, taking a nap on the field?" The bronze haired stranger asked while looking down at him.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Peeta panicked, as he hopped to his feet.
"Relax," he said holding up his hands, "I don't care, I was just curious as to what you were doing. Finnick Odair, by the way." He held a hand out to Peeta to grab and pulled Peeta up when he did.
"Peeta Mellark," Peeta said, wiping the grass off his butt.
"Usually I prefer relaxing in the pool, but since the pools are closed for now, I thought I'd check this place out. Looks like I wasn't the only one with that idea," Finnick said, smiling. He seemed like a friendly guy.
"Yeah, I was just checking out the campus." Peeta said, while looking around at the field.
"So are you a freshman?" Finnick asked.
"Yeah, is it that obvious?" He asked, staring at the ground and kicking a longer patch of grass.
"Nah, I'm a freshman too so I just thought I'd ask. I think most upperclassmen have better ways to spend their time than just hanging out on a field. What hall are you in?" He asked, walking towards the fence.
"Hall 12, and you?" Peeta followed.
"Hall 4. It's pretty sweet. I was here over the summer and stayed in hall 2. Right now it's being renovated though. That was probably one of the nicest dorms they have on campus." He said, lifting himself on the fence. He swung his leg over and hopped down, waiting for Peeta to join him.
"Was summer nice?" Peeta asked, as he jumped and landed on his feet. He wiped the dirt off his hands and looked for the exit of the stadium.
Finnick pointed in the direction of the exit and answered, "summer was great, actually. I met my girlfriend, Annie, over summer semester so that definitely made it a lot more fun. How about you? Do you have a girlfriend?"
Peeta chuckled and shook his head. "No, I don't really have the time. I have a very time consuming research position this semester, so I really need to focus on that."
"There are also a few other factors, like the fact that I can't tell a girl that I turn into one, that limits me from having a girlfriend," Peeta thought to himself, walking towards the stadium exit with Finnick.
"Dude, that's awesome!" Finnick exclaimed. "A research position freshman year is practically unheard of. You must be a genius or something."
"I wouldn't say a genius exactly, but yeah I guess I am pretty gifted." Peeta laughed and ran a hand through his blonde waves.
They had reached the main road outside the stadium and the moon was hung high in the sky, illuminating the night. There were no cars in the road signaling how late at night it was. Peeta glanced down at his phone and realized it was already 10:11 pm.
"Well, it's getting kinda late, but since we're both two pretty lost freshman how about we exchange numbers and get this campus on lock together?" Finnick asked, holding out his phone to Peeta.
"Sounds like a good idea." He entered his number in Finnick's phone and Finnick passed Peeta back his own phone. They headed off into the direction of their own dorms and Peeta thought about how it wouldn't be so bad to have a few friends. He didn't have to work 24/7, so as long as he understood what his main focus was then having a friend or two wouldn't be a problem. He was a nice enough guy.
When Peeta returned to his hall, he showered and got ready for bed. He stared up at the ceiling and wondered what the semester would bring. As thoughts of science, studying, and exercising filled his head, he felt himself drift off.