Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games in any way.

Idea from eekabeeka :)

"My name's Mr. Mellark. I'll be your English teacher for your final year of high school, but don't worry!" Our teacher adds, a gleam in his eyes. "I'll do my best to make sure you manage to pass this class while not dying of boredom."

Some kids laugh while others stay silent.

I purse my lips, tapping my pencil on my notebook, getting a bit uncomfortable in my hard chair. I hate sitting still. I suppress a groan as I look out of the window that I am seated next to. When I had arrived, this seat was simply beckoning to me - being the only one unoccupied of course. I was so close to the outside... This stupid window was taunting me!

I silently vowed to make Gale suffer for making me late to my first class of the year.

"Let's get started off by introducing ourselves. After all, you lot are all going to be in this together for quite a while, huh?"

I turn my attention back to my classmates. One at a time, they say their names. I can't resist but glance at the clock every few seconds. I chew my lower lip as I tear my eyes away from that ticking clock for about the millionth time, urging myself to calm down.

I never did well in school environments. I always felt so out of place. I mean, I was decent at school, but staying in school for a minimum of six hours or something wasn't really high up in my list of favorite things to do. Heck, it wasn't even on the list. I preferred being out in the open outdoors, it wasn't a confined area and I didn't feel so awkward. The school seemed so small and I felt that I was stuck. Outside, it was open and free. I could roam wherever I pleased.

"Is there a problem?" Mr. Mellark's low tenor's voice breaks into my thoughts and I glance around wildly, startled.

My eyes finally rest on him and I see that he's looking at me, a blond eyebrow raised.

I clear my throat sheepishly, trying to ignore the stares of my classmates. I hear some whispering from behind me, but I tuned that out as I answered him.

"No, I'm sorry," I apologize, trying not to sweat under all these stares. I hate attention. "I'm Katniss, Katniss Everdeen."

Mr. Mellark looks at me, a tiny smile beginning to dance on his lips. "Try not to daydream, Ms. Everdeen, you might get in trouble next time."

I nod, taking his words to heart, but knowing that it was futile. I always tended to daydream during class, every year I got in trouble at least ten times for not paying attention.

Well, at least ten times a month would be more like it.

"So, is it true?" Madge hip bumped me, suddenly materializing at my side as I left the English classroom.

"Is what true?"

"You know, that Cato and you hooked up yesterday when you both ran into each other at the mall?"

I nearly trip over my feet and fall flat on my face.

"What?" My voice is between a shriek and a croak. A very weird combination.

Madge sighs. "I'm guessing that's a no," She murmurs, sounding a tad bit dismayed.

My face flushed red, I shake my head furiously. "How the heck did that rumor even happen? I don't even talk to Cato."

Madge purrs. "Come on, you've got to admit though, that man is addictive eye candy." She pauses then adds slyly, "Very addictive eye candy."

I grimace. "I thought you were into Gale."

Madge's blue eyes widen and her jaw drops and she walks right into a boy just leaving a classroom.

Unfortunately, that boy turned out to be my cousin, Gale - and the two of them landed in a rather compromising position.

I try to contain my laughter as I walk away from them, that image imprinting itself in my mind. Oh, Madge Undersee was never going to hear the end of that. Never.

"Hey, Katniss. Did you hear that rumor about us?" A deep, low voice whispers in my ear. I tense suddenly, my personal space bubble suddenly being violated.

I swallow roughly and force myself to look at the speaker. Even though I knew who it was, I still was a bit startled at seeing him.

Cato was standing in front of me, in the flesh. I hardly knew him, sure I saw him in the hallways around school, but I stayed out of his and his buddies' way.

His ice blue eyes met my own grey ones and I looked up at him steadily. We were standing in the middle of the sea of students, but none of them seemed to be his friends.

"Yes, I did."

"I have nothing to do with that," He tells me, dryly.

I purse my lips. "I figured you didn't. You wouldn't want to waste your time telling rumors about you and someone like me."

Cato snorts. "Yeah, I wouldn't. You're pretty and stuff, but not pretty enough," He adds scathingly.

I pay no attention to his harsh words. Why should they bother me? "You know, you shouldn't have bothered to tell me all this. I don't really give a damn to what people are saying about us - and you shouldn't either."

Cato glares at me. "I don't. I just wanted to tell you that so you wouldn't go telling people that it actually happened."

I roll my eyes and begin walking away, but not before saying, "I wouldn't. Doesn't make sense. Anyways, you're not my type."

Cato snatches my arm and twirls me back to him, his blue eyes suddenly going hard. "I'm everyone's type, Everdeen, don't think yourself above me."

"You've got a big-ass ego, Cato-cat," I snap, wanting to spit in his face. I yank my arm back to my side.

I walk away before Cato could register my words.

He stormed towards his friends and the first words he said to them was,

"She's not into me. How the hell is she isn't into me?"

Marvel, his best friend, blinked and looked at him as if he sprouted two heads.

Cato growled and ignored Marvel, he was obviously going to be useless. He looked at his other friends, Clove and Glimmer, hoping that some of them would offer up anything.

However, only Glimmer said something. It wasn't the thing he wanted to hear either.

She stalked over to him, her long legs distracting him momentarily before she placed her hands on his chest and slid them downwards. "I thought you were only going to tell her that the rumor just came out of nowhere. Did my Cato develop a little crush?"

Cato glowered at her darkly and shoved her wandering hands off of him. "I don't have a crush on her. She's a nobody. Its just... How the hell am I not her type? I've never been told that. Never," He added, his tone dangerous.

Clove, his sister, rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up, brother. Like you said, she's a nobody. She's not worth thinking 'bout."

"We're talking about Everdeen, right?" Marvel finally said. His best friend nodded, looking at him hopefully. Marvel reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter and cigarette. The four of them were hanging out at the back of the school. The very back of the school. Camera-and-teacher free. It was their usual hangout place.

"Hey, toss me one," Cato ordered. Marvel rolled his eyes and picked out another cigarette. He lit the first one and handed into his friend, who took it happily. Then, Marvel lit his own.

"Well, she's sort of hot," Marvel said thoughtfully. "I mean, she was in all my core classes last year, sort of hard to not notice her. She only gets in trouble like... Every few minutes for daydreaming."

Cato snorted. "Hot?" He sneered.

"Glimmer?" Clove interrupted, throwing a bored glance at her brother. "Want to go look at the new guys? There might be some hotties this year."

Cato nearly dropped his cigarrette as he spun to his sister, shocked. "No! I forbid you. No looking at guys."

Clove smirked. "Don't tell me what to not and what to do. You're only like... What? One year older than me?"

Then, she and Glimmer walked out of their, whispering to each other.

"I'm your older brother!" Cato yells as they leave.

"So, what you going to do about that chick?" Marvel asked, bringing Cato's attention back to him.

Cato shot one last look after Clove before answering his friend. "Well, what do you think? I gotta prove she's wrong. That she is at least a tiny bit into me." He inhaled the smoke, before grinning cockily.

Marvel grinned. "I'll be sure to be the one to pick up the pieces then."

Cato rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right, dude. I'm just going to get her to kiss me once. Willingly. Its not like she'll be damaged goods afterwards."

Marvel licked his lips before inhaling another smoke. "I bet a hundred she won't," He said after a while.

Cato smiled. "You've got a bet."

Both of them shook hands before resuming to smoke and talk about something else.

"Hey, Katniss," Gale said, before seating himself across from me.

"Hi, Gale."

Madge soon sits down beside me.

"Hey, Katniss," She says quietly. There's a warning tone underneath. I get the message. If I speak of that earlier incident, she will personally see to me.

"Hey, sorry I didn't help you when you fell on Gale."

Gale and Madge look at me, their faces becoming the same shade of pink. I try to hide my smile as I bite into my apple.

After lunch, Gale and Madge and I discovered that we all had the pleasure of sharing the next class we had. Which was Drama. I wasn't looking that forward to it. A class where you're bound to get attention. Swell.

When we entered, we were introduced with the lovely view of Cato and his gang. Excluding Clove, his sister.

Cato met my eyes, a smirk beginning to form on his smug face. His blue eyes glint with an unreadable message. I look away quickly before either of my friends notice.

We all seat ourselves next to each other at the back, me in the middle.

Cato and his gang plop themselves right in front of us. I resist the urge to slap the back Cato's head, since he decided to give me the lovely view of it.

"So, how was your day so far?" Gale asks me.

I shrug. "Despite being late, its been absolutely lovely so far."

Gale raises an eyebrow. "What happened?"

I lick my lips. "Nevermind, it doesn't matter."

"Hey, you're Katniss right?"

Surprisingly, that voice comes from someone I'd least expect it to. Its Marvel. Cato's eyes widen when he sees that Marvel's talking to me and slaps his arm, but Marvel just shakes his head at him.

I nod cautiously. "I am."

Marvel grins. "I'm Marvel."

"I know. You were in all my core classes last year."

Marvel smiles. "I was about to say the same thing." Then, he turns back to face the front and I watch as he nudges Cato and says something to quiet for me to catch.

"What was up with that?" Madge whispers.

I shrug. "Had a little talk with Cato there, about the rumors," I explain. Then, seeing the expression on Madge's face, I quickly add, "You know they are not true, so don't go on about it."

"What rumors?" Gale asks, confused.

Madge quickly tells him, and I watch as Gale's expression changes from confused to surprise then anger. The rest of the class has all filed in by the time she finishes.

"Who the hell made that shit up?" Gale demands.

I hear Cato and his buddies up there laugh softly. Obviously, the three of them have probably listened in on our conversation.

Before anything else happens, the teacher struts in, and everyone shuts up.

She wears a shocking attire. For some reason, her hair is hot pink. Curly hot pink hair. I wince at the sight. Then, she's got these insanely long eyelashes that seem to be as real as unicorns.

Gale gapes at her, making a horrified whimpering sound in his throat. I would find that amusing if the teacher didn't look our way, her nose scrunched up in distaste as she tries to trace the sound to its maker.

"A-hem," She says dryly, her eyes drilling into Gale's. Gale's ears burn bright red right on cue.

"Welcome class, my name is Ms. Trinket. Ms. Effie Trinket, but you may call me Ms. Trinket." The woman bats her long eyelashes for a long moment before continuing on, "This is Drama. A class for actors. This is where we study Shakespeare, for example, and bring his famous stories to life by performing them."

A girl in the first row lets out a tiny groan and our teacher snaps her gaze to her.

The girl blushes brightly and I recognize her as Delly Cartwright, a super shy girl who hardly ever talks in class.

"If you are not an actor –" Ms. Trinket narrows her eyes pointedly at Delly – "I will make you one."

Someone cheeky wolf whistles and Ms. Trinket stiffens.

"I'm up for the challenge," Ms. Trinket finishes confidently before walking over to the blackboard. I discover that she isn't as tall as she seems to be when we hear and see her high heels clacking on the floor.

"What fashion magazine do you read, Miss?" Glimmer asks snidely, from in front of Madge.

Despite that our teacher doesn't turn around when she responds, I can tell that she's pissed off.

"I don't read any fashion magazines."

Glimmer, being the bitch that she is, can't help but say, "I shouldn't be surprised."

"Detention!" Our teacher loses it and she turns around, dropping her chalk as she does so. "Ms…"

"Glimmer Elizabeth Hart," the culprit helps out, sounding snotty and bored as hell.

Ms. Trinket snaps her jaw shut and strides over to the brat. "Detention on Saturday, Ms. Glimmer Elizabeth Hart."

Glimmer looks like a fish as she opens and closes her mouth, obviously shell shocked.

"Excuse me?" She eventually says, sounding mildly surprised. "Detention on a Saturday?"

Ms. Trinket nods, puffing out her chest. "This Saturday," She confirms.

I see Glimmer's fists tighten. I also watch as they become a pale white.

Ms. Trinket turns back around and walks over the blackboard.

"Go to Mr. Mellark's room on that day at nine in the morning. Be on time or he'll extend the time from eleven to twelve."

"You can't keep me that long!" Glimmer bursts out in a mixture of anger and disbelief.

"Yes, I can. The school has detention on Saturdays for students with extremely irresponsible behavior," Ms. Trinket states firmly, "I think that you are one of those students, Ms. Hart. I hope to not see that behavior for the rest of the school year. And… This is the first day, you shouldn't go around insulting teachers who'd much rather be on vacation rather than teach."

Glimmer flushes darkly. It doesn't really mesh well with her appearance when she is that angry. She sort of looks like a beautiful bull, to be honest.

Great, that made me laugh.

Ms. Trinket eyes me dangerously and Glimmer glares back at me.

I squirm uncomfortably in my seat, trying to ignore that everyone's staring at me. Again.

"I'm sorry," I squeak.

Glimmer scoffs and Ms. Trinket glowers at the two of us before carrying on to writing on the blackboard with her white chalk.

"Well, you asked for it," I hear Cato whisper to Glimmer as she pouts at him.

"Well, someone had to tell her," Glimmer says defensively, also whispering.

Marvel takes out his notebook and says, "Shut up, you two. You're going to get us all in trouble with your babbling."

Glimmer and Cato look at him coolly.

"Nice job, though," Marvel adds. "Detention on a Saturday, you're on a roll, Glim."

"Shut up, dickhead." Glimmer snarls.

"Potty mouth," Marvel observes.

Glimmer leans around Cato to reach Marvel and pinch him in the arm, earning a yelp. Ms. Trinket turns back to look over at Glimmer who meets her stare with a raised eyebrow. Our teacher shakes her head before facing away from us once more.

I look over at the blackboard and read what she's writing. It's the date and a 'Welcome'.

When she finishes that up, she goes over to her desk. Surprisingly, its covered with junk already. She picks up a stack of books and begins waddling towards us. She passes us each a book before returning to the front of the classroom.

"In your hand is a book of Shakespeare's work. Not adapted versions. The real thing."

Thresh, the bad boy of the school, lets out an audible – and very loud – gulp.

Ms. Trinket nods approvingly at him. "You should all be a bit worried, after all, this is Shakespeare. I will make sure you will pull your weight and get the job done, of course."

A boy raises his hand and Ms. Trinket nods for him to say his question.

"Job?"

Ms. Trinket smiles that smile that a teacher uses whenever they are about to say something that will scare us all.

"I was just getting to that."

Great. We were all going to be screwed with a project that was near impossible to do.

"All my senior classes in Drama always do a Shakespeare play. Separate plays for each class."

Damn. I glanced at our book and hoped that we weren't going to do that famous play by him… What was it called? Can't remember, but I do remember that everyone said it was the love story of all time.

"We all choose the play we're going to do. A class vote, naturally. Since this is a year long course, we're going to be doing a lot of work. In the third quarter of the year, all classes shall present one by one to the entire school. In the fourth quarter, its quite laid back."

Huh. Maybe I get to be backstage.

"Well…" A girl raises her hand and Ms. Trinket beckons for her to go on. "I think we should all do Romeo and Juliet."

What was the play about, again? I remember that everyone spoke about it.

"Is that the play where they kill themselves in the end?" Someone pipes up.

"Yes," Ms. Trinket confirms. "Its also the love story of all time. Well, in my opinion."

Oh, its that one.

Gale raises his own hand and gets the go ahead motion.

"May I be backstage?"

Cool. Gale asked the question I was going to ask.

Ms. Trinket laughs, as if she finds that amusing. I don't see why it would be.

"Backstage?" She giggles like a little schoolgirl chatting about her first love.

Gale nods, looking a bit apprehensive.

"Of course not, dear! You are all in the play. All of you audition, all of you perform."

Damn it. Sure, I saw the plays the seniors put on for us every year, but I never gave much thought to it all. I guess only a few kids here were into the whole acting stuff, but I wasn't.

"All of us?" Delly asks, breaking the silence.

Ms. Trinket nods gleefully. "Don't worry, dear. Like I said before, I'll make all of you star material."

I groan internally.

"Now that we've all got that settled, let me tell you all our upcoming year together."

She explains that we've got to make the set together and that starting from tonight we are supposed to read a bit of every story in that book she's passed us and decide on one that we'd like to perform. Then, we'd put it all to a class vote and take it from there.

Class passes by painlessly, except for the glares Glimmer and Ms. Trinket exchange.

Soon, the bell rings, dismissing us from class. I shove the massive book in my bag before walking out with Gale and Madge.

"So, are you pumped?" Gale asks.

Madge shakes her head dutifully. "Nope."

"Same here," I add.

"Cool, glad to know we're all in the same boat." Gale brushes a hand through his hair, an action he does whenever he's pleased with something.

"What do you think about the Trinket/Glimmer showdown?" Madge asks, giggling.

I shake my head. "Glimmer needs to learn when to shut up. Seriously. It was sort of fun to watch though. Hang on, scratch that. It was a whole lot of fun."

Madge and Gale agree wholeheartedly.

"I thought Trinket was going to use her massive eyelashes to strangle her," Madge offers.

We all laugh at that.

On Saturday, Madge and I are at the mall.

"So, what's up with Gale and you?" I ask once again. "I know you're into him. Plus, he's got the hots for you. So, what's your deal?"

"There is no deal," Madge repeats, rolling her eyes.

"That's so easy to believe," I drawl sarcastically.

Madge smirks. "It should be, huh?"

The two of us stop at a smoothie shop and order one each. Then Madge breaks the comfortable silence.

"Is that Cato over there?" Madge whispers, her eyes off in some direction. I look around and see Cato staring at me.

"Yes, it is." I purse my lips, not liking this situation at all.

"Oh my gosh!" Madge squeals, not so quietly. "He's staring at you. Does he like you? Be flattered, Katniss, he's the hottest piece of man alive!"

I try my best not to dump my strawberry smoothie over her head as I receive it.

"He's not that hot," I declare.

"Are you fucking with me?" Madge exclaims.

"No, I'm not. I think Gale would, though."

Madge glares at me.

"Shut up, Everdeen."

I resist the urge to laugh.

"Hey."

Oh, fuck.

I meet his gaze and watch as his stupid smirk begins to form on his face.

"I had no idea you were one to hang out at smoothie shops," I said sharply.

"Really?"

"Hey, I'll meet you up at the cinema," Madge interrupts briefly, unable to tear her eyes away from her fantasy man.

"Right, see you there."

Madge leaves, her eyes still trained on Cato as she walks away.

"What's your deal? What's up with talking to me?"

Cato's eyes widen and he steps away from me defensively.

"I figured you would be a nice person to know."

"You only know about me cause of that stupid rumor."

Cato waggles his eyes suggestively.

"Ya know, we could make that rumor a reality."

What the fuck?

I slam my fist into his face and send him sprawling to the ground.

"God damn it!" He yells, his voice taut with anger. The scenario attracts the attention of the other people surrounding us.

"Stay away from me, jerk!" I demand viciously.

"Is it some other guy?" Cato snarls, saying it just loud enough for me to hear, but not loud enough for the crowd gathered around us.

"No, but its not you either."

I leave without looking back.

Clove thrusts a hand out to her brother and he takes it with a grudging nod. She pulls him up to his feet.

"Thanks," He mutters, trying not to look as embarrassed as he feels.

Clove shrugs. "No probs."

"I'm feeling like I wanna eat some pizza," Cato states.

"Lead the way."

Shoulder to shoulder, the two siblings head to the first pizza place that comes to mind. Cato knows what his sister is thinking. He has no idea why he's bothering with Katniss either.

Fuming, I meet Madge at the front of the cinema. She's currently counting the dollars in her purse.

"I'll buy. You know, as a prize for catching Cato's eye."

That's the first thing that comes out of Madge's mouth when she sees me.

I scowl and Madge's eyes widen.

"Uh, what's wrong?"

"Cato's a douche, Madge."

Madge purses her lips. "What did he do?" She finally asks, after a pregnant pause.

"He's an arrogant pig who thinks that every girl's dream man is his."

Madge blinks. "Well, I'd understand if that were true," She admits.

I roll my eyes. "Stop wasting your time imagining what you'd do to him if you were both stuck in a locker room. Gale's a much more decent guy than him! Plus, you like him and he likes you."

Madge colors. "Katniss!" She whispers, half embarrassed, yet sounding half pleased.

"Its true," I state.

Madge sighs and shakes her head. "Whatever."

I follow her into the movie theater and let her pay without another comment. If she was willing to pay, I wouldn't stop her. Plus, I also had no money left after buying the smoothies.

The movie was horrible.

I let Madge pick the movie without any thought and I had to suffer the consequences. If I had any idea that she was going to pick a romantic comedy I would've been gone in a flash.

"See you at school, Katniss," Madge says as we exit the mall. I grumble a farewell and she giggles. "The movie wasn't that bad, lighten up!"

I sigh. "See you."

Madge drifts off towards the car park as I begin walking home alone. It was about six. Madge had offered to drop me back home, but I declined. I didn't mind walking home. It really wasn't that far.

Madge had just given me a look when I gave her my response before. It was a mix of amusement and exasperation, but she knew better than to argue with me.

In the middle of the walk home, I looked across the street of a neighborhood and saw a woman come out of a house and dump a cardboard box that was obviously heavy on the sidewalk.

Then, a man came out of the house and I watched as he tried to say something but the woman cut him off.

Then, she strode back into the house and slammed the door behind her.

I watched the man throw his hands up in the air before reluctantly picking up the box and begin walking the same direction I was.

He was quite handsome, even from afar. I could see that he had a strong jaw, which I always found quite attractive. He also had blond hair, which sort of look golden. It was a very pretty shade to be honest. Then, I shook those thoughts out of my head. He was obviously older than I was. I couldn't afford to think about him. It was stupid.

Then, he turned his head in my direction and I watch as his face colors.

That's when I recognized him.

Mr. Mellark.

I looked away, hoping he didn't recognize me, my own cheeks coloring. It was always pretty awkward to see your teachers outside of school. Especially when you saw your English teacher just get kicked out of their girlfriend's/wife's house. Well, I presumed thats what the woman was.

But, when he crossed the street to walk alongside me, I knew that my plan had been foiled. He had recognized me.

"Hello." He pauses and shoots a sideways glance over at me. "Its Katniss Everdeen, right?"

I nod, still avoiding his gaze.

"I wasn't really expecting any of my students to see that," Mr. Mellark admits.

"That you just got kicked out of your house?" I couldn't stop myself from saying that. I felt my cheeks burn with shame and I looked up at him. "Sorry."

Mr. Mellark had paled slightly and I watched his blue eyes, always filled with this boyish excitement I've come to admire in the previous week, darken.

"Well, its not really my house. I just stayed with my girlfriend. Not anymore, though, as you can see."

I nod. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We both knew how it would end as soon as it began."

I do my best not to let my curiosity get the best of me.

I see my house come into sight and I look over at Mr. Mellark, who looks deep in thought.

"How are you enjoying school so far?" He asks, breaking the silence.

I shrug. "Its fine. Same as every year, really."

"Looking forward to college?"

"I hear its better."

"It is," Mr. Mellark states, his tone nostalgic.

We walk the rest in silence. I soon come to a stop.

"This is my house, here."

"Just down the road, huh?"

I nod. "Bye, Mr. Mellark." Then I pause and look at him sheepishly. "You do have a place to stay, right?" I feel awkward as I ask him that. I just wanted to check though, I wouldn't like to leave my teacher stranded alone.

He nods. "Yes, I do. Goodbye, Katniss."

We part in silence.

School passes by in a blur for the next few weeks. Assignments are assigned, homework is submitted, just the usual school stuff. Mr. Mellark and I didn't talk about our meeting outside of school, but Mr. Mellark gave a me a different smile than he usually gave to his students. I didn't know what it meant. I was never good at reading people.

However, Drama is a whole different thing together when I arrive on the first day of October.

"I hope you have all read a bit of each of Shakespeare's plays and decided on one that you'd like us all to perform," Ms. Trinket says as she struts into class, her head held high.

Then, without another word, she asks each of us which is our choice.

In the end, the one that has the most votes turns out to be 'A Midsummer's Night Dream'.

"Well, at least it wasn't Romeo and Juliet. I've seen a ton of them," Madge adds.

Gale shrugs. "All plays are the same to me. I doubt I'm gonna get any major part. That's fine with me."

I really had no idea what the play was about. I sighed. I was obviously going to have to read it all.

"Auditions will be held on November fifth, which gives you quite a lot of time to read the play and decide on which part you will be performing," Ms. Trinket announces. "Meanwhile, in class we shall be constructing the set."

The rest of the class seemed to flash by. It was painless as it usually was, except there was the hint of anxiety that each of my classmates seemed to hold.

As I made my way out of the classroom, I lost sight of Gale and Madge and was granted a new problem.

"What part are you gonna do, Katniss?"

Cato. I did my best not to throttle him.

"Are you really talking to me?"

Cato snorted, his blue eyes flashing. "Yeah, I am. Don't worry, I learn from my mistakes."

"Good, there may be hope for you yet," I say briskly.

"Right. Really, what part?"

"I don't know."

"Well…" He looked me up and down, his expression unreadable. "I could sort of see you as one of the main chicks."

I raise an eyebrow, not halting in my step. "'Chicks'?" I repeat dryly. Was this guy for real?

"Uh. Yeah."

He was very good with sentences at times, I must say.

"Well, it doesn't really matter. I'm gonna do a small part, like Gale," I add.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Cato presses, his tone changing.

"No. He's my cousin," I said icily. "I'm not looking for a boyfriend either."

Cato is silent for a few seconds before he spoke again. "Why?"

"Because all the guys here excluding a couple are jackasses. For example: you," I speed up in my pace, spotting the top of Gale's face. His eyes were looking over everyone's head, and I knew he was searching for me. Even though I acted calm and collected on the outside after hearing Cato's question, I thought about it hard. Its true, most of the guys here were annoying and douches. There were a bit of exceptions though. Including Gale and the nice guys and the guys who had never spoken to a girl before.

"I'm not that bad," Cato protested.

I roll my eyes. "Please tell me something more believable."

I hear Cato grind his teeth together.

"Careful, Cato-cat, you might ruin your perfect teeth," I couldn't help but say sarcastically.

I heard him let out a sharp breath. "What type of guy are you looking for?"

"Not someone like you," I replied easily, ducking behind someone's outstretched arm to get to Gale's side.

"Ha, we thought we lost you, Katniss." Gale laughs, patting my hair. I scowled.

"Seriously, Gale? The hair?"

Gale smirks and we being walking side by side.

"Where's Madge?" I ask.

Gale purses his lips, brushing a hair out of his eyes. "She went to the washroom, told me not to wait up. Then, she told me to get you and meet her at the courtyard where we can all hang till next period."

"Wow, very bossy," I said, jokingly, of course.

Gale snorts. "Don't need to tell me that."

We both laugh.

Driving home in my car on a Saturday night, I turned on the radio so I didn't feel so alone in such a small empty space.

A song blared on the radio, one I didn't know. It sounded nice though. I looked out of the window and saw a man stumbling in the dark. He looked like he was drunk. Only when he looked up did I recognize him. Mr. Mellark, again.

I wondered why I kept seeing him outside of school. Then, I shook the thought out of my head. They were all purely chance meetings. Plus this was only the second time I've seen him.

I decided that I had to help him out so I stopped the car and parked. My teacher stumbled over and I saw that his blue eyes were blurry.

"Hey… You are my student…. Right?" His voice was a unfocused one.

"Yeah, I'm Katniss."

"Katniss…"

Then, he slumped down on the road and I was forced to pull him onto the sidewalk. Deciding I couldn't just leave him there, I somehow managed to drag him into my car and into the passenger seat. I strapped on his seatbelt and drove.

I wondered where I was driving to, I didn't know where he lived. I could take him to my place… But what would I tell my mother? Plus, I didn't want Prim to see someone drunk.

That's when Mr. Mellark spoke. "My face… It feels… So sticky!" He murmured, still sounding half asleep and a lot drunk. I looked over at him and realized that his face was, in fact, sticky. It looked liked he'd fallen into his own puke after drinking too many shots.

I looked away and tried to not think of that again.

"Mr. Mellark? I am going to take you to my house… Because, I don't know where you live… And I know where I live, so…" I tried to sound as comforting as I could, but I felt so out of place. I hardly ever spoke to teachers, really. I just got called on in class and that was it.

"Okay... Mom," was his response.

Mr. Mellark then decided to take a nap. He was a very loud sleeper, his snores were louder than the radio, so I decided to turn off the radio because the two sounds gave me a headache.

Author's Note: Well, just for starters let me say that I'm not the greatest at updating very quickly... Alright, so how do you like this so far? I hope it seemed alright for all you.

Oh, and KATNISS AND CATO ARE NOT GOING TO BE INVOLVED ROMANTICALLY!

Glad I got that out of the way :)

This story is basically dedicated to eekabeeka since she gave me the idea of a student/teacher relationship. To her, let me say I'm sorry I haven't uploaded this sooner :(

Okay, well, please review to tell me how I'm doing and what you'd like to see in the next chapter and follow this story if you'd like to see more.

So take care till next time :)