Hey everyone! Welcome to my new story, Finally Falling! YAY! I'm writing this for agypsyspirit, AKA, Lexi, an amazing person on tumblr. So yeah [:

Disclaimer: I basically own nothing here, the story idea belongs to Lexi and the characters belong to the amazing Suzanne Collins. I only own select plot twists.

It was the summer before eighth grade, which was the last time we could all be considered friends. Sadly, since then, things have changed for the worst. High school either brings out the real you, or makes you who you are. I'm disappointed to say that I don't know which yet.

"I don't want this summer to end!" Glimmer announced, staring longingly at the setting sun, as if she could make it stay a little while longer. I wish she could have.

Clove and I exchanged looks sharing secret smiles.

"None of us do, Glimmer," Marvel said softly, gesturing to Clove and I.

"Except maybe Cato," Clove teased and I stuck out my tongue. She knew perfectly well that I hated school.

I sighed a little, "What do you think it's going to be like? High school?"

"School will get harder," Glimmer offered. This was a joke between us, Glimmer often stating the obvious.

Marvel made a face, "Popularity will suddenly be important." Same old Marvel, always anti-popularity.

I turned to Clove and she gave me her serious look. "We're going to lose ourselves."

Glimmer knitted her eyebrows together, "What?"

"We're going to lose ourselves. My sister, Cassia, went into high school being best friends with Rye Mellark. She hasn't spoken to him since," Clove repeated.

A look of panic flashed across Marvel's face, "That isn't going to happen to us, right Cato?"

"Of course not," I assured the friends, "We've been best friends since grade school. You think high school will change that?"

Clove shrugged, "It could."

"Don't be so negative, Clove!" Glimmer reprimanded the tiny brunette.

I looked out silently as the last traces of the sun began to disappear, "We should go Clove."

The four of us stood up and walked, shoulder to shoulder in the same order we always did, Glimmer, Marvel, Me and Clove, off Glimmer's dock. Glimmer and Marvel lived in an elite neighborhood on Gardner Pond (which wasn't really a pond, it was a lake . . .) and Clove and I lived in a gated community a few blocks down the road. We all lived in the same small town of Panem, Maine and we all went to PHS (Panem High School).

"Night guys!" Glimmer waved, and Marvel smiled and nodded as Clove and I got onto our bikes and began to pedal away.

I sighed, and Clove stared questioningly at me. "I just wish I could drive," I elaborated. Clove giggled and pedaled faster. Soon, the trip became a race to see who could get to the gates fastest.

As we skidded to a stop, we were greeted by Haymitch Abernathy, one of our favorite security guards. He was a known drunk on the weekends, and usually only worked select weekdays.

"Miss Belanger, Mister Hargrove," Haymitch nodded as he opened the gates for us, "Try not to run over innocent pedestrians."

Clove snickered, "We'll try Haymitch."

"That's Officer Abernathy to you!" Haymitch called after us, teasingly. We didn't look back.

As the two of us pulled up to Clove's house, I parked my bike in her driveway momentarily and walked her to the door.

Before she let herself in she turned to me a smiled.

"Happy birthday, Clove," I grinned.

She laughed, "Thanks, Cato."

"No problem," I kissed her cheek quickly and smirked at her.

Her face flushed light pink before she walked into her house and I went to my bike again.

I wish I could say that everything stayed the way it was that last day in August. I wish I could say that Glimmer, Marvel, Clove and I remained best friends throughout high school. I wish I could say that Clove was, for once, wrong, and that high school didn't change us.

I wish I could, but I can't.

Freshman year was okay. The group didn't have many classes together. Marvel joined track, Glimmer joined cheer, I joined football and Clove was just Clove. We didn't sit together at lunch anymore, and our weekly trips to one of our favorite restaurants, The Hob, became less frequent.

The next summer, Clove's mom died, and we were temporarily brought together again. But once school started back up, she went all psycho crazy on us. Marvel became an intimidating popular. Glimmer was the queen bee and a known diva. I admit, even I became someone who I didn't recognize, an arrogant jock with massive anger issues.

Now its senior year and none of us talk anymore. We shrug off each other's names, and the only times we remember the days where we were in fact best friends, are in dreams.

Marvel's new friends are Peeta Mellark and Finnick Odair, while Glimmer's are Johanna Mason and Katniss Everdeen. Clove is often spotted with Ember Tatnum, a tiny red haired girl with foxlike features, this girl we often called Foxface when we still hung out. Myself, I'm kind of a loner, aside from being good friends with my fellow football players, Gale Hawthorne and Thresh Oher.

I still long for the friendship I shared with Glimmer, Marvel and Clove.

And even more so, I long for the more than a friendship I shared with Clove alone.

So I hope you all liked it! Lexi, especially! Keep in mind that this is only the first chapter, and sort of played the role of an introduction. Next chapter is when things begin to get dramatic.

Review?

~~~April [: