Disclaimer: A majority of characters in this story are from The Hunger Games trilogy and do not belong to me.

Rated T for use of language, underage drinking, sexual situations and implied sex, and all around maturity. If there ever needs to be a special warning for triggers at the beginning of a chapter I'll be sure to put it at the top.

My goal for this story is to be all inclusive of the college experience, which may at times include some unfavorable situations. It's a story about friendship, family, the fun times of college, and love (duh). I've been working on it for a long time and really hope that you all enjoy it!

My continual love from this point forward is for Alys/juniorstarcatcher who has helped me through the toughest of chapters. Thanks for being great!

ain't got a care in the world, but got plenty of beer
ain't got no money in my pockets, but i'm already here

Capitol University is known for two things, and two things only. The first is their academics. Schools have to be known for academics. CU has produced famous lawyers, incredibly graphic designers, renowned surgeons… if it's a job in the world that someone can be good at, CU has made one of the best if not many. Madge Undersee was accepted last year due to her unbelievably high test scores and her participation in multiple extracurricular activities. The workload is tough, a lot tougher than high school, but she can keep up. Her family pays the hefty tuition without even batting an eyelid, knowing that Madge is going to change the world in one way or another.

The second thing Capitol is known for is the partying. How can a college be at the top of the academic charts, as well as being known as a party school? No one knows. Hard workers are clearly hard partiers. That, and rich kids had access to absolutely anything they wanted to party.

Madge wouldn't really know firsthand. She hasn't ever been to a party.

Well, until now.

The cab is crowded and Madge is practically on Gale Hawthorne's lap. He's a giant – she doesn't understand why he didn't sit shotgun and instead insisted Katniss have. Something about Katniss getting carsick, which is totally bull, but Katniss definitely wasn't going to object to sitting upfront. Madge was randomly paired with Katniss as a roommate last year and they went plenty of places with Katniss in the back. She was fine.

The cab pulls to a halt and all the students dig through their pockets, pulling out the fare and handing it to the man that drove them (who kindly ignored the fact that they had four in the backseat instead of the legal three). They file out of the cab and Gale offers his hand to Madge who wiggles out awkwardly, her thighs having stuck to the pleather seats.

"Alright, Undersee?" he asks with eyebrows high on his forehead.

She blushes and straightens out her dress. "Fine." Her eyes dart to the house they've arrived at and she feels her heart doing a dance routine in her chest. It's not that Madge is opposed to partying, she's just never been at a place so crowded before. She much prefers quiet get-togethers with friends where they illegally drink wine in their dorm rooms.

He grins and elbows her gently, "Stick with me and you'll be fine."

"I'd rather vomit than stick with you," she tells him, though there's a hint of playfulness to her voice.

"That's the spirit," Gale grins. He turns to Katniss who is rapidly typing a message on her phone. "So can loverboy get us in for free or what, Catnip?"

She frowns without even looking up, still typing. "He's waiting out back," she answers. "And stop calling him that."

Peeta isn't in the fraternity that's hosting the party, but his older brother is. Another reason Madge isn't too eager to get inside – Taftan Mellark. So, they dated a few times during her freshman year last year. She ended it after he called her a Femi-Nazi. No hard feelings, right?

Peeta swears Taftan was never like this before he got away from home and joined a fraternity.

Everyone that took the cab, including Delly Cartwright and her boyfriend Thom Atwood, makes their way to the back of the house where Peeta is waiting. He meets them halfway when he sees them, happily crossing the yard to Katniss and pulling her into a quick kiss.

"If I knew you'd be greeting us like that I would've used some mouthwash," Gale hums, causing Peeta to pull Katniss closer and flip Gale the finger while doing so. Madge elbows Gale and gives him a sharp look, receiving another grin from him. Ever since Katniss and Peeta started dating in the spring of last year one of Gale's favorite activity is to harass them in any way that he knows how.

Madge turns to Peeta who's pulled away from Katniss by now and greets him with a hug. "Thanks for this, Peeta. I spent all my money on the cab."

"Don't worry about it," he answers. "Taftan owes me one anyway."

The closer they get to the house the more nervous Madge feels. Not only because of Taftan – he's a dickhead with legs – but because she's never been to a frat party before. She looks back at the group she's with and wonders why they even bothered. Peeta and Katniss are going to slip into a dark room, same with Delly and Thom. Gale's probably going to go off on his own too, find some girl to take back to his dorm for the night. Madge doesn't know what to do with herself, maybe she'll befriend a group of freshman and sing Beyoncé at the top of her lungs.

She considers taking Gale up on his offer – to stick with him.

Madge and Katniss being paired as roommates last year was a stroke of luck. They got along incredibly well and were both very easy to live with. They chose to live together this year as well because of how well it worked out and because of what good friends they became. But along with Katniss came Gale Hawthorne and a group of friends Madge never expected to embrace.

Gale's rude and loud and very stubborn (a lot like Katniss save for the loud). But he has a good heart, sometimes, usually, and that's what Madge likes about him. He's the most loyal person she's ever met, and dedicated beyond belief. They didn't get along at first because he thought she was a spoiled brat, but since he got over the fact that it isn't her fault her father has a lot of money they've become closer.

Just not close enough to follow him around like she's a lost puppy at a frat party.

She's a sophomore this year who's still sort of trying to find her way, and he's a very well established junior that doesn't need Madge Undersee holding his shirt and gripping his forearm whenever some greasy haired kid looks her way.

They reach the entrance of the party and another wave of uneasiness shoots through her. Taftan's at the door watching them approach. "Well," Peeta gestures to his friends. "Here we are."

Taftan scans the crowd before wrinkling his nose. "And the grocery store incident is forgiven?"

"Erased from my mind completely," Peeta nods. Madge watches the brother's back and forth with a tiny smile. They may look alike with their sandy blonde hair and dark blue eyes, but they are complete opposites. "So if you don't mind—"

"Ah-ah," Taftan stops him. "You can all go in for free. Except her." He motions to Madge who suddenly feels her cheeks turning red. "I think she can manage five dollars," Taftan cuts off Peeta who's ready to protest, "considering she left me with an entire check at Red Lobster." Madge frowns, her lips parting to argue as well, but Taftan shrugs. "Suck it up, Sweet Cheeks."

"Taf," Peeta frowns. "You're being a dick."

But Madge isn't going to let Peeta fight this battle. "I had every right to walk out on you after realizing what a sexist piece of shit you are!" Madge shouts. "You are so fucking privileged that you couldn't stand the fact that I—"

"Alright," Gale cuts her off, stepping in front of her. He digs into his wallet and tosses a five dollar bill in Taftan's direction. "I hope it heals your ego. Sweet Cheeks." Gale quickly guides Madge inside and Peeta motions for everyone to follow before Taftan can stop them and kick them out for good. "Christ, Undersee," Gale says once they're inside. He pulls her close considering the hallway they're in is infinitely crammed with people. "Learn to watch your tongue, yeah? It's only five dollars."

"He just—ugh!" She throws up her hands and takes a deep breath. It isn't the money that bothers her, it's the boy that has no respect for women. Taftan infuriates her to no end. She shouldn't have to watch her tongue. "Sorry. Thanks for covering me. I'll pay you when we get back."

"No problem." Gale scans the area the best he can considering it's dark in this room and jerks his head toward where he believes the kitchen to be. "Want to get a drink?"

As predicted, everyone gets split up. Thankfully they're all in a group message in which Peeta will eventually text when he's ready to leave – he's the designated driver for the night, but was coming from work which meant he couldn't drive them all to the party. Hence the cab. What he says goes.

The drink Gale got for Madge, something called Jungle Juice which is just a combination of a lot of vodka and some fruit punch, is so strong it hits her almost immediately. Before she knows what she's doing she's spinning on the dance floor to some loud pop song she can't place.

It's easy to distance herself from real life, considering her real life is real shitty. It's easy to get drunk and let her vision get blurry and dance with strangers she never intends to see ever again. It's all a nice distraction but frat parties aren't her style – she doesn't like the sweaty air or the crowded rooms too much.

Soon enough someone is sliding their hands around her waist. It's much too close for her so she spins around to tell him to fuck off you fucking dick who do you think you are touching me like this but then smiles when she realizes she knows the person holding her.

"Gale!" she cheers. He grins, pulling her closer and dancing with her to the beat. "Are you babysitting me? I told you that you didn't need to watch me!"

"I'm not babysitting you," he laughs. "I just think you're a good dancer."

"I am a good dancer," she concludes. Gale chuckles again and it sounds much nicer than the music they've been playing. "I can handle myself, though," she says, tilting her head backwards so he can hear her in this loud room.

"Trust me, I know you can." Gale lowers his mouth to her ear and whispers, "I thought you were going to rip Taftan to shreds. Would've loved to watch it." Madge giggles and she feels him smile. "You could've taken him."

"Still can," she cheers.

"I'd put money on it," he agrees. "What happened between you two anyway?"

"Oh, Gale," Madge spins in his arms and he's a lot closer than she anticipated. Their noses bump and she loses her breath. Even in the dark his eyes are light, Gale's staring at her lips for a minute before he manages to meet her gaze. "It's much too loud to talk about that here."

"Mm," Gale grabs her hand and she laughs, lacing their fingers together as they weave through the party. They check a few rooms before settling on one that's a bit quieter than the others and much less crowded. Not a private room, not in the least, but at least they can talk amongst themselves without having to shout. He lowers himself to the couch and she follows suit, almost on top of him again like they were in the cab. "Is this better?" he asks.

"Much," she nods. "So you can't laugh at me if I tell you this story."

He feigns shock, "I would never!"

"Okay, okay," Madge says, shaking her head. "God, I can't believe I'm going to tell you this." He waits patiently for her to get ready, fluffing her golden hair and looking at him pointedly. "Taftan and I were a thing."

"A thing," Gale echoes. "Okay. When?"

"Early my freshman year," Madge waves her hand dismissively. "I don't really know. Whatever. Peeta introduced us and Taftan was charming, yadda yadda. Hard to believe, I know. But it was freshman year and a boy was showing interest in me, I was amazed and felt so lucky, you know?"

He frowns, "What, only one boy showed interest in you? You're shitting me, right?"

"I'm telling the story here," Madge says, poking him in his chest and promptly ignoring his question. Madge has never been very lucky when it comes to boys. "If you want to tell the Taftan story go right ahead!"

Gale rolls his eyes and tries to suppress his smile. "Sorry. Continue."

"Anyway," Madge starts again. "He's good looking. It sucks because he's one of the worst humans on the planet, but it's true. So naturally I was infatuated with him. Ugh, he hated my favorite band—"

"The Slagheap, right?"

"Right! And he constantly flirted with other girls around me and would cut me off constantly to talk about himself like I care about his stupid stamp collection or something."

Gale chuckles, "He has a stamp collection?"

"I don't know, probably." Gale laughs again and it makes her smile. "Anyway," she says again, "I was getting toward the end of my rope with him. Like it was great he was interested in me and good with words and everything but I definitely deserved someone better than him. So he took me out to Red Lobster one night and I was going to end things gently and we were going to split the check but then he said something so misogynistic that I literally could not sit at that table for another second. God, what was it?" Madge furrows her eyebrows and tries to think. "I don't know. I have no idea, something about how the waitress was a slut because you could see her cleavage or something horribly stupid. I wanted to smack him!"

"Why'd that make you so mad?" Gale asks.

"Because!" Madge throws up her hands. "Women can wear whatever they want! It doesn't make them a slut or not, I hate the word slut, it's so stupid! Like, wow, men can sleep with as many girls as they want and they're heroes but if a girl does it she's a slut! Oh, fucking double standards!"

Gale is incredibly distracted. Madge has fire burning in her pale blue eyes with every word she speaks and he craves it more than anything. His eyes keep dropping to her lips but he scolds himself, knowing that he's got to stop giving into what his body wants and actually pay attention. He's learning a lot, just not enough to realize he shouldn't be sexualizing her while she's talking about how women shouldn't be sexualized.

"So I calmly told him these things because I hate losing my temper in public but he wasn't listening at all, it was like talking to a literal brick. And then I got angry because he wasn't listening and he called me psychotic and oh my God of course a woman standing up for equality is crazy." The sarcasm in her voice is palpable and Gale doesn't think he's ever been more attracted to her than in this moment. "He's lucky I didn't dump my drink on him."

"Holy shit, Undersee."

Finally she redirects her attention to him, clearly haven forgotten that she was telling Gale a story in the first place. "Don't you dare call me crazy, too."

Gale shakes his head frantically, his mouth stretching into a lopsided grin. "Never. I just can't believe you finally go to your first frat party and you're sitting here talking to me about feminism."

"I will talk about feminism anywhere anytime to anyone," Madge says with a smile. "Sorry if it's unattractive."

"Unattractive?" Gale echoes. "Are you kidding? You are the hottest person at this party right now."

She stares at him for a few seconds, blinking, before her face erupts with such a wicked smile.

Madge grins, her hands reaching up to cup his cheeks, and pulls Gale down for a kiss. Their lips meet desperately. She tastes like fruit punch and his hands tangle in her soft hair. He groans into the kiss as she pulls him closer and grinds her body against his in all the right places.

To be fair, this isn't the first time they've ended up like this. And it probably won't be the last.

"Gale," Madge pants his name as he pulls away to pepper kisses down her throat. They're some of the only ones in their friend group who are single, and it's clear that there's always been something there between them. "Oh, Christ." Gale nibbles on her collarbone, leaving marks like he always does. "We, Gale," she grabs his face between her hands and pulls him up to look at her. "We really gotta get out of here."

"Mm," he agrees, dropping his lips to hers again. They've tried hooking up a few times but their friends have always been around and it's never worked. Something (or someone – dammit Peeta) always gets in the way of things actually happening. "I'll call a cab?"

"Wait!" she laughs. "Wait a second." The scruff on his chin is driving her mad, her fingers trail along his cheek. "I have to pee."

"Curse you and your small bladder," Gale laughs too. He stretches forward and steals another kiss. "Go! I'll wait."

"You better wait," she says, poking his chest as she slides from his lap. "I'll be quick!" she calls.

"Hurry up!" Gale groans. His fingers stretch for her when she's gone.

Now that he's alone the world spins in front of him. Gale's so drunk that the few lights that are on in the room are blurry. The music in the room beside him is nothing but a murmur. Without Madge to distract him he's realizing how inebriated he really is. He wonders if he'll be able to get it up when he finally gets back to his dorm room. He prays he can get it up. God, that would be embarrassing. Finally getting Madge to himself and not being able to finish.

"Hey, Handsome," a girl suddenly says, pulling him from his drunken thoughts. He looks up to find a blonde wearing a dark dress. She lowers herself onto Gale's lap, throwing her arms around his neck. "Remember me?"

"How could I forget?" he laughs, swooping in to kiss her as soon as he can.

He doesn't realize that her hair isn't curly. He doesn't realize that she doesn't kiss or taste the same. He doesn't realize that she isn't Madge.

After peeing as quickly as she can, Madge exits the bathroom just in time for someone to push past her and vomit into the bathtub. She frowns, shudders, and makes a sharp turn away. "Oof!" Madge runs smack into someone else. "Katniss!"

"Oh, you look lovely," Katniss frowns, squinting in Madge's direction. "Is that a hickey?"

"Oh, um," Madge rubs at her neck and shrugs. "Maybe." She turns to Peeta who's a step behind Katniss. "As it turns out, I don't think I'm going to need a ride home tonight."

Peeta cocks an eyebrow. "That so?"

"Yeah, um, I'll text you in the morning, though?" Peeta and Katniss exchange a wicked look before they both smirk. "Don't make that face," she says, gesturing at the pair of them. They follow as she walks away, eager to return to Gale. "I know what you're both thinking and you're completely wrong about the situation and—" Madge stops once they reach the room she was in, her heart sinking into her stomach. "Um."

"What?" Peeta chirps from over her shoulder. They all have front row seats to Gale making out with some pretty blonde. "Oh." He reaches out for her, "Madge—"

"It's fine," she shakes her head, stepping away from the room before things get too hot and she throws up. "It's fine." Katniss sighs and presses her hands to her temples. "Disregard everything I said to you."

"Disregarded," Peeta says softly. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and sends a text to the group that they're leaving, allowing Madge's phone to vibrate in her pocket as well. "Ready to go?"

"Get me out of here," Madge pleads. She doesn't look back into the room.

A/N: Happy Gadge Day! This is being posted on the 5 year anniversary of the first gadge fic ever written, and I'm so happy to do so! As stated earlier up by the disclaimer this is going to be a happy fun wonderful story but college is also stressful and scary and life exists outside of the campus. There will never be any sexual assault in this story which I feel is important to mention. But I absolutely promise this will include all of the college greatness (beer pong, football games, midterms... etc.) I really hope you enjoy this (let me know if you do -hint hint). You're all lovely people! Love, Jenn