I know people follow me and my other stories and I want to say sorry I haven't updated in 50 years. But today is update day! And this story I have been working on for a while. I wanted to publish this story today because I knew it was ready to be seen. Hope everyone likes my first AU The Hunger Games Story!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games

"I like Harry more."

"No I like him more."

Alright then what is his favorite color?"

"Oh come on."

"You like him more, so answer the question!"

This was a typical Friday morning at our house. Well, Effie's house. But all the same, it was a typical day. I rolled my eyes at my sister and her best friend Rue arguing over who loved Harry Styles more as I continued to munch on the toast I was eating. Thresh would be here in ten minutes to pick me up for school and he always got angry at me when I didn't eat before we headed to school. I suddenly heard running coming from upstairs down to the kitchen I was hiding out in. Damn it, now I had to deal with One Direction stuff and it wasn't even 7:45.

"Okay Katniss, who loves Harry more? Me or Rue." My little sister Prim asked me.

"I don't care who loves him more." I responded.

"Come on Katniss. You are the only one who can end this." Rue said. "Me or Prim?"

My phone buzzed on the table and saw it was thresh. He got to the house early and was waiting for me. "Um, sorry R and P but my ride is here." I quickly dashed out the house, grabbing my bag and water bottle and ran to Thresh's car. He gave me a look when he saw me running to the car and hopping in.

"One Direction talk again?" he asked as he started the car up.

"Don't get me started."

He grunted and put the car into drive, taking us both to school. Thresh and I have been friends since I moved in with Effie almost two and a half years ago. With everything that was going on in my life at the time, Thresh never asked questions when I didn't want to answer them. He just there for me and I looked up to him. Especially when I needed a shoulder to cry on. Thresh Anderson is really popular in our upper middle class town of Panem, New Jeresy. Quiet, smart, athletic, and tough, Thresh is a shoe in candidate for any division one team. He was just good at everything. Many people wondered why he even became friends with me in the first place when I first got here during our sophomore year, but no one dared to ask him. Most were slightly frighten by Thresh so they never asked.

I always think back to when I first moved to Panem, New Jersey. I was born in Kansas City, Kansas along with my little sister Primrose. Our parents didn't have much, but they had enough to keep my sister and me comfortable. My father was an engineer. He went to school for it over at Kansas State University. He loved his job working Machinery and everything. And he loved his daughters and wife. Mom was into medicine. She was a nurse in New York for the longest time. She went to school at NYU and everything. She was so happy. And when she met our dad, she felt complete. Dad used to tell us how his friend convinced him to go up with them to New York for a week to relax. His friend had gotten drunk one night and hit his head pretty badly. They rushed him to the hospital and that's where Mom and Dad met. Love at first sight.

Years later when I was just 11, Dad died in a freak accident at his job at the plant outside of our town. They never found his body and Mom never recovered from the grief. For two years, I had to take care of not only my little sister, but my mom as well. For the first year, money wasn't an issue. I was okay in Math so I was able to help pay the bills and go buy groceries. However, three months after my 12th birthday, things got rough. Mom clearly needed a doctor to look at her and Prim needed her shots. Medical bills were everywhere and soon our little family only had less than $100 to our name. I couldn't work since I was only 12. Some people in our town knew of our situations and donated to us all the time until I was 13 and could work. I worked at a local grocery store for about a year and was able to pay some bills and get discounts on food. But we were still barely making the cut still. But God sent Prim and I an angel to save us both.

Miss Effie Trinket was a good friend of our mom when they were kids. Effie soon became a well-known designer who traveled the world and worked for the rich and famous. Not seeing or hearing from her best friend in years, Effie decided to make a spontaneous trip to Kansas City to see her best friend and her family. I was shocked when I saw Effie at our doorstep one day after school. She looked at us and knew we weren't eating. She looked at the house and knew that things were rough for us. And she looked through the window and saw all our furniture gone. I had to sell it in order to have some money for bills almost 3 months ago. When she came into our house (by force) and saw mom, she was angry. She yelled at our mom for becoming like this and yelled at her for treating us like this saying that our dad would have hated her for leaving us like we were. Mom said nothing and Effie decided to take charge. She put mom in a home and took guardianship of Prim and I. I was 14 at the time.

I have a lot of demons that I fight everyday. There was an incident that I haven't told anyone but Thresh about. Not even my childhood friend Gale knows about it. I was too embarrassed to tell him. Effie helped a lot though. Once we moved in with her in New York City, she realized after four months that the city life wasn't a good place to raise us. That's how we moved to Panem, New Jersey. She bought a house for us in Panem but kept her place in New York for when she has to stay there for a long period of time or over night. Panem an hour drive to New York where Effie works and it's also the town mom grew up in with Effie. Sometimes I visit Mom's old house on Upper 12 Drive. It was a beautiful house that the typical American would live and raise their family in. Her family lived well. Yet I always wondered what happened to them. Effie told me that once I got older, she would help me locate them. She said that sometimes it's best to leave the past behind, yet in my case you should look into it to understand the future.

Before I knew it, Thresh and I were at school. "Wow that was fast." I said taking off my seatbelt.

"Yeah well, I have stuff to do thismorning. What about you?" he asked.

"Avoid Glimmer and try not to fall a sleep in Math." Thresh nodded his head and we both walked quietly to the building. Thresh received a lot of hellos from different classmates who worshipped him. Me, however, I'm ignored by most of the student body. I don't mind either. I love it that way. Thresh always said it was because people felt intimidated by me.

"Why don't you wear your hair in a different style other than this braid." He took the tip of my brunet braid and tapped it on my nose. I grabbed it from him and kept quiet. "Katniss, if you put it down you could get a boyfriend for once."

"I'm good without one thanks." I murmured.

"I know but still. It's our senior year. Who are you going to take to prom?"

"You of course." Thresh gave me another look and shook his head.

"Come on we talked about this." He said. I thought or a second and then gave myself a face palm. Delly Witherspoon. Thresh has had a crush on her since he was in 7th grade. She was a pretty girl. Kind of like a girl next-door type of girl. But Thresh could never talk to her because he hardly had time to say hi before his ex Glimmer interrupted. Feeling bad, I sighed and grabbed his brown hand.

"How about this, I will…sit next to her as an apology and talk to her. Then maybe this will help you talk to her for once. I'll distract Glimmer."

Thresh gave me a smile and agreed.

We were almost to the entrance when we hard Ke$ha's "Blow" playing loudly behind us. Cheerful screams were heard behind us and perked our interest. Turning around we saw Glimmer in her huge black BMW SUV smiling and waving to people. She was also holding a megaphone.

"ATTENTION FRANKLIN DOUGLASS HIGH, HOME OF THE MOCKINGJAYS. YOU ARE ALL INVITED TO MY 18TH BIRTHDAY PARTY NEXT FRIDAY NIGHT!"

Thresh groaned while I rolled my eyes. This again. Every year since the 2nd grade, according to Thresh, Glimmer Fitzpatrick always holds the party of the year. You can't hold one bigger (unless it was thresh that is) and it's invite only even though she says everyone is invited. She gives everyone an invite but you have to look at your invitation carefully. If you are invited, then your invitation was covered with glitter and pink hearts on the back. If it doesn't have it, they you might as well throw the piece of paper away. Thresh hasn't been to any of her parties since Freshman year. It didn't want to waste his time. And I don't blame him.

Unfortunately, Glimmer spotted us and ran over to Thresh sporting her fake smile. "Thresh! You coming?"

"No."

"Why not?! You never come to my parties anymore. Ever since that she thing came to our school."

"Katniss."

"What?"

"Her name is Katniss."

"Ugh, whatever. Just come this year okay?"

"Only if Katniss is invited."

"I invite everyone."

"You know what I mean."

Glimmer looked red as she looked between us and sighed. "I'll give you two your invites tomorrow."

"Good." Thresh turned back to the school and motioned for me to follow. I held tightly to the straps of my backpack and followed him.

I didn't know it at the time, but today was the first chapter of my new life Thresh and Effie always wanted for me.