This story is rated T for language and minor adult themes. I will own The Hunger Games when Haymitch stays sober for more than a week.

I'd heard

That you were looking for prey

Hungry for a different girl everyday

But you were so sly in coming in

I wouldn't fight, I let you win.

- Trouble by Bonnie McKee

They all told me to stay away from him- to stay far, far away, because he was only a player out to break my heart. And at first, I believed them, because he was completely unrecognizable to me now. At first I played the good little girl and steered clear. But deep inside, I couldn't help but be intrigued. Was this boy really as bad as they said? I still have the memories of a time when he wasn't...

I knew that he was trouble. I was fully aware that he would only break my heart into minuscule pieces. Be he was always so intense, so deep, but at the same time gorgeous and charming, that I couldn't escape his magnetic pull. I fell too far, too hard, and now here I am.

I lean back onto my pillows, close my eyes tight, and remember...

"So, Clove." My best friend Olive Twist slams her locker shut, tossing her gorgeous red hair and staring at me with dark, serious green eyes. "Are you busy this weekend?"

I shake my head and grin at her, my hand closing around the silver locket I wear always, my only memento of the grandmother I lost years ago. "You mean other than locking myself in my room and writing until my eyes bleed or my hands crap out, whichever comes first?"

Olive laughs and pushes up the sleeves of her dark green sweater dress, setting her hands on her hips. I don't know how she manages to look stunning without really making much of an effort. Fashion's never really been my thing, though, and it comes more easily to Olive than it does to me. "Girl, you need to get a life."

It's our own private joke, and I start to laugh with her, but then I freeze, my heart hammering in my chest as I look over her shoulder to the end of the hallway, where he stands with his friends. He is staring straight at me, leaning against the lockers. A smirk is clearly etched upon his handsome face and a slight lift to his blonde eyebrows. Oh shit oh shit why is he staring at me, why can't I breathe and why is my heart beating louder than a rim shot on a snare drum...

Olive follows my gaze, elbowing me hard in the ribs when she catches on. "Cato Tyler is staring at you?" she whispers, tugging at my arm, attempting to pull me away. "That's not good. That boy is nothing but trouble. And for God's sake, stop staring like an idiot!"

"I know he's no good. You've been telling me that since, what, sixth grade? When we first met and we heard that rumor about him and Cashmere?" I turn away, but both my mind and my heart are racing, going a thousand miles an hour. Why was he looking at me? Why does he get to me so easily?

Why can't I forget what he used to be to me, and now, is he really as bad as they all say?

I shake my head and fling that rebellious thought to the wind, telling myself that it's nothing. Cato is dangerous; the forbidden fruit on the tree. I can't change what happened between us, and I don't want him.

He's my total opposite, anyway. He's handsome, popular, confident, arrogant- everything I'm not. I'm the shy, quiet girl in the corner, with my nose always buried in a book or journal. And although Olive and my other friends assure me I'm pretty and have coaxed me out of my shell, just a teeny bit, I'm mostly invisible. I've never been the most outgoing person in the world anyway. In fact, all through elementary school, I only had one friend...

So why does Cato make me so fucking nervous? He is just another person.

I look back over my shoulder just long enough to catch a glimpse of those laughing blue eyes yet again. He's still staring at me. Shit.

I close my eyes, and for a moment I see those same blue eyes and a wide, white smile, and feel an arm around my shoulder. I hear an echo of laughter. Maybe next time, Clover...

I open my eyes and release the old, long buried memory, letting it float away and disintegrate into dandelion seeds in a breeze.

Outwardly I am calm, letting nothing slip past my defenses long enough to let Olive and Katniss and Johanna and Annie see. But inside, my heart is a battle field, and I'm waging war against myself.

I didn't know just how close to the edge I was, then. Didn't recognize the signs. If I had, I might have been able to stop myself from falling- before it was too late.

Please review, I would love your feedback and ideas on this. Thanks for reading!