A/N: Hi! Thank you for dropping by and reading my new story! I don't have an exact plan, but this fan fic will be updated soon. I'm juggling "Glass Hearts" also. So, enjoy this first chapter! And the next chapter will be a different story, probably relating to Katniss and Peeta. Enjoy! And don't forget to review! (Also, if you're coming from my other story, "Glass Hearts" thank you for reading this one also, it means a lot!)

-Joy

His dark, wide olive hands swept over her small pale ones and she gave him a shy, nervous smile as he handed her the notebook she dropped in the school hallway. The Everdeen boy always made her nervous, in this addictive kind of way. The way someone would feel before their birthday or Christmas. Scratching at the surface of her being. Waiting to burst open.

"Thanks," she said, quietly. Her eyes fleeting toward his, only to land on the floor quickly afterwards.

"You're welcome," He said, offering a polite smile and treading off into the school yard.

She and the Everdeen boy never spoke much. Just shared glances in school. They knew each other's names and that was about it. She always hoped he would speak to her one day. She was too nervous to speak to him herself.

Her parents didn't approve of her being around Seam kids. Her parents liked the Mellark boy. He was a gentleman. Wanted a family and grow up to run a family bakery. That was his dream. She and the Mellark boy talked often. He would make his confessions of love to her when he got the courage. She nodded and tried not to offend him. She loved him, but that was a long time ago. She fell in love with his charm, and then quickly ran away from her feelings when he talked about wanting to marry her someday. His quickening pace of the future made her nervous. He wanted to stay in 12 all of his life. Not do anything spontaneous and mad. She wanted to see outside of 12 before settling down.

She and the Mellark boy were always surrounded with friends. They were that couple of the school. It was only right that they were. Both of their parents were shopkeepers and they both inherited the looks of the town children. Blonde, blue-eyed, and pale. He always was nice to her, gave her a kiss on the cheek when they arrived in school. He carried her books and walked her home. But he caught her watching the Everdeen boy sitting alone at his table, and he saw the smile that crawled on her lips when he would walk past. And he knew she didn't feel the same for him. And she told the 17 year - old Mellark boy so. That she didn't feel the same way. She wanted space and freedom. She didn't want to be bogged down by District 12.

But, she hoped every summer that neither one of the boys would be reaped. She fidgeted with her hands on that hot summer day. Anxiety ripping her heart out of her chest. She cared for the Mellark boy as a friend, and didn't want to see him forced in an arena; he didn't derserve it. But she desperately pleaded with fate that the Everdeen boy's name wouldn't be pulled from that glass bowl. She didn't want anyone to go into that wretched game. But the chances we're higher that summer. It was the 50th Hunger Games, which meant it was the 2nd Quarter Quell. Double the tributes go into the arena. And she almost doubled over in heartache when one of her best friends, Maysilee Donner, was reaped. She held her tight when they were allowed three minutes for their goodbyes. Her eyes resting on the gold pendent that sat on her breezy light green dress. Her token from home. A symbol of a mockingjay. She promised Maysilee that she would come home. She told her she would be waiting for the Victor's train.

She wiped her tears from her face as the men in white forced her to leave. Walking down the hallway of the Justice Building to find the black-haired, olive-skinned Everdeen boy twisting his palms. A nervous expression written on his features.

"Did someone you know get reaped?" Her nervousness faded. She was too numb knowing her friend was about to be forced in an arena she may never come out of. She kept optimistic, the best she could.

He nodded and exhaled as he sat down on one of the steel benches. She brushed the back of her dress down as she sat beside him. Being closer to him than she had since she first saw him. She kept her gazed locked on her lap and waited for him to speak.

"Do you know Haymitch?" he asked, turning his head to meet her gaze. She looked up and shook her head. She didn't associate with Seam kids.

"I knew him a little. I knew we were both from the Seam." he said, forcing his eyes back on the wall. "I hate this," he whispered. Dropping his gaze to the floor and exhaling.

"Me too." The blonde 16 - year old girl said.

The Victor's train didn't arrive with her friend as a passenger. The seam boy, Haymitch Abernathy, did come home. He came back different, though. Afraid to speak to people. He blocked out the world and stopped attending school. She didn't hear of him after the return of the train. She cried for weeks. She watched her friend die. But she was thankful the Seam boy was there when she died. That comforted her.

Maysilee's parents gave her a song bird. She kept it in remembrance of Maysilee.

The Mellark boy tried to comfort her when her downcasted face arrived at school in the mornings. She shrugged him off and he tried not to bother her.

But it was when she folded her books in her bag and trekked out to the school yard, the Mellark boy offering to carry her books, she declined. The Everdeen boy caught her gaze. He gave her a shake of his head, gesturing her to follow him and they walked out of the school yard together. The nervousness of being around him, returned and she focused on his shoulders as he walked in front of her.

He was much taller than her. At least six inches. His straight black hair and olive skin. The muscles in his shoulders swayed as he swung his arms back and forth. And he had to shake her out of her concentration. He was pointing toward a barbwire fence that lead to the woods and she stared for a moment, her mouth agape.

"We can't go to the woods," she said, wondering why he brought her down here. But she didn't refuse. He just nudged her elbow and helped her through the fence. She felt trapped by rules and laws and she felt free from them around the Everdeen boy. She was slowly falling in love with his every move, and she was okay with that.

She had never been in the woods before. It was illegal. But he lead her down a path that was familiar to his feet and they sat down on a fallen tree log.

"I'm really sorry about your friend." He whispered, giving her a sad smile as he tore leaves apart and threw them on the ground.

"Me too. It wasn't fair." She said. Thinking about all the times she and Maysilee shared. She cringed for a moment, missing her friend.

He suddenly whistled and looked up into the trees. And the mockingjays returned his call. She stared in amazement at the birds. And dropped her gaze back to him. A twinkle in his dark grey eyes. He chuckled under his breath and she smiled slightly.

"Are you and the Mellark kid going steady?" He asked, not looking at her. He moved around the forest and grabbed a small twig and plopped down again to draw in the dirt.

The answer was no, they weren't going steady. But she tried to hide her true emotions. Her love for this Seam boy who she would never be allowed to see. How she knew she had broken the Mellark boy's heart.

"No," was all she said. Flatly.

"Oh," he said.

She nodded and twiddled with the ends of her long blonde waves. She sat on the log and he sat by her feet. Staring at the trees ahead. His hands crossed over his knees. She resisted the urge to touch his dark Seam hair. Maybe even lean down to kiss him. She never kissed a boy. Not even the Mellark boy. She wondered what it felt like. Having another one's lips on their own. The feeling of his large hands on her small waist.

He gave her a quick glance, and in one swift movement he was on the log next to her. His side pressed against hers. She blushed violently and kept her gaze on the forest floor. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him smiling at her. A sweet, boyish smile that made her insides jump. She turned to face him and faster than she could comprehend, his lips were on hers. She froze for a moment and then melted into the kiss. His hands gravitating toward her waist and her hands finding their way around his neck. Completely oblivious to the world.

The boy of her dreams was kissing her and she felt like she would die any moment if his lips left hers.

And he broke away, nervously searching her town-blue eyes. She searched his grey ones.

"I've wanted to do that for a long time," The Seam boy whispered. Nervously running his hands over his worn jeans. Fleeting his eyes toward the forest ground and back at her blue eyes.

And she felt the same way, and she wanted to scream it. Inside, she was ecstatic. She was happier than she had been in years. She didn't want to think about anything else but him. She wanted to spend the day in the woods with him. She didn't care if she got caught. She wanted to run away with the Seam boy.

"Me too," she let out a puff of air and her eyes danced on the sunlight. Making her blonde hair glow. His eyes shot to her's. An expression of shock on his features. He thought the townkeeper's daughter would never fall for him. He thought he would never have a chance.

And they spent the day in the woods. He taught her things about nature she had never known. And they would sit together at school. The Mellark boy didn't refuse her. He gave her a polite smile, but he didn't force himself on her. He knew he didn't stand a chance. So he tried to forget. Meet other people. And he did meet someone else. A woman who didn't talk much. He offered her smiles and she brushed him off. She was something different, and the Mellark boy liked that. But, she was a bitter person. But he didn't care.

And the blonde town girl felt a ting of guilt when she saw the Mellark boy talking to the bitter girl no one else talked to. She ignored it though, she kept her focus on the Seam boy. He snuck her to the woods every weekend and they would spend hours talking. Asking each other questions. What they wanted to do in the future. She found out he wanted to do everything she wanted to. Be a little crazy, sneak out to the woods any time. See the part of 12 no one else ever saw. And then settle down and have a family. He wanted a little girl. He told her one day. Someone he could teach to hunt. But he also was afraid, they both were. That they're children would be reaped, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

They quickly fell in love with each other. Knowing each other's motives before the other one knew it themselves. Sharing glances in school. Smiles. Her parents didn't approve. But she didn't care. The year she turned eighteen. No longer eligible for the reaping, and no longer a minor, she and the Seam boy married. A townkeeper's daughter marrying a Seam boy, it was unheard of. But she didn't care, neither did he.

And they moved to the Seam. She forget her earlier life, the best she could. She and the Seam boy were each other's family now.

She didn't regret falling in love with the spontaneous Everdeen boy. Taking his last name herself. She never did. He loved her in a way that she had never been loved before. Her parents soon stopped calling. Her friends stopped coming by, and she blended into the Seam ways. She become the town healer. She started over, forgot everything in her past, and started new with the Everdeen boy. She only hoped their future children would be as passionate as the Everdeen boy was.

She was given the choice of a baker or a coalminer. She ran away with the coalminer, and never regretted it a day in her life.