Summary: A/U. High school is like a gladiator death match where only the strong and good-looking survive. How will our tributes perform?

Pairings: Finnick X Annie, Katniss X Peeta, Gale X Johanna

Chapter 1

Fish out of Water

A sleek silver Range Rover pulled up on the most coveted parking spot in the entire school; sunlight bouncing off its shiny surfaces and bathing it in an ethereal glow as if the Gods themselves favored its existence. Finnick Odair hopped out of his car with years of practiced confidence, duffle bag thrown lazily over his broad shoulders, black wayfarers covering his brilliant sea green eyes. He wore a loose, stripped tank top that did nothing to hide his chiseled physique, shamelessly exposing enough of his smooth, tanned skin to distract a young freshman carrying her books. She gawked at him helplessly, before she tripped on her feet and dunked herself with all the grace she could muster into an open garbage bin.

Of course, all of this goes unnoticed to the golden boy of Panem High.

"Peeta, stop worrying," Finnick jeered, shuffling around the back of his car to retrieve his basketball and sneakers. "No one's going to give you a tardy slip, all the teachers love you - and you don't even have to flirt with them!"

Peeta stepped out from the passenger side with his backpack in hand, a worried expression on his face. He wore a solid black polo shirt and light khakis that hugged his strong build very flatteringly. "I don't want to push my luck. It's the first day of school, we should be early." He waved pleasantly at a group of kids who called out his name. Peeta was friends with everybody, even the younger grades.

Finnick shook his head and used his hip to shut his car door. "Did Gale tell you if he was showing up today?"

"Yeah he's coming. He just needed to drop Rory and Vick at school." Peeta slung his backpack over one shoulder and anxiously surveyed the double doors of Panem High. He didn't even know why he was anxious.

Sensing his unease, Finnick grabbed him by the neck and ruffled his ashy blonde hair.

"Lighten up Pete, it's our senior year," Finnick purred, gazing appreciatively at the large, bold letters that spelled 'Panem High' above their school entrance. It was their last year of high school, and Finnick planned to make it their best yet. "Who knows, you might even grow sufficient balls to tell Katniss how you feel."

Peeta elbowed him on the ribs. "Only if you stay celibate this year."

"I make no promises."

They stood for a moment, staring in silence. Senior year. Then with one deep breath, the two walked in like they owned the place.

"Hey Peeta, do these pants make my thighs look big?"

"No, Finnick."

"Ok cool."

Annie pulled her skirt up nervously, suddenly regretting her decision to wear something so conservative on her first day of school. While her polka dot skirt reached past her knees, all the girls around her wore multicolored booty shorts or kilts folded and pinned so high that it barely covered their bottoms completely. Fantastic, I feel like a candidate for convent.

"I like your skirt."

Annie's head snapped to the side where a girl with wide brown eyes and a shaved head was staring at her with amusement, one hand on the door of her locker, gum popping in her mouth.

Annie blushed self-consciously. "Thanks, I think."

She gave Annie an agonizingly slow once over before she stuck her hand out in greeting. "Johanna Mason."

Annie shook it daintily. "Annie Cresta." Then a little unsurely she added "I'm new."

"I know, I can smell your fear from down the hall," Johanna quipped, giving a lazy wave of her hand. "Welcome to Panem High, the happiest place on earth."

Annie beamed at her and was about to say another thank you when Johanna's eyes widened with fear. "What did you just do to your face, Annie? You can't be walking around smiling at people like that; they'll think you've gone mad."

Annie frowned, confused. "Gone mad?"

"Yes, mad," Johanna hissed. "Only crazy people smile like that. I feel like you're going to throw me into a van, soak me in water and electrocute me." She glared. "Don't do it again."

Annie had no idea to respond to that, so she conceded. "No smiling. Got it."

Johanna gave her another calculating look. "What's your first period?"

She pulled out her schedule from her sea-themed backpack, to which Johanna grimaced disapprovingly. "First period, English."

Johanna shut her locker and threw her arm over Annie's shoulder. "Amazeballs, we can go together."

Forcing herself not to smile, Annie instead settled for a curt nod, which Johanna returned with a laugh. "I think I like you already, Maddie."

"Maddie?"

"It's my nickname for you, short for Mad Annie."

Nervous laughter escaped Annie's lips.

By the time lunch period rolled in, Annie found herself sitting in the buzzing cafeteria with Delly Cartwright, a pasty-faced girl with blonde hair, and Johanna, who graciously decided to take Annie under her wing and show her the ins and outs of the school. She was telling Annie about bathrooms that were sanitary enough to be used when another girl plopped down beside her. She had long black hair, olive skin and beautiful grey eyes.

"Principal Snow is out to get me, I just know it," she moaned to no one in particular.

Johanna rolled her eyes and pointed at Annie with her plastic fork. "Maddie, this is Katniss. Katniss, Maddie. She's new."

Annie sat up straight and smiled, then un-smiled when she remembered Johanna was sitting beside her. "Hi, I'm Annie Cresta."

Katniss stared at her hand with a frown. "Katniss Everdeen."

Sensing her distress, Delly leaned in towards Annie. "Don't worry, it's not you. Katniss has serious trust issues."

"No, I'm just not good with first impressions."

"Oh, I don't mind," Annie said brightly, shrugging her shoulders.

Katniss stared at her weirdly again, and as if Johanna had read her mind, she said "Maddie was home-schooled so she's a bit socially awkward. Apparently she's a genius though."

Annie blushed. That was the second time Johanna complimented her. It was true though, she was a genius.

"Home-schooled, huh, that's really interesting," Katniss crossed her arms and leaned back. "So you've never been to a real school before?"

Annie shook her head in response, not trusting her voice. She clasped her trembling hands together. Why she found Katniss so intimidating, she didn't know.

"But you're like, really pretty," Katniss continued with a smile. Johanna and Delly eyed each other and tried desperately to hold in their laughter.

"Thanks," Annie replied, unsurely, again. She was just unsure about everything today.

"So you agree," Katniss paused, raising an eyebrow. "You think you're really pretty?"

Annie squirmed in her seat, not quite sure how to answer that either. "I-

"You don't have to answer that Maddie," Johanna cut it with an oddly sympathetic expression. "Katniss is just being a mean girl."

Katniss stuck her tongue out at her.

"But you'll like it here, trust me. We have a lot of cute boys," Delly squealed happily, clapping her hands together. "Have you seen any you like yet?"

Completely and utterly lost with their conversation, Annie shook her head. She was too flustered with everything she barely even noticed the boys. "I mostly try and stare at the floor."

The three girls laughed. Whether it was with her or at her, again, Annie wasn't sure.

Someone get me out of here.

Gale yanked his locker open, almost pulling the thin metal door clean off its hinges. As one of the richest schools in the district, you'd think they'd be able to grease some of these lockers.

"Stupid locker," he grumbled under his breath, scaring some of the freshmen who made the unfortunate mistake of walking by him. At almost six feet tall, he towered over most of the boys in their school. Not to mention he was built like an ox.

"Oy, Gale, fighting with inanimate objects again?" Finnick called out from down the hall, Peeta strolling beside him.

"Lay off, Finnick. I'm not in the mood."

"You miss me, I get it."

The three boys managed to get their lockers beside one another just like they did on their first day of freshman year. Gale's was already packed with his football gear and some books on the top shelf, a single picture of himself and his siblings pinned on the door. Peeta's was neatly organized of course, notebooks and textbooks on the top shelf color coded and arranged by subject, his art supplies on the bottom where his gym shoes were. Finnick's locker was empty save for a large rectangular mirror that hung on the door. He pouted at his reflection.

"We've got fourth period gym with the girls right?" Peeta asked, his neatly folded schedule in hand.

Gale nodded and grinned. "I hope we open with football today. I feel like I've been out of practice for too long." He turned to Finnick. "You trying out this year?"

Finnick gave him an incredulous look, and then pointed at his face. "I'm too pretty for football, you know that."

Peeta chuckled at his friends, shutting his locker. "Come on boys, I'm hungry."

"That tall, muscular god of a man is Cato," Delly continued with a dreamy sigh, pointing at a handsome blonde who picked up a freshman by his collars and shoved him roughly against a wall. "He's in the football team, and he's really hot."

"He's also got less common sense than a bottle of water," Johanna offered. "Last year, he asked me how to spell HUNGRY."

Delly glared at her. "He's just misunderstood."

Annie pretended to listen, she honestly did, but there were just so many "cute" boys in this school she had already forgotten most of their names. She really didn't decide to go to school to look at boys, she came to get an education and be around people her own age. It was supposed to be an enriching experience! And educational! She had no time for distractions, especially boys.

Just then the cafeteria doors flung open, and Annie, along with the rest of the student body, turned to look as three boys strolled in like they were in a music video. The farthest to the left was medium height, with ashy blonde hair and blue eyes. People greeted him left and right, and he flashed them a smile with such sincerity that Annie immediately found him appealing. Beside him was a taller boy - a man actually, with clear grey eyes, sharp cheekbones and jet black hair. He wore a red and white varsity jacket with a football tucked safely beneath his arm. He was quite possibly one of the most handsome men Annie had ever seen.

"He's off limits," Katniss snapped, pulling Annie away from her thoughts.

Delly giggled lightly at them both. "That boy you're drooling at is Gale Hawthorne, the captain of the football team and a total family man. A couple of years ago he lost his dad in an accident, so now his mom is pressuring him to get a football scholarship to support his three younger siblings." She licked her spoon like she was licking a phallus. "Oh and Katniss is weirdly protective of him."

"You two look like siblings," Annie said to Katniss, who turned bright red at her comment, causing Delly and Johanna to burst out laughing.

"We're best friends," Katniss gritted through her teeth.

"Anyway," Delly cut in, sitting tall as if she was doing a presentation. "The cutie with the backpack is Peeta Mellark, probably the nicest boy you'll ever meet. He's a brilliant artist; deep, smart and loyal. One time he wrote me a poem, it was so sweet." Then as an afterthought she added "And he's hopelessly in love with Katniss, even though he won't admit it."

Katniss suddenly found her nails interesting and refused to look up.

Annie turned back to the last boy in the group, and if she wasn't sitting down, she probably would've lost her footing. He was tall and muscular, with gorgeous bronze hair and incredible sea green eyes that twinkled even from the distance. He smiled at a pretty blonde girl sitting nearby and Annie could have sworn her heart skipped multiple beats.

"That," Delly smiled knowingly, chewing on her lower lip, "is Finnick Odair." She leaned in towards Annie, an unusually serious expression on her bubbly face. "Stay clear of Finnick Odair."

Annie couldn't help the blush that spread through her face at the mention of his name. "Why?" The question slipped out of her lips before she even realized it. The three girls shared a look.

"Finnick is dangerous to women," Johanna supplied plainly. "Especially to women like you."

"Finnick is a total babe," Delly pointed out like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "But don't let his smile fool you," she leaned back in her seat and scowled. "He might look like a sweet, charming, innocent boy with a heart of gold but he'll make you fall in love with him even if you don't want to, and just when you think everything is right with the world and the sun is shining out of his ass he'll rip your heart out with his perfect teeth and crush it with a sledge hammer!"Her chest rose and fell with labored breathing, face bright red. Johanna and Katniss smiled awkwardly, patting her back.

Annie glanced at Finnick again. He was leaning against the wall with a petite brunette, halfheartedly telling a story that involved him waving his arms a lot. But she stared at him with curious, wide eyes and hung on to every word that escaped his lips as if he was reciting the most romantic poetry ever uttered in human history.

"The man is a real Casanova, Maddie," Johanna offers cautiously. "He's a decent guy, but he'll sleep with anything with an orifice."

"You're not attracted to him, are you?" Delly questioned.

What? As if.

Annie shook her head fervently, but the blush on her cheeks betrayed her completely. "Oh, no! He's totally not my type."

Delly, Johanna and Katniss giggled at her pathetic attempt to lie.

"Word of advice," Johanna said softly, resting her chin in her propped up hand. "If you're going to tread the treacherous waters of those sea green eyes, you better be prepared to be impaled by his trident."

To their surprise, Annie didn't blush like they expected her to.

She just smiled innocently, opening her pudding cup.