Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors; I swear I've read over this thing like a million times. Thanks for choosing to ignore your homework and read this (Which of course is not what I'm doing *said sarcastically*).

Disclaimer: ALL right go to Suzanne Collins-unfortunately.

Chapter 1: Complications

Katniss

Gale and I make our way to the hob. Based off the position of the sun, it must be around four o'clock in the afternoon. It blazes down on our necks with its summer heat. We walk in a comfortable silence, a ghost of a smile on each of our faces since we had a pretty good haul today. The summer is when we usually get more game, but today we got even more than usual.

Heavy footsteps echo behind us, they're fast and are getting louder with each passing second. Both of us tense, hoping that it isn't the sound of peacekeepers.

"Gale," a deep masculine voice calls out.

We both stop and turn. There is a tall skinny boy, about Gale's age, with broad shoulders, short dark hair, and olive skin. A Seam boy. I have seen him around school a few times, most of them he was with Gale, so I'm assuming he's one of his friends.

He catches up quickly to us. "Hey," he greets with an easy smile. Unlike Gale, he seems to smile a lot more often, but then again, I don't even know him.

"Hey," Gale replies with a small nod.

His mouth opens to say something, but then his eyes flicker over to mine.

"Don't tell me," he says, lifting up a finger. "You must be Katniss, Gale's lovely hunting partner." He puts out his hand out for a shake.

"Yeah," I answer hesitantly, a little shocked as to how he knew my name, taking his big calloused hand.

"Gale's told me a bit about you," he says, answering my unsaid question.

"Oh, well, Gale has told me absolutely nothing about you, so you'll have to introduce yourself. I don't think I'd be able to guess your name." I give Gale a pointed look, whom is looking a bit sheepish.

"It wasn't a guess. I just knew."

"Well it seems to me that Gale has told you more than just a little bit about me if you just knew."

He laughs. "He has. But I didn't say it because he would have hit me on the back of the head or something." This of course makes Gale step forward and hit him across the back of the head. "YOU SEE!"

I laugh in response.

"I'm Thom by the way." He gives my hand another like squeeze, which, till now, I hadn't realized I was still gripping onto his hand. I quickly let go, clearing my throat, a light blush creeping up to my cheeks. "Though I don't know why Gale wouldn't have told you about me. We've been friends for years." He gives Gale a playful glare.

"It slipped my mind," he says nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders. Thom looks at him disbelievingly, and then opens up his mouth to say something, but Gale quickly changes the subject before he can saw anything else. "So why are you here?" He asks, trying not to sound rude.

"Oh yeah, your mom said she needed you for something back at home."

"Okay. Tell her I'll be there in a bit. I'm just gonna go to the hob with Katniss first." He pauses for a second. "Cause you know...I don't want to just abandon her and make her do this by herself."

"I'll be okay, Gale"

He hesitates for a second. "You sure?"

"Oh don't worry," Thom says with a wave of his hand. "I'll keep her company."

"Yeah," I add. "Besides if I don't like him I'll just ditch him somewhere or something."

"Oh thanks."

"Plus, this'll give me a chance to get to know you're friend who apparently already knows so much about me that he can name me without even having met me."

He hesitates for another moment longer, still looking skeptical. "Okay, but you're not really the type of person who likes getting to know other people."

"Well I just figure that since he knows me-kind of anyway-that I should know him too. Besides, it'll be nice to talk to someone else for a change."

"What? You don't like talking to me all the time?" Gale asks. He puts a hand to his chest with a mock-offended expression.

"Don't worry, I'd get bored having to listen to all his shit all the time too," Thom says to me.

Gale punches his arm but then nods. As he turns to go, he grabs Thom by the shoulder and whispers something in his ear that I can't make out. By the looks of it, he probably sounds a little harsh.

When Gale finishes what he had to say, Thom lets out a bark of laughter. "No promises."

Gale gives him a shove before bidding them both goodbye and walks away in the direction of his house.

I stand there a little awkwardly, my hands fidgeting with my game bag. I nod my head once before saying, "Well, let's get going."

"Lead the way."

I walk at a medium pace, not wanting to go too slowly in case I want to hurry things up and stop talking to him, but then not wanting to go too fast so I have time to find out about his and Gale's relationship and just how much Gale has told him about her.

"So...how long have you known Gale?"

"Oh, I've known that asshole since kindergarten-sadly." He lets out a quiet chuckle. "We didn't hit it off right away though. The bastard kept stealing my pencil...Not sure how actually became friends though. You know how a kindergarten kid's mind works. You're mad at them for a minute then the next you're their best friend." A small smile creeps up his face as he recalls the memory. "So how exactly did you two meet?"

I give him a quick version of the two of us meeting in the woods after the mine explosion that killed both of our dads. I also tell him how, like him, we didn't immediately become friends. Neither one of us are the trusting type. It took us nearly six months until we finally gave up on the idea that the other would try and steal our game.

We spend the rest of the time at the hob and on the way back to my house talking about hilariously embarrassing moments of Gale.

"...Pulled the chair out of the way before he sat down. He fell on his ass with the most ridiculous expression ever." Thom does a quick copy of the "ridiculous expression". I double over laughing,

Thom opens his mouth to say more, but then the front door of my house opens and my mother steps out.

"Katniss, honey, dinner is ready." She stands there in the doorway, waiting for them to say goodbye.

Thom gets the hint. "See ya later."

"Yeah, you too."

As I'm walking past my mother, she raises her eyebrows at me. I roll my eyes in response.

When all of us are sitting down and eating some rabbit stew, my mother asks.

"So who was that boy you were with outside? I thought you were with Gale today."

"I was with Gale." She raises her eyebrow, urging me to continue. "Then his friend, Thom, came and told him his Hazelle needed him at home."

"So Thom walked you home?"

"Obviously."

"Well that was very nice of him."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever," I mutter.

We spend the rest of dinner in silence.

Gale

I lay in bed, my brothers sleeping soundly in their beds across the room. Moonlight shines through the fluttering curtains. A warm breeze floats in from the window, bringing little comfort in the hot summer night. I have the covers pulled back to foot of my bed in a big heap. I have my hands behind my head as I stare at the ceiling, lost in thought.

Earlier today I watched as Thom made Katniss smile and laugh easily. It had taken me a few months to even get her to crack a smile. The only reason that happened was because I tripped and fell into a pool of mud.

If I'm honest with myself, I'm extremely jealous of Thom for being able to make her happy like that outside of our woods. But I'm not ready to be honest with myself, so I'm not jealous of my best friend that wouldn't dare hurt me like that…yet. I used to spend my entire day thinking of ways to make her smile like Thom just did without even trying. It just wasn't fair. I live for seeing her smile, and Thom comes along and effortless does what I try and do every day.

Thom is my best friend, I know he wouldn't ever try and take her away from me, I mean, he knows how much I like this girl. He knows that Katniss isn't just some random girl. He knows that Katniss means more to me than any other girl ever could in a million years. He knows that no guy could ever love Katniss as much as I do. No one could ever be as close to Katniss me. Katniss is my best friend, my confident, my other half. I know her like the back of my hand. I know her better than even herself sometimes. Nobody is more perfect for her than I am.

~:~

The next couple weeks go by in a blur. Before I even know it, the reaping is today. My stomach is tight, and I'm incapable of having any more than a few hours of sleep. Nevertheless, I get out of bed early and go to the woods.

I listen for a hum of the fence but find none. I crawl under and grab my bow from a hallow log.

I walk around silently, looking for some nice, fat squirrels for the baker.

About an hour later, I wait outside the bakery's back door. The baker's son, Peeta Mellark, opens the door. As soon as he sees me—or lack of a partner-his eyes dim and he mumbles that he'll go get his father.

Mr. Mellark come to the door and looks at my squirrels.

"Not as good as your lady friend's, but I think I can still give you something."

Shit! I wanted it to be a surprise for Catinip.

Before Mr. Mellark can get too far I ask, "Please sir, if it's not too much to ask, could I maybe get some bread? I have a few extra coins if you want that too." I reach into my pant pocket pulling out three coins and holding them out to him.

He looks at my hand but doesn't reach for the coins. "Let me see what I've got." He comes back with two fresh rolls still warm from the oven. I take the rolls from him and start to hand the coins to him.

"Keep it. The squirrels are nice and fat. Good luck." With that, he closes the door which leaves no option for arguing. Normally, I would have banged on his door and demanded that he take my money, but I'm in too much of a hurry to think about it.

I run back to the fence, hiding the bag of rolls in my game bag. When I'm almost to our meeting spot, I stop and pull out the rolls. I stick an arrow through both of them. I walk the rest of the way there.

Katniss is already sitting on our rock when I get there. The sun is behind her, giving her a glowing look. I step on a twig so she'll know I'm there. She snaps her head up and gives a small smile.

I've been seeing a lot more of her smiles as of late. Thom has been joining them whenever they've been together inside the district. He's always joking around with her, pulling out laughter and smiles that don't usually come out unless she was with Prim or with me in the woods. I'm happy that Katniss is happier, but I'm still quite jealous that Thom is able to make my Catnip feel that way.

Yes, jealous. It's the only explanation for my unexplained anger towards Thom and Katniss whenever they are together. I think it was about last week when I was finally honest with myself.

"Look what I shot!" I say, pulling out the rolls. She begins to laugh before she takes a roll off the arrow and holding it to her nose.

"Mmmm. Still warm. What did it cost you?"

"Just two fat squirrels."

"Oh, Prim left us some cheese." She pulls out a small ball of goat's cheese from her own game bag.

"Thank you Prim!" I exclaim, blowing a kiss in the direction of District 12. Katniss laughs and hits my arm playfully.

"You're so weird."

"Weirdly awesome." She smiles and shakes her head.

We sit down on our rock. I reach behind it and grab a couple berries.

I toss one up in the air towards her. "And may the odds—" I say in a ridiculous Effie Trinket capitol accent.

She catches it in her mouth before finishing, "be ever in your favor." We laugh but it quickly dies away when the nervousness and unease sets in.

"How many times is your name in that bowl?" She asks, purposely not looking at me.

"Forty-two," I say more calmly than I feel.

A few minutes later she says, "You better not get picked and leave me."

I smile at her. "I wouldn't dream of it, but I am going to have to hold you to it too."

She smiles down at her lap and says nothing.

A few hours later, we walk back through the Seam to our homes. "Wear something pretty," I tell her flatly (but with desire to see her even more beautiful than usual) when we're at the fork of paths that lead us in different directions.

When I get to my house I quickly wash myself up in our bathtub that's already filled for me. I dress in black slacks and a blue button down shirt. I don't bother to fix my messy hair; I just figure it won't matter whether I'm picked this afternoon or not. However, what my hair looks like matters to my mother.

"Gale!" my mother exclaims, taking the comb from the bathroom counter. She brushes through my hair rigorously, ignoring my loud protests.

We all eat a small meal in a tense silence before we leave for town square.

I stand in my spot of other eighteen-year-old males just wanting this all to be over with. I look over at the area with the sixteen-year-old girl, searching for my Catnip. When I find her I see that I have not been denied my request from earlier. Her hair is done in a bunch of elegant braids. She wears a soft periwinkle blue dress that looks like it's made out of velvet.

Katniss looks up and meets my eyes. She offers me a tense smile and I do the same.

Effie comes up to the microphone, turning everyone's eyes to her with unease.

"Ladies first." She gives us a big fake smile with her perfect white teeth.

She walks over to the bowl; her heals clack loudly in the silence of the crowd. She reaches her hand in and grabs the dreadful card with the name of the unfortunate soul who will go into those fucking games.

She stands in front of the microphone again, opening the slip of paper slowly.

My heart shatters into a million pieces when she reads the name.

"Primrose Everdeen."

Katniss

Prim and my mother are the first of my few visitors. They both have clear streaks going over their red cheeks. As soon as Prim sees me, she unclasps her hands from around our mother and places them around my neck. I immediately wrap my arms around her and rub her back, whispering soothing words of comfort into her ear, trying to calm her shudders and deafening sobs. Our mother sits beside us, curling her arms around us both.

Right before the peacekeepers come to take my family away from me, Prim makes me promise that I'll try my hardest to get back home. I swear that I will more out of comfort to my sister than to convince myself that I can actually make it back home alive.

I turn to my mother and make her swear on my father's grave that she won't clock out again no matter what she sees on the television. Even though, Mrs. Everdeen looks like she's about to burst into tears like Prim had, she stays strong and agrees to this. I pull her into a deep hug and tell her that I love her and how sorry I am for leaving her. I pull back and I can see in my mother's eyes that she knows that I don't really think I can win this.

"You can do this. I believe wholeheartedly that you can win."

Next it's Madge who walks in. I didn't really expect her to come and say goodbye. We've paired up when we had to do a project, we stuck together for gym, and we sat together at lunch, but I've never really thought about the mayor's daughter being my friend. After Madge hands me a gold mockingjay pin and a hug, I realized that maybe we just kind of became friends without notification; it was just kind of an unknown agreement.

After Madge, it's Mr. Mellark to come in. We don't say much, he hands me a bag of cookies and promises to look after my family while I'm gone, then we just kind of stay there in an awkward silence until the peacekeepers come to tell him to leave.

It isn't until he leaves that I realize that he said 'while I'm gone'. Did that mean that he believed that I would make it home to take care of her family? Did he have that much faith in me? Did people really believe that I would be able to kill all of those innocent people and win the games? Why would he tell me that I would win when his own son is coming in there with me?

Gale is the last to come and visit. As soon as he's in the room and the doors close, he opens his arms. I don't hesitate to run into them. Even if there's nothing romantic about our relationship, his embrace is comforting and assuring.

After a moment of silence, he begins to tell me last minute advice, not that I'm listening to any of it. Instead, I just soak up his scent, and hope it will be enough to stay in my memory for the amount of time that I have left on this planet.

Eventually, his babbles cease (Neither one of them was ever really good with words). He puts his hands on my shoulders and pulls me back to an arm length distance. He stares into her eyes with something I can't really describe. The look is unfamiliar to me. I'm sure it's familiar, but I can't seem to remember where I've seen this look before.

"Katniss," He says intensely, making sure I understand every word. "You have to come back to us. To Prim. To your mother. To District 12. To me." During this short period of time, he has pulled me closer to him, his grip on my shoulder have tightened almost painfully. His eyes are now full of pain, making it extremely hard to look at him knowing that I caused most of it. I want to look away but I can't. Our noses and forehead are millimeters from touching. Then, he starts to lean closer. My eyes widen, afraid of not being able to figure Gale out.

Now I'll never get to know what he was going to do, because at that exact moment the door to the room fly open and two peacekeepers come in to take Gale away from me. Suddenly, all of the terror tumbles on top of me, creating a big weight on my chest, making it immensely hard to breathe. The peacekeepers come closer, ordering Gale to get out before they have to start using force. But I have other plans. I wrap my arms around Gale's waist, creating a death grip on him, screaming at them to let him stay with me.

Eventually, after the peacekeepers get fed up with trying to pry us apart from each other, and they give up. Or at least I think they did.

I look up at Gale, who is smiling down at me in silent victory. I can't help but smile back at him. He leans in again.

Just when his lips brush mine, they come back, this time there is a third with them. He carries something in his hand, hidden from my view. I shrink back into Gale's chest, hoping that soon I'll wake up from this horrid nightmare. I'll wake up on my old worn-out mattress with Prim sleeping soundlessly beside me. I'll get out of bed and go hunting or to school. Yes school. Even though I hate that place, I would much rather have to spend an extra eight hours for a whole year if it meant that I would be able to stay here with my family and Gale.

There is a soft prick in my arm, and then everything goes black.

Whoah! First chapter! What did you guys think, huh huh, whatcha think of this? Please excuse my weird behavior...I may or may not be a little delusional right now. I've been playing around with this idea for a while, not quite sure what to think of it quite yet...tell me what you think in your reviews that you will leave. If you don't I will hide underneath you bed. Jk. Seriously review though, I'm dying to know what you guys are thinking.