A/n: I now have a somewhat fuzzy idea of how this story is going to go, I've tweaked a few things... and made a major change - well, you'll hear more about that next chapter ;) Heads up ~ in the song (duet), Alex is normal Mitchie is bold.

Previously: I hear a rustling in the bushes behind me, I flip out my pocket knife and whip my head around. That's when my eyes meet hers - red as blood, deep as darkness.

Her gaze is deep. Set, fixed and focused on... me? I choke out a "what do you want?".

She scoffs "what, I can't enjoy some free music?"

I can't help but smile at her remark, my fear has now been replaced with curiosity... Who is this girl? Why have I never seen her before? "and you are?" I ask, before releasing my grip on the pocket knife.

"Michelle Torres. But everyone calls me Mitchie." she says - I can't help but stare at the perfect curve of her lips as they move. This is the first time I get a real, good look at her. Dark brunette wavy hair falling just below her shoulders, bangs swept to the side. An old-school faded ACDC band tee, ripped skinny white jeans - glorifying her curves. Damn, she's beautiful. My eyes meet hers once again as I snap back into reality, she has a smug look on her face. I let out a blush, knowing that she must of noticed me sizing her up. "So do you have a name or not, guitar?"

Feisty one, she is. "Guitar?" I reply, "couldn't have come up with a better nickname then that?" I giggle. "Alexandra Russo. But everyone calls me Alex." I mimic her initial response.

A grin tugs at the corners of her lips, "Whatever, guitar" she jokes.

"So you gonna stand there all day?" I hint, hoping for her to come over. She cautiously takes a few steps toward me "easy, tiger" I joke. Eventually she plops down next to me and begins to fiddle with my guitar. It's then that I get a better look at her eyes - just as red up close as afar. She meets my gaze and almost immediately a flicker of realization spreads across her face as her eyes change from blood red to a chocolate brown in a matter of seconds. I notice a hint of red tugging at her cheeks, how adorable. I let down my guard and watch her play with my guitar, trying to ignore her mysterious color-changing eyes. "How many times is your name in tomorrow?" I break the silence.

She let's out a sigh "Fourty two. The odd's aren't exactly in my favor..." she trails off before breaking yet another silence "you?"

"Twenty." I say and take a deep breath.

Frustration replaces her calm demeanor, as she begins to rant "It's bullshit. It's all a bunch of crap. One year, we'll all just stop watching. The capitol won't have any more viewers for their little games." I let out a laugh before she shoots me an eye-piercing look. "I'm not kidding. No one watches, they don't have a game. Simple as that-"

"That's impossible." I cut her off.

"Nothing's impossible," she says after a moment of silence. "We could do it, you know. Run off and never look back. Then what would the capitol be left to do without their followers? We'd be free."

"Oh yeah? And where exactly would we go? They'd catch us." I hiss back. "They'd cut off our ears, or tongues... or worse. We wouldn't make it five miles"

"No they wouldn't. Look at us now, where are we? In the woods. Have we been caught? Nope." I pause "We've already made it five miles." The thought of this amuses me. "Go ahead and laugh-"

"I'm not laughing" I interrupt through muffled giggles.

"I'm serious. Go off and live our own lives, never worry about the peacekeepers, the capitol or President Snow ever again."

"I do have a family to take care of, believe it or not. I wouldn't be able to handle them and myself. It's too much."

"...I'll take care of you" she says, glancing at the ground before lifting her gaze to meet mine. I've never had as much intense eye contact with anyone on the planet besides her. There's just something about her. Something special, something... different. She turns her attention to my guitar and shoves it in my face. "Play again. You're really good."

"Jeez, how long have you been watching me? creeper." I let out, using humor to cover up my ferocious blush. "You're insane, you know that right?"

"Moi?" she does a terrible French accent impression and points a finger at herself.

I begin to chuckle "Yes, you. With all this capitol talk and what not." I don't let her reply, instead my fingers meet the cool, metal strings on my guitar and I begin to strum.

It's like, she doesn't hear a word I say

Her mind is somewhere far away

And I don't know how to get there

It's like all she wants is to chill out

I begin to hear Mitchie's voice thread in with mine

She way too serious, she's always in a rush

She makes me wanna pull all my hair out

And interrupted

Like she doesn't even care

Like she doesn't even care

You

Me

We're face to face

But we don't see eye to eye

But we don't see eye to eye

Her singing finally registers in my head, "You... you're amazing" I say in awe. Her face turns a tomato red before she quietly replies.

"I think you're talking about yourself." I look up at her giant face-eating smile, she's absolutely stunning. My heart begins to race... do I actually have feelings for this girl?

Mitchie's POV:

I feel that face-eating smile of mine begin to replace my cheeks, as I stare at the beauty in front of me. I notice my eyes wander up and down her - black hair floating just above her shoulders, a baggy old Ramones tee tied up on the side, red skinny jeans - highlighting her ass - and black untied converse. What a hot mess. I think to myself. She catches my gaze as I turn my attention back from her butt to her perfect face and her deep, almost black, eyes. There's something about her, something that just takes my breath away.

We sit there, sheepishly grinning at each other, until we are jolted back into reality by a sudden shaking of the trees up ahead. Gusts of wind pound down on the otherwise calm woods, immediately I grab her by the arm and go dashing for the safety of the trees. Once we reach a big enough stump I throw her down and place myself on top of her. A breeze goes by as I take a glance up at the sky, only to find three hovercrafts on patrol, most likely headed to prepare for the reaping. After a few minutes, the commotion stops. I gently slide off of Alex and offered her a hand. She flips herself over and I help her up. She has a shocked expression on her face, her eyes wide open. It's then that I realized I had fled us to safety at lightning speed - vampire speed. Damn, I needed to control that.

"Uh, Mitch." she rubs the back of her neck, a dazed expression on her face. I notice her voice sounds deeper and raspy than a few minutes ago "A-ar-are you a runner too?"

I know I have to cover up, I couldn't expose myself now. "Uh, yeah. Totally a... um... runner." I turn my attention to the spot on her neck, that she's scratching - is that... fur?

heh. Another cliffhanger. (; Did you notice the little bit of camp rock I through in there? It was the song "Wouldn't Change A Thing" by Demi and Joe.

Anyways... I was so pleased that I got two great reviews almost immediately after I posted the first chapter... it means a lot to me, so please keep it up - any input would still be great as the story has a long ways to go and could use some more shaping before any set plot is laid out :D