Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games series.

Johanna Mason was single. And fairly ready to mingle.

She'd had a fling with the majority of the girls in her high school (and even some boys) but none of them stuck. Everyone wanted either to be on her or become her. Johanna never thought much about all this, she was certain she would continue to have an affair here and one there, that is, until she saw her.

All Johanna saw was a tall person walk into the lunchroom. She couldn't tell if they were a girl or a boy but her first impression was that this kid wouldn't be much to her. Jeans and a dirty, slight oversized jacket over a dark hoodie, the hood pulled over their head. Unlike Johanna, who walked with her head high and purpose, this person walked with their head down, covered by the hood, slouched shoulders and more slinked around than anything.

When Johanna first saw them, not a single second thought crossed her mind about the kid (it was the beginning of the year and there were hundreds of new kids at Panem High). Especially since her best friend, Finnick Odair, has, as usual, captured the attention of almost everyone at their table.

"So then she got absolutely wasted and tried to kiss every girl in her general vicinity!"

Johanna felt anger flare inside her when she realised Finnick was talking about her.

"I did not!"

"Oh, yes, you did!" Finnick's girlfriend, Annie Cresta, chimed in, "You even tried to kiss Enobaria!"

"That's..." Johanna wanted to say 'that's not true' but she then remembered the miserable hangover and black eye she had woken up to the next morning and shut her mouth.

"Exactly," Finnick smirked triumphantly.

Johanna glared at anything and everything in the lunchroom in frustration. Her eyes hovered over that one kid again, and she noticed they were looking down at the table, their face was still hidden, no food in sight.

Again, she obliviously thought nothing of this.

The baker's son, Peeta Mellark glanced at his watch. "I'ma get going. See you guys, and, Johanna, try not to kiss too many girls on your way out." He ran out of the lunchroom before Johanna could wrap her fingers around his neck.

The bell rang a few minutes later and Johanna began the slow trudge to her English class. The woman who taught the class was a bastard and Johanna knew she wasn't alone in that thought. The teacher was the vice-principal of the school and was only a teacher as well because of budget cuts or some shit. Her name was Alma Coin and anyone who had been at the school for at least 6 months could tell she would do anything to be Principal instead of vice-principal.

Due to her slow walk there, Johanna was the last to arrive to class, but not late, one minute to spare. 'Then why is there another empty seat here?' Johanna threw down her stuff on the floor next to one of the unoccupied desks and plopped down. Exactly 42 seconds later, that hooded kid walked in. It was then Johanna realised the kid walked with a slight limp, favouring their right leg, and it looked like they were trying to cover it up.

"Hood off," Coin snapped immediately. Johanna felt slightly bad for this kid, Coin was one of the only teachers in the school who still didn't allow kids to wear hoods or hats. Instead of obeying, the hoodie kid kept their head down and hobbled to the only empty seat, the one right next to Johanna. She tried to see anything about the kid's face, any sign or personality, but they seemed intent on keeping their face down.

"Hood, now!" Johanna and everyone else in the room recognised this as Coin's famous shrill tone, it was comparable to the last 10 seconds before launching a dangerous missile.

Beside Johanna, the mystery person gave a slight shake of their head. Johanna was suddenly wondering about their mental sanity.

"Do not make me call the principal!" Johanna automatically rolled her eyes. She knew this was an empty threat: Coin would never admit that she couldn't handle a student to anyone, especially not Principal Coriolanus Snow.

This must've gotten to the kid in some way, as they grudgingly took off the hood. The first thing Johanna noticed was that they were a girl, a cute one, at that. Besides that, it was obvious why the girl had been so adamant about keeping the hood on and her face down. The skin on the left side of her jawbone was purple and blue and her right eye was swelling red swirled with black, a thin cut running under it.

Seeing someone with cuts and bruises wasn't particularly uncommon at Panem High School. There were fights on a regular basis in hallways, bathrooms, basketball courts, you name it. But this girl was clearly new and it was the beginning of the year, so everyone, including, Johanna began wondering how this girl could possibly have a black eye already.

"Hmph," Coin grunted proudly at her small victory, completely ignoring the whispering around her. "Now, who can tell me the proper use of a..."

Instead of proper speech, Johanna heard something more like what you hear in the Peanuts movies when adults speak. She was too busy thinking about this girl. The girl kept her head down still but glared at anyone dumb enough to keep staring at her. Johanna thought she was hot, even with her assorted bruises.

'Snap out of it, Mason' Johanna chided herself. 'She's probably not even lesbian.'

The bell rang again, signalling the end of what many considered child torture for Johanna and the rest of her class. As soon as she was out of Coin's dungeo-classroom, the girl yanked her hood back up. Johanna was struck that the girl didn't carry any books or binders, hell, it didn't even look like she brought a pencil! She walked as quickly as possible with her limp while looking at a worn piece of paper, probably a school map or schedule. She had black hair going down her back in a simple braid. Her eyes were grey and wiped clean of any unnecessary emotion, just like her expressionless face. She was skinny, unhealthily skinny. She had the look of a kid from the Seam...

Johanna wanted to warn her. The girl had clearly wanted to keep her bruised face a secret and now that about 30 kids knew, the whole school would soon.

She was so busy watching the girl, she nearly walked past her physics classroom. She sat down in her usual spot next to Finnick, ignoring the jealous looks received from all the girls in the room for sitting next to their Golden Boy. Johanna's thoughts were still consumed by the mystery girl, too busy to pay attention to the teacher's lecture about Newton's theory. Until a pencil eraser poked her.

A slip of paper landed on Johanna's desk.

'Are they that hot?'

Johanna turned red and glared at Finnick, who obnoxiously wiggled his eyebrows. Embarrassingly enough, Johanna knew exactly what her friend was talking about. Finnick could read her like a book.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' Johanna mentally kicked herself; that was the lamest response she'd ever given.

'Right... so who is it?'

Johanna stuck her tongue out in response so Finnick started making stupid faces at her. She would not tell anyone about this girl, not even Finnick.

"Mr Odair, Miss Mason, is there something I'm missing?" The teacher caught on to our paper exchange.

"Of course not, ma'am," Finnick winked like they had some great secret. Johanna rolled her eyes as even the teacher got flustered.

"You have a girlfriend, Odair," Johanna whispered.

"I'd never leave Annie. She knows that. But those idiots don't," Finnick grinned but his eyes showed his loyalty and protectiveness of Annie. "But it seems I'm not the only one with a girlfriend now, eh?"

Johanna leaned over and elbowed Finnick in his considerably solid pec. Finnick smirked, not because Johanna's elbow didn't hurt, but because he knew he was right.

"Exactly."

Johanna found out she had the hoodie girl in her History and Science class. Over the course of those 2 periods, Johanna learned the girl's name, Katniss Everdeen.

Johanna vaguely had a memory of her mother telling her about a katniss tree or something. Weird name, but Johanna thought it was amazing for the girl. At the last bell of the day, Johanna hurried to catch up to Katniss.

"Wait!" Johanna nearly yelled. Katniss obviously assumed she was addressing someone else, because who would tell the new kid to 'wait'?

"Katniss, right?" Johanna wasn't standing that close to Katniss, but she already felt like her knees were going to give out. Katniss froze when she heard her name, but she wouldn't turn around.

Johanna moved in front of Katniss, only to find the other girl's eyes were still closed.

"I-"

"Get away from me." It was barely a whisper, but when Johanna heard it, she knew what her heart shattering felt like.

"What?"

"Get away from me. You-you're gonna pretend to be my friend or whatever and then you're gonna twist the knife in my back. So get away from me, Mason."

Johanna should've been mad. With anyone else, she would've been mad. But not with Katniss. Johanna could tell this girl really believed someone would pretend to be her friend. "That's not what I would do. Most of us here- they're not like that."

"Yeah, right." Katniss' eyes were still closed, which gave Johanna a few minutes to examine her. Katniss was definitely a Seam kid. But those bruises... she couldn't have gotten them from a fall or something. Someone punched her.

"Who punched you? Who cut you?" Johanna knew this was none of her business, but she couldn't help asking.

If possible, Katniss' body became even more rigidly still. "I don't see how that's any of your concern," She replied stiffly.

"Because I care!" Johanna quietly wondered how dense a person could be in social situations.

Katniss finally opened her eyes to give the other girl a strange look then limped off. Not to a car, but right out the mouth of the school parking lot. It wasn't extremely cold outside (it was mid-autumn), but it seemed too cold to walk home. Johanna wanted to offer the girl a ride, but she also didn't want to piss this girl off anymore because she still wanted to stand a chance at being her friend. So, she did the only sane thing.

She hopped in her car and started subtly following Katniss home.