Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and spent it with all your friends and family.

Time to answer some of your reviews!

Kl

Oooohhhh. Devin is about to learn a whole lot about May.

Maybe Lars does have feelings for May or has a big brother complex.

Maybe...and your right. Devin is in for a bit of a shock!

Anyway, story time young ones!

(Katniss's POV)

As I walk through the market picking some fresh fruits and vegetables I notice a familiar head of hair. I walk closer to the woman and suddenly it hits me.

"Delly!" I exclaim, a wide smile on my face.

Delly quickly turns around and a huge grin breaks out on her face when she sees me. "Oh my god, Katniss!" She practically squeals. I open my arms to her and she gives me a big bear hug, practically squeezing the air out of my lungs. But I was so happy I didn't even care. I look over Delly's shoulder to see the sheepish smile of Jake Dalton.

"Jake, how have you been?" I ask once Delly and I separated.

"Great, and yourself?" He said. I let out an exasperated sigh, which caused Delly to giggle lightly.

"As good as I can be." I gave them a sad smile. Delly took my hand and rubbed her thumb over my knuckles.

"All in good time Katniss." She said with a warm smile gracing her face. "By the way how's Peeta?" She asked. I gave her a grateful smile, I was glad for the change in subject.

"He's good, yeah. It's hard though, trying to get through this together. We've been through so much already, can't we just have a break?" I whined childishly but deep down I knew I was being serious.

"If anyone deserves a break it's you two." Delly practically gushed while Jake simply smiled.

"Sweetheart," Jake started, " I'm gonna finish picking out our groceries okay? Why don't you finish up your conversation with Katniss and I'll meet you by the car." Delly nodded in response and Jake leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"Goodbye Katniss, it was nice seeing you again." He said waving to me.

"Bye Jake." I said smiling. I turned back to Delly, "He's wonderful isn't he." I teased.

"Oh you wouldn't believe." Delly giggled, blushing.

"Oh!" I remembered something suddenly. "How's the teaching going?" Delly tensed at my question. "What?" I asked concerned.

"Well, actually it's a bit awkward." Delly answered, only furthering my confusion.

"Why?" I questioned. Delly took a deep breath.

"It's bound to be a bit awkward when you are teaching two of your closets friends daughter about their harsh pasts..." She whispered.

I froze.

(May's POV)

"...Once little choice Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark chose to make."

Mrs Dalton's words echo in the silent classroom. After hearing my last name Devin's eyes immediately flash to mine, confusion clear in the grey-blue of his eyes. He looks at me and mouths, "Isn't Mellark your last name?"

I nod tentatively and mouth back, "They're my parents."

In response Devin takes a deep breath and slumps down in his desk not looking at me. A sharp sting of hurt claws at my heart but I block it out and look back towards the teacher.

"The choice to chose death over killing the other tribute and winning the games alone. As you know over the coarse of the games Katniss and Peeta played with the strategy of acting madly in love with each other in order to gain sponsors."

"But as May knows well the strategy didn't stay just a strategy for long now did it?" Mrs Dalton jokes looking at me. The class gives a laugh but when I look over at Lars he is looking back at me, no different than five minutes ago before he found out about my parents. I smile at him and turn back to the front.

"Anyway," she says after the class has quieted down, "After they took out the last tribute from another district they believed they had won, since a previous rule change claimed they both could. But in yet another display of the Capitols power and the tragedy of the games, the rule change was revoked."
Nearly every girl in the class gasps but I just place my head on my desk and groan.

"The two were supposed to have a stand off. What a tragedy, two lovers forced to kill each other, it would have been great for ratings." She says. I feel my face screw up in disgust.

Ratings

It still amazes and disgusts me how sheltered the capitol citizens were. I doubt they even thought about it much, you know, the fact they were sending INNOCENT CHILDREN TO THEIR DEATHS! But I guess when you grow up surrounded by it you don't register what's actually going on.

But still.

I focus back on the teacher and she continues the lesson. She tells us in detail about what happened and I can feel her pain. I can't imagine having to watch one of my best friends face their death, and in such a dramatic way.

"But just as the berries reached their lips Seneca Crane, the head gamemaker at the time, stopped them and congratulated them on winning the games." She stares out at the class, making eyes contact with each of us. "They were this close to death." She holds up two fingers with barely any space in between them. "But Seneca Crane's sympathetic heart saved them. I have no doubt in my mind that if President Snow had it his way they would have died at that moment, no hesitation."

I feel my heartbeat speed up at her words and the palms of my hands begin to sweat. Mrs Dalton's face begins to blur with my tears and I see my friends concerned faces in my peripheral vision.

The bell rings. End of class...

It was definitely an interesting thing to watch both Lars and Devin at lunch. Devin trying to crack jokes and lighten the mood while Lars scrutinized him the entire time. He just kept staring at Devin like he was trying to figure something out, something I was missing. I managed to shrug off Lars' strange behavior and focus on Devin. Ali kept asking questions about his life and I had to stifle my snicker when she asked if he had a girlfriend, causing him to blush a bright red.

If anything this little teasing question only hardened Lars' glare.

Eventually the bell rung signalling the end of the period and Lars finally broke away from staring at Devin. On our way out of the cafeteria I heard Ali ask Devin if he wanted to meet us after school, which he answered yes. I wondered to myself, why Ali seemed so interested in Devin, I mean she is already dating Lars. But I guess that's just Ali being Ali, friendly even if at some points she is overly so.

The day dragged on one boring teacher droning on about something uninteresting until the final bell rang at last. Teens from every different class rushed out of the rooms, big dopey grins on their faces relieved at the school day finally being over. I admit I probably had the same bit dopey grin on my face as i made my way to my locker.

I just got the combination done when I heard it.

"Hey Mellark." A voice said from behind me. Curious I turned around and am met with the sight of two girls and two boys. The tall blond girl in the middle seems to be the one who said my name. They looked older then me by maybe a few years, maybe they were juniors.

"Yeah?" I answered cautiously. I didn't like the way they were looking at me, like they we sizing me up and weren't impressed.

"You really gonna go home, to those murderers you have as parents?" She asked me, sneering. An angry shiver went down my spine and I felt my face begin to flush, I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"W-what?" I stuttered and I cursed myself. I wasn't afraid of them why was I stuttering?

"You heard me. They killed people Mellark. Innocents. Your parents are killers." The blond girl said disgusted. I felt my blood begin to boil. Don't these idiots know anything shouldn't they understand that if my parents hadn't done what they did, the country would still be under the Capitols tyranny and they could very well be reaped for the games themselves. But I did not voice my opinion, I wasn't a fighter. So I counted to ten in my head and turned back to my locker and tried to ignore her.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" She screeched from behind me, but I blocked her out and focused on collecting my stuff so I could go home.

"You best turn around and face us girl." A new voice growled. So, backpack in hand, I turned around.

This was the other girl. She had fiery red hair and stormy blue eyes. She would have been beautiful but the ugly sneer on her face ruined it.

"What?" I whined, I just wanted to get out of this building and meet up with my friends.

"You parents are monsters. Your mother is an assassin and your father is a mutt. They should be locked up and executed for all the trouble they've caused Panem. So when a hero finally kills them for all they've done, I hope they rot in hell." She says, venom laced in every word. Angry tears appear in my eyes and all I feel was pure rage. I am practically shaking in anger.

So as calm as I can manage I said, "Fuck off." To emphasize my point I spit in her face, as it was only a few inches away from mine. That was all it took to set them off. The two girls converged on me and the boys, who I assumed were their boyfriends, just watched, amused.

Us three girls were in a our own little bubble of hair-pulling, scratching, and slapping.

Then all of a sudden I felt them being yanked off of me. I watched, shocked, as they were pushed away from me and wondered, Who is doing this? Did a teacher come to my aid? Did the girls boyfriends come to their senses?

My questions were finally answered when I saw the concerned face of Devin turn to face me. I let out a deep breath and gave him a grateful smile.

"What happened?" He asked me as the group scurried off.

"Nothing." I lied. "I'm fine."

He gave me an annoyed look, like he couldn't believe I was trying to brush off what had happened. So I finally let the angry tears that had been building up spill over onto my cheeks. Devin's face drops and he immediately pulls me in for a hug. I bury my face into his shirt and allow myself to be held for my moment of vulnerability. I let myself sob into his shirt, all my anger and humiliation coming out in my cries.

"It's okay, you're gonna be okay." He whispers in my ear. He begins to rub small circles on my back in an effort to comfort me and I thing back to my parents. my dad does the same thing for my mom during her moments of weakness.

I blush at the thought, and pull away. I look up at Devin as he tries to give me a smile which I barely mange to return.

"I'm okay now." I say, wiping away the last of my tears. Devin nods his head and turns toward the exit doors. As we both walk towards the exit I reach over to Devin. I grab his hand to give it a thankful squeeze. I feel something, and maybe it was just be me.

But I felt sparks.