September, Freshman Year of University
"Rise and shine, Kit Kat." A voice cooed, awaking Katniss from her slumber. A shake was administered to her shoulder, punctuating each word.
"Don't call me that," she yawned, shoving the intruder's hand away from her. A laugh sounded, followed by the door closing. As she sat up and rubbed her eyes, she was met with the smiling face of Madge Undersee. "What time is it?"
She seemed unfazed by Katniss' grumpy nature. "7:00am and we have our first classes in two hours!" She chirped, sounding like a morning talk show host. How she was able that amount of energy in the morning was beyond her. "I made toast for breakfast, would you like some?"
Katniss nodded drowsily, still not quite awake.
Madge hopped up and opened the door. "Great! Annie's eating in the living room, I can't wait for her to meet you!"
"Wait, who—"
Madge closed the door before she could finish, and Katniss huffed in annoyance. Sliding her legs from out beneath the covers, she stretched out her back and walked over to the window.
The morning rush had started below, and cars zoomed by as people made their way to work. Cracking the window open a bit, she let in a cool breeze that followed her as she got ready to greet the day.
What were she supposed to wear on her first day?
Jeans? Shorts? A dress was out of the question, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to try something new…
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, and a tiny girl with dark curly hair popped her head in. Her shockingly green eyes roamed the room briefly until she found Katniss and offered a meek smile.
"Sorry, Madge sent me to get you. I'm Annie," she said with a small wave. "Katniss, right?"
"Oh, you're Annie!" She said, remembering Madge's statement last night about the girls they shared a bathroom and kitchen with. She was as pretty as she had been described, and according to Madge, one of the sweetest people she'd ever met. "Tell Madge I'm coming, I just need to find an outfit first." Katniss smiled, relieved now that she actually had an idea of who was in her room.
Annie laughed, and stepped into the room. "Can I help? I love dressing people up." After receiving a nod, she bounced over to the closet and began rummaging through her clothes. "What were you thinking of wearing?"
"I wasn't. I'm not good at his kind of stuff. My sister's the fashion genius." She laughed, remembering Prim planning her outfits for months because she had no sense of style. She felt her smile slip at the memory of her sister, but quickly forced one back on.
"Oh I'm sure you have a nice taste in clothes," Annie said, brushing her off. She pulled out a pair of jean shorts and a simple green blouse. "Pair this with a necklace and you've got yourself a killer outfit."
Katniss nodded, impressed that Annie had been able to pick up on her personality so quickly.
"Now come on, I think if we take any longer, Madge will come to kill us."
"I can't believe we have Psych together," Annie said as she and Katniss sat down in the large auditorium that was quickly filling up, "Then again, it is a class of 1700 so chances are you know someone…"
"I still can't believe they have classrooms this big." She replied, fiddling with the end of her braid. "It's like, the size of my high school back home."
"Oh, I know. It's terrifying, but it's kind of exciting at the same time. Meeting all these new people, and getting the real university experience, you know?"
Katniss shrugged, knowing that the cons outweighed the pros in this situation. "I guess."
Annie rolled her eyes and nudged her playfully. "Oh lighten up, will you? 1698 other people in this room, which means tons of new guys."
"Oh yeah, because they'll definitely want to date me." She said sarcastically. She was never one to go out on dates, because a) Boys didn't like girls like her, and b) The ones that did were assholes.
"What? Boys love you! Just this morning Madge was telling me about how Peeta—"
She froze mid-sentence, trying to find something to cover up her almost-slip.
"Shoot. Uh, not Peeta. I didn't say that."
Katniss raised an eyebrow. "Peeta what?"
Her eyes darted around, when they fell on the perfect cover up. She spotted Peeta standing near the entrance and internally sighed in relief. "Peeta's here!"
He turned around at the sound of his name, and flashed a smile at the two of them. He jogged up the stairs to their row, and took the seat next to her.
"Oh hey Annie, Katniss." He greeted, nodding to each of them. "I didn't know you two were in Psychology."
"Part of the requirements for Pre-Med." Annie shrugged, "Easiest class in my opinion."
He turned to Katniss and cocked an eyebrow, "And you, Katniss?"
She hesitated a brief second. "Uh, same thing as Annie."
Both seemed shocked at her response.
"You're pre-med?" Peeta asked in disbelief. After seeing the slight change in her expression, he quickly backtracked. "Not that you aren't smart enough to be a doctor, it's just that you don't seem like one?"
His face was bright red at that point, and Katniss laughed, easing his rambling embarrassment.
"I'm from a family of doctors," She explained, "And my mom wants me to join in on the family legacy, or something like that, by studying medicine. She wanted me to be a Neurosurgeon at first, but I managed to talk her down from that one."
"Can't you just tell her you don't want to be a doctor?"
"What makes you think I don't want to be a doctor?"
"Do you want to be a doctor?"
"Well, no but—"
Peeta chuckled. "Just tell her, she'll get over it eventually. I thought my parents nearly disowned me when I told them I wanted to take Visual Arts, but my they're pretty cool with it now."
"Oh yeah, your mom is the epitome of cool," Finnick commented, sliding in on the other side of the girls. He shot them a wink, turning on the charm that she was quickly growing accustomed to. His eyes locked on Annie's and he flashed her a dazzling smile. "Well, hello there, beautiful. I'm Finnick Odair."
Annie flushed a light pink, and offered a small smile in return. "Annie Cresta, nice to meet you."
"Likewise."
Katniss could have sworn she caught his cocky mask slip for a moment as he answered, but the smirk was back before she could blink.
The rest of the auditorium had filled without them noticing, and they were now sitting in the middle of a sea of nervous young adults. Conversation carried on lightly, only to be cut short by the presence of their new professor.
"Welcome to freshman Psychology, or better known on campus, Frosh Psych. You can call me Professor Abernathy, Mr. Abernathy, Mr. A, I frankly am too hungover to care."
Katniss laughed along with the other chuckles that echoed in waves around the room.
"Some of you are here by choice, and some of you are just trying to earn your credits. Whichever category you may currently fall under, I can guarantee that you will walk out those doors in a few months as one group. You see, this class differs from the other classes that you may take this year, next year, or the rest of your lives.
Every other course studies the way we, as humans, have lived. History, anthropology, biology, you name it. All focusing on what we appear to be, or what we have been. That's the beauty of learning Psychology. You don't analyze the neurons that fire in your brain, or how long ago the Roman Empire crumbled.
You will leave here, as a group that did not just learn from the class, but have been changed by it. Because I don't teach the textbook, no, I teach life."
The room became quiet, including the group of jocks who had been snickering earlier in his speech. Mr. Abernathy let the silence hang for another moment before quickly breaking it.
"While you let that sink in," he smirked, pausing to turn the projector on, "Here's your first assignment."
"Katniss, over here!" Madge called out, waving her over to their cafeteria table. She took the empty seat in between Peeta and a girl with a messy brown bun that she'd never met before.
"That's Clove, and that's Glimmer," Madge introduced, pointing out the girl beside her, and a blond girl touching up her makeup at the other end of the table. "The other three boys will be here soon, they just had to run out to get the keg for tomorrow."
Katniss nodded, though she wasn't quite clear on what tomorrow was. Luckily, Annie covered that one for her.
"What's happening tomorrow?" she asked, confused.
"Gloss Emmans is hosting a frosh party at his house off campus," Finnick explained, and Katniss noted that he had chosen the seat next to Annie. "All students invited."
"So anyone can just waltz into his house and party?" Peeta asked, frowning, "That can't be safe, I mean what if a serial killer came in and—"
"How would a serial killer even find the house?" Katniss asked, laughing lightly at his worries.
"I don't know, maybe he's just wandering about the neighbourhood and stumbles upon the party."
Johanna snorted. "Yeah, that's going to happen."
"You never know, maybe—"
"I'm here!" a deep voice called out, cutting Peeta's next argument off.
Katniss' ears perked up at the sound, and her mind made the connection a split-second before he came into view. Her heart started beating a mile a minute. It couldn't be him. She moved across the country to get away from him.
Madge waved the guy over eagerly, and his large form towered over the table. His smile dazzled the rest of the table, just as she had been dazzled all those months ago.
His eyes met hers and softened slightly at the edges. "Hey, Catnip."
Gale.
Thanks for reading!
I had some extra time on my hands today, so I thought I'd just get things going with another chapter. I'll update on Wednesdays from now on, because that would be more organized than random spurts of writings.
What are you thinking so far? I'd love to hear from you, it makes me a better writer.
So, review please xx
Till next time,
~FourofSpades