It's been like 7 months. .-. I'm so sorry. But this time it's not entirely my fault! The person I've been writing this with hasn't been on in a really long time. So I decided to just update on my own. So... here! It's not that long, so sorry.

Enjoy!


Chapter Three

"I hate life itself," I complain to my best friend.

He rolls his perfect grey eyes, not caring about my dilemma, "You've dealt with far worse, Katniss. I think you'll manage."

"No, Gale!" I groan. "You don't get it!" I drop my head on the cafeteria table, "They're going to make me kiss Peeta," I pause as my head makes a thumping sound against the table, "freaking," I bang my head again, "Mellark," I say with a last smack to my forehead.

Gale picks at his teeth as he shakes his head, "If you're so worked up about it, then don't do it."

I scoff as I pick up my head, "That's a brilliant idea," I tell him with nothing but sarcasm. "If it wasn't work half my grade."

He raises his eyebrows, "When did you start caring about grades?"

I sigh, "When I realized the faster I finish school, the faster I can get the hell away from here; I can't afford to fail a grade."

He eyes me suspiciously, "So you're planning on leaving the District as soon as you get out of school?"

"Been planning on it since the day my father died," I tell him.

He grins, shrugging his shoulders, "Count me in!"

I slightly smile, "Now I just have to get through the k-k-ka-ka-ka-ki-ki-"

"The kiss?" Gale finishes for me.

I shudder, "Yeah, that."

He chuckles, "Good luck with that."

We stand, gathering our things as we begin making our way to the door to beat the end-of-lunch traffic. Instead of things going as planned, though, a certain someone ruins it.

"Watch it," Gale growls as we bump in to two blonde boys.

Their near identical blue eyes stare at us, but only one speaks up, "Well, well, well, what do we have here? It's Juliet in the flesh," Pierce grins.

Gale raises an eyebrow, pointing to Pierce, "This is the nimrod that you have to kiss?" His eyes float from the top of Pierce, down to the very bottom. Gale scoffs, "I can see why you're so upset." I roll my eyes, and move his hand to the side, making it point to Peeta instead. Gale's eyes widen, "Dear Lord, what did you do to earn that kind of punishment?"

I shrug my shoulders, "I hate life, and it apparently hates me."

Peeta rolls his eyes, "Everything hates you."

"What did you say?" Gale snarls as he takes an aggressive step toward him.

Peeta moves back a bit, obviously intimidated by Gale's threatening appearance. He takes his hands up slightly, "I said nothing," he lies. "Boyfriend to the rescue," he huffs.

Pierce frowns, "Boyfriend?"

I shake my head, scoffing, "Gale isn't my boyfriend."

Peeta is about to roll his eyes, when Gale glares at him, "But that doesn't mean I won't defend her." He eyes Peeta carefully, "You screw with her, and I'll bust your balls. You hear me?"

Peeta flicks his hand at him; Pierce speaks with respect, "We won't hurt her. Promise!"

Gale pushes pass the two, "Let's go, Katniss," he orders.

Pierce looks at me and slightly smiles, "I wouldn't dare hurt Juliet."

Peeta rolls his eyes, "Let's go, Pierce," he says in the same commanding tone as Gale. He begins walking off, not caring that his best friend is still standing in front of me.

Pierce smiles, "I can't wait to work with you."

I shake my head, "You don't have to play nice."

His smile falters, "I'm not playing nice. I'm being nice. There's a difference." I nod my head and begin walking away. "So we're staring rehearsal today," he says as he follows me, quickening his pace to keep up with me. I nod my head again, hoping he'll get bored and leave. "We could, you know, practice outside of rehearsal if you want." We have English class again, because it's a block period, so we walk in together; a couple of people stare at us. "I could, like, help you with lines and stuff."

I raise an eyebrow, "Do our characters even have scenes together?"

He nods his head, "Yeah, I looked through the book after we were assigned the characters."

That's not like Pierce. He's one of the lazy, joking guys. When we're assigned something like this, he isn't one to get excited. Though he's smart, he prefers not to do more than the minimum.

He sheepishly grins, "I wanted to see if we could practice together… So I needed to know if we have any parts together… and… we do!" I settle into my seat, and Pierce stands next to me.

I grit my teeth, "If I agree to whatever the hell you're talking about, will you go away?"

He smiles at me and shrugs, "That seems reasonable."

I sigh, "Fine."

"Yes," he sighs of relief as he walks back to his desk. Before sitting down, he whispers something to his friends; it earns him high fives from everyone but Peeta, who scoffs.

Mrs. McNeil rolls her eyes, "If you guys are done celebrating... whatever... will you sit down?"

Pierce smirks, "Actually, we're not done celebrating. So we'll just keep standing."

Mrs. McNeil crosses her arms, "Sit down."

He laughs, saluting her, "Yes, sir!" She glares at him as he slides into his seat, grinning, "I mean ma'am."

Peeta shakes his head, "You had it right the first time, my friend!"

"I would punish you by taking away your part," Mrs. McNeil says; Peeta and I look at each other, both eagerly waiting for what she has to say. She breathes out, "But you keeping the part is more of a punishment." Peeta and I groan in unison, both sliding into our seats, quite upset. We don't want to deal with one another. Sensing she received slight power for once, Mrs. McNeil grins, "Speaking of the project, all main parts have to stay after school today."

Delly's annoying voice automatically begins ringing in my voice as she speaks up, whining about how she can't make it after school today. Groaning, I mumble to myself how no one gives. She kept giving reasons as to why she could't go, even after our teacher rejected every excuse.

"Will you just shut up Delly?" I hear Pierce hiss.

"Yes!" I agree, "Thank you!"

"Leave her alone," Peeta nearly snaps at the two of us, mainly directed at me, though.

I roll my eyes, not even bothering to care that he's always defended her over me, even when we were kids. Finally, our teacher gives into Delly's peti ways, and she won't be attending after school rehearsal today.

At least I'll be dealing with one less idiotic blondy today.

I have to deal with enough as it is.

Oh Lord help me.

I'm gonna need it.


Hope you liked it! It's nothing much, so I'll try to figure out what I'm going to do with this story. :\ If you have any ideas, please PLEASE message me! :)

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Thank you for reading. Love you all! :)