Hi everyone! Thanks for waiting for this long awaited chapter. Sorry I've been MIA for sometime...Personal family matters. Anyway, this chapter especially is dedicated to Courtney Gostic. It's her birthday tomorrow, so whoever's reading this, I would really appreciate it if you would check out her profile, read a story of hers, and wish her a sincere happy birthday. If you're busy and you can't do all that, I totally understand, but say a quick, "Happy Birthday Courtney" in your mind, aloud or not, just do it, and this chapter will be partly dedicated to you too! :D She has been a very great blessing to me, this past month, a comfort and I'm so blessed to call and have her as my friend. Also, this story in general is again, dedicated to Courtney, and my cherished sister Holly...Thank you.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, nor any of the characters in it, nor do I own the Harry Potter series, which is briefly mentioned here. Enjoy.

Glimmer called Cato and told him that there was a party going on at her house. Cato's mind was still reeling from the information Katniss had told him earlier. There was going to be liquor, booze. Cato made up his mind in a split second. He was going to get wasted.

The party was in full swing when he arrived to his destination. There was teenagers dancing, drinking, making out. He immediately headed towards the drink table, and scooped some punch out, which of course was spiked, everyone knew that, and sat down at a table…That one cup turned into three more. Cato was mildly drunk, he knew how to hold his alcohol, but he was still drunk. He saw Glimmer making her way over to him.

"Hey," her sultry voice said. "Glad you could make it."

Somehow, her voice had dropped all the 'likes' and 'totally's, she turned from the ditzy, bitch queen, to a sexy, erotic hooker. She was wearing a form fitting, white shirt, with a tight, little black skirt, which showed all her curves, and…and she wasn't wearing a bra underneath…

He said, "How about we get a drink together, then maybe some dancing?" his voice was gravelly, and deep. He felt the old Cato returning into him, the one that spent his nights drunk, teasing girls, and choosing the sexiest to spend the night with…After they had both had two more cups of punch each, they hit the dance floor. They were obviously the best dancers, then the dirty dancing came. Glimmer grinder her ass against his groin, and he moaned, he trailed his hands up her shirt, and sucked at the base of her neck, it was her turn to moan…

She whispered in his ear, "I know a place with a lock on it."

"That's all I need."

The next morning, Katniss walked into the kitchen. Thom was sitting there drinking an energy drink. "Hey."

"Hello."

Katniss grinned, "Do all rich people really have to be so proper about their grammar? I mean seriously, what's wrong with a simple 'hey'? It's not like, 'Whassup, my homie g'!"

Thom smiled, "Do all formerly poor people really have to be so vexatious?"

"Thom, you're gonna kill me with all your properness and vocabulary."

Thom winced, "A bit too early for those types of comments."

Katniss sat down, "I'm sorry. But, there's no use of hiding from the truth…"

They were both slumped in chairs. It was at times like these, when they actually looked related. They wore exact expressions of exhaustion and frustration. They only shared their mom's blood. When Katniss's father was still alive her mother had been cheating on him, and had already had a son with another man. She had been pregnant with Katniss, for the second time, when her father had died. For this reason, Katniss rarely conversed with her, all her life, Katniss had looked up to her mother, although she looked up to her father more. Then, she learned her mother had been unfaithful. Her mother fell from the pedestal Katniss had set her up on, and to make matters worse, her step-father hated Katniss. More than once, when they were younger, Thom would say, "He doesn't hate you! He just," here Thom would struggle for words, "Doesn't like you!"

Then Thom spoke up. "What am I going to do when you're gone?" Thom muttered softly. "There's gonna be no-one here for me."

Katniss scoffed, "Mother doesn't ignore you, and your father sure as hell doesn't hate you. He adores you!"

"Only since I'm a 'goody two shoes'. I don't ride a skateboard, or care if I get bad grades," Thom half smiled at me.

Katniss shrugged, "Hey, If I was gonna die, I figured might as well go all out."

Thom sighed, "They want me to become a lawyer, but that's not what I want to be. You know that. I've been wanting to fight back, and I always had you as, like, backup support, and then we got the news that you'd be okay, but then…" Thom trailed off.

"You can still do it," Katniss encouraged Thom. "Sometimes, you just have to try it, even if you don't know what happens from there," she smiled. "At least, that's how I started skateboarding," she joked.

Thom smiled, ruffled Katniss's hair, or tried to, and stood up with a sigh, "I've got to go to another logic class…So, later Catnip!"

Katniss smiled innocently, "So long Thommy-babes!"

Thom scowled, "Ugh…I will forever wish that I never dated Delly. I don't even know how she came up with that…horrid name!"

"Like, whatever Thommy-babes!" Katniss squealed. Immediately, she dropped the act. "Eeew….Not doing that again…But, back to the original topic. Run, off you go, no longer shall you disgrace my presence!"

Thom chuckled, and left.

After Thom had gone, Katniss had decided to go to the nearby park. She sat on the swings and swung slowly, and leisurely. As she was in mid-swing, she witnessed the Careers moving toward the swing. There was also another man walking towards the swings. The man reached her first, he had red hair, and a well built body.

"Hey, is this seat available?" he asked.

Katniss thought for a second, 'Eh,' she thought. 'yeah, he's good looking, but no.' She took a breath than smiled sweetly, "Yeah, but if you sit down than this one," she pointed at her own seat, "will be available too!" She eyed the Careers, who were now watching them, hearing everything, and smirking at Katniss at her hearing her answer. "Actually, maybe this seat will be empty anyway!"

"Wait!" the red headed boy exclaimed, "I know that you've got some sort of a bad relationship with those guys over there, but we can go somewhere else! C'mon, please?"

Katniss shot him an incredulous look, "I don't even know you!"

The boy smirked, "Yes, you do! I remember you, for one! Katniss, remember," he cleared his throat, "'It's such a beautiful place…to be with friends?'"

Katniss gaped in shock, "Darius?" But, she was so shocked, it came out more like, "Daaa-riii-uuuss?"

Darius laughed, "So you do remember me!"

"Of course I do!" Katniss had recovered from her shock. "What are you doing here? And I could never forget Dobby…Never!"

"Well…" Darius drew it out on purpose, knowing that it would infuriate Katniss, "I am…"

"Spit it out already, Dari!"

"All right, all right, fire girl!"

Katniss rolled her eyes, "So?"

"So what?"

Katniss growled, "Why are you here?"

"I'm moving here," Darius lazily smiled at her.

Katniss grinned so wide, Cato thought her face might split, and she launched herself into his arms. "We are so going to the nearby ice cream shop and catching up!"

Darius raised an eyebrow, "Girly much? I can't wait till I see you old, and snapping at poor little kids passing your house!"

Then, Glimmer called out, "Well you, like, won't!"

Darius turned around to face Glimmer, "Sorry?"

"Your little, like, girlfriend has cancer, idiot! You didn't, like, know? Ohmigosh, she didn't like, tell you? Oh wow, talk about, like, relationship problems!"

"Totally!" Cashmere sneered.

Darius again, turned around, "Katniss?"

Katniss was rooted in place. She was staring at everyone, when her gaze landed on Cato. Her face molded into an inexpressible amount of fury. Darius apparently recognized this look, and said warningly, "Don't, Katniss."

Katniss immediately slumped to the ground, and glared at Darius, "No fair," she said like a little child.

"Aww, look at that! Like, she listens to that, like, poor boy!"

"Is it true? I thought it went away," Darius asked softly, tentatively.

Katniss hesitated, then gave a quick sharp nod, "It came back," was her simple answer. Then she called out to Cato, "You are done for," in her deadliest tone. "I actually thought I could trust you!" She lest out a bitter laugh, "but I guess I was wrong. Well, don't worry!" her face masked into fake happiness. "I learned my lesson! Yipee." She turned deadly serious again. "I'll never trust you or anyone who's ever like you again. Kapeesh. Hey, Dari, I'll see you tomorrow, you're coming to our school, yeah?"

"Yeah."

Cato put his head in his hands. Last night, he had done what he wanted. He had gotten wasted. And…and he had spilled Katniss's secret to the Careers. And had sex with Glimmer on top of that list of horrifying things he had done last night. They had wanted to get rid of him, but they decided that since he had, after all, told them about it at the end, they would let him stay. Although, Glimmer was mostly on his side after what he had done to her last night.

The whole time at the park, he wanted to just reach out to Katniss, apologize, and punch that red headed bastard in the face. How did he even know Katniss in the first place? Yes, Cato Stone was jealous. He wasn't sure why, it must've been because that was the first time anyone had turned down being a friend to Cato. But that wasn't the point. He had betrayed Katniss, and she obviously wasn't going to the meadow anymore, let alone spend time with him. Yet, Cato still waited, he wished with all his might for Katniss to come into the meadow, and sit down with him, and maybe talk about whatever came to their minds.

She never came. Cato thought over everything that had happened. She was so strong during the confrontation. She kept her cool. Hell, she was better at keeping her mask on than even Cato was. He wondered how much she had to go through to achieve that mask. Everyone had to go through something to get a mask that impenetrable. The news was bound to be over the whole school by Monday. Today was Saturday. He wondered how fast Glimmer would be to spread it. He sighed, got up, and headed home. Katniss was gone. But, he was going to get her back. There was no question. And once he did, he would never let go. Never.

Katniss ran. And ran. And ran. She ended up at yet another park. She sat there at the deserted swings, and finally let her emotions break through. She cried. And cried. And cried. Notice a pattern yet? Then a girl with shoulder length brown hair, black glasses, and eyes that were not a single color, but many different colors approach. She looked about fourteen. She sat on a swing next to Katniss.

"Are you alright?"

"What do you think?" was Katniss's biting reply.

The girl ignored it and said, "You're crying. Are you alright?"

"How many times are you going to ask that? And, do you think I need to be told that I'm crying? How terrible are you that you would do that?" Katniss hoped to chase her away.

But, the girl dragged her feet in the sand and replied softly, and gently, "I'm Courtney. Who're you?"

Something, something about this girl. The way she kept on being gentle, yet steadfast, and determined made Kantiss like her. She gave Courtney a half smile, "I'm Katniss."

Katniss never apologized. They both knew that she was thankful that Courtney came along. She lived in England, but she had come to California for a vacation, her birthday was todady, February 17th, and she was fifteen now. Well, Katniss had been partially right, thinking she was fourteen. She ended up telling Courtney everything.

"Maybe…Maybe he just needs time to come around," Courtney said softly. "I think he really likes you. Why else would he come to the meadow every day, just to sit beside you?"

"To betray me to the Careers."

Courtney smiled, as if she knew something Katniss didn't, "Don't worry. I promise, he'll come around. Sometimes, you just have to trust what your heart says, instead of your instinct."

"Aren't they the same thing?"

Courtney considered this, "No. Your instinct automatically does what's best for you. Your heart calls out to who you love.

"Just trust me on this. I'm sort of a writer, I think I could see where this story's going. It's going to be a good ending."

"I'm dying, and you call that a good ending?"

"No. It's not dying that's the good part. You're going to die happy. I don't know. I'd rather die happy, than live unhappily."

"I'm not unhappy."

Courtney thankfully let it go. They talked about a lot of things. She told Katniss of many things, she was so optimistic…She said more than once, "Happiness can be found in the worst of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light." It was from Harry Potter and it was one of the few series Katniss bothered to read. Katniss wasn't sure how long they were out there, simply talking, sharing…It was night when they finally parted ways. They never exchanged phone numbers, hell, they didn't even know each others last names. But, Katniss was glad that they had met each other. Even if it wasn't a lasting relationship, although Katniss memorized the girl's features, just in case they should ever meet again.

Courtney left, thinking that all she did was talk to a girl for a few hours, a girl that was dying, that she might never see again, probably not. This encounter probably didn't even register as a blip on the timeline of life…How wrong she was. This encounter made such an impact on Katniss's life, if Courtney had never thought of comforting a girl who was crying, if she hadn't persisted in helping her, what would have happened, then...Well, you'll have to wait to see. Courtney would only realize this later, when Cato himself came to her to tell her of everything.

Katniss had never had anyone to help guide her, at least for the past eight years. Sure, Thom was there for her, but he wasn't able to help her when her, erm, time of the month came, she couldn't come to him for boy advice, and he was only one year older than her, he couldn't guide her like an experienced parent could. He tried his best though, and Katniss loved him for it. But, even she, Katniss, badass girl, needed help, motherly and fatherly help. Yet, it was almost never there for her…Ever since 10 years old, her mother had stopped being a 'mother' to her, her step-father always had insults paved for her…It was bearable though, when Thom was with her…He was the line, that held her connected to this family, if one could call it that.

Usually, something this bad never happened, and it's only happened once or twice before. During the first, her mother had still been a motherly guide to her, and had helped her through it. The second time…She was on her own. She cried it out, and it was a horrible feeling. The feeling of no one being there for you. Katniss had been going through this, until Courtney, wonderful, helpful, Courntey came along. She had helped Katniss through it. Odd, how Courtney, four years younger than Katniss, had been the one to guide Katniss through her dark, murky thoughts, had been the one to guide Katniss to the light. She showed Katniss that there was still light, in this dark, evil world. She had let Katniss talk, not interrupting her, not imposing that she tell everything either. She had also done something that would lead to something even more wondrous, that would make Cato think of her, praise her, and almost worship her for years…She convinced Katniss to give Cato a second chance.