Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been active. Unfortunately I start school tomorrow (YIKES!) so updates won't come as fast. But when I have time I will definitely try to work on this. I'm beginning to like this story a bunch. I do have a lot of plans for it that I think you guys will like. So enjoy, and be patient, my education comes before this, sorry!

Chapter 3

"What if we get caught?!" I harshly whisper to Gale as we are leaving out of the back of the school. He's walking slightly ahead of me and keeps sighing.

"We won't, I do this a lot. Chill" He replies. We finally get to the back parking lot while he pulls out his keys and presses a button on one of those fancy car key things and I head a large truck in front of us unlock.

"Just hop in, where do you want to go?" He says to me while I get on the passenger side. While I'm getting in I notice that his truck smells lovely. Not that I'd expect it to smell bad, it's just not a normal smell you'd expect to smell in a truck.

"I just moved here a few weeks ago, I don't really know where anything is or what you guys have here. Why don't you just surprise me?"

Gale smiles at me and starts up the truck. As we pull out of the school I notice there are a lot of other cars leaving the school. I guess skipping is something that's normal here. It kind of makes me less nervous because I figure that if we were to get caught, they'd have to be picking only us out of like fifteen cars.

While driving Gale and I are pretty quiet, I feel like we're both pretty tuckered out because it's the first day of school and no teenager has a good sleeping schedule during the summer. It takes me a lot to not just drift off, but what I notice is that I'm completely comfortable being quiet around him. Usually I feel terribly awkward if I'm in a car with a friend and we're quiet.

Eventually we roll up to a street with a bunch of small stores and restaurants. It's actually pretty cute, but it took like twenty minutes to get here. It must be a little suburban town because where the high school is in Panem is in the middle of a huge city. This seems like a smaller little town. It's nice.

"Starbucks okay?" Gale asks while he parks on the side of the street.

"That's more than okay." I say, he smiles and we get out. We start walking down the sidewalk and I can see at the end of the block the little Starbucks sign.

"There is a Starbucks right next to the school but everybody goes there and it isn't as cozy as this one." He explains.

"Yeah, I figured that's why we came here. This place is really nice. Maybe I should skip more often." I say. Gale grins as we reach the door. Once inside the smell of fresh coffee and pastries fill my nose. It's nice to be back at a Starbucks. Where I lived before the closest Starbucks was nearly three hours away.

Gale orders a caramel macchiato and I get a caramel Frappuccino. As I reach into my back pocket I feel Gale halting my elbow. I look up.

"I got it, you're probably uncomfortable enough as it is since you've never ditched class."

"No, No, I can't let you do that. It's fine."

"Really, it's fine. I insist."

I finally give in. "Alright, but next time we come I'm buying." I say. Gale hands the barista the money and then immediately looks back at me with a surprised expression.

"So there's going to be a next time?" He asks.

I never thought about that. I shouldn't of said next time. Crap. What if I don't want to skip again, I can't. Classes will get in the way. I'll fail a test or something. But this is really nice; I kind of got over the adrenaline rush of thinking we were going to get caught.

"Maybe." I say with a smile. "I mean, if I can miss a class period without having to do much makeup work. I'm down." I say.

"I'm glad. This is fun." He says smiling. He has a gorgeous smile, it's almost godly. As I'm admiring Gale's face the barista bring out drinks to the counter.

"We better drink these on the go; the bell is going to ring in a little over twenty minutes." He says. I nod in agreement and we step outside. It's still pretty warm outside because summer isn't completely over, but I'm glad I got a cold drink.

As we get back to the truck I look over at Gale.

"I'm glad I have somebody I can ruin my education with."

. . .

When we arrive back at school we have about six minutes until the bell rings, but there is a six minute passing period. So technically twelve minutes.

"Thanks for the coffee; it really wasn't necessary for you do buy me that." I say. Gale rolls his eyes and looks over at me.

"What can I say, I'm a good friend." He says. I'm glad that he can call me his friend.

"Speaking of friends, don't you have friends you'd rather be hanging out with?" I ask. This stuck my curiosity because he looks like a pretty popular guy. I mean he has the look and physique that of a popular kid, but he's a lot nicer.

"Well. I do have a few friends, but they don't go to school here." He pauses to take a sip of his drink. "See… I'm in a band." He finally admits. He said that like it's a bad thing. I think it's kind of…hot.

"You say that like it's a bad thing. I think that's amazing." I say excitingly. I'm turn in the car seat to get more engaged in the conversation.

"No. Everybody here thinks it's lame." He explains. I do notice most of the kids here are kind of rich and snobby.

"I don't…." I say. We lock eyesight for a minute. It's strange how something as small as eye contact can take you into almost a different universe, the feeling that you get when you can really just see into somebody's eyes. It's like you can see their thoughts and their ideas.

"Well. I'm glad. Speaking of which, we are playing tonight at the Cabana. Would you like to come?" He asks. Am I really being invited to a concert from one of the members? I'm literally freaking out and my mouth is probably hitting the floor and… just wow.

"Would I like to come? No." I say. Gale then changes his mood; he looks down at his lap rather sadly. "I'd love to go." I finish. He looks up at me with his shiny grey eyes full of joy.

"Awesome! Here's an idea, I'll follow you home from school today so I know where you live then I can take you to the pre-show get together that we always have. You can come hang with us and then after the show I can take you home. Sound good?" He explains. I'm more than happy to do this. I've always wanted to go to a concert. It sounds so rad.

"Sounds amazing, I'm definitely looking forward to it." I say, I'm literally smiling from ear to ear. My happiness is interrupted by the bell sounding.

"What class do you have?" I ask.

"English, just like you." He says. We both smile for a minute. I'm really glad that we both have the day to spend with each other. It will really be cool to get to hang out with Gale's band after school as well. Hopefully I don't make too much of a fool of myself. We both exit the car and head off to class.

Today is going to be amazing…