I woke up to the sound of the alarm clock going off signaling I had to get up.

I turned over checking the time. It is 5:31am. I groaned in annoyance. I hate getting up early in the mornings. Especially at times like this.

Man one of the things I despise about America, is the time school fucking starts. Why cant they be like any normal school and start at 9am? They just had to start at 7.30am

I'm also not doing myelf any favours by going to sleep at 2am every night. But it is a habit I try and fight off. Every morning I would wake up and say I would got to sleep at 11 that night, then I would proceed to stay up till 2am on my phone.

Difference is, I would get up at at 7.15am giving me only about a little over 5 hours sleep over in Ireland at the least per usual back then.

I got out of bed slowly, and walked over to my wardrobe. I opened it up and had a look around. Not much to go through as I'm the type of guy to not own loads of clothes, aswell as shoes.

I threw on a pair of shorts and and t-shirt accompanied with some old runners then left the room.

The house is dark at this hour of the morning as I walk through it. The echos of my footsteps bouncing off the walls as I walked on. Brendan has a nice house I have to say. Marble floors, to match with the wooden panels all around the halls of the house.

I like the feeling of early mornings. It's refreshing and really clears my mind of all thoughts. I feel as if I'm the only person in the world, left without any thoughts but myelf. No pain ot stress to live with.

I get down to the gym in no time and walk through the door. It was a good sized gym. Has everything you need to have in a normal everyday gym. Brendan even installed a running track on the outskirts of the room. In the middle of the room there is a boxing bag. Brendan got that for me when he found out Darragh and I were coming over to live with him after the accident.

I grew angry at the thought of the accident. My parents gone, being forced to move country, and not being able to see my sister often.

I rushed over to the boxing bag. I threw the hardest punches at the bag. Every punch had a meaning behind it, and behind the meaning is the immense anger and frustration with the world.

1,2,1,2,1,2, left left right, left left right, right left right.

I dont know when my knuckles started bleeding, but all I know is I dont care. Pain wont the stop the anger. It will never drown out the fire that burns inside me.

Eventually I stopped, too tired to throw any more punches. I peered at both my hands. They were destroyed. Dried blood was mixing with new blood. These wounds have been opened a hundred times before from my 3 years of boxing in the ring. But this was probably the worst opening that has happened so far.

I bandaged myself up with some toilet paper I found in the bathroom and went back to the gym to continue my workout. Wasnt the best bandaid to use but it did the job until I had to throw it away.

Once I'm finished I hear people moving around upstairs. I check the time and see it's 6.35am. I quickly get upstairs have a shower and get ready

Once I'm out of the shower, I get changed into dark tracksuit bottoms, a grey t-shirt and a navy 11 hoodie.

I look at myself in the bathroom mirror and I have to say, I look like shit. I have dark bags under my eyes, my green eyes look lifeless, and my face is slightly pale. My dark blond hair is out of place as I usually comb it every morning

I take off the bandages on my hands after I threw away the toilet paper and put them on the badages, and see the wounds have closed but it looks like they would open again if I threw another punch.

I went downstairs and walked into the kitchen to make my breakfast. When I got there, Brendan already had it out and ready for me.

"Well John, have a good sleep?" He greets me as he begins pooring the milk into his tea.

"Not too bad now Brendan, just a bit tired is all" I say to him as I sit at the kitchen counter digging into my cereal. "Hows your morning been?" I ask.

"Good enough I suppose" he says but with an enthusiastic tone of voice.

A few seconds later Trent comes strolling into kitchen and plops himself down beside me at the counter.

"Morning Dad, morning cousin" he says with a smile on his face as he begins eating his breakfast.

"Morning Trent. Whats got you in a good mood?" Brendan questions his son.

"First day of school back, and I got my favourite cousin in there with me, which means, it's not going to be a boring year" He explains looking from Brendan to me.

"Trent, I think I'm just gonna stay out of peoples way and keep to myself this year. So it probably will be boring" I reply back to him.

"John, I understand what you're going through, I really do. No kid should go through that amount of pain. But you cant shut yourself away from everybody. It's not good for you. You should go out and make some friends is what you should do." He says with a glint of concern in his eyes

I know he is right. It's not good for me to stay secluded and alone. Everyone needs someone to talk to.

"Brendan, I am going to be completley honest with you right now. I have no interest in being friends with an american. No offence by the way" I say as I look towards Trent after saying that last part

"None taken" Trent says.

"You should really give them a chance. You shouldnt judge people based on what you see on social media and in films John" Brendan says to me.

"I know that I know that. But if I see some cringy stereotypical highschool bully shit, I am going to spontaneously combust"

Trent barks a laugh out at that. Brendan has a small smile on his face after hearing me say that.

"Listen dude' Trent begins 'We dont got any of that stereotypical highschool shit going on in Panem high. So dont worrt about it."

I cringe "Even saying 'high' is so 'American"

"Well I only went to college in America and not school, so I dont really know what you should expect" Brendan says to me after having a sip of his tea.

"I will expect the worst and then not be dissapointed" I smiled grimly

We finshed up our breakfast by 7.10 am and went to the bathroom to brush our teeth. We were just about out the door before Darragh came barreling down the stairs.

"Enjoy schhol lads. Especially you John, having to start at 7.30 am every morning for the next 3 years." He says smugly.

"Cant wait to see that smirk wiped off your face in 2 years you dickhead" I shot back.

"Banter was part of our brotherly love. Couldnt go a day without messing with the other or saying something to annoy the other.

"Who's taking you to school anyway?" Trent asks.

"Madisons taking me everyday if she can on the way to college. If not her than it's Brendan who will be." Darragh answers.

"Ah right"

I look at my watch, 7.15

Come on we gotta go. Dont wanna be late first day back." I say to Trent as I begin walking out the door

"Alright so. Talk to ya later Darragh. Enjoy your first day." He says waving off to Darragh.

"See you guys." Darragh replies.

We walked out the door, and then walked out the gates onto the footpath.

Panem high was only a 10 minute walk from the house so not too far of a walk in my opinion.

It was a beautiful day out. Clear blue skies, birds chirping and the sound of pop music coming from somewhere inside a nearby house.

It was all interrupted when the sound of inaudible shouting was coming from the neibhours across the road.

From where I was standing I could see a small dark haired girl around my age argueing with an older man in a nice suit. Probably her father. He was standing just outside the doorway of the house while she was around 15 feet away from him.

What they were shouting about was inaudible but from the facial expressions on the two, they were pissed.

"Just the neighbours" Trent says "Him and her argue all the time about stupid shit you know"

"Damn, somebody better call child services, get them down here" I joked.

"Lets go before they catch us gawking" Trent says quickly.

"On we go" I say not looking back.

On the walk up to the school, Trent told me everything I needed to know Panem High. He talked about the different classes, teachers, and students in the school.

"So there's different groups of people in the school, obviously. And there's different groups of people in our year, obviously again."

"Ya, so what?" I question.

Trent sighs "You know the way you were going on this morning about high school stereotypes ya?"

"Motherfucker, no fucking way" I say looking at him with disblief. He cant be serious. He has to be fucking with me right now.

I look at him and judging from his facial expfession he was not joking.

"You're serious." It wasnt a question.

"Ok, it's not in the way you expect. It's like any other regular school. You got your popular girl group, the athletic jock boy group, your other smaller groups of friends, and then the asshole group of popular kids with a bit of everyone in it." He finishes looking over at me.

I look at him with my eyebrow raised,"Bro, you made it out like it was some cringy high school stereotype beforehand. What you just said isn't even bad bro."

"Ya but theres one more thing..." He said in a way that said I was going to find this cringy.

I look at him, he has a smirk on his face thinking about what he is going to say to me. Atleast it must be funny. "What is it?"

He chuckles," Well, everyone calls the asshole popular group, 'The Careers" He finished, moving his fingers signaling air quotes.

I look at him aghast. Mouth open nothing coming out. He saw my face and laughed. "You should see the look on your face. Fuck me." He laughs again.

'The careers'. Thats stupidest thing I have ever heard of. "Thats the stupidest thing I have ever heard of," I voice to him.

"Trust me," he smiles," they didn't name themselves that."

"Ah that just makes it worse" I laugh. Truth be told, if people start calling them that, and the so called 'Carreers' embrace that nickname, their just dumbasses.

"Ya I know, they have been called that since freshman year."

"Ok so, why are they called the careers, if I may ask?" I question.

"You may. Well they sorta have their, uh, careers laid out for them. Such as y'know, atheltic careers.

"I do indeed. So what type of sports are we talking?" I ask.

"Just sports. I would have to go through their whole group to name which sports they aspire in. But they are all really athletic and they touch on each sport aswell." Trent finishes.

I took a moment to process all this information. Truth was, you could call anybody under the age of 18 with a backround of sports, a career. Doesnt just have to be 1 specific group of people. I for example have a background on playing soccer, basketball, boxing, and chess.

"Speaking of sports do panem high have a soccer team?" I questioned. I really want to know if they had one or not. Doubt I could go a month without playing any sort of sport. I always am the type of guy to have to occupy my time with something.

Trent looked over and chuckled at me.

"What?" A confused looked ran across my features.

He tilted his head "We dooo-" he said dragging out the o.

"Okkkkk" I say dragging out the k.

"Yeah, it's shit" he deadpanned.

This wasn't surprising to me, I knew it was coming.

"As expected" I say with a roll of my eyes.

"No no, it is shit. Really shit. All our best athletes play either basketball or football. Not even the careers play for our school team. And I dont either.

"Wait what?', I turn towards him,' you dont play? But you are a brilliant right back."

Fuckin hell, if Trents not playing then I wont either. We work well together on the pitch. Considering I play right wing and the two of us are on the same side of the pitch.

"Woah woah, chill man,' he says while moving his hands up and down,' I said I dont play for the school, not not play at all" he smiles

"Thank fuck. You are way too good to not play at all. So you play locally?"

"Yeah, our local team isn't that bad actually. We got three of the four male career dudes on the team. Bit I suspect 1 or 2 of them will quit next year to focus on their actual career sport. Which will take a toll on the team."

"How good are they?" I ask. I have to size these guys up.

"Their careers so they are already fit, but they are good. A bit fucking annoying tho. They would always take control of the team, especially Cato." Trent had an annoyed look on his face at saying that.

"The fuck is Cato"

"He's the leader of the careers, aka, the most annyoing one. He gets what he wants when he wants. He is also the athlete who beats nearly everyone at what sport they like. Except for Finnick. And hefore you ask, yes Finnick is a career, and he's going to become the next olympic gold medalist swimmer for this country in the next 4 years for damn fucking sure" Trent answered.

I raise my eyebrows," looks like you got it all figured out"

Trent was always the type to be organised and precise. He liked to have things figured out instead of clunked up in his head driving him mad. Such as writing a short story. He would lose his mind if he didn't know what to write next.

"You should see Finnick in the pool, he's rapid. Everyone knows he's going to do it, even him. He'd go around gloating like the cocky prick he is" Trent scowls"

I laugh a hearty laugh. Trent could sure use words to describe someone when needed to.

"So Cato does what, American football? I ask

"And Basketball and soccer" Trent says

"So he's on the local soccer club, but not school soccer team. Why?"

"I dont know if you noticed or not, but America does not take soccer seriously, thats why we are shit. Atleast the mens team are anyway" Trent scrunches his face up at that.

"Yeah I noticed. But here's the thing, all Americas best athletes either play basketball or american football" I say

"True true" He replies

"So Cato plays basketball and football for the school and local team, but plays soccer for just the local team."

Yeah, you get noticed when you play for the schools more. Your bound to get an athletic scholarship to a college if you dont get drafted straight away. Or the team just pays for you to go to the college. Win win either way." He answers.

"Huh, interesting"

He nods,' Very"

"Anyone else I can no about?" I question

He scrunches his face up in thought,' uh there's Marvel, he does Basketball for school and soccer for local, Glimmer who's the most popular girl in school who's doing gymnastics, there is Gloss who does football for the school and plays soccer locally. Then you know Finnick, you know Cato...uh...oh yeah. There is Annie who's defo going to be the next female american to win the olympics for swimming in 4 years. There is also Cashmere who does basketball and soccer aswell." He says

I raise my eyebrow," A variety of sports to choose from" I say sarcasticly

Trent looks over quickly "oh there's one more"

"Yeah?"

He lowers his voice so others apart from us two could only hear him "You know my neighbour we saw this morning, the girl yeah?"

"She's one of them?" I guess

"Yeah, just so you know since you asked, she does soccer for the school and is pretty much the best on the team. Her names Clove"

I thought back to a few minutes ago when we passed by her and her dad. She had a small height looked light on her feet. She could be pretty fast. She also looked and sonded tough. Well from the back of her anyway. The way she shouted back at her dad in the arguement gave me the Idea she is commanding on the pitch and can be heard. Probably captain of the team. She's probably a tough tackler aswell not letting anybody off easy. Adding into the mix she is a career means she's more than likely going to be the fittest on the pitch and most athletic meaning she could be a box to box central midfielder. Or she could be a full back. Maybe a defensve midfielder aswell.

"Cloves a nice name to be honest"

Wow. That sounded stupid. Where did that come from? I haven't even seen the girl and already I'm making idiotic comments. I gotta get my head back into drive.

He looks at me and I look at him and we just burst out in laughter.

Once he calms himself he says with a smirk "Bro you have only seen the back of her head, and you are already down horendous" he laughs at the end

"Shut up bitch, she has nice hair aswell" I laugh

What the fuck is wrong with me? My am I so fucking down bad? Fuck me like, I am not right whatsoever.

He continues laughing for a few minutes

"Alright so, what position does she play?" I question wanting to know if my specualtion is right.

"She's a center mid. But the team plays a 4-4-2 with her playing center left mid."

I tilt my head "I fuckin knew it"

"No you didn't bro, you didn't even say it" he wacks my arm

"I fuckin thought it back there" I point back about 20 feet behind us

"Huh, liar" He smirks"

"Whatever bitchboy"

"Dipshit"

"Fuckface"

"Dickhead"

"So are the girls good or what?" I ask

"At soccer? Yeah, they are the best in state. State champs 2 years in a row.' He smirks,' and yes Clove was there for those two years. On the bench for most of the time in her freshmen year tho. But last year she started nearly every game and was made vice captain, until the captain got injured in the quarter final and Clove led them to the final and won it. A comeback win actually. 2-1 with five minutes to go, and you know what Clove does? She scores two fucking worldys. Both outside the box. The second one was with 5 seconds to go. Match ended 3-2. And she was only a sophomore"

I raise my eyebrows, "Jesus, stadium must have fuckin erupted"

He looks at me with an awe like expression "Oh it fucking did, believe me. Everyone was chanting her name and needless to say, she fucking owned it. Everyone loved her. There was only 2 weeks of school left and she was basically the Queen of Pamen high"

"Funny how two moments in a game can in impact your life. You dont realise it until you walk of the pitch either crying or celebrating" I reply

We walked in silence after this. He was whistling the tune to the new song Thrift shop by Macklemore thay came out earlier this year while I was going through the conversation we had and just assesing the problems I might have.

After a minute or two he hits me in the arm bringing back to reality. I look at him with what I think is a questioning look. I probably look stupid.

"We are here" he points to a building about 100 feet away beside a huge fucking parking lot. The school building was atleast 3 storys and was pretty fuckin wide and long. And I could barely male out the edge to a stand far to the right of it. Probably a pitch or somethin like that.

"It's massive" I reply, not taking my eyes off the school

Trent chuckles,"Yeah, we have the main building, then the gym hall which is the basketball courts, actual gym, soccer pitch, football pitch, and the yard"

This place is huge. It will take a while to get used to this. My old school was so much smaller than this asylum for sure.

We continued walking through the parking lot and eventually got to the double front doors.

Trent turns to me pointing at his watch,"Just in time," he says. He nods towards the doors,"Ready?" He smirks

I prentend to be offended,"Who you think I am? The pope? I dont need to tell people I am ready to take a shit so someone can wipe my old ass" I snigger at the last bit

Trent laughs,"As a matter of fact, that is exactly what I thought"

I wipe the smile off my face,"Alright, lets head in" I say as I start towards the door

"Let the action commense" Trent says folowing me

And that is a wrap. Took me too long to update as I was a bit too busy to do thus in one go, but here it is. Expect another update in around 2 weeks, maybe 3 or so.

Disclaimer: Not Collins

I only own the characters I made up. And I am pretty sure you have a rough Idea who those characters are.