Panem High: Freshman Year

Chapter 1

When Katniss Everdeen's alarm went off at 7:00AM on August 26th, she couldn't decide whether to feel annoyed or excited. High school. Was that exciting? She wasn't sure. But she got out of bed without hitting snooze anyway (she had gotten pretty damn good at that), tied her  brown hair in a braid down her back, put on a pair of black leggings, a long-sleeved white shirt, and white ankle socks and headed downstairs to the kitchen, where a steaming plate of french toast with maple syrup was awaiting her. She nodded a hesitant thanks to her mom and sat down at the counter.

"You look pretty, Katniss," her ten-year-old sister Prim said, coming into the kitchen. 

"And you look beautiful," Katniss replied genuinely as she took in the white t-shirt, baby blue pleated  skater skirt and Birkenstock sandals her sister was wearing. "But tuck in your tail, little duck," she chuckled, as she reached over to tuck an extra bit of white cotton into Prim's skirt. Prim giggled. "So, fifth grade, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah," Prim replied nervously.

"Aw, you'll be fine. It's fifth grade, Primmy."

"It's not high school," she said sadly.

"High school will come fast enough," Katniss said, then softened her voice. "I wish I was going into fifth grade instead of ninth."

"Too bad we can't trade," Prim giggled back as she sat down to eat her pancakes.

When Katniss got to school, she scanned the large campus until she saw familiar dark curls and strawberry blond braids bobbing towards her. 

"Hi, Katniss," Madge said.

"Hey, Catnip," Gale followed. The three made pleasant small talk until they entered the building. They inhaled deeply and took it all in.

The walls were stark white, but had colourful murals depicting student life painted on them, each one signed by a different artist in a different year. There were multiple floors, but if you stood in the center of the lobby, you could see all four levels and the high glass dome in the center of the ceiling. The lockers were a soft cerulean, giving the school a welcoming atmosphere, and the grey floor tiles had each been signed by a graduate. Katniss recognized her mother,s signature, along with the year she graduated, in red ink on the tile beside Gale's foot, Maysilee Donner's blue signature next to hers.

"Hey, brainless," said a sarcastic voice, and Katniss and her friends turned to see Johanna Mason, a friend from eighth grade standing behind them. She hadn't grown, but now her usually waist-length, simple dark hair was chin-length and choppy and dyed purple. "How are y'all?"

"Fine. Nice hair," Katniss smirked. 

Johanna snorted. "Please," she scoffed. "Look, I know you're stubborn and not really a people person, but I have people for you." Katniss tried to protest, but Johanna dragged her into a classroom occupied by the strangest crowd of people she had ever seen. "Clove Kentwell," Johanna introduced, gesturing to a short girl with freckles and long, dark hair tied back in a messy ponytail who was stroking and fiddling with with a pocket knife like it was her own child.

"Hey," she said, more friendly than Katniss expected.

"Were you just nice?" exclaimed a tall, blonde boy in shock.

"Shut up or I'll beat your stupid ass," she threatened. So nice.

"Oi, Clove. You're trying to meet people," Johanna snapped. "Don't scare them."

"I'm not scared of her," Katniss said plainly.

"See?" Clove snapped back at Johanna.

"Whatever," Johanna replied. "This is Cato Hadley," she said, gesturing to the boy who had been making fun of Clove before. He was really tall, 6 feet for sure, had messy blond hair and strangely soft brown eyes. He extended his hand, and Katniss, Gale and Madge all shook it. "Marvel Sanford," she said, and a boy with dirty blond hair, shorter, with green eyes, nodded acknowledgement in their direction, and continued to angrily scribble out his times tables. "Finch Crossley," she continued, motioning to a girl with red hair whose nose was buried in between the pages of How to Kill a Mockingbird as she read furiously, but gave a vague thumbs up in their general direction. "Thresh Morrowson." A tall boy with dark skin and buzzed black hair who must have been as tall as Cato extended his hand and shook each of the trio's firmly. "Delly Cartwright." A tall girl with a few pounds to spare and long blond curls sent each of them a friendly wave and mouthed a cheerful hello. "Finnick Odair," she introduced.

"Sugar cube?" he offered in a smooth voice, holding out a handful of the sweet blocks. 

"No thanks," Katniss said, confused, and Madge nodded in agreement, but Gale picked one up and gingerly placed it in his mouth. Him and Finnick exchanged some sort of handshake, and Johanna smacked their hands down to continue her introductions.

"Annie Cresta," she went on. A small girl with shaky hands and brown to pink ombre'd hair looked up anxiously but relaxed at Madge's gentle smile. 

"Hello," she treaded quietly.

"Finnick's girl," Johanna explained, as if to justify why Annie was there. Finnick smiled and held out his arm, and Annie went and curled under it.

"Peeta Mellark, very funny, group favourite." A short-ish, stocky boy with ashen blond curls and blue eyes gave each a firm handshake and returned to his sketchbook with a thoughtful expression.

"Glimmer Belcourt. Came from a school where she was always popular, but the freshmen here that decided they were "popular" didn't want her, so the better group took her in."

"Who?" Katniss asked obliviously.

"Us, brainless," Johanna clarified bluntly.

"Oh," she replied simply. "Hey, Glimmer."

"Hi," she said brightly, moving her strawberry blond fishtails braids over the shoulder of her turquoise Vineyard Vines t-shirt.

"Hands," Johanna barked, extending her arm. Clove's hand extended on top, followed by Glimmer's, Cato's, Marvel's Peeta's Finnick's, Annie's Delly's, Thresh's, Foxface's, Gale's, Madge's and finally Katniss's. "Ready for high school?" Johanna asked excitedly.