Panem High

𝑅𝒾𝒹𝑒

katniss

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I shiver and look down at my feet standing on the grey concrete. I never expected Colorado to be this freezing. I am shaken from my trance by the roar of an approaching vehicle. I look up to see a navy blue bus with tinted windows pulling into the airport. The side in white letters reads Panem Highschool Transportation. It takes me a second to realize that the bus is pulling into the next parking lot and I'm at the wrong one.

Shit! I think and start running over to it. I cannot miss my bus. As I'm running, I knock over a cart of bags, but I can't stop. The bus is still 100 yards away and people have started to bore it. A woman curses at me but I ignore her and keep running.

Eventually, I do make it and am one of the last to join. I find a seat near the middle, not close to anyone, and take the window seat. I take a second to catch my breath, my cheeks reddened by the cold. As I peer out the window and see the remaining people bonding, I get a good look at a few of my future classmates. Not all of them are here right now, some we will pick up at the Aspen Airport because they didn't fly into Denver as I did. Even then, that won't be all of them. I looked up how many airports are in Colorado, and there are 13 international. So people will be coming from all over. But, lucky for me, this bus is only picking up people from Denver and Aspen.

As we make our way onto the highway, I pop in my AirPods. They help to drown out the sound of the noisy bus. I zone out quickly, increased by all the differences here. I start to think about school again. I am one out of the 250 freshmen going into Panem Highschool. And, according to my mother, I'm one of the 'lucky' 50 chosen from Kentucky. Every year, Panem High has a sort of lottery, and almost every middle school in the country enters all of their 8th graders from that year. We don't know why they all do it, but there are many conspiracies. If you are one of the lucky 50 chosen, you'll get to go. If not, sucks for you because they don't take applications and they only give out 5 scholarships globally.

The funny thing is, I wasn't chosen, it was my little sister. We have no clue how her name ended up there, but she can't attend at the moment, her being only ten. Panem High apologized to us for the inconvenience and offered me a spot that I didn't want. I was going to decline, but my mother forbids me. You see, 20% of those who graduate from Panem Highschool find a job within two weeks of graduation so that they can pressure their career. 70% have job offers and/or scholarships for jobs or universities lined up around the block.

I just hope that I'm not part of the 8 percent who waste four years of their lives focusing on their passion and then end up working at a Walmart. or the 2 percent who get expelled...

Whatever. Nobody but freaks like me look at the statistics.

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I almost fall out of my seat as the bus comes to an abrupt halt. A girl a few rows behind me coughs. She must have choked on her water as we pulled into the parking lot. After about a minute, Students from the Aspen International Airport begin to mount the stairs leading up to The seats quickly fill and I wonder if we'll even have enough room.

"Excuse me?" I look up from the window, "Do you mind if I sit here?" I look up to see a tall boy, probably a sophomore or junior, with dark brown hair and an Australian accent standing above me.

"No, not at all. All the other seats seem to be taken," I reply.

"Yeah." He says and sits down. "Gale Hawthorn, by the way," He extends his hand.

I shake it and reply, "Katniss Everdeen,"

"Katniss, like Catnip?" He asks with a laugh,

"No," I answer, "But I do get that a lot."

"Yeah, well I think it's a very unique name."

"Thanks," I say, and then ask, "So, are you from Australia?" judging by his accent, I bet he gets that a lot too.

"Yes, I was born in Australia but moved to the USA when I was about 12. Never quite got rid of the accent, though."

"Oh really," I feel like the conversation is dying a little, as much as I hate talking to people, especially about myself, I cannot stand to sit in awkward silence this whole trip, plus, this Gale guy seems nice enough, so I ask, "What state did you move to?"

"Well, first we moved to West Virginia, but then I moved to Kentucky about a year later."

"I'm from Kentucky, too," I say,

"Oh yeah, What city?"

This conversation is leading to exactly the thing I wanted to avoid. "Um, my families from Alexandria,"

"Oh yeah, I've heard it's nice there, do you like it?"

"I mean, it's nice enough, lots of trees, rainy," I think that Gale takes the hint that I'm done talking.

"Well, Catnip, it was nice meeting you, but I've got some summer homeworking I've been slacking off, and better get it done." I nod. It ticks me off a bit that he calls me Catnip, but I don't say it.

I look back out the window. We're already making our way up to the Rockies, and I'm glad. The sooner I get off this bus, the better.

Authors Note

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Well, that was the first chapter. I know it was kinda boring but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. too many dialogues, or not? let me know in the comments. Also, everlark shippers, Peeta is coming soon I promise!!!