Hey to all of my wonderful readers out there! Thanks for clicking on this story. I've had the idea floating around in my mind for some time and now it's comin down on paper, or rather my laptop.

This is a modern day Kato. If you want a hunger games Kato, then check out my other story At First Sight!

I do not own this…

Life, I figure is like a puzzle. One little piece of time can fit everything together perfectly. Some people's moment happens right away, other's takes some time. Then there are puzzles like mine; the puzzle that time tears down, not builds up.

"Katniss" Prim cries from her room. I sit up in my bed looking around frantically, broken from my deep thoughts as I feel for my phone.

It sits next to me on the table and I grab it 5:47, might as well get up anyways. I cautiously roll out of my bed, aware of the moving boxes that still dominate my room. I'll be lucky if I make it to my light switch without breaking my leg too.

"Katniss" Prim cries again and I stub my toe on something hard, no doubt a box full of my books.

I find the light switch and flick it upwards. The white room lights up instantly almost too quickly as I shield my eyes from the never ending light.

I can hear Prim sobbing when I open her door. Her nightmares have been worse since dad died a few years ago, and even worse when mom ran away. I'm trying to support us but there's only so much you can do without a mother. I can't pretend she's still here forever. Child Services are going to find out sooner or later.

Prim will be adopted quickly. Who wouldn't want a sweet innocent twelve year old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes? I'll just be sent to girls home, nobody wants a hardened seventeen year old girl that can barely talk let alone be friendly.

"Shh, shh Prim its ok sweetheart" I whisper sitting down on the edge of the bed. I lean down and hug her tightly. She clings on to me for dear life.

My poor Prim, she loved our mother even if she never loved back. Prim could somehow manage to see past all of it, I never got over the fact that she left us.

We just moved again, this time it's a little apartment. Before mom left we lived in a small town but when people started asking about mom, and if she left us, I knew we had to leave. We left the house as it was and loaded everything into Gale's truck that we could fit. I sold the house cheap a family that had asked mom about it before.

Gale drove us all the way h=to the city, he even helped us put everything in the apartment, but that doesn't change the way I feel about him. He hurt me in ways no one will ever understand. I still can't talk about it but I am reminded of it every day.

"Little duck" I whisper to Prim shaking the thoughts of Gale out of my head "it's time for school. It's your first day. You're going to make lots of nice little friends. Just remember if the teacher asks about mom, tell her mom can't meet with her today because she is still moving things back and forth from our new house" I smile pulling her tiny body out of the bed.

She smiles back and nods. She chatters to me as she gets ready and I fix breakfast. I went to sleep last night in the clothes I am going to school in. I knew I wouldn't sleep at all. It's like this every time we start a new school. I get so nervous; I'm not used to being liked so I don't get my hopes up.

She eats her bread in silence as I braid my hair. I don't want her to know I'm not eating so she has food longer. She wouldn't let me leave until I ate.

"Katniss, are we going to leave or be late for school?" she laughs easily and I smile a forced smile at her before grabbing our bus passes and the keys. It isn't a far walk to the bus station, only about a minute from the apartment complex.

We go to two different schools, so she has to ride one bus while I take another. At first I hated this idea but I know it's best for us; we can't afford to drive my old car anywhere anyways.

"Bye Prim" I call out as she boards the bus giving me a small smile as she does.

Closing my eyes, I turn around and head straight for my bus reminding myself not to turn around.

The bus ride is an excruciatingly short ride and I just wish I could freeze time so I don't have to get off the bus and face a new set of unfamiliar faces for the third time in the past two years.

I wrap my father's old worn out military jacket tighter around me. I wish he didn't have to die in the war. None of this would have happened if he didn't get shot. Mom would still be here, and we wouldn't have moved three times, we would all be happy.

Another girl my age gets off the bus next to me. As she does she smiles at me. "Hi, I'm Annie' she says extending her hand to me. I shake it awkwardly and mutter that my name is Katniss. "I'm a senior this year, I just thought you looked like one too, only you're new aren't you?" she still has the same friendly smile playing on her face.

What harm can having one friend do?

She chatters easily despite my silence as we walk into the school. She helps me find my locker and practically rips the schedule inside of it out of my hands to see if we have any classes together. Turns out I have all but one class with Annie.

Unfortunately the class I don't have with her just happens to be first period. She helps me find my class and promises to come find me after the bell rings.

I chose a seat in the back and look around surveying the classroom with a skeptical eye. Our teacher appears to be sleeping? I shake my head in disapproval.

"That's Mr. Abernathy" a deep voice says from behind me. "Mind if I sit here?" the boy asks.

I barely look up and just nod to him.

"Oh and he's not sleeping, he's drunk" the boy laughs again pulling out the chair. That's when I look up at his smiling face.

He's big is the first thing that pops into my mind. His biceps are as big as my thighs. He notices me staring and smiles a little showing off perfect white teeth. I look deep into his eyes and immediately get trapped in them. They seem to soften as I stare into them and for the first time since Gale I'm not scared to be this close to a guy. There's something about him that is different something special.

"I'm Cato" he whispers to me as Mr. Abernathy stands and staggers to a DVD box to play a video on WW2 yelling at us to quiet down because he has a headache.

"Katniss" I whisper back smiling easily for the first time in ages.

"First day?" he responds returning my winning grin.

"How'd you ever guess" I joke in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Never seen you around before, I just figured if you had gone here, I would have noticed you before now"

I blush and fiddle with the end of my braid hiding my face so he can't seem my rosy cheeks.

We spend the rest of the hour watching the movies sharing a few jokes about the kids in our class.

As the bell rings he slips a note in my hand and tells me he'll try to find me at lunch today. We walk out the door together and he yells bye down the hall.

That's when I notice the whole hall has gone silent and every eye is on me. Even Annie looks at me stunned. Slowly she walks towards me as the others get back to business at their lockers and talking amongst each other.

"Were you talking to Cato?" she asks wide eyes as we make our way through the crowded hallway.

"Yeah why/" I ask. I don't see what the big deal is.

"It's just that he hasn't talked since the incident sophomore year" she responds quietly.

"What incident?" I ask again getting worried.

"Someone shot his brother here at the school right in front of him, his brother was only a freshman. Cato's parents haven't even been able to get him to talk. He doesn't talk to anybody and he was talking to you. Katniss Everdeen I do believe you have broken Cato's shell. We've all been waiting on this day to happen for two years"

And just like that, my puzzle clicks perfectly together.

Hey so whatcha think? Love it hate it? What did I do good/need to work on?

I will explain more of what Gale did to her next chapter. This is just a start so the loose ends will be fixed next chapter.

PLEEEASE review. It will make me update faster I promise.

DedicatedWallflower