Hunger Games: Love Trials

Chapter 1 of my Hunger Games AU fic, enjoy.

Disclaimer: Hunger Games belongs to Suzanne Collins.

Chapter 1: A New Start

PEETA POV

I looked at myself in the mirror, I looked nothing like myself. My name is Peeta Mellark, I am sixteen; I am tall for my age with a muscular build due to my work. I have short blonde hair and blue eyes. I live in District 12, the poorest part of Panem. However, as my appearance indicated, I was born in the Merchant District. District 12 was divided into two areas, the Merchant District was one of them, while poorer than the rest of Panem, we were richer than our fellow District 12 inhabitants from the second area, the Seam, which were basically the slums of the area. Regardless of where a person lived however, if they had something which gave them a chance to be part of the elite then they were chosen for a special school within the Capitol. Capitol High was a prestigious preparatory school, while the entry fees were high; if someone lacked money but had great potential then they were signed in for a reduced fee. This was how I ended up being signed into the school. I felt strange, looking at myself in the mirror, wearing the male version of the official uniform of Capitol High. The uniform consisted of a pair of pale khaki pants, a blue dress shirt, navy blue tie, a blue blazer with the school crest on it, navy blue socks and black casual shoes.

I sighed, and turned away from the mirror. I quickly headed downstairs; I didn't want to be late on my first day. My parents were through at the bakery so it was just my brothers, Graham and Owen, who were waiting downstairs. I was the youngest of the three of us; therefore they both felt it was their right to tease me since I was the 'baby' brother. Graham was twenty and worked with our parents in the bakery. Like me he had blonde hair and blue eyes, he was also taller than me and even more muscular. Owen was eighteen and again had blue eyes and blonde hair; he was just as muscular as me but was actually slightly shorter. They looked up and smirked.

"Hey, there he is," Graham remarked, "So, ready for your first day." I nodded, "Yeah I guess." Owen laughed, "You'll do fine man, don't forget, you're not the only one here that goes to that school."

I smiled at that, they were right, in fact there were five other people from District 12 that went to Capitol High although I only knew three of them personally. After breakfast I said goodbye to my brothers, I knew better than to go and see my parents before I went, I would risk getting flour on the uniform and I'd be interrupting them which would make my mother go nuts, so I left and headed to the train station immediately.

I arrived in time; there were very few people there. But three stood out, the other District 12 student's, the ones that I knew. The first wasn't a surprise; it was a young woman the same age as me of medium height, with long blonde hair, blue eyes and a slender build. It was the mayor's daughter, Madge Undersee. The second was actually a seventeen year old boy from the Seam, he was tall with muscular build and like all residents of the Seam he had black hair, which he wore short, grey eyes and an olive skin tone. His name was Gale Hawthorne. His friendship with Madge had allowed her to convince her father to pay for Gale's admittance to Capitol High; he also paid for Gale's twelve year old brother Rory to enter the Middle School section of the Capitol School. Rory too had the usual Seam appearance although he was of average height and rather skinny in comparison to his older brother. They all wore their uniforms, Madge of course wearing the designated female version of it. The female version of the uniform consisted of a blue and white plaid skirt which reached down to roughly an inch above the knees, a blue blouse, navy blue tie, navy blue sweater vest, blue blazer with the school crest on it, navy blue socks which came up to an inch below the knees and simple black and white lace up shoes.

"Hey, Peeta." Gale greeted me with a smile.

I was friends with Madge and Gale although she didn't have to convince her father to pay for my entry, Madge had put in a good word for me at the school and they accepted me. Mayor Undersee decided to pay anyway, much to my family's gratitude.

"Hey guys," I greeted, Madge nodded, "So, ready for your first day at Capitol High?" She asked, I nodded and we quickly boarded the train.

We found a place to seat and, as the train pulled away I looked up and saw briefly two girls, one around my age, the other around Rory's age, they were dressed in the Capitol High uniform; however they disappeared into the next carriage before I could get a good look at them.

The train ride was mostly quiet on my part; I just listened to Gale and Madge as they spoke, Rory spoke every now and then. The train stopped at the next station, District 11. A few passengers got on and I saw two more people wearing the Capitol High uniform. Like other District 11 people they were dark skinned. The boy looked to be around Gale's age, he was a giant and bulky with muscle, his black hair was short; his eyes were also black. The girl was the complete opposite, being around Rory's age; she was short and slender, with short black dreadlocked hair and black eyes. To my surprise they approached us.

"Good morning," The boy replied, his voice was deep and reassuring. The others looked up smiling, "Hey Thresh, Rue."

I then realized that they knew each other. I then noticed that Thresh and Rue were looking at me curiously. Madge smiled and introduced me.

"Thresh, Rue, this is Peeta Mellark, he's from our District, he's just starting today."

We greeted each other and the train journey continued. We met up with another friend who was also going to Capitol High, from District 7, a girl called Johanna Mason. She was sixteen and tall with short spiky brown hair and brown eyes, she was rather muscular due to her outdoors work in District 7 which had also caused her skin to become tan. She seemed a little wary and suspicious of me. She seemed to accept me as a new friend though; she seemed to be friendly and valued her friendship with people although she seemed to be a little blunt.

After stopping off at each District to pick up more students we finally left District 1's station and headed for the Capitol. I continued to listen to the others as they spoke and began to pick up a few things about Capitol High. One thing that stood out was that some people there believed in a social hierarchy and that Gale, Madge and their friends were considered to be in the middle of this hierarchy. They were neither popular or 'the losers'. The Populars were those who came from Districts 1, 2 and 4. If someone not from those Districts had great potential however they were accepted into the Populars due to their joy at associating with the elite. We arrived at the Capitol train station and I followed the others off the train and we began walking to the school, I followed the others so I could figure out the route. It was then I noticed something else, hanging from several buildings were large banners, there were three people shown in these banners, one of whom I recognized. The one I recognized was a man in his seventies, he was of medium height, he had white hair with a white beard and moustache and grey eyes. He was the President of Panem, Coriolanus Snow. The other two on the banner's however I didn't recognized. The first was a woman in her fifties with shoulder length iron grey hair and grey eyes of medium height; the second was a tall woman in her thirties with shoulder length ebony black hair and dark brown eyes.

"Hey, what's with all the banners? Who are those two women?" I asked, everyone except Johanna looked confused.

She smiled, "I guess District's 11 and 12 wouldn't have received the news yet. Should happen tonight. The Presidential race has begun, that's why President Snow is up there, hoping to get re-elected. The others are his opponents, Alma Coin from District 13 and Cassandra Paylor from District 8."

I finally understood, it was time for a new president to be elected, or for Snow to be re-elected. That woman, Alma Coin was from District 13. All I knew about that District was that it was currently undergoing an entire process of being rebuilt and refurbished. Therefore District 13's denizens were all living in the Capitol itself. Finally we arrived at Capitol High; it was time for my first day to begin.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.