Okay, so I probably shouldn't be uploading this just yet because my laptop's broken so I have to type on my ipod, which means major grammar mistakes, and I'm neck deep in AU's already...But this new idea is exciting, so here goes nothing. :) I don't own The Hunger Games.

"Get your ass down here now, Cato!"

"Five more minutes." Cato mumbled lazily. He rolled over, knowing that his cousin hadn't heard him. He liked sleep, a lot. Trying to rouse Cato in the mornings was like trying to wake a hibernating grizzly bear.

"Open the door, man!" Marvel had climbed the stairs and was now pounding his fist against Cato's bedroom door. Twenty seconds later, he burst into the room.

"Not cool, man." Cato groaned. He cast a hand over his eyes to block out the light the streamed into the room.

"Are you even packed?" Marvel sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. Sometimes, he really looked like he was about to give up on Cato. He knew that Marvel, his favourite cousin, could never seriously get shot of him though.

"Of course I am. Chill out Marv, we don't have to be at the hotel for another..." Cato glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside table.

"Shit!"

"Exactly! Hurry up, everybody's waiting!" Marvel left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Cato had enough time for a quick ten minute shower before throwing on a Dolphins football jersey and khaki shorts. He had never really felt the Florida heat. Cato was glad of that, because sun was something they got a lot of at Palm Beach. It was blessing in the summer, and a curse in the winter. He slipped on his favourite sneakers, brushed his teeth, and then ran his hand through his unruly damp hair a few times.

"Cato!" A car horn beeped eight times following the shout. "Get down here now!"

"I'm just coming, Jo! Geez!" He yelled to the honking cars outside of the window. Cato grabbed his suitcase and ran down the stairs, pausing to grab an apple.

"Finally." Cato's best friend, Johanna Mason, was reclining lazily in the back seat of a convertible. She rolled her eyes when she saw Cato coming out of the house. His apple was already half gone.

"We've got an hour." Cato shrugged, loading his bags into the back of his jeep. Johanna hopped out of the convertible and jumped into the front passenger seat of the jeep.

"Dude, it takes longer than that to get to Miami." Finnick Odair, another close friend of his, pointed out.

"So then let's ride." Cato got into the driver's seat and pulled out of the driveway. He rode with Marvel and Johanna, and was followed by three cars. One contained Finnick and his girlfriend Annie Cresta. Another held Peeta Mellark, Katniss Everdeen and Glimmer and Cashmere, the twins from hell. The third consisted of Gale Hawthorne, a football and basketball player, and his girlfriend Madge Undersee, head cheerleader.

The Inter-State Games couldn't have come soon enough for Cato. Athletes gathered from schools all over Florida to compete in football games, basketball matches, swim events, soccer games and track and field events. It was highly competitive and the teams got pretty ruthless. At West Palms High, only seniors could attend unless a junior was nominated by a team member and then specially selected by one of the coaches. Annie, Peeta and Katniss were all juniors. Cato was finally a senior, and this would be his second time competing in the Games. He had attended last year with Finnick, after being put through a series of painful and exhausting tests to see if they were worthy of joining the senior football team in Miami. He'd had a blast with his friends last year, but Cato was certain that Inter-State Games would be his and only his this time around.

...

Clove's door creaked open slowly. She looked up from her book; her older step-sister was grinning at her through the crack.

"Melissa, what do you want?" Clove scooted over on her bed, and Melissa took this as an opportunity to bound into the room and throw herself down next to Clove.

"We're leaving for Miami soon." She beamed.

"Yeah, I know." Clove gestured to her suitcase, tucked up in the corner of her room.

"I'm so proud of you, Clove. Getting into the team couldn't have been easy for you." Melissa said. It hadn't been, not that she would ever admit that. She was following a new, strict soccer diet that left her craving cheeseburgers at all hours of the day. She would go to practice three times a week and stick around for an extra two hours, practising beating defenders and shooting with her weaker foot. She was running five miles every morning to ensure that she was in peak physical condition. All just so that she could lead her team to victory in Miami during the first few weeks of school.

Clove was the only junior to ever captain the West Palms High girls' soccer team. She had hoped, wrongly and naively, that her role as captain would land her a place on the Inter-State Games roster. This hadn't happened. Despite having captained the team since training had begun four months ago, keeping up their unbeaten streak of sixteen games, Clove still had to go through the same exhausting routines that all of the other juniors hoping to attend the Games had to go through. She was the youngest player that was going to Miami this year- the only one that wasn't a senior.

"It was a little tricky." Clove admitted. "What made it suck even more was that you were just handed a spot."

"I'm just support. I'm not a hotshot sportswoman like you." Melissa laughed, poking Clove in the side.

"Cheerleading's a sport. There are cheer contests there. Don't sell yourself short." Clove shrugged. After being a cheerleader from the age of ten to the age of fifteen, she knew how hard it really was. You had to be tough.

"I guess. But we're mainly there for the football team and the basketball players. Not that I mind. Cheer is cheer." Melissa pointed out. She was the only bearable cheerleader that Clove knew, not that she had really spoken to any at West Palms. They may have been step-sisters, but they were so alike that people often mistook them for blood relatives. Melissa had blonde hair, the opposite to Clove's black hair, but their eyes were almost the exact same shade of turquoise. They were both under average height. For Clove, that meant speed and agility on the field. For Melissa, that meant being light enough to be thrown around by the cheerleading squad.

"Who's captaining this year?" Clove asked.

"Annie, thank God. Madge is vice. If Glimmer and Cashmere had won the vote again, I don't know if I could bring myself to go. They're nice girls, but Cash went last year and caused so much drama that they almost kicked her out of the hotel." Melissa explained.

"Mel, you're better than both of them." Clove sighed.

"Probably." The older girl admitted before laughing again. She checked her watch.

"Oh my God, oh my God!" She shrieked as she jumped to her feet. "It's time to go!"

Clove let Melissa grab both of their suitcases and her arm. She let herself be dragged outside by her hyperactive sister, who carelessly threw their bags into the back of her car.

"Miami high five!" Melissa yelled, raising her hand.

"It's just a normal high five." Clove grumbled, but high fived her anyway. As they pulled out of the driveway Clove got the feeling that after this trip, nothing would ever be the same again.

Again, sorry for any horrible IPod grammar mistakes, I'll correct everything when I get my laptop back. :) I'd love to know what you think of this so far!