Prequel to The New Girl's Fire and Trip to the Capitol. Dont have to read before reading this but I think you should.

Enjoy.

Chapter 1 "Johanna"

Johanna's POV

The clock right by my bedside strikes midnight. I hear the ring while I lay in bed and take a deep breath. It's official. I'm fifteen years old, oh God, I'm old.

I should be sleeping but I can't. I refuse to. It's not because I'm excited about it being my birthday; I'm actually upset. This is one of the worst days for me to sleep. My parents, my real parents, died a week before my birthday, at least that's what I've been told. I was five when the car crash happened so I don't remember many details. My father was driving the car with my pregnant mother in the passenger's seat, and me in the back. Something happened causing my father to swirl off the bridge and into the lake. The memories of what happened next are fuzzy. All I remember is the burning of the water filling my lungs and waking up in a hospital. Since I was five I've been bounced around lots of homes. Finally in the 5th grade there was a family that wanted to keep me. Blight and his wife can't have a kid; that's why they wanted me. They're nice but I don't love them. I don't think I can love, they're just home to me.

It's 12:15 when I hear a rock hitting my window. I don't have to look out to know who it is. I climb out of bed and go and open the window.

"Peeta. What are you doing here?" I ask, looking down at him. My room's on the second floor and there's no way could he climb the tree right next to my window.

"Hello to you too!" He yells too loud.

"Shh!" I hiss at him. "Peeta, shut up. Do you want to wake up everyone in my house?"

"Oh stop complaining about my loudness and get dressed." He throws a brown bag through my window barely missing my face. I didn't notice he was holding it until now.

"For what?" I smile at him.

"You'll see." He smiles back.

I leave the window and find the bag Peeta threw right next to my door. I'm surprised there wasn't a noise of some kind from the bag which clearly hit the door. The brown bag has a note attach to it. I turn on my lamp and sit on my bed to read the note.

Happy birthday, Johanna. It's time for your very special birthday surprise girl! Now put on the clothes I picked out and I don't want to hear from Peeta that you were complaining to him about it. Put everything on or no surprise! Love you :)

~Annie

Since everything in the bag is from Annie I expect to find a dress or fancy skirt that I would never wear, but instead I find brown pajama bottoms and a dark green long sleeve shirt with three light green handprints on it. Just when I think Annie is giving me a break from wearing ridiculous things on my birthday I find a sash labeled "The Sassy Birthday Girl". Oh Annie dear, could you be anymore cheesy?

I quickly put on the top and bottom not wanting Peeta to wait any longer. I grab a leather bag and stuff a comb, sweater, and the embarrassing sash in there. I go back to the window and toss my bag to Peeta who catches it with one hand. I climb out of my window and climb to the tree like a pro. It isn't my first time sneaking out of the house past midnight. It doesn't take me long to find my way the ground.

"You're like a squirrel, I swear," Peeta jokes.

"Shut up," I mumble as I pull him into a tight hug.

"Well...Happy Birthday, Mason," he whispers to me.

"Jeez...thanks, Mellark," I whisper back.

Peeta and I met the first day of school. He found out my birthday was the day before school started and told me "Happy Birthday, Mason". He called me Mason because he didn't know my first name. I replied "Jeez…thanks, Mellark" because I felt like it. It's been an inside joke since.

We pull apart after a while and he stares at me, raising an eyebrow. I look over my body thinking I might have forgot something but I didn't see it.

"What?" I ask him a little annoyed.

"Where's the sash?" He asks mockingly.

"I'll put it on before we get...wherever you're taking me. So lets go, shall we?"

On the walk to…somewhere, Peeta and I talk about tomorrow. It will be the first day of school. We're freshman and that means a new school, and new classmates. We've heard about Panem High; the cliques, the teachers, we've heard it all. Nothing about it surprises me. At the top of the food chain are the Careers. The rest... don't really matter. The groups are ranked from numbers 1-12.

The One, Two, and Four groups usually join together as the Careers. Other cliques are based on whom you hang with and who you are.

We walk through the town and head to the forest. We walk until we reach a fence I never knew was there.

"Why are we at a fence?" I ask.

Peeta doesn't response. He simply jumps on the fence and starts climbing over it. I watch him for a moment before throwing my bag over and climbing it myself. Once my feet touch the floor Peeta takes my hand and leads me to a trail. I'm not sure where we're going but I trust Peeta knows where he's going. Soon I can see light from a fire up ahead and I stop Peeta from going any further.

"What?" He gives me a confused look.

"I need to put my sash on or Annie will drive me crazy all night."

He laughs and waits for me to put it on before leading me to my surprise. We get past two big trees and then see a fire with Annie, Finnick, and Gale sitting around it on logs. I smile as they scream happy birthday to me.

"Thanks guys." I take a seat on a log and Peeta shares one with Annie. "I didn't expect to be in the woods."

"It was Peeta's idea," Finnick tells me.

"Well, yeah. Being you're obsessed with trees I'd figure you'd like this." Peeta smiles.

"I am not obsessed with trees, Peeta. I just happen to like them a lot."

"More than the normal person does," Annie mumbles.

"Shush," I murmur pushing my index finger to my lips.

"Enough small talk!" Gale exclaims. "Let's get on with some food."

"Fatty," Annie mumbles.

"Ha, ha." Gale sticks his tongue out at her.

God, my friends are weird.

Finnick pulls out a bag of marshmallows, a box of graham crackers, and a box of chocolate. Where did that all come from? Did he even bring a bag? Whatever. I guess where having s'mores. Yum. Annie hands out some sticks for making them. As we hang them over the fire Ann, Fin, Peet, and Gale tell old stories about me.

"I'll always remember the first words Jo said to me when we met," Annie starts off. "Poor mad girl, are you gonna cry?"

"How charming!"

"Shut up, Gale," I say with a smile.

"Boy you hated, Annie," Finnick blows on his s'more.

"Sure did!" I wiggle my eyebrows at Annie.

"Well I wasn't too fond of you either, Mason," Annie responds.

"I don't think Johanna liked me when we first met either," Gale says.

"Yeah me too," Finnick adds.

They all turn to Peeta who's silently eating his s'more. I guess they expect him to agree. We smile at each other.

"Johanna's always liked me."

I nod my head.

"Really?" Gale says, a bit mad about it.

I shrug. "It's hard not to like him."

"Tell me about it," Annie agrees with me. "He has a way with words."

"Okay, can we get back to Johanna?" Finnick has the same tone as Gale. Odd.

"I have a better idea!" Annie squeaks and pulls a bag from behind her log.

She hands me the bag. "Here! It's from Fin and me."

I smile as I pull out the…dress? It's brown, thin-strapped and looks like it would fit me perfectly. I doubt I'll ever wear this. Finnick whistles at the sight of it and I roll my eyes.

"Thanks, guys."

"You're welcome. I know you don't really wear dresses but maybe you'll use this one. It will surely grab someone's attention." She winks at me as Finnick glares at Peeta.

I don't understand where these two got the idea of Peeta and I from. We're just friends, best of. If I was ever going to be with one of the three of them I would say it'd be Gale. Sure Finnick's good looking, but he's not my type, plus it's obvious Annie and Finnick like each other. Why they haven't gone out yet is a question no one can answer. Peeta's just…I don't know. There's nothing wrong with him but I just can't see myself with him. It's not so much that he's not my type but that I'm not his type. He deserves better than me.

"Gale?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I left my gift at my house."

"Me too," Peeta says.

"Mason, take a walk with me." Gale jumps off his log.

"Why? When we get back is there going to be cake or something?" I say jokingly.

The look they share together tells me that there will be. I laugh. Gale grabs my arm and pulls me past the two big trees where Peeta and I came from. We keep walking until we reach the fence. I'm surprised when Gale starts to climb onto it.

"What are you doing?" I ask him with an attitude.

"Just follow me."

"Okay," I snap and start climbing.

When I hit the floor I see Gale looking into a hollow tree. I roll my eyes and lean onto the fence. After a while he pulls out a tiny bag from the big hole in the tree. I glare at him and he just smiles. Gale grabs my right hand and places the small bag in the palm of my hand.

"What's this?" I mumble.

"Just open it."

"Fine, bossy."

I rip it open angrily. I'm not sure why I'm mad, but I am. I find a brown thick bracelet with small stones around it. It wasn't girly at all or too manly but somewhere in between. It was perfect for me.

"Thanks but…why are you giving me this?"

"Well it's a birthday present and you are the birthday girl."

I cross my arms over my chest and shake my head. What a know it all.

"You know what I mean Hawthor—"

Gale cuts me off surprisingly with a kiss. Before I know what I'm doing I kiss him back with my arms around his neck. When he pulls me closer to him I snap back to reality. I roughly push him off of me into the hollow tree.

Gale Hawthorne had no right to kiss me. I don't care if I like it; he had no right to do that. What, he thinks he can just do whatever he wants with me and I'd let him? I'm not his girlfriend; he has show no interested in me ever. Why is he suddenly kissing me, especially on my birthday? This is supposed to be a happy day and he's ruining it. I know him; if I let him kiss me he won't let me hear the end of it. Gale's a jerk.

"Never do that again," I hiss.

He walks to me. "Why? You seemed to like it."

"Shut up, Hawthorne."

"Why don't you make me?" He stares at me waiting for a response.

"I'm not even going to bother with you right now. I have a cake waiting for me."

"Fine." He pushes passed and starts climbing the fence.

"Fine!" I yell. I pull him down, making him fall, and quickly climb the fence before he can do the same to me.

I'm already on the other side of the fence when he gets up.

I smirk at him. "I'll tell you this, Hawthorne. You're a good kisser."

He's startled by my comment. I wink at him and walk back to my party leaving him utterly clueless.

Lame I now. :( Will be better! Please Review!