Disclaimer: I'm just playing with Suzanne Collins' characters and her world. They're hers. Not mine. Any lines from the books are hers too.

In the end it's right

Gale tugs at the collar of his shirt, checks his hair in the rear view mirror again.

"You will dress like ladies and gentlemen!" Coin had snapped at the senior class, earlier in the day. "Even if nothing could be further from the truth. I going to see to it that you look like respectable, upstanding members of society for at least a few hours of your lives before you go back to wallowing in your own filth and humping each other like dogs in heat."

"I'm going to miss her dulcet tones and carefully crafted turns of phrase," Thom sighed.

"If you didn't ace that English final, then you may get to enjoy her company for another year," Bristol muttered.

Thom waved her off.

"Of course I passed. I speak English eloquently."

Gale rolled his eyes. Thom definitely failed.

"Besides, once I have that diploma in my hands, there's nothing they can do to keep me here."

Neither Gale nor Bristol pointed out, again, that they weren't getting their diplomas, they were getting the stupid diploma holders and the diplomas would be mailed out in a few weeks, after everyone officially passed all their classes. Thom didn't seem to be able to wrap his tiny little mind around that bit of knowledge.

Coin had drilled them the entire afternoon, up and across the stage in alphabetical order, until Gale was sure he was going to be hearing 'Harkins, Hawthorne, Higgins' in his sleep.

It was worth it though, because in a few hours he'd be a high school graduate.

No more Coin, no more homework, no more cranky teachers…

He spots Madge coming out of her front door, calling out a goodbye to her dad over her shoulder as she bounds down the steps, and his excitement dulls.

Despite all the crap he's going to be putting behind him, he's also going to be losing a lot of time with Madge.

It's the only downside of graduation.

Madge goes around to the passenger side of his truck and opens the door, pushes the blue graduation gown out of her way from where it's hanging from the grab bar, and crawls in, settling in an uncomfortable distance from Gale.

A half hearted smile forms on her lips. "Hey."

Forcing a smile, Gale reaches out and takes her hand, tugs her toward the middle seat and wraps his arm around her shoulder.

"Ready to watch Thom meltdown when he doesn't see an actual diploma handed to him?"

She snorts, and Gale feels the knot in his stomach loosen. Then she reaches out and takes the blue cap from the dashboard and begins toying with the yellow tassel as Gale backs the truck out of the drive, and his insides twist up again.

Several minutes tick by as they drive, sun sinking into the horizon in front of them, before Madge let's out a long sigh.

Gale knows exactly what she's thinking, it's been her constant thought the past few weeks.

"I'm-I just mean, I understand if you want to-"

"I'm not breaking up with you just because I'm graduating," he'd snapped.

He'd immediately regretted his tone as tears had welled in her eyes.

She'd been down, tearful and quiet, since her granddad's funeral.

She and her parents had had to go through his home, sort through his affairs, decide what to do with his property and business…

Madge's mom had crumbled under the stress, ended up stuck in bed for days at a time, and her dad had been neck deep in settling the estate, leaving Madge to deal with things at home. Again.

It had left Madge with a sense of doom, and that had somehow begun to extend to Gale.

Somehow she's got it in her head that he's going to break-up with her. Gale supposes she just assumes that when it rains, it pours.

She's quoted statistics, told him that he's going to meet so many new people when he moves to the city, and she can't hold him back.

"I'm moving thirty minutes away," Gale sighed. "Madge, I'll be back all the time."

He's got an apprenticeship, not a prison term.

Taking a breath, Gale takes the cap from her and tosses it to the floorboard, wraps his hand around hers.

"Did you bring an air horn?"

Her grave expression cracks, almost smiling.

"You may not have to deal with Coin anymore after tonight, but I do."

And air horns were at the top of her alphabetized list of prohibited items.

Gale grins. "That's okay, Levi and Birdy are both packing two a piece."

Because when given the chance to annoy mass amounts of people, they'd jumped at the opportunity.

Madge makes a noise, both incredulous and impressed, before relaxing into him.

"The cops are going to get called, aren't they?"

"It wouldn't be a Hawthorne family get together if law enforcement didn't make an appearance."

Madge gets quiet again, and Gale settles on just holding her hand rather than trying to make conversation.

Pulling into the parking lot, which is already packed with graduates and their families, Gale drives around and parks behind the Ag barn.

"I'm sorry I've been such a pain the past few weeks," Madge half whispers, before Gale can even unbuckle.

Nodding, Gale gives her a half smile. "You haven't-"

"I've been a nightmare," she corrects him. "A blubbering, mopey nightmare."

He won't argue she's been a delight, but nightmare seems a bit harsh.

"You've had a lot happen," he reminds her. "It messed with your head."

Twining her fingers with his, she looks up at him through her lashes, a watery smile twitching at the edges of her lip.

"I just…" She shakes her head, swats a tear from her cheek. "Everything is going to be so different. You won't be at school with me-I'm having to pick classes that'll define the course of my life-Poppa isn't-isn't here…"

She takes a shaky breath.

"I'm just scared. What if everything falls apart?"

Gale squeezes her hand. "What if it doesn't?"

Madge sighs. "I'm serious."

"I am too," Gale counters. "What if things get better? What if next year you graduate and we ride off into the sunset, and get married, and have seven kids, and dance on Coin's smoldering ashes when she spontaneously combusts from shock at seeing two people who are actually happy?"

A few more tears trickle from the corners of her eyes and Gale reaches out, cups her face and smears them away with his thumbs.

"This is an ending, but it's a beginning too. It may not be easy, or even fun, but getting you out on a date wasn't a picnic either, and I'm pretty damn happy with how that worked out."

She chuckles, nods. "Yeah, me too."

Taking a deep breath, Gale smiles, feeling like he's finally getting through to her that even though things are going to be different, that doesn't mean they have to be bad.

"Can we just try? Maybe things will fall apart, but...maybe they won't."

He's willing to bet they won't.

Madge studies him for a moment, sniffling away the last of her tears, before a small smile creeps onto her face.

"I hope they don't." Her smile inches up. "That was really poetic, Gale."

He shrugs. "I've been dating this girl who reads a lot, she must be rubbing off on me."

Rolling her eyes, Madge scoots closer.

Leaning in, Gale is seconds a from a kiss he's definitely earned, when an air horn goes off from right outside his window.

Madge snorts as Gale turns and scowls at his Uncle Levi grinning at him, Rory at his side, doubled over in laughter.

"Not today, GabriGale, not today!"

"I hate that man," Gale growls as he unbuckles and forcefully opens his door, missing knocking his asshole uncle and brother out of the way by seconds.

Rory is howling with laughter as he and Uncle Levi run off, just before Gale finally gets out of the truck.

Madge crawls out behind him, still smiling, and takes his hand.

Popping up on her toes, she gives him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Let's go start a new beginning."

#######

One year later

Madge fidgets, smoothes out her skirt for the hundredth time as she waits for her turn on stage.

Six valedictorians. Six.

"Cartwright? Delilah Cartwright? Delly?" Gale had asked when Madge had told him who her fellow valedictorians were. "Did someone make a mistake?"

"She's really smart," Madge defended her.

"She's banned from Macy's."

Madge rolled her eyes. Unintentionally criminal mischief aside, Delly had taken just as many AP classes as Madge. She's smart, book smart.

"And six salut-uh-torians?" Thom's expression screwed up in concentration. "That's twelve speeches!"

Katniss had paled. "I have to give a speech?"

"Salutatorians don't have to give speeches," Peeta reassured her. "Coin cut them after she saw how many people were going to be speaking."

"I'm not sitting through twelve sappy, tearful, insincere goodbyes," Coin had told the valedictorians. "And you six had better keep them short and sweet."

Madge had fretted over her speech for the past few weeks, reading each new draft to Gale every night he called.

And he calls every night without fail, sneaks down to see her even during the week.

"You know Peeta and Katniss we're going to drive up with me Thursday?" She'd reminded him when he'd turned up a few weeks prior, on a cool Tuesday evening.

He'd grinned, shrugged.

They'd shared a frozen pizza, watched a Friends marathon until the small hours of the morning, before beginning to drift off to sleep.

"Guess I'll be skipping class tomorrow," Madge had admitted through a yawn, as Gale had rested his chin on her head, pulled the blanket closer around them.

"That's not very valedictorian-like of you," he'd mumbled, half asleep.

Madge shrugged, squinted up at him, in the shadow of the blue light from the tv.

"Will you be okay for work tomorrow?"

Gale chuckled. "Memo's not much of a morning person. I'll be fine."

The laugh track to the show murmured at Madge's back, and she'd snuggled more snuggly against Gale.

Just as she'd begun drifting to sleep, happy to get a few unexpected hours with Gale, he shifted.

"Uh, Madge? You awake?"

Groggily, Madge opened one eye, made a noncommittal noise.

He'd swallowed, anxious expression on his face as he'd smoothed back Madge's hair.

"So, I-uh, I've been thinking, and I-well, you know, that I want us to…" he'd frowned, his eyebrows pulled together in frustration before he'd let out a long breath. "Would you...do you want to move up to the city and live with me after graduation?"

It had taken Madge a moment to process what he'd said, her mind was still half asleep, but then both eyes had slowly opened.

"You want to move in together?"

Gale nodded, still looking uncomfortable and uncertain.

Inching up, Madge pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

"Thank you."

He frowned more deeply. "What?"

Pressing her ear to his chest, Madge sighed.

"For not giving up on me-on us."

Gale's arms tightened around her, "That was never an option."

Not for him.

And she's grateful for that. The last year would've been a lot less bearable without him. Too much new. He'd been her constant.

Pulling back, Madge grinned. "When can we pack up and go?"

A smile had instantly replaced his frown.

It was a new chapter for them, another new beginning, but it wasn't quite as daunting as it had been last year.

Maybe it's because Gale had bridged an end and a beginning, maybe it's because the rawness of losing her Poppa isn't so fresh, maybe she's just ready to move forward.

She is ready.

"And now for our final valedictorian," Principal Snow announced coolly, gesturing down the steps to where Madge is waiting, "Miss Magdalene May Undersee."

Taking a breath, Madge gets to her feet and goes up the steps.

Principal Snow steps aside as Madge sets her speech on the lectern, forces a smile as she surveys the crowd of family and friends seated in the stadium.

She sees the Mellarks, Peeta's parents and brothers seated next to Katniss' mom and dad. Prim holding a small sign she's smuggled in, congratulating Katniss.

Then Madge spots her mother smiling at her, seated between her beaming father and an uncomfortable looking Mr. Abernathy. Behind them are Gale's parents, Rory, Vick, and a waving Posey.

Finally, she sees Gale, air horn in hand.

Fighting the urge to laugh, Madge grins.

"Fellow graduates, this is it. We're done. I'm the last valedictorian, the last speech of the night, and so I'm going to make everyone very happy." She picks up her sheet of paper and crumbles it up. "Drive safe everyone. Good night and good luck."

Several air horns blow.

#######

"Best speech of the night," Gale chuckles as they walk to his truck, after confirming with everyone which restaurant they're going to.

Madge snorts. "You know, Coin said the same thing."

Making a gagging noise, Gale opens the door for her before getting in himself.

Squeezing in closer to him, Madge grins, as he starts the truck, backs out from beside the old Ag barn one last time.

As they pull out, she watches the stadium lights grow smaller, dimmer, behind her in the rear view mirror, her excitement dulling a bit.

That chapter is over, and it's more than a little bittersweet.

In a strange way, she's going to miss it. Delly and her committees. Rides to school with Peeta. Chesney and Pressly's complaining during athletics. Her battered TI 83. Katniss' eyerolls during class. She's even going to miss Coin.

Glancing up at Gale, she sees the stubble already forming along his jaw, the smile still hanging on his lip.

This is an ending, but just like he'd said last year, it's a beginning too.

And there's no one she'd rather be at the beginning with.

#######

AN: I know it's been a long time, but hopefully this ending isn't a disappointment. I started on this last year, so it's been a bit of a process. Ending this AU was harder than the college one, because, honestly, I left a lot more behind in high school. I didn't enjoy it, not really, but I am who I am because of my friends, and I'm always going to miss them. Despite the fact that we've all grown apart, I'll never wish anything but the best for all of them. We may not have ended up where we dreamed, but I hope where they did land is even better. I hope I get there too someday.

And if anyone is wondering, yes, air horns, signs, banners, noise makers, and fireworks were banned from my hs graduation. Not that that stopped anyone's family from bringing them.

Anyways, I dont know when I'll get to writing again, or if I will. I really wanted this to have some resolution though, so...yeah. Until we meet again, y'all be safe.