Warnings: Teen drinking and panic attacks.

October, Freshman year of University

Friday Night

"We're not having a repeat of last month's party, alright?" Johanna demanded as they pulled into the driveway of Gloss Emmans' home off campus. Already, they could hear the thump of the music coming from inside, and see the lights flashing through the windows. "That means no skittle bowl for you, Glimmer."

At the freshman party a few weeks earlier, Johanna had had to carry her out of the house after Glimmer had taken a handful of colourful pills from the communal bowl at the front door. The effects were hard on her body, and she was throwing up for the entire weekend afterwords.

The blond glanced up from the screen of her phone to roll her eyes. "Fine, Jo." She said, and paused for a moment before smirking. "But if I can't have that then you can't play strip poker. God knows where that'll get you tonight."

They narrowed their eyes at each other, until Johanna grew impatient and caved. "Fine, whatever." She wasn't about to have an argument with Glimmer over her partying habits just before they arrived.

As they all stepped out of Madge's car, she helped Clove get one of the coolers from the trunk and carry it inside to the kitchen that she was becoming all-too-familiar with.

"Hey, Jo," Gale greeted, coming in with the boys' own cooler. Finnick wasn't far behind, and he flashed Johanna a grin when he spotted her.

"Hiya, handsome," She said to Gale, peering in to see what was in the cooler, "What did you boys bring tonight?"

"No clue, we let Marvel pack them tonight. He could have put in iced tea for all we know."

She snorted, recalling his roommate's idiocy in past events.

"Hey Jojo, want to dance?" Finnick called out, holding up two shot glasses filled with what she assumed to be tequila, her drink of choice. She nodded and started on her waver there, but paused to hip bump Gale and shoot him a wink.

"See you later, handsome."

And with that, she strode off with Finnick to get the night started right.

Annie was completely lost.

She became distracted just as they walked in, and quickly got separated from their group. The crowd that she had been on the previous outskirts of was closing in, until she was pushed up against the wall.

The proximity was beginning to get to her, and it all became too much. Annie felt her chest begin to tighten.

No, not now. Not here.

It quickly became hard to breathe, and her head was swimming with words that she couldn't force her mouth to say.

She felt her chest tightening, and she couldn't think straight; all she needed was to get out as quickly as possible. She wasn't even in control of her bodily movements anymore.

Suddenly, a hand popped out of the crowd and grabbed her own, pulling her out of the jumble of bodies and through the front door.

"Hey, you're safe now," her savior whispered once they were away from prying eyes. Annie nodded, the fresh air and freedom to move around calming her down. When she turned to look at whomever had pulled her to safety, she was taken aback when she was met with the familiar sea-green eyes of Finnick Odair.

"Thanks, Finnick." She said, leaning against the tree as her heart rate began to go back to normal. "I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't gotten here."

He grinned at her, and chuckled lightly. "You're a strong girl, I'm sure you would have found your way out."

"I'm not so sure…" Annie whispered under her breath, but Finnick managed to catch it nonetheless.

"Do you get these often?" He asked, not quite sure how to place a label on what he had just witnessed.

"Panic attacks?" She said, pausing to ponder it for a moment before continuing, "If I'm in big crowds, or get separated from a group or something. Both of which occurred tonight, so that was the obvious trigger. I mean, it could just happen for no reason at all, but those are two things guaranteed to set me off."

He looked of for a moment in thought, and flashed her a smile before bowing.

"In that case, I will be your official escort from now on, Miss Cresta."

Annie laughed and shook her head. "That won't be necessary—"

He shook his head and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "That's so cute," he chuckled, "You think you can get rid of me. Whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me forever."

She knew she should have been rejecting the idea, but found that she liked the possibility of Finnick and her spending more time together.

She just didn't know why.

Katniss was having more fun than she thought she would have.

She wasn't a total lightweight, to Johanna's dismay. Her disappointment didn't last long, and she set out to see how far she could push Katniss.

So she ended up having rows of shot glasses shoved at her until she threw up into a nearby vase. Nonetheless, she earned a ton of credit for her efforts in the eyes of the upperclassmen, as well as her new friends, Cato and Marvel.

Madge on the other hand, was beginning to get wary of the situation. As the only sober one in the room, she felt that her judgment should be the primary one to follow.

"Okay, that's enough for today," She said, plucking the red cup from Katniss' hands, causing a bit of the brown liquid to slosh over the side. She began to protest the action, and Madge nearly gagged when she smelt a bit of her roommate's breath.

"Aww, come on! We were just about to start a game of Strip Poker!" Marvel pouted, his own beer nearly slipping out of his hands. He was swaying from side to side, ready to fall over at any given second. Madge debated getting him back to his dorm, but decided against it when Katniss began gagging again.

"No way, I need to get this girl back." Madge said, helping her up. She pushed past Marvel to the front door when she half-carried Katniss into the back seat. "Stay here, I'm going to check on the other girls."

She received an uncharacteristic giggle in response, and she rolled her eyes before shutting the door and jogging across the lawn to gather the group and see who wanted to head home.

She spotted Annie cuddled under the tree with a boy who she first thought to be Alex, the boy on the soccer team that she'd mention the week before, but under closer inspection, she saw that it was none other than Finnick.

But it wasn't the cocky, womanizer, player extraordinare Finnick that she was used to; instead, he seemed more level-headed and genuine. She must have been staring, because she made eye contact with him and he waved her over to their spot.

"Hey Madge, what are you doing out here?" Annie asked, untangling Finnicks arms from her shoulders.

She nodded over to her car parked in the driveway. "Katniss is too drunk to stand, so I'm taking her back now. Did you want to come?"

"Uh," she hesitated for a moment and shot a quick look at Finnick. He let out a yawn and stretched his arms out.

"You know, I think I might call it a night—"

"Finnick!" a female voice cried out that was so shrill, Madge could almost feel her eardrums shattering. "I didn't know you were here!"

And just like that, the mask was back on.

"Cashmere," He all but purred, and stood up to greet the stumbling blond in heels. She threw herself at him, burying her face in his chest.

They were sickening to look at.

Madge shot Annie a look, but she was merely standing up and grabbing her jacket.

"I think we should just leave them." She said softly, slipping her bag over her shoulder. Madge could tell she was trying to hide her disappointment in the fact that he was ditching her for another girl.

"I'll see you on Monday!" Finnick called out, walking out to the back, his arm draped around Cashmere's shoulders. They disappeared around the corner, and Annie tugged Madge over to her car where Katniss was sitting in the back.

"Why is this so soft?" Katniss asked, petting the blanket that she had apparently fished out from the trunk of her car. She had it in her lap, and was stroking the fuzzy material. "It reminds me of Buttercup. Except this cat isn't trying to kill me."

Madge let out a laugh. "Okay, I think you should get to bed now. Let me just run inside to ask the other girls—"

"They're not coming home anytime soon. Johanna's off with some guy. Glimmer and Marvel went God knows where, and last time I checked, Clove and Cato were making out in the broom closet." Annie replied, strapping herself in. "So I wouldn't bother."

"Typical," Madge sighed, "Whatever, let's get back."

"Your hair is so pretty," Katniss giggled as Madge helped her into her bedroom, nearly tripping over a pile of clothes in the process. "It reminds me of my sister Prim. Both of you are so sweet and helpful."

Madge nodded, not really sure where her drunken ramblings were going, but at least while she was talking, she wasn't throwing up.

"She's…" she scrunched her face up as she tried to remember, and Madge gently pushed her down onto her bed before attempting to tuck her in. "Fourteen! I was going to say 13, but then I remembered that her unlucky year was last year."

This made Madge's ears perk up. "Last year? What happened last year?"

"Gale happened," Katniss said, the smile slipping from her face. She stared off at a spot across the room for an extended minute, and Madge was just about to see if she was alright when suddenly her face contorted into anger. "It's all his fault!" She screamed out, her hands balling into fists at her sides.

Madge was taken aback by the outburst, but it was a long time coming. The two hadn't spoken a word to each other since the incident at dinner, and Katniss refused to speak about it with Madge. At least, when she was sober.

"It's his fault that she'll never be the same!"

Tears began to well up in her eyes, and Madge opened her arms to allow Katniss a hug, which she gladly accepted. Katniss began sobbing into her shoulder, the makeup beginning to stain onto the sleeve of her dress, but she was past caring. Katniss' well-being was more important than a material object.

She'd been good the last few weeks, turning a blind eye to the cold shoulders and harsh glares. But she couldn't stand to see Katniss in so much pain. Even if Peeta had told her to stay out of their relationship, Madge couldn't take it any more.

If Gale didn't want to talk, and Katniss didn't want to talk, there was one person left to talk to.

Tomorrow, she would call Prim.

Thanks for reading!

Sorry this is going up so late, but finals are upon us, and I don't have the time that I need to throw together a chapter anymore. That being said, I have one next Wednesday, which means I may not be posting a chapter.

I sincerely apologize for this, but in the event that I don't, two chapters will be posted the week after.

So now you kind of know what happened last spring, and can I just say that one of your guesses was super close? I was extremely impressed.

All of your guesses were very interesting to read, so why don't we do it again? Send what you think will happen next in a review or PM and if you guess right, I'll give you some hints :)

Till next time,

~FourofSpades