Panem High: Freshman Year

Chapter 25

"You look pretty shaken up, Dell," Glimmer noticed, as they all took off their shoes and went into the living room.

"I just finished Battle of the Labyrinth," Delly told her as her friends sunk into the leather furniture.

"Oh god, understandable. That book was an emotional roller coaster," Clove gushed. "Page 203 ruined me. I loved it so much."

"I know right?"

"I think Annabeth is my favourite book character of all time," Clove said.

"Mine too. And when they were with the sea demons and Percy told her to-"

"Stop it stop it stop it!" Cato interrupted, covering his ears. "No spoilers!"

Clove's jaw dropped, and Cato must have realized what he said. "Oh. My. God," Clove said. "You're reading it."
Cato rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, you never shut up about it, so I figured it was probably an okay series," he mumbled.

"In other words, he's turning into a huge dork," Glimmer teased.

"Yeah, Clove, look what you're doing to him," Marvel groaned. "Yesterday, he came over, and I thought he was going to come downstairs and slaughter me at Mario Kart like he used to, before he became a giant simp, but he just asked Angelina if he could borrow the Heroes of Olympus books so he can read them when he finishes Percy Jackson and the Big Wimpians."

"It's Olympians, you asshat," Clove said, "and they weren't wimps. Besides, you read those books too, back in sixth grade."
"That was when I had a crush on you and I was trying to impress you," Marvel laughed loudly, and Glimmer looked kind of uncomfortable. Marvel realized what he said and tensed up. For a second, everyone looked back and forth between Cato and Clove, and there was an awkward silence.

"Marvel, if Cato can beat you at Mario Kart, you have got to be terrible, because I've been absolutely destroying him at that game since we were eight," Clove said finally, and the tension eased.

"I'll get you guys some chips while we wait for everyone else," Delly grinned, and Madge followed her into the kitchen.

"Who else is coming?" Madge asked, grabbing a few bags of chips from the cupboards. She had been super awkward in Delly's house the first few times she'd come over, back in seventh grade, but now Delly noticed that she kind of just acted like she lived here. It was nice.

"Gale, Peeta, Johanna, Finnick, Thresh and Finch," Delly told her.

"What about Annie and Katniss?" Madge asked.
"Katniss is sick and Annie's been a little out of it lately and just didn't really want to come. Which is fine. I get that."

"She's still fighting with Clove," Madge frowned.

"I thought they'd worked that out?"

"So did I, but Clove was telling me yesterday that when she and Cato met him and Annie in front of the theatre to see the Top Gun re-run together, Annie just glared at her, said she'd changed her mind about seeing the movie, and called her mom to pick her up."

"I'm sure it'll be okay," Delly said optimistically.

"Yeah," Madge said, but Delly could tell she was still nervous.

When they had put the chips in big clear bowls, they carried everything to the living room, where Clove was playing a song for Cato, Marvel, Glimmer and Finch, who must have just arrived.

"But I believe the world is burning to the ground

"Oh well, I guess we're gonna find out

"Let's see how far we've come

"Let's see how far we've come

"Well I believe it all is coming to an end

"Oh well, I guess we're gonna pretend

"Let's see how far we've come

"Let's see how far we've come"

"Well, that was optimistic," Cato snorted, and Clove smacked him in the side. He rubbed it uncomfortably, but it didn't really seem to bug him.

"What song was that?" Delly asked.

"How Far We've Come by Matchbox Twenty," Clove answered.

Delly made a mental note to add it to her playlist.

The doorbell rang. Marianne answered it and Finnick and Gale stepped into the foyer. "Hey, boys," she smiled. Delly went to greet them and was careful to avoid her mother's eyes. She hated fighting with her mom, but she was still angry.

"Hi, guys," she said, and they slipped off their Vans and went to join the rest of the group. They munched on the chips until five o'clock, Peeta, Johanna and Thresh had arrived, and Marianne had everything prepared for the tacos. She called everyone to the kitchen.

The counter was nearly spilling over with big dishes filled with spiced ground beef, grated Tex Mex cheese, lettuce, peppers, salsa, guacamole, mangoes, onions, sliced cherry tomatoes, hard shells, and two sizes of tortillas.

Delly took two of the big tortillas and stuffed them with meat, cheese, vegetables and salsa, then caught her mom's eye and was as angry as she was back in her room. Her mom seemed to notice, and glared back for a second, but her expression softened.

"Root beer?" she asked, and Delly grinned.

"Yes please," she said, and Marianne handed her the two-litre bottle. She poured some into a glass and offered it to Johanna."Oh, I'll have some of that," Finnick said, reaching in front of Jo and grabbing it before she had a chance.