The Hunger Games: Finnick Odair [Completed]

- 1 -

"Finnick!"

I groan and bury my face in my pillow, but my mother's voice is insistent. "Finnick! It's time to get up! We have to be in the square by noon."

With a sigh, I toss my pillow aside. The early morning light fills the room and I hear the surf pounding on the shore.

It's strange how normal it can be... Reaping Day. But for twenty four unlucky souls, nothing will ever be the same. I drag myself out of bed and over to the tiny, cracked mirror nailed to the wall. After combing my hair with my fingers, I throw on a pair of ratty, knee-length pants and a sleeveless shirt. There's more than enough time to go fishing before the Reaping. Nothing tastes better after standing for hours in the boiling sun than my mother's deep fried fish and potatoes.

"Be back in time to take a bath and change," Mom calls as I rush out the door. "And be careful!"

Even though it's technically illegal to fish outside of our Capitol assigned duties, most Peacekeepers will turn a blind eye to a kid with a homemade net and pole. Most. There are enough sticklers to make it dangerous. That's why I hide my gear and never fish out in the open.

My friend and partner in crime, Roman Meyers, meets me on the road. People often think we're brothers. We both have dark blond hair and blue eyes, with skin bronzed from spending hours in the sun. But I'm a little taller than Roman and my features are more defined. Roman and I have been buddies since we met each other in the first year.

I'm pretty popular at school and I have lots of friends, but Roman and I are especially close. If we aren't blood brothers, we're brothers in spirit.

Roman gives me a lazy punch in the arm, "Took your time today, hey, pretty boy?"

I strike a ridiculous pose and shoot him my most charming smile, "You know it takes a lot of time to look this good."

Roman snorts and swings his pole at me.

I dodge it easily and ask, "Where's Dal?"

Dalian Cresta, besides Roman, is my closest friend, even though he's sixteen and I'm only fourteen. Our mothers are good friends so we grew up together.

"He said he'd meet us there," Roman replies. "Annie has a cold, or something, and Mrs. Cresta wanted to run to the apothecary."

"Is she ok?" I ask.

Annie is Dalian's younger sister, and she's kind of like my sister too. She's eleven, but she's so small and quiet that she seems much younger. Roman gets annoyed when she tags along, but I don't mind. Annie is so quiet that, most of the time, it's like she isn't even there.

Roman nods, "Yeah, it's nothing serious. At least it wasn't serious enough to miss the fun."

"You have to be pretty sick to stay home," I mutter, more to myself than to Roman.

If you aren't practically on your last breath, you are required to attend the Reaping. If you're caught trying to get out of it... Well, the Capitol doesn't take kindly to disobedience. The Hunger Games are a painful reminder of that.

But Reaping Day is depressing enough without thinking about all that so I put it out of my head and challenge Roman to a race. We take off at full speed through the woods, dodging trees and ducking under branches. I quickly pass Roman, but then my net snags on a stick and he takes the lead. By the time I get myself unstuck he's long gone.

He grins smugly as I trudge up to him. "You lost," he says with a smirk.

I roll my eyes. "If I hadn't gotten caught, you wouldn't have had a chance."

"Whatever. I think you're just a bad loser, Finnick," he laughs. "Come on... Dal is probably waiting for us."