Chapter 9
Annie Pov.
I wake up and someone is knocking on my door. I get up and walk to the door and I open it to find Finnick's parents.
"Um, good morning Mr. and Mrs. Odair. Can I help you with anything?" I ask them, I've never been alone with Finnick's parents before. So this is kind of awkward for me.
"Annie, we were hoping you would want to wake up Finnick with us. We bought him a cake and we wanted to give it to him before he went to school." Mrs. Odair says to me. I don't know what I'm supposed to say, because Finnick has made it perfectly clear to me that he doesn't like to celebrate his birthday. And I don't know how he would respond to his parents making such a big deal of it.
"Yea, okay, you sure you want to wake him though?" I ask trying to stop them from getting Finnick upset.
"Of course, he has to wake up for school anyway." Mr. Odair says.
"Ok" I say, I don't want to hurt his parents feelings. They might think I'm just being rude. I know how Finnick feels but I don't want to come across as some girl who just met him and thinks she knows everything about him. So I just go along with it.
We walk through the halls until we reach Finnick's room. Mr. Odair opens the door and we walk in. Finnick is asleep.
"Honey, wake up" Mrs. Odair says in a sing song voice.
Finnick doesn't wake up, he just lays there.
"Come on son, it's time to wake up" Mr. Odair says as he shakes him a little.
Finnick sits up and looks at all three of us.
"Happy birthday Finnick!" Mrs. Odair says.
"Oh, thanks mom, dad, Annie." Finnick says. His parents smile, they obviously think that he enjoys his birthday I just stand there, staring at Finnick.
"Ok kids, why don't you get ready for school?" Mr. Odair says.
"Ok Dad I will be out in a second" Finnick's parents walk out the door.
"So what are we going to do about school?" I ask "am I going to go to school? If I do go to school, how will we explain the new student thing?" I ask, this is one part of our plan that we didn't realize.
"We can say that you transferred to 4 because your family in your district died and you have family here." Finnick says.
"Would that even work though?" I ask.
"I don't know Ann." He says with a small frown, he is really trying to think of something to say to the school that will allow me to be a student and to live here.
"We can try it, worst thing that happens is they send me back to my district or something." I say giving up a little. I don't want to put Finnick or his family in danger.
"Annie, you must be crazy if you think I would ever let anything like that happen to you. Have you realized that I could not live with myself if something bad happened to you because of me? Annie I drive myself insane a little when I realize that you could get hurt one day. Don't say things like that ok? I wouldn't be able to deal with you being taken away and possibly hurt by the peacekeepers because you left home." Finnick says in a very serious tone of voice that he hasn't used since I met him. Why does he care about me so much? Is it possible that he... No Annie, don't think like that.
"I'm sorry" I tell him. "It's just I haven't met people like you who care this much about me." I walk over to him and I give him a hug. "I know we haven't known each other that long Finnick but you're my best friend."
"You're my best friend Annie." He says in a soft, sweet voice.
We stop hugging and I want to hug him again, he's so... warm. "So what do you want to do about this school situation?" he asks.
"I just remembered something!" I yell.
"What?" Finnick asks.
"My friend he's a peacekeeper back in 6, he was always really nice to me and my family. I could give him a call and he could tell the school that I was transferred because the community home didn't have room for me." I tell him.
"Annie you're brilliant!" Finnick exclaims.
"Let's go call him then" I say.
I go in the kitchen to use the phone. I dial Larry's number. He picks up the phone.
"Hello?" he says.
"Hi Larry it's me Annie!" I say.
"Annie nice to hear you! Where are you?" he asks.
"I'm in district 4." I tell him.
"What?" he asks.
"It's a long story" I tell him.
"What do you need?" He asks.
"Would you be able to tell the head peacekeeper in 4 that I was transferred to 4?" I ask.
"Anything for you Annie." he says.
"Thank you so much Larry!" I yell.
"No problem kid, let me go give that peacekeeper a call." He says.
"Ok" I say "oh Larry one more thing!" I yell.
"Yea?" he asks me.
"Tell my parents that I'm in 4, I'm living with the Odair family and most importantly I'm okay." I say.
"Will do kid" he says.
"Bye Larry thanks again." I say.
"No problem kid." He says.
We hang up. I run over to Finnick.
"He is going to tell the peacekeepers that the community home is full and that I was transferred to district 4." I blurt out.
"That's great!" Finnick exclaims.
"I don't have any clothes." I realize.
"I'll be right back" Finnick says.
Mrs. Odair comes back with some of her old clothes from when she was a kid.
"Thank you" I tell her.
"Of course Annie." she says and walks away.
I put on the ocean blue shirt and the denim jeans. I wear her old black sneakers and I walk out to eat breakfast with Finnick. I see him and his dad talking and I don't want to interrupt, but I want to listen so I stay where I am.
"You know son, I remember my first crush." he says.
"Um okay dad.." Finnick says confused and awkwardly.
"Son you and I both know you like that girl, I can see it by the way you look at her, that you're crazy about her." he says.
"Dad I appreciate your well intended advice but I don't know if I feel about Annie that way." He says shyly.
"Ah ha! I was testing you! If you said I don't think of her that way I would've known you don't have a crush on her you said I don't know." he says. "Trust me son, you're going to ask that beautiful and lucky girl out one day. And I know she'll say yes." he says confidently.
I walk out to the dining room where they were talking.
"Good morning Mr. Odair." I say.
"Good morning Annie" he says politely "Finnick and I were just talking about you." he says with a smirk.
"Dad" Finnick says embarrassed.
"You were?" I say too innocently "what were you guys talking about?" I ask.
"The future." Finnick's dad breaks out into laughter.
Finnick looks embarrassed I would be to. I do wonder now though how he feels about me. And now I'm kind of confused myself on how I feel about him. So I decide to change the topic.
"So after school, we are going to the beach for Finnick's birthday right?" I ask.
"Yup is that still what you want to do kiddo?" Mr. Odair asks.
"Yea" Finnick says.
Mrs. Odair comes out of her room and she is all dressed for work. "Ready to go to school kids?" She asks.
"Yea" Finnick and I say at the same time. I have to admit, I am nervous about my first day at school. But I know that I will have my best friend by my side the whole day.