Chapter 12
Finnick Pov.
I start walking to school with mom and Annie. When we get to school we sit in front of our first class.
"So who do you hang out with?" Annie asks. "Are you one of the popular kids?" she asks sarcastically.
"Whatever, I hang out with those kids." I say pointing to my friends Jerry, Mick, Bethany, and Sarah. "Come on, I'll introduce you." I tell her and we stand up.
"Ok.." she says. She sounds nervous, Annie was kind of shy with me at first then she called me a lap dog of the capital and that's when the real her came out.
I try to keep Annie safe as if we are in a jungle or something I guess it's because I know how kids are. "Hey guys." I say casually.
"Hey Finnick happy birthday." Bethany says. Apparently Bethany told Sarah and Sarah told Mick, and Mick told Jerry, and Jerry told me that Bethany has a crush on me. For some reason I have a feeling Bethany is going to see Annie as a threat. Because Bethany might be pretty, but I think Annie has got her beat. Plus Bethany is dumb as a rock. Annie is smart. Bethany is a drama queen. Annie is shy and funny. So I would never date Bethany when I might be able to get someone like Annie.
"Thanks Bethany." I say.
"So whose your friend Finnick?" she says in a disgusted tone of voice. I knew it. She knows Annie is prettier than her. She's jealous and if she takes her jealousy out on her, I will gladly stop hanging out with her.
"Annie this is Bethany, Bethany this is Annie." I tell them.
"Nice to meet you." Annie says sweetly.
"It's always nice to meet me." Bethany says. She's bugging me so I know it has to bother Annie.
"Meow!" Mick says. Mick and I are kind of the jokers of the group. Mick is probably the friend I'm closest to out of our group.
"Anyways we probably should head to math but we will see you guys later ok?" I tell them trying to get Annie away from Bethany as soon as possible.
"Okay bye Finnick." Bethany says.
We walk to math class and sit down. I always got bored in school. But Annie makes school fun, which none of my other friends could do. I literally enjoyed school today. That has never happened to me before! Does she make everything in my life better? We sit down at a lunch table and I pull the lunch out of my bag that we packed together before school started.
"You guys share a lunch?" Bethany says with an annoyed tone in her voice.
I nod my head.
"Why? Poor girl from 6 doesn't have any money?" she asks with an evil grin.
Annie puts her head down and I look at her no I think to myself, I told her I would protect her.
"Bethany will you shut up?!" I yell.
"Aww how sweet" Bethany smirks. "Finnick is protecting his girlfriend." she breaks out into laughter.
I stand up and raise my voice. "Go." I tell her.
"Excuse me?!" Bethany asks clearly confused and offended.
"You heard me, when you can be a good friend to Annie and I, you can join us for lunch. Annie and I sat here first so you're the one that needs to move." I say with a stern tone of voice that I never use.
"You know Finnick, I never thought that you would give me up, a true friend, for some poor girl from 6 that you just met." She says as she walks away. I won't let her treat Annie like that.
When Sarah, Mick, and Jerry get distracted Annie whispers 'thank you." into my ear.
We walk over to the gym where we are allowed to train for the hunger games. I write a little note in my journal and tear it out and I give it to Annie. The crowd tears us apart and I see her read the note. She waves it in the air at me to tell me that she got it. I wink and smile at her and she turns away. After training is over, Jerry walks over to me.
"Hey Jerry." I say.
"Dude we need to talk out back." he says.
"Ok." I say.
We walk outside behind the gym.
"What is with you?" he asks.
"What do you mean?" I ask not knowing what he's talking about.
"That girl she... she's changed you. The old Finnick would never tell one of his friends to leave the lunch table! Where did that even come from? Bethany likes you, you know she's probably dying inside." he explains.
"I'm also not going to let one of my friends talk to my other friends like that." I tell him.
"When Sarah and Bethany were in a fight, you didn't tell Sarah to leave when she was being mean to Bethany."
"You like Bethany so much you go out with her! I don't like her!" I yell.
"Oh so you like what's her face? Dude you can have any girl in the school. Why would you want ghetto girl anyways?" Jerry asks.
"What did you call Annie?" I ask sternly.
"Ghetto girl yea what you going to do about it huh?" he asks trying to intimidate me. Without thinking, I let my emotions get the best of me and I punch him in the face. His nose starts bleeding and I don't even apologize.
"That girl has changed you" he says "I never thought you would let a girl tear apart your friendships with us."
I walk out to the front of the gym and see Annie sitting on the bench. "Finn, are you okay?" she asks me.
"Yea just got into a little... Disagreement." I tell her. She will be mad at herself if she thinks that she is causing problems between my friends and I.
"What were you in a disagreement about?" she asks. I might not have known Annie that long, but I know that she is incredibly noisy.
"You know people can just be annoying." I tell her. I'm really trying to not tell her the whole story of what happened with Jerry.
"Finn, you have to tell me what goes on." she says.
"Jerry, one of my friends, he made a comment about you, and I um Annie I don't want to talk about it." I say trying to get her to leave it alone. But she's too determined to except this as an answer.
"Finnick you can tell me." she begs me for an answer.
"I just got mad and I punched him in the face." I confess.
"Finnick why did you... you're going to lose all of your friends because of-"
I cut her off "Annie I'd give up any of my friends for you." I tell her softly.
"I don't want you to though. Don't do something you will regret because of me." she says sweetly and selflessly.
"You still don't get it do you? I'll protect you from anyone and anything." I try to explain to her.
"I don't want you to get hurt because your protecting me." She says in a soft whisper.
"Annie, you're worth it." I tell her.
She brings me in for a hug and I hug her back she goes to pull away from the hug and I don't want her to tell me not to protect her, so I kiss her on the cheek. I've never kissed a girl before. I hope he doesn't act awkward around me now. Now I do know that I have a crush on her.
We walk over to the lunch harbor where we told my mom we would meet her after school. "Ready to go to the beach?" She asks. How am I going to tell her what I did today? I told Bethany to leave, I punched in Jerry's face. And I don't regret any of it, but I know she'll be mad. My mom likes that I hang out with the popular kids. My mom wasn't popular in school so she's happy with who I hang out with.
"Yea but I was just wondering if you had an extra bathing suite." Annie says.
"None in your size but we can go down to the store and buy you one." Mom offers.
"It's okay, I can go in my shorts and tank top." Annie says.
"Nonsense, we go to the beach a lot." mom tells her.
We walk to a clothing shop and I sit and do nothing. I hate shopping. Dad does to, so I usually stay home with him when mom has to shop. I wonder if Annie likes shopping, she's probably never had the money to do it. When we get to the beach, I change into my swim trunks and wait for Annie. When she comes out, she is wearing a two piece bathing suite that is baby blue. She looks good. Everything she does, it makes me like her more. She goes and sits on the damp sand. I walk to where she is and sit with her.
"Can you teach me how to swim?" She asks me.
"Sure." I say.
We work on the basic swimming and before I know it she was swimming. She's an incredibly fast learner. We hang out in the water and splash each other and swim. It's definitely one of the best birthdays I've ever had. Obviously I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. But Annie helps me forget everything bad going on, and allows me to enjoy the moment that we are in.
"Hey Finnick?" Annie asks.
"Yes Annie?." I say.
"What were you and your dad talking about this morning?" She asks me. Gosh this girl is noisy. I like it though.
"He basically asked about you." I tell her trying my best not to reveal the entire conversation.
"What did he ask?" Annie says curiously.
"If I lie you'll probably figure it out eventually knowing you." I tell her with a smirk.
"Aww, you know me so well." she laughs. "but tell me what you guys were talking about." She demands an answer. How can sweet Annie go to interrogating Annie? Oh well I have a crush on both of them.
"He told me he thinks that I have a crush on you." I tell her honestly.
"Do you?" she asks with a slight smile.
"Hmm I don't know... you're kind of noisy." I tell her jokingly.
"Changing the subject are we?" She asks.
"Ok Ms. Detective Annie." I laugh a little. "I want to wait before we rush things you know?" I ask her.
"What do you mean by rush things?" she asks me slightly confused.
"I mean we've been you know... Rushing a little." I try to explain.
"We have been rushing?" She asks "says the boy who kissed me." She laughs.
"Says the girl who liked it." I say jokingly.
"Not uh!" Annie yells.
We eat the fish that my dad caught and my parents bring me the cake from this morning. Annie and my parents sing happy birthday, I make a wish when I blow out the candles. I wished for the courage to ask Annie out one day. When we start walking home, Annie and I walk behind my parents so we can talk.
"So did you like when I kissed you?" I ask her in a noisy tone similar to her's.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." she says mysteriously.
"So do you really have a crush on me?" she asks being noisy again.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't." I use the same tone that she used.
When we get to my house and I walk Annie to her room, before I can say goodnight or anything she gives me a soft kiss on the cheek. "Like me now?" she asks me. She goes in her room and closes the door. When I know she is not there I say "yes Annie, I do."