On a normal summer day in District 4, Annie Cresta sits idly on a large rock on the beach, her back turned towards the sun. It was a beautiful morning; sand already warmed from the sun, waves pushing softly against the shore.
Her family had arose earlier to pull in the days fishing hull, and with the weather, the work was done at a rapid pace. Now she had the rest of the day to relax on the beach or at the market until dinner that evening. Arching her back slightly, Annie sighs and looks at the seagulls above her; swooping dangerously close to the ocean waves, then flying higher, higher, higher, until the sun's glare blocks them from her vision. They're so free, she thinks. They don't even know what it's like to be restrained.
She closes her eyes again, enjoying the peace for a few moments. It's much too early to allow her worries to surface again; Reaping day is approaching quickly, next week if Annie's mental calendar is correct.
She listens closely, trying to pay attention to the sound of the waves further in the sea, where boats can only go so far until the legal fishing zone is passed. Sometimes Annie wants to go farther, but she knows that it's only there for their protection…
Suddenly, she hears the faint sound of shifting sand, and the red glaze beneath her eyelids becomes black as something blocks out the sun.
"You could be a statue," a boy's voice says, "you're so still."
Annie cracks one eye open. Finnick Odair, a boy no younger than thirteen who was once in her History class, stands in front of her, watching her curiously. She has never spoken to Finnick, though she must be the only one, he is handsome and confident, but in her opinion, slightly arrogant.
"Finnick," he says as an introduction, extending his hand to shake hers.
She looks down at his hand, but doesn't reach for it. Instead she smiles gently and says, "I know who you are, we had class together. But in case you didn't know that, I'm Annie."
"Annie," he repeats, "that's a pretty name." He says this with a smile that makes Annie's cheeks heat up, but she assumes that the compliment is to make up for his initial inability to remember her name.
"So Annie," he says slowly, still testing out the name on his lips, "may I ask why you're here? I didn't know anyone else knew about this part of the beach."
Annie isn't surprised; she has to pass through several moss covered pieces of forest to get here, and the other side of the place is shielded by a steep cliff. No one in District 4 is naïve enough to play around up there.
She shrugs. "My father showed me it when I was little, before he passed away in a boating accident." And then she feels bad, because normally when you first meet someone, you don't force such a personal fact upon them.
But Finnick only stares at her face, nodding sadly. "I'm sorry," he says. "It's a horrible thing to happen: losing someone you love."
By the look on his face, he's experienced something similar, but Annie knows better than to ask. She doesn't like to talk about her father's death either.
"I have to go," she says suddenly, "I mean, I need to get back to my family. I'll see you around Finnick."
She smiles at him, and he returns it, though his looks a little confused. And then she hurries off, before he can respond to her hasty goodbye.