Chapter Two
Jesus. Johanna thinks to herself as she is mopping the floor.
"How can people eat so much?" She mutters to herself looking at the overflowing trash cans that should have been taken out an hour ago.
"It's not all for the same person darling." Johanna hears and looks up. It's her manager Effie.
"I know." Johanna says trying to contain herself. She got this job through a friend, but working in the line of customer service doesn't suit Johanna. Johanna likes to speak her mind and having to wear an obvious fake smile when someone asks a stupid question kills her soul a little bit each time.
"After you're finished with that you should take out the trash." Effie says and walks back to her office.
Can't Cato or Cashmere do that? Johanna thinks to herself because they never seem to take out the trash.
"Yes, ma'am." Johanna says.
Johanna takes out the trash muttering to herself the whole way. She sees Clove outside sneaking a smoke and wishes that maybe Clove could take out the damn trash. Clove's still in high school, but Cato and Cashmere also to go Johanna's school.
"Gross." Johanna says as trash juice leaks onto her shoes.
Whatever, Annie doesn't let me wear shoes in the house anyways.
"What can I get for you today sir?" Johanna hears Cashmere ask a customer.
Johanna sighs just one more thing that will need doing. It's Cato's job to make the food, but it's clear that he won't be doing it because he spends most of his time flirting with girls and customers. He's an annoying person in general, but is most annoying when he talks about how he is a freshman and already has a starting spot on the football team. It's not like he was the first person to achieve this.
"Hey Jo I got this one." He says.
"Good, because it's your job today." Johanna tells him and he rolls his eyes.
"So, you doing anything exciting this weekend?" He asks.
"Why?" Johanna asks him.
"Because it's homecoming weekend." He says.
"Ah right." Johanna says. She's a junior so things like homecoming don't really excite her anymore, well they never really did.
"You gonna go to the game?" He asks.
"Probably not." She says. She enjoys football, but doesn't like the homecoming games because they are always so crowded.
"I could score you tickets-"
"Yeah because you're on the football team." Johanna says annoyed.
"You know it." He says.
Johanna rolls her eyes and walks over to Cashmere.
"Please can he get fired." Johanna says to Cashmere who giggles.
"He's cute though." Cashmere says.
"Of course you would think that." Johanna says.
"He is, but is kind of stupid." Cashmere says softly.
"I'm totally with the stupid part." Johanna says.
Cashmere smiles.
"So how is school going for you?" Cashmere asks as Johanna is trying to look busy. Effie doesn't like when they are standing around and talking.
"Fine I guess it's still a bit early in the semester." Johanna says. "I got assigned a group for the rest of the semester."
"Which class?" Johanna asks.
"Shakespeare." She says bored.
"You're taking a Shakespeare class?" Cashmere says almost laughing.
"My roommate thought it would be a good idea, she said it would be easy." Johanna says.
"Is it?" Cashmere asks.
Johanna shrugs.
"So far anyways."
"So, whenever you do group projects these are the people you will be with?" Cashmere asks.
"Yes, like when you are assigned a lab partner." Johanna says.
"Are they all duds?" Cashmere asks.
"No, my roommate is in the group and she would do the whole project by herself if she thought someone wouldn't turn in their part." Johanna says. "But she would be very annoyed at them."
"Anyone else?" Cashmere asks.
"A guy who always shows up late and sits in the back of the class and a football player, but he seems smart." Johanna says and glances at Cato then goes back to adding more salt and pepper packets to the shelf.
"Is the football player anyone cute?" Cashmere asks with a smile. Cashmere is obsessed with any male on a sports team. She is a cheerleader for the football team.
"It's someone named Finnick and he isn't ugly to look at." Johanna says.
"Finnick Odair?" Cashmere says.
"Yeah." Johanna says and Cashmere blushes.
"He's so nice." She says.
"You know him them?" Johanna asks.
"He's always so nice to the cheerleaders."
"You ever think it's because he wants to get into your pants?" Johanna asks as if this should be obvious.
"Oh no he wouldn't." Cashmere says with a smile.
"Is he smart?" Johanna asks her hoping to get more information about her group mates.
"I don't talk to him much, but I'm sure he is." Cashmere says.
"Well, let's hope he is." Johanna says not only because it will piss her off if someone is always making mistakes with their work, but also because Annie will complain about him or the other guy as soon as they aren't there.
However, it looked like they will be getting along together. Johanna thinks remember the smile they shared at the library.
"So for your project do you have to like act out a play, because four people doesn't seem like enough." Cashmere says.
"Not really or not for the first project. God I hope we don't have to act out a play or we'll fail for sure." Johanna says thinking of Annie's terrible acting skills.
For the rest of shift Cashmere and Cato flirt with one another and Johanna just can't stop wondering when they will sleep together. Cashmere isn't loose, but she has a thing for guys on the football team and she definitely likes this player.
"Johanna!" Annie says as soon as Johanna gets through the door. Annie's brown hair is up in a messy bun and she is wearing an oversized t-shirt with boxer shorts.
"Annie." Johanna says in a deadpan voice. She hates how cheery this girl is after she gets off work. Johanna throws her hat on the table and sits down.
"How was work?" Annie asks her.
"Boring and if you thought that football player in our group was going to be stupid I don't think he will be." Johanna says.
"What makes you say that? And hey I never said he would be stupid." Annie says.
"Cashmere, she says he's smart and likes the ladies." Johanna says.
"Smart is all I need." Annie says.
"Which part did he pick out anyway?" Johanna asks genuinely curious.
"Controversy throughout the lifetime of the play." Annie says.
"The lifetime?" Johanna says perplexed by Annie's words.
"Fine the history of the play." Annie says.
"Is there much controversy?" Johanna asks.
"Well sexism is always a question." Annie says.
"This isn't like one of those things where it's banned, but it really shouldn't be." Johanna says thinking about Huckleberry Finn. Just because something has a bunch of racial slurs doesn't mean it should be banned especially if it was appropriate with the time period.
"No… maybe… I don't know." Annie says.
"Says the girl who is supposed to know everything." Johanna say with a smirk.
"Shut up." Annie says. "There is enough information on that subject so Finnick should be able to do it with ease."
"What about Gale?" Johanna asks.
"He's looking at the introduction through act three while I am doing act four until the end. It's split up pretty evenly." Annie says.
"Let me guess you chose the second half just in case he didn't do the first." Johanna says because she knows Annie won't be as worried.
"Possibly." Annie says.
Johanna smiles.
"Knew it." Johanna says with a smile.
"Shut up." Annie says. "And remember you can ask me for help on this project." Annie says.
"I know and I will, but this project doesn't seem so hard." Johanna said.
"I told you this class wouldn't be hard." Annie says as she disappears to her bedroom.
God I hope so. Johanna thinks to herself.
"Man do I hate Shakespeare." Gale says to his friend Katniss who is studying with him. Katniss' hair is in a braid like always which Gale likes because he gets to see more of her face.
"Then why are you taking that class?" Katniss asks. She has that classic snarl on her face which for some reason Gale loves.
"Because I was told it was easy, but I didn't think there would be so much group work." He says annoyed. Gale would rather work alone than with anyone else. He doesn't like being told what to do.
"Well, then just drop the class."
"That would tarnish the Hawthorne name." He says sarcastically.
"Right." Katniss says with a smirk on her face.
"I think it's also unfair that I got stuck with so much work." Gale says even though he volunteered for the part he got.
"What did you need to do?" She asks intrigued.
"Look over the first couple of acts. I got half of the play because everyone else who was more important got to go first." Gale says angry. He has the temper of a toddler.
"What do you mean?" Katniss asks.
"The 'leader' is friends with the other girl and thinks the other guy is cute that's why I got to pick almost last." Gale says. In reality after Johanna took off they all discussed in a circle on who should get what. Eventually Finnick just said he would do the research on controversy and that only left going over the play which might just be the easiest out of all of them.
"Well that stinks, but since this class isn't supposed to be hard I'm sure it will be okay." Katniss says.
"I feel like I will always get the short end of the stick in this group. I wonder if I could ask the Professor if I could change groups." Gale whines.
"Nah don't do that then the teacher will remember you as annoying and he will probably say no anyway."
"She will say no anyway." Gale corrects her because Professor Coin is a lady and likes to stick to the rules, so Gale coming up and complaining would not be good for him.
"Who is it anyway?" Katniss asks.
"Professor Coin." Gale tells her.
"Let's look at her rate my professor score." Katniss says and takes his laptop. She knows Gale so well that she even knows his password. "There aren't a lot of complains although lots mention how she is a stickler for the rules." Katniss says and shuts his laptop.
"I can handle that. I like following the rules as well."
"When people say that on this website it usually means they are crazy controlling." Katniss say. Gale likes to have control of things as well, so it probably doesn't bother him the same way it would others.
"People can be over dramatic it is the internet after all." Gale says and leans against his bed. "I feel like the semester just got real."
"Where have you been for the past few weeks." Katniss laughs. Even though it is homecoming weekend it is still a few weeks into the semester.
"Living in a better place." Gale says over dramatically.
"Since it is homecoming weekend we could go camping." Katniss says. Katniss likes the outdoors as much as Gale does. It is one thing that they in common. Katniss and Gale grew up in the same town, but lost touch after a while. However, when Katniss enrolled in college she met Gale again at the outdoors club. Even though it was only for two years Gale never forgot about Katniss because he has always had a thing for her.
"I'd like that actually; the schoolbooks can wait." He says and lets the books fall to the ground.
A/N: I hope I'm doing an alright job because I usually stick to first person present when writing stories. I will try to make sure the chapters have narratives from each person of the core four. I only did Johanna and Gale this time because I did a little blurb of Finnick and Annie at the ending of last chapter.