Disclaimer: I - unfortunately - do not own the characters or the plot.
A/N: here's chapter 2! Still setting up the story, I can't wait till we get to the actual story hehe. I hope you like it :)
Reviews are appreciated!
"I'm not sure this is a !good idea Romulus..."
Romulus chuckled softly in response. He raised his hand to shuffle his hair around and pressed his foot down on the pedal. Hard.
"I'm serious Romulus! Is making me hold my end of the bargain really more important to you than my life?" Annie cried desperately. Less than a week ago her cousin, Romulus had been bragging about how he was going to ace their History test. Annie had stupidly questioned his statement and got herself into a bet.
The stakes: if Annie won Romulus promised he would refrain from pranking anyone for the next 2 months. If Romulus - miraculously enough - managed to win he would finally get to teach Annie how to swim.
How could she have known he was going to bribe some second graders to steal the answer sheet?
So here she was, in Romulus' beat-up car with her arms crossed and a slightly hysterical look on her face. The stupid grin on her cousins face didn't help matters either.
"You should have thought about that before you entered a bet with me." he declared cockily.
Annie, hesitantly accepting her fate heaved a sigh of despair and looked at the road ahead. She could feel the strong sea breeze blowing through her hair and she could hear the sounds of the sailors talking loudly.
Her head snapped up when she heard her cousin chuckling under his breath.
"What is it?" she demanded "or are you simply enjoying my pain?" she added.
Romulus shook his head, stupid grin still plastered on his face, and turned to face her "You remember my friend Finnick, don't ya?" he asked innocently.
"Yes" she said sharply "how could I not?"
She remember Finnick Odair more clearly than she'd like to admit. It had been Romulus 13th birthday when she'd first met Finnick.
The party was located at the Wellwood's house. It was big but modest. The house was made of wood and was painted a dark green, while the roof was wet. The furniture was simple yet comfortable and the walls were decorated with pictures of friends of family, and at least a dozen pictures of Romulus. The house was located only a minute away from the beach.
All her friends had been staring at the golden-skinned boy doe-eyed. She would never admit it aloud, but she herself had thought that the boy was quite good looking.
However, his good looks didnt even come close to making up for his arrogant and cocky personality.
She didn't voice her opinion though, even as a child she'd been quiet. She was very content spending the party quietly conversing with her friend Hellen instead of joining into the childish play going on around them.
She hadn't even wanted to go to the party in the first place, she'd later recall. But her mother had brushed off her protests "Oh come now Annie. He's your cousin! besides, you'll get to meet more kids your age. " she'd said as she applied her lipstick.
She'd planned to simply stay unnoticed because she really didn't want to be involved in... well whatever those other kids were doing.
No such luck.
Finnick Odair had taken it upon himself to ensure that everyone was having a "good time".
When Mrs. Wellwood announced that dinner would be served at the beach Annie stayed put.
After about 15 minutes the house was empty but for Mrs. Wellwood. When she noticed Annie in the corner she announced that she was headed to the beach to join the others and invited Annie to come along.
Annie politely refused, she was perfectly content reading her book far away from Romulus and his buffoon like friends, thank you very much.
Odair came running back in, hair dripping wet. He was panting and distractedly walked right past Annie only to dissapear into the room next door. When he came back he was carrying a basket full of snacks. He didn't notice Annie untill he almost tripped over her outstretched leg.
"Oi!" he'd cried in surprise.
His eyes flew to the source of his nearly-tripping and his eyes widened when they found Annie. "What are you doing here?" he inquired curiously.
"Reading." she replied curly, not looking up from her book.
Odair looked confused for a moment, as if the idea of anyone preferring reading over socializing didn't fit in his brain. He composed himself quickly and retorted:"you should come join us."
"No thanks." Annie said, still not looking up from her book.
"Look you can either come voluntarily, or I'll make you come." he said confidently.
This made Annie look up from her book. She couldn't believe the nerve of this boy, could he not just leave her alone?
"Make me? and just how exactly do you plan on forcing me to come with you?" she'd questioned his stament. She really needed to stop doing that, it was what got her into the stupid bet with Romulus.
Odair raised his brow in a manner that screamed "Challenge accepted"
He put the bucket down on the small table next to the chair Annie was sitting on and rolled up his sleeves. He looked at Annie and tilted his head, a calculating look in his eyes. Then he moved closer to her.
When Annie caught on to what he was going to do her eyes widened.
"Don't you dare Odair!" she hissed
"The game is called Truth or dare not Dare or Dare." he'd said cheekily. Before Annie got the chance to protest he slipped one hand under her legs and the other under her neck. He then picked her up with remarkable ease.
"Put me down." Annie protested.
Odair pretended he didnt hear her. Her efforts to escape from his grip were futile, he was way stronger than her.
They made quite the entrance, everyone turned their heads to face the pair when they appeared; Annie kicking and screaming and Finnick looking around with an apologetic look on his face, as she was the one misbehaving.
She saw an elderly women dressed in a fancy purple dress lean over and, with a small smile on her face, whisper in her friends ear: "Oh, young love!"
Annie blushed red. She would never date someone as immature and shallow as Finnick Odair.
She was too busy trying to wrap her brain about the fact that someone could possibly think her and Odair would ever fall in love to notice that they were rapidly approaching the beach.
She didn't notice untill they were standing on the edge of the dock. Her eyes widened and she froze.
"You're welcome." Finnick whispered, acting as if he'd done her some huge favor by including her in their social activities, and threw her in the water.
She was frozen in shock. The only thing going through her mind was that she was quite sure she was going to die, and that she'd never find out whether or not the main characters in her book would end up together.
She didn't know how to swim and the waves were brutal. The water was pushing her from all sides. The more she struggled the more desperate she got.
The water had taken control of her body. It moved her up - down - up - down further - left - right. Untill she had no idea what was up and what was down anymore. She was under water and the water was filling her mouth. She moved her limbs wildly trying to move, for all she knew she was only driving herself down into the water further.
Panic filled her and her lungs were begging for air. Her breath screamed at her to breathe and her instincts took control, she opened her mouth and breathed in the water. The ice cold water filled her lungs. Blood was pounding in her ears. Her limbs were growing tired.
She surrendered to the water, and everything went black.
She woke up to the feeling of two soft lips pressed upon hers. Her eyes flew open.
She saw Finnick Odair's face above hers. His hair was wet and was sending drops of water down on her face. He let out a sigh of relief.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Annie cried in surprise. "Why did you, what in the world were you thinking, were you really just k- were you just kiss-"
Romulus bark like laugh sounded from the left "Calm down Annie, he was just giving you mouth to mouth." Odair grinned when he realised what Annie had been thinking and Annie's cheeks turned bright pink.
She'd pushed Odair off her and looked at her cousin, feeling betrayed. Almost as betrayed as she was feeling right this very moment.
She didn't know what had made her cousin bring up Odair, and she didn't think she wanted to know.
"What about him?" She demanded, glancing at Romulus.
"Well I thought that since he's one of the best swimmers I know I'd invite him to help me teach you how to swim." he said nonchalantly. As if it was no big deal that he'd just invited the one person she hated with a passion to help her overcome her fear of water.
Annie's mind had trouble processing Romulus announcement. She sat in silence, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that her carefully laid out plans of avoiding Odair were about to be disrupted.
Romulus looked at Annie, worry in his eyes. He was probably expecting Annie to freak out and yell at him for inviting Finnick. He'd obviously been looking forward to seeing her reaction.
"Annie?" he said hesitantly "Annie are you ok?"
"No." she said curtly.
On the bright side, there was an approximately 0,07% chance that in the 11 months she'd been avoiding Finnick he'd grown up and was now decent company.
Yes. This could actually be good. And if, in a worst case scenario, she'd end up nearly drowning, at least Finnick would be there to bring her back from the death.
