Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger games or its original characters. This fiction is for entertainment purposes only… and even that depends on whether you find it entertaining or not.
Chapter 4: All in a Day's Work
It didn't take us long to move from the hospital-assigned apartment to the executive bungalow at the country club. We hadn't even finished unpacking all of our belongings before we packed them all back up. I wanted to say that last night was the best sleep I had ever had. After all, I had a double bed all to myself and I was sleeping on more counts of thread than my lifetime of sheets combined. Even in the coldest of Michigan winters, my thickest blanket was a tattered afghan my mother had crocheted for me as a baby. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined being engulfed in pillowy goose down. This bungalow was, hands down, the nicest place we had ever stayed in.
But my sleep was sporadic at best. My mind simply would not turn itself off. All sorts of thought plagued me, but nothing came with any conclusions that would allow me relax. Why did Peeta come to California? Should I call Gale and tell him I saw Peeta? What will it be like with Gale when we get back? How close do I let myself get to my grandparents? Am I ready to forgive Mom? Does Peeta remember the necklace? Why does Effie's face look like she's always surprised? Can the people at this country club tell that we're not rich? Is it just me or does this room feel like an Arctic tundra?
"Katniss, I'm leaving for work now," my mother's voice called out from beyond the downy shroud that covered my head. "Could you maybe call the concierge and have them send someone to check on the thermostat? It was freezing last night!"
Okay, at least I know I wasn't dreaming that part. "Call the what?" I asked groggily.
Her voice was fading further away into the bungalow. "Just call the front desk and have someone come." The door shut softly in the distance.
"Cereal?" Prim's cheerful face looked up from a bowl as she sat on her bed wrapped in her blanket. I grunted in response, reluctantly throwing the covers aside and waddled blindly to our en suite bathroom. "Hey, don't you have a job interview later?"
"Uh huh," I replied, my mouth foaming with toothpaste. "Haw ow ooh?"
"What about me?" No one understood me quite like Prim. "I don't know. Probably just go exploring the grounds."
I spit the foam into the modern vessel sink and rinsed my mouth. It seemed so frivolous to waste so much money and design on a receptacle for spittle, but this place was teeming with frivolities.
"It is so cold in here! I don't think we packed enough clothes to keep warm," I complained as I shut off the shower I had started when I decided against the need to strip off my clothes in this indoor climate.
Roughly ten minutes after calling the front desk for service, there was a gentle knock on the door.
"Maintenance!" the voice called from the other side.
"Just a second!" I answered back, fumbling with the clasp of the bra I hastily tried to slip under my shirt before entertaining a stranger. I attempted to readjust my now twisted t-shirt as I scrambled down the short hallway to the front door.
"Hi, come in," I heard Prim say causing me to pull my top down hurriedly, but a second too late.
"Prim!"
There I was standing in the living room, my red face meeting the maintenance guy. He averted his gaze quickly, but I could tell by his bashful look that he caught my moment of indecency.
"I-i-it's okay. I didn't see anything," he reassured me without looking up. Prim giggled mischievously, walking away and leaving me to the awkward company. "So…umm… you have an issue with your thermostat?"
"I thought you were a waiter," I asked, not hiding my accusatory tone. "Why did they send you down to repair our thermostat?"
Peeta's confident smirk returned, picking up his toolbox from the floor and stepping in to look at the device in question. "I'm a 'floater.' They pretty much put me in whatever positions need filling for the day – server, maintenance, pool cleaning, caddy, personal escort service…"
"Wait, what?"
He let out a chortle at my expense. "I was kidding about that last one." Peeta tested a series of buttons on the box. "Not that I've never been offered."
Choosing to ignore his arrogant joke, I opted for safer topics of conversation. "So you're a Jack-of-all-trades then?"
He grabbed the pencil that was perched behind his ear and pushed its tip into a miniscule recessed button. "I prefer the term 'Renaissance Man', but really, I'm just the club's lackey."
I found it strange how Peeta could jump back and forth between narcissistic and self-deprecating so seamlessly.
"That should do it," Peeta declared, replacing the pencil to his ear. "It just needed to be reset. You should be more comfortable from now on."
I closed the door behind him, sliding down my back and slumping on the floor.
Comfortable? Maybe the day I no longer needed Peeta to fix my problems.
"The application you grandfather faxed to me says that you have some experience as a lifeguard?"
"Yes, Mr. Abernathy. I was a lifeguard at the rec center. It was an indoor pool, but I'm sure with a little practice, I'll be able to adjust to the ocean currents. I'm a very strong swimmer," I assured the country club's personnel director. "I've been swimming my whole life."
"Please, Sweetheart, call me 'Haymitch'. Mr. Abernathy was my father and he was a no good drunk." I found it ironic that his breath reeked of alcohol even though it was just past ten in the morning. "We actually have an opening for a junior lifeguard. If you can pass the test, the position is yours."
"Wow, thank you."
Haymitch got on his phone and started punching in numbers. "Let me just call someone up to give you a tour of our facilities."
"Oh, gosh, please don't let it be Peeta," I mumbled under my breath.
"So you've met my nephew, I take it?" Crap. He heard me. Did he say "nephew?" I was beginning to understand a little about Peeta's presence here. If I heard correctly, Haymitch was his uncle. He must be who Peeta came to see and likely who he was living with. "No, it won't be Peeta… Miss Adelaide! Could you come into my office? I need you to give someone an orientation… Thanks."
I sat there awkwardly while he hung up the phone, bracing myself for him to ask about how I knew Peeta.
"Peeta's a good kid – hard-working and great with all the guests – so we send him out to do just about everything." Haymitch grabbed a decanter off his credenza and poured himself a generous glass of alcohol. He emptied the glass in one gulp. "Ahhhhh… so tell me, how did Peet—"
"All set, Haymitch?" a young blonde girl, about my age, came into the office.
"Yeah. Katniss, this is Miss Adelaide Cartwright. She'll be showing you around the grounds. I'll give you a call when we can arrange for your test, alright?"
I nodded and followed the girl who was assigned to give me the tour. "Please, just call me Delly," she said apologetically. "'Adelaide' is just sooo geriatric, you know? Haymitch knows how much I hate it, so he insists on calling me that!"
It took us a good 45 minutes to cover the entire property. I let Delly do most – well, all – of the talking since she seemed fairly comfortable with it.
"…the pool on the north end is bigger. If anything, you'll probably be assigned there more often since most of the younger crowd like it better. We'll check it out on our way to the restaurant. Now over here is the full service spa. They offer your typical Swedish massage, hot stones, facials – all that stuff that makes you tingly. Anyway, the spa is only open to the club's guests during regular business hours, but employees may book sessions after hours free of charge. Lord knows we need the TLC after a long day!" She continued narrating everything we passed by barely stopping to take a breath. "I think you'll really like it here. There are plenty of teens like us that work here in the summer. It's kind of a cool way to meet new people who don't go to school in your district, although there are a couple that go to my school. There's Larissa and Peeta – you might have seen him around. Haymitch makes him do just about everything, but I guess indentured servitude is a small price to pay for free room and board. Some of our classmates come here as guests during the summer too, plus, you really get to become friends once you see the same people over and over, so working here is like a big family party! We do have those quite often too – parties, that is…"
It was amazing how many words Delly could fit into such a short span of time. I think she might have said more in five minutes than I've said in a month. Talkative and bubbly personalities such as hers usually annoyed me, but for some reason, I actually found her effervescence comforting. She gave me hope of making friends this summer with someone that I didn't pity me or to whom I didn't owe an eternal debt of gratitude.
"Prim, just stay close where I can see you, okay?" I instructed my sister as I climbed the ramp of my lifeguard tower.
"You're a lifeguard, Katniss. Shouldn't you be watching the whole beach?" I ruffled her hair and poke her ribs.
"Yes, but I'm not playing 'Where's Waldo?' just to find you!"
I knew I was very overprotective of Prim. It was just a side effect of having had to save her from neglect and malnutrition. It was probably my protective instincts that made me fit to be a junior lifeguard anyway. That, and the combination of my strong swimming skills and the knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, got me hired to the job opening in a heartbeat. They did test my swimming abilities in the choppy ocean waves seeing as though I've had nothing but the lake and the local YMCA pool to practice my whole life. It was a little more challenging, but I've never shied away from a challenge. Thankfully, my jurisdiction only included the 100-yards of private beach that I shared with a senior lifeguard and the two on-site swimming pools.
"Fine, I'll be just over there building a sandcastle." Prim found a spot halfway between my tower and the shoreline so she could collect water for her construction.
It was a busy afternoon on the beach. All of the club's cabanas and chaise lounges were occupied and many guests were out in the water on a surfboard or jet ski. Above the sound of the crashing waves, the children giggling, and the jet skis humming, I heard a rowdy group of teenagers coming down the steps to the beach. The two boys were wrestling one another while the girls looked on, laughing unnaturally high pitched. My eyes followed them as they careened through the sand, paying no mind to the other guests. Several members moved for the first time in hours to eye them with distaste, but no one asked them to settle down. Knowing how much this crowd loved to get their way and hated any disruption from the former, I concluded that this obnoxious group of teens must have had some clout in this community to get away with their behavior.
"Hey, you knocked down my castle!" I heard Prim yell at them.
I don't know why I had actually expected them to apologize to Prim like any decent human being would when they were clearly far from it, but I was still somewhat shocked that they responded to her with taunting and cackling.
"Oh, boo hoo! 'The big, mean guy ruined my dirt house!'" he said mockingly to her as the others stood back and snickered. "Why don't you go find some cardboard boxes and build a new one? You'll probably feel more at home." The disgusting pig and his comrades had the nerve to high five each other like it was some accomplishment to pick on innocent little girls.
I wasted no more time jumping over the side railing and approaching this Neanderthal.
"If you so much as utter one more syllable to her or lay one over privileged finger on her head, I promise you, I will stick this rescue can so far up your rectum, you'll taste it!" I seethed.
"Whoa, chill out, Baywatch! I don't think saving poor w-ittle girls from getting their sandcastles squashed is part of your job description," the bully incited, pressing his chest to mine like some alpha-male animal even though he was nearly a head taller than me.
His girlfriend stepped between us, apparently wanting to get her own piece of the action. "Yeah, why don't you back off, climb back up into your tower and mind your own business?"
I was near boiling point. "My sister is my business. When you mess with her, you mess with me." Prim stood up and took hold of my free hand, trying to tug me away from the altercation.
The guy took a step back and cocked his head in amusement. "Oh, so little orphan Annie is your sister? What in the world is going on here? Since when did they start letting street rats take over our territory? And I thought this place was classy," he griped.
"Money doesn't buy you class," I repeated Gale's words. "Obviously."
He snorted, looking to his three companions for back up. "Can you believe her? This trailer park trash thinks she knows about class. Are you even sure this girl's your sister? With your dark hair and her blonde, I wouldn't be surprised if your mom was a who—"
I didn't let him finish before I lunged at him, effectively knocking him onto his back. I could vaguely hear Prim shouting for me to stop. I had barely straddled him for a second, pinning his arms down with my knees, when I felt a strong grip on my raised fist and another around my waist. Before I could process what was happening, the intercessor had slung me over his shoulder.
"And I'm from the projects, you idiot! If you're gonna insult me, at least get it right!" I shouted to the bully as I was being whisked away. I could see his stupid girlfriend doting on him, trying to brush the sand off his face. "Put me down!"
My rescuer flipped me off his shoulder and plopped me gracelessly on a sand dune. "Are you trying to get yourself kicked out of here?" he asked.
"Ugh. Peeta. I should have known you'd be right around the corner. Don't you ever go away?" I asked in annoyance, rubbing the throbbing on my rear end, and hoping to get rid of this other pain in the ass.
"Katniss!" Prim called out, kicking up sand as she hustled towards us. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine, Prim. Why don't you go back to the bungalow until my shift's over? We'll do something together later, okay?" My sister nodded and complied with my request.
"You should really try not to let these people get to you," Peeta said. "They're small-minded folks. Don't stoop down to their level."
"Look, I'm just the kind of person that fights fire with fire. It's who I am, alright?" I stood up and brushed the sand off my legs.
Peeta smiled at me as we trudged back to my lifeguard tower. "And your fiery personality is one of your most endearing qualities, but it might get you fired from your job or, worse, get your family kicked out. Cato's dad is on the board here." I hung my head in understanding. "Look, the Preps are jerks. They're just trust fund snobs with too much time and money and too little intelligence."
"Cato and 'the Preps?'" I wondered. "What are they, some singing group or something?"
He laughed at the imagery. We both rested our elbows against the railing of my tower, watching the group of despicable teenagers dunking each other in the shallow water. "No, Cato's the meathead you just leveled – nice technique, by the way. 'The Preps' is just a name we sort of gave to all these rich kids that walk around like they run the world. Cato's girlfriend is Clove. The other two are the brother and sister team, Marvel and Glimmer."
"Who names their kids Marvel and Glimmer?" I asked incredulously.
"Famous people," Peeta replied with a shrug like famous people were the norm. He seemed to have caught my look of curiosity. "Their mom is Eliza O'Keefe, the actress."
"Hmm," I answered trying to appear nonchalant about it. "Does Eliza O'Keefe want her children to become exotic dancers?"
We both laughed heartily at the image. Peeta was the first to stop, turning around to face me and leaning back casually on the rail. I felt my cheeks flush as he held his gaze on me, evidently studying my countenance. I began to squirm, my easy laugh transforming into an awkward chuckle.
"So you do know how to laugh," he pointed out. His comment was enough to completely extinguish any embers of laughter remaining. "Well, it was short-lived, but I'll take it."
My usual scowl resurrected itself between my brows. "Shut up. If it was short-lived, it's because you ruined the moment."
"I haven't seen you smile or heard you laugh in years," he replied sincerely. He headed back down the tower's ramp calling out, "California looks good on you, Everdeen!"
REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! (for some reason, I hear Effie's voice saying this)
A/N: Thank you all once again for all the alerts and favorites that were added on the last chapter! A special shout out to LeslieMellark, nekonip-chan, LivingReminder, JustSmilez13, ChloeluvsTHG, mockingjay5225, CrunchyMunchers, TatianaMellark, pinkcheer, and zenleighfor your comments/reviews! Thanks to zenleigh for volunteering to beta for me (at least for a few chapters)! You rock!
I actually wrote the "Cat/Kat-fight" scene first as it came to me while I was working out and I didn't want to lose it from my head. Then I wrote the first scene then needed the second scene to fill in the blanks, but I apologize if they seemed disconnected. Transitions aren't my forte.
I don't really want this whole fic to be all K/P scenes (regardless of how indulgent that would be), but man, it's hard to juggle so many characters! Any thoughts? As much as I love glowing reviews, I more than welcome constructive feedback. It's all part of the process of trying to be a better writer and storyteller!