Finnick rearranged the worn fabric on his right shoe, trying to hide the large hole that had probably formed with his oldest brother and been made worse by three other Odair boys before the gray shoes had found their way to him. Eventually, he gave up and slipped his shoes into his backpack. The first day of school was going to be bad enough anyway; he didn't need to be made fun of for his hand me down shoes.
Last year, at least Hannigan had been in the same school. Now, though, the second-youngest Odair child was twelve and would have to go to the school for Reaping age children. Finnick didn't want to be old enough for the Reaping, but he did wish that Hannigan still went to his school.
He couldn't put off the inevitable any longer. Finnick took a deep breath, straightened his shoulders, and strode confidently onto the schoolyard. After a few steps, he gave up on trying to be cool and hurried to the door. The teachers hadn't unlocked the doors yet, but a group of enthusiastic students had gathered in front of them. He was jealous and a little bit wary of anyone who actually wanted to come to school.
Suddenly, Finnick fell forwards onto the cement. He could feel his skin drag against the rough ground, and when he examined his hand, he found a long, dirty scrape. "You need to say sorry," said a high voice that obviously belonged to another child.
"Why, pipsqueak? Are you gonna make me?" Finnick turned in time to see a little girl with her dark hair in neat ponytails punch a much bigger boy on the nose. He jumped up to stop the bully before he could strike the girl, wrestling him down to the ground.
"Say you're sorry," the girl repeated.
The boy just lay there and glared at her. Finnick pressed down harder so that he couldn't get up. Annie repeated herself. Finally, the boy gave in. "Sorry," he said in barely more than a whisper.
"Apology accepted," Finnick said. He helped the other boy up.
"See, I could make you," the girl said, spinning on her heel away from them. The school bell rang, and Finnick hurried his way to his second grade classroom.
The day went better than he had expected. His teacher seemed nice, and two of the boys whose fathers worked with Dad were in his class. Except for the scrape and his shoes, everything was all right.
All that ended just as class was dismissed. "Finnick, you're expected in the principal's office," said Ms. Jameson. Finnick felt as though someone had kicked him in the stomach. One of the other students must have tattled to the teachers about what had happened that morning. His mom would be so angry when she found out Finnick hadn't even made it through the first day without getting in trouble.
When he opened the door to the office, he became even more concerned. The little girl from earlier was already seated, her big green eyes wide with fear. The principal sat at her desk, and next to her was the biggest man Finnick had ever seen. He wasn't sure if it was the stranger's overly straight, almost military posture, or the bulging muscles in his arms, but something about this man suggested that he knew how to hurt people. Please don't be a Peacekeeper, thought Finnick. This man wasn't wearing the usual white uniform, but even Peacekeepers had to take off their armor sometime, right? Maybe he was here to punish them for fighting. Hitting people was against the law for adults, and Finnick had attended the public executions for criminals before. Was seven too little to be shot?
"Please, Finnick, take a seat." He followed the principal's instructions, hoping that if he showed the man how well he could behave, he wouldn't get in too much trouble. For good measure, Finnick smiled at them, showing off the gap where his front teeth hadn't yet come in. "Your little fistfight this morning has come to my attention."
Finnick fought the urge to lie, to tell the principal that he didn't know anything about a fight. "Ian hit Finnick first," the girl interjected. "I just wanted him to say sorry, but I had to hit him before he would."
"Annie, we aren't looking for excuses," explained the principal. "Now, I certainly don't want to encourage this kind of misbehavior, but Mr. Martin here is interested in offering the two of you a wonderful opportunity because of how you handled Ian."
The man smiled and leaned down so that he was closer to the two children's eye level. "How would you like to be very rich when you grow up?" he asked.
"How?" was the only response Finnick could think of. He would love to be rich and eat as much bread as he wanted and never have to wear shoes with holes again.
Annie nodded. "Yeah, I want to be rich!"
"Did you know that I can help you train so that someday, when you're eighteen, you can win the Hunger Games and come live in the Victors' Village?"
"Mommy says I shouldn't want to be in the Games," Finnick said. Lucy Odair always worried the weeks before the Reaping, hoping and praying that the boy picked would not be one of her sons.
The man laughed. "She's right. Nobody should want to go into the Arena untrained. But that's what I'm offering you. You would learn from all the people in Four who have won, work hard to become the best tribute possible, and you will win." Mr. Martin's enthusiasm was infectious. Finnick soon found himself nodding along, agreeing to train so that someday he could win and make his family rich. "How does that sound?"
"Great!" Annie was practically bouncing up and down in her seat. Finnick smiled and nodded. He wasn't quite sure what to say.
"Fantastic. Now, I want you two to walk home and ask your parents about becoming Careers. Tell them that we won't ask for any payment of any kind to train you, and let them know that they can always come by and talk to me if they have any questions." The man handed Finnick and Annie little cards of paper with writing on them. Finnick could read the capital M and C, and he knew the little i and n because you need those letters to spell Finnick, but he didn't remember any of the other letters. He would need to ask Mom or Hannigan to read it to him.
"Thank you Mr. Martin!" he said. Annie echoed him, and they walked outside together. "Are you excited to be in the Hunger Games?" he asked the girl.
"Yeah, it sounds cool!" she said. "Do you think they'll let us eat fish and bread for dinner in the Victors' Village?"
"I hope so! That sounds yummy. Maybe they'll even let us have sugar like on the sweet rolls too!" Finnick answered. Annie laughed, and she reached out to take his hand. They walked home together hand in hand. Finnick couldn't wait to tell Mommy about Mr. Martin and training.
A/N: Hello again! Sorry it took so long to update – thanks for being patient! I don't think this has come up before, but Memories of Us will not have any type of consistent timeline. There could potentially be even more meeting scenes or other oneshots that conflict with each other. Extra thanks to Odestalovebaby for reviewing. I love feedback and want to improve my writing, so I really appreciate reviews. I'm all out of prompts, so if there's something you would like to see, please PM me or leave an idea in the reviews. Thanks again for reading!
~finnicko-loves-anniec
