Chapter Twenty-One
Bodies seemed to fly in every direction, neither caring where they had come from or where they were going, only knowing that they were going to get there, and that they had very little control over how they got there. Limbs seemed to tangle in the oddest ways, no one really sure how they had become that way or knowing how to get out of it, only knowing that they must if they were to-
"Hello…. Johanna!" Finnick interrupted her processing to tap on her head irritatingly.
"What?" she yelled, swatting his hand away and breaking her attention from the madness.
"What are you even thinking about?" he asked, grinning down at her. He hadn't stopped grinning at her in that irritating way since Mags had shared the news that his "favourite Irish" would be joining him at school. Although now she was here, she wasn't quite sure why she'd made that decision.
"This place is madness, I never should have agreed to this," she muttered, half to answer Finnick and half trying to convince herself she could still run, that was definitely still a possibility at this point.
"Oh come now, that's just post summer blues talking," Finnick explained knowingly. Of course he would know, he'd been through it God knew how many times before.
"I'm not blue! I'm annoyed that Mag's managed to trick me into this," she insisted, her voice betraying that she was feeling just a little down about the whole thing. Her life was filled with interesting and unique training exercises that she was aware she was special to be learning about them. And now here she was, in high school. "What's the most exciting thing that's going to happen here?" she mumbled as an after thought.
"Give it a week and you'll regret those words ever leaving your mouth," Katniss' familiar voice greeted her. Even Katniss looked different in the surroundings. They all just seemed to fit, to know how to react, to know the etiquette of the hallways.
"Why what happens here? It's not really as dramatic as the movies?" Johanna asked, her eyebrows raising slightly remembering the few shows her and her mother had watched with a new teen pregnant or being stalked or threatened or having to make the hardest life decision ever of who to go to prom with.
"Oh trust us, it's much worse," Finnick promised. "Now just to get you to reception-"
"What do you mean 'it's much worse'. Finnick O'dair don't you dare walk away from me!" Johanna called after his retreating form.
"You'd better get after him, he's big but he'll get lost in that crowd in a second flat," Katniss promised, walking off in the complete opposite direction herself. Johanna turned her attention back to the direction Finnick had gone and found that the other girl hadn't been joking. Finnick was gone, and all there was was swarming bodies. She assumed it was still too soon to wish for another plague. However a zombie apocalypse, now that might just solve all her problems…
She wandered off in the direction she'd seen Finnick go, assuming he'd at least started taking her in the right direction before he'd vanished into the ridiculous sized group of people. The thing she found so odd was how fast they were all moving. It wasn't like they'd showed up particularly late to school or anything, classes didn't start for another 10 minutes at least, that was enough time to get everything together and get to class… or so she'd assumed.
Everywhere she went she seemed to run into more bodies, how could so many people need to be in one place at once? It was just plain madness. The corridors weren't nearly wide enough for everyone to move through, there was no clear directions for anything ANYWHERE and anytime she thought she'd made a little progress she'd see a bit of wall she could have sworn she'd seen before, or a poster, or a floor tile with a specific piece of gum on it, but then again she wasn't entirely sure since the entire building looked the same the whole way through. She silently wondered if Mags was part of the people trying to kill her and the whole "high school" thing had been an elaborate set up.
"And where are you off to this fine morning?" a smooth knife-like voice cut through the noise of the crowd and seemed to single her out.
"None of your business Cato," Johanna answered sharply back.
"Really? Cause here was me thinking that all new students have to report to reception before registration," he pondered irritatingly loudly.
"They do, can't you tell that's where I'm going," she snapped back, growing fed up of how calm he was with this many people around him.
"Yeah it's really obvious people are going the right way when really they're going the wrong way," he teased and she could feel his eyes looking down at her and looking for some kind of reaction, which she point blank refused to give him. The boy seemed like a nightmare at the best of times, if he knew that he could successfully piss her off she didn't even know there was a word for what she would do to him.
"Cato are you going to tell me where to go or not?" Johanna asked, already fed up of this "education" thing. And technically that part of the torture hadn't even started yet.
"Calm down there, I'll look after you. No need to worry," he reassured her in the most patronizing way he possibly could. Johanna reminded herself to breathe deeply, it wouldn't do her well to decide to come to school just to get expelled on the first day for kicking Cato's ass in the middle of the corridor.
"Cato that is exactly why I'm worried," she confirmed, turning and heading back in the direction she'd just come from.
"Where are you going now?" he called after her.
"To reception I thought you said it was this way," she reminded him, imitating the patronizing voice he'd so kindly put on for her earlier.
"Nah I was just messing with you, it's this way," he informed her casually and Johanna seriously debated just how illegal it was to kill someone with this many witnesses and camera phones around.
"Fine, you lead I'll follow," she instructed, hoping to be able to trail slightly behind the irritating giant but sadly the giant had other plans.
"So you decided to take Mags up on her deal then?" Cato questioned.
"Isn't the fact I'm here proof enough," she answered snarkily, ready to go home, but she had never been a quitter and part of her was still curious about the whole school thing. "How'd you know about that anyway?" she asked him, suddenly realizing she couldn't picture Finnick spilling his guts to this insensitive douchebag.
"Oh Johanna do you really doubt that if I want to know something I have ways of finding out?" he questioned her and she suddenly found herself feeling very defensive. If he knew that her and Mags had made a deal, how much more digging was he willing to do if he decided he wanted to know a little more than necessary about her past?
"Sadly not. So is it daddy's money that means you can blackmail people anyway you want?" she asked irritably.
"Daddy's good looks but mummy's money. Never underestimate the woman of the household," he warned her and she got a bad feeling someone had ended up on the wrong side of his mother by making that exact mistake. At least she'd managed to work out it hadn't been his slimy charms.
"Wouldn't dream of it," she answered through gritted teeth, remembering how she had felt emotionally blackmailed by Mags not to let her down, and exactly how much she regretted that now. She would like to believe that no adorable old man would have had the same kind of power. Then again there was something about Mags that made people want to listen to her, like she'd once been some fearless warrior and now her opinions were like laws in the town. Thankfully she saw the reception desk approaching ahead and she had to restrain herself from running off into the depths of the crowd to lose the idiot.
"Well I guess even you can't get lost from here," Cato summarized, smirking at her. She couldn't work out what it was about his happiness that made her want to punch him so much.
"Yeah thanks," she forced out her thanks and turned to go.
"Remember Johanna, you owe me one now," he threatened. She exhaled loudly, trying not to imagine all the ways that that was going to come round and bite her in the ass. How could one person, who she'd met three times, be the single most irritating being she'd ever come across? She'd met squirrels with more charm than him. She'd met hedgehogs with more street smarts. She'd met-
"There you are!" Finnick exclaimed from the desk. "I was about to file a missing person's report," he beamed at her. It took a second for her to see that from the way the receptionist was looking at him, he was only half joking about the missing persons report. She was slightly hurt that he thought she'd run off before even really keeping up her end of the deal.
"Yeah no thanks to you! At what point did you realize that taking me to the reception meant taking me to reception?" she tried to be angry at him but she really couldn't be, she was just too relieved to be free from Cato and his awful personality that followed him around.
"I'm sorry, I just assumed that you'd be right behind me and then I turned around to point out something to you and poof, you'd vanished," he explained, although it didn't change the fact that he'd lost her after only two minutes in the building.
"Yeah well I guess it's just as well Cato was around to save the day then isn't it," she sighed, hinting heavily that nothing about that situation was "well".
"Oh, tough break but hey aren't you glad you're back with me as your trusty tour guide again?" he beamed and she had to admit she was a little.
"We'll see how long 'trusty' lasts this time around shall we?" she felt like she'd already outdone her emotions for today. What she really wanted to be doing was finding someway to translate the pages that were hidden in her mattress. She figured if she'd be here for a while she might as well make a more stable hiding place.
"Miss Mason, here's your timetable," the receptionist interrupted them to hand over a slip of paper that didn't look like it'd last long in the rough conditions of the corridors.
"Thanks," Johanna answered, turning to look at Finnick with confusion clear all over her face. "Mason?" she whispered to him, as they turned to head back into the depths of the hallway.
"Well Mags figured that you were going to give a fake name anyway so we improvised a bit," Finnick shrugged, like a last name was no big deal.
"So why Mason?" she asked, still confused by the particular decision.
"It was my mum's maiden name," he told her, the grin faltering for a second before he seemed to remember that he was happy of her presence for some unknown reason. Although she still wasn't quite over the chloroform incident she had to admit she was becoming more attached to him all over again. He was like a puppy, she couldn't just walk away and leave him no matter what the circumstances because she would always be the bad guy, even in her own mind.
"You took your dad's name?" she asked, trying to change the subject but her own curiosity about his life getting the best of her. Mag's hadn't sounded very fond of the man (whoever he was) and she had just assumed that Finnick had the same hatred for him. But it seemed the pair may vary in more ways than one.
"Nah, my mum took it for me. Said he might as well donate something to me besides my DNA," he explained. So he wasn't fond of him, but he'd never changed the name either. Maybe he'd just gotten used to it and couldn't be bothered changing the forms? Finnick was definitely lazy enough to fit that profile.
"Fair enough," Johanna settled there and decided if she was going to do some digging around she had best do it outside of school where there wasn't a risk of him purposefully walking off and leaving her lost and surrounded by people.
"Anyway, this is Mr. Jordans class have fun," Finnick summarized.
"Wait you're just going to leave me here?" she questioned, not even trying to hide the surprise from her voice.
"Well yeah, this is your registration class and now I need to my registration class. Don't worry I'm sure the other kids won't be mean to you," he mock promised as he walked off down the corridor, which now seemed much quieter conveniently for him.
She stared evilly after him for a few moments, hoping that he would some how feel her hatred, before she walked through the door, scared that she would somehow talk herself out of the action if she paused for too much longer. She walked to the desk, avoiding meeting the eyes of her fellow pupils who had all suddenly gone strangely silent. She only knew it was strange because even the teacher looked up to see what was wrong.
"Umm… hi," she started. "I think I'm meant to be here," she offered, determined not to look at the other students, although she could feel their eyes burning onto her, like every set of eyes was some kind of laser gun and she wasn't convinced they were all set to stun.
"Well that's a good start," the teacher answered, holding out his hand and she promptly handed him the bit of paper Finnick had grabbed at the office. He glanced over it quickly and she slipped her hands into her pockets, as though she could somehow get rid of the evidence she had ever been holding it.
"Well it would appear you are indeed meant to be here Miss. Mason," he confirmed. "Welcome to Panem High," he greeted her, and the words sounded so strange, almost like he wasn't really welcoming her to anything pleasant, rather some kind of disaster she was walking into completely unaware.
Now she turned to look at the group of students, although she tried to skim over faces, not wanting to make eye contact with any possible enemies too early in the day, there was still plenty of time for that later after all. Her skimming round the room was broken by the subtle wave coming from a familiar face, she almost ran to hug Peeta at the back of the class out of relief, but managed to maintain her calm façade as she walked past the gazes of the pupils and took the seat next to him at the back.
"So Finnick convinced you then?" Peeta asked, not raising his eyes from the notebook on his desk.
"Not Finnick exactly, but something did," she answered, pulling out the phone Mags had leant her, just in case anything happened, and playing Snake, one of the few games the phone could actually handle the graphics of.
"Mags?" he asked.
"What's it to you?" she asked sharply, suddenly aware of how curious he was being. All he did was look up at her with a 'you can get this' look on his face and she met it with such intensity that she died in the game after only a few seconds. "What did you and Gale bet this time?" she questioned, turning her attention back to the game, reassured that Peeta wasn't some type of evil villain sent to track her down and kill her for the moment.
"Well he bet that Finnick would convince you to stay, I bet he wouldn't," Peeta shrugged casually.
"What made you think I wouldn't stay?" Johanna queried, her attention staying fixed on the game for now, deciding that anything he said now was less important than the snake.
"I didn't say I thought you wouldn't stay, I just said that it wouldn't be Finnick convincing you," Peeta corrected.
"So what did you bet I'd stay for?" she asked back.
"To be honest I didn't know either way, but Gale was an idiot for narrowing the terms of the bet so specifically so I wasn't going to be an even bigger idiot and pass up the opportunity to win," he explained casually.
"Not bad Mellark," she commented.
"Well you gotta learn the difference between victors and dreamers sometime," he answered calmly, and Johanna sneaked a look at what he was doing in the notebook.
"What you drawing anyway?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her again.
"Now who's digging around in other people's business?" he asked back, but turned to show her anyway. It took her a second to work out what exactly she was looking at.
"Cakes?" she finally worked out what it was. But it wasn't just regular cakes, they were intricate and delicate and yet looked sturdy enough to actually stand. Although the one in the centre had been the one he was working on presently, the shading not quite as perfect as the others and obviously not finished as the patterns weren't nearly as complex as the others, but clearly this was the one he wanted to be noticed as it easily took up more room than most of the others combined.
"Good spot Einstein," he complimented.
"Peeta these are really good," she admitted, turning back pages in the book and finding more and more designs, each page set out the same way, mini cakes round the side all linked to a large picture of a cake in the centre.
"Thanks, mind telling my mum that?" he asked mockingly. "She doesn't think any of them are worth making so, in the notebook they stay," he answered her confused look.
"Until?" she prompted, now it was his turn to shoot her a confused look. "Well you wouldn't save them unless you were saving them for something, so I'm assuming there's a reason behind the collection of cake designs, and I assume you're not planning your wedding in that much detail," she remarked.
"I will have you know my wedding will be spectacular in every way," he responded, not even sounding vaguely embarrassed.
"Got everything except the groom I see?" she replied, giving up on her game entirely and slipping the phone back into her jeans pockets.
"I got one in mind, just don't scare Fin off yet," he grinned at her and she shot him a smile back. "You know, I'm not sure I care what made you stay. If you make mornings in this place bearable I may even let Gale off the hook with his awful bet."
Author's Note: Hey guys! So how'd you think Johanna coped with her first half hour of school? Who else do you think she'll meet on her first day? Let me know what you think/ wanna see/ hope to see. I will hopefully have the next chapter up soon for you guys, feeling so excitable after seeing Catching Fire and seeing just how badass Jenna Malone was!
Until next time!
-R