Thanks so much to everyone who has replied. It really makes my day. Sorry it has taken me so long to update, but here's a word of advice; don't take art GCSE because there's so much coursework! I have spent every night trying to make it look satisfactory for the past 3 weeks, on top of the rest of my homework!
Disclaimer-Unfortunately I do not own THG :(
TAD
"Katniss. Wake up. "As my eyelids flutter open I see Finnick standing in front of me. "You know. I'm surprised you didn't wake up in the night." He says thoughtfully and I realise, he's right! I didn't have any nightmares last night.
"Well, I guess I was pretty exhausted." That's true. I was exhausted after the swim.
"Is it time for me to go." I can think of no other reason why he would wake me up.
"Soon. But first I wanted you to meet Annie and Mags." He leaves me to get changed and when I do I head down.I instinctively go to the living room, knowing where it is because my house back in 12 is almost exactly the same as Finnick's. As soon as I walk in an old woman, who I can only guess is Mags.
She mutters something that I think is, "I'm sorry," into my ear, but I'm not sure because the mixture of her garbled speech and her accent. It sounds like she's had a stroke.
"I'm sorry about your girl." It sounds insincere because I don't know her name but Mags and Finnick understand. Of course they do, they're victors.
"Don't worry. As a community of victors we try not to hold deaths against each other."
I turn to say hello to Annie and get surprised when she says softly, "I really like your dress in the interview."
"Thanks. Cinna's amazing." I say surprisingly softly back. I wait for a reply but she's been sucked back into that world of hers.
"Katniss."
"Hmm?"
"I thought I would keep you company on your journey home and maybe meet your family."
"Why not?"
"We better get going." And we do. Finnick keeps me very good company on the train. We don't talk about the games or anything like that. Instead we decide to get to know each other a bit more.
"So, what's your favorite colour?"
"Green. What's yours?"
"Blue. Not a bright one, but one like the sea back at home." I conjure up the blue he's talking about. It's not all blue but a mix of blue and green, and maybe a bit of grey. I let him ask the questions because I don't want to ask him anything painful.
"When's your birthday?"
"May 8th."
"May 8th," he repeats, "I'll have to remember that."
"When's yours?"
"March 15th." I feel a stab of pain at those words. March was Peeta's birthday.
"What's wrong?" He says in a mix of confusion and worry.
"March 15th was Peeta's birthday too." I feel a tightness in my throat and I try to stop myself from crying.
"I'm really sorry they changed the rule." He says gently.
"It was stupid of me to believe them."
"No it wasn't. It may seem stupid now but it's different in the arena. You'll believe in anything that gives you a chance to go home."
"I shouldn't have let him die! It's my fault!" I'm crying and Fin nick's making soothing noises and rubbing my back.
"Katniss. I know it's not your fault, but I'm not going to say that because you're still going to believe it's true." This surprises me. But he is right. No matter what anyone says it is my fault that he's not here right now. "I just want you to think about what you're doing. Peeta wanted to die to give you a life. Do you think he'd have wanted you to spend the rest of your life upset about him?" I hear this and nod. It's true. Peeta wouldn't want me to be upset about him.
We spend the rest of the journey huddled together, until I am completely calmed down
As I get off the train I realise it is the first time I have got off one without crowds on people watching my descent.
Finnick clears his throat, pulling me back to reality.
"So which way do we go now?"
"It's just this way. It's not far.12 a lot smaller than District 4." Finnick chuckles at this.
"It's this one." I say as I open the door.
"Katniss? Is that you?" I hear my mother calling from the kitchen.
"Yeah. I've got someone I would like you to meet. Although you'll have to make
Lunch for 4."
"How was it?" Prim says as she walks in. "Hello" I can see surprise on her face as she greets one of the most famous people in Panem.
"Prim. This is Finnick." I tell her, although she already knows immediately who he is.
"HI. It's great to meet you." Finnick says graciously. At this point my mother walks in. She's a bit more composed than Prim when she sees Finnick.
"Hello. I hope you like beef."
"Certainly, Mrs. Everdeen, although I can't say I eat a lot of it. I'm more used to fish." This lightens the mood a bit.
We have our lunch of beef stew while we, that is to say, Finnick, Prim and my mother, make small talk. They know from having had a victor in the house for a few weeks not to mention anything remotely related to the games.
Finnick gets everyone chuckling with a ridiculous story about how a turtle once swam away with his hat.
"So Prim. Do you know how to swim? Your sister certainly does."
I swoop in before Prim can say the wrong thing.
"I only know because we've got a big bathtub and I guess Prim doesn't spend any time in there." Finnick seems to put two and two together. Prim giggles and says,
"Of course I do!"
After Finnick did the dishes, which seemed to improve my mother's feelings towards him, we decided to go to town. I didn't want to but Finnick insisted.
I notice the stares at once. Of course they stare. But the thing is, I can feel a sort of hatred coming with the stares. Of course there is. To them, Finnick Odair is the Capitol darling. They think he loves it there. Will they think I do too? I just want to shout at them: It's not his fault!
"Katniss, can we go into the bakery."
"Why do you want to go in there?"
"I want to pay my respects."
"Fine." I don't want to encounter Peeta's mum again.
I almost sigh with relief when I see look up as the bell tinkers on our way in.
"Hello Katniss." Then he notices Finnick.
" . I'm truly sorry about Peeta." I think that's all he's going to say but then he takes a deep breath and continues. "You may not remember but I came here in my victory tour." What? I didn't know that. But then, why would I? "I sat down for a bit and talked to Peeta. He was only about eight at the time but he was already so good with words. He seemed to think I knew the answers to everything although I was only fourteen. He told me all about how there was this girl at school, who always wore a braid in her hair, and had the sweetest voice. He told me how one day, he wanted to marry her, but he didn't think she wanted to marry him. I told him that if he was the kindest, most likeable boy he could be, that was all he could do. I told him that maybe that little girl wouldn't fall in love with him, but if he had done that, that was all he could've done. And you know what he told me? He said that he would be sad if she didn't want to marry him, but if she was happy with somebody else, he would be happy because she was happy. He was such a kind, thoughtful boy at eight, and he grew into a brave, loyal teenager and I was glad to have met him, even for an hour." I am stunned at this. Did Peeta really say those things? He was such a kind person that I don't doubt it for a second.
"Thank you." finally chokes out. Then as if he hasn't done enough, Finnick buys all but a few cakes and pies in the shop, he leaves some so that will be able to provide for anyone who wants to buy one and asks me to help carry them.
"Where to?"
"There's a poor part of 12, isn't there? Where you grew up?" I nod confused.
"I thought everyone might want a cake or biscuit." I would hug him but my arms are laden with cakes.
We go to each house it the Seam and give each person a slice of cake, a pie, a bun or a biscuit. I'm grinning like a mad man and when we stroll into the Hob, not one person looks at Finnick with anything except admiration. Finnick buys something from every stall with the claim that it will liven up his home.
When I see him off I think to myself that Finnick is the opposite of what everyone thought he was.
When I finally get back home, my mother immediately pounces on me.
"Where were you all that time? I thought you and Finnick were just going to town!"
"We were mum! But then-"
"Katniss! He is almost ten years older than you!"
"Mum" I groan. "I'm not in love with him. We just went to the bakery because Finnick wanted to pay his respects, and then he bought all the cakes and pies so that he could give everybody in the Seam one. He even left a few in the bakery so that if someone from town came, they would still be able to have one!" This shocks my mother. She only ever saw him as the flirtatious Capitol darling on TV, not the broken young man who he actually is.
"Well, that was a very generous thing for him to do." And with that she walks out, and if I'm not mistaken, smiling.
At that moment the phone rings and Prim calls, "Katniss! It's for you!" I rush to the phone and am relieved to hear Cinna's voice, rather than Snow's slimy tones.
"You need to have a talent that you have decided to pursue after the games. I have had Effie send you a list of things you might do."
"Okay, thanks."
"Goodbye Katniss"
"Bye." A talent! I completely forgot about that! I guess they don't count hunting illegally so I don't know what else to do.
Just then Prim walks in with the list of appropriate talents I might consider doing. Prim seems to have a knack for all of them but I'm hopeless at all of them. I go over to Haymitch to see if he can shed some light on my predicament. He, however is too drunk to be of much use.
"You could learn how to be a lumberjack!" He guffaws. "Or you could learn how to spear fish!" At that point he laughs so hard that he falls over. Then I think of it. Fishing! That way I would have to go to 4 regularly, meaning Finnick could coach me on the dos and don'ts of being a whore.
I run out and immediately call Cinna.
"Hey Katniss. What's up?"
"I know what my talent should be! I'm going to learn how to fish!"
"That's a great idea!" And it's settled. I will go to 4 once a week for Finnick to give me fishing instruction.
I am beaming to myself until Prim comes up to me and says, "There's a letter addressed to you. Here it is." She hand it me and snuggles down next to me. I unwittingly open it there and then, forgetting about Snow's warnings and almost shriek when I read,
Dear Miss Everdeen,
Mr. Odair was extremely pleased with your performance.
I have another client who would like to see you 2 weeks from now.
You will journey to the Capitol and you will wear a garment given at a later stage.
Make sure you perform well,
President Snow.
Sorry again for the ages it took to update. I have so much going on but I'll try and update it more in the Christmas holidays. I can't believe it's nearly Christmas! Yay! I'm really thankful to the people who have followed this story or commented on intuit really makes my day.
TAD