Judged
"So where are we going now?" Annie asks me as we walk around District 13. Annie hasn't been here long and still gets lost easily so we like to walk around the District together. Annie has only been here a week, but she has started to become more like herself. Her nightmares are worse, but it is nothing that I can't handle, that we can't handle together.
"It's lunch time so the mess hall." I say.
"Can I lead the way because I think I've got it figured it out by now." She says.
"Of course." I say and squeeze her hand.
"I hope they serve something good." She says.
"The food here isn't that great, but it's better than nothing."
"It's better than some of your cooking." She says with a smile.
"That was uncalled for." I say.
She smiles.
"Perhaps but-"
"Finnick." I hear a familiar voice shout down the hall.
"Who's that?" Annie asks me.
"No one." I say to her slightly angry. What the hell does Gale want.
"Well, no one is coming our way." She says.
I roll my eyes.
"He's Katniss' friend." I say.
"Oh… that was the cousin from her interviews, right?" She asks.
"You're good with faces." I say but I already knew this that is how Annie mapped out the arena in her games. She knew when she needed to hide or run. Although it isn't very helpful now because she will never forget the faces of the people who took her, tortured her.
"You knew that already." She says and sticks her tongue out playfully.
"They do look a lot alike." Annie says.
"They aren't related though." I tell her. I remember how hostile Gale would get when people referred to Katniss and Gale as cousins.
"Then why do people think they are?" She asks.
"Because it was a plan to call him her cousin because then it wouldn't threaten Katniss and Peeta's fake relationship during the games." I say.
"Peeta genuinely loves Katniss though." She says. I wonder if she ever saw Peeta when she was there. I wonder if he talked about Katniss when he was there.
"I know we talked about it when you were gone." I say.
"Did you talk about me?" Annie asks.
"Yes." I say.
She looks back down the hall.
"You don't like him, do you?" Annie asks.
"Well, he isn't the easiest person to get along with." I tell her.
"How so?" She asks.
"He has a strange obsession of Katniss." I say.
"Right… unless you hurt Katniss then I don't see the problem."
"Whenever I talked to her he got insanely jealous, he even accused me of trying to sleep with her." I say.
"Just because you talked to her?" She asks.
"Apparently, Katniss talking to me instead of Gale during the night means I'm trying to put the moves on her." I say.
"I see he didn't like character Finnick." She says.
"It wasn't just that Annie he thought I couldn't be trusted with any 'valuable' information. Betee made me a trident and Gale didn't even want me down there, he accused me of being a Capitol spy. He called me a traitor among other things and said I didn't love you."
"You love me." She says and kisses my cheek.
"I know, but he made some of the guards here paranoid of me. I wasn't the most popular person here."
Annie shrugs.
"I'm sorry." She says.
"Don't worry about it. I just hope he isn't going to call me a traitor in a semi-crowded place."
"I'm sure he won't." Annie says but she doesn't sound too sure. She hasn't been here that long so she really doesn't know how things work here.
"Finnick… Finnick didn't you hear me calling you?" Gale says now in front of us. I think he ran over here because he is panting slightly.
"Hi." Annie says before I can cut in "I'm Annie.".
"I know I was part of the rescue mission." He says slightly annoyed.
"Do I get to know the name of my rescuer then?" Annie asks with a smile.
"Gale and I really only went there for Katniss' sake."
Jerk. I think to myself
"I see." Annie says.
"I was on Peeta's mission not yours anyway." He says.
"You wanted to talk with Finnick?" She asks.
"Yes, preferably alone." He says and glares at Annie.
"Why?" I ask. He doesn't need to talk to me alone. "If you want to call me a traitor you can do it in front of Annie." I say.
"Traitor?" Annie says confused.
"Yeah I actually came here to talk to you about that." He says.
"I'm a little tired of going over this over and over this again Gale." I say annoyed.
"Like I said I wanted to talk to you about that." He says again.
"Go on then." Annie says. How she suddenly became the person in control of the conversation is a little confusing, but since Gale was rude to her, Annie won't be very nice.
"I wanted to apologize to you." He says but he doesn't sound sincere.
"Is that your apology?" I say surprised.
"No, I wanted to say sorry for judging your character. I guess I shouldn't have, but you seemed so loyal to the Capitol."
"That was the act." I say.
"I know after you recorded your video it made more sense hearing all that stuff about President Snow and the other stuff… well it makes a bit of sense."
"Yes it does." I say.
"So yeah you've got my trust now." He says.
"Good to hear." I say. I'm not lying it's not nice to have someone always spying on you.
"For it to be a real apology you need to say the words." Annie says.
"What?" He asks clearly annoyed.
"Three words." She says and Gale sighs.
"I am sorry." He says.
"Thank you." I say.
When he walks away I hear him mutter silly girl.
"You didn't need to say that." I tell Annie.
"Yes, I did because he seems like a big jerk." Annie says.
"Well, I can't argue with you there, but I have his trust now which is good enough for me." I say.
'Yes, but I basically humiliated him back there." She says.
"Yes, you really showed him." I mock.
"Shut up Finnick." She says lightly.
"I was just teasing I will always respect your help." I say.
"Good." She says and starts to lead us towards the mess hall.
Even though Gale's apology was half assed I appreciate it. I don't need to have someone breathing down my neck and calling me a traitor to all of District 13. His argument would've been weaker now and even if that is why he apologized he didn't have to.