Thankfully, the day flies by and before I know it, I'm collapsing on the grass under our tree. Maddie and I lie side by side, complaining about the day.
"Mr Jones is such an asshole! I mean, I understand one piece of homework for the weekend but he's assigned us three! THREE! How the hell am I going to get all that done, buy a new coat, do all my other homework and look after David?!"
"And keep being a dramatic teenage girl, too? Who knows how you'll manage!" I exclaim loudly. She punches my shoulder but joins in my laughter. We lay in the sun with our eyes shut for a while. A shadow covers our light and I shiver once the warmth stops reaching me.
"Whoever is blocking the sun better move fast or I swear to the angel I'm going to screw up your face," Maddie spits.
"Ouch, Mad. I really thought we had something," a deep male voice says. We open our eyes and are greeted with Jack Andrews and Finn, grinning down at us. Maddie flushes a beet red and I laugh. She punches me again and we take their extended hands to help us up. "What are you doing here?" she asks, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Jack sits down next to her, Finn next to me, and shrugs.
"A change of scenery is always nice. Plus I love spending time with you." He bumps his shoulder with hers and she does it back.
"Hey, Finn, want to flirt really obviously to make these two feel uncomfortable?" I ask loudly. Something soft hits the side of my head and I look down at the object. "A sandwich? You have an apple in your bag and you throw a sandwich? I really haven't taught you anything, have I?" I smirk and Maddie holds up the apple.
"Thanks for the tip." The apple is launched at my head, but all I do is tilt my head to the right and it whizzes past my ear. Sighing, I shake my head. "Well, you're a hunter! What do you expect?" she mumbles. "Trade?" I nod. "Okay, dairylea dunker for packet of crisps? And, if you get the apple I threw, I'll trade it for your banana." I stand up, retrieve the apple and we make the switch.
"I don't understand what just happened but I'd prefer not to get involved," I hear Jack say to Finn. Then I get my idea for revenge for hitting me with the sandwich. I pick up the dairylea and tell them I'll be right back. Then, once Maddie is distracted talking to Jack, I put a large dollop of cream cheese on one of the bread sticks and approach her from , I wipe the cheese all over her cheek before sitting back down and biting the end of the bread stick off. Maddie sits with her mouth open wide.
"Mellark."
"Hawthorne."
"Did you really just wipe cheese on my face?"
"Hm… I'm not sure. Maybe you should ask the sandwich you threw at my head."
"Jack? I suggest we take cover," says Finn. "Things are about to get ugly."
Maddie and I both reach for our water bottles at the same time and spray each other from head to toe. When our bottles are empty we're both stare at each other, waiting to see who cracks first. A smile is trying to make its way onto Maddie's face and her eyes begin to water. Her shoulders shake and she lets out a loud laugh. I throw my arms up in the air. "Yes! I AM VICTORIOUS!"
"But we're not!" Finn shouts.
We turn and see they got some of the splash back, their hair is matted to their foreheads and their shirts are damp. This only makes us laugh harder.
"Is this what happens on a daily basis?!" Jack asks. Maddie goes quiet at Jack's angry tone. I'm getting ready to break his nose when he smiles and says, "Because if it is, I'm having lunch with you guys again. I haven't had this much fun in forever!" Maddie grins, leans over, and kisses his cheek, causing them to both blush.
Finn puts his arm around my shoulder and rests his head on mine, sighing. "Look at them, all blushy and grown up." I laugh and, much to my reluctance, shove Finn off me. "Do you want to start the English project tonight?" he asks me. I smile and nod.
The rest of lunch runs smoother than the start, and by the end I can clearly see what an awesome couple Jack and Maddie would make. On the walk back into school, Maddie and Finn stay behind to talk, so I walk with Jack.
He clears his throat and I look at him. He's around the same height as Finn, and quite a considerable height more than Maddie, so I have to look up. "Uh- does Maddie talk about me? At all? Like, when it's just the two of you? I mean, I was just wondering because-"
"Jack, sweetie, breathe." He gives me a small smile and takes a deep breath. "I'm not going to tell you if she does or not, that's breaking the bro code."
"The bro code only applies to guys."
"Hey, I'm more of a bro then you'll ever be!" I counter, jokingly. "Just ask her out."
"I don't think you understand how much I cannot do that."
"Well either you ask her out, or she thinks you're not interested, or just playing her, and kicks your ass out of her life before you can even say redvine."
He smiles, "She does love redvines." Then after a moment of pondering he says, "Okay, I'm gonna do it. How should I do it? Like… in a note or a text or on the phone or-"
"Jack, breathe!" I remind him again. "Just go up to her and ask her face to face. Look, pretend you're Maddie and I'm you for a second." We stop and he looks at me confused. I then put on my best impression of his low voice and saunter up to him. "Hey baby, how 'bout we start goin' steady?"
He laughs. "Okay, first of all, I'm not Danny Zuko. And second, she'd never say yes to me if I did that! She'd prefer it if it was spontaneous, y'know? Like… as we say goodbye and she starts walking away, grab her hand and pull her back to me, kissing her hard and then saying it softly."
I smile so widely that I fear my cheeks will split. "That's exactly what I wanted you to say. Do that and I swear she'll melt in your arms." Then with a nod and a short goodbye, we part ways.
At the end of the day Finn and I walk home, talking animatedly about Jack and Maddie.
"And is he going to ask her out?"
"You should have heard how he was going to do it, it was the most adorable thing!"
Then Finn goes quiet. "I feel like all my masculinity has been sucked from my body."
"What masculinity?" I ask innocently. His mouth drops open and he shoves me. We both laugh, stumbling through my front door. "MUM! DAD! I'M HOME!" I scream. Finn winces. "Hehe, sorry about that."
"COME IN THE LIVING ROOM, RYE!" I look at Finn and he shrugs. We turn right and walk into the living room. Our living room is fairly large and great for gatherings, like Christmas, because there's lots of room. The TV is mounted on the wall above the fireplace Uncle Beetee turned into a media centre. Mum, Dad, Finn and Annie are all sitting on the sofas, watching old videos from their days as teens. There are familiar faces like Gale and Madge, and some unfamiliar ones. But then- no, I think, it can't be.
"Is that Johanna?!" I laugh, as a menacing looking girl, with jet black hair in a pixie cut, descends the stairs in a pink dress and bow in her hair. Everyone laughs as a young Johanna flips off the camera and storms out of view. I haven't seen Johanna since I was 13 and she flew off to Cambodia to teach at a school. She's been travelling the world ever since, sending home presents from all the countries she's visited and worked in.
"A lot has changed, hasn't it?" Annie says, leaning into Finnick's chest. He kisses the top of her head and I smile. It's always been obvious how much our parents love each other. You can see it in the way the look into the other's eyes.
"Do you want to stay here for dinner?" Dad asks the Odairs. Finnick smiles, "Why not?"
"Riley and I have to do our English project anyway," says Finn. I smile when he uses my nickname. No one else ever calls me that. Just him.
"Hey, how about we make it tradition?" Mum suggests. "Friday night dinner. One week, we'll eat here, the next at yours." Everyone agrees and a tradition is born.
It doesn't take long for dinner to be ready, so Finn and I have only got the introduction to our essay but the rest of the night our efforts are abandoned as we play games with our family in the living room.
"AND WE ARE THE WINNERS!"
"That is so not fair! You cheated!" Annie shouts.
"How did we cheat?!" Finnick retorts.
"You clearly left the paper on the floor for Peeta to see!" Mum yells at him.
"I could not see the paper!" Dad yells back, grinning.
"Oh, really, Dad? How did you guess The Gulag Archielgo from whatever the hell Uncle Finnick was doing?!"
"Well it's a stupid book title anyway." Finnick crosses his arms and stops like a small child. "Who's brilliant mind submitted it in the first place?"
I smirk, tap my head with two fingers and salute him from the floor, where I'm sitting. I hear Dad mutter, "Evil little child." And I stand up to take my go. The Matrix. I roll my eyes and tuck the slip into my pocket. This is going to be easy. I nod at Mum and she starts the timer as I turn to Finn.
I slowly lean backwards and pretend I'm dodging bullets like Neo. Finn laughs and yells out the answer. Everyone groans that it was too easy and when asked who submitted it, Finnick returns my salute with a wink.
Finnick and Annie thank my parents for the meal and I say goodbye to Finn at the door.
"Want to see if Jack and Maddie want to meet up tomorrow? You still have to show me around this place. So far I know, my house, your house and school…"
I smile and say that I'll call Maddie in the morning if he'll call Jack. He says okay and just smiles at me.
"Goodnight, Finny."
"Goodnight, Riley."
And then he's gone.
HEY GROOVY PEOPLE
ok so i didn't update last week because i had family over and because of writers block and just ... yeah. Okay so hopefully this weekend I'll have started a NEW STORY TOO ((it's going to M rated so expect smut (which is not written by me but my best friend as she's MUCH better at writing it then I am)) so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Remember, reviews make me happy and i could really use happy right now I LOVE EVERYONE THAT READS THIS OKAY THANK YOU BYE -panemsbest