I don't own The Hunger Games.
"No. No way, no."
"You could at least listen to rest!"
"I'm not gonna do it! Not for Haymitch, not for you, not for the Queen of freaking England!" Johanna Mason yelled, glaring hard at the three of her old friends who stood before her.
"You always been a quitter, Mason?" Clove challenged, folding her arms across her chest and raising an eyebrow at Johanna.
"You always been a loser, Clove? We're not teenagers anymore, we can't drop everything to go gallivanting off through America in the name of some old man!" Johanna protested. Her right foot was resting on top of a soccer ball, and behind her a group of girls ran various different drills.
"That 'old man' taught you some of the most important life lessons you've ever learned." Finnick snapped defensively.
"Grow up, Finnick. We're not a group of kids looking for kicks anymore- we're young adults with jobs and money to earn. Haymitch isn't Yoda in the form of an old hippy either- he was shoved into an urn three weeks ago and been left on your bedside cabinet!" Johanna snapped back. She turned to Clove.
"And I'm ashamed of you, C. After all the hours we've both put in to get to where we are, you're willing to give it all up for next to nothing? I guess we know who the real hard-worker is now, Harvard girl." Johanna finished. Clove cast her eyes downwards, unwilling to look at her old best friend.
"You can't sacrifice a month? For Haymitch?" Annie asked, breaking her silence.
"Annie, I couldn't sacrifice a week. This is the real world, not that place we used to go in our heads when things went wrong." Johanna's tone was softer when she spoke to Annie, who could do no wrong or harm a fly.
"What about Gale?" Finnick asked. He did not want to have to use that name, but he was desperate to get Johanna on the trip with them.
"What about him?" She answered flatly. It was still a touchy subject for her, not that she'd ever admit it.
"Finnick, don't." Clove warned, her face pale.
"The pact you and Clove made after the trip, to break up with your boyfriends and get studying…I think you owe him an apology. I think this trip could do that."
"See that girl over there?" Johanna pointed to a tall, thin girl with a long red pony tail. "When I'm on the starting sheet and she's my backup that's the only apology I'll ever have to make and trust me boy, it'll be a sarcastic one."
"Jo…"
"I've heard enough Finnick! What don't you understand about the words I'm busy? I'm World Cup material, but if I take any time out now nobody's gonna know that but me!"
"Haymitch knew that." Annie said softly. The three others looked at her, waiting for further explanation. "He's the one that encouraged us all to follow our dreams. He said, 'Johanna, you are a golden girl with golden boots. Fierce on the field, and just as fierce off of it. Never give up on your dreams because you're going places, and never give up on your friends because they want to go to those places with you. Glory lasts a lifetime, but friendship lasts for two.' Do you remember that?"
Johanna looked down at the floor. Wordlessly, she held her hands out palm up. Tattooed across her left wrist in black curly writing were the words 'Glory lasts a lifetime', and across her right wrist the words 'And Haymitch will too'.
"I remember." She said bitterly. "And you three aren't the only ones who miss him. Now I think you all should go."
…
Clove sunk down onto the couch in Finnick's apartment silently. No more than four words had been spoken between them the whole way back.
"Are you sure you'll be alright on the couch tonight, C?" Finnick asked, opening the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water.
"Yeah." She shrugged in response. They sat in silence, Clove on the couch and Finnick and Annie at the kitchen island for a few more minutes until the sound of Finnick's phone snapped them back into a state of reality.
"Are you gonna answer that?" Clove asked, turning around to raise an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah." He shrugged and answered his phone. "Finn."
"I know!" Marvel's voice was easily recognizable, even sounding tinny through Finnick's phone. "I called you!"
"Chill man, I'm sorry!" Finnick stood up and walked away from the island. "What do you mean?... No way. No way. Well get started, then!...Gross, no!...Twenty minutes, maybe?...Elugh. That's disgusting. See you soon."
He turned around, meeting two confused looks from the girls.
"We've been requested."
When they reached Haymitch's old house, Finnick almost ran over a group of arguing teens in the driveway.
"Finnick!" Glimmer yelled. "Please don't make me do it!"
"She has to! Everybody does!" Marvel protested.
"Hey man, I pulled the thing out of the corner and it was heavier than…" Cato trailed off from whatever he was about to say when he saw Clove getting out of the car.
"On second thoughts." He said, immediately looking away again. "See you in there."
"Everybody needs to calm down!" Finnick instructed. Surprisingly, they listened to him. "Guys, come on. We need to clean this thing out. I know none of you want to do it, but everyone has to do it. For Haymitch?"
"For Haymitch." Katniss nodded her head in agreement and went to join Cato in the RV. Grumbling under their breath, the others followed.
Finnick was expecting a mess, but when he stepped into the RV it was like stepping into a landfill site. Haymitch's old take-out cartons and beer cans lined the floor like a carpet. Old pieces of furniture, broken CD's and hug boxes of books lined the counters in the small kitchen and the couches in the main room. The sole bedroom was filled with old sweets and cakes that Haymitch had been hiding from Effie.
"Effie said it would be a mess, but…Ew." Peeta, who had been convinced to come by Katniss, shuddered.
"It's disgusting that we used to sleep in this thing." Gale added.
"Well what were you expecting? This was Haymitch." Finnick rolled his eyes. "Messy, disgusting, old Haymitch who loved and hated all at the same time. Open that box."
Cato opened the one he was pointing at. It was filled with old scrapbooks and photo albums.
"Look." Finnick took one out and opened it. He pulled out on picture, of them at the beach. Cato and Finnick were fighting playfully, Glimmer was sunbathing, Clove and Johanna were having a water fight and the others were helping to build a bonfire. "Remember when he used to do that? Take snap-shots of use that we wouldn't find out about until he needed to calm us down from an argument? Haymitch was a spiteful slob, but he was our spiteful slob."
"I agree." Clove said. "We need to clean this up with a smile on our face because Haymitch is up in heaven laughing his ass off at us cleaning all his shit up."
"Fuck you, Haymitch!" Marvel called, grinning, up at the ceiling of the RV. The others broke into smiles.
"Fuck you, Haymitch!" They all yelled, just as the rain came down.