I realized I left a sentence half-finished in last chapter, oops. You can blame my tired eyes for that one. It's supposed to have said 'She was stupidly thin and when she thought about it she realized Izabelle was too.' But I'm too lazy to change it. :)
I don't own The Hunger Games.
Annie gasped loudly as Johanna slapped her square in the face.
"You're not fat Annie. Stop talking shit." She snapped at her, punching the younger girl in the shoulder for good measure.
"So why does everyone keep telling me I am?" Annie asked glumly as she slammed her locker shut.
"Like who?" Johanna placed her hands on her hips and glared menacingly at Annie who, especially with her lack of height, couldn't have weighed more than one hundred and fifteen pounds.
"Bryson Hayes." She mumbled.
"The Lizard's player?!"
"Yeah. And other people have hinted at it. I've seen it- guys like thin girls and people are making it clear that I'm…Well, that I'm not." Annie sighed as she ran a hairbrush through her hair, part of her pre-training morning prep.
"Annie, decent guys like girls with personality, no matter what their size is. All girls are beautiful, you don't to be thin to be pretty but Annie you are thin so shut up and let's get training you idiot." Johanna yelled at her. She turned Annie around by the shoulders and pushed her through the doors into the gym area.
"I've been waiting for you two to get out here." Enobaria was practically spitting with rage.
"Wassup coach?" Johanna asked casually, warning herself a whip on the wrist with the coach's whistle.
"You two are in deep, deep trouble." Enobaria said, narrowing her eyes at them. "Marvel! Cassidy! Clove! Get over here, now!"
"What's wrong, coach?" Clove asked, almost pulling off the innocent look.
"I think you damn well know what's wrong." She led them over to a table and dropped a copy of the daily news on it. "Cassidy! Here, now! I know you heard me the first time!"
"God, who pissed in her- oh, crap." Cassidy cut herself off as her gaze dropped to the paper. The front cover showed a picture of the group with their hoods up as they searched outside for the window to the locker room. Their faces were hidden, but the hoodie Johanna wore was the same as always- black with a white lightning bolt on the back. It had been limited edition two years ago when she got it and she wore it everywhere.
"Please explain this." Enobaria snapped.
"Explain what? That's not us." Johanna said calmly.
"Don't play dumb with me, Johanna Mason! You cut up their uniforms! You could get done for vandalism, as well as breaking and entering!" Enobaria was red in the face, her ears practically steaming with anger.
"Wasn't us." Clove shrugged. "There's no evidence that it was."
"Watch yourselves, girls."
"Hey!" Marvel protested.
"Just watch it." Enobaria growled, before grabbing her clipboard and storming off to yell at the other girls.
"Johanna!" Cassidy hissed at the older girl. "You almost got us arrested!"
"Oh, don't you blame this on me! Your skinny ass is recognizable anywhere!"
There was that word again. Skinny. In her heart, Annie knew she wasn't fat at all. But with all these people throwing words around about being fat or just not thin enough or being heavy, it hurt to think about the possibility that maybe in the sporting world did think that she was overweight.
"Cassidy? Can I talk to you?" Annie asked, folding her arms across her stomach awkwardly. Cassidy rolled her eyes and pulled Annie by the arm away from the others.
"What do you want, newbie?" She sighed impatiently.
"How do you, um, stay thin all the time? Like, thinner than me?" Annie asked uncomfortably. Cassidy was bone thin- you could see the outline of her ribs and you could probably cut your hand open on her cheek bones. Her collarbone stuck out like a welt, but she still managed to look gorgeous all the time. Annie wanted that.
"Two meals a day- A banana, orange, and coffee for breakfast. A simple salad and a bottle of water for lunch. You wouldn't be used to that sort of diet, so add toast in the morning and some kind of chicken or fish to the salad. Also, try pasta in just, like, tomato sauce for your dinner. I'll have it before game days because apparently carbs are necessary." Cassidy explained.
"How do you manage to keep cheering on so little?" Annie got woozy if she had less than a bowl of cereal and a protein shake for breakfast.
"I do two protein shakes a week and get sleep. A lot of it. I also don't do any other exercise because that would drain me- I just lie and say that I do."
"Oh. Okay. Thanks." Annie mumbled.
"Why do you ask?" Cassidy asked, folding her arms across her chest as she rose an eyebrow at Annie.
"No reason."
"I see it you know, Annie. You're getting tired of being compared to girls that are supermodel thin. And whilst you're definitely not fat, you're not at the level the media are going to want you to be at. You need to lose ten pounds." Cassidy said, tapping her foot impatiently. "Now if you don't mind, I've got routines to learn."
…
"So…"
"What?" Finnick asked, shuffling uncomfortably away from Cato. He'd been watching him with a raised eyebrow for the last ten minutes as they ate their lunch.
"Fine, whatever. Keep it to yourself." Cato shrugged. He shovelled a forkful of chicken salad into his mouth and washed it down with a glug of his protein shake.
"Dude, I seriously don't know what you're talking about." Finnick laughed.
"Your little trip that you got back from yesterday evening? You're not going to talk about how you've been all smiley and quiet since?" Cato asked, poking his team mate with his fork.
"No I haven't." Finnick brushed the comment off.
"Yes. You have. Cresta got anything to do with it?"
"Annie? Come on Cato, you know I'm a faithful guy."
"I also know that your girlfriend's controlling as hell." Cato said, rolling his eyes at Finnick. The sooner he admitted his attraction to Annie the better, was Cato's way of seeing it.
"Shut up, Jackass." Finnick grabbed Cato and rubbed his knuckles over his skull.
"You didn't even deny it, asshole." Cato laughed, tearing free of Finnick's grip.
"Yeah, because it's true. But that doesn't mean that I don't still love her, and I'm going to leave her and run off with some cheerleader! He deserves better than that." Finnick explained, pushing his salad around his plate. The coach had him on a strange diet, and he wasn't really sure what the hell it was that he was eating and it didn't exactly taste too good.
"She not just 'some cheerleader' to you though, Finnick. You have an interest in her- she intrigues you. Yeah you love Izabelle, but like a sister. You need to get past that high school sweetheart thing and realize what you really want." Cato was wise for such a young person, not that Finnick would ever tell him that.
"And you know what I really want, hm?" This time it was Finnick's turn to raise an eyebrow.
"Yup. You're my bro, Finn. I can see the way you look at Annie, but there's nothing in the way you look at Iz."
"Ugh. You're right, I just…I can't." Finnick groaned, tugging at his hair.
"Can't or won't?" Cato asked, finishing off his protein shake.
"Can't. I can't just get rid of her. We've been together for years and I owe her pretty much everything. She deserves way better than someone who would leave her for a girl he's not even allowed to date."
"She'll understand, Finn. She cares about you and she'll want you to be happy."
"Fuck off with the kumbaya, Cato. This'll break her and she'll think that I've been using her." Finnick half-heartedly shoved his friend.
"No she won't. Even if she does, it's nicer to break it off with her than stay when you're not interested." Cato shoved Finnick back.
"I can't do it, Cato. I can't. I don't want to be that guy. I'm not even allowed to date Annie if we're both with Panem, and Iz has been really great to me. I can make it work, I just need to bring that spark back." Finnick said, more like he was trying to convince himself than Cato.
"You can't relight a fire with embers that have already blown out." Cato said with a wisdom of someone twice his age.
"Fuck you, Stone."
…
"Annie. Annie, wait up!"
"Oh, hey Parker." Annie greeted her friend once she had turned around. She was currently undergoing her evening run, and Parker was panting to catch up with her as she started her thirty second sprints.
"Damn, Annie. Why are you so fast?" He asked as he caught up to her.
"Evolution?" She joked, half-smiling. Her stomach was growling- she'd skipped dinner.
"Ha-ha. Hilarious." Parker rolled his eyes and poked Annie in the shoulder.
"Can you make this quick? It's just that my shift starts in half an hour and I have to finish my run and have a shower." Annie poked Parker back, harder.
"Right. Um, okay. I've decided that I'm going to stick around. Maryland's not really for me, and the Ravens can wait." Parker explained nervously.
"Oh my God, Parker! Why?" Annie was shocked- cheer was everything to Parker.
"Because…Well, because of you. Annie, you're my best friend. You never knew, but I've been in love with you since were thirteen years old and you kicked me in the face. I can't leave because you're here, and I want to be wherever you are." Parker licked his lips, anxiously awaiting Annie's reply.
Now she was even more shocked. She had had a tiny feeling inside of her that Parker was gay. Now he was confessing his love for her? She was beyond confused.
"Um…Parker, I don't know what to say." Annie stammered.
"Just say you'll be my girlfriend. There's nothing that I want more than to make you happy."
Parker knew everything about Annie, and vice versa. He cared about her more than anyone else did, and he'd always been there for her. They'd make a good couple, right?
"I…I will. I'll be your girlfriend."