I don't own the Hunger Games.
"You're going to do great today." Parker grinned broadly at her from the drivers' seat. "Seriously, you'll kill it."
"Thanks." Annie mumbled, rubbing her right foot up and down over the rough carpet floor of his car. Parker had offered to drop her off at the training field bright and early that morning so that Annie could run her mile sprint and get back to her game day prep. Today, it would be just her and Enobaria- and it would be that way for the rest of the week.
"You should go. I'll pick you up after the game." Parker pecked her on the cheek before she got out of the car. Waving, Annie watched him drive away. She loved Parker, she honestly did. But he was like a brother to her, and didn't possess the same desirable qualities that a certain green-eyed, bronze-haired quarterback did.
"Annie. You're on time." Enobaria grunted by way of greeting when Annie joined her on the practice field.
"I try." Annie smiled weakly.
"Stretch." Enobaria commanded. Obediently, Annie began stretching out her hamstrings and quads.
"What time do I have to run today?" She asked whilst stretching.
"4:40:53." The coach answered. "That will be an improvement of two seconds. It's a push, but I wouldn't ask you to do it if I didn't believe that you could."
"Right. Okay." Annie nodded slowly and pushed her huger to the back of her mind. She hadn't eaten that morning, and her stomach was crying out for chocolate chip pancakes with a side of bacon. She would not give into it though, not if she wanted to be good enough.
"Are you ready?" Enobaria asked. Annie nodded in response.
"Go!" The coach yelled, and punched the button on her stopwatch.
Running had been easier before. Swimming had always been Annie's sport, but she was a good runner at both distance and sprints. A month ago she could have sprinted a mile in a flat 4:30:00 if she pushed hard enough- but it was not a month ago anymore, and she couldn't remember when she had last had a proper meal. It had only been two weeks since she consulted Cassidy, but that had been enough time to hollow her face and turn her a skin a slightly noticeable colour that was somewhere between off-white and straw yellow. Not that she saw that when she looked in the mirror- she saw only the journey ahead of her, to become good enough for the world she was living in now.
"4:40:45!" Enobaria punched the stopwatch off. "Cutting it close there, Cresta. Same time tomorrow."
"Yeah." Annie rested her hands on her knees as she panted and tried to ignore the black spots that danced across her vision. "Same time tomorrow."
…
Today was one of the biggest games that Finnick would play of the regular season. The Capitol Lizards were coming out to the Panem Stadium today, and he was well prepared for the epic clash of heads that would cause.
Finnick had followed his pre-game ritual down to a tee- he had woken up at six that morning and drunk the kale, blueberry and banana protein shake that Izabelle had made him that morning before she left for the stadium. He had watched the morning news before working out for an hour. He showered, dressed, and grabbed his gym bag before leaving his house. When he got to the stadium, he received an upper body massage to relieve any knots or tension in his shoulders. Then he attended a meeting with the coaches and Panem's offence to go over last minute details and iron out any kinks. His pre-game activities seemed to be working- Panem were undefeated so far this season, and he was on average throwing for two hundred and thirty yards per game for three and a half touchdowns with very few interceptions.
Panem had been training for this game harder than they ever had for any other game that season. They were hitting their marks with a new form of aggression, and they were out for blood. After speaking to Johanna, it became clear to Finnick that the cheerleaders were too. The football field was about to turn into an all-out battle ground.
"Are you ready for this?" Cato asked as they changed into their padding and Panem kits.
"Born ready, Stone." Finnick grinned back at him as he picked up his helmet. He stepped out into the middle of the locker room and held his arms out.
"Huddle up!"
The team gathered around him, looking at him with fire in their eyes. They were more than ready to run out against the Lizards.
"We've got this, guys. We've been going at it better than ever- there's no way they can beat us. We're in amazing form right now. This game will be tough and they might fight dirty, but I know that you can all hold your heads up high and keep your cool. We're going to win this with style and class. For Panem!"
"For Panem!" They cheered back and broke. Gale clapped Finnick on the back and grinned at him.
"Let's go kick some Lizard tail."
…
It was in the dying minutes of the second quarter that Finnick got sacked. It was a joint tackle- two of the Lizards' biggest guys sidestepped his protection and took him down, one wrapping his chest and the other his legs. Finnick hit the ground hard, but didn't let go of the ball.
"Uhh." He groaned as the roars of protest flared up from the home crowd. He handed the ball to Cato who leaned over him with a worried expression on his face and his helmet in his hand.
"You good, cap?" He asked.
"Yeah, great." Finnick replied, but he made no move to get up. Waves of pain danced up and down his spine.
"Where are you hurt?"
He had barely even noticed the medics arrive at his side and push his teammates back.
"My back." Finnick grunted.
"Shake your feet for me." The lady that spoke had patched him up more times than he could really remember. Finnick did as she asked, and she sighed in relief.
"Think you can carry on?" She asked, knowing that if Finnick could stand then he would damn well play the game out.
"Wild horses couldn't keep me away, sugar." He laughed. The medic offered him a hand and he accepted it gratefully. He wobbled on his feet for a few seconds before regaining balance as the audience cheered loudly.
"Green goose!" Finnick yelled the play, well aware that they were a field goal down with only two minutes left in the quarter.
When halftime rolled around, Finnick stayed on the sidelines.
"Not coming in?" Cato asked him with one eyebrow raised.
"No way. My back'll seize up so bad you'll be pushing me around in a wheelchair for a week."
"Yeah, because I would be the one doing that." Cato muttered as he walked inside the tunnel.
The halftime show was starting, except it was a little different than usual. At most home games, the Panem cheerleaders would perform their new routines and fire Allstars merchandise into the crowds with the guns. This time, Johanna, Clove and an older cheerleader that Finnick didn't know the name of walked into the middle of the football field.
"Candy!" Johanna yelled through a megaphone and pointed at the Lizards' cheer captain. Finnick remembered her from his junior year, barely. She hadn't had a face tattoo then, and her hair had been a lighter. They had gone on a few dates, but they fizzled out the more he hung with Izabelle.
The captain walked out to meet then with her own vice-captains and met Johanna's glare with one of her own.
"Have we got a problem here, Josephine?" Candy asked through Johana's megaphone. The whole stadium had gone quite.
"Yeah, bonbon. We do. And I think we should settle it with a cheer-off. No mats." Johanna said, and Finnick was reminded of high school all over again.
Candy grinned coldly.
"Challenge accepted, Mason."
The rest of the cheerleaders ran out to meet their respective captains to the cheers of the crowd. Panem were quick to get into position, and a fast-paced dance song started to play. They broke into a dance in perfect unison. The tumblers flipped and handsprung between them in a series of complicated tricks. They broke off into three groups, and the flyers were tossed into the air and bust the same shape in the same unison. Finnick watched as Annie executed a perfect arabesque with her right leg out behind her and her arms stretched out. The bases let her down and tossed her up again at the same time as the other two groups, and the three flyers completed three backwards somersaults before being caught. The next time they were held up they each completed a liberty one after the other, with the right legs bent and their arms in a 'V' position. The three groups quickly re-joined the others, who had kept up the dance. The tumblers were having a field, flipping and kicking their way around the field. Panem were fast-paced, fierce, and hungry for victory. They ended in three pyramids with three on each bottom row, two in each middle and Clove, Cassidy and Annie on the top of each. The crowd erupted into cheers as the music cut out and the squad dismantled their pyramids and clapped the audience.
Candy organised her squad into three lines with her at the front and the dance track started. She did a move and the cheerleaders copied, followed by a chain of movements completed in the same fashion. Two tumblers ran up the sides from the back, doing somersaults and handsprings until they reached the front. The Lizards did more dancing and tumbling than the Panem Allstars had, but they hoisted their flyers into the air for an arabesque halfway through their routine and then again at the end to finish with them in four separate scorpions, where the flyers reached over their shoulders to grab a leg and pull it up to their head in a circle. The crowd cheered for them, but it was obvious that Panem had been cleaner, more precise and riskier in their routine. It had paid off, and even Candy could tell she was beat.
"You totally blind-sided us with this!" She protested loudly, but the Panem cheerleaders had already started their victory lap- and when the football game was finished, the Allstars were champions by eleven points.
I know you've been waiting a while, so you might start seeing some actual Finnick/Annie stuff soon if you're lucky. :P