This is literally Katniss' worst nightmare.

The last thing that she wants is to be alone with Peeta Mellark. And, as fate would have it, she's been thrown together with him again.

You would think that her body language would be enough of a clue that she doesn't want to talk. She keeps her eyes fixed ahead, skims the lockers with her shoulder as she walks, crosses her arms tightly over her chest. The negative energy is practically radiating from her skin.

But obviously, Peeta's too dim to understand.

"Weird day," he says at one point, breaking the tense silence between them.

Katniss pretends not to hear and hums under her breath.

He tries again when they pause in front of the vending machine near the cafeteria, noisily jangling the quarters in his palm. "So, uh. What do you want to drink?" he asks, laughing uncomfortably. "Pick your poison."

Oh, he shouldn't tease like that.

"I don't care," Katniss mutters. The first words she's spoken all day, and to Peeta Mellark, no less. "Get whatever you want."

"Okay," he says, his voice shaking a little. She actually turns to look at him for the first time since she caught him staring at her this morning. God, his cheeks are actually flaming. What the hell does he have to be embarrassed about? "You sure?"

Katniss rolls her eyes. So now he's all chivalrous, now that it's just the two of them, alone. Where was that attitude on Thursday afternoon?

"Like I said, I don't care," she snaps. "Would you hurry up?"

Peeta's eyes widen when she loses her cool, but he starts feeding coins into the machine anyway. He shouldn't look so scandalized. They both know that she's capable of doing much worse.

…

"What do you think's taking them so long?" Annie wonders aloud, picking absently through her paper bag lunch. A peanut butter sandwich with the crusts cut off, a Macintosh apple, and a chocolate chip cookie. All that's missing is a drink.

"Who knows?" Johanna grumbles, sliding into the chair next to Annie. She pilfers the cookie out of Annie's bag without comment and takes a bite before making a face and setting it back down on the table. "I'll bet you anything that they're hate-fucking in the bathroom. You should have seen the way they were looking at each other earlier."

Annie's face flushes red enough to match her hair. She's just not used to hearing people speak so crassly. It's not like her friends on the decathlon team say things like that off-hand. "I'm sure they're not," she mumbles, trying to play off her mortification with a casual shrug.

"Look at you," Johanna says with a sneer. "You're so fucking pure, aren't you?"

She's indignant. "I'm not!" Annie insists, but somehow, she manages to flush even more deeply than before. "I just—don't think that we should be talking about other people's business."

Johanna tips her head back as she laughs. "Oh—oh, my God," she gasps, swiping at her watering eyes when she manages to regain her composure. "What, are you like twelve years old?"

Annie frowns at the table. "No." And then she takes a bite of a triangle slice of her peanut butter sandwich.

"This is too much," Johanna cackles. "You're in high school. You can't seriously be this innocent, can you?" She cocks an eyebrow at Annie. "Can you?"

Annie doesn't know how to respond.

"I bet you're a virgin," Johanna says, scrutinizing her with narrowed eyes. "Wait. I bet you've never even kissed a guy before." She watches Annie closely for any sign of weakness, a cruel smirk on her lips. "Am I right?"

Just when Annie thinks that she's about to die of embarrassment, Finnick chooses this exact moment to stroll over to the table from the back of the library. "What are we talking about?" he asks, dropping himself into the seat across from Johanna.

Annie can scarcely breathe.

"We're discussing the legions of men that Annie over here has lured into her bed," Johanna says with an eye-roll. "Go on, Annie. Tell Finnick all about it."

She responds with a painful blush and lowers her eyes to the floor.

"Lay off her, Johanna," Finnick says sharply after a moment of silence. "Seriously. Can you be cool for even two seconds?"

Johanna scoffs. "Just trying to make conversation," she says, but even so, she rises from her seat and stalks off toward the cluster of couches in the center of the room.

Annie lifts her eyes tentatively. Finnick is miraculously sitting across from her. And, dear God, he's actually looking at her. She feels herself starting to melt under his steady gaze.

"Sorry about her," Finnick whispers. He leans in across the table conspiratorially. "I don't know if you know this, but she can be kind of a bitch sometimes."

When Annie manages to chuckle, she is rewarded with a gentle smile.

"Thanks," she says. She means it in more ways than one.

Finnick's eyes scan her face. She feels a twinge in her chest when he frowns, wondering what he sees, which flaw he's fixating on. But then he says something miraculous.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" he asks, knotting his eyebrows together. "You look really familiar."

Annie nods. A little too eagerly, but she can't help herself. "Trig class," she says shyly, tucking her hair behind her ear. "With Mr. Latier. I sat behind you, near the window."

She isn't expecting the flash of recognition in his eyes. "Oh! You were, like, his favorite," Finnick says with a grin. "God. You put the rest of us to shame."

Annie flushes with pride. And, okay, maybe she's internally screaming that Finnick Odair noticed her. "I wouldn't say that," she hedges. She doesn't mention how many times he drove her to distraction in that class. How easy it was to let everything else go.

"Agree to disagree," he says with a smile. That perfect, shiny smile that sparks heat in her stomach. "Well, Annie, I have to say. I never would have thought in a million years that we'd end up in here together."

Oh. Her heart soars. "Me neither."

"Guess you'll have to work on that excessive tardiness issue, if you want to avoid coming here again."

She fights a smile unsuccessfully. But could you blame her? He remembers these tiny details about her.

"What about you?" she hears herself teasing him back. "With that whole—um." Damn, she can't bring herself to say it without blushing at the thought of him. Emerging from the pool, dappled by the moonlight streaming in through the bay windows, little water droplets clinging to the ends of his golden hair, and his taut muscles—

"Yeah, I'll have to try to stay off school property after hours," he says with a shrug. "Or, I don't know. I'll have to start keeping better company."

Annie bites her lip.

"Are you two gonna screw already, or what?" Johanna calls from the couch, her legs draped over the back. They look at each other and sigh.

But Annie doesn't think that she imagines the color rising in his cheeks.