Chapter 4

Secrets out

With Finnick's help, we found him in no time. It turns out Haymitch and Effie had gotten married near his house and Finnick remembered just where it was.
We knocked on the door to the large building. The door opened almost immediately. Mr. Anderson was a tall, dark haired, grey eyes middle aged man. He was also the stupidest man in the world for marrying Haymitch and Effie.
The man seemed pleased to see Effie and Haymitch. He was all smiles until Peeta asked him if Haymitch and Effie were officially married.

"Sorry, they're married." The man said. "There's nothing I can do, get a divorce if you regret it."

"So, it's official?" I asked. He nodded. He searched through a pile of papers until he found the one he was looking for.

"Here you go," he said. "I forgot to give you these yesterday." He handed them to Effie.

"What is this?" she asked.

"The papers you both signed." He said. Effie's eyes widened.

"So I did sign that!" She gasped. "Oh my! I'm married to Haymitch!" Haymitch didn't seem too happy about it either.

"How could you marry them?" I said. He shrugged.

"Well, I just thought they had come to their senses – now if you'll excuse me, I have things to tend to. You can make your way out." He gestured toward the door. Peeta took my hand and led us out.

"That was quick." Peeta said. I looked at Haymitch who suddenly looked like he needed a drink really badly. I couldn't blame him.

"See!" Prim said. "I'm not the only one who thinks Haymitch and Effie would eventually get married! The whole country knew it!" She was ignored.
We walked silently to Finnick and Annie's house. Next to me, Finnick kept elbowing me. I guess he wanted me to tell Peeta that Gale was coming to visit. You know what, I don't need to deal with him. I already have Haymitch and Effie's marriage drama to deal with.

"Finnick broke your lamp, Annie." I said. "You know the one your mother gave you when you were six." Finnick's mouth fell open with a pop. Annie stopped walking.

"You didn't." she gasped.

"Oh he did." I said. "That's why you haven't seen it."

"You said you took it to get it cleaned!" Annie yelled.

"Gale is coming to visit!" Finnick yelled. Peeta's hand released mine. Oh . . .no.

"What?" Peeta asked. I glared at Finnick. "Katniss!" I squirmed away from his gaze.

"Katniss invited him." Finnick smiled. Traitor! Annie hit him on the back of the head. "Ow!"

"You invited that – that –" Peeta sighed.

"Well last time you guys met –"

"Was a disaster." He said. "Look Katniss, Gale is your best friend and I don't mind that you guys talk but that thing and I do not get along! Remember what happened last time?" Oh, I do. And that is why I was hesitant to tell Peeta. You see, last time Gale came to visit him and Peeta had made a competition out of everything. Who could eat the most food, who could make the best food, who knew more about me, who knew where all the edible berries were in the forest - it was a disaster. Especially when Peeta won all of those. I mean, you would expect for Gale to know at least twenty edible berries and plants in the forest but he didn't. I'm sure the only reason Peeta knew about them was because of me and the book of Plants I had.

"When is he coming?" Prim asked.

"In two days." Finnick smiled. I glared. "Hey! You sold me out! It's only fair!" I took a deep breath reminding myself not to get too worked up.

"God, Finnick!" Annie said, still thinking about her lamp. "You are going to get it! Say goodbye to that stupid trident of yours!" Finnick's face drained of blood.

"Stop it!" Effie said. "Stop arguing about your silly problems! Mine are much bigger than any of yours combined! Do you realize what's going to happen when people hear Haymitch and I are married?"

"Shut up Effie!" I yelled. "The only thing that is going to happen is that reporters are going to harass you! It doesn't matter!"

"You like the attention after all." Peeta said.

"Not this kind of attention!" Effie cried. "I want a divorce!"

"So do I!" Haymitch said.

"I want my lamp!" Annie said. Finnick cringed away from her glares.

"I want Gale gone but that's not going to happen now is it?" Peeta said.

"So you can just deal with your own problems and we'll deal with ours!" I said. I grabbed Peeta's hand and started to walk home. I saw Annie and Finnick going the other way to their house and Haymitch leaving with Effie at his heels. It didn't occur to me what happened to Prim until I was nearly home.

Short, I know and I am so sorry for not updating. Really, I'm so sorry. I won't give any excuses because I know there aren't any. I'll try to update later today.

Thanks for reading and sticking with the story!