I'm writing a Finnick/Annie fic at the moment but I also have ideas for another one, so I'm going to need your help! I'm setting up a poll on my profile that basically asks which one I should post, so I'd love it if you could vote. :) I don't own The Hunger Games.
"Did you here that?" Marvel asked Cato. His hand was hovering over Clove and Melissa's hotel room door, as if he was miming knocking.
"No." Cato shrugged. "Just knock."
"Fine." Marvel moved to knock, when he heard a scream and stopped short.
"Do you think they're alright?" Marvel asked, his eyes widening.
"I'm sure they're fine, just knock on the damn door!" Cato sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Get that away from me or so help me I will kill you in your sleep!"
Cato and Marvel exchanged an urgent look, before Cato rammed his shoulder into the hotel room door. It flew open with a crack, revealing the girls' room. Melissa had Clove pinned to the couch, a mascara wand dangling dangerously from her left hand.
"Shit!" Melissa gasped when she looked up at the boys. Clove took the opportunity to wiggle out from underneath her sister and run towards them.
"You knocked our door down!" She yelled, shoving both of the boys.
"We thought you were being killed!" Marvel protested, throwing his hands into the air.
"Well we weren't, and now we don't have a door!" Melissa scowled.
"Sure you do." Cato picked up the door and pushed it back into the frame. "You just have to pick it up whenever you come in and out."
"You're retarded." Melissa sighed, rubbing the space in between her eyebrows with her thumb. The door slipped from the frame and clattered to the floor outside the room.
"What was going on in here anyway?" Cato asked, leaning against the now empty door frame.
"Melissa was trying to force me into wearing make-up." Clove shuddered.
"Hardly!" Melissa protested. "It was just a little bit of lip gloss and mascara! You know Clove, if you made an effort sometimes people might start to see you as more than just the soccer nut!"
"You both like fine." Cato sighed. "Now let's just go."
After the cheerleaders had placed second in their first round of events, Marvel and Cato had agreed to walk Clove and Melissa down to the beach for the party that Clove still wasn't entirely sure she wanted to go to.
"So." She fell into step next to Marvel as Melissa talked Cato's ear off about something or other. "When's your first big game?"
"Tomorrow evening, against one of the more local schools." He answered, absentmindedly scuffing his shoe against the carpet.
"Yeah? Think you'll win?" Clove wasn't really all that interested, but making conversation seemed like a good idea.
"I don't really know. I haven't had a chance to scope out the competition yet." He shrugged.
"Are you alright? You seem a bit...Off." Clove frowned. Usually personal questions weren't really her thing, but Marvel was acting like a kicked puppy.
"Well." He hesitated as they walked out of the elevator. "The girl I like doesn't even know I exist as anything more than a friend. Not even a particularly good friend, just some guy that's always kind of there."
"Oh." Was all Clove could think of to say in response. Did he mean her? She'd never really thought about Marvel like that, but to be fair she hadn't known him for very long. If he did mean her, the sooner he stopped moping the better it would be for the both of them.
"Clove!" Cato grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him.
"What?" She snapped, pulling her wrist back.
"Sorry." He grinned as they stepped outside. "So, what do hard-core sport nuts like you do at beach parties?"
"We drink water and debate NFL drafts." Clove shrugged, shoving his arm away as he tried to slip it round her waist.
"Really? That sounds lame." Cato frowned.
"It was a joke, moron." Clove laughed.
"They really don't get much stupider than you, Cato." Melissa winked. They knew that they were within a stone's throw of the beach when they heard Johanna Mason yelling at the top of her lungs.
"Put me down or I'll kill you all!"
"Sounds like someone's getting dunked." Marvel laughed.
"I should probably go help her out of the ocean." Cato smirked, running off down the beach to help his best friend.
"Clove, Missy! Over here!" Katniss yelled from next to the huge bonfire. She had a paper cup in one hand, and Peeta's arm in the other.
"See you later, Marv." Clove patted him on the shoulder before running over to join Katniss.
"No, front flips are way better!" Glimmer yelled at Cashmere.
"Nope, back flips all the way!" Cashmere argued back, taking small sips from her cup.
"But front flips look cooler, and you can go into handsprings more easily!"
"Back flips show more skill!"
"Save me." Katniss groaned. "They've been arguing nonstop about which cheer moves are better ever since we got here."
"You'd better not drink too much. We have a game tomorrow." Clove said, narrowing her eyes slightly at Katniss.
"Lighten up, Clove. It's diet coke." Katniss laughed.
"Side flips are the best." Melissa cut into the twins' argument. "They look cool, showcase talent and you can go straight in a forward roll."
"Hm. You're probably right." Cashmere shrugged, and pulled Glimmer in for a hug and over-dramatic kiss on the cheek.
"Hey guys!" Annie called, tugging Finnick over towards them with a hidden strength. "We're going swimming."
"You're crazy." Clove scoffed.
"Well, you only live once." Annie grinned.
"Oh, you did not just say that." Katniss scowled.
"It was a joke! Come swimming with me and Finn!" Annie pulled off her clothes, revealing the costume she always wore for swim meets.
"Hell no." Clove shook her head, but Melissa was already taking off her shirt.
"She's insane if she thinks I'm going in there. It's September." Finnick rolled his as the two girls ran off towards the water.
"It's fucking cold!" Johanna yelled, making her way towards them with Cato. Her clothes were dripping wet, and her dark hair hung in strands around her face.
"You look like a drowned rat." Cashmere laughed.
"Thanks." Johanna snapped.
"I had to stop her from killing those guys by dunking her under again." Cato laughed, earning himself a sharp elbow to the ribs from Johanna.
"Help! Help!" The group span around almost in unison when they heard the shouts. Annie was stood waist deep in the water, waving her arms franticly in the air.
"Melissa." Clove breathed in sharply. "Where's Melissa?"
To Clove's relief, Melissa resurface. However, Annie was still calling for help.
"Finnick!" She screamed. "We can't find Madge!"
Finnick was quick to pull off his shirt and run down towards the ocean, diving in as soon as he could. Clove ran towards the water edge, the others hot on her heels. Gale was nearly having a panic attack on the shoreline.
"It's going to be okay." Clove promised, patting him on the shoulder.
"Thanks." Gale responded, his voice shaking. What else was she going to say? Sorry Gale, but it's dark and they might never find your girlfriend.
Finnick resurfaced and took a huge gulp of air before diving back underwater.
"This is all my fault!" Annie was crying as she clung on to Katniss. "It was my idea!"
"I told you it was stupid. That could have been you." Clove snapped as Melissa trudged over to her.
"Yeah. I know."
"Oh my God!" Peeta yelled. Finnick had resurfaced, this time with Madge slung over his shoulders.
"Madge!" Gale ran forward as Finnick dropped her on her back on the sand.
"Keep back." He warned. "Somebody call an ambulance!"
Finnick pumped her chest for a while, before pinching her nose lowering his mouth to hers to try and resuscitate her. He started to pump her chest again, and breathed more air into her lungs. Madge started coughing, and Finnick rolled her on to her side so that she could spit up water before sitting up properly.
"Are you okay?" Gale asked, fussing with the wet hair that was stuck to her forehead.
"I'm fine." She said, but she was shivering.
"I told you it was cold." Johanna whispered to Clove, who shot her a glare.
"The girl almost died!" Clove hissed back. The ambulance arrived shortly afterwards, and Madge was taken to the hospital with Gale.
"Will you drive us to the hospital?" Melissa asked Clove. "I think you're one of the only ones that isn't either soaking wet or been drinking."
"I'd love too." Clove snapped sarcastically. "If I was seventeen and had my license. My birthday's not for another month, idiot."
"I'll drive. I haven't had anything to drink." Peeta offered.
…
Peeta had eight seats in his car, but they had to get creative. He drove and Katniss rode shotgun. Cato, Finnick and Cashmere took the middle three seats and Clove, Melissa and Johanna took the back three. Annie sat on Finnick's knee, and Glimmer was squeezed in between him and Cato. Marvel, they discovered, fit perfectly in the trunk of the car. Every time Peeta hit a bump or a pothole, they heard a bang and then Marvel groan something unintelligible about his head.
"This is exactly why you shouldn't drink on sports breaks." Clove said, folding her arms and gazing out of the window.
"Shut up, Clove." Melissa and Johanna snapped at almost the same time.
"Just because you're a stick in the mud that won't drink even three days before a game doesn't mean that we all have to follow your rules." Johanna added.
"I'll bench you." Clove threatened.
"I'll bench you, I'm vice and you're a bitch." Johanna laughed. Clove cracked a smile before turning back to the window.
"Anyway, it's not like we knew that Madge was going to, like, drown." Cashmere protested, brushing her hair.
"Yeah, Clove. It's not our fault that she, like, drowned." Cato mocked. Cashmere made a humph sound, and hit him in the head with her hairbrush.
"Can you guys just shut up for two seconds please? We're nearly there." Peeta sighed. "You guys drive me crazy."
"You love us Peeta!" Glimmer exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air and almost walloping Finnick on the nose.
Madge was sat upright in bed talking with Gale when they arrived at the hospital.
"Hey guys." She smiled sheepishly when they walked in. "Thanks for saving my life."
"All in a day's work." Finnick grinned, sitting down on the edge of her bed.
"So what did the nurse say?" Annie asked, sitting on the other side of the bed.
"They're keeping me in overnight just to be safe. They won't let me out until ten tomorrow." Madge sighed and ran a hand through her still wet hair.
"Ten o'clock tomorrow?!" Glimmer exploded.
"We have a cheer meet at nine! It's round two!" Cashmere added.
"We need you! You're our third flyer! Nobody else will be willing to stay up all night and learn the routine! And even if they are, we don't have anyone good enough!" Annie panicked. A silence spread across the room as the three girls turned slowly to face Clove.
"Oh no." She laughed. "No way."
…
"I can't believe you talked me into doing this."
"You look great, and you'll do fantastic!" Melissa tossed Clove a pair of pompoms, one purple and one black.
"I'm wearing a split leotard. I never thought I'd have to wear one of these evil contraptions again." The sleeves stopped at her elbows, and it was literally like somebody had cut a leotard and handed it to her in two pieces. The top half was black and stripped with purple, and the bottom half was covered by a matching skirt. Her trainers were purple and black and a little too big for her. Her legs and stomach had been fake tanned, but subtly so she was more sun kissed than orange. She had been forced into wearing pale pink lip gloss and mascara when Annie claimed that the judges thought it made them look more 'presentable'. Clove had snapped something rude about how Annie should just stick to the swim team and not tell her what to do, so Annie had poked Clove in the eye with her mascara wand.
"They're not that bad." Melissa laughed as she stretched out her muscles.
"They are. In New Hampshire, we wore leotards that actually had middles." Clove said, gasping in mock horror.
"West Palm High, please take your place!"
"This is it! Remember to smile!" Melissa grinned. She grabbed Clove's arm and pulled her out into the bright lights of the cheer tent.
…
"Go on Clove! Knock 'em dead!" Johanna hollered from the audience.
"Jo, shut up. You'll only embarrass her and then she'll mess up and kill someone." Cato poked the top of Johanna's back hard. She turned around from her seat just below him in the tiered stands to glare at him before turning back.
"There they are." Marvel pointed towards the circular stage, where the girls and three guys were running on.
"Damn." Cato let out a low whistle. "She looks good."
"That is exactly why she thinks you're a pig." Finnick said, rolling his eyes.
"Tell me that you weren't checking out Annie just then." Cato raised an eyebrow at Finnick.
"Fine, whatever. You're not a pig."
"Don't worry, I still think that you're one." Marvel said, folding his arms across his chest as the music started playing and the cheerleaders sprung into their routine.
When Clove had told Cato that she used to be a cheerleader, there had been a part of him that didn't really believe it. However, watching her now was like watching an Allstars performance. She had the look, she had the right body shape to be a flyer, and she definitely had the skill. She was being thrown into the air and was flipping around as if she had a string attached to her back and somebody was pulling her up and down.
"I didn't think she'd be so good." Cato admitted.
"Me neither. She has quite the set of skills. Cheer, track, soccer…What can't she do?" Marvel asked, smiling as Clove, Melissa and another girl were tossed into the air and caught again by the male cheerleaders.
"Socialize." Finnick laughed. Cato shoved his head, holding back his own laugh.
"Sorry, Cato. Did I offend your baby?" Finnick mocked, dragging out the word 'baby'.
"Dude, seriously, shut up before I punch you in the face." Cato warned, watching as half the cheerleaders went into the splits and the other half did backflips with their pompoms held high in the air to finish the routine.
"You might wanna snap her up before someone else does." Finnick whispered, nodding subtly to Marvel.
"He acts weird whenever she and her sister are around."
"I had noticed, yeah." Cato frowned. It bothered him way more than he thought it would. If it was any other girl, Cato knew that Marvel wouldn't stand a chance. Money didn't mean anything if you were up against someone with looks and a starting position on the football team. Marvel was definitely a better guy than him, but most girls never cared enough to find that out.
It bothered Cato because he knew that Clove would see straight through that, if she wanted too. She'd be one of the only girls who saw Marvel for who he really was and if that happened, Cato feared that she would never look his way again.