Unscriptedcanonize requested: "Olive got into trouble at school & the school called Haymitch and Effie down :)"
He was convinced the end of the world was happening when Effie burst into the living room in a deranged panic. At first, he wasn't sure what she was going on about. But the moment he heard Olive's name, he assumed the worst. It was only after Effie assured him that their daughter was not dead but in an even worse fate-the principal's office-did his body finally relax. Without even a moment to attempt to console the frantic woman, they were out the door and heading to the elementary school.
"They wouldn't tell me what she did," Effie said breathlessly as they entered the office. "Only that we were needed. I'm sure that this is a mistake. It must be a mistake."
The secretary looked irritated by Effie's constant blabbering as she led them both into the principal's quarters. Haymitch's eyes scanned the room, landing at once on his daughter who sat perfectly still in a chair. For a moment, their eyes met and Haymitch could see the mixture of anger and guilt swimming in them. He and Effie took their seats adjacent to her as the overworked, underpaid man behind the desk cleared his throat.
"Mr. Abernathy, Ms-"
"I prefer to go by my maiden name," Effie informed him. "Trinket."
"Yes," the man said scratching his chin. "Well, I apologize to be pulling you from your busy schedules, but your daughter, Olive, had an incident on the playground today. She hit another student."
Haymitch merely raised an eyebrow in response as Effie let out an over-exaggerated gasp. He turned, making sure Olive's gaze met his own straight on.
"Is that true, kid?" He inquired.
"He was asking for it…" she mumbled quietly.
"I assure you," Effie addressed the principal as she glared at Olive. "We do not condone this kind of behavior at the household. Olive is a good girl. I'm sure…I'm sure she must have had some reason… We'll take care of this matter, I promise. It won't happen again."
After much negotiating on Effie's part, Olive's punishment was brought down to only one day of suspension. As the Abernathys left in almost complete silence (with the exception of much chiding from his daughter's mother) Haymitch decided to finally hear Olive's side of the story that she was so unwilling to bring forth in her defense at school.
"So," he said looking to Olive. "Mind telling me what brought on that kind of behavior?"
Olive shuffled her feet slowly as she stared at the ground. "He said something I didn't agree with," she mumbled.
"And that gave you the right to inflict violence upon him?" Effie snapped. "Olive Portia Abernathy, I expected-"
"Give the kid a moment to talk, Princess," Haymitch interrupted. "What do you mean, Olive? What did he say?"
A look of shame flickered across Olive's features. "We were learning about the Capitol today. And…and we talked a little about what it was like during the Hunger Games. Not much. But when we went out to recess, this boy-his name is Sycamore Lewis-came up to me and said his brother told him that they should have killed all of the Capitol citizens like mom because of what they did to District Twelve," her voice broke and he watched as her fists clenched. "So I punched him. He deserved it. And I'm not sorry."
Haymitch and Effie looked at each other, both unsure of what to say next. It was Effie who finally spoke up, her tone much gentler towards Olive this time.
"Well," she breathed. "It…it still wasn't right that you hit him. But that was an awfully rude thing to say. I think I'll call Mr. Lewis's mother when we get home and have a little chat about both of her sons' behaviors. I think both parties deserve equal consequences from this event."
Effie began to stride faster towards home. As Olive began to walk again to keep up with her, Haymitch placed a hand on her shoulder. Quietly, they both waited until she was completely out of ear shout. Then Haymitch turned to his daughter.
"Nice punching, Sweetheart," he smirked, giving her a thumb's up.
A small smile crept onto Olive's face as she noted her father's approval. "Thanks, dad."
He patted her shoulder once before they both began to walk again, neither of them planning to speak a word of this to Effie. After all, deep down, Haymitch knew he would have done the same if he heard someone speak poorly about her origins. His daughter was more like him than he often liked to admit. But sometimes-like now-that wasn't such a bad thing. At least, in his eyes.