(A/N): Hey! This is the second chapter, and I thought I'd tell you a little more about the story: This is my first FanFiction writing, and though I'm a little shaky with formatting and the plot; I'm really enjoying it! I plan on writing A LOT of chapters (going until a little after Annie's games?) but if readers aren't enjoying it all that much, it'll be more of a one-shot. Please remember: Positive comments and constructive criticism are ALWAYS WELCOME! I will try to personally thank everyone who reviews!
Xoxo~teacuppig
Two days later Annie is sitting on the pier with her friends, Mya and Eleanor, dangling their feet over the edge.
"You really ought to calm down Annie," Mya began. "Your name will be in the bowl, what? Like three times?"
They had been discussing the upcoming Reaping; expressing their fears (Annie's in particular), and placing bets on what type of surgically enhanced body parts their district escort would be sporting this year.
Eleanor pipes in, "She's right Ann, and I heard that some of the careers have turned eighteen, so even if you do get picked, they'll volunteer."
Annie nods her head, and the friends come to a comfortable silence.
The pier is one of Annie's favorite places in District 4. It's alive and energetic here, and would be considered beautiful if not for the ever-present smell of fish and the sounds of merchants shouting out their deals. Children chase each other up and down the pier, and an elder man grumbles as they almost knock him off his feet, shouting apologies over their shoulders.
"Hey! Hey Annie!" someone calls to her through the crowd. It's Finnick, smiling brilliantly and waving at her.
Annie looks around, wondering if he is speaking to someone else, but he is still moving towards her. She shoots Eleanor and Mya a look; their eyebrows are sky high. Shrugging at them, she gets up and walks over to meet him.
"Finnick?"
"Hey, I was wondering when I'd see you again."
"Well, here I am."
"Right." He pauses. "I was wondering, if you aren't busy, if you'd come with me to a quarry I found by the cliff. You know, the one by the beach I found you on."
Annie looks up at his excited face, and raises her eyebrows incredulously. "You want me to come?"
Now it's Finnick's turn to look confused. "Well who else would I ask?" he says, smiling, as if the answer is obvious. "That beach is kind of our secret right?"
Annie nods, still not sure if he is joking, though he looks kind and genuine. When he asks her again if she will go with him, she looks nonchalantly to her friends; wordlessly asking if it's alright for her to leave them. Eleanor is still gazing, awestruck, at Finnick, incapable of communication, but Mya nods her head vigorously, encouragingly.
"I'd love to," she responds to Finnick, and he begins to lead her through the crowd to the end of the pier, where the structure meets land.
They walk about a mile through the town, passing the huge hill on which the Victors' Village rests, until Finnick guides her down a narrow path, surrounded on both sides by lush, colorful forest.
Annie recognizes it as the forest that lies nestled beside the cliff, and though she's seen it from afar, being here with Finnick is like discovering a whole new world.
"Almost there," Finnick assures her. She's breathing heavily with the effort put into the hike, but Finnick struts easily through the trees and over their outstretched roots. "This. This is it."
Annie looks up as he motions his hand forward. She lets out a gasp of surprise, eyes shining with wonder. Before her, in a big clearing, a narrow waterfall races down the side of the cliff, forming the quarry at the bottom. The smooth rocks that pile against it are blanketed by green mosses, and a variety of other types of flowers and ferns adorn the edges of the water. She's never seen anything like it, but she's been missing out, because this place is a paradise.
"It's beautiful," she breathes, "like it's out of a story book."
"Pretty amazing, isn't it?" Finnick says, though he's looking at Annie.
Suddenly Annie gets a mischievous twinkle in her eye, as she notices a large pile of boulders stacked neatly at the deep end of the quarry. "Come on," she says to Finnick "I want to try something."
He doesn't question her as she begins to climb the pile, he only follows behind her, higher and higher, until she stands, balancing herself on the top rock. Looking down, Annie can see the water, dark blue with the depth, with a frothy white layer on top where the waterfall churns it.
She pulls off her light jacket and tosses it aside, along with her inhibitions. The gentle breeze makes the skin on her arms tingle; though the rest of her torso is covered with a blue tank top. Swinging her arms slightly as her sides, she prepares to jump.
"You're crazy," Finnick chuckles, though he's pulling his white t-shirt off, exposing his tanned and toned upper body, "but I like your guts."
Annie jumps first, extending her arms to get the full effect of the air resistance. She plunges into the water, feet almost touching the bottom of the pool, where the water is cool and still. When she resurfaces, Finnick has already jumped, fearless as she is, and his head and shoulders spring out of the water after the initial dive. They take a minute to recover, shaking the water out of their hair and catching their breaths, before Annie begins to float on her back, and Finnick treads water.
Annie studies him out of the corner of her eye. She's never noticed that really, his hair is neither blonde nor brown, but a beaming shade of bronze. She's also never noticed that his eyes are a turbulent green; the color of the horizon line where the sky and the ocean meet.
"I like you, Annie Cresta." He says out of nowhere. Their eyes meet and she smiles.
"You've only known me for a few days," she says.
He shrugs. "Doesn't matter," he replies, grinning back at her.
Annie feels like she is jumping from the rocks again, suspended for one moment, in the air. Free and careless, she says to him without hesitation, "Then I like you too Finnick Odair."