Katniss's POV
"Merry Christmas," I say to Peeta, as I walk down the steps Christmas morning. Peeta- as usual- is in the kitchen, making breakfast.
"Christmas cookie?" He offers me a cookie shaped like a Christmas tree, with green icing and M&Ms as lights.
"Don't mind if I do," I take a bite out of it. "Should I wake up Annie, Finnick, and Nathan?"
"Go ahead," he replies.
I walk into the living room and clap my hands. Annie and Nathan jerk awake, and Finnick groggily opens his eyes. "Merry Christmas," I say to them.
I grab my laptop and open it up. I click on the skype icon and see that Prim is online. I press the video chat button, and in a minute, her face pops up. Mom appears a moment later and I smile at them.
"Merry Christmas," Prim says.
"Yeah, are you guys having fun without me?" I ask.
"Yes," Mom says. "By the way, I sent you some of your old stuff, yesterday. Along with your Christmas present."
"Thanks, Mom," I smile at her.
"No problem, sweetie," she says.
"Katniss, why are you talking to yourself?" Finnick calls from the kitchen.
"I'm not! I'm video chatting with someone," I yell back.
"Who?" Peeta asks.
"My family," I say.
"Lucky you. Half of my family isn't talking to me," Finnick says. His phone rings. "Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear. Hey, Sylvia."
"Who was that?" Prim asks.
"My roommate," I say.
Prim laughs. "Which one?"
"Finnick," I answer.
"He's the overly attractive one."
"Oh, that's cool," she says.
"Now, tell me about Tulane."
"It's great! I am so freaking popular! I've been to a ton of parties, and the guys are so hot! It's so exciting! Let me tell you about my boyfriend. He's a sophomore . . ."
Finnick POV
"So, how's Christmas?" I ask Sylvia, Tom, and Kayla.
"Not good," Kayla says. "It doesn't feel the same without you. Plus, the family is split into two groups. Aunt Susan, Tom, Sylvia, and I think that your dad was being stupid, and they should talk to you, and everyone else is siding with your dad."
"That's ridiculous," I laugh. "You guys should be enjoying Christmas! By the way, I didn't get anyone anything because I spent most of my money buying back all my stuff."
"I can't believe Dad would send you away after your apartment burned down," Sylvia says. "That's just cruel."
"It's not like I'm a kicked puppy," I say. "I can take care of myself."
"We know that, but we did give Uncle Chris a lot of help when he lost all his money gambling," Sylvia says. "I think of it like that."
"Well don't," I say. "I'm your big brother; I take care of you. It's not the other way around."
"Finnick, these walls are paper-thin," Johanna walks in my room, arms crossed. "Do you really have to talk on your phone upstairs? Would it kill you to let Gale and I sleep?"
"Merry Christmas to you too," I say sarcastically.
"What was that?" Tom asks.
"Just my roommate," I reply.
"Can we talk to them?" Sylvia asks.
"No," I say.
"You're such a jerk," Kayla complains. "It's not like we're going to embarrass you."
"That's what you said at my graduation," I remind them. "And you ended up knocking over the food court."
"It was an accident!"
"Anyway," Sylvia stops our argument, "Aunt Susan's pregnant again."
"There's kind of a large age distance between children," Tom says.
"Yeah, we'll be twenty when he/she is born," Kayla adds.
"Aunt Susan was probably just waiting until you moved out of the house," I tell them. "Because both of you were a pain in the ass."
"We weren't that bad," Tom says.
"Yes, you were," Sylvia says. "The pair of you together was terrifying."
"I'm proud to be terrifying," Kayla says. "Not many can say that their cousins were scared of them."
"Everyone in our family was afraid of you," Sylvia says. "You were little devils."
"We weren't any worse than your junior-year boyfriend," Tom says.
"Oh my god," Sylvia laughs. "Don't remind me. He got arrested for dealing drugs about a month ago."
"You sure knew how to pick 'em," I say sarcastically.
"Just, shut up. He was really cute," Sylvia defends.
"No, he wasn't," Kayla says. "He had a huge nose! It took up half his face."
"When did this turn into an attack against my choice in boyfriends?" Sylvia asks.
"It didn't. We're just pointing out the facts," I say.
"Yeah, whatever," Sylvia snaps. "Anyway, we should go back downstairs. It's Christmas morning after all."
"Tell everyone I say merry christmas," I say.
"Of course. Bye."
"Bye." I hang up the phone, and walk back downstairs and into the living room.
I collapse on the couch and put my feet up on the table. Annie sits on my right, and Johanna sits to my left.
I rub the sleep out of my eyes, and Annie hands her parents a present.
I never thought I'd be spending Christmas with a group of people I met a month ago.
Johanna's POV
"Well, that was fun," I say. "I'm going back to bed."
I stand up just as I hear a knock at the door. I walk over and swing it open. I look down and see a man in a wheelchair.
"Oh god, Jack," I say to the man. "Why the hell are you in a wheelchair?"
"Injury. I'm paralyzed from the waist down," he replies.
"Oh, no," I say. "Jack, that's horrible. What are you doing here?"
"Mom says that she hasn't talked to you in a few years, so I called some of your old friends until I found out where you lived. Merry Christmas, Johanna."
"Yeah," I say. "Do you want to come in?"
"Sure," he says. "I got you something, by the way."
He hands me a little box, and I step aside so he can get through. I open it and find a keychain. "You got me a keychain from Iraq?"
He laughs. "Yeah. It's not the best present I've ever bought."
He wheels his chair into the living room and I say, "Um, this is my brother, Jack."
"Hey," Finnick says. "I'm Finnick."
"Nice to meet you," Jack says.
Gale sits on the arm of a chair, and I sit next to him. "This is Gale."
Everyone else introduces themselves to Jack, and Jack wheels over to the couch.
"I'm actually going back to bed now," I say. "So, bye."
Peeta's POV
"You were in the marines, right?" Finnick asks Jack.
"Yeah, until I got injured," he replies. "Now, I'm a twenty-eight and living with my mother."
"I don't want to sound rude, but that's understandable," Nathan says.
"Oh, I know," Jack says. "I need some help until I get use to the chair."
"What about your dad?" Annie asks. "Does he help at all?"
"My dad died when I was fourteen and Johanna was ten," he replies. "My family has had a lot of losses. When Johanna was born, there was six of us. Now, there's two and a half."
"Yeah, loss is hard. My little brother died less than a month ago," Annie says.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Jack says to her.
"It wasn't your fault," Ron says.
"It was mine," Annie mutters.
"Annie, that's not true," I say.
"Yeah, Peeta, it is. I should've made him go first! He was my little brother! It was my responsibility to fucking take care of him!"
She gets up and storms up the stairs. Finnick follows her.
"She didn't take it well," Nathan says.
"Well, of course she didn't," Gale snapped. "She saw him burned alive!"
"I know that," Nathan growls. "He was my brother too, and she's my sister! He's dead and she has nightmares every night! You think it doesn't eat me alive?! You've had it out for me since I got here!"
"Well, I have good reason," he growls back. "After you fucking-"
"Gale, don't," Johanna warns.
The room goes silent after that. It's kind of a mood killer.
Please review!