Chapter 9
Katniss Everdeen POV
When I get home from school later in the week, Prim isn't there. That isn't too weird, sometimes she'll hang out with Rue for a couple of hours after school. I just hope they don't get into too much trouble. They're good kids, they just sometimes get a little bit to adventurous because of how curious they are.
I'm helping my mom with dinner when Prim walks through the door. "Hi, Prim!" I call out to her. "Dinner's almost ready!" I don't hear her respond, but I do hear a rustling coming from the living room.
I step out of the kitchen and see Prim holding the ugliest pale cat I've ever seen, much to my shock. "Prim, what are you doing?" I ask. "Where did you get that cat?"
"Rue and I found him walking around," she says. "He was hungry and scared. Can we keep him?"
"Absolutely not," I say. "Prim, you know we can barely feed ourselves."
"Please, Katniss!" She wails. "I can't just throw him out on the street again."
I sigh. "What about Rue?" I ask. "Can't she take him?"
"We tried that, but her dad yelled at her," Prim says. "I promised her I would take good care of him."
"Prim, how did you think this was going to go?" I ask her. "Did you really expect me, mom, Thresh, or either of Rue's parents to say yes?"
"I thought Rue's parents would say yes!" She says. "I knew you'd be a buzzkill about it, but this cat needs a home."
"How are you expecting we take care of it?" I ask. "I can't imagine you're going to be paying for his food, and we definitely won't be able to afford a litter box."
"I'll help in any way I can," she says. "He can be a mostly outdoor cat, he can go to the bathroom outside." I'm honestly surprised she thought of that solution.
I take a deep breath. "Fine," I say. "We can keep the cat, but only temporarily until we find a more stable home for him."
Prim runs up and hugs me. "Thank you, Katniss!" She says. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
I'm glad to see her happy, but she really shouldn't have put me in this position. She knows we can barely take care of ourselves, so she shouldn't have brought another mouth to feed into this house. She knows better than to do that.
I only agreed because I know it would devastate her to throw this cat back out to the street. Maybe having something to play with and take care of will help my mom's mental state, maybe it won't be all bad. I just hate that I have stress out about feeding something else now.
Annie Cresta POV
Johanna and Madge are dragging me to a party at Finnick Odair's house. It's one of the first big parties of the school year, and they're still trying to get me out there even though they know I hate crowds and loud noises.
"Do you want a drink?" Johanna asks me when we walk in. We took an Uber to this party that Madge paid for, since she can't drive yet.
"No, I'm good," I say. I don't want to drink since I don't know my limits yet, I don't want to do anything stupid. "Thank you, though."
"You need to loosen up, but we've been over this," Johanna says. "Let me know when you're ready to." She walks off to go meet with some other people at the party, I think she's friends with some people from another school that Finnick invited.
"Sorry, I know she's been pressuring you a lot," Madge says. "Are you doing okay?"
"Yeah, just a little anxious," I say. "But I'm actually doing better than I expected."
"I'm going to go get a drink and make sure Johanna doesn't do anything stupid," Madge says. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah," I say. "I'll catch up with you later." I could actually use some time to take a breather.
I stand around for a few minutes, and then I go outside to sit on Finnick's deck on his back porch. No one's really out here, which is surprising with how nice it is out here. Finnick has a really nice house, but he has even more space out here. Not that I mind that no one's out here, it's nice and quiet.
I hear the back door open, and I see Finnick come out to the deck and sit next to me. "Hey," he says. "Is it okay if I sit here?"
"It's your house," I say. "I can leave if you want to be alone." I start to get up, but he stops me.
"No, that's okay," he says. "Stay if you want. Where are your friends?"
"Off socializing or something," I say. "This isn't really my scene."
"They shouldn't have left you alone, that's really not cool."
"It's really okay, I needed some peace and quiet anyway. I don't want to be the one keeping them from having fun, they had to drag me here in the first place."
There's a pause. There's something I've been wanting to tell him, and I'm afraid I'll never have the chance if I don't do it now.
"I've been meaning to tell you thank you," I say. "Thank you for defending me after Clove and Glimmer were making fun of me in the cafe."
"It's really no problem," he says. "Marvel seemed shocked that I would defend you, but I felt like I should."
"Yeah, why did you?" I ask.
"I didn't like to see that," he says. "And not just because Glimmer is my ex. They were being jerks, and you weren't doing anything to them."
I didn't know Glimmer was his ex. "Oh, you dated her?" I ask. I know it's not my business, I don't know why I asked him that.
"'Dated' is a strong word," he says. "We hooked up off and on for a while, I think she would say that we dated."
I don't respond. I know that Finnick is known as being kind of a womanizer, and that honestly makes me uncomfortable. Still, he's much nicer than I imagined.
"I may quit cheer," I say. "I don't know if it's worth it."
"Don't quit because of some popular bitches, I know you're better than that."
"It's not just that," I say. "I've always loved swimming, so maybe I can do that."
"I'm on the swim team, too," he says. "Swim season starts in January, so let me know if you do end up wanting to join the swim team."
"Thanks," I say. "I will."
After a moment of silence, Cato comes out and calls for Finnick to come back inside.
"Bye," Finnick says, getting up. "Hope you end up having some fun tonight."
I smile at him, that wasn't a bad interaction. He seems to be one of the nicest popular guys I've encountered. I'm glad I got to tell him thank you for defending me.
Peeta Mellark POV
I'm at Finnick's house for his party. It's no surprise Johanna Mason is here, but I'm really surprised to see Annie Cresta and Madge Undersee. Madge is popular, but she tries to stay away from the party scene since her dad is the mayor.
I'm talking and drinking with some of the guys when Cato walks back in with Finnick. I'm glad he found him, it's his house and he usually doesn't break away from the group unless someone breaks something or things start to get out of hand.
"Where did you go?" I ask when he comes back to the group.
"Just went outside to take a breather," he says. "You guys were fine without me." He chuckles.
"He was talking to that weird girl," Cato says. "You know, the redhead one?"
"I was being a good host," Finnick says. "Take some notes."
"She's probably one of the only girls in school you haven't fucked," Cato says. "Besides Katniss Everdeen, and we all know Peeta has her locked down." I playfully shove Cato and glare at him, he didn't need to call me out like that.
"That's not true," Finnick says. "I've never hooked up with Madge Undersee, or Clove, or Johanna—" he pauses. "Wait, does just a blowjob count?" I'm shocked, I had no idea he ever did anything with Johanna Mason.
"What?" I ask him.
"Yeah, it was over the summer," Finnick says. "Don't worry about it, it's not important. She and I are cool."
I don't know how he gets all these girls when most of us can't get or can barely get one to go out with us. It blows my mind.
"Looks like I'm finally on my way to getting with Clove," Cato says. "We've been talking a lot in our math class, and I've been helping her."
"Congrats, man," Marvel says. "Maybe you can get her and Glimmer at the same time."
"I could if I wanted to," Cato says. "But Clove is my first goal to achieve."
God, does he have to talk about them like they're just a new notch in his belt? It's gross. Not that we need to be in suits all the time, but I feel like we as guys could speak with a little more class. Finnick may be a ladies' man, but he isn't even the worst of them. At least he has the capability to be nice to a girl.
I see Madge walk back inside with Annie, and she makes eye contact with Finnick and they smile at each other. They seem to have a genuine connection that I don't see him have with other girls, but I don't bring it up because I know it'll embarass him. I'm just picking up on a vibe, and it's nice to see.
