Panem High: Freshman Year

Chapter 29

The doorbell rang. Johanna yelped and looked at the bottom right corner on the screen of her laptop. Damn, it was already four o'clock? She was absolutely certain she'd just started watching Netflix, but she looked down and realized she'd watched eleven episodes of The Office, so yeah, it made sense.

"Mom, can you get that?" she yelled, running into her closet. "It's Finnick." She grabbed her yellow bikini and slid into as fast as she could, throwing a pair of white jean shorts overtop.

She stuffed a beach towel into her grey Nike backpack, as well as her water bottle, her wallet, her phone, a quilt, a hoodie, a pair of sweatpants, a hairbrush and some hair ties. She stumbled down the stairs and slid her feet into her Birkenstocks.

"Hey," she said, looking up at Finnick.

"You're slow."

"Shut up, man," she grinned, punching him in the shoulder.

"Let's go," he laughed.

Johanna said goodbye to her mom and promised to be home by ten-thirty.

She followed Finnick out to his dad's car.

"Hey, Jo!" he said enthusiastically, bumping her fist.

"Long time, no see," she said, and he grinned.

"Not long enough," he joked.

"Wow, Mr. Odair. Original."

"To Tybee Island!" he said, and Johanna cheered.

"Not so fast," Finnick said. "Dad, we're picking up Gale and Annie, remember?"

"I thought Annie was still fighting with Clove," Johanna said.

"Well, she doesn't exactly know Clove is coming," Finnick admitted.

"Dude, she's gonna be ticked."

Mr. Odair looked back and forth between them, obviously confused.

"Well, step on it, Dad!" Finnick said, an obvious hint for Johanna to drop the subject.

They picked Gale up, and then Annie. She and Finnick held hands over the seat while Gale and Johanna played chopsticks for the half-hour drive to Tybee Island.

Before hitting the beach, they split three ways, Mr. Odair going to Little Caesar's for pizza, Finnick and Annie going into a chocolate shop to get the best chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers they could find for the fire they were planning to make, and Gale and Johanna going into the corner store for as much pop and chips as they could carry. She felt a little awkward in just her shorts and swimsuit top, but just a moment after she walked in, a group of college-age kids stumbled in from the beach, most of them barefoot, covered in sand and seawater and wearing just their swimsuits. At least I don't look like I just wrestled a tsunami, Johanna thought.

They met Annie and Finnick on the beach, Mr. Odair coming up behind them. He gave Finnick the ginormous stack of extra-large pizzas and said he'd be back to pick them all up at ten.

Johanna pulled her tattered king-size patchwork quilt and spread it on the white sand. Gale, Finnick and Annie sat down on it with her. Finnick fished a deck of cards out of his bag and the three of them played a few hands while they waited for the others.

Madge and Glimmer came next, each in bikinis, shorts and flip flops, carrying ukuleles and backpacks, Clove running behind them. Johanna was absolutely certain it was going to be a disaster, but the minute Clove and Annie made eye contact, they ran at each other and hugged so tight Jo was certain they'd both come out of it with cracked ribs, if they somehow managed not to suffocate each other.