Secrets of the Sea | Finnick Odair

- chapter 9 -

CORDELIA

Finnick's birthday was tomorrow. Cordelia struggled to do last-minute preparations for the party without him noticing. Luckily Mags had let her bake Finnick's cookies in her house, so Finnick wouldn't smell them. She'd baked them this morning before he even woke up.

Finnick's mother had given her the main task of distracting the boy all day with one rule. They couldn't go to the beach. The reason why? Cordelia had no idea. Probably to not wear him down or have him end up covered in sand. How she was supposed to distract him long enough, without the beach, Cordelia had no idea.

It wasn't even that long. Just for an hour or two so his parents could see what they had and could check what else they needed. Maybe she could take him to the academy. Cordelia still went decently often, Finnick didn't want to stop her from training, and he hated leaving her side. But trying to get a Victor in, not to mention the most recent winner, was almost impossible. Cordelia had basically stopped training with her class and took up whatever space wasn't being used and had her own private space. In the end, there was only so much they could actually train.

Sometimes Finnick would just hide on the balcony above wherever her class was so she had multiple different people to train with. It meant the walk home was full of him complaining about whatever male had been 'too close' to her and whatever skill he didn't agree with.

The last couple of sessions had been extra full of complaints. Cordelia's class had been sparring on mats for a mixture of hand-to-hand combat and close-range pinning. All the pairs were randomized. Besides what was the point of training if you only had people the same body type and weight class? Cordelia had tried explaining to Finnick that the boys she had been assigned didn't choose her on purpose and it was good practice. Despite her reassurance, he'd still decided to watch from the same floor. He'd snuck in and stayed positioned near the walls, out of the way of the class.

She wasn't sure why he was so worked up, she was one of the smallest people in the class, and pretty much anyone she could be paired with was bigger and stronger. She was even the youngest in the class. The same body type and weight class as her were all in the class from the year after them and they trained on a completely different day.

More than once it seemed like he was going to step in. At that point, she hadn't bested anyone yet. She'd been close, but once she was down it was pretty much game over. She didn't have either the skill or strength to get them off. Cordelia almost swore that she'd heard Finnick growling but she couldn't be sure.

He'd grumbled the whole walk home about some of the boys flirting with her. If being practice punched and dropped to the floor so she could be pinned down was flirting, Cordelia wanted no part in it. And she voiced that much. Finnick mumbled something about them helping her up and their hand placements when they'd held her down, but all Cordelia could think of in those moments was how much she needed to get better. Instead of telling Finnick that, Cordelia just teased him.

Maybe now would be a good time to offer to let him train her. To help her practice so that wouldn't happen. It should keep them busy for a while, long enough for his parents to go over everything for tomorrow.

"Finnick can you help me with something today?"

He turned to look at her.

"Of course Delia, you don't have to ask. What did you need help with?"

Cordelia pretended to take a moment, as though sorting through her thoughts and putting them into words.

"Remember the last class session at the academy?" She watched his expression change into a pout. "Well I was thinking, I wanted to practice. I mean it seems like a good survival skill." Cordelia saw Finnick still pouting, face angled away in an attempt to hide his reaction.