Finnick and Annie

Three Years Later

It had been almost three years since Andrew had passed away. It had happened years before, but I still remembered his death vividly. I'd been having nightmares about it constantly, but maybe it was just because the reaping was just one month away.

I always got nervous before the reaping. I knew I would probably stand a chance when I got older; I was still too young for it. The youngest victor ever had been sixteen, but usually it was the eighteen-year-old careers that won.

I had been thinking about Andrew lately as well because I remembered the games the year he was reaped. There had been some nasty rumors about the arena, and everybody had gotten so scared that nobody had volunteered that year. The atmosphere this year was similar to that one three years ago, and I really doubted there would be many people willing to step up.

I was fourteen years old now, and I had changed quite a lot in three years. I was taller now, my father's height, who was 5'10". My skin was tanned, from spending so much time in the sun, fishing with my father, using my trident, or swimming. My hair was longer, it was wavy and it had turned a bronze-like color, Annie said it was very soft and pretty and that it made me look like a doll. She loved to tease me about my looks.

According to a lot of people, I was very good looking. I had strong arms, and defined abs, from all the exercise I did, and I had my father's face, but my mother's eyes, which apparently was a great combination. I had never given much thought to my appearance until that year. That's when girls started flirting with me, which I had to admit, was kind of fun at first, but kind of annoying after a while.

Because I was in high school now and Annie was in middle school (she was thirteen years old) I had had to find other friends. I still saw her every day after school, but during class, I hung out with Robert, Sam, Eric, and the rest of the boys who I used to be close with. They did find it very odd that Annie and I were friends, but everybody got used to it after a while.

"Hey, Finn," said Annie without looking up from the net she was weaving. She had started to help her father make them, but she found the shop very small and uncomfortable so she always made them at the shore. Annie had changed a lot as well. She was taller too, but still shorter than me. Her hair was longer now, but still the same dark color. She always kept it well combed, which made her look a lot nicer. Her eyes hadn't changed at all, they were bright and green and startling. She was also starting to look like some of the girls in my grade, more grown-up, prettier.

"Hey, Anne," I said and sat down next to her. I placed the bucket of fish I had been carrying, on the sand, and sat down. My father made me gut and clean the fish sometimes, which Annie found disgusting, so I loved doing it.

"Ew Finnick, get away, you smell!" she whined.

"It's the fish!" I protested.

"If you say so..." She chuckled as she continued to tie intricate knots. She loved teasing me as well.

"Oh, by the way, Mona told me to tell you that she needed to talk to you, and that she really missed you and that she was sorry." Annie rolled her eyes as she spoke the last part. "How did you ever even like her?"

"She's pretty," I shrugged, "and she was very funny at first."

"Yeah... and then you discover she's a maniac. Honestly, Finnick, if your girlfriends are going to use me as a messenger than at least start dating people that I can tolerate."

A couple months before, I had dated a girl called Mona. She was very pretty, and funny, and smart, but about a week after we started dating, she got ridiculously jealous because other girls kept talking to me, and she totally freaked out on them. She called me every hour to make sure I wasn't talking to anybody else. I broke up with her because she was jealous of Annie, and she thought I liked her instead, which was ridiculous because Annie was just my friend, but she wanted me to stop hanging out with her. I was not going to do that, obviously, so I told her she was crazy and that we were over.

"I'll keep that in mind. I'll have you approve my dates beforehand, how does that sound?" I asked, rolling my eyes at her.

"Very good, actually," she smiled.

We sat together for a while, with no need for much talking, both of us concentrated on our tasks, and then my mother called us in for dinner. Annie always came over for dinner. She spent most of her time in our house because she and her mother got along terribly. My mother, on the other hand, treated her as her own, so Annie loved her instead.

"Do you know what you're going to wear for the reaping, yet?" my mother asked as we sat down at the table.

"Not really," answered Annie. "I don't have anything to wear. I think I might have to go to the market this weekend and pick something up."

"Yeah," sighed my mother, "I have to get something for Finnick as well because he stained his shirt." She glared at me and Annie shook her head disapprovingly.

"Well, we can go together and you can help me pick a dress. I'll help pick something for Finny too. Better make it black though, just in case."

"It was an accident!" I said. "Women..." I sighed. "I'm going outside to do some target practice," I said before I stood up and went to the back of my house. My father had helped me set up some dummies and targets after he'd given me a trident for my fourteenth birthday. I was really good; I never missed.

They both laughed and chattered happily in the kitchen. I could hear them from outside. I think my mother was grateful for the female company, and Annie was just happy to have a decent mother figure.