Finnick and Annie

The Victory Tour

I turned fifteen shortly after I returned from the Capitol, and Annie's birthday was just a month later. I continued to have nightmares, and there were days when the memories were really graphic, and I would lock myself up in a room and cry, but I got used to it soon enough. I'd visit Mags a lot, and she really helped me deal with everything.

Though the games were over, they had not been forgotten. The Victory Tour was coming up, and I would have to leave again. I continued to go to school, and though I was still the center of attention, people had calmed down a little bit. Girls followed me everywhere I went, and it was really starting to annoy me.

"Oh, fuck off," mumbled Annie as she tried to get through a group of five girls that sat around me at the lunch table.

"Ugh, let's go, it's Crazy Cresta," whispered one of the girls and the others giggled.

"Not cool," I said, but they ignored me. "Just ignore them, Annie"

"I don't care what they say about me," she said, looking at the table.

"Good, because I think you're wonderful, and my opinion does count, doesn't it?"

"Of course," she smiled. I kissed her cheek and finished my lunch while every girl in the cafeteria glared at Annie.

"You could do so much better, Finnick," said a girl passing by our table.

"Shut up. And we're just friends," I said. Annie, stood up from the table and walked out of the cafeteria. I tried to follow, but the bell rang and a teacher caught me before I could leave.

Why was Annie making such a big deal out of this? She said she didn't care what the others thought; yet she stormed off two seconds later. Ugh.

I rushed to the beach after school in hopes that I'd find Annie there, but she was nowhere to be seen. I went to the market, and asked her father if he'd seen her but he hadn't. I even went to her house and knocked on the door, but her sister, answered and said she had no clue where she was.

I went back to the Victor's Village, and was about to ask my father to help me look for her, but she was sitting at the kitchen table with my mother, chatting. I set my bag on the floor and coughed to let them know I was there. They both turned to face me, and then Annie stood up and left the house

"Annie!" I protested, and followed. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Finnick," she said and walked away.

"What's going on with her?" I asked my mother.

"Why don't you ask her?" she said.

"Don't you think I already did?"

"Well, she obviously doesn't want me to tell you if she won't tell you herself."

"But you're my mother!" I whined.

"Annie has no one to talk to but you, and she can't talk to you if she's upset with you, can she? She's like a daughter to me, Finnick, so I'm not going to tell you."

"Wait a second... she's mad at me? What did I do?" I asked. My mother sighed.

"Just wait a while, she'll get over it soon enough," she said.

"Mom, I leave in two days!" I complained. "This is ridiculous," I mumbled and stormed off to my bedroom. I didn't sleep at all. Annie didn't talk to me the next day, and I tried to find her the day before I left, but she remained well hidden.

It was finally the day; I would leave and tour all of the districts and the Capitol. District Four would be the last one, and they'd throw a huge party in celebration. The Victory Tour happened months after the games, it was the halfway point between a Hunger Games and the next, and I was absolutely dreading it.

"It's time to go, Finnick," said Mags. I hugged my parents and prepared to board, but then I heard her.

"You're not going to say goodbye to me?" I turned around and saw her. A grin spread across my face and I ran to hug her.

"I thought you weren't going to come," I sighed.

"I wasn't, but then I changed my mind."

"Annie, I don't even know what I did to piss you off. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she said. "I was being dramatic. Have a nice trip, I'll see you soon." I nodded and kissed her cheek, and then I stepped into the train where Gertie, Mags, Celia and the Prep Team were waiting.

The Victory Tour lasted a bit more than a week, but it felt way longer. The first stop was District Twelve, where it was freezing. This was always the first stop because it was the most unexciting. I had to face the family of the boy I had killed from that district. Nobody cheered for me, and his parents looked at me with so much hatred, I actually felt like crying. I wanted to yell out how sorry I was, but Mags wouldn't allow it.

Every district was very similar. Some hated me more than the others if I'd killed one of their kids, but everybody was just pretending to be happy for me. I made a speech, got some half-hearted applause, went to a party and moved on. I started with District Twelve, skipped Four and finished with District One. Then followed the huge feast at the Capitol.

"Mags, I want to go home," I said when we were done with District One.

"Don't we all?" she asked.

"The party is at President Snow's mansion," said Gertie for the millionth time that day. "There is going to be a lot of very important people, many of them even sponsored you. You need to be grateful and charming, and polite. Remember you are representing your district."

"I know, Gertie!" I snapped. "You've said it already!"

"Finnick!" Mags glared at me and I sighed.

"I'm sorry."

"Whatever. I'll see you later."

"Finnick," sighed Mags, "the fact that you're frustrated doesn't give you the right to be rude with everybody."

"I don't care about the stupid Capitol citizens, and I don't want to meet them! I want to go back home, because I really, really hate it here!"

"Well you don't have a choice!" she insisted. "You won these games. We had to work really hard to get you out of that arena alive, and this is what you have to do, so suck it up because there are twenty-three kids who had to die for you to be here!"

The party was unlike anything I had ever seen in my life. The president's mansion was huge; it was like all of the houses in the victor village put together, and maybe even larger than that. There was so much food and so many people, I actually stared open-mouthed for a minute. All the Capitol citizens were dressed in fine silks. The woman wearing luxurious dressed, the men all wearing fancy suits, but they only had eyes for me.

The second I walked into the room, people walked towards me. They all wanted to chat, or dance or take a picture with me. I was introduced to so many people, and I thanked everybody who said they had sponsored me, which was a dumbfounding amount of people.

I was passed from one person to the next; there were so many of them trying to get their hands on me that I didn't even get a chance to eat throughout the night.

I danced and chatted with a lot of girls, some of them my age, some of them a lot older, but they didn't seem to care. I had to remember to be the Finnick the Capitol loved, which involved flirting, and a lot of smiling and winking. By the time the night was over, I was exhausted and grumpy, but I wasn't allowed to show it until we were all inside the train.

"A girl tried to kiss me, Mags!" I whined. She rolled her eyes and kept quiet. "She has no right!"

"You did flirt with every one of them," she said.

"Because you told me to!" I said.

"They don't know I made you flirt with them, Finnick," she said, and looked out the window, as the train started moving.

"Are you mad at me, Mags?" I asked.

"Not mad at you, Honey. No."

"You told me I shouldn't take it out on other people when I'm upset," I reminded her. She smiled and nodded.

"You're right, Finn. Go to bed, we'll be home soon."