Waves Breaking Over Rocks Part 1

Chapter 2- A Six-Sugarcube Kind of Girl

A Six-Sugarcube Kind of Girl

I can't sleep.

I keep thinking about the Games and about Cora and how it is perfectly easy for her to be strong, but I'm weak. I always have been.

I hear a knock on my door.

"Get up! It's time for breakfast!" I hear Garcia say from the hall.

I suppose I haven't slept at all.

I get dressed, putting on the simplest clothes in the dresser: a green tee-shirt and a white skirt that reaches my ankles. I open the door and see Garcia knocking on Tyson's door. She seems to think it is nice to look like a fish, being the District 4 escort, so her dresses always resemble one.

I walk down the hall, trying to remember where the dining room was. I open a door and find it empty. Except for Finnick.

"Hey Annie. Sleep well?" I shake my head. "Of course you didn't. Oh well, come join me, the coffee here is delicious."

"Sure." I sit down in front of him, in the same chair I sat yesterday. He takes a little white sugarcube and puts it in his palm, and then he runs a hand through his hair and leans forward, putting his elbow on the table.

"Do you want a sugarcube?" He says in an extremely seductive voice. I blush, still not accustomed to his jokes. He laughs and takes a mug out from a nearby tray. He fills it with coffee. "How many sugarcubes do you want in your coffee?" He says.

"I don't know, I've never had coffee before. What is coffee, anyway?" He smiles a very natural smile that looks nothing like the smirk he has on TV. This natural smile looks a lot better, and I see he also has dimples.

"I think you should get six sugarcubes. You just seem like a six-sugarcube kind of girl."

"Why am I a six-sugarcube kind of girl?" I ask.

"Because you seem very sweet. Now, as to what coffee is: coffee is the magical beverage made from coffee beans. They don't have coffee trees in District 4." I realize that maybe Finnick Odair isn't as bad as I thought. I wish I could be friends with him.

"Finnick?"

"Hhm?" He says, looking up from his coffee.

"Can we be friends?" I ask timidly. He smiles that natural smile and says:

"Of course we can, Annie. I thought we already were." He pouts a little and makes his eyes go wider, giving the impression that he is a sad puppy. I laugh, thinking of how great it is to have a mentor like him.

"I wish I'd never met you." I realize out loud. Finnick actually looks a little hurt.

"Why?" He asks.

"Because the fact that I know you means I'm in the Hunger Games." He nods and says:

"I wish so too. Except I just wish I'd met you somewhere else. In the market, perhaps."

"Yes." I say. He seemed to be able to make me smile even in a dark conversation.

"Well, you'd be walking around, looking lost, and I, ever gentleman-like, would come to your aid. I would ask you your name and tell you that you look lovely." He says and I laugh. Mags enters the room and I realize I had forgotten everything about the Games. Finnick had made me forget.

But Mags wasn't smiling.

"Finnick, you have your first client tomorrow." Client? I don't understand. But Finnick's face darkens and his grin has vanished completely, replaced by a deep frown. And tomorrow we would be arriving in the Capitol; District 4 is one of the closest districts there.