Forever And Always | Finnick And Annie Love Story

Reaping

I'm Annie Cresta. I'm 16 years old and I live in district 4. I practically grew up in water. I learned how to swim before I could walk. My parents were convinced I was a mermaid. My parents though, died in a boat accident caused by the Capitol. Now all I have left is my older brother Cliff(18) and my younger sister Eve(13). My sister I barely see considering she's always with her best friend Luna(13). They're inseparable. I can barely get her to come to dinner sometimes because she's always swimming with her. My brother has basically been our rock. After my parents died, he's always been fishing for food and doing jobs to get paid, so he can afford things for us. All of this puts his name in the reaping bowl more and more. Its a miracle that he hasn't been chosen for the hunger games yet. Its also a blessing, if he was chosen and didn't make it , I couldn't handle it any longer, the death would just consume me and my hate for the Capitol would grow.
Reaping
Today is the reaping for the 67th hunger games. I came home from the fishing and took a shower, got dressed in a dark blue dress. Cliff dressed in a buttoned up light blue dress shirt with black pants. Eve dressed in a light green dress. We all walked to the center of the district and were put in our places. Cliff and Eve weren't that far from me. I could see them. My friend Olivia was standing next to me. She was in a sunset like pink dress. A woman in Capitol clothing came out, I think her name was Diamond. She gave a fake ass speech and then the picking started. Olivia gasped which caused me to flinch. I looked at her with a worried face. She pointed to the stage and at Finnick Odair.
O: That's Finnick Odair!
A: I can see that. Why did you gasp?
O: He's super fucking sexy! Why wouldn't I gasp?
A: I don't see the big hype. He's just a guy.
O: A super hot guy!
A: Who killed innocent people at 14.
O: Stop that. He had no choice.
A: Say that to the victors who won the games with survival, camouflage, and smarts. You always have a choice.
O: Well he wanted to get home. You would do the same if you were chosen.
A: Only if I absolutely had to. I wouldnt do it for fun, like the careers. Why are you standing up for him anyway? It's not like you're gonna have a chance with him.
O: Ya I know but a girl can dream.
Then the reaping started as she pulled out a name from the girls bowl.
D: Annie Cresta!
My eyes widened. It seemed like time had stopped and the only thing I could hear was my heartbeat. Olivia' gasp brought me back to reality. She was crying and her hands were over her mouth. Then everything sped up. The peacekeepers grabbed me and brought me onstage. I tried to control my breathing so that tears wouldn't fall. I glanced at Finnick. He had a sad look on his face and to my surprise, was looking straight at me the entire time. I looked at the crowd, emotionless. I saw Cliff. He was hugging Eve while she cried. Then Diamond asked me for my name. I said Annie Cresta and then she picked from the boys bowl.
D: Alistair Crow!
I saw a slightly tanned 17 year old walk onstage. He had black hair and brown eyes. He wore a white buttoned up shirt and brown pants. He looked terrified as he walked onstage. I watched as he came onstage. I glanced over at Finnick, his eyes still filled with sadness and looking at me. I looked away with a confused face. Why was he staring at me?
After reaping
I waited in a small room. I was waiting for what was left of my family to say goodbye to me before I left. I was waiting for about two minutes until Cliff stormed in and greeted me with a bone crushing hug. He was crying as I brushed my fingers through his hair, trying to calm him down.
C: Stay alive ok? Please come home.
A: I'll try my best Cliff.
C: You're better then all of them. You can do this.
A: I'm gonna try Cliff, I'll try my hardest.
C: And you'll win. *smiles*
A: Thanks Cliff. Where's-
E: Annie! *hugs* Why? Why did it have to be you? *crying*
A: I don't know, Eve. I'm so sorry.
Peacekeeper: Times up. Let's go.
Eve started to cry as the peacekeepers pushed her out of the room. Cliff gave me a you can do it smile. After they left, I broke into tears. The peacekeepers came in and now I was off to the train.

~~~~~~~~~~
So I changed some stuff from the previous version of this chapter (The original version being Annie volunteering for Luna). I felt the first version was too similar to Katniss' reaping and also it was kind of dumb reasoning (keep in mind I was in like middle school when I wrote this and it was one of my first books).

I also fixed a mistake in there with the whole Annie not knowing who Finnick is. That was dumb. I mean of course she'd know who he is he's the only male victor from her district (I like wanna go back in time and smack myself for writing that).

Also I'm not gonna be redoing this whole book to make it match my writing style now. A lot of my early books are like that and I kind of just wanna leave them that way cuz it's a lot of work to redo them all and it'd distract me from the books I'm prioritizing now (Me to me: Bitch please like you ever update any of your books).

Anyways hope you enjoy this version better :)