Annie's Story

Chapter two

I follow Finnick into the classroom, he smiles a bright smile and I give him a slight one back. He sits down on the first row of rotten wooden chairs. I look a bit awkwardly through the room, where should I sit? I look at Finnick and decide to take a seat in the back of the class. My feet start moving towards the back but a voice stops them. ‘Annie? Why are you going to sit over there?’ I turn around and look in Finnick’s eyes. ‘I don’t know…’ I mumble. He taps on the chair next to him and I bite my lip. Is this true? Is Finnick really that kind? Slowly my feet start moving again, this time to the front of the class. I drop my bag on the ground and sit down, trying to control my nerves. ‘What do you want to learn?’ He asks me while he looks at me. I swallow some spit and nervously play with my hair. ‘Something about er… Fish?’ I stutter. ‘Fish? I know lots about that! My dad owns a fish store. Look!’ He says while he jumps out of his chair and grabs one of the books on the teacher’s desk. He opens the book and shows me a picture of a big fish. ‘Look, this fish we sell, it’s delicious!’ My mouth starts to water. I haven’t eaten fish since years ago, we can’t afford that much food. ‘Maybe… After school, you could come home with me and we could eat some?’ He asks me with a hopeful look on his face. I start to blush and quickly turn my head away. ‘Is this fake? Are you going to hurt me?’ I whisper. He grabs one of my hands. His hand feels warm and I start to blush even harder. ‘No. I’ll never hurt anyone, and certainly not you Annie.’ I look in his eyes, I trust him. I always thought he was just a big jerk as all the other kids around here, but he’s different. He has kindness in him, he is the first person that doesn’t want to hurt me. ‘I believe you.’ I say still feeling his warm hand on mine. He smiles at me. ‘Good, so what about that fish after school?’ I smile at him, this is like my first smile in years. ‘I would love some fish.’ He let’s go of my hand. ‘I’ll tell my dad we have a visitor.’ The door flies open and the lead career pack comes in. Finnick looks at me, mouthing “sorry”. Then he stands up and walks towards them. I can hear them whispering about me on the background. ‘What were you doing there with Cresta? Making out with the ugliest girl in school? Reputation boost!’ I lay my head down on my hands, pretending not to hear the conversation. ‘Shut your mouths, we were just talking about fish.’ Finnick says annoyed. ‘Fish? Yea, she smells like one!’ Paco shouts making sure I can hear it. I stand up and give them a filthy look. ‘You’re sick.’ I say disgust. A single tear rolls down my face and I run out of the classroom. ‘Annie!’ A voice screams behind me. I don’t even bother to turn around, look who it is. I just keep on running, it’s probably better if I’d kill myself now. Then all of this is over, and will never happen again.