Finnick and Annie

Private Sessions

 Author's Note: Guys thank you for all the nice comments and the votes. I know it's a short chapter but I just got back from a trip and I'm kind of tired but I'll update more soon, I promise :)

The next day Katniss and I trade lessons. She kept her word and gave me an hour of archery, which I kind f got the hang off after a while. She taught me how to hold a bow properly, and then she explained to me how to aim properly, she taught me a few tricks to help make it easier, but at the end of the hour, I was still far from being as good as Katniss was.

“You better stick to your trident,” she teased, taking the bow and arrow from me and shooting it at a dummy’s head. I smirked and handed her a trident.

“Let’s see how you do with one of these,” I said. She held it it very awkwardly, even after I had showed her how it was done. She aimed and shot a few times but mostly the trident clattered on the floor. “You’re releasing it too late,” I told her, taking my own trident and showing her were she should let go. I showed her one time slowly and then I threw it for real, hitting the target easily.

“Show off,” she mumbled. I laughed and shook my head.

“Look who’s talking… you need to be more confident about throwing it, and you need your swing to be stronger.” She gave it a few more tries and she finally managed to hit the dummy, though the trident quickly fell to the ground.

“Better than nothing,” she said.

“Yeah, you just need to be stronger,” I teased. Katniss was quite small and though she had definitely gained some weight and muscle mass since the last time I had seen her, she was still not very strong.

“I don’t need much strength to use my bow,” she shrugged.

“Yeah, I think we better stick to our weapons.”

“Yeah… so tell me something, Odair, I’m curious… why did Mags volunteer for the girl from your district… The crazy one?” she asked. I clenched my fists and took a deep breath.

“She’s not crazy,” I said.

“Could have fooled me,” she mumbled.

“You should know how things change after the arena. Peeta lost his leg, Annie lost her mind… but she’s strong, stronger than many of us here about to play the games again.”

“I’m sorry Finnick, I didn’t know she was your friend… oh, wait… you mentored her right?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said… I didn’t want Katniss to know about us, she couldn’t because that would ruin my image… though I wondered for a second if that even mattered anymore.

We all sat together around a large table during lunch. We ate and talked with each other, shouting to people across the table, it was quite a mess, but it was the closest we victors had acted in years. For a while nobody cared about the games that were starting in a few days, nobody seemed to remember that we would be hinting each other very soon.

“Does anybody have any idea what you’re doing for the Private Sessions tomorrow?” asked Chaff, taking a bite out of his chicken.

“I think I’m just going to take a nap,” said Mags very seriously, which made those of us who could understand her laugh.

“I think I’ll just tap dance,” said Brutus, who I didn’t know had a sense of humor.

“Odair, you should just strip,” teased Johanna, and again made everybody chuckle.

“Yeah, I wish there were more female gamemakers though…”

“Oh, I don’t think that makes a difference,” said Chaff giving me a playful wink. We all laughed and ate, teasing and joking, but after lunch the playful atmosphere dissipated and we all went back to our training. I gave some serious thought to the Private Sessions, and I honestly had no idea what I was going to do.

So it was finally the day of our Private Sessions, and there was some nervousness in the room. We all waited in our seats while in order of district, males followed by females, went into the training room were we had been practicing for two days.

I was the seventh to go in, after Brutus, Enobaria, Gloss, Cashmere, Beetee ad Wiress. I was sure that the first four had tried to impress the gamemakers because they were careers, and unlike me, they were actually going to try to win… they would be our enemies in the arena.

I walked into the room and looked at the gamemakers who were seated on their platform, protected by their force field, all sipping Champaign and watching me. I had decided the previous night that I would not take my Private very seriously, after all, they all knew what I could do with my net and trident, all the Capitol knew, so there was no need of me showing off and trying to get a high score.

I sat down on the ground with a lot of rope and I began to make a net. I had become very good at tying knots over the years, because Annie, who had bee fantastic since a young age, had taught me. I had learned to make nets after years of watching her work, and practicing with her.

I sat on the ground for the entire fifteen minutes, and I knotted and shaped the rope into a net. I didn’t accomplish much because I had not had enough time, but I worked with what I had finished. I looked at one of the gamemakers who sat towards the front of the platform. I knew him because he had paid for the pleasure of my company once, behind his wife’s back.

I looked him straight in the eyes and smirked, and then I tossed the net to a side. I had become very popular during my games because I captured my prey with a net and then speared them. It made hunting them easier, and it was a lot easier to kill them mercifully if they didn’t struggle, but I didn’t feel so merciful anymore, so instead of throwing my trident at the dummy, I ran towards it and slammed the three points into his chest. The trident stuck out of the other side of his chest, and the dummy swayed slightly… it had been quite violent.

I looked back at the gamemakers and Plutarch was watching me cautiously. I looked back at that man and winked. “Say hello to your wife,” I said and he stared at me, his mouth wide open. I had slept with her too. His shocked expression was the last thing I saw before I turned my back to the gamemakers and stepped out of the room with my head held high.