Linking Arms

Chapter 21

Peeta

The next few days go by in a flash; Finnick still avoiding Annie and the rest of us; us organizing and compromising our schedules with Annie; and of course my time with Katniss, obviously.

Next thing I know, it's been two weeks and here I am now at Katniss's volleyball tournament standing alongside with Clove whose slurping down her icee from Shell.

"You need to pass the fucking ball, Glimmer!" I heard Johanna exclaim on the court.

Glimmer scoffs in return, frustrated, as she heads back into her position in the back. I turn my head to the scoreboard. 17-7. I look to Katniss on the sidelines and give her a reassuring smile. She rolls her eyes at me and sighs, a small smile creeping up on her face.

"Who's hanging out with Annie today?" Clove said, me forgetting she was there.

I turn to her and cross my arms. "She said she was going to be with her cousins this weekend from District four."

Clove nods and exhales. "That's good. I don't want her to be alone. . ."

We turn back to the game and watch how Johanna pushes Glimmer out of the way to hit the ball over. Glimmer falls down with a smack onto the wooden gym floor and yelps as she does.

"Johanna!" Effie yelled from the sidelines.

She wouldn't fucking move!" Johanna exclaimed back, her hands on her hips. "Besides, I got us a point didn't I?!"

Effie face-palms and sends Johanna out of the court, Katniss taking her position. Katniss gives me a quick glance at me before taking her place on the court. I give her a thumbs up, and she smiles, turning back to her game.

One of the girls on Katniss's team gives a perfect serve over the net, the ball spiraling down, when the other team quickly gets it back up, hitting the ball back. It is passed by one of the girls and then to Glimmer, where she sets it directly above Katniss.

Katniss takes her approach and spikes it right down on the other side, getting them a point. I pump my fists in the air along with Clove and the other audiences.

"Yeah," I yelled loudly as Katniss turned towards me. "that's my girl!"

Clove gives her a thumbs up, and Katniss turns around back into her game.

*

They go on back and forth, the miners catching up to the Lumberjacks. The Lumberjacks ended up winning the first set considering how far ahead they were compared to us, but we won the second by far thanks to Katniss's spikes.

Now, it's 12-13; us with the higher score. One of the Lumberjacks give a hard serve to Glimmer who was paying attention to the boys on the sidelines, the Lumberjacks scoring a point.

"Glimmer, get your head in the game!"

"What the hell, Glimm?!"

"Get your head out of your ass!"

The Lumberjacks serve once again, but the ball hits the net and doesn't come over. The girls rotate, letting Katniss serve now. Everyone including Clove and I yell positive things to her.