This Soon Shall Pass

You Are Cordially Invited To

Marvel's POV
Glimmer Cantrell's Coming Out Party
December 14th
7 pm to 11 pm
Revel Banquet Hall
RSVP by October 20th
"Shoot." I mutter and quickly call Glimmer.
"Hello?" Glimmer asks.
"Hey, it's me. I forgot to RSVP." I say.
"I know. I figured you'd be free."
"You're not mad?"
"No. You're only a day late. I'm still waiting on other people."
"Good."
"I am glad you called though."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you about our rehearsals."
"Our what?"
"For my party. As my escort you have to be able to somewhat dance, so I arranged for a few practices. Is that okay?"
"I guess so. I'll talk to you later, I have to do something."
"Oh okay. Bye." I hang up and answer the annoying knocking on my door.
"It's been two minutes. Relax." I say as Lanni impatiently taps her foot.
"Two minutes too long. It's a little weird for a group of 3s and 6s to be standing outside of your house, don't you think?" She replies and I sigh.
"Probably. Let's just go." I shut the door behind me and get inside of my car, the other door following. Lanni sits in the passenger seat as Turbo and Pexey argue over who has to sit in the middle. Turbo eventually loses and I pull out of my driveway.
"Explain to me again how it's safe for us to check out Finch's house in broad daylight?" I ask.
"The Peacekeepers gave up last week. They've abandoned the house for now and all of Finch's neighbors are either neutral or rebels. It's safe." Pexey explains. I sigh and turn on the radio, the car falling silent. I haven't been able to bring myself to tell them about seeing Finch at the Victory Gala. How do I tell them their friend is an Avox? As we enter 5, I glance at Lanni. She feels my eyes on her immediately and looks up.
"What?" She asks.
"I... I have to tell you something. All of you." I respond, turning my eyes back on the road.
"Tell us what?" Savera asks.
"It's about Finch. I saw her at the Victory Gala."
"You did? Is she okay? Did she survive the attack?" Turbo asks.
"I didn't see her after the attack, but none of the casualties were Avoxes-"
"Avoxes? Is she an Avox? Oh my..." Lanni trails off. Smooth.
"Yes. She's an Avox. She served my table at the gala." I hear several sharp intakes of breath as Lanni directs me to the correct house. I park my car in Finch's driveway.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't sure how to tell you guys, so I just... didn't." I admit.
"It's been almost two months." Turbo says.
"I know. I'm sorry."
"Well, at least we know now. At least she's not dead." Savera says.
"For Finch being an Avox must be worse than death." Pexey states.
"Pex-"
"A servant to the Capitol, to Snow, who has lost the ability to speak? The perfect punishment."
"Let's not talk about this. Please. Let's find whatever it is Finch left us and go." Lanni orders and gets out of the car. I follow her out and soon enough the other three follow. We enter Finch's house and Savera takes out the note.
"The note she left Marvel... does she mean the walls? The bones of the house no one thinks to check." Savera reads.
"I'd think so. What else would it be?" Pexey asks.
"Explains the sledgehammer." Turbo mutters as he prepares to swing.
"Hold on, we can't just destroy every wall in the house. She probably meant the walls of her room. Why would she keep things in the walls of her living room?" I say.
"Why would she keep things in the walls period?"
"Marvel is right. We should check her room first." Savera says and the five of us go upstairs. I follow the other four to Finch's room and Turbo picks a wall to start with. He tries to take a swing at the wall, but ends up losing his balance and nearly hitting Lanni.
"Whoa. How about I handle the weaponry? I have a little more experience than you." I say and Turbo begrudgingly gives me the sledgehammer as Lanni giggles.
"Stand back. I don't want to accidentally hit anyone." I say and take a swing once everyone has given me some space. Once I've made a big enough hole in the wall, the other four begin destroying the wall with their hands. I begin working on the second wall, and then the third, before joining in on searching the walls. After at least half an hour of silence, Pexey speaks.
"I found something." He says and pulls out a shoe box.
"One of three." He reads.
"Put the box on her bed. Back to work." I order and they all obey. It's not long until Lanni finds the second box, but after that there's no luck.
"Where could the third one be?" Turbo asks, jumping off of Finch's bed. The floorboards creak and Savera gasps.
"The floor. It's broken." Savera mutters and pushes Turbo out of the way. She drops to her knees and pries up the floorboards near Finch's bed until she finds the third box. She hands Turbo the box as she works on putting the floor back together.
"Should we open them here? Is it safe?" Turbo asks.
"Safer than any of our houses." I state, Lanni and I each grabbing a box. The three of us open them.
"It's her journals..." Turbo mumbles.
"Mine has photos too." Lanni adds. All eyes turn on me.
"Mine has documents. Legal documents. How did she..." I trail off as a pit begins to grow in my stomach. What did she get herself into?
"Marvel, I have a bad feeling about this." Lanni states.
"We should go." Pexey orders and runs downstairs. The four of us follow him, boxes in hand, and I drive away the moment we're all inside. We don't speak until we are far away from 5. Lanni stares at the first document in the box, her face turning white.
"Lanni, what's wrong?" I ask, trying to look at her and keep my eyes on the road.
"I... I know where this paper is from. She stole it? I can't believe it." She whispers.
"What? What is it?" Savera asks.
"It's my dad's. It's from his home office. He's an engineer and this was his special project. A secret order from Snow. All of his research for the project was stolen months ago and it nearly got him killed. Finch was the one who put my dad through all of that? I could kill her." Lanni explains, slamming the lid on the box.
"I'm sure she didn't mean to cause trouble for your dad." I state.
"Of course she didn't. She never means for anything bad to happen. It just does."
"Lanni-"
"She took the plans without thinking, for even a second, about how it would affect my dad. She spoke out against Snow on national television without even considering the effect it would have on her family. Now they're dead. She asks us to find these boxes and it turns out they're full of stolen documents and before you know it we're arrested for her crimes. She never thinks." The car slows down as I arrive at Pexey's house and Pexey gets out.
"I think I'm just gonna walk home." Lanni says.
"Lanni-" I begin.
"No. Don't defend her. Don't tell me to stay in the car. I need some air right now." Before I can say anything else, she shuts the door and makes her way down the street.
Peeta's POV
"Clove." I whisper, tapping her on the shoulder. She barely glances at me before returning her focus to her locker.
"Yes?" She asks.
"Are you okay? We haven't talked in awhile."
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Well that sounds convincing."
"My brother is staying with us until the games start. He wouldn't be too happy if he saw me interacting with a 12 over the internet. Especially you."
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"It means that my brother works for the Capitol, is very elitist, and wouldn't take too kindly to the idea of his sister associating with a figurehead of the rebellion."
"Why does that matter?"
"That you're a 12 and a rebel symbol? It matters because I'm a 2 and not a rebel."
"So I hurt your image?"
"Well, yeah."
"Great."
"Are you mad?"
"Kind of."
"Why are you shocked? You knew this from the beginning. You agreed to keep it a secret, what did you think that meant?" Clove asks and slams her locker shut. Within moments I feel someone looming over me. If it's Cato, I swear...
"What's going on here?" Cato asks and I sigh.
"Nothing. I was just leaving." I mumble and try to walk away. Before I get too far Cato's hand grips my shoulder and yanks me back.
"Not so fast. She's upset. What happened?"
"Cato-" Clove begins.
"I want to hear it from him. What did you say?" Cato antagonizes as he turns me around. I look the boy in the eye, he's really not much taller than I am, and answer.
"It's none of your business." I state and am slammed into the lockers behind me, Cato yanking me by the collar of my shirt.
"Cato." Clove exclaims as Cato's eyes glaze over.
"You're lucky I don't throw you to the football field just for being a rebel, Lover Boy. What makes you think you have the right to upset Clove, huh? Tell me-" Cato threatens. Before he can continue, Clove is standing in front of my face, grabbing Cato's wrist, and yanking his hand away from my collar. I gasp from the sudden release and fall to the ground.
"I don't know where the heck this came from, but you need to stop. Now." Clove orders.
"Clove, he was upsetting you-"
"That doesn't mean you can slam him into the lockers. You're suppose to be past this. Isn't that what you said the other night?"
"Yes, but-"
"Walk it off. Now." Both of them are silent, for what feels like forever, but eventually Cato stalks off. Anyone who happens to cross his path gets a forceful shove as he passes. Clove turns to me and offers me a hand. I disregard it and get up by myself.
"Sorry about that." She says.
"Yeah. Whatever." I mutter and walk away. I can hear her telling me to wait, but I ignore it and refuse to look back.
Cato's POV
I'm sitting outside, my back against the wall, by the time Clove finds me. She sits down next to me and stares straight ahead.
"You skipped class." She states.
"I know." I reply.
"We're going to be late for training."
"I know."
"Do you know what got into you today, cause I sure don't."
"He was upsetting you and refused to tell me why or how."
"It wasn't any of your business." She says, turning to face me.
"If it's upsetting you then it is my business."
"Cato-"
"I see red. When someone is harassing a person I care about... I get mad and I see red and the next thing I know he's pressed up against the lockers." I mutter, staring at my hands.
"Have you talked to Calpurnia about it?"
"A little."
"That's definitely something she can help with." I feel her hand rest on my shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. I turn my head to face her and she's slightly smiling.
"I'm sorry. I saw you getting mad and Lover Boy was there so..."
"I know."
"What happened? What did he say?" I ask, trying to keep my anger in check this time around.
"It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters, what he said clearly upset you. Why was he even talking to you in the first place?"
"It was stupid. The whole conversation. I know that now. I shouldn't have let him get to me." Clove admits and I look down.
"Do you forgive me?" I hear her chuckle and try not to turn red when her hand rests on my chin, pushing my head up to meet her eyes.
"Of course. You were just trying to protect me. That's what best friends do." She says, her smile growing a little.
"Good." I can only get out one word before my heart starts beating faster and my throat feels dry. Crap. She removes her hand just as Glimmer turns around the corner.
"Oh good, I won't be the only one who's late." She states. Clove jumps up in order to follow Glimmer, who continues walking. Clove turns around and offers me a hand. I take it and push myself up, knowing there's no way she can actually pull me up.
Thresh's POV
I stand near the front of the school. I can see her from where I stand. The 2. She freezes when she sees me. The male 2 sees me and pulls her along. Good.
Cato's POV
"It's getting worse." I say as I pace back and forth in front of the couch.
"What is?" Calpurnia asks.
"The... feelings. About Clove. My heart starts racing whenever she's close to me and just thinking about her makes me smile and my throat goes dry when she looks at me and... this is so bad."
"Why is it bad?"
"I'm not suppose to get those feelings. I'm a Career. I'm a soldier. Cold. Unfeeling. I can't have feelings for my partner, of all people."
"Haven't you had girlfriends before?"
"Yeah, but they didn't really mean anything. Clove is different."
"Why?"
"The feelings are different. They're confusing."
"Have you tried talking to her about them?" She asks and I turn to her, bewildered at the complete nonsense that just left her mouth.
"You're joking. Hey Clove, I might have feelings for you. I'm not sure, got any insight?" I spit.
"Well not like that." I glare at her and she chuckles.
"Okay, how have you been handling it?" She asks.
"Ignoring it. Shoving it down. Hoping it goes away." I answer and she shakes her head at me.
"How is that working out for you?"
"Not well." I admit, finally collapsing on the couch.
"If you like her, why not take a chance?"
"She might not feel the same way. It's our senior year. There's a war brewing. Her brother would kill me. Her mother would kill me. We're going in two opposite directions."
"Just because you have feelings doesn't mean the relationship has to last forever."
"But..." I trail off, unable to finish the thought out of pure terror.
"But what?" She asks, leaning forward.
"What if I want it to last forever?"
Sagara's POV
"Sagara, can you come in here for a second?" My mom asks. I walk into my room where she's sitting on my bed. She looks at me as I enter.
"What is this?" She asks, holding up my Mockingjay necklace. My throat goes dry and I try to act natural.
"It's... a necklace. Where did you find that? Were you going through my stuff?" I ask, going on the offensive.
"I couldn't find one of my bracelets so I looked in your jewelry box, in case you borrowed it and didn't put it back, and after rooting around a bit I found this. Are you... does this mean what I think this means?" She asks, looking down at the pin.
"What do you think it means?" My mom stands up and closes the door to my room. She leans against it.
"I think it means you're incredibly stupid."
"What-"
"You can't just leave something like this in your jewelry box. Anyone could've found it."
"You're not mad? Are you... are you too?"
"No. My patients need me, I can't just abandon them to go fight a war. I respect your choice, but I will not be taken down with you because you couldn't find a more secure place to hide this."
"Where should I hide it?"
"I don't know and I don't want to know. It just can't be here. Okay?"
"Okay."
Anonymous POV
"How are we suppose to trust these Careers? How do we know they're not spies?"
"We don't."
"Is it worth the risk?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"They're trained fighters. The more of them we have, the stronger our army becomes. Not to mention, it'll be a major blow to the Capitol once they realize their pet citizens aren't actually on their side."
"I don't know... some of them have friends who haven't pledged their allegiance to Coin. How can we trust them?"
"The Sevina girl is on the cusp of rebelling, anyone can see that. With what Snow has put her and her family through this past year, there's no way she hasn't thought about it."
"What about Cato? He's the real threat."
"I'm not sure where he stands right now, but if we get the Sevina girl then he's only a few steps behind."
"So basically everything depends on Clove?"
"She's the key. To Cato. To a working army. To Area 2. To everything."
"How can we insure she'll be on our side when the Quarter Quell hits its breaking point?"
"That all comes down to her friends. All we can do is sit back and watch."
Glimmer's POV
"Clove?" I ask, sitting down on her bed.
"Yeah?" She asks, closing her door.
"We need to talk."