FicWad

I run across the hot sand carrying the brown paper bag under on of my arm. My variations of yelling Finnick's name continue until I trip over a rock and am sent flying into the water. Soaked and scratched, I watch as Finnick speeds over to help me up.

''Annie! Are you okay?'' He asks, lifting me on my bottom and grasping my soldiers.

I rub my head. ''Yeah...I guess I was just in a rush...''

Finnick pulls my up on the sand to assess the damage. There's a bleeding scrape on my knee embedded with pebbles and sand. One touch the the rough skin sends a shot of pain through my body.

Finn grits his teeth. ''Better get the saltwater in that...'' He says.

I raise my eyebrows at him. ''Think I already did...'' I joke.

I'm carried into the shallow river and carefully dipped in. At first, the salt water stings my open wound but once it washes the gritty sand and pebbles out of it, it's feels soothing. As I soak my knee in water, Finn sits on the other side of the river, smiling at me.

''So you want to tell me why you were in such a hurry now?'' He asks.

I shake my head awkwardly. I guess I must have forgot he was there since the past five minutes I've been staring blankly into space.

''Oh, yeah,'' I say, remembering my current predicament. ''I was just so excited today because...well...one of the Peacekeepers came in to the shop today and bought a big bass, and he handed Simon three coins for it. I asked what Simon was going to do with the money, but he said it was a surprise! And when he got back from his walk in town, he had a full bag of the little hard candies we can never afford. He said I could bring some to you to share! Isn't this great?'' I beam.

Here in District Four, Hunger isn't always a problem. Half the town scraped up enough to avoid it, but if your like me and my family, you don't always have enough to eat. I'm not saying we're starving everyday, but we don't always have Capitol-fresh food among us. So my brother Simon, my father, and I opened up a shoppe in town a few years ago that sells fish. Now, here in Panem, you’re not supposed to sell your Districts industry, just for good measure that the Capitol has enough for themselves. And to make sure anyone comes in town from the Capitol doesn’t see our illegal business, my father had my brother pain ‘’Pastries’’ on the building just to be safe. But it doesn’t matter here in my town, because everyone knows we sell the fish and the Peacekeepers don’t mind, they’re usually our best customers.

Anyway, I already know Finn’s true answer is that this is not new to him. Being a Victor means he’s probably already tasted every candy under the sun. But I haven’t. And if this is the case, I know he’s going to be happy for me.
‘’Woah, Annie that’s great!’’ He grins. Then he moves his head back and fourth, like he’s searching for something. ‘’Where are they anyway?’’

I scratch my head as I too stilly search for the brown back they were wrapped in. ‘’Oh! I dropped them over there. Could you get them?’’ I say.

Finn runs over to the sodden bag and opens it up. ‘’Mmm, my favorite!’’ He laughs, popping one into his mouth.

He hands the bag to me and checks my cut as I crunch on a few of the sweet candies. ‘’Maybe we should cancel today’s lesson?’’ He asks, raising his eyebrows at me.

I grip his arm, as if he could be whisked away from me at any second. ‘’No,’’ I say quietly. ‘’I need this.’’ He gives me a good, long look then slops some dark gray sand on my cut. ‘’Okay, but we have to be careful..’’ He says.

We carefully move into the water about waist high. Finnick stands beside me, ready for another class of swimming. ‘’Alright, Annie, so today, I’m going to teach you about breaking waves.’’ He confirms.

I stare at him. ‘’Breaking waves? You can’t…you can’t break waves…’’ I say, bunglingly.

Finnick laughs. ‘’You don’t actually break them…you just sort of, conquer them.’’ He assures.

‘’And how do you do that?’’ I ask.

‘’You have to know how the wave works. Just watch me first, then follow,’’ He says.

‘’Okay, so when you’re facing the Northen way and a big wave is about to knock you over, you need to tread it.’’ He says, squatting down in the ocean.

‘’Tread?’’ I ask.

‘’Yeah, kind of like, bob your head above the wave when it gets to you, so you don’t go under.’’ A big wave nears him and I watch as he so easily leaps above the wave. ‘’Simple. Now, you try.’’ He instructs.

I perch down in the water and when a wave comes to me, I bob my head and body above it, like a frog. ‘’How’s that?’’ I ask.

Finnick makes a gesture with his mouth that tells me I’ve done a good job. ‘’Now, we’re going to work in the Southern direction,’’ He says, turning around. ‘’Okay, so when you feel a big wave coming behind you, crouch down. You need to be like the wave, okay? So when it comes you have to jump with it. Use your legs,’’ Finnick positions himself in front of a wave and when it seems to jump, he flawlessly does the same. I watch as the wave crashes, dropping off bits of white foam.

‘’And you,’’ He gestures with his hand that it’s my turn.

Finn’s a few feet away from me now so I come up to where he started, crouch down, and when a wave knocks my back, I jump with it.

‘’Why do I need to know how to do this?’’ I ask quietly.

‘’Because, if you’re ever stuck in the ocean and waves are threatening your life, you know how to break them. To get back to me. Ughhh, I mean, District Four…’’ Bright pink marks line Finnick’s face as he rapidly shakes his head.

‘’Welp, that’s all I got today. Meet here tomorrow?’’ He says.

‘’Yeah,’’ I agree. ‘’But why don’t we just…swim, awhile?’’ I ask, chomping on another piece of the candies. And so that’s how we spend the rest of our day; diving in the salt water and having a candy feast.