Drabble Challenge

Day 9

"Imagine your OTP studying together, and for every question answered right, somebody has to take off a piece of clothing."

"Ding-ding-ding," Johanna deadpans, rolling her eyes before snapping her French textbook closed and flipping onto her back. "Another one right. Big surprise. I really should stop calling you 'Brainless', huh?"

I snort and then push on her shoulder. "Come on, Jo," I whine. "I really need to keep studying."

"It's open-note, Katniss," Finnick teases from one side of me, and Peeta laughs from the other.

"I don't care," I reply. "I feel more pressure to pass because it's senior year. Feels like colleges are paying, like, really close attention to what I do now." I flick Johanna on the forehead, ignoring the cutting glare she sends my way. "Let's go. Open the book back up."

"Fine," she huffs, then stops with her hand on the cover of the textbook. "I'll open the book back up. If..."

I groan. "What is it, Jo? What sick idea has your mind come up with now?"

She cackles, then throws her arms into the air. "Strip studying!"

"Johanna..." Peeta warns.

I send him a helpless glance before turning back to Johanna. "Jo, I am not-"

"If you answer a question correctly," she continues, as if neither Peeta nor I have objected, "you get to choose someone to take a piece of clothing off of."

Finnick makes a noise of intrigue. I groan again. Peeta is silent.

"I'm in," Finnick says.

"I most certainly am not," I add.

"You don't get a vote," Johanna tells me, and I swear I will wring her neck. "If you want us to study with you, this is how we're doing it."

I huff in frustration, then turn to Peeta. "Do you approve of this?" I ask him.

He clears his throat, refusing to meet my steely grey gaze. "I don't really approve, per se... But I can't really turn down an offer that includes two girls- any girls, really- getting undressed."

I sputter uselessly for several moments, appalled with my best friend's response, but Johanna laughs loudly and triumphantly.

"Atta boy, Peeta!" she exclaims, but Peeta isn't nearly as enthusiastic as she is.

Good.

Finnick chuckles slightly and tells me, "Look, Katniss, if you don't want to have to take anything off, just keep being insanely smart, and don't let anyone else get any questions right."

I ignore him. But I keep what he's said in mind.

X-X-X-X

Thirty minutes later, I sit within the same circle- this time most of us only half-dressed. Both my shoes and socks are removed- courtesy of Peeta, Finnick, Peeta, and Johanna, respectively- but for the most part, I am dominating this fucked-up study game. Peeta has lost both shoes and his shirt (which is fine by me), Finnick, his pants- leaving him in just his boxers- and Johanna, both her shirt and pants, leaving her in a tank top and a tiny pair of underwear. It doesn't surprise me that she was so eager to remove said articles of clothing, nor that she's wearing such undergarments beneath them.

Nonetheless, Peeta and Finnick keep getting distracted by the sight of her- something that definitely does not escape Johanna's notice- and I've had to recapture their attention numerous times. I feel a twinge of envy at Johanna's confidence- something that doesn't escape my notice- and her ability to so effortlessly flaunt her sexuality in others' faces.

So when Peeta answers the next question correctly- "Nous avons mangé, bitches!"- and turns to me expectantly, I whip my shirt over my head before I can have second thoughts.

I hear Peeta's sharp intake of breath, but I don't look to see his expression. I take the book calmly from the center of our group- feeling utterly exposed in just my bra and skirt- and read the next question on the page.

When I do sneak a glance at him, though, he's staring unabashedly at my chest. His gaze flickers to my face for a split second before returning to my breasts, and I smile to myself, feeling oddly powerful.

When I ask Johanna the next question and see her smirking at me, I return it.

I think I'm beginning to understand why she acts the way she does.