I watch as the small girl with the dark hair throws knives at all the nearby dummies. I cross my arms and nudge Griffin. "You see that girl over there?" He nods. "That's Clove. She started just last week. Have you seen the way she throws knives about like a headless chicken?" I shake my head in disgust. "Pathetic," replies Griffin. "We don't learn weaponry until next year. For now its just survival skills." I groan at just the mention of it. Survival skills is the worst subject ever. We don't drop the subject, it's the one we have to take right through to the end of our time at the academy- well, that and weaponry. We can choose the rest. "Maybe we should just volunteer so we can win the Hunger Games and leave this stupid school," I sigh. Griffin stares at me in horror. "What- are you nuts Cato? We're only in our second year here! We'll die!"
"Maybe not," I say with a shrug of my shoulders. "We're careers, aren't we? And there would most likely be some older careers as well to take care of us. You know, I'm liking the sound of this! I'm going to volunteer this year!" Griffin suddenly kicks me hard on the leg. "CATO, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU," he yells. People start staring at us, so he drops his voice. "You can't. You'll die. You have people who love you Cato, and you'll be dis-respecting our district by going in there, you know that right?" I nod. I know if I go in there, I won't come out alive, which means District 2 is even less likely to have a winner. I sigh. Suddenly, a noise behind me turns my sigh to a yelp. I turn round to find a short, dark haired girl laughing at me. "What was that all about Cato?" I narrow my eyes at the girl in anger. My blood is boiling from her mocking, laughing voice. The way she spat out the sentence and really emphasised my name. "Nothing you need to worry about, Clove," I hiss, putting the same effect on her name. She laughs. "Oh Cato, I know anyway. You know, I think the whole hall does too. If you want your conversations to be private, maybe you shouldn't yell them across the hall, Cato. Anyway, good luck in the games, Mister. I'm volunteering." Clove skips off with a quick wink and a swish of her hair. I lunge forward at her out of my anger, but Griffin pulls me back. "LET ME AT HER! I'M GONNA KILL THAT KID!" I yell at Griffin as loud as I can, but he doesn't let go. I look back to find his face burning red in embarrasment. "Cato, please stop." I scream all the insults I know at him, at Clove, at everyone in the room. Griffin drags me away, while I'm still kicking and screaming. "Cato, come on, just shut up. Stop being a jerk, you know your embarrasing me," Griffin says through clenched teeth. I struggle for a little while longer, before finnaly bite his arm, causing him to yank his arm back, setting me free. I don't waste a second. I sprint like lightning after Clove, with both my hands clenched into fists. When I get there, she's just about to send one of her knives flying into a dummy, but she hears me coming and turns round in shock at the last second. She flings the knife into my shoulder by accident, because I see the glint of silver soaring towards me. It hits me like a bullet, and I plummet to the floor, weeping and clutching my shoulder. I see Griffin in the distance moving his head, and I assume he's shaking it. Clove stands in shock as she clumsily steps back into one of the dummies. The last thing I see is two men in white suits coming and leaning over me.