Soooo this is what happened to Clove and the Carreers during the 74th Hunger Games! :D
It took a while to come up with last names but I hope you'll like it, lol. This story will probably be very romantic and Clato-y. :)
I get so incredibly happy when I read your reviews, thank you! :'D
XOXO /Eri

A small, dark haired girl sat on a stool infront of a oblong mirror in a small concrete house with her legs pressed together and her fists clenched. An older woman stood behind her violently pulled the girl's hair with her fair hands, braiding it.

"Ow." the girl said, wincing when her mother tugged parts of her hair.

"If you think this hurts, how the hell do you think you're supposed to win the games next year, Clove?"

Clove and her mother had always been told they looked alike with their big dark eyes, pale heartshaped face with faded freckles on their cheeks, small nose and mouth and with their small framed bodies but Clove wished they didn't. She didn't want to be anything like her mother.

"I'm tired of living in this filthy house. Ever since that scum left us, we've been living like peasants. But when you win the games and we get rich, he'll be coming crawling back to us." Clove's mother muttered. The scum she was referring to was Clove's father.

Clove hated her mother, in fact she hated her more than her father who left them six years ago without ever contacting them again. She thought of him as dead, sort of.

The worn-out bathroom shone with sunlight from the small window and made their dark brown hair shine. It was time to go to the enormous square which held the reaping for district 2.

She didn't say goodbye to her mother, instead she went to her room with yellow faded wallpapers, an unmade bed and a drawer full of clothes but little else. They weren't amongst the wealthiest in district 2, but atleast they weren't starving like in other districts.

On her bed laid a gray dress with a bow on the front she'd been saving for this day. Not that it mattered how she looked since Clove wouldn't volunteer this year since she was only sixteen, turning seventeen in a week. It was already decided in the illegal training academy which Clove attended, that another girl would volunteer this year.

Clove removed her oversized blue T-shirt she used for sleeping and her shorts with small pink bunnies on them. She would rather die than to be seen in them but it was a sentimental thing, her father had given them to her when he was still living with them and they still fit. She slipped the grey dress on and walked down the low creaking stairs, out the door.

The sun was shining and the sky was a deep azure blue. The mountains were snowy although it was hot outside. Clove could barely see anything except the mass of people heading for the square. It was so crowded, she had to elbow her way out to be able to breathe.

Eventually Clove made it to the square, there were big screens with the Capitol seal and the blue haired district 2 escort giving a flying kiss on them. Clove stood where girls her age was supposed to be and almost everyone towered over her. It made her angry, she could hardly see the stage from there, and she didn't want to miss everything.

"Clove, there you are." a big, square-faced redhaired girl made her way towards Clove with a grin.

Oh great, Clove thought sarcastically. This was another girl from the training academy, who was supposed to volunteer this year. Clove thought she was incredibly stupid but she was strong and big, even bigger than some boys.

The girl didn't have a chance to say something else before the district mayor began his long, boring, mandatory speach about the rise of Panem. There was snickering and whispers in the crowd, about who would be reaped. Not that it mattered because there were always volunteers. Clove knew who it would be this year. The red haired girl, Rebeka and the big blonde boy from the training academy, Cato.

She'd always secretly watched Cato when he was training, at first of admiration of his strength, lethal skills and good looks. But then because she slowly began to like him. They were alike in so many ways, even though they weren't friends or spoke to eachother much.

A sea blue haired young woman with pink skin and eyecolor walked across the stage to the microphone and reaping bowls. Her hair laid perfectly neat on her shoulders with glossy pearls woved in it and she wore a poofy bright yellow dress with green pumps. She looked looked like a bizzare, colorful bird.

"Happy Hunger Games!" escort Titania Clatterwing chirped and waved to the roaring crowd of inhabitants of district 2. Clove clapped her hands.

"Now is the time to select one female and male tribute from district 2." she went on.

Clove imagined how this must be like in other districts, when everyone is trembling in fear of getting reaped while everyone here in two didn't have to worry.

"How about the gentlemens first?" Tatiana asked, flashing her fake snow-white Capitol teeth. The crowed cheered as an answer.

She put her arm into one of the almost-full reaping bowls and dug deep with her hand until she pulled out one slip. She opened it slowly.

"Linus Hammer!"

A tall dark-haired boy walked up the stage, his eyes flickered nervously over the mass of people and cameras. He walked strangely, almost twitching. Clove could only see the top of his head from her position and she even stood on her toes.

"Any volunteers?" Titania asked the crowd who had gone silent. A monsturously big boy lunged out and raised his hand. He was tall, muscular and blonde with handsome feutures and looks ... he looked like a winner.

Everyone started clapping their hands excitedly for their first tribute in the 74th Hunger Games.

"Come here, come here", the escort said and waved Cato to her and put her arm over his shoulder. "What's your name?"

"Cato Finley." Cato answers confidently and winks into a camera. The escort giggles.

"I bet you've already won the girls of Panem's hearts! Please take a seat Cato, because now it's time to select the girl tribute."

Her pink hand reached deep into the glass bowl and grasped a slip. She unfolded it and then she said:

"Clove Brandstone!"

Clove smiled a little. What were the odds that she, out of all the girls in District 2 would be reaped? She took a step forward and walked towards the stage. She smoothened out her dress with her left hand and when she was out of the crowd and when started walking up the stairs she noticed everyone's eyes, the cameras, the sun and Titania's eyes that were on her. For the first time in her life she felt shy. Was it stage fright? She wondered.

Clove looked out over the sea of people. Some where clapping their hands and some where just looking at her with empty eyes. Maybe they thought she would be an easy victim for Cato. She knew she shouldn't be underrated, and she would prove them wrong next year, Clove promised herself.

She glanced towards Cato who also looked at her. She couldn't read his expression.

"Any volunteers?" the escort's voice echoed. There was silence. "None?"

Clove searched for Rebekas face in the crowd and found it. She was looking down, avoiding Clove's gaze. "That idiot, what the hell are you doing?" Clove thought angrily. So Rebeka had been too scared to volunteer and backed out in the last second. Clove didn't mind and started to smile. One year earlier didn't matter, she was already the best in District 2, if not Panem at knife-throwing.

She held up a pale hand for her district and the people who roared and clapped hands for the tributes of District 2 but then she noticed him, far back but there was no way she was mistaken. Her father. And he was crying.