We were walking along the shore together at the small beach we had here in District 2.
"Cato," Clove stopped and looked up at me, "So this years the year you're going in, right?"
"Yeah," I straightened up, pulling her in close to me. "I'll be back before you know it."
"I'll miss you." She rested her head on my shoulder, but I could tell she was up to something. "Kick their asses. Do it for me, okay?"
"I'll miss you so much, Clover." I said, as I kissed the top of her hair. "I'll kick their asses. I'll win. I'll bring pride to our District. I'll do it all for you, okay? I promise."
"Good." She tightened her grip around me, "The water looks beautiful, today. Like your eyes, almost."
"Almost?" I joked, "I think my eyes are pretty damn beautiful."
"Oh yeah?" She laughed as she pulled away and took my hands, "Your eyes are blue, Cato. You know what else is blue?"
"What else?" I smirked, "The sky? It's beautiful, too, I know."
"No." She smiled, "Toilet water when you put that chemical stuff in it."
"Bitch," I laughed, as I picked her up and carried her into the water. "You'll pay for that."
"No! No! Cato put me down!" She squealed, grabbing onto the collar of my shirt. "Put me down!"
"You want down?" I asked as I walked out a little further so the water was deeper and up just past my waist. "You sure?"
"Yes, put me down!" She laughed, "Please!"
"Alright. If that's what you want." I tossed her into the water right where we were standing, causing a nice splash. When she didn't rise up after a couple seconds, I began to worry. "Clove? Clover? You okay?"
After a couple seconds of silence, a pair of hands wrapped around my ankles and pulled me off my feet causing my to fall back under the water. We both came up and got out of the water, laughing. We were sopping wet, and still fully clothed as we went in the water.
"I think we should get going. I mean, we have the reaping tomorrow, right?" Clove said, not sounding as happy as she was a minute ago. "I don't want you to volunteer this year.."
"I'm sorry, Clover." I whispered only loud enough for her to hear me. "I was already nominated by the group. I'm going in. I'll be back in 2 weeks at the latest. Okay?"
"Okay." She whispered, almost to quiet to hear. She took my hand and I began to walk her home. It was a rather silent walk, neither of us said a word. By the time we got there the only thing she said was bye, and she shut the door. So I walked home sluggishly. I couldn't leave Clove. I couldn't do this to her. I know I'd come back, but there's always the one small chance I wont and she knows that. By the time I got home, I didn't want to do anything but go to sleep.
I woke up the next morning later than I should have. The reaping was in an hour. I shot up out of bed and straight into the bathroom. When I finished up in there I ran back into my room and tugged on a blue t-shirt and began to pull on a pair of jeans while I was stumbling to the kitchen of my home. I finally got them done up when I grabbed the toast off of Joanie's plate and began eating it.
"Yeah, sure. You can have that." Joanie said while rolling her eyes. "I bet you're gonna die in the arena, too."
"Thanks, sis." I replied after swallowing the piece of toast I had in my mouth, "I'm gonna miss you, too."
"Hurry up and get ready, Joanie." Mom said as she walked out from her bedroom. "We have a busy day today. Oh, and Cato. What are you taking as your District token?"
"Uh, I was thinking about taking that necklace Clover got me." I answered, "You know, the one she got me for my birthday a few years ago?"
"Pathetic." Joanie coughed.
"Hey, Joanie." I shot back, as I began reaching my hand into my pocket. "I have something for you."
"Really?" She sat up straight, her gaze on my pocket. But when I pulled my hand out, I flipped her off. Her gaze shot up to me and turned into a death glare. "You're lucky it's a special day for you, weakling. Otherwise I'd kill you."
"Good luck." I snorted, then turned to go back to my room. I grabbed the necklace Clove gave me and put it on around my neck. It was a dog tag with our names and birthdays engraved on it. Mine on one side, and hers on the other. This necklace is the reason I'm not aloud to forget her birthday. I retraced my steps back into the kitchen finishing off Joanie's toast. "Can we go now? I wanna meet up with Clove before the reaping starts. I wanna see her before I leave."
"Yeah, sure." Joanie said, getting up. "I'll see you later, Mom. Cato and I are heading to the reaping to see his girlfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend, Jo." I snorted. "We're just friends. Nothing more."
"Right.." She chuckled, as she we left the house and began walking to the town square. It felt like hours in my mind, but it initially took us twenty minutes. "You love her, don't you, Cato?"
"What? What are you talking about?" I laughed, trying to cover up the truth. "I don't love anyone."
"You're joking, right?" She stopped dead in her tracks. "It's obvious. We all know you're in love with her. What if she was reaped this year. Would you still try to win?"
"No, I-" I stopped myself, "Come on, Joanie. This isn't fair. She's my best friend, yeah I love her, but not like that. I love her as a friend. No, I wouldn't still try to win. I mean, if we could both survive this year that'd be great. But if we were the last two standing? I'd let her go home. I'd let her win. I couldn't bring myself to hurting her, let alone killing her."
"Whatever." She sighed. I began to turn a light shade of pink, so I quickly walked off and found Clove.
"Cato!" She yelped. "Please, don't go. I don't want you to go. I want you to stay here with me."
"No, Clove." I frowned, "I'll come back. I promise. Just you watch. We'll be together in the end."
She nodded and wrapped her arms around me, causing me to wrap mine around her even tighter.
"Cato, you gotta sign in!" Joanie called out to me after a few minutes. After Clove and I pulled apart, she added, "Hurry up! If you're this slow in the games, you're dead for sure!"
"I'll see you, Cato. I'm really gonna miss you." Clove faked a smile before she turned and walked off into the crowd of girls. I walked over to the tables and signed in with the peacekeepers, then walked into the crowd of boys.
After a few minutes the reaping began.
I couldn't stay focussed though, because of Joanie I kept thinking about what would happen if Clove volunteered to take the girls spot. Would she do it? I don't think so. I mean, she wants us to be with each other, and if she volunteers we couldn't do that. But what if she gets reaped. No, no, Cato, stop that. She wont get reaped. She just wont. There's plenty of other name slips, they wont pick Clove.
After a few minutes of panicking over this, I realized Anabel, our District's escort, was about to pick the female tribute. She spun the glass ball multiple times and finally stopped it. She reached her hand in, pulling out a piece of paper and unfolded it when she returned to her mic stand.
"This years female tribute is," She began, looking down to read the name on the paper. She looked back up at us and read aloud, "Clove Ivory."
My heart stopped. This couldn't be happening. My bestfriend-the girl I love-has just been reaped. There's no way I can tell her how I feel now. It'll screw everything up. Now I have to volunteer. I have to protect her. Clove walked upon the stage, and I could tell how scared she really was. No matter how confident she looked, I knew it was an act. She was terrified.
"Are there any volunteers?" Anabel asked the female crowd. It was silent. Not even a whisper was heard. Clove was going into the arena. "No? All right, then. Onto the boys."
Anabel walked over to the boys reaping ball and spun it many times before stopping it to retrieve a ballet. She walked back over to her mic stand and read out the name, "Sage Kentwell."
Get ready, Cato. I thought to myself. Now's your time.
"Are there any volunteers?" Anabel asked the crowd of boys after Sage reached the stage.
"I volunteer!" I shouted to make sure they heard me. Oh, they heard me, all right. Three peacekeepers came up and guided me to the stage. By the time I got up there into my spot, I glanced over at Clove, who was fighting to keep calm.
"Ladies and gentlemen! This years District Two tributes!" Anabel announced, sounding pretty confident in us. "You two may now shake hands."
Clove and I took a few steps towards each other making it so we were right in front of the other. We reached out and shook hands, but I gave her more of a reassuring squeeze. As if to tell her everything was going to be okay. That I wouldn't let anything happen to her. But that possibility seemed to have slipped her mind.
After a few moments, we finally were able to leave the stage. We went inside the Justice Building and waiting for any visitors we had coming for us.
My parents and sister were the first people to come in to see me.
"Mom," I said, trying to sound calm, but I knew she didn't believe that. "Don't worry about me. And tell Clover's parents not to worry about her. I'm gonna do everything I can to protect her. If it does come down to the two of us, I wont be coming home. I'm sorry, Ma, but I can't hurt her."
"It's all right, sweetie." Mom said, wiping away the tears.
"Cato," Dad began, "Show them what you can do. Kick their ass, okay?"
"I'm sorry, Cato." Joanie muttered. She looked as if she'd just finished crying. "I'm so sorry Clove got reaped. I jinxed it. I shouldn't have said anything. I'm really sorry, Cato."
"It's fine." I sighed, "It gives me more of a reason to fight, doesn't it?"
After about a half an hour of visitors, we got escorted to the Capitol train. Clove had managed to keep a calm expression. That was, until we got onto the train. That's when she broke down.
"Cato," She whispered, wiping away her tears. "Why did you volunteer after I got reaped? You know only one of us can win."
"I know," I said, gently kissing her forehead. "And I'm going to make sure it's you. You're my best friend, Clove. If we make it to the final two? There's no doubt that you're going home. I'm here to protect you."