Chapter 1: Training.
"Alright, I want everyone to gather around! I have something to say" A guy named Marvin said. Everyone grumpily dropped their weapons down and walked towards Marvin to hear what he has to say. "Thank you, now—"Marvin said as he was cut off when he sees a girl not even paying attention to him.
"Hey, you over there! I told you to come here" Marvin said and the girl didn't even turn her head to take a look. Marvin shouted once again "HEY!" and again the girl didn't even show a sign of interest. Marvin was short tempered and people knew better when to make Marvin mad. He remained his cool and shouted once again "Look, Girl! You should know better when to come here when I'm talking! So get your ass right here and right now" and once again the girl didn't bother to take a look at him. It was the last straw, Marvin was losing his composure. His shoulders started tensing up. His hands turns into balls of fist and his whole body just tensed up and he started twitching. Girls started whispering to each other saying "She's a dead girl". The guys started grinning and laughing silently. One boy grinned at her and asked one of his friends what her name was. His friend said "I don't know but she is titled the best girl here. She can defeat her opponent with just a knife and some rope." the boy grinned and looked pleased.
Marvin who was blowing off steam started making his way to the girl "Listen you! Get your ass right –" Marvin was stopped in his tracks when a knife was thrown slightly near his face which gave him a little scar. The girl turned and said with glaring eyes "I don't give a damn about your stupid announcement. So if you don't want to get killed you might as well stop bothering me because I just aimed that knife a little far from you to give you a warning. If you ever bother me once again, I'll make sure that it's just not your face that's cut up, got it?" Marvin was frozen in his tracks and he started sweating up. The girls stopped their whispering and stepped one foot backward and the guys just nodded their heads in acceptance. On the other hand this one boy was still grinning at her and seems to be amazed by her. "Um, sorry to be of bother to you miss but the training session has already started and –"The staff was cut off when another knife was thrown and it hit the target perfectly. The staff panicked and moved out of the way.
The girl was still facing herself to the others when more dummies were making her way. She swiftly took out three knives from her arm bands and threw them directly at the dummies and it was a perfect hit. She ducked and made a perfect spin and took two knives from her waist and one knife she threw it to the right and the other she threw it to the left. She grabbed two more knives from the back part of her waist and threw each of them diagonally and it still was a perfect hit. She took out three more knifes in her other arm band and threw them from the back and it landed on the dummies hearts perfectly. Three more to go. She took out two more knifes but these knives were looking bigger than the others they were swords. She spun around and threw one to the right and one to the left, making her kneel. She stood up and noticed one more coming right at her faster than ever. She tried to pull knife from her back and noticed that she couldn't. The girls whispering "She's a dead girl" the guys saying to each other "She's done for". The girl grinned and took one last knife from her hair, making her brown straight hair fall from the neatly tied up pony tail a while ago. She faced the other trainees and Marvin and threw the knife right at the last dummy before it was able to touch her, finishing her training exercise.
"T-that was amazing" One girl said still gawking at the girl
"Wow. I thought she was a goner but she actually had one more knife in her hair" one of the boy's friends said and the boy just nodded and grinned at her.
The girl swayed her hair left and right and fixed it in its neatly tied up ponytail. She turned around and addressed the staff and said "Get all my knives. If one of them is missing you will replace it with a better looking one, AM I CLEAR?" the staff looking terrified just nodded and started to pick up all her knives and started resetting her training exercise.
"What are you all looking at?" the girl said and all of them turned their heads around except for that one boy. The girl grinned and laughed a little. The staffs were done taking all her knives and she took one knife and spun it around in a circular motion and placed it all back in their rightful place. She took the last knife and fixed her hair and placed it inside, noticing that she was missing one knife she glared at the staff and the staff quickly pointed at the knife that she threw right at Marvin. She smiled at the staff and walked right at the stage and everyone parted just like the red seas and she took her knife and placed it neatly in her hair saying "So, what was it that you wanted to say Marvin?" Marvin snapped away from his trance and walked up the stage and said "The reaping day is two days ahead of us, train hard and make our district proud" Marvin said and everyone was dismissed.
"Hey, what's your name?" the boy asked
"And why would you like to know that, Cato?" she grinned
Cato grinned back and said "You know my name it's fair enough that you give me yours"
The girl grinned right back at him and took a knife and playfully played with it in while saying "Is the great Cato, the boy who everyone fears. The strong guy who can defeat other trainees in seconds taking interest in me?"
"Don't flatter yourself, princess" Cato grinned
"Same to you, Cato" she grinned and walked right past him and added "A worthless guy like you doesn't have the right to know my name"
Cato smirked and grinned laughing silently and thought, She is one interesting girl. I've got my eyes on her.
He walked right up to her station and started to bug the girl again. He tapped the girl's shoulders and she instantly pointed a knife at Cato's neck
"Easy now, princess" he grinned
The girl scoffs and rolled her eyes while saying "What are you doing here?"
"Asking your name, princess" Cato grinned
"Don't make me repeat myself, A worthless—" the girl was cut off when Cato grabs her sword at her back and she ducks just in time. She stands up facing Cato and takes two of her knives and throws it behind him. Cato moves right behind the girl and slashes the dummies and ducks. The girl saw an opportunity and spun around using Cato's body as a table making her able to throw 6 knives while getting down safely. Cato slashed two more dummies and was now back to back with the girl and they were able to take down 5 dummies. The girl was facing her back to a dummy and Cato placed his arm around her waist and slashed the Dummy with the girl's sword. They were both panting, and were staring at each other not knowing that Cato still had his arm around her waist and the girl's arm around his neck.
"Still think I'm worthless princess?" Cato grinned
The girl laughed and rolled her eyes and said "It's Clove. Not princess"
"I finally got your name" Cato said and Clove just laughed while they were still tightly wrapped around each other's arms. Cato fell right into the beauty of her green eyes, how beautiful they were when they twinkled, he couldn't keep his eyes away from it. Clove saw how beautiful Cato's eyes were she knew when he's blowing off steam or when in a killing machine mode his eyes would always turn into a dark blue shade but now it was a light blue shade, she tried her best to look away but couldn't. Once they stared right into each other's eyes they couldn't pull away. They were still gazing on each other grinning and exchanging smiles and laughs when Marvin appeared and clapped his hands. The two snapped out of their moment and Clove pushed Cato away.
Cato grinned and looked at her but he saw that Clove stood tall again, not showing any kind of emotions. He scoffed and looked away and stood proudly like her.
"The two of you were splendid, absolutely splendid" Marvin said
Clove rolls her eyes and scoffs while Cato grins and smirks. Once Marvin left, Clove walked up to Cato
"Not bad, Cato" Clove smiled and said
"You weren't so bad yourself, Princess" Cato grinned
Clove rolls her eyes and said "I need my sword back"
"What if I don't want to give it back?" Cato said
Clove grins and swiftly takes the sword away from Cato and said "Nice Try."
Cato grins and was about to take the sword away when his friends started walking up to him and Clove walked away
"Dude, that was awesome!" One of his friends said
"If you two were partners in the Hunger Games you two would absolutely win" his other friend said
"With or without her, I can win" Cato grins and walks away with his friends.
Clove walks home with her knives all in place. She checked it twice and noticed one was missing. She grins and instantly thinks of him, that bastard. When did he take it?
Cato walks home in the other direction and plays with Clove's knife and instantly thinks of her. Still think I'm worthless, princess? You didn't even feel a thing when I took your knife away from you.
Clove reached home and a little boy came running to her with a huge hug
"Hey there, handsome" Clove smiled
"I missed you!" The boy cried
"I told you I went out to train" Clove laughed while she knelt down to be the same height as the little boy
"But you took so long!" the little boy cried
"I needed to train a little longer since its 2 days before the Reaping" Clove said while wiping the tears off of the little boy's eyes
"You don't need to train! You will win without even lifting a finger!" The little boy shouted
Clove patted the little boy's head and stood up "Of course I will, now I need to rest, you should too alright?"
The boy nodded and went to his room. Clove smiled and went to her room. She placed her knives in order and immediately thought of Cato who has her other knife. She smiles to herself and thinks of Cato for the rest of the night until she falls asleep.
Cato on the other hand was still walking and smiling to himself with Clove's knife in his hand
You're really interesting, Princess. I wonder if you have a weakness. Wait… Why am I thinking about her? Am I really taking interest in her? No. this can't be right. I'm Cato, the strongest guy in district 2. The person that every person fears except for her, Clove the strongest girl in district 2. The girl that everyone is afraid of except for me. Wait, no I have to stop thinking about her. She means nothing to me. Does she? I Cato Wood, the strongest and the person that everyone fears is actually catching interest in Clove Cleverwood? Oh God. This can't be happening.
Cato grins and enters his house, satisfied with what he has thought. He was actually falling for Clove. His thinking was stopped when two of his siblings came running to him.
"Hey, Claire and Claide" He said while kneeling down to match their height
"What took you so long?" Claire asks
"I was out training to be the best" Cato grins
"But you're already the best!" Claide says
"Thanks buddy. But today I found a worthy opponent and I'm going to test her skills before the reaping" Cato said
"A worthy opponent?" Did you really find a worthy opponent brother?" Claire asks
"You bet I did and hopefully she doesn't let me down" Cato smiles
"She? So your saying that your worthy opponent is a girl?" Claide asks
"HA! Girl power" Claire shouts at Claide
"No way! Brother will totally beat that girl" Claide counters
"But since the worthy opponent is a girl that means she isn't that easy to beat!" Claire counters back
"Alright, that's enough. Go to bed you two" Cato said as he stands up and pats their heads
"Alright!" Claire and Claide said as they ran to their rooms.
Cato takes the knife out and walks up to his room and thinks about her until he falls asleep.