Right, okay. If you read Gone With The Wind you would know that my laptop is broken and it had my plan on it so I can't write that. Good news! It may be fixed this month. :) In the meantime, I've come up with this AU fic. I hope you enjoy it. I don't own The Hunger Games.
"Cato! Cato!" Eight year old Clove dropped her mother's hand and sprinted towards the nine year old blonde boy making his way through the camp entrance gate.
"Clove!" Cato ran towards her. They met halfway between Clove's parents and Cato's. They crushed each other in a bear hug, both of them laughing.
"Come on, Clove. We need to unpack your bags." Clove's mother called from a few metres away. Sighing, Clove wiggled out of Cato's grasp.
"I'll see you later, Cato." Clove smiled and ran back to her mother, waving over her shoulder at her best friend.
Now sixteen, Clove smiled at the memory. She and Cato had been attending Camp Panem since she was six and he was seven. It had everything you could possibly imagine wanting to do, including horse riding and rowing, hockey and soccer. There were things for the younger kids and things for the older kids. Clove would be able to attend the summer camp for another three years and afterwards she was interested in becoming a councillor.
"Clove? Are you almost ready?" Clove's mother called from downstairs.
"Nearly, mom!" Clove yelled back, tossing an extra pair of trainers into her already bulging suitcase. Sighing, Clove ran a hand through her hair. Packing was hard work for her. She never knew just quite what to take. After ten minutes of struggling, she managed to zip her suitcase shut. She lugged it down the stairs and met her mother at the bottom.
"Clove dear, camp's just for the summer. You've packed like your never coming back." Her mother laughed.
"Shut up, mom." Clove laughed, but she wasn't serious. Her mother was one of the most important people in her life.
"We can arrange that, you know." Clove's older brother called from the kitchen.
"Shut up, Ryan!" Clove called back, smiling. Her brother was also pretty important to her.
"You're not the boss of me!" Ryan teased. Clove rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see her.
"Come on; let's leave before he earns himself a punch." Clove said. They left the house and Clove threw her suitcase into the trunk of the car. Climbing into the passenger seat she said,
"I feel bad for you. You're left with Ryan."
"He's not that bad, Clove…I think." Her mother joked. He was only home for the summer, and Clove knew that her mother had missed him a lot seeing as it was his first year away from home. Clove pushed thoughts of college and her brother leaving again from her mind. Right now, she couldn't wait to get to camp.
-Line Break-
"I'll see you in three months, mom." Clove said, hugging her mother.
"I'll miss you, sweetheart." Her mother mumbled into Clove's hair.
"I'll miss you too, mom." Clove stepped away from her mother, straight into the boy stood behind her.
"I'll get you back for that, Clover. Stepping on my toes…You're mean."
"If you don't want to get walked into don't stand directly behind people, Cato." Clove said, rolling her eyes. He grinned at her and pulled her in for a hug. They'd been best friends since their first days at Camp Panem and Clove would never admit to him that she'd had a crush on him since she was fourteen.
"Hello, Cato." Clove's mother smiled warmly at the tall blonde boy.
"Hey, Mrs Fuhrman." Cato smiled back, releasing Clove.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Call me Eleanor." She scolded.
"Sorry, Mrs Fuhrman." He responded. She laughed lightly and turned back to Clove.
"Have fun, sweetie. I'll see you soon. Keep her out of trouble, Cato."
"I'm more likely to end up having to keep him out of trouble." Clove grinned. "See you soon, mom." Clove and Cato watched as her mother walked back to the car and drove away. As soon as she was out of sight, Cato picked up Clove's suitcase.
"Come on, Squirt. We're in District Two this year." Cato said, walking down that path. Clove followed closely behind him.
"Aren't we always?" She smirked. The Camp was huge, so it was separated into twelve sections known as 'Districts'. District One was the biggest, Two was the second biggest and so on. Twelve was the smallest. Clove's friends Katniss and Peeta was in Twelve, Johanna was in Seven, Cashmere and Marvel were in One, Annie and Finnick were in Four and Jackie was in Six.
"Well, yeah." Cato said. They reached their District. There were six cabins arranged in a spacious square, each containing five beds. Three cabins were for the boys and three were for the girls. Clove knocked once on the door of the third cabin in the girl's row.
"Come in!" Came a muffled reply. Clove pushed the door open and she and Cato walked in. The cabins in District Two were mad of stone, unlike Seven, where they were made of wood. Two summers ago, Clove and some others had painted the cabin she slept in a light blue. They had painted the other cabins in their District different colours too so that they didn't look so uninviting.
"Hey, Clove. Cato." A girl with a brown ponytail greeted them.
"Hey, Cassidy. Where are the others?" Clove asked as Cato set her suitcase down next to the only single bed. There were two bunk beds pushed against one wall and the single bed was opposite. Clove always claimed the bed for her own each year. The walls were covered in posters the girls had pinned up over the years and one was painted as a sunset.
"Beth's at the pier. I think Mel's with her. Vicky doesn't get here until a few hours." Cassidy responded, pulling a book out of her rucksack.
"Okay." Clove said. Her phone beeped in her pocket. She pulled it out and read the new message.
"Who is it?" Cato asked.
"Cashmere. She's almost here, can we go wait for her at the gate?" Clove asked.
"Sure." Cato smiled.
"See you later, Cassidy." Clove said, but got no reply as the girl was so engrossed in her book. Cato and Clove raced each other up to the gate.
"I win!" Clove yelled when they got to the gate.
"That's not fair, your smaller than me!" Cato whined.
"How does that make a difference?" Clove asked.
"It just does, okay?" Cato grinned.
"Hey, guys! Stop fighting for once, will ya?" Cashmere jumped out of her father's convertible, grinning, and ran towards the best friends.
"Hey, Cashmere." Clove smiled at her good friend.
"Hey, Clove. You alright?" Cashmere asked, but didn't wait for Clove's answer. She flew into Cato's arms. Clove thought it was a little strange. Sure, Cashmere and Cato were friends, but were they really so close that Cashmere would practically blank Clove to hug Cato?
Everything became clear when they started to kiss.
Tadaaa, first chapter! :) I hope you enjoyed it, guys and girls. :)
