Welcome to my very first fanfiction story! I'm new to this website so if there are any technical difficulties it's not my fault! Please review my storuies and know it really means alot to me when you do. Hope you enjoy and I will be taking ideas :)

CLOVE's POV

I wake to the sunshine pulling open my eyelids. I hobble out of bed and brush out my hair, and the rest. I head for the training center, but before I walk out the door, my mother throws the backpack at me. "Don't forget your sharp objects! I hope you don't mind i used them to cut up tonight's dinner!" They're throwing knives, and yes. I do mind that mother used them for dinner. Ignoring what horrible things she could have done to them, I rush out to the training center, and now I will be late. Thanks again Mom.

The sun refuses to rise so I walk in the freezing dusk, and I only think of the upside to this situation. Cato. My training partner, best friend, and crush. I'll be the first to admit Cato's not like other guys. He's special. Don't ask me why, but I always hope that someday we'll think of each other in different ways. Almost like relationship different. I shake the thoughts out of my head. What am I thinking? I'm tired so my imagination is getting in the way again. Cato doesn't like me. I don't think he ever will. Many dreams were crushed in the past few seconds of thinking, and I shove open the doors of the training center. Small children fight in the hallway, and Gardenia, the training director, breaks them up. I walk over to the knife throwing station and sent a knife whizzing by Cato, and piercing the dummy's heart. "Good shot Fuhrman." he says acting like an expert. "I bet you couldn't do that if you tried." I say snobishly. He smirks and says, "Well we'll just see about that!" He yanks a knife from my belt and sends it hitting the wall, inches away from the dummy's head. "Better luck next time expert." I say sarcastically. He hacks up a dummy with his sword and looks over to me, acting cool. I only roll my eyes and smile. There's always been competition between me and Cato, but I never learned to accept he was older, and stronger. Just because I'm small doesn't make me weak.

I am Clove Fuhrman and I'm not going to be beaten.

After several hours of shooting, throwing, and climbing, I head off, to get ready for the reaping. I pick up the pace when I see the sky. It's noon, already? I never got the chance to even say goodbye. What does it matter? I'll see him later. Cato is 18, so he will be volunteering for the 74th annual hunger games. I try to avoid the topic whenever he's around, because I don't think he's very excited about it. Whenever I ask him, he never answers. What will you wear? What will you show the game makers? Are you ready? Never an answer. It always makes him feel so much better when I just ignore it. Clove? Drop the subject.

I walk in the door and dress in a beautiful white dress. It's very... Puffy, fun, exciting. Maybe to little girls, but it's strapless and falls to the floor in the back and comes up to my knees in the front. It's the mullet of the reaping. My mom curls my hair and adds makeup to my face. I hate this part. She scrapes the glitter across my face, making my cheeks red and my face irritated. I look in the mirror to see I look like a doll. "It's beautiful" I lie. I see the joy on my mother's face when I smile, a sad smile. Knowing that after this morning, I won't see Cato for a long time. I know Cato can win, and I will support him all the way through it. He says he already has his plan, ride with the careers for as long as possible, then cut them down at night. It's a simple plan, really, but it's not the safest. It never is.

I line up to get my finger pricked, but when I see Cato, the pain feels lighter. I stand with the other 16 year old girls, and I see Cato staring at me. You ready? I mouth to him. I wait for an answer but like always, he doesn't return it. He looks at his feet and stares at the stage, ready for Ms. Sevvy Myers to draw the lucky soul Cato will volunteer for.

Out comes Sevvy wearing her bright pink peacock dress, more colorful than any of the other escorts I swear. "Welcome Welcome to the reaping for the 74th annual Hunger Games!" She applauds but no one joins her. "Now may we appreciate a video all the way from the Capitol!" She points the the screen and a video plays, followed by the anthem. I look at Cato and he pretends to point a gun at his head. I giggle and a chill goes down my spine as Sevvy says, "Gentlemen first!" Don't ask me why boys go first, it's a tradition for the career districts' boys will be reaped first. Hey, I just told you why.

Sevvy's pink dyed hand reaches into the bowl of names, and she yanks a sheet of paper from the pile. "Lukas McClever!" I hear total silence for a few seconds as I see a shaky hand go up. "I volunteer!" Cato says in a strong voice. I smile at Cato's courage, because I could feel he was having a rough time with his sick little sister. Cayta Ludwig, she has Cato's eyes and smile. They're almost like the same person, or a smaller more female version of him. I enjoy watching over her when Cato's away, because I'm comfortable around the Ludwigs. My mind has dozed off when I hear Sevvy call the female tribute.

"Clove Fuhrman!"