Author's Note: This is my first shot at a story so don't be too mean! So yeah…I'm in love with Alexander Ludwig and the character of Cato. I love him with anyone, except for Glimmer. Maybe it's because I'm a brunette. Yeah. I think that's about it. Please read and review (but be nice teehee)
Everything basically belongs to Suzanne Collins except for the characters and semi-plotline that I make up along the way. Yeah.
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Prologue (age 13)
Katniss sat along the edge of the lake, fashioning her long, brown hair into a single braid slightly to the side. As she finished securing the last bits into her beaten-up hair tie, she turned around at the bright blue pair of eyes fixed upon her.
"What are you looking at?"
Cato shrugged sheepishly. "I think it's fascinating."
Katniss gave the older boy sitting a few feet beside her a quizzical look. "What is?"
"Um—the way you can braid your hair like that. It's fascinating."
Katniss lifted her eyebrow, not believing him. It was obvious when he lied. "It's a normal braid, Cato."
"Yeah—um, never mind."
Katniss shrugged and turned her gaze back to the lake. She picked up a pebble—smooth and cold—from the ground next to her and tossed it into the water, watching it make a small splash and ripple as the sun made it glitter and gleam. She liked the lake. It made her feel peaceful.
Katniss had started coming to the lake when she was younger, the pretty one at the outskirts of District 2. Though she was from District 12, she and her father would always venture out of their home district and explore what was beyond it. It was always at the lake that her father met up with his best friend from school, Damon Herrington, and it was there that she became good friends—no, best friends—with Damon's son, Cato. Damon used to live in District 12, but once his parents died, he moved to his uncle's house in 2. But because Panem's districts were aligned in a circular shape, it wasn't very far to get from District 12 to District 2. You only had to cross through some woods and pray that no one from District 1, which was right in between the two other districts, stumbled upon you. Once she turned 8, Katniss started sneaking out on her own on the weekends. Her father would work in the mines and her mother would be too busy taking care of her sister and their patients, so Katniss didn't really have anything else to do. At the lake, Katniss and Cato would fish. Hunt. Talk. Laugh. Everything that Katniss couldn't do back at District 12, she was able to do freely at the lake. It was wonderful.
"Hey, Earth to Katniss Everdeen."
"Hmm?" Katniss murmured, still slightly lost in her memories.
"I said, wanna know something funny?" Cato smirked, inching closer to her.
Katniss looked up at the boy and into his eyes. Even though she was only two years younger than him, he had started to grow a lot taller than her in the past couple of months. Just a year ago, they had been almost the same height. Now he had at least five or six inches on her. "Shoot."
Cato brushed his sandy blond hair back. It was pretty long compared to the boys Katniss went to school with in 12—and they all had brown hair. "Well, Reid has been chosen to volunteer at the reaping this year."
Katniss's heart stopped for a split second. "That's not funny at all! That's terrible! He could die, you know."
Reid was Cato's older brother, a year older than him. Though he was only sixteen, he was the best fighter Katniss had ever seen. Reid would tag along sometimes with his brother and father to meet up with the Everdeens, but he stopped coming after a while. He was too busy training, studying, and flirting with girls. Both Cato and Reid were good-looking, but Reid was—special. He had sparkling green eyes and golden hair and was very handsome, whereas Cato was more—chiseled, in a way. He had a distinct jawline and mysterious blue eyes that could make someone fearful for their life.
Cato chuckled, and tucked some of Katniss's slight bangs behind her ear. "He's the best in all of District 2. He'll bring great honor to our family," he mocked, mimicking his father's tone. "Anyways, it's your second year to be reaped this year—you excited?"
"No," Katniss answered bluntly. "We don't have Careers in 12. No one volunteers for anyone…and we never win."
Cato put his arm around Katniss's shoulder for comfort. "You guys had that one drunk guy, though. Haywire or something."
"Haymitch," Katniss sighed. "And it was only because he cheated—well, kind of. I don't know. The Games aren't fair. 11 and 12 almost always die."
Cato squeezed her shoulder. "They're not supposed to be fair, Kat. Listen, let's stop talking about this. I'm sorry you have to live in 12—maybe you could move to 2, with us."
Katniss shook her head. "Nah, I don't think I'd like it there. I see your tributes every year, cocky as ever. Just like you."
Cato laughed, and looked at his watch, a luxury that Katniss's family—or anyone in District 12, could not afford. "It's time to go."
Both of them stood up and brushed the grass from the lake off of themselves. As they hugged goodbye and started to go in opposite directions, Katniss stopped.
"Cato?"
"Yeah, Kat?"
Katniss couldn't bring her eyes up to his and left them transfixed on the white lilys blossoming below her feet.
"When you're old enough…are you…are you going to volunteer?" Katniss asked, her voice threatening to break at any time.
Cato smiled at his best friend, slightly amused and flattered by her worries. It was funny, how such a determined and brave girl like Katniss could become so nervous at the thought of him entering the Hunger Games.
"I don't know, Kat. I just don't know."