CATO POV
My eyes open slowly and I stretch my arm out to soon find out that I'm alone. I sit up and look around. My windows open, curtains blowing from the breeze. I guess Clove decided to leave in the middle of the night. I wonder where she went. I stretch and throw my blankets off of me. As I start to walk downstairs, I remember what today is. The reaping. I take a deep breath and make my way over to the fridge. I guess thats why Clove left. Her nerves probably took over. Although Clove isn't the type to get nervous, I know that she does sometimes over the games or possibly going into them. Maybe she decided to get in some last minute training, theres always that possibility of getting chosen and no one volunteers for you (even though thats hardly ever the case here in District 2). Maybe it could be that she's nervous for me. I'm volunteering today. I've trained since I was 7 and I am now 18. It's my last chance to volunteer to go into the games. I've known Clove since I was 5. She's a year younger than me so we were never in the same classes at school. We live 2 houses away from each other, we always train together. Our parents are also really good friends, they're all peacekeepers, we barely get to see them. They're probably home about 100 days out of the year. Our lives are sort of the same. I don't have any siblings and neither does she. We were both raised as an only child. We used to be with each other everyday too. So I guess you can say she's like a sister to me… wait no don't say that. That would be weird because we're friends with benefits. We started the whole "friends with benefits" thing about a few months ago. We promised each other we wouldn't develop real feelings for each other and that it was just strictly sex/kissing. But what I haven't told her is that I actually have developed feelings for her. I know if we were ever in a real relationship and then we broke up it would probably ruin our friendship forever. I don't think I would be able to handle not having her in my life anymore. So I'll just have to deal with the fact that we'll never be together. I took a sip of my orange juice and thats when I heard a knock at the door. I got up and opened it, to see Clove standing there. She was wearing a dark green dress. Her hair was in a braid and she looked absolutely beautiful. I smiled and said "Hey, thanks for leaving me" with a laugh. She laughed a little too and walked inside. "I'm sorry, just last minute nerves" she replied. Knew it. She would never tell anyone else that she was nervous, only me. She wouldn't want to come off weak to other people. But believe me, she is the total opposite of weak. I sat back down and she sat across from me. "Aren't you going to get ready? The reaping's in 20 minutes" she said. I glanced at the clock. I didn't even realize that it was almost 1:00 already. I got up once again and went up to my room. I changed into a maroon dress shirt and nice, black pants that used to be my father's. I gelled up my hair and buttoned my shirt. I looked in the mirror and gave myself a smile. I looked around my room, taking it all in. This just might be the last time I see my room. I shook that thought out of my head and whispered to myself, "I am going to win". I went back downstairs and Clove was still sitting at the table. "Well you took a long time. We got to be there in 5 minutes. We should start walking" she said as she got up from her chair. I nodded and followed her out the door. I closed it behind us and we were on our way. I turned my head and looked back at our tiny little neighborhood. "I'll be in the Victor's Village soon" I thought to myself. I glanced at Clove beside me and she looked as nervous as ever. She looked very pale and her hands were shaking at her sides. "Clove are you okay?" I asked her. She nodded and said "I'm fine, don't worry about me" with a very visible fake smile. I sighed and kept on walking. I have a really bad feeling that something terrible is going to happen. After walking a while, we finally made it to the town square. I gave Clove a big hug and said "May the odds be ever in your favor, Clove". She laughed a little and said "You too". We hugged each other and then went to stand with our age groups. We were just in time, they showed that stupid film from the Capitol that they show every year and then they went on to pick the male tribute. Arnold, the District 2 escort, shouted his name but I couldn't hear it over my own thoughts. I push my way to the aisle and yell "I volunteer as tribute!" before anyone else could. This was my time, no one was going to ruin it for me. "Okay, well I guess we have a volunteer this year!" Arnold said into the microphone. The peacekeepers escorted me to the stage and I walked up the steps. "And whats your name?" Arnold asked me. "Cato. Cato Ludwig." I said into the microphone. "Well congratulations Cato! Lets hear it for District 2's male tribute, Cato!" he yelled. There were some claps and some just stared blankly at me. "Okay now for the female tribute" he says. He makes his way over to the glass ball containing the girls' names. He picked one and made his way back to the microphone. He peeled off the tape and opened the little slip of paper. "Clove Fuhrman!" he says. My stomach drops and I'm praying that someone volunteers but it doesn't happen. I'm literally on the verge of tears but I can't let anyone see that. I don't want to come off as weak. Theres nothing I can do. I guess I'm going in the games with my best friend.
CLOVE'S POV
My mouth drops open a bit and my hands start to shake at my sides like they were before. The other girls my age make an opening for me to make my way to the stage. I step out into the aisle and the peacekeepers escort me. I go up the steps slowly and Arnold yells "Our tributes for District 2, Cato Ludwig and Clove Fuhrman!" there's few claps and then we have to shake hands. As we shake, I look up at Cato. His eyes look like they're filling with tears which only makes mine do the same. We let go and we're soon escorted to separate rooms where we'll get to meet with our families before we go to the Capitol. My parents come and say their goodbyes to me and soon, times up. My eyes fill up with tears once again as I see them walk out the door. I suck it up and decide to see if I could sneak over to Cato's room. I try to open the door and it is quickly shut by a peacekeeper. I sigh and sit down on a chair. I sit there for probably about 15 minutes until 2 peacekeepers come and take me to a car that will escort me to the train that we'll be going on. Soon enough, we arrive at the train station and Arnold takes me to my room. "Take a shower and when you're done, we'll watch the reaping's from the other districts. Hurry hurry" he says to me as he closes my door behind him. I sighed and looked around my room. There was a huge closet, which seemed pretty stupid to me since we're only going to be on this train for a the rest of the night and a little bit tomorrow. There was tons of buttons next to it too. I walked into the bathroom to see a shower much like the one I have at home. I take off my clothes and start the shower. I step into the shower and pour some shampoo into my hand. As I massage it into my hair, I start to think. What if it comes down to me and Cato? Would he kill me? Would I even have the courage to kill him? We definitely won't be able to show our friendship in the arena, the other tributes would use that against us. We'll probably form an alliance with the District 1 tributes. District 1 & 2 always team up every year. I finish up my shower and wrap a towel around me. I change into a black v-neck and khakis that were in my closet. I put on my black flats that I wore to the reaping too. I go into the main room but no one is there yet. I decide to try and find Cato. I guess his room is next to mine. I knock on the door and I hear his voice yell "What!" between little sniffles. It sounds like he was crying. I take a deep breath and open the door. He stands up quickly and I shut the door behind me. He pulls me to him and hugs me as tight as he can. I hug him back, trying to hold in my tears. "Cato, everything's going to be okay" I try to comfort him. I rub his back and I can just feel him trying to hold in his tears. He finally lets go of me and I see that his cheeks are wet with tears . Soon enough, I start to cry. He hugs me again and we stay in that position for a long time until we're called to go watch the other reapings. He lets go of me and says "Everything's gonna be okay. We'll figure it out", looking at me with a half smile. I stand up and walk out behind him. Even though I've known Cato since I was 4, I've never seen Cato like that before. He's probably never seen me like that either. You know, crying. We're both not the type to show pain, emotion or mercy. We were both brought up that way. Cato doesn't know that I only cry over the ones I love. I've never actually loved someone before, just my family. In a non- romantic way obviously. When I turned 16, me and Cato kissed. It was an accident of course, we were arguing and it was just a "in the moment" type of thing. But when we kissed, I've never felt anything like it. Thats when I realized that I was in love with Cato. But he'll never know. I can't tell him now, in just a few days we might have to kill each other.