-~ Chapter 1 ~-
~- Clove's POV -~
I am woken from my sleep by the annoying buzz of my alarm clock, I groan and slam the palm of my hand hard onto the machine to make it stop. I force myself to sit up and I rub my eyes in a poor attempt to drag myself out of my tired state. A few strands of loose hair fall in front of my face and I push them back as I walk silently to the bathroom for a shower.
I turn on the water and it runs cold, as always. That's the thing about living in the poorer part of district 2; you have to choose between warm water or food to keep you going for the week. I wash the remaining shampoo out of my hair, turn off the water and wrap myself in a towel. I walk back into my room to get dressed and take a look at the clock. Training starts in 20 minutes! I throw my towel onto the floor and put my clothes on as quickly as possible. Why didn't mum remind me of the time?! I think as I run down the stairs whilst tying my hair up in a make-do ponytail. I sprint into the kitchen to grab a snack when I find a note on the table: 'Gone shopping for food, be back later –mum'. Well that explains why she didn't call me down earlier I think to myself as I run out the door with an apple in my hand.
While I'm running to the training center I spot a strange looking bird perched in a tree that's singing a tune that seemed to perfect to be its natural call; I think I've heard of this bird before but I can't quite remember it's name… it's called a mocking-something, and it mimics a tune that it has heard recently. I find myself completely entranced by this bird, so entranced that I didn't notice the boy walking in front of me. I run straight into the back of him and his muscular build is so large I may as well have run into a brick wall.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" he spat while rubbing his shoulder, which I guess, took most of the impact.
"S-sorry!" I yell back as I keep running towards the training center.
I guess I should have stopped to see if he's ok and apologize properly but I don't have much time left before training starts and I would rather not be late when there's only 2 weeks until the reaping; I wouldn't say I'm scared, I just want to make sure that I'm ready incase my name is picked out and for some reason the volunteer fails to do their job. That's how training works in district 2; they take a large group of children and train them from the age of 10 years old and when they are 18 the most promising student of the group is picked to volunteer at the reaping.
I burst through the front door of the training center and sign in at the front desk. I run to the weaponry hall where I find the rest on my group standing around my instructor while he gives commands on what we are doing today. My instructor is an absolute bulk of a man called Valdus, even his features suggest that he is strict, especially his piercing blue eyes. I try to be stealthy but nothing much gets by him and he spots me almost instantly. He looks at his watch,
"Cutting it a bit close today, aren't we Clove?" he calls out to me.
"Sorry" I call back and he signals for me to join the rest of the group.
"Today I want you all to go to the stations you are best at, so that I can assess you fairly on your skills" he says, we all begin to split up and walk towards our favored station when he says "oh, and any fights will lead to a detention" some people groan a little and I make my way over to my favorite station, the knife station.
Knives have always been my favorite weapon because they are small and deadly, like me. I pick up a few knives and throw them at the targets in front of me. Each of them hit the center of their chosen target; I've been good with knives for as long as I can remember and I never miss. I smirk at the slightly worried looks on some of my onlooker's faces. I bet I could beat every single one of these pathetic lo- my thoughts are disrupted by the sound of my instructors voice at the back of the room.
"Oh, look who decided to show up" he says "You're late yet again, Cato"
I turn to see who he's talking to, and to my surprise, the boy I ran into this morning is standing in the doorway of the training hall. I now realize how massive he is, he must be at least 6"2' and his muscle mass is very large for someone of his age. He shrugs and begins to walk over to the sword station, his eyes scanning the room. His eyes fall on mine, and a sign of recognition registers on his face. He stops walking for a second to glare at me. I look away and continue to throw knives at the targets, hoping he will just ignore what happened earlier; I really should apologize…
~- Cato's POV -~
I walk into the weaponry hall where the rest of my class are and I am greeted by my instructor complaining at me for being late again. I shrug it off and begin to walk over to the swords station; I look over the room briefly to see if there is anything interesting happening when I spot the girl who ran into me earlier this morning. I stop walking and stare her down; she looks away and throws a few knives at the targets ahead of her. I keep walking to the swords station where I find my friend Ekon who is already training.
"What was that about?" he asked,
"What?" I replied.
"You glaring at that girl over there" He said pointing directly at her
"That crazy bitch ran straight into me earlier" I grumbled, touching the bruise that has formed on my shoulder, "I was just letting her know that she hasn't got away with it."
Ekon sniggers and continues slashing at a few dummies while I try to think up a way of getting my revenge on her. I looked over at her; she really is so small. How did she even get into this training group? I think to myself, but then I see her throw a knife directly into the center of a target from at least 20' away. Impressive, but I can do better with a sword. I slash the heads off two dummies in one swing and stick my sword right in the heart of the next.
I turn to look at the girl, expecting to see her terrified face; but she's gone. I look over the room quickly but I can't see her so I shrug and raise my sword to slash another dummy. I hear someone clear their throat, so I turn around to see that she is standing right behind me. I jump back and raise my sword ready to slash when she kicks it out of my hand; I grab her leg and flip her onto the floor. She tries to get up but I pin her down easily and I am about to bring my sword to her neck when she flips us both around so she is pinning me to the floor. How did she do that when she weight almost nothing?! She pulls a knife out of her hair and puts it to my throat when Valdus pulls her off me and stands between us.
"Cato, Clove what did I say about fighting?!" He barked "detention for both of you after class!"
"B-but" we both debate, although it's useless.
"No Buts" he says "Clove go back to your station, you guys need to get through the day in one piece okay?" and with that, he walks back over to the middle of the room. Well at least I know what the girls name is; Clove…
~- Clove's POV -~
A detention! That's just bloody brilliant! I can't believe I was actually going to apologize to that asshole and the moment he sees me he raises his sword to attack me! Now I have to go to detention with him and that's never going to end well... I think as I throw knives at the targets, pretending each of them is him. I smirk as the knives hit dead center of their targets and I pull them out slowly, a little disappointed that there is no cry of pain. I continue like this for about 20 minutes when the bell rings.
Oh no… time for detention with that absolute blockhead. Everyone else starts to walk towards the door and I grunt as I walk over to the middle of the room to meet Valdus and The blockhead, I'm just gonna call him that until i find out his actual name...
"well" sighs Valdus "I did try to warn you not to fight but since you persist on going against what I say I am going to issue you a punishment"
"In my defense, I wasn't here when you said that.," argued the blockhead,
"Well that gives you more reason to show up on time, Cato" snarls Valdus. Oh so that's his name, Cato.
Cato grunts and Valdus continues.
"As a punishment for your actions, you will be polishing every weapon until it shines. And only after you finish, you can go home" He chortles
"What?!" me and Cato cry in sync
"Stop complaining, you brought it on yourselves" Valdus says whilst handing us cleaning liquid and rags "why were you even fighting?"
"She snuck up behind me and made me jump" Cato says innocently,
"He raised his sword to attack me so I was only defending myself" I retort just as innocently,
"Oh please" he claims, "you're the one who held a knife to my throat!"
"Not before you held a sword to mine" I respond quickly
"Guys, you better stop arguing and start polishing if you want to get home any time soon" Valdus calls. We both let out a sigh of frustration and grab a weapon to polish.
"Why were you even behind me?" Cato asks after a short silence,
"Because I was going to apologize for running into you earlier, but I didn't get as far as that before being attacked" I stated.
"oh…. Sorry. And my shoulder still hurts from that by the way" he smirks
"I don't usually run into people like that but I was running a little late and I got distracted" I snigger. Cato looks up at me and then smiles.
"An i don't usually go to attack someone like that, i thought you were trying to attack me... I guess we're even then," he says
"We're even" I confirm. Maybe he's not as much of an asshole as i thought... I look up at his face and realise what a stunning blue color his eyes are, it's like they've trapped my gaze and I don't want to look away but eventually I have to or he will think I'm just staring at him like some freak.
...
A lot of chatting and polishing later we were finally excused from detention, we both breath a sigh of relief and throw our "cleaning equipment", also known as a rag and some soapy water, into the supplies closet. We walked side by side on the way back to our homes and chatted about the reaping; it turns out that Cato will be volunteering to go into the games this year, and judging by his fighting skills I have no doubt that he will be end up being District 2's newest victor. We continue to walk until we get to my road, i give him a quick wave goodbye and start walking towards my house.
That's the end of chapter 1 :P i hope you like it, don't worry i will make it better as the story progresses! its just not easy making it brilliant on the very first chapter because you don't want the story to move too fast! Don't forget to leave reviews and constructive criticism is always welcomed and i will do my best to put it to good use on my newest chapters! ^_^ Thanks again for reading! *mwah*
~NekoNinjaXx