I stand nervously when a girl with dirty blonde hair comes up and stands beside me. Her hair is up in curled pigtails, stopping at the pale green straps of her dress. The top of her dress is a dark forest green, her skirt a short, flowing silk, the same pale green as her straps. But it's her eyes that give her away; a dark green, different from most of the people in my district. Tia is the only girl I know with eyes like that.
"Hey, Clove!" Tia says, smiling at me. I smile back, though it's forced and I know that she sees right through my attempt. Her smile immediately falls and she places a hand on my shoulder, looking at me curiously, her eyes silently asking for explanation for my strange nervousness.
See, Tia's been my friend since we first started school. Where other girls felt the need to just gossip all the time, we didn't. We both seemed to prefer listening to gossiping, receiving secrets, but never telling. We just didn't see the point in spreading false rumors, the two of us. Everyone else seemed to find it odd. They found us strange for not wanting to tell secrets. This brought us closer. We understood each other. Tia knows me better than my family.
I sigh, giving into her curiosity and I say, "I'm afraid, Tia. Its Kathryn's first year, so she's only in there once, but still… Mary Lou gave me a weird look. I have a hunch that she isn't going to volunteer like she's supposed to. What if I'm picked? What if… what if Kathryn's picked, Tia?" I shake my head. "It's silly I know… but well…"
Tia nods, but she doesn't have time to respond. A woman with neon green hair pulled up into a loose messy bun wearing a ridiculous turquoise gown is standing on the stage, smiling at us as if this should be the best day of our lives. As if.
She introduces herself as Gertrude Mills, and then proceeds to show us the video they show every year about why we have the Hunger Games and about how it's only a way to keep peace. I laugh inwardly at this. It's so not a way to keep peace. It's just a way for the Capitol to say, "HEY! We have power over you and you can't do anything about it! We're killing your children- your friends and family- and there's nothing you can do!" But, being in a Career district, I guess I shouldn't complain. We do get special treatment.
When the video ends, Gertrude approaches the microphone, grinning broadly, her bright blue lipstick and eye shadow making her appearance clownish. She looks at us, a glint in her eyes, proud, like she was born to do this… born to choose kids to be killed and keep them on schedule. Great.
"It's time, it's time, everyone! It's time to pick two very lucky children, a young man and woman, to represent the great District 2 in the 74th annual Hunger Games! Ladies first, ladies first, of course," she says, as she walks over to the huge bowl filled to the brim with little slips of paper. I begin to feel nervous. I look at Kathryn and see that her face is chalk white. Slowly, I cross my shaking fingers.
Gertrude seems to take hours. She glances over us all with a grin, her eyes shimmering, and she holds her hand up in the air. She circles her wrist a few times, and then brings her hand down, gracing the edges of the bowl with the tips of her fingers. Then, she lifts her hand again and puts it into the bowl. She moves her hand around a bit before finally drawing a slip of paper.
I hold my breath as she unfolds it, her eyes scanning whatever the paper says. She looks up from the name and adjusts the microphone before saying the name that makes my heart stop.
"Kathryn Sphar!"
No… no, no, no, no, I think. My eyes move to Mary Lou. She smirks at me and disappears back into the crowd. I feel tears sting my eyes as Kathy puts on a brave face and starts to go up. I take a step back, but then remember my promise. I promised her nothing would happen. My eyes narrow and I look at Tia, who is shaking her head at me. I don't have time to think, though.
"I VOLUNTEER!" I screech as I run forward, pushing Kathy back and narrowing my eyes. Gertrude smiles and claps her hands together; she expected a Career, of course. With an annoyed glare at Mary Lou, I think of how Gertrude had no clue that I am not the right Career.
I make my way up to the stage and I glare out at Mary Lou. People seem to notice this and many people glare at Mary Lou and turn away from her. I can't help but grin at this, but then the next thing I know Gertrude is at my side, holding the microphone so that both of us could be heard in it.
"Tell me, dear, what your name is."
I take a deep breath and say in a soft voice, though it is made louder by the microphone, "Clove Sphar." Gertrude nods and moves to the boy's bowl. I don't hear the name that's called, but as soon as it is I see a strong boy with blond hair and a scowl on his face pushing his way to the front. I realize that this boy was my childhood friend, Cato. Our parents were friends, so we hung out a lot. I smile as one of our many bittersweet memories comes back to me.
"Clove, come here! Look what I found!" Cato's voice came from behind me. I turned around, 8 years old, and looked at him. He was grinning broadly. He came and sat next to me; we were sitting on a riverbank. I had been looking out at the water curiously. Now my attention was on Cato.
He smiled and held out a tiny green leafed plant. I looked at it, knowing immediately that it was a clover. It was soft, a pale green color, with four heart shaped leaves stretching up towards the sun's nurturing light. I smiled; it was pretty… living, like us, with no worries.
"A four leaf clover," Cato said softly to me, "they're supposed to bring good luck. At least, that's what everyone says. And well, I wanna share my luck with you. 'Cause, you know, you're my best friend, and I love you." I smiled brightly. Back then, when we were so young, I love you was something we used all the time. Now that we're older though, it seems so wrong to use it.
"Well gosh, thanks Cato," I said, a blush touching my cheeks. He held out his hand that didn't have the clover in it and extended his pinkie, grinning.
"Do you pinkie swear we'll be best friends forever?" I linked my pinkie with his; looking him in the eye as I nodded, and then we hugged.
A few minutes later, my mother came up to us, crying. She looked a mess. I wasn't sure what was wrong, but my heart fell nonetheless. She told me on the spot that my dad had died. He had a heart attack from working too hard. The clover was nothing but a distant memory then.
I'm snapped from my thoughts by Cato saying firmly that he was volunteering. He gives me a look that says he wants to talk to me later, but right now there is no time for that. The two of us… best friends forever… would soon be thrown into an arena and be forced to kill each other. I swallow, holding back my tears. I'm a Career. I can't cry. This is what I was born to do.
"Our tributes for District Two, everyone," Gertrude announces joyfully, "Clove Sphar and Cato Ludwig!" I turn to face him and hold out my hand to shake his. He grips my hand firmly and looks me in the eyes, mouthing silently, 'we can get through this together; we pinkie swore.' I smile at this and then Peacekeepers come up and push us apart, sending us off different ways to say our final goodbyes to our friends and families.
I hear cheers coming from behind me and I feel disgusted. Maybe I'm the only one from District Two who feels this way, but honestly, the Hunger Games is gross and horrid. We're being forced to kill other children to please some rich people who do nothing but relax and enjoy themselves. Sighing, I block out the cheering as I enter the room.
When I get into the designated room, I sit down on a couch in the corner, waiting silently for people to begin coming in, though I don't expect there to be many. I look around. The couch I am sitting on is a crimson color, velvet. The walls are painted a pale salmon-pink color and in the opposite corner there is a plush, purple armchair. I'm pretty used to the luxuries of couches and comfortable things like that, but never this fancy. I tell myself to enjoy it, knowing that soon I'll be killing people.
As I sit there, everything hits me at once. I'm about to be in the 74th annual Hunger Games, a year before my turn, I'm not completely prepared, and I'm going to be pitched against my best friend and crush. My family needs me to help out, as I am the oldest. Kathy can't look after the triplets herself, the triplets are crazy, and my mother certainly can't take off any work and look after them all herself.
This certainly isn't going to be easy.
Here it is guys! I'm so sorry about the wait, I had some writer's block and I forgot that this fanfic existed. But, here we are, chapter 2! I hope you guys like it, I gave you a little background on Clove and Cato, so, enjoy xD. Next chapter will probably be them boarding the train and all that good stuff and meeting their mentor and saying goodbyes. Hopefully, it won't take me four months to update again!
xoxo
Leafdrift
