Cato sat on the white leather couch with his legs crossed and his arms resting behind his head. He'd told his family that there was no point in him having visitors, so of course nobody was coming. He was going to win and come back, so why say goodbye?
He smirked to himself. Nobody stands a chance. He ignored the nagging feeling in his stomach that maybe somebody did stand a chance, and she was in the next room across. Focusing on it would just piss him off.
He was excited to finally be heading off to the Games, but he was seething in the knowledge that Eve Hadley was the one doing it with him. The name made him cringe. He hated absolutely everything about her. Hell, he was already thinking of how to kill her. Slowly and painfully were the only words he needed to go by.
He sighed. He hated that he had to wait a couple of weeks until the Games actually began. How was he supposed to make it through that time without killing his District partner? And why wasn't it Clove that was going instead of her? It really fucked him off. Clove was his best friend, and she was amazing with knives. He didn't see why the Hadley girl had stolen her spot.
Only a couple more minutes, Cato told himself. Then it really begins.
Eve heard the door open and the dull thud of her mother's footsteps wander over to her. Her mother gently positioned herself down next to her daughter on the sofa and Eve wriggled over to lean on her shoulder.
They sat like that for a while, until suddenly her mother spoke.
"I... I'm leaving him." Her mother stuttered nervously. Eve practically fell off her seat. When she caught her balance again she simply stared at her mother with her mouth in an 'O' shape.
"REALLY?!" She yelled, and her mouth was stretching into a huge smile. Her mother hesitated before she nodded vigorously. "I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!" Eve screeched before trapping her frail mother in the strongest hug she had ever given anyone. She felt her mother smile against her shoulder. The two of them slowly parted, still both dizzy with smiles.
"When?" Eve asked.
"When you're back." Her mother said hesitantly, but Eve just smiled.
"We'll have our own house in the Victors Village. Away from him." She had no doubt that she was coming back to District Two; she was sure she'd win. Everyone else knew it too. Even Cato.
"Please just... just make sure you come back, okay Evie?"
Eve nodded once and kept her wide smile plastered on her face. "I will, mama." And with that, her mother was toddling out of the room, smiling.
The short car ride to the Station passed in silence. Cato looked silently out of the window, but he could hear Esme chattering excitedly to Eve. The conversation was pointless and stupid; much like Esme herself. It was all about Eve's outfits and her interview dress and all that. Eve wasn't replying, or saying anything at all come to think of it, but somehow she still managed to annoy him.
He had a disliking for Esme, but Eve angered him so much that he was sure he absolutely despised her, and being stuck in the same car as then for five more minutes was doing his head in.
Within another ten minutes the car ride ended and Cato now sat in one of the blue tub chairs on the train, not saying anything. He was watching the television with his arms crossed as Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith began talking about the most recent reaping from District Five and could hear the two mentors, Brutus and Enobaria, screeching at each other about something pathetic from the dining table. He had no idea where Eve was, and he really didn't care.
He heard a glass smash suddenly, but he wasn't surprised. He didn't even have to turn around to know that one of the mentors had thrown something glass at the other. A loud SLAM of the door sounded and he heard Enobaria growl, making him assume that Brutus had stormed out. He decided to leave her; he knew what Enobaria's temper could do, and he didn't want to experience it.
He wandered down the corridor to his room and strolled into the ensuite to have a long, hot shower.
After ten minutes he was clean and dry, and now lay down on the bed with the TV playing a version of the Games from ten years back. He watched with a serious expression on his face as the District Two tribute, Carson, was shot through the neck with a District One arrow.
Eve sat on the edge of her bed chewing on a piece of liquorice. She was watching Capitol TV alone in her room and was about to get up to get more food when suddenly Caesar spoke.
"Now Claudius, what is your opinion on this year's District Two tributes?" He said with his usual excitement. Eve looked up at the screen.
"Well Caesar, this Cato, he's very, VERY attractive." Claudius blushed slightly when he said this. "And he also looks incredibly strong and well-trained, so I believe he will do very well in this year's Games, yes yes!" He smiled at Caesar. "What do you think of Eve Hadley, then? Is she in or out?" Eve stopped chewing and just waited.
"She's absolutely striking! Skinny and beautiful! She looks quick and agile, I believe. Cunning, too. We best keep an eye out for her, Claudius!" They both chuckled but Eve frowned. She wasn't beautiful or skinny.
"But hold on a minute, Caesar. Hadley..." Claudius pondered the name. "Where have I heard that name before?"
"I... Oh, I know! Carson Hadley! He was in the Hunger Games nine... ten years ago, was it?"
"Oh yes! I remember those Games well! Let's take a look shall we?" Eve fumbled for the remote and quickly flicked the TV off before she saw anymore.
She couldn't do it. She couldn't think about how confident Carson had been for his Games. He'd been top of the Academy, too. No. He'd been just like she was now. She couldn't think about it.
She decided to take a shower, and as she stood there with the water running over her bare body, she felt all her worries washing away.
When she'd finished, she placed her hand on the small black sensor and let the electrical current surge through her body, her hair drying in less than a second in its usual, dead straight form. No knots.
She wandered naked through to the bedroom and casually put on the first things she saw; bike shorts and a wrinkled black top. She didn't bother with a bra. After giving herself a quick once-over and huffing unhappily because of it, she wandered out to the dining cart.
Cato sat in the dining cart as Brutus and Enobaria argued again; this time about spilt coffee. He heard a huff and then Brutus came and sat opposite him wordlessly at the dining table. But then he heard the door swing open and light footsteps skitter over. He clenched his fists.
Eve sauntered in and nodded at Brutus, completely ignoring Cato, and then walked over to Enobaria, who was pacing furiously down the other end of the carriage. Cato heard her whisper a few things to Enobaria, then the mentor give her a hushed reply. Great. Now they're making a shitty little scheme. He stood and turned to look at the two of them. He spoke.
"What are you talking about?" He asked cooly, but he was sure the spite was evident.
Eve turned to look at him with a smirk on her face and her arms crossed, as did Enobaria, but Eve was the one to speak. "Aw, Catty's feeling a bit left out." She grinned. "We'd tell you if we thought your little prick head brain could handle it."
He glared at her and tried to calm down. He unclenched his fists and raised his head, replacing his scowl with a smirk. "I can handle anything, little girl." He laughed shortly and was about to speak again, but she beat him to it.
"Oh I'm sure you can!" She said, and made a gesture that was meant to symbolise jacking off. Cato's anger surged through him and he pushed his jaw forwards.
"Watch it, Hadley." He hisses at her.
"I'm fine, thanks." She said, and he saw a hint of anger flash across her face. She walked away from her spot and headed back towards the door. "I hope you have fun 'handling everything', Cato."
"Shut your mouth!" He raised his voice, and she looked at him.
"Fuck up." She said casually as she reached for the door handle. She pulled the door open.
And then it was clear that she'd pushed him over the edge. He barrelled over to her and shoved her against the wall, his upper arm pushing against her neck.
"You... You're a little bitch, Eve. If you don't watch your mouth, I'll kill you. I don't care whether we're in the Games or not, and I don't care if you're my District partner. You're my kill and don't you forget it." He smiled a cruel smile.
Then she literally spat in his face. The blob landed at the corner of his mouth.
"You need to learn some manners, asshole." She raised her knee so quickly that Cato didn't have time to react. She kneed him where it hurt most and he bent over in pain. The anger swelled up inside her and she grabbed his head with both hands and slammed it down onto her knee, breaking Cato's nose and knocking him out cold. Enobaria and Brutus had watched the scene unfold, and now stood silently, just staring at Eve.
She raised her middle finger at the two of them, kicked the unconscious Cato for good measure and stormed back to her room. She heard Esme shriek just before she slammed the door.
Cato woke up to a bright light shining in his eyes and he groaned as the beam forced splodges of colour to dance in the darkness of his eyelids.
He turned away from the light and opened his eyes lazily. They felt like glue and it was a challenge within itself to unstick them, let alone sit up. When he finally managed to do so, he saw Brutus sitting casually at the foot of the bed. Bed? Cato looked around. He was in his bedroom on the train, a large, overhanging light hovering above him. The last thing he remembered was the dining car and Eve kneeing him in the groin. Beyond that was nothing but black.
"What happened?" Cato's voice came out raspy and weak; not at all the way he had intended.
Brutus huffed out a laugh. "You got beaten up. Eve kneed you in the face and you crumpled onto the ground like a ragdoll."
Cato glared at him. "I fail to see how that's funny." He hissed.
"You were just so pathetic. Cato, she's a little girl. If you can't beat her then you shouldn't be here." Brutus rose up off his chair. "I'm going to get the nurse." Just before he reached the door, Brutus swung around. "Oh and you look like shit, by the way. You've got an hour to fix yourself up before we get to the Capitol."
"Thanks." Cato replied curtly and scowled at the back of his mentors head as he left. As soon as he heard the door shut Cato was out of bed and shoving the overhanging light away as he moved to the bathroom. When he got there he was horrified. His nose was bruised terribly, but to his relief it was a normal shape. But did that matter? He still needed to get her back for this.
Within five minutes he was out of his shirt and pyjama trousers and was wearing jeans and a shirt. His prep team was now fretting about his bruise and one of the more colourful of the three began lathering a disgusting-smelling liquid on his nose. He cringed.
"What the hell is that?!" He sneered at her.
"Liquid foundation, silly! Makeup! It's special, too! It gets rid of bruises within a couple of hours! We had to use most of it on your buddy Eve's belly but luckily there was enough left to cover up your nose!" She giggled, and brushed away his obvious agitation. Cato ignored everything after the word 'makeup'.
"NO!" His voice boomed. "I am NOT wearing makeup! I'm a guy!"
"A guy with a hideous bruise." Enobaria's voice drifted in from the doorway and Cato swung around to see her leaning against the door frame examining her pointed nails. "We don't want you to go out there with that thing on your face, do we? While every other tribute will be untouched? People will laugh, Cato. You'll be noted as weak, and weakness is the worst thing in the world." And with that, she was gone. There was a long pause.
"Fine."
So it's starting to get into the deeper stuff now, what do you guys think?
Reviews seriously make my day, no matter how short they are. So all you supermegafantabulous readers out there, PLEASE leave me a comment or pointers or even flames if you think I'm doing something incredibly wrong! Any sort of feedback is welcome :)
At least 3 more reviews and I'll post the next chapter, and believe me I can't wait until this mysterious 'plan' starts in Chapter 6. You'll love it, I promise!
Thanks for reading!
Eva xox