Chapter 2: The boy she saved.
The next morning was Sunday so all the trainees had a day off.
Clove woke up and immediately took a hot shower. She placed on short shorts and a purple hooded sleeveless shirt. She went to her mirror and tied her hair up in a ponytail and placed in two knives. She took two knives and placed it behind her waist. She took the arm bands and placed in each arm 3 knives. She took two more knives and places it in her waist and goes out to jog around.
Cato was still in dreamland, dreaming of none other than Clove.
Cato opened his eyes and saw that he was outside. He scanned it and saw that he was in the reaping.
"and now for the girls" Olive said. "Clove Cleverwood". Cato saw Clove making her way to the stage. Cato saw how strong and how emotionless she looked but somewhere inside of her, he could see how hurt she is. Then he saw a little boy come rushing towards her.
"No, please don't leave me!" The little boy cried. For a second, Clove showed a sad gaze to the boy and then suddenly glared at him. The peacekeepers took the boy away and he was still trying his best to get away from the tight grips of the peacekeepers.
The venue suddenly changed and Cato was now seeing the arena for the 74th hunger games. He suddenly sees Clove and he ran to her tapping her shoulder and saw Claire instead.
"Claire, what are you doing here?" Cato shouted. Claire didn't budge and suddenly slashed Cato with her sword
"Worthless brother" Claire said as she turned around from the bleeding Cato. Cato couldn't believe his eyes, his own little sister becoming a killer. He never wanted that for her. He never wanted her to even be in the games itself. Cato tried to stand up and saw Claide. He tried to run up to them but he wasn't even getting near them. He high tailed it to his siblings but he just couldn't reach them before he knew it they were both killing each other to death. Cato shouted and woke up from his dream.
God. I thought that was real. I'm not going to let that happen to any of them. Cato thought as he fixed his hair with his hands. He got up and took a shower and went to put on a black sleeveless hooded shirt and pants. He went to his mirror to fix his hair and suddenly saw Clove's knife. He took it and went running out of his house.
He first started jogging and then ended up running, holding Clove's knife tightly in his right hand as he ran faster. His friends saw him and stopped him in his tracks
"Where you going, Cato?" His friend asked
"Somewhere" Cato said
"Can we come? We have nothing better to do anyway" his other friend asked
"I suppose" Cato said
"Hold on, why do you have the strong girl's knife?" his friend asked while pointing to the knife
"I took it from her without her knowing" Cato grinned
"Wow, that's a first. That girl always has her guard up" his friend said
"I guess I'm just better than her" Cato said
"Got that right, so are you going to gloat about it in front of her face?" his other friend asked
"Probably. Nothing better to do anyway" Cato grinned
His friends laughed as well when suddenly one of his friends was bumped by a little kid.
"Ouch…" The little boy said
Cato and his friends saw the little boy and turned around to face him
"Watch where you're going kid" one of Cato's friends said
"No way. You guys watch were your standing!" The little boy shouted
Cato examined the boy and thought. I've seen that little boy before but where? Why do I feel like I know him but I don't?
"Kid you should watch your words" Cato's friends said
"No way. You big guys are in the middle of the road. You should move along the side so that people could pass by!" the kid shouted
Cato's friends laughs out loud but Cato doesn't even care about the kid as he holds on the knife tighter.
"Why should I take orders from a kid?" Cato's friend says.
"I'm no kid!" the little boy shouted
Cato's friends laugh louder and one of them said "Then you must be a baby"
"Don't underestimate me" The little boy said as he kicked Cato's two friends in between their legs and then he made a run for it. Cato grins and sees his friends in pain.
"That kid, I'm going to kill him" one of Cato's friends said as he ran after the boy
"Shit. That hurt" Cato's other friend said as he ran after the kid as well.
Cato rolls his eyes and places the knife back in his pocket and runs after his friends while thinking to himself. I guess I'll return her knife later. Those guys would cause trouble if I'm not there.
Cato ran after his friends, he caught up to them quickly and saw them surrounding the kid. The little boy was on the ground and leaning at the tree looking free from scars but his clothes were dirty and so was his whole body. Cato thought, I guess the boy tripped and fell.
"Your dead, kid" Cato's friend said as they took out two knives from their pockets. Cato started to walk near to them not wanting to be of a bother to this stupid fight. While the boys were about to stab the little kid, a girl jumped down from the tree and looked up at the boys.
"Hey, Kyle and Alec" Clove said with a glare
"I-it's you…" Kyle said.
Cato couldn't believe his eyes and was now near them
"I knew they were your friends" Clove said as she glared at Cato. She turned slightly to the kid and said "Go kid."
"B-but…" The little boy says
"Just go." Clove said again and the little boy leaves them alone. She faced herself to Cato and his friends and says "Judging by your knives, you were about to kill the kid weren't you?"
"N-no…" the boys said as they hid their knives behind their backs
"Pathetic. Going after people that are weak and have no chance of fighting and now lying about it after I've seen it? Absolutely Pathetic" Clove says as she glared into the boys eyes.
"Oh by the way, taking my knife and me not knowing it was actually pretty good, Cato" Clove grins at him
Cato grins back and says "I'm glad you liked it, Princess"
"In fact I did, now give me my knife back" Clove glared
Cato took the knife out of his pocket and said "This one? Nah. I feel like keeping it"
"I don't think so, give me my knife back now" Clove said as she glared
Cato could sense her shoulders tensing, he thought to himself, She's going to lose her temper soon. Cato grins and said "What if I don't give it back to you? What will you do?"
Clove scoffs and pulls Cato closer to her by pulling his collar. She slammed Cato to the tree and said "You won't give it? Then maybe I should just…" She placed her arms around Cato's neck and grabs for his arms. Her face inches away from his.
What am I doing? I shouldn't be doing this… No. no. no. I'm doing this for my knife! I can't possibly like him. Can I? Clove thought
I can feel her steady heartbeat against mine. What is she doing? No I must stay on guard! But I can't her face is inches away from mine. I just can't help myself to stare at her. Cato thought
Their faces were inches away from each other. Their lips were about to touch when Clove spun around and took her knife away from Cato
"I see, someone's falling for me" Clove laughs and walks away from them and says "Thanks for the knife, Cato." She grins at them and walks home.
Cato was still dazed and thought, Damn. She just tricked me. How the hell did she just trick me? Am I really falling for Clove Cleverwood? Cato walks away from his friends without another word. His friends who didn't quite understand what just happened because they were still terrified and at the same time feeling lucky because the strongest girl just let them live.
Clove walking home suddenly thought of what she just did to Cato, Did I just really do that? I mean I never do that. I usually use a painful method to get my knives back but what I did wasn't painful at all but actually quite nice. Oh God. What am I saying? Am I falling for this guy? Cato's out to kill me, he will never like me and I'm out to kill him but even if we wanted to kill each other, a while ago was so out of place. Cato could have pushed me away but he didn't. I could have stopped and grabbed my knife already but I didn't. Do I really like Cato Wood? Clove thought.
Cato was in a bad mood and confused. He thought of what just happened a while ago. What just happened? Did Clove just really pin and she was also about to kiss me but that was an act. I could have easily pushed her away but why didn't I? I could have easily pinned her instead of myself getting pinned. What in the world is going on? Am I really falling for this girl? No. Cato! Put your head in the game. She's out to kill me and I'm out to kill her. We can't date, can we? A while ago, I couldn't do anything but stare at her. Her beauty was mesmerizing. For a second she had a soft look, a look that I just fell into. She didn't have that piercing glaring eyes, she had a soft romantic look instead. Is she falling for me? No, she can't be but while she pinned me I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Her beauty was something else. Am I falling for Clove Cleverwood? Cato thought.
Clove arrived at her house still a bit dazed. She saw the little boy again in the living room and approached him.
"What in the world were you doing?" Clove shouted
"I was showing those guys some manners" the little boy replied
"Are you kidding me? You almost got yourself killed!" Clove shouted
"He started mocking me and I am not someone who likes to be mocked and ask for forgiveness!" the little boy countered
"What did you even do?" Clove asked
"I kicked those two in the balls" the little boy said. Clove started laughing and patted the boy's head and said "That's my little brother". Clove sat down beside him and said "Look, Carter. I don't want you to do that again alright? What would have happened if I wasn't there? Please be careful."
"Alright. Sorry if I made you worried, Sis" Carter said
"Good. Now go on to bed. Mom and Dad will be back on the reaping day" Clove said
"Figures. Their always like that" Carter said as he walked to his room. Clove sighs and goes up to her own room and just lays down on her bed thinking about what just happened between her and Cato.
Cato who was walking back home, finally reached his house and went straight up.
"Big brother your back!—" Claire said but she knew something was wrong. Claide was about to shout but Claire stopped him and said "I'm guessing that Big Brother is not in the mood to talk today, let's give him some time" Claide nodded and they both went back to their own natural businesses.
Cato went straight to his bed and lay down and said "Tomorrow, I'm going to get her back for what she did" right after that he dozed off and fell asleep.